After Waking Up I Inherited the Earth [Interstellar] – CH111

Chapter 111

The celestial garments before them left the mother and her two sons completely spellbound.

The moment she snapped out of it, Guan Ju completely abandoned her usual ethereal, elegant demeanor. She snatched up her “fairy goddess” outfit at lightning speed and darted straight into the walk-in closet, leaving her older and younger sons standing there, staring blankly at each other.

Holding up another piece—a miniature Hanfu woven with gold and silver threads and adorned with exquisite embroidery—Pei Si looked at his little brother with an unreadable expression. “Little Pei-Pei, should I help you put this on?”

With Mom out of the picture, it was up to the big brother to step up.

Little Pei Yi tilted his tiny head and nodded in agreement without a second thought.

And so, following the tutorial sent by Boss Xie, Pei Si tried his absolute best to dress his little brother.

However—

The clothes went on fine, but the hair was an absolute disaster.

Pei Si: [Deadpan.jpg]

Hair styling was definitely a job best left to the household robots. A clumsy-handed person like him simply wasn’t worthy!

After nearly pulling his little brother bald, a guilty Pei Si stepped aside. Still, possessing close to zero artistic sense, he couldn’t help but feel that the robot was doing it all wrong as it worked. He watched suspiciously until the hairstyle was completely finished, at which point Pei Si finally had to admit that the robot was actually right!

Just as the two brothers finished up, Guan Ju emerged from the closet holding several white silk ribbons. Evidently, she didn’t know how to style her hair either, and she too had come to seek the robot’s assistance.

Changing clothes, braiding hair, and putting on makeup…

By the time Guan Ju completed the full routine, more than three hours had passed, and her two sons were already slumped all over the sofa, fast asleep. Guan Ju “ruthlessly” woke them up, scooped up her younger son, ordered her older son to follow, and headed out to the park to take photos.

It had to be said that the family’s outfits were incredibly striking. Along the way, everyone they passed was left utterly stupefied. When they started taking photos in the park, a crowd quickly gathered to watch. Quite a few onlookers were visibly eager to step forward and ask for their contact information.

In the end, Guan Ju had to release a bit of her A-grade mental energy pressure to make everyone behave “normally” again, allowing the photoshoot to proceed in peace.

It had to be admitted that Guan Ju’s aesthetic taste was actually top-notch! The backgrounds she chose complemented the outfits perfectly. Combined with the family’s natural good looks, the resulting photos turned out spectacularly well. Guan Ju could hardly tear her eyes away from them.

Guan Ju was by no means an isolated case; in fact, almost everyone who received a Hanfu couldn’t resist doing the exact same thing. Take Jiao Yu and Ba Yuqing, for instance, who had received the “Flowing Light Set” and the “Green Bamboo Set.”

Arriving just a few hours after Guan Ju’s package, they finally received their long-awaited Hanfu right on the final day of the holiday.

That morning, Jiao Yu finished her classes early and waited anxiously for Ba Yuqing to get out of her own lectures. The second the bell rang, she whisked Ba Yuqing away, leaving the latter’s classmates completely dazed.

Once they got back to her place, things escalated even further. She flat-out refused to let Ba Yuqing go home, insisting she change into the clothes right there so they could have the butler take photos of them later!

Following Boss Xie’s “instruction manual,” the two girls clumsily managed to complete their entire look. They kept busy until the moon was high in the sky before Jiao Yu finally stopped, entirely satisfied.

Looking at the gorgeous photos, Jiao Yu desperately wanted to post them on Starbo. Yet, she felt a lingering sense of self-consciousness. After agonizing over it for a long time, she decided to wait a little longer!

Jiao Yu: Hmph, I bet everyone else took photos too! In that case, I’ll just wait for others to post first!

Because of this little dilemma, she couldn’t even sleep.

But she didn’t have to wait long. At exactly 2:00 AM, the hype surrounding Hanfu exploded once again. The moment someone finally cracked and posted their pictures on Starbo, eager netizens began tagging every known recipient of a Hanfu, demanding they share their photos immediately.

Having been tagged countless times, Jiao Yu finally put aside her modesty and proudly posted the period-costume photos of herself and her best friend online.

Simultaneously, countless others who had received Hanfu from the “Yonghua Series” and the “Liuxian Series” began flooding Starbo with their own pictures. Whether they were sweet and cute, opulent and elegant, ethereal and fairy-like, boldly heroic, or dashing and scholarly, the sheer beauty of the photos literally moved people to tears.

[Jealous Dog Daily: Waaaaah, so many people in the Star Alliance got a Hanfu! Would it have killed you to give one to me too?!]

[Indescribable Complexity: A few days ago, I thought my jealousy had peaked, but today I realized how naive I was! Sob sob, turns out jealousy has no limits—it just keeps growing!]

These photos completely broke the netizens’ psychological defenses. Everyone already knew that the Yonghua and Liuxian lines were stunning, but without the actual items right in front of their eyes, the impact of mere imagination was limited.

But now that the real things were on full display? Heh. Forget it. They were all turning into bitter, green-eyed monsters.

[Sobbing Monster: Whose sour grapes are flying all over the place? Oh, they’re mine. Carry on then QAQ]

[Suddenly Realizing Money Isn’t Everything: I’m so envious. So, @XieXingchen, when do you plan to officially list the Hanfu for sale? Money is not an issue, as long as you have stock! I’m fine with either [Yonghua] or [Liuxian]. I’m very well-behaved and not picky at all! [BehavingMyself.jpg]]

True, Yonghua was gorgeous, but if Yonghua wasn’t available, Liuxian would do just fine! Everyone had compromised to this extent already.

Boss Xie, don’t force us to get on our knees and beg!

[I See Through It All: Sigh, what do you mean by “not picky”? Since when have we ever been allowed to choose when dealing with Earth Commerce? ????????]

[Fruit Under the Lemon Tree: Hahaha, the person above is spitting facts. Still, we have to save a bit of face for ourselves!]

[Big Cat: Honestly, who cares about face? Getting the actual goods is what matters! Pride is just an empty shell compared to real benefits. I’m throwing my pride away, so… Boss Xie, when are you stocking the Hanfu? @XieXingchen]

With one person tagging Xie Xingchen, countless others followed suit. Even if Xie Xingchen missed a few, the sheer volume of tags would inevitably trigger his notification system.

And indeed, it did.

At present, a significant amount of the Yonghua Series had already been produced, and the Liuxian Series was gradually being manufactured and stockpiled through Dawang Apparel. As such, listing the Hanfu for sale wouldn’t pose any problem for Xie Xingchen.

However, he had no intention of doing so immediately. He wanted to let the hype simmer a little longer, waiting for the Hanfu craze to peak before launching them.

And his strategy proved correct.

As more and more people flaunted their Hanfu across the Star Network, the trend gained massive momentum. Whether it was the garments themselves, the jewelry, or the matching accessories, everything was breathtakingly beautiful. It was a mesmerizing allure that instantly captivated anyone who laid eyes on it—an opulent elegance that, without being overly extravagant, was deeply imbued with charm and cultural heritage.

Dashing scholars, elegant young ladies of noble birth, noble court ladies, carefree martial arts heroes, charming girls next door, gentle intellectuals… The moment someone put on these clothes, their entire aura shifted so drastically they seemed like completely different people.

It was clearly just a piece of clothing, yet it somehow became the ultimate tool for amplifying one’s charm. What’s more, those wearing Hanfu had effectively become the ultimate trendsetters standing at the absolute forefront of fashion in the interstellar era.

Xie Xingchen: ?

Wait a minute. He knew the Hanfu craze would intensify, but… this particular direction left him somewhat baffled. After pondering for a brief moment, Xie Xingchen kind of understood why, but he preferred not to dwell on it. Following a long silence, he wore a strange expression and prepared to log out of Starbo.

However—another wave of people suddenly began tagging him like crazy. This time, they were even more aggressive than before! But it wasn’t the Hanfu they were after—they wanted him to grant travel permissions to Earth.

Xie Xingchen: ?

What is wrong with you guys? Why are you shifting gears so fast?

Xie Xingchen clicked to investigate. He soon realized it wasn’t that the netizens were fickle, but rather that the two requests shared the same root cause.

Because—the netizens discovered that their backgrounds sucked! While wearing Hanfu made anyone look gorgeous regardless of the setting, there was a strange, jarring sense of dissonance when paired with futuristic scenery. After much contemplation, everyone concluded that ancient Chinese architecture was the perfect match. They sorely lacked appropriate backdrops for their photoshoots!

Xie Xingchen was speechless. How should he put it… The last time he saw something this ridiculous was the last time he saw something this ridiculous.

Opening Earth for tourism was completely out of the question! He hadn’t even finished building the interstellar orbital stations yet; how could he possibly host tourists? Besides, Earth’s defense forces were still far too weak. Without being armed to the teeth, he didn’t dare let people onto the planet willy-nilly—especially these wealthy elites who owned their own starships and spaceships and didn’t even need to use public spaceways!

With a single glance, Xie Xingchen opted for temporary amnesia, pretended he saw nothing, and quietly closed Starbo.

Since not many people had managed to redeem a full Hanfu, Xie Xingchen finished shipping out the packages very quickly. Aside from a few individuals who had requested specific delivery times, everyone else received their packages over the next two days.

But truth be told, the number of people who could complete an entire set was incredibly small. Most people only managed to collect a few matching pieces. Consequently, over the past few days, Starbo transformed from a photo-sharing platform into a massive secondhand Hanfu marketplace.

To complete their desired sets, wealthy buyers threw out offers so astronomical that even Xie Xingchen felt tempted to slide into their DMs and sell his own stock. Though he exercised self-restraint, others didn’t hesitate.

[Lele is Going to School: Waaaaah, I sold my Flying Immortal Skirt! My heart aches, but I’m so incredibly happy! Hahaha, I’ve secured my tuition and living expenses for four years of higher education! I finally don’t have to worry about my studies anymore!]

[Broke Screaming Chicken: I didn’t want to sell it either, but their offer was just too high. It left my head spinning. By the time I snapped out of it, I had already agreed to the trade. Whimper, my Yunjin silk round fan, please take care of yourself with your new master. I’m sure she will treat you well!]

[It’s So Hot Here: I’m a different story altogether ??. Ever since the hype started, I’ve been waiting to flip mine for a profit! Hahaha, I’m a genius. The moment I saw the event, I made my little brother and sister join in. We redeemed different components of the [Immortal Lord Robe] separately and managed to piece together a complete set. The price for a full set is absolutely insane! Anyway, the tuition and living expenses for the three of us are completely covered now. Earth Commerce is truly a godsend for broke students!]

“…”

Earth Commerce had a massive following of lower-income fans. Most of these supporters came from underprivileged backgrounds and normally couldn’t afford any of Earth Commerce’s products. Yet without exception, they deeply loved this store—because it provided them with opportunities to make money!

First, there was the option to purchase limited items and resell them, and now, they could sell the event prizes. With a little hard work and a dash of luck, they could secure their tuition and living expenses for the next few years solely through Earth Commerce.

It was precisely for this reason that when Xie Xingchen previously had the chance to crack down on scalpers, he ultimately decided against it. He wasn’t a selfless saint, but he couldn’t bring himself to be entirely indifferent to their plight either. If he could lend a hand without harming his own interests, Xie Xingchen would never pass up the opportunity to do so.

He even went as far as providing corresponding part-time job openings. For instance, during the recent Lantern Festival event, apart from a few specific event NPCs that required skilled actors, the remaining NPC roles were all recruited from groups of low-income students looking for part-time work.

These were official groups with strict entry requirements, allowing Xie Xingchen to rest easy. As it turned out, he had made the right call. The students were incredibly diligent, responsible, and enthusiastic, and their explanations were highly thorough. Xie Xingchen felt every single credit he spent was worth it.

When the part-time work concluded, Xie Xingchen gifted each of them a set of “Changan Impressions” postcards, leaving everyone beaming with joy.

Thus, looking at the current situation, though Xie Xingchen sighed a couple of times over missing out on making that extra cash himself, he was genuinely happy for them.

Time flowed like sand through an hourglass, slipping away unnoticed. The warm spring days of March had long since arrived.

During this season of blooming flowers, Xie Xingchen successfully unlocked several fruit trees in sequence, including mandarin orange, loquat, ginkgo, apple, pear, apricot, and plum trees. Such a rapid unlocking speed was largely thanks to the plant affinity bonus awarded by the system after he completed the hidden quest, “Joyous New Year Celebrations.”

He had been so preoccupied with miscellaneous tasks early on that he hadn’t noticed the changes to his character panel. Only now did he abruptly discover that his mental energy level had reached A+. The sole variable responsible for this leap was the fact that his plant affinity had increased by another point.

With this in mind, Xie Xingchen couldn’t help but tap open his character panel once more.

Name: Xie Xingchen
Race: Human
Territory: Earth
Level: LV6
Companion: Fat Bunny (Feifei) [+]
Experience: 4501/60000
Plant Affinity: ? + 2
Mental Energy Level: A+ (?)
Game Progress: 0.5%
Illustrated Encyclopedia Progress: 0.5%
Infrastructure Progress: 0.5%

The panel had only changed in two areas: [Experience] and [Plant Affinity]. Based on past experience, experience points weren’t the deciding factor here. Therefore, the trigger for the upgrade in his mental energy level was almost certainly his plant affinity.

So, when plant affinity reached “? + 2,” his mental energy level bumped up to A+? Xie Xingchen had slightly forgotten whether his mental energy level had increased the first time his plant affinity went up. However, he vividly remembered that after his plant affinity improved, the task of accelerated plant growth became significantly easier.

Were the two positively correlated? Reflecting on his recent growth-acceleration tasks, Xie Xingchen felt that this was exactly the case.

His mental strength had grown. Not only had his overall mental capacity expanded, but the amount of mental energy required to accelerate a plant’s growth had also decreased dramatically. Based on this, Xie Xingchen formulated a bold hypothesis: the higher his plant affinity, the less mental energy he needed for acceleration.

Moreover, the fact that a single-point increase yielded such a pronounced effect indicated that this attribute was incredibly potent and exceptionally difficult to raise. Consequently, he further surmised that the hidden base value represented by the “?” in his plant affinity was definitely a single digit, and most likely a number below five.

Of course, these were merely his own speculations. Whether they held true was something only the system knew. But since the system would never voluntarily disclose such information, Xie Xingchen maintained a perfectly detached, Zen-like attitude. He would just let nature take its course. After all, the numbers remained the same whether he knew the truth or not; his understanding wouldn’t change reality.

Closing the character panel, Xie Xingchen tapped on Feifei’s status page. Seeing that the bunny’s mood was listed as “Excited,” he couldn’t help but chuckle.

Feifei had been lounging around the house lazily for a while. Just when Xie Xingchen thought the bunny would wait until after the Lantern Festival on the fifteenth of the first lunar month to travel, it unexpectedly packed its little bags on the fourteenth, pinned on its Red Commemorative Medal, and set off.

Who would have thought that the Red Commemorative Medal, which usually seemed rather useless, would play a vital role right on the day of the Lantern Festival! Triggering the festival buff from the medal, Feifei had returned bearing a basket of plump glutinous rice seeds.

The moment Xie Xingchen laid his hands on those plump glutinous rice seeds, tears practically welled up in his eyes. After all this time, he had finally found sticky rice! This was an indispensable ingredient for a myriad of culinary delicacies!

Once he successfully cultivated it, he could freely make pounded rice cakes, lunar new year cakes, rice dumplings, shaomai, steamed rice pastries, and crispy rice crusts whenever he wanted. He could even use it to brew rice wine and rice vinegar!

Xie Xingchen had been so ecstatic that he picked up Feifei and showered it with countless kisses, causing the thoroughly disgusted bunny to flee in terror. That very night, it packed its bags and went on another journey, and it still hadn’t returned.

Since there weren’t any major holidays coming up, Xie Xingchen didn’t harbor exceptionally high expectations for Feifei’s current trip. With Feifei out traveling, he began doing some exploration of his own.

During that period, accompanied by his robots and driving the latest model of hover-car, Xie Xingchen aimlessly roamed across the vast terrain. By the end of his wandering, he honestly had no idea where he had ended up.

Yet, despite his lack of direction, the fruits of his aimless wandering were remarkably abundant. Not only did he discover four types of fully matured fruit trees, but all four happened to be species listed in the encyclopedia. This meant Xie Xingchen could skip the acceleration process entirely.

He simply harvested the fruits and listed them in the holographic mall, unlocking multiple entries in the system’s encyclopedia within a matter of days. Presently, out of the twenty-five fruit tree varieties on page two of the system encyclopedia, Xie Xingchen had only eight left to unlock.

Today, he set out to explore once more in order to complete those remaining eight entries. Among the remaining options, Xie Xingchen felt that a peach tree would be the easiest to find. This was because peach blossom season spanned from March to May, which coincided perfectly with the current timeframe!

As the ancient poem went, “On the young peach branches, the spring breeze arrives early, as one tries on thin silk garments for the first time.” [1] Right now was precisely the time for wearing light spring attire.

Peach trees were among the most common fruit trees native to China, boasting a wide geographical distribution and immense numbers. Coupled with the fact that it was currently late March, Xie Xingchen felt that as long as he searched diligently, it would be impossible not to find a peach orchard.

Yes, a whole grove of them! What Xie Xingchen sought wasn’t just one or two isolated peach trees, but an entire grove that looked dreamlike and ethereal, resembling a vast sea of pink clouds.

And he succeeded. Upon a certain mist-shrouded mountainside, he discovered the exact peach orchard he had envisioned.

He halted his steps, gazed upon the scene, and became completely entranced.

Where the flowers bloomed, layers upon layers of deep and pale pinks blended seamlessly, creating a gradient beauty reminiscent of the delicate peach-blossom makeup adorned by women of old. The ancient verse, “Where peach blossoms bloom in shades deep and light, it resembles the careful blending of rouge on a fair face,” [2] perfectly captured the sight before him.

Stepping into the orchard, a subtle, sweet floral fragrance wafted into his nostrils. Fluttering butterflies added an even greater sense of unreality to this earthly paradise. A babbling brook meandered down from the mountaintop. As a gentle breeze swept through, peach petals drifted down onto the water, floating along the current toward some unknown destination…

It was breathtakingly beautiful—so much so that Xie Xingchen felt loath to disrupt such a serene and poetic atmosphere.

However—the three robots who had accompanied him—Facai, Fugui, and Changshou—possessed absolutely no artistic appreciation whatsoever.

Upon seeing such an abundance of beautiful peach trees, their faces instantly lit up with mechanical glee as they shouted to Xie Xingchen, “Boss! These are the peach trees we’ve been looking for all this time!”

The excited voices of the three robots echoed one after another.

Clang… That was the sound of the aesthetic filter in Xie Xingchen’s mind shattering into a million pieces.

Xie Xingchen: 🙂

He really shouldn’t have harbored any expectations regarding a robot’s sense of beauty. Shaking his head helplessly, Xie Xingchen suddenly realized how utterly incompatible they were with this magnificent scenery.

Under the urging gazes of the three robots, Xie Xingchen stepped forward quickly and gently placed his hand against the trunk of the peach tree in front of him.

[Ding! Congratulations to the player for discovering a “Peach Tree.” The Peach Tree has been unlocked.]

The system notification chimed, its cold, mechanical voice successfully dispelling the final vestige of romance lingering in the air.

“Layer upon layer of peach and plum blossoms cover the mountain, while smoke from cooking fires rises among the clouds, marking a human settlement.” [3] As expected, he belonged firmly to the mundane, practical world of everyday life. That sort of ethereal, transcendent state simply didn’t suit him.

Or perhaps, it didn’t suit a version of him that spent all his time surrounded by robots? Mind you, he had no idea why he was sensing the warmth of human life from a bunch of home appliances.

Xie Xingchen: 0.0

Ah, whatever! At any rate, none of them were the type to feign melancholy just to write a poetic verse. To put it bluntly, not a single soul present possessed a delicate, sensitive heart!

Facai blinked its optical sensors. “Boss, are we going to harvest the blossoms?”

Fugui’s eyes gleamed. “There are so many peach blossoms here.”

Changshou was bursting with excitement. “If we harvest and dry them, we can sell them for a ton of money!”

Xie Xingchen shook his head and laughed out loud. Great. All three of them were completely obsessed with money.

Yet in the very next second, Xie Xingchen spoke up with immense enthusiasm, “Actually, we can make money off them even without drying them!”

Whether these fresh peach blossoms were used for crafting beverages, food plating, or turning into peach blossom pastries, rice cakes, and jams… they were all perfectly viable options. The simple-hearted (and financially drained) Xie Xingchen declared that he had officially laid claim to this entire peach orchard!

It was no wonder Xie Xingchen mocked himself for being just like Facai, Fugui, and Changshou—only capable of loving the practical details of the mundane world. After all, their actions truly demonstrated an absolute devotion to everyday utility!

Anyone with even a shred of literary cultivation or artistic sensibility would probably react to this dreamlike peach forest by strolling through it and soaking in the romance! And what about Xie Xingchen? Aside from being dazed for about ten seconds at the very beginning, his thoughts had veered completely off track for the rest of the time.

First, he brainstormed the various practical uses of the blossoms alongside Facai, Fugui, and Changshou. Then, they moved on to fantasizing about all the delicious treats they could make. Finally, as they stared at the massive expanse of pink, they were already calculating exactly how much revenue would be lining their pockets!

In the end, Xie Xingchen decisively called the robots over to start plucking the peach blossoms. By this point, he had long since tossed his initial awe of the stunning orchard to the back of his mind!

Xie Xingchen’s current mindset was precisely that of an old farmer looking at a bumper crop. Gazing upon these lovely blossoms, his brain automatically converted them into quest completion rates and sales revenue!

Xie Xingchen smiled: [FeelingDelighted.gif]

Xie Xingchen rejoiced: [MakingAFortune.jpg]

Under the leadership of a master whose head was entirely filled with quests and money, this dreamlike peach orchard, which had been blooming beautifully, was thoroughly “ravaged” within a single day.

When Xie Xingchen happily listed the peach blossoms for sale and uploaded before-and-after photos of the orchard, alongside snapshots of his hard-working robots, into the product detail section, the public was left completely and utterly bewildered.

[ConfusedNickYoung.jpg]

Excuse me, what on earth is going on here?

[1] From a poem by the Song Dynasty poet Zhu Shuzhen.

[2] From a poem by the Tang Dynasty poet Yuan Zhen.

[3] From a poem by the Tang Dynasty poet Liu Yuxi.

Click here to download the full novel. (EPUB & PDF)