3.7

Qiao Chen was drinking tea in the courtyard and going over his music sheet when the housekeeper came over and notified him of a guest's arrival. Then, the housekeeper asked whether Qiao Chen would see them. The said guest was none other than Qiao Chen's father, Mudaru Correa.

Qiao Chen thought to himself 'The visit's timing was just too good.' Mudaru should have long known that he had already returned to the capital, but he only came to see him now. He was just as always: a hypocritical person who only puts his own wants and needs before others'. Although Qiao Chen didn't want really want to see the man, he still decided to after much thought. Qiao Chen had the housekeeper see Mudaru to the living to wait.

"Qiaoxi, it's been so long since I've finally been able to see you." Mudaru exclaimed. He looked very excited when he saw Qiao Chen enter.

Qiao Chen looked at him coldly and sat on the sofa.

"Has your mother returned with you?" Mudalu probed.

"You have no place to even talk about my mother. If you have anything to say, then talk to me." Qiao Chen replied indifferently.

"How can you talk to me like that? I am your father." Mudaru said somewhat unhappily.

"You only call yourself my father when you want something, but I don't want to be your son at all." Qiao Chen replied as he received a teacup from the servant and then took a sip.

"You…" Mudaru sputtered. He was angry with Qiaoxi's attitude, but he focused his thoughts on his reason for coming here today. He stopped himself and then spoke, "I heard that you you've become very close to Prince Augea after your return."

"Yes. So what?"

"Even if Augea is only the Emperor's royal brother, he still has authority and power. However, you are an unmarried gher. It's not good to be so close to him. I will take you out more later..."

"It's not good to be too close to Augea?" Qiao Chen interrupted. "So it's good that Ferney is very close to Dayton? You can take care of and manage your other son. I won't let you manage my affairs." How could Qiao Chen not know what he was trying to do? He wanted to double dip by relying on the royal power while still secretly siding with the opposition. All of this, so he could take advantage of both sides and receive the most benefits. "You're nothing but a regular businessman. You don't even have the qualifications to attend an upper-class dinner party. Who else can bring you anywhere except me? Look, I'll only tell you this advice because we carry the same blood: Be an upright and honest man and stay away from those sinister and cunning people you keep playing with in the dark. Otherwise, sooner or later, you'll be played with 'till you're practically dead and then killed off."

Mudaru's face turned very ugly, but Qiaoxi now had Prince Augea on his side. His might be more useful than Ferney right now. He put his anger aside and used a gentler tone with Qiaoxi to speak, "Are you treating me like this because of your mother's and my divorce? You mother and I had a very complicated problem. You can't just listen to her side of things. I'm not the only one who made mistakes…."

"I just said that you had no right to even mention my mother!" Qiao Chen roughly put his cup down on the coffee table. The tea in the cup sloshed around and spilled out. "My mother has never mentioned you after we left the capital because she was afraid of sullying her mouth with your name. Do you think I'm still as ignorant as I was when I was four or five years old? Do you think I don't remember you and Ferney's mother committing adultery at home? Or that I wouldn't remember how you threatened me to keep my mouth shut after Ferney destroyed my spiritual strength?"

Qiao Chen stood up and continued, "Don't even think for a second that I don't know what you're trying to do. You saw how my playing ability was far superior to Ferney's. Adding to the fact that I'm very close to Augea, you thought that it would be too unfortunate if you couldn't exploit me for your own gains. "

After having his intentions exposed, Mudaru stood up as well. He angrily exploded in his defense, "Don't think that because you have Prince Augea backing you up that that means you don't have anything to worry about. You don't know how deep the waters run. Human relationships are complicated, and you can't even imagine how much or even how to deal with them. I see you, my son out here on his own, and I only wanted to help you, but you don't even know what's good or what's bad."

"You help me?" Qiao Chen sneered, "Thank you so much for such kindness, but I don't need your help."

"Housekeeper, see this guest out." Qiao Chen said as he walked out, "And don't allow the man in ever again."

Mudaru glared at Qiao Chen's back as he exited. A vicious glint shone in his eyes.

A month had passed and it became wind season. These two months or so of wind were extremely important for the entire country, because the amount of wind energy they could save amounted to the energy reserves they could have for the next year.

In order to prepare for the windy season, the emperor prepared a festival for it every year. On the day of the celebration, a musician would perform in the capital's Royal Concert Hall. The performance was broadcasted live, throughout the entire country. It was a very glorious achievement for any musician who was able open for the festival.

All candidates for the opening were required to participate in a competition before they were designated as the official musician to welcome the windy season. Furthermore, musicians who were higher than level ten would be able to directly become candidates, but those who were level ten or under needed to have a special recommendation to become candidates.

Duke Kirsty and Augea were judges. They both wrote recommendation letters for Qiao Chen, so this allowed Qiao Chen to become one of the candidates.

Naturally, Ferney wasn't willing to let Qiao Chen take the lead. He took advantage of his relationship with Dayton while they were in bed and asked him to find a way to make him one become of the candidates. Dayton used his means to recommend Ferney with several other nobles, Ferney became one of the candidates as well.

Since this year's wind season celebration theme was set as 'Loyalty' by the emperor, the competition was held on an ocean planet called Hemming's Star. Deep in the oceans Hemmingway's Star, there were a group of blue dolphins who had the most sensitive hearing and the purest thoughts. They would only swim up from the deeper parts of the ocean and approach people if they heard music they thought was the beautiful enough. Once they reached the place where the music was coming from, they'd jump and dance along with the music. These dolphins were known as sea spirits who were most loyal to music.

The competition was set up in such a way that the contestants had to stand on a platform out on the sea to perform. They all played the same song and whoever was able to draw more blue dolphins to their platform to dance to their music would win.

Most of the planet was composed of oceans. There were very few landmasses. Instead, islands and reefs were scattered across this ocean planet. The emperor asked the 1st Legion soldiers to arrange the competition site on the sea ten days before the contest to protect the musicians' safety.

On the day of the competition, Qiao Chen and the other contestants were escorted by soldiers to Hemmingway's Star. Prior to the competition's start, they all drew lots to pick the platform they'd be performing on during the competition.

The platform distribution was in the shape of an arc. Each of the platforms were separated by thousands of kilometers. This meant that no performer would be disturbed by their neighbors' music. Ferney drew the best position. It was at the top of the arc and in the front. Other musicians' positions were nearly the same. Only Qiao Chen had received the outer most edge of all the platforms.

"How do you feel?" Augea asked. He kneaded Qiao Chen's fingers. From time to time, he would also bring them to his lips and gave them a small kiss.

"Very good. Listen, no matters what happens during the contest, you shouldn't take any actions." Qiao Chen said.

"Impossible, the contest isn't as important as your safety. Your safety is the most important matter." Augea refused.

"I have a way to keep myself safe. Believe in me for once, will you?"

Augea looked at Qiao Chen and didn't speak. He didn't want to take any risks, even if it was a less then 1% chance of any danger. He felt the deep need to keep everything very safe when it came to Qiao Chen's wellbeing.

"Then how about this." Qiao Chen negotiated, "If I feel like I can't handle the situation myself, then I'll use the communicator and ask for help. If I don't send you the signal to help, then you shouldn't just rashly jump in, okay?"

Augea continued to look at Qiao Chen and not speak. Qiao Chen wrapped his arms around Augea's neck and kissed him on the corner of his lips, "Okay?"

Augea held Qiao Chen's head and gave him a deep the kiss filled with love and worry. He entangled his tongue with Qiao Chen's. Then he sucked on the tip of Qiao Chen's soft, wet tongue.

The doorbell rang from the lounge door. The staff member came by to remind Qiao Chen that the competition was about to start, but the couple was reluctant to part. Augea retracted the hand he had slipped into Qiao Chen's pant and regretfully let go of Qiao Chen's butt.

"Be safe." Augea kissed Qiao Chen on the space between his brows and they walked out together.

——

All the candidates in the competition landed on their platforms. The judges were on a ship overhead and watched the competition from screens. The competition was also broadcasted live to the whole country via the interplanetary network.

The instruments the musicians used all varied. Some used the piano; others used the oboe or the cello. Both Qiao Chen and Ferney chose to use the violin.

The sea sparkled under the sunshine, and the occasional breeze blew waves that brushed across the sea's surface.

A flare shot across into the sky from aboard the judging ship. Immediately after the game signaled its start, all the musicians began to play. The sound of music spread farther and farther. It traveled alongside the ocean breeze and waves.

However, half an hour had passed, but there was still no movement from the sea besides the wind and the waves. The musicians continued to play music, because stopping would mean an automatic withdrawal from the competition. An hour had passed when people began to see pods of blue dolphins in the distance. No one could see where the dolphins were headed to, but the musicians were all nervously waiting. Even the judges on the ship and the people who watched the broadcast from the interplanetary network were all waiting nervously. They all couldn't help but feel somewhat expectant and a little nervous.

Blue dolphins were very beautiful and endearing creatures. Their light blue skin seemed to shine and glitter in the light. It was almost as if they were transparent in the sparkling ocean waters. They were truly deserving of their monikers as sea spirits.

Soon, blue dolphins were spotted far in the horizon. When the blue dolphins came closer and closer, their sizes looked much bigger than when they were seen from afar. Furthermore, when they swam in such large groups of pods, they also brought forth big waves.

Each platform the musicians stood upon were not fixed down like an unmoving island. The platforms were anchored down, but still fluctuated with the waves. This was also one of the tests for the musicians. The judges wanted to see whether the musicians were able to play to their best in the absence of a calm environment or in a literally unstable situation.

There was a special device on the hover ship that allowed the judges to monitor the musicians' performance. The device's screen clearly displayed how much of an impact the musician's music had. This impact was also a part of the judging requirements in the contest.

When the blue dolphins swam in front of Ferney, they stopped and constantly rolled around in the sea water. They seemed to look very happy and cheerful.

The rest of the musicians were very nervous. They tried even harder to lead the blue dolphins to their platforms, but the dolphins only rolled in the waters near Ferney. They didn't swim in any other direction.

The judges on the ship and the viewers from the broadcast felt that the results of the competition were very obvious. The blue dolphins were loyal to the best music and they all surrounded Ferney. This showed that the music he played was the most beautiful, moving, and impressive to them.

Ferney smiled triumphantly. As long as he held out until the end of the competition, he was the clear winner.