After Waking Up I Inherited the Earth [Interstellar] – CH56

Chapter 56

What does it mean for joy to turn into sorrow?

This—this was joy turning into sorrow!

After seeing Xie Xingchen’s StarBlog post, most netizens exploded with anger.

Why should Earth Commerce reserve 20% of its products exclusively for residents of remote planets to grab?

Just because they have thick skin? Or because they cry the loudest?

People living on developed planets and ordinary planets instantly blew up in rage.

Especially residents of those “middle-of-the-road” ordinary planets—neither quite up nor quite down. The moment they heard the news, their eyes practically split with fury.

What the hell? Is that any way to handle things?

So people from developed planets and remote planets are “people,” but they aren’t?

Right now, folks from developed planets have faster internet and better light-brains, so the ordinary-planet citizens can’t beat them.

And remote-planet folks have slower internet, but now they get a dedicated quota—so ordinary-planet citizens can’t beat them either.

So… in the end, did they unlock the achievement: Only ordinary-planet citizens get hurt?

[ShepherdStar Citizen: F*ck, why?! So the “middle layer” doesn’t deserve to live or even exist, huh?]

[FishFish Tastes Great: AAAAA I’m so pissed! People on mid-tier planets need our own exclusive purchase link too, otherwise we’ll never beat those idiots on developed planets!]

[When Will Lemons Go Live: Exactly! Boss Xie, you can’t be this biased. As a fair and just shop owner, you can’t favor one group and ignore another, right?]

…Xie Xingchen actually had something to say about that.

[Xie Xingchen V: I don’t want to either, but the Star Alliance’s classifications of “mid-tier” and “developed” planets across different civilizations are honestly a total mess 0.0]

How messy?

Not only could a “mid-tier planet” in one of the five major civilizations count as “developed” in some other civilization—some wealthy minor civilizations’ “mid-tier planets” could also be considered “developed” compared to the big civilizations.

He wasn’t targeting anyone in particular, but there was one classic example: the merfolk civilization.

Everyone in the Star Alliance knew the mechanical civilization was the richest, and the merfolk civilization ranked right after them.

But unlike civilizations with dozens or even hundreds of planets, the merfolk civilization only had seven or eight planets.

Was it that they didn’t want more planets?

Not at all—those were simply the only planets currently best suited for merfolk to live on: “water planets.”

Few planets, close together, extremely wealthy, and citizens clustered densely—this led to insanely high levels of infrastructure. Even their worst planet was better than most civilizations’ developed planets.

How many civilizations had classification messes like this?

Xie Xingchen couldn’t count them—and didn’t want to.

He was just a guy selling stuff. He wasn’t a government official. Why should he worry about this?

Remote planets, however, were judged differently. Besides infrastructure and location, there was another key metric: planetary GDP.

Under normal circumstances, any planet marked as “remote” was definitely underdeveloped—or a planet rebuilding after being ravaged by mutant beasts. There wasn’t really a third possibility.

So technically, what Xie Xingchen said wasn’t wrong at all.

But that was exactly why it stung even more.

Netizens: Damn (a plant)… whose fault is that classification?

It’s the authorities who made the classification!

Star Alliance—by definition—was an “interStar Alliance.” And if it’s an alliance, then each civilization governs itself, and then they unite as allies.

Want everyone to use one unified standard?

People smiled. Yeah… that’s really hard.

Even while playing the pity card with Xie Xingchen, netizens still didn’t forget to repost his giveaway post. The sheer “complaining while obediently participating” made Xie Xingchen not worry too much.

As reposts climbed past six figures, he stayed pretty relaxed.

Lots of complaints, sure—but judging by the repost numbers, these people were mostly just venting.

Chuckling, Xie Xingchen closed StarBlog and did stretching exercises in his bedroom.

Once his crackling joints loosened up, there was a strange sense of comfort.

Sitting at his desk and looking at his increasingly cozy, pretty room, his handsome brows finally relaxed.

Get-Rich had become so capable!

Besides the aesthetic sense and creativity Xie Xingchen had noticed long ago, now Get-Rich was also amazing at cooking.

Thinking of this, Xie Xingchen couldn’t help but sigh: Get-Rich really was humanity’s best companion!

After sitting for about half an hour, sleepiness finally hit.

Xie Xingchen yawned, rubbed his eyes, and decided to go to bed.

The next day—

To the sound of chirping birds, Xie Xingchen struggled out of bed, preparing to repeat his dull “three-point routine.”

No, wait—not three points anymore, because today he wasn’t going to the flower fields.

Today, he was going to plant carrots for rabbits.

The moment he thought of rabbits, Xie Xingchen’s shoulders sagged.

If he had to pick his biggest regret this year, it would absolutely be the time he casually chose [Rare · Four-leaf Clover] for Fei Fei when sending it off to travel.

Now his precious clover would probably be wasted on that rabbit.

He opened the panel, and his already-bad mood got worse.

[Companion Info Panel]
Name: Fat Rabbit Ji (Fei Fei)
Race: A travel rabbit that loves eating carrots
Status: Wants to come home and eat carrots!
Pack: [+]
Note: Your companion has finished the food [Carrot] you prepared! Now, hungry, it really wants to come home~

Heh. Finished the carrot and now wants to come home?

Then what about his [Rare · Four-leaf Clover]?

That item was a consumable—you could only use it once. Wouldn’t that be a total waste?

Xie Xingchen decided he really didn’t want to see anything related to Fei Fei lately.

But reality was—

He still had to go plant carrots for that greedy fat rabbit!

Xie Xingchen: Heh heh heh… just—amazing.

He forced a smile. “Fine. Whatever.”

He couldn’t do anything about it anyway. Why torture himself?

Sighing, he grabbed a thin jacket and went out.

The temperature had dropped these days, and Fei Fei’s home was at the foot of a mountain, so a jacket was necessary.

And so, Xie Xingchen brought a group of robots and worked like a mule at Fei Fei’s “hometown” for half the day.

By the time he returned exhausted, under the stars, it was already past midnight again.

Xie Xingchen didn’t need to fight for limited-stock items, so midnight didn’t mean much to him.

But for the people camping Earth Commerce—especially remote-planet citizens—their hearts were burning with excitement!

Staring at the countdown, battle-hardened as they were, they’d already learned the perfect moment to strike.

One second, two seconds…

Sophia finally got what she’d been dreaming of: a sunflower with 5% green-substance content!

She stared at the order on her light-brain in disbelief. Only after a long moment did she let out a shriek of joy.

“Sis—Mom, Mom! I got it! I got the sunflower!”

She screamed and jumped, eyes shining, clutching her light-brain like she might cry from happiness.

Puli, who was doing chores, froze too. She gaped inelegantly. “Really?”

Puli had never imagined Sophia could ever snag a sunflower. For so many years, she’d never heard of anyone from a remote planet succeeding in these hot? events!

Sophia nodded frantically and showed her mom the order. She was ecstatic. “Yes, Mom! Look—this is the sunflower I got!”

She was so happy she even started singing.

Today must be her lucky day—hahahahaha…

Spinning with joy, dancing in place, Sophia’s heart overflowed with happiness. Her gratitude toward Boss Xie skyrocketed with the successful purchase.

The mother and daughter celebrated for a long time and even forgot to buy anything else. But when they realized it, they didn’t regret it.

Because they’d already gotten what they wanted most!

And countless citizens across other civilizations on remote planets felt the same.

People who had never succeeded in a popular event finally tasted the joy of it!

Even if the money they spent today represented a month, a year, even two years of hard-earned savings… they spent it happily, joyfully—so joyfully their hearts practically bloomed.

Just from their words you could feel how happy the remote-planet citizens were. That made the netizens who’d been shouting online for “equal treatment” quietly shut up.

Only then did many realize: because of real-world disadvantages, remote-planet people had basically never been able to successfully participate in popular? events.

After that, some things just couldn’t be said anymore.

After all, most people were decent, and what Xie Xingchen did was ultimately meant to ensure relative fairness.

If they kept making a fuss, it would only make them look petty and low-character.

So… fine. They’d stop.

The drama lasted a full day, and then finally came to an end, disappointing the people who’d hoped to watch chaos unfold.

After coming out of the bathroom, Xie Xingchen sat under the automatic dryer, blow-drying his hair while spacing out.

[Ding-dong, your bunny companion has returned from traveling! It seems this time it didn’t go very far.]

Hearing that, Xie Xingchen’s heart thumped.

He snapped out of his daze, a bad feeling rising, and his sleepiness vanished.

He forced a stiff smile and asked the system, “Little Mo… did Fei Fei bring me any gifts this time?”

The system was silent for a moment, then replied:

[System: Your companion has brought back a photo.]

Key word: photo, not postcard.

Xie Xingchen’s vision went dark.

What sin had he committed to end up with a foodie companion? For food, it even threw travel out the window!

With a smile that wasn’t a smile, he said, “Then let me see the photo.”

Maybe sensing his mood, the system didn’t even play its usual chime. It simply displayed the photo.

In it, Fei Fei leaned against a big rock, happily munching carrots with loud chomp-chomp sounds.

Xie Xingchen took a deep breath.

Don’t get mad. Getting sick from anger won’t help anyone.

Without a word, he opened the companion page—

Sure enough, the [Rare · Four-leaf Clover] was gone.

Tears instantly slid out of Xie Xingchen’s eyes.

Whether Fei Fei brought gifts back didn’t matter.

What mattered was his four-leaf clover!

Was he really just unlucky?

Otherwise, why did something go wrong the moment he equipped a good item?

Four-leaf clover…!

It was the legendary item that supposedly guaranteed good luck when worn.

And what happened when his fat rabbit wore it?

It only cared about carrots—everything else on the road was meaningless.

Heh. How stupid was he to pack carrots for the trip?

Especially for a rabbit that had never eaten carrots before!

If he was going to pack carrots at all, he should’ve waited until the rabbit was sick of them first!

His mind full of carrots, Xie Xingchen looked at the returning Fei Fei and felt like it was basically a carrot.

For the first time, Fei Fei seemed “attached” to him—because the moment it returned, it dashed straight into Xie Xingchen’s bedroom.

Following the sound, Xie Xingchen saw a docile, adorable fat rabbit.

Look closer—its mouth fur was stained faintly orange with carrot color.

Xie Xingchen: 🙂 Thank you. Truly.

Fei Fei hopped onto the bed. Xie Xingchen ignored it.

Fei Fei bounced on him. Xie Xingchen still ignored it.

Finally, seeing the two-legged creature lie completely still, Fei Fei thought for a moment—then launched itself straight at his face.

Xie Xingchen: !

He rolled over fast, narrowly dodging the face-destroying strike.

Now he was furious. He grabbed Fei Fei by both long ears. “Fei Fei, what are you doing?!”

Fei Fei stared at him innocently, chewing.

Xie Xingchen: angry.jpg

He wanted to smack it but couldn’t bring himself to. In the end, he angrily ruffled it several times, then pulled two carrots from his storage button and shoved them over, annoyed. “Eat, eat, eat. All you ever do is eat.”

Fei Fei’s eyes lit up at the sight of carrots and it bounced forward to snatch them.

Xie Xingchen warned, “Fei Fei, I’m telling you—two carrots today, that’s it. Take them and go home, or you get none. Seriously, now every time I see you my heart hurts.”

After that, he flopped down blank-eyed, feeling a hollow, out-of-body emptiness.

With two carrots secured, Fei Fei happily hopped away, utterly unaware of how badly it had crushed the two-legged creature’s heart.

Early the next morning, Xie Xingchen got up with dark circles under his eyes.

Today was another day of planting carrots for Fei Fei. Just thinking about it made him want to say: thanks, I hate it.

Breakfast was Get-Rich’s special: coconut sago, plain congee, and youtiao.

Get-Rich’s cooking skills had really been improving.

It could even make fried-dough sticks.

Xie Xingchen had only demonstrated twice, and Get-Rich could already produce “fried dough sticks” that looked great.

Xie Xingchen felt he hadn’t paid enough when he bought Get-Rich back then!

Food could always soothe sorrow.

A youtiao, a bowl of congee, and a cup of coconut sago—Xie Xingchen finally felt less miserable.

Without looking up, he said, “Get-Rich, later you and Prosperity come with me to the rapeseed field to plant carrots. Long-Life won’t go—tell him to stay here and plant the wild tea tree.”

It was depressing: Xie Xingchen had earned a milk-tea machine from the quest, but he had no tea leaves, so the machine was sitting idle.

Don’t ask why he couldn’t make fruit tea with the milk-tea machine.

Because the milk-tea machine wouldn’t allow it.

This magical machine only produced tea-containing drinks—even fruit tea needed some tea base mixed in.

Xie Xingchen: thanks, I hate it.

Get-Rich nodded. “Okay, boss. Understood, boss.”

Then it turned and left to relay the day’s plan to Prosperity and Long-Life.

Twenty minutes later, after breakfast, Xie Xingchen took Get-Rich, Prosperity, and seven or eight planting robots to the rapeseed field.

The moment they got off the hover car, Prosperity grabbed a rabbit sprinting toward them and turned to Xie Xingchen. “Boss, it’s Fei Fei.”

Honestly, Xie Xingchen didn’t need Prosperity to tell him.

After all… besides Fei Fei, whose mouth fur would still be stained carrot-orange?

The carrot field here had been covered under a small energy shield. Other rabbits could only get blocked outside like pancakes flattened against the barrier.

Seeing the orange-stained mouth fur, Xie Xingchen suddenly had an idea. “Fei Fei, how about I give you a makeover?”

Like spraying a little carrot pattern onto its fur or something?

Then the rabbit would be happy, and he’d be happy too.

After all, the world’s only beauty-treated rabbit—he’d never have to worry about losing Fei Fei again.

But then he looked up and saw rabbits plastered all over the energy shield like a wall, and he silently dropped the thought.

Forget it. He really didn’t want to end up with a squashed rabbit.

He flicked Fei Fei’s forehead. “You’re lucky.”

Then he set it down and led the robots into the carrot field beside the rapeseed plot.

Yesterday, he and the robots had planted carrots, but because they needed to breed seeds, they’d only managed less than half a mu in one day.

But because the breeding work went well, the seed yield was very impressive—enough to plant the rest.

After deciding to plant carrots here, Prosperity brought land-clearing robots and opened up five mu.

Today’s goal was to fill all five mu, then go scatter seeds on the nearby hill so carrots could grow freely on the mountain.

Seeing Fei Fei staring longingly from outside the energy shield, soft-hearted Xie Xingchen eventually brought it inside. After a warning, one human and many robots began planting.

Xie Xingchen wasn’t the main laborer, but he was the most important link.

After the planting robots scattered seeds, Xie Xingchen had to infuse the soil with mental power, helping the seeds adapt to the environment and grow strong.

Then robots pushed over mobile sprayers, watering the newly planted land with nutrient solution.

The work looked simple but was actually tedious and monotonous. By the time five mu were done, it was already afternoon.

Afraid the newly planted carrots would be wrecked by the rabbit clan, Xie Xingchen had to take out four more small energy shields.

Once the shields were activated, he instructed Fei Fei: “Fei Fei, I’ve planted your carrot seeds. But they’re sprouting right now, so you can’t let other rabbits come mess around, okay?”

Rabbits were experts at digging holes. If they worked together, even a medium energy shield wouldn’t hold up, let alone a small one.

So Xie Xingchen grabbed Fei Fei and gave it a serious lecture.

Fei Fei tilted its head, red eyes full of confusion.

Xie Xingchen patted its chubby head and pointed at the five mu of carrot field under the energy shields, deliberately making it sound grave: “See that? Those five plots under shields—your carrots are in there… If any rabbit gets inside, your carrots will be gone.”

Fei Fei’s eyes widened. Its not-so-bright little brain immediately formed the equation: Energy shield = carrots.

It’s understood, right?

Xie Xingchen thought so.

And very quickly, he learned that it did.

Because just as Xie Xingchen was about to keep lecturing, Fei Fei bounced over to the energy shield and let out a furious roar at the “rabbit wall”…

Scaring all the surrounding rabbits away.

Truly ear-splitting!

Xie Xingchen stood there, jaw dropped.

What kind of rabbit was this? Why was it so fierce?

Staggering out of the rapeseed field, he stared at Fei Fei—now calmly munching rapeseed flowers—as if it were a monster.

Fei Fei gave him a cute head tilt in return.

Still dazed, Xie Xingchen wandered toward the neighboring hill.

As for the neighboring hill, he didn’t have any great plan for planting carrots there.

It was a small forested hill, not barren land, and it had its own ecosystem.

He could force carrots onto it, sure—but he worried about disrupting the ecology.

In the end, he chose to sit in the hover car and scatter seeds casually.

Seeds were scattered; whether they’d sprout was up to fate.

If they sprouted, great. If not, whatever. The mountain base had plenty of carrots anyway—enough for the rabbits to chew.

The hill wasn’t big. Even careful scattering only took about an hour.

After he finished, Prosperity drove the hover car and took everyone back.

In the flower fields, gentle breezes came again and again.

The breezes carried floral fragrance that made you close your eyes and savor it unconsciously.

Xie Xingchen loved the scent of osmanthus. Every time he smelled it, he felt relaxed and sweet.

And rich osmanthus fragrance easily made people think of osmanthus snacks and the perfumes girls often used.

Perfume existed in the interstellar era too—but the scents were strange. Compared to natural plant aromas, they felt more like chemical synthesis.

In the original owner’s memories, perfumes on the market—no matter how expensive or well-marketed—always had a cheap artificial fragrance.

As for the truly priceless custom perfumes made from natural flowers?

Xie Xingchen had smelled those too, and they still didn’t feel that great.

They were more natural and fresh than synthetic fragrances, but the actual smell was still… not amazing.

In his opinion, even those priceless perfumes weren’t as nice as the pure osmanthus scent from his own place, with nothing added.

Perfume was profitable, so Xie Xingchen genuinely had plans to do it.

But with his current flower acreage, the plan could only be shelved. Once his flower output skyrocketed, he’d consider making perfume.

After all, there was a very real problem: perfume might be lucrative, but raw materials were an issue—and he’d also need perfumery expertise. Without a good perfumer, perfume could turn into “stinky water” in minutes.

He glanced in the direction of the osmanthus and felt deeply regretful.

But once he returned to the starship, he had no time to think about it—because he had work to do.

The first thing Xie Xingchen did after getting back was head to the breeding room to check seeds and cultivate them.

The breeding room was basically his private workshop, so he hadn’t expected to see Long-Life there when he returned.

Seeing Xie Xingchen, Long-Life—who looked slightly worried—finally smiled and greeted him honestly: “Boss, you’re back?”

Xie Xingchen nodded. From Long-Life’s smile, he knew things probably weren’t too bad, so he said lightly, “Yep, I’m back. How’s work going on your end?”

Long-Life hesitated, then nodded. “Somewhat smoothly?”

Xie Xingchen: ?

“Somewhat smoothly?” Xie Xingchen repeated.

Smooth could be “somewhat”?

Long-Life nodded again and explained, “The wild tea seeds were planted, but compared to the green-substance solution… the wild tea seeds seem to like your mental power more, boss.”

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