Chapter 116: Chapter 116: Shopping Mall

After they finished catching up, Jiang Qin said she wanted to stay for a week, so the group took a public Flying Car to their hotel.

Meanwhile, Beta, who was nearby, snapped a series of beautiful photos with satisfaction.

Afraid she might startle Jiang Qin, she took a few candid shots before making a point of calling out to her.

Jiang Qin recognized her.

She was the girl who always stood in front of the stage at the bar, her camera flashing at Jiang Qin practically all night long.

So she gave her a cheerful wave.

Beta seized the opportunity to snap a few more pictures. By noon, the new set of photos was posted to her social media account.

The caption read: This morning’s Qin Bao.

[Aaaah, front row seat!]

[Qin Bao is so cute in her casual clothes! She looks so delicate and sweet, but she’s just too thin.]

Although Interstellar People were rarely overweight, being this frail couldn’t be considered a normal, healthy weight.

[Miss Beta’s photographic aesthetic is my favorite. She always captures the most beautiful angles.]

[The last two pictures, is that Qin Bao waving at Beta? They made eye contact!!]

[I wonder when the bar will reopen. I feel like my Riot Value has been rising a little quickly lately. I’m in desperate need of some soothing.]

[Same here. I’m already getting ready to leave Blue Star. I’ve tried a lot of other bars, but none compare to Miss Jiang Qing.]

[It’s probably because at Miss Jiang’s performances, a lot of female Spiritual Bodies tend to appear as well. That’s why the soothing effect is so good—much better than those bars that only have one or two soothing masters.]

[I agree…]

…

The conversation about Calming Power grew more and more involved.

A few people in the know all had the same idea and jumped into the discussion to spread misinformation.

In any case, they didn’t want Jiang Qin to be exposed. After all, to the males at the bottom of the social ladder, she was a lifesaver!

To make up for it, they were willing to spend more money, tip her songs more, and boost her online stats.

They just didn’t want anyone to find out that her Calming Power was comparable to that of an A-level female.

***

After arriving at the hotel, Jiang Qin rented out an entire floor for the week. She also transferred one million Star Coins to Shi Lichuan to cover their daily expenses.

She wasn’t poor anymore. Just last night, she had received her prize money from Tianwen Entertainment.

The prize money from the show’s producers had also been deposited early this morning.

So now, she had a grand total of eighty-five million Star Coins in her account.

Now that she had money, Jiang Qin was quite generous with her people. She gave an additional bonus to everyone who had come on the trip.

“I’d like to go out for a walk this afternoon. You guys can make the arrangements.”

Shi Lichuan replied, “Brother Kun and I will stay by your side. The others can just follow from a distance. Too many of us would be too conspicuous.”

“Okay.”

Jiang Qin hadn’t had a chance to explore the Empire since arriving, so she wanted to go out and see how it differed from the Federation.

The others, however, had already done plenty of exploring.

After all, since they couldn’t follow Jiang Qin onto the set, they had been left with nothing to do but explore the Empire together.

After putting away their luggage and resting for a bit, Jiang Qin headed for the largest shopping center in Central City with Shi Lichuan, Jiao Yankun, and Xie An’an and her sister.

Although she didn’t need to buy any clothes, jewelry, or cosmetics, she still wanted to go and browse.

The shopping center had ten floors in total.

The first floor housed a large supermarket selling daily necessities.

It had nutrient solutions in various flavors, some edible natural plants, toiletries, and so on.

It wasn’t much different from the Federation; all of it was stuff that could be purchased back home.

The second floor was for home appliances.

The third floor was for clothing, jewelry, cosmetics, and similar items.

Quite a few females were browsing, most of them with males following behind.

Jiang Qin spotted a particularly popular shop and went inside to have a look.

The shop sold rather luxurious, puffy gowns. Nearly every dress required a petticoat and was adorned with numerous diamonds.

Interstellar diamonds weren’t considered precious; they were mostly used for decoration.

So much so that they were used simply to embellish dresses.

“These dresses are so beautiful,” Xie An’an marveled.

’If Miss Jiang wore one, she would look absolutely stunning,’ she thought.

She was especially taken with a pure white one, which was decorated with many butterfly-shaped ribbons and dotted with pure white diamonds that made it look as if it were covered in starlight.

Xie An’an discreetly glanced at the price tag.

GASP—Three million Star Coins for one dress!

The other dresses were just as expensive. Even the cheapest, ugliest one cost 780,000 Star Coins.

’Good heavens,’ she thought. ’Just one of these dresses costs more than I’d make in many years of working.’

Even though Jiang Qin considered herself quite wealthy now, she still thought the prices were a bit steep.

What’s more, the fabric was just a synthetic composite.

’By comparison, the clothes from the System were a much better value.’

’The fabric was either cotton or silk, and they only cost reputation value.’

’For her, earning reputation value was faster than earning money anyway.’

’After all, prices in the Interstellar era were truly high. Her eighty-five million would disappear in a flash if she bought a Flying Car, a robot, or a Mecha.’

’She had no plans to buy a Mecha for now, though.’

’As for robots, she already had a housekeeping model at home. If she had enough money, she’d much rather buy a Healing Pod.’

“Miss, would you like me to tell you a bit about these dresses?” The saleswoman was a female Half-beastman.

“Thank you, I’m just looking.”

Hearing this, the saleswoman smiled and stepped aside.

The goods sold on the third floor were almost exclusively for females, so most of the sales associates were female Half-beastmen.

This was because hiring male Beastmen might displease the female clientele.

Female Beastmen generally didn’t need to work, and pure human females were as fragile as porcelain dolls—they might die if someone so much as pushed them.

Thus, female Half-beastmen became the default workforce for such establishments.

But they were discriminated against all the same.

For instance, a female customer nearby was speaking to a saleswoman with open disgust. “I’ll take this dress. Go put on a clean pair of gloves to bag it for me.”

“And be careful. Don’t touch my dress with your filthy hands.”

“So annoying. What kind of garbage store hires a Half-beastman with Cat Clan Genes? She stinks.”

Despite being treated with such disdain, the saleswoman with the cat ears didn’t dare show a hint of displeasure.

She simply bowed hurriedly, apologized, and promised she absolutely would not touch the dress.

The other shoppers were accustomed to such scenes.

The saleswoman, in fact, had no odor at all; if anything, she carried a faint, fresh fragrance.

But discrimination doesn’t require a reason.

And if they wanted to keep this relatively easy job, they couldn’t afford to show any negative emotion.

No matter what a customer said, they had to respond with a smile.

Xie An’an, who had just been marveling at the beautiful dresses, froze when she witnessed the scene. Her smile vanished, and she fell silent, sticking close behind Jiang Qin.

She was afraid of offending these high-status females and causing trouble for Miss Jiang.

So she immediately reined in her words and actions.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep