After Waking Up I Inherited the Earth [Interstellar] – CH115

Chapter 115

“What’s up with Best Actor Lu? Since this afternoon, he hasn’t stopped smiling.”

A staff member passing by saw the huge grin on Lu Fei’s face and felt a little… unaccustomed to it.

“I heard from Xiao Wang that he got some package and he’s happy about it,” someone who knew a bit of the inside story revealed.

But nobody believed it.

Happy because he got a package?
Is there really a package in this world that powerful?

“Come on. Best Actor Lu has everything. You’re telling me he’s this excited over a package? No one would buy that.”

“Yeah. I feel like something good happened at home. Like… his wife had a baby or something?”

“Hey, that actually makes sense. Did his wife really give birth to a kid?”

Some people who knew Lu Fei was mixed-blood couldn’t help nodding the moment this guess came up.

Yep. That had to be it.

Mixed-blood people had a hard time having kids—if they got one, of course he’d be over the moon.

But… wasn’t it that Best Actor Lu already had a son?

Having another one this fast didn’t seem very reasonable.

A bunch of staff gathered and gossiped, and the more they talked, the more outrageous it got—until Xiao Wang walked by and caught them.

Xiao Wang looked at them seriously. “Stop guessing nonsense here. Best Actor Lu really is happy because he received a package.”

Seeing everyone still unconvinced, Xiao Wang glanced at them and added, “It’s a package from Earth Commerce. Boss Xie specifically sent it to him.”

That one sentence hit like thunder.

“Xie Xingchen” was a legendary name in the entertainment industry.

How many celebrities were jealous, envious, and resentful of him?
How unbelievable was it that an outsider could camp on trending topics every day?

Whether people were annoyed or shocked, Xie Xingchen had bulldozed his way into the trending charts so hard that even paparazzi leaks had to steer around him.

“Xiao Wang, seriously? Your Best Actor Lu and Boss Xie actually know each other?”

“Xiao Wang, can you explain in more detail? Let us hear it!”

All the gossip-hungry eyes locked onto Xiao Wang. The melon-eaters practically wanted to pull out their snacks right there.

But Xiao Wang didn’t know much himself—how could he spill details? Still, that didn’t stop him from showing off.

He smiled calmly. “That’s an artist’s privacy. As someone with professional ethics, I’m not going to reveal an artist’s private matters.”

Everyone: “……”

Everyone: dead fish eyes.jpg

You say that… and how are we supposed to keep asking?

The atmosphere stalled. Everyone stared at Xiao “Professional Ethics” Wang with accusatory eyes.

Xiao Wang didn’t care at all and waved his hands. “Alright, alright. Stop gossiping here and go work. I’m leaving too.”

He tried to walk away, but someone grabbed him.

“Xiao Wang—since your Best Actor Lu is so close with Boss Xie, can you help us buy some stuff through him?”

The speaker was a rich second-gen who came into the entertainment industry purely to watch the drama up close. He parachuted into a traffic star’s team as an “assistant.”

But he never actually did assistant work. He followed that traffic star purely because there was endless gossip around them, making it convenient for him to eat melons.

“Yeah, Xiao Wang. Can you talk to your Best Actor and have him help bring some goods? As long as he’s willing, everything’s negotiable.”

The subtext was: resources or money, either is fine.

A normal small celebrity might actually be tempted, but Best Actor Lu?

Xiao Wang’s face went pale.

If he dared to ask, he might lose his job on the spot.

But among the people present, several were people he absolutely couldn’t offend.

So he could only laugh awkwardly. “Hahaha, it’s not like that. Best Actor Lu and Boss Xie don’t have some incredible private relationship. It’s just… their families have business cooperation, that’s all.”

Meaning: whatever Best Actor Lu got was because he benefited from his family’s connections.

Compared to his earlier braggy undertone, Xiao Wang now looked a lot more deflated and clearly insincere.

But this explanation sounded more believable, and the annoying gossipers he couldn’t afford to offend finally let him go.

Xiao Wang relaxed, tossed out a quick “I’m going to work,” and sprinted away.

“Hahahaha, this Xiao Wang really can’t handle pressure.”

Someone in the crowd burst out laughing.

“He’s just a small assistant. Even if he has a little access, he’s nowhere near Best Actor Lu’s inner circle.”

“Honestly, Lu Fei’s ability is pretty strong. He’s one of the best at managing his staff out of all the artists I’ve met. No wonder there’s never much gossip about him in the industry.”

As they chatted, the topic drifted again.

“Xiao Wang said Lu Fei’s family and Boss Xie are business partners. Do you think that’s true?”

A richly dressed guy idly twirled the clasp of his space button and spoke leisurely. “Probably. Isn’t Lu Fei’s family in the ranch business?”

Another well-dressed person shook his head and continued, “It’s not just a ranch. His family also has their own small planet. They’re just extremely low-key—and that planet is under the Plant Civilization’s jurisdiction, so most people don’t know.”

Everyone couldn’t help clicking their tongues.

A planet lord!

Even for them, being a planet lord was a dream career!

So Best Actor Lu was actually the son of a planet lord?

“Hahahaha—he’s not only the son of a planet lord, he’s the planet lord’s only child,” the person who revealed Lu Fei’s background kept laughing.

Everyone grew even more envious.

Some of them were wealthy, sure, but not all of them were sons of planet lords. Some just had a big estate or a big ranch.

After only a few more sentences, the one who revealed it immediately added, “What’s there to envy? Lu Fei’s dad is from the Plant Civilization. A naturally long-lived species—he’ll probably outlive Lu Fei.”

Mixed-blood was mixed-blood. It couldn’t be compared to pureblood.

Maybe in some areas mixed-blood could be stronger than pureblood, but when it came to lifespan, no race—or mixed-blood—could beat the Plant Civilization.

That remark was nasty. You could even call it a curse.

Lu Fei was a high-level mental-power user, and his father was a planet lord. Nobody was stupid enough to “wish” for a father to outlive his son.

Seeing that person still wanting to talk, everyone laughed it off, found excuses, and left.

These days, living well wasn’t just about having money. You had to understand what you could do and what you couldn’t do, what you could say and what you couldn’t say.

Their families had some power, but the ones who could casually enter the entertainment industry to eat gossip were usually not the children their families valued most.

So if they wanted to live well, they needed to keep their heads down.

Keeping your head down meant living easy and free. But if you got dragged into something ugly, in serious cases you might even lose your life.

The small group dispersed, and everyone went back to work in twos and threes.

During filming, whenever Best Actor Lu stepped off set with that lifted corner of his mouth, the crew couldn’t help feeling their teeth ache from jealousy.

One young guy who got along decently with Lu Fei noticed something sharp. When he saw Lu Fei take out an ultra-mini little cup to drink water, he went straight over.

“Teacher Lu, is that something Boss Xie sent you?” He didn’t beat around the bush—he asked directly.

His attitude was open and straightforward, and he looked fresh, clean, and fair. It was the kind of look that naturally won favor.

In a great mood, Lu Fei nodded and smiled. “Yeah. Boss Xie sent me sweet soup. It’s really good. After you drink it, it also has a calming, focus-settling effect.”

Huh—calming and focus-settling?

That sounded like something medicinal plants would do.

The young guy stared at him eagerly without speaking.

Lu Fei just smiled, without making any move.

Shi Kai could only put away his little thoughts.

Yeah… this was food personally made by Boss Xie from Earth Commerce. Who would be willing to hand it to someone else?

He really wanted to taste it, but if it wasn’t offered, there was nothing he could do.

Just as he turned away disappointed, Lu Fei called him back and gave him a new Earth Commerce sippy cup.

When Xie Xingchen sent the lotus-seed sweet soup, he also threw in a pile of merch.

This sippy cup was one of them—and there were more than ten.

Lu Fei couldn’t use that many himself, so he gave one to a younger person who looked pleasing to the eye.

Holding the cup, Shi Kai left with a radiant smile, his footsteps practically bouncing with excitement.

Earth Commerce’s new sippy cup!

Hahahaha—he finally had one too!

Shi Kai happily posted on StarBlog to show off his cup. In the photo, what drew the eye even more than the cup was his smile—brighter than the sun.

Honestly, there was a reason Lu Fei treated him with special favor.

He looked refreshingly obedient, with a gentle, attractive smile—truly the textbook example of someone the heavens fed directly.

If he wanted to be a star, he’d go viral in no time.

But Shi Kai didn’t care about that. He only wanted to be a melon-eating assistant—yet that didn’t stop him from becoming a StarBlog influencer.

The moment he posted, the comments and reposts shot past a thousand. That’s how active his fans were.

[Mom is here]: Front row! Seeing Kaikai’s smile again—so healing!

[Hopelessly captivated]: Wuwuwu my baby is so cute! Of course your doggy sippy cup is cute too—who gave it to you?

Shi Kai had a lot of “mom fans.” Whenever he posted, most comments were from mom fans. A small portion weren’t mom fans, but were dad fans, big-brother fans, big-sister fans, elder fans—at most, just casual fans.

Boyfriend/girlfriend/wife/husband fan types basically didn’t exist in his fandom.

So everyone talked to him in an especially doting tone.

[Shi Kai V]: Teacher Lu gave it to me! Boss Xie from Earth Commerce sent Teacher Lu a whole bunch of merch—wuwuwu today I’m crying again over someone else’s friendship! Why don’t I have a best friend like Boss Xie?!

Before posting, Shi Kai had asked Lu Fei whether it was okay.

He thought Lu Fei would refuse, but for some reason Lu Fei actually let him post it.

Catching Lu Fei’s meaning instantly, Shi Kai was thrilled—and even while posting, he didn’t forget to advertise the friendship between Lu Fei and Xie Xingchen!

[Happy person]: Huh? Seriously? That sippy cup was given to you by Teacher Lu?

[I’m shocked]: Baby, what virtue did you accumulate?! Teacher Lu would actually give a small assistant something that good?

[Free mom status]: Wuwuwu is it because you’re too well-behaved? Or because Teacher Lu is just too kind?

At first, fans were touched by how Lu Fei treated Shi Kai and flooded the comments, but after a while, they spotted the key point.

[I’m shocked]: Wait—did baby just say “Best Actor Lu” and “Boss Xie”?

[The smell of dirt]: No way—how did these two people who don’t match at all end up connected?

[Green fish]: Oh my—are they good friends? The kind who can send each other stuff?

[My baby is so cute]: Seriously? I’ve never seen Best Actor Lu go to Earth. If they’re good friends, he should’ve been to Earth, right? Or… was Best Actor Lu one of those people doing censored livestreams before?
[Shocked.jpg]

If that were true, it would be terrifying.

Best Actor Lu—the undisputed top in everyone’s heart—actually did a censored livestream for them?

No way, right?

[Lu Lu, fly bravely]: I’m a diehard Best Actor Lu fan—like, even if he turned to ashes I’d recognize him. I swear on my life that Best Actor Lu was absolutely not in that censored livestream.

[Lu is so cute]: Same, veteran Best Actor Lu fan +1. I guarantee he wasn’t in that censored livestream. If he were, I would’ve recognized him immediately.

One person, two people, countless people…

StarBlog was suddenly filled with Best Actor Lu fans, many of them long-time veterans, all proving in every way possible that their idol had never appeared in Xie Xingchen’s livestreams.

So then the question became…

Best Actor Lu had never appeared in Boss Xie’s livestreams!
So did they really have some earth-shaking friendship?

Wasn’t that a stretch?

And then—

Best Actor Lu mysteriously posted a StarBlog update, with a photo of the lotus-seed sweet soup and a pile of Earth Commerce merch, plus one restrained sentence:

“We should count as friends, right?”

That post blew the entire net up.

And this time, it wasn’t just fans being detonated—entertainment industry insiders got hit too.

Who was Best Actor Lu?

The highest mental-power level in the industry, and also the most respected top-tier acting powerhouse.

And Xie Xingchen?

The guy who stole trending topics from the entertainment industry every day.

These two people who didn’t match at all actually knew each other?

Not only knew each other—were friends? Possibly even close friends?

Was that reasonable?

Stars were shocked to the point of metaphorical internal bleeding.

But the mature “microscope-level” netizens were already hunting for clues.

Never underestimate netizens’ action power.

In just a few hours, Lu Fei and Xie Xingchen’s connection got dug up.

They both studied in the Planting Department of Human Civilization’s First Academy. Although they had no interactions in school (their enrollment times were too far apart), they were indeed senior and junior from the same major.

But that alone didn’t prove they knew each other, let alone that they were close.

The real proof was—

Lu Fei used to be Professor Ni Kunqi’s favorite disciple, and Xie Xingchen was now Professor Ni Kunqi’s favorite disciple.

Netizens:!

Case closed—so it was you, Professor Ni Kunqi!

No wonder they knew each other. No wonder they were close. The professor introduced them!

One was her former favorite disciple, one was her current favorite disciple.

Both favorites—so the professor connected them?

[You’ve shocked my mom]: Okay but still… Best Actor Lu is actually an outstanding graduate from a planting major?

[Lu Lu, fly bravely]: And he was Professor Ni Kunqi’s favorite disciple?!

[Little Lanni]: Then the question is… why did he go become a celebrity? Are his family and Professor Ni Kunqi really that nice? Wouldn’t they break his legs?

“……”

[Melon Star]: Hahahaha I can answer this! Because Lu Fei is mixed-blood, so his family dotes on him. Even Professor Ni couldn’t do anything about him—she was furious for a long time before Best Actor Lu finally coaxed her back into a good mood.

“……”

[Starry sky]: Holy crap! That actually makes sense, but… Best Actor Lu is so willful that I want to light a candle for the professor!

Once the relationship between Xie Xingchen, Lu Fei, and Professor Ni Kunqi was exposed, the “friendship” angle between Xie Xingchen and Lu Fei suddenly looked very obvious.

Xie Xingchen: ?

I mean… is it possible they were just normal friends?

But… that was Best Actor Lu!

Being his good friend didn’t seem like a loss at all.

After thinking it over, Xie Xingchen didn’t refute anything.

There wasn’t really anything to refute.

The relationships netizens dug up were real, and his relationship with Best Actor Lu really was better than “ordinary friends.”

Plus Lu Fei had a good personality and was fun to be around, so Xie Xingchen felt that given time, he might genuinely become close friends with him.

If he refuted it now, wouldn’t he be slapping his own face later?

Heh. He wasn’t that dumb!

Xie Xingchen decided not to bother with the online chaos and just let it ride.

But Lu Fei messaged him.

After confirming Xie Xingchen didn’t mind either, Lu Fei immediately smiled—and then quietly asked if he could go “tour” Earth Commerce.

Clearly, he’d been “hurt” by the netizens’ comments, especially those who claimed to be his diehard fans!

Lu Fei truly never expected to be “backstabbed” by his own fans one day—so much so that he suddenly felt resentful about not having traveled to a certain place.

Xie Xingchen: Emmm.

Xie Xingchen laughed it off. “There’ll be a chance. There’ll definitely be a chance in the future. Once Earth Commerce opens a tourism route, I’ll invite you first to come play.”

He couldn’t go immediately, but those words still comforted Lu Fei.

So Lu Fei immediately followed up to lock the promise in place.

And not only did he lock it in—he upgraded one tourism slot into a whole-family tourism slot.

Xie Xingchen smiled brightly. “Absolutely, absolutely. The day Earth Commerce opens the tourism route, I’ll make you the first tourist. Then you can bring your wife and kid over and really enjoy Earth’s scenery. I’ll definitely host your whole family properly.”

Two grown adults exchanged polite promises back and forth. After they ended the call, both silently celebrated:

Good thing I was sharp—I didn’t get fooled by him!

Both Xie Xingchen and Best Actor Lu were “traffic passwords” on the net lately.

But as long-term trending-topic people, they were completely used to it. It wasn’t that they didn’t care—they just didn’t take it seriously at all.

Lu Fei went back to filming, while Xie Xingchen returned to exploration.

He wanted to discover more plants and get them planted before heading to the insect race territory. That way, when he came back, he could welcome harvest season!

Just thinking about it made him happy.

With that kind of “reaping without sowing” expectation, even Xie Xingchen’s exploration steps became lighter.

By a stream, Xie Xingchen stopped his hovercar.

He’d brought nutrient solution on the trip, but he really didn’t want to drink it.

He decided to cook here.

But just as he took out his gear, Prosperity—who’d been gone washing vegetables for a long time—suddenly returned.

He pointed at the stream. “Boss, there’s a weird spot over there.”

Following Prosperity’s finger, Xie Xingchen didn’t see anything unusual.

But he trusted Prosperity wouldn’t point at nothing, so he packed up and followed Prosperity forward in curiosity.

They walked along the stream for a while, and then he saw two small mountains. Between them was a little opening that seemed to glow faintly, as if there were light inside.

Xie Xingchen took out a boat and drifted in with the current through the narrow stream between the two mountains.

A small boat slid through green mountains and clear waters.

The scene looked like an ink-wash landscape painting drawn by a poet.

That splash of ink and freehand beauty came rushing at him without warning.

The valley between the two mountains was quiet and secluded. Greenery covered the slopes, butterflies fluttered everywhere, and in the morning the mist hung low—giving it an airy, almost immortal feel.

The hills on both sides looked small, but they stretched surprisingly far.

Xie Xingchen rowed for a long time and still hadn’t left their range.

Partly because he didn’t want to rush.

This place was too beautiful. Beautiful enough that from the moment he entered the stream, he never once thought of flying over the valley with a hovercar.

Beautiful enough that he still didn’t feel like taking a hoverboard and just skipping everything from above.

He didn’t want to break the comfort of drifting through mountains and water on a small boat, so he let the current carry him slowly.

After who knew how long, the hills gradually faded away, replaced by endless green scenery.

It was still very beautiful, but the earlier thrill and shock of passing between two green cliffs had faded.

Xie Xingchen found a good moment to dock and go ashore.

He stored the boat in his space button, then took out his hoverboard.

He was about to ride back, but right before leaving, he suddenly turned his head.

Pointing at those upright, emerald-green plants, Xie Xingchen asked Prosperity, “Prosperity—look. Are those bamboo?”

Prosperity knew bamboo—there was plenty in the Listening-to-Bamboo Pavilion at the Xie residence.

So he nodded immediately, then asked in surprise, “Boss, do you not recognize bamboo anymore?”

Hearing Prosperity confirm it, Xie Xingchen smiled.

He ran over to take a closer look and answered with a question that wasn’t really an answer: “Prosperity, we’re really lucky this time! We found bamboo shoots!”

Prosperity: confused.jpg
Bamboo shoots? Don’t we already have bamboo shoots at home?

Xie Xingchen pulled out his bamboo-shoot digging tool.

In just a few moves, he dug up a thick, white, chubby bamboo shoot.

It was so big that even Prosperity looked confused.

Prosperity asked, “Boss, why is it different from the bamboo shoots at our place?”

Compared to this fat, white bamboo shoot, the bamboo shoots at the Xie residence looked like malnourished little kids.

Xie Xingchen practically teared up.

“Because ours are ornamental bamboo. The shoots are tiny and don’t taste good,” Xie Xingchen pouted, sounding a little disgusted.

Bamboo shoots were delicious!

Spring bamboo shoots, winter bamboo shoots—either one could taste so fresh it felt like it could knock your tongue out.

But the bamboo shoots in the Listening-to-Bamboo Pavilion?

All he could say was: ornamental bamboo shoots really lived up to the name.

They weren’t meant for eating!

Unlike these—white and plump, and even smelling strongly fragrant.

They hadn’t even hit his mouth yet, and Xie Xingchen already dared to guarantee they were going to be insanely delicious!

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