Chapter 123: Ending Of Empresses In The Palace
The Cultural Affairs Bureau’s final decision was to include three books plus one Commentary Booklet in the Fleet Library. Although it’s called the Fleet Library, unlike the 21st Century where you had to go to a building to borrow books, the Fleet Library can be accessed via Personal Terminal. After completing resident verification, you can freely borrow the Books and Information inside. If there’s any restriction, it’s that it’s only open to residents of This Fleet; temporary residents from external fleets cannot enjoy this benefit.
Class President Lu Daiqing and the other Literature Club members were unaffected. After all, students on the Main Ship are either from the Main Ship or from Escort Ships. Although everyone didn’t use the Fleet Library much usually, now for the sake of being able to read these books anytime, they quickly went to do the verification.
One family’s joy is another’s sorrow. On this matter, the one feeling bad is probably only Lin Ming in the entire fleet. His household registration is still in the First Fleet, making him the only external personnel in the fleet. Because of this, when Xiang Xue vividly described The Count of Monte Cristo to him, Lin Ming regretted several times not asking his mother for usage rights to his household registration. If Lin Yu, far away in the First Fleet, knew his son was going to independently handle immigration for a single book, he would probably jump up and shout “good son.”
Xiang Chuan saw this news right when school let out that day, sitting in the car on the way home. Although she didn’t quite understand why the Cultural Affairs Bureau didn’t just publish it openly on the Space-time Network and instead went through all these twists and turns, her intuition told her that if she dug too deep, she would be dragged by those Third Fleet politicians—who, though not rich in ancient knowledge, had political experience that crushed all 21st Century officials—straight into this modern Political Arena that would make her eyes go dark.
Even if her dad at home had money and her mom had power, once she stepped in, it would probably be hard to get out clean. So—whatever! As long as it didn’t hinder her Ancient Gourmet Food revival plan!
Her attitude of giving up led to Lin Minzhi pulling her into the Study Room for a talk that evening, during which she filtered most of the lecture content straight from left ear to right ear.
When Xiang Chuan walked out of the Study Room, she saw Xiang Xue and Lin Ming standing excitedly at the Corner looking at her… Well, Lin Ming wasn’t excited; he was frowning, entangled over how to legally and reasonably read The Count of Monte Cristo.
“What’s up? There’s still an hour until the live stream. Are you hungry already?” Xiang Chuan opened the Light Screen to check the Time. Seeing the “after 7” indicator, she couldn’t help but complain in her heart that Mother really could talk, nagging nonstop for over half an hour. She looked at the two kids in front of her with a disapproving gaze: “We just finished Dinner not long ago. You can’t eat Dim Sum this soon.”
If Lin Minzhi, who had been busy all day for the three-plus-one books, knew her eldest daughter was complaining about her behind her back like this, she would probably drag her back into her own Study Room and nag for another one or two hours.
“Why is it about food the moment you open your mouth? We’re not that greedy.” Although she said that, when Xiang Xue heard her sister unwilling to prepare Dessert for the live stream ahead of time, she couldn’t help but tsk in her heart and had to state the real purpose: “We came this time to discuss some things with you, Xiang Chuan sis. Come to the Live Broadcast Room. I’ll reintroduce everyone along the way.”
Everyone? Xiang Chuan was full of question marks. Did guests come to the house today?
【Wow, it’s Xiang Chuan sis!】
【Hi Xiang Chuan sis! I super like your Kill Fish knife skills!】
【Good evening, Xiang Chuan sis!】
As soon as Xiang Chuan sat down on the sofa in the Entertainment Room, she was startled by a bunch of Light Screens that suddenly popped up. Behind the Light Screens were youthful faces about the same age as Xiang Xue and Lin Ming, calling “Xiang Chuan sis” very affectionately one after another. She had some memory of a few faces; they were the frequent
“Ah, it’s everyone from Xiao Xue’s Live Stream Room Maintenance Team. Good evening.” At first, Xiang Chuan thought about whether to show some elder sister authority, but thinking that her personality had already been fully revealed during her guest appearances on usual live streams and the previous Class Competition, she simply leaned casually on the sofa, waved her hand casually as a greeting, which made the crowd on the other side of the Light Screens call out even more enthusiastically.
“That’s enough from you all. We’re here to discuss serious business.” Xiang Xue, who had administrator limit rights, irritably gave everyone a one-minute mute, finally restoring quiet to the Entertainment Room.
“Serious business? Isn’t your Live Stream Room developing well? I heard the Audience is preparing to break through 10,000 within the month?” Xiang Chuan touched her chin. “For a non-public Live Stream Room, this growth speed is quite impressive.”
【It’s all thanks to Xiang Chuan sis’s Class Competition!】
After the mute was lifted, the Maintenance Team showered Xiang Chuan with another round of praise. For this headache, Xiang Chuan could only endure it now; after all, she couldn’t turn back time to the first day of the Confrontation Match and smash those Cameras.
“I said don’t change the topic, seriously. Always dragging it elsewhere. I’m not letting you speak anymore.” Xiang Xue huffily issued a permanent mute that only an administrator could lift, and the scene fell quiet again.
“So, what is this so-called serious business of yours? If it’s about expanding the Server, you should go talk to the Education Bureau or Cultural Affairs Bureau. Talking to the Cultural Affairs Bureau now might be even better. With Dream of the Red Chamber, paired with Empresses in the Palace, it could give the Cultural Affairs Bureau a more direct understanding of Huaxia’s Qing Dynasty.”
“Whoa, Cultural Affairs Bureau… Ah, no no, sis don’t derail. ” Xiang Xue had just finished taking Notes and realized she’d been led astray again, quickly steering the topic back. “It’s about Empresses in the Palace, sis. The Video File for Empresses in the Palace is almost used up.”
“Hm? This fast?” Xiang Chuan was stunned. She opened the large screen in the Entertainment Room and the Operation Light Screen. Sure enough, on standby in the background were episodes 75 and 76, the final two episodes. That meant after today’s live stream ended, the stock of Empresses in the Palace would be finished. At an average of two episodes per day, it was indeed about this time to end, especially since more were streamed on Weekends. She looked at Xiang Xue: “So what genre do you want to stream next?”
This question not only stunned Xiang Xue but also Lin Ming and the other Maintenance Team members.
What genre? What did Xiang Chuan sis mean by that? Could they actually choose genres? How much stuff did Xiang Chuan sis get from the Information Turbulence?!
But just like in the 21st Century when you ask someone “What to eat for Dinner?” and they reply “Anything,” Xiang Chuan leaving the genre open for choice instead left them confused: mainly because Modern People really haven’t been exposed to many genres!
“How about… sis, you pick for us?” Xiang Xue shrank her neck embarrassedly.
Let her pick? Xiang Chuan touched her chin, lost in thought: If it fit the Cultural Affairs Bureau’s recent new direction, the old version of Dream of the Red Chamber was naturally a good choice. But two Qing Dynasty TV Series in a row might make people tired of it (actually she was overthinking; Modern People could eat the same Food for centuries without getting tired, let alone rare Ancient TV Series). What about something similar like Romance of the Three Kingdoms? From the angle of ease of understanding, the new Romance of the Three Kingdoms seemed fine too…
Xiang Chuan had also fallen into choice paralysis.
