After Waking Up I Inherited the Earth [Interstellar] – CH74

Chapter 74

“Zai Zai, don’t be naughty later, okay?” Chu Ling said as she led her child toward Earth Trading Co.’s Specialty Street in the holographic mall.

When the child saw the familiar flower-wall gate not far ahead, he couldn’t help trying to yank his hand free and run over to play.

But—

Chu Ling held on tight, so the escape failed. The child, dressed in a loose white cotton T-shirt, could only puff up his cheeks in anger, lips jutting out so far you could hang an oil bottle on them.

“Hmph, I wasn’t being naughty! An’an was bullying Tuan Tuan yesterday—I was helping Tuan Tuan!” The five-year-old boy could already express himself perfectly.

From his frown and unhappy tone, it was obvious he was upset that the kid called An’an had “bullied” the child called Tuan Tuan.

Hearing this, Chu Ling explained again with a helpless look, “Mom already told you—An’an didn’t hit little Tuan Tuan. He just saw her fall, and after she stood up he patted the dust off her, that’s all.”

Zai Zai scrunched up his little nose, clearly not listening, and perfunctorily replied, “Yeah yeah, I know, Mom, let go already—I want to go play!”

With her son this impatient, Chu Ling had no choice. Seeing him struggling nonstop, she finally let go, and he whooped as he charged toward the “Kids’ Corner” at the far end of Earth Specialty Street.

Only after confirming his little figure disappeared did Chu Ling shake her head and continue forward. Crossing the beautiful floral archway, she stepped briskly into the skincare shop.

Every time she came here, she couldn’t help admiring how good Boss Xie was at doing business!

Ever since they added that “Kids’ Corner” at the end of the street—and the mascot balloon attendant in the middle—life had become so much easier for parents like her.

No more exhausting childcare. She had more time to browse and shop. And because the Kids’ Corner was so fun, it drew in countless children who started training their mental power on their own, hoping they could play longer—because staying longer required stronger mental power.

Chu Ling had originally planned to buy just one set of essential oils. Thinking of this, she added a bottle of floral hydrosol too!

Money didn’t matter. Just being able to get her little “demolition king” to calm down was already worth it.

Taking kids out used to feel harder than ascending to the heavens—no, ascending to the heavens would’ve been easier. Kids were infuriating.

But now? She was liberated! Every day, as long as she dropped her kid here during a fixed time slot, she could live peacefully for at least most of the day.

And there was no status hierarchy here. Kids rarely showed off their family backgrounds. So after playing here for a while, Zai Zai’s old bad temper improved a lot.

She didn’t know whether other parents were satisfied, but she certainly was.

After leaving the skincare shop, Chu Ling went to the tasting booth shop.

Because the tasting booths were always packed, and Earth Trading Co. kept uploading new foods for tasting, Boss Xie had opened a dedicated tasting-booth shop on this street—and even expanded the space to serve everyone better.

Several thousand square meters were divided into two sections: one with small private rooms, and the other with semi-private areas partitioned by greenery.

If customers wanted to eat inside, they just had to find an empty seat and order. If they wanted takeout, they went to the packaging counter.

To improve the tasting experience, Chu Ling had switched to a new, top-tier light-brain. But because the Earth shop’s tasting simulation fidelity had a ceiling, even with the best device, she could only reach about 75% realism.

She ordered a spread of marinated raw seafood and the newly listed licorice tea. Eating alone in a corner, she looked utterly satisfied.

When she stopped, the fullness made her drowsy.

“Ah! Mei Mei, the raw marinated seafood here is so good! Wuwuwu, I’m in love.”

“Right? I told you! It’s insanely good—you coming with me was absolutely the right call.”

Two girls’ excited chatter drifted from the next area.

Even though Chu Ling wasn’t trying to eavesdrop, their voices still carried over.

“Man, I finally get why people have been paying crazy prices to buy exotic beasts lately. So it’s all because of this raw marinated seafood! But honestly—if I had money, I’d want to buy some exotic beasts too and try it!”

The younger-sounding girl’s tone was full of envy.

Then the other girl said, “Hahaha, if we’re talking about that, I’m wide awake now. Before coming, I even went to watch a few videos! That dude was seriously gutsy—he ate it right outside the hospital entrance. I’m dying. Was he planning to get treated immediately if something went wrong?”

“Really? Really? Where’s the video? Why didn’t I see it?”

“…”

Chu Ling couldn’t help laughing.

Because she’d seen that video too.

And she even knew what happened afterward!

That streamer’s luck was unbelievable. After eating raw-marinated exotic beast meat, he only had stomach issues and diarrhea for a few days—then nothing else happened!

And since it was so delicious, he started experimenting with different sauces. Recently, after perfecting a new dipping sauce, he even began buying exotic beasts at high prices again, determined to keep going.

Chu Ling valued her life, so she still didn’t dare eat exotic beasts. But plenty of people did. By now, many interstellar citizens of different races were willing to try exotic beast meat.

And based on people’s reports, everyone realized it was actually pretty tasty. Some exotic beasts were poisonous, but most weren’t. Even when there was poison, it usually wasn’t severe—most could be handled by a treatment pod. More intriguingly, some exotic beast meat caused hallucinations: after poisoning, people claimed they saw little dancing figures!

After resting, Chu Ling bought a takeaway cup of “Full Cup Lychee” and left.

It was her son’s favorite fruit tea. Once, she’d pulled it from a milk-tea blind box; after Zai Zai drank it, he became a devoted fan of Earth Trading Co., constantly declaring that his greatest love in this lifetime was “Full Cup Lychee.”

The way such a tiny kid talked about “this lifetime” was so cute it always made people laugh.

Chu Ling thought it was great—at least her child’s childhood was happier than hers had been.

Not forgetting her son, she personally carried the fruit tea from the head of the street to the tail end. Many other parents were there too; none of them could enter the Kids’ Corner, so they stood at the entrance calling for their kids.

The first time Chu Ling did this, her face had turned red. But after a few times, she’d gotten used to it.

Drawing a deep breath, she called out clearly, “Chu Zai Zai—your fruit tea is here!”

Not long after, a hurried little voice answered from inside: “Okayyy, Mom, wait for me! I’m coming out right now!”

Her effective “shout delivery” made other parents’ eyes light up. Soon they weren’t just calling names anymore—everyone started adding food names too. In an instant, the area outside the Kids’ Corner felt like some giant takeout pickup zone, the air filled with an endless stream of snack names.

Meanwhile, the mother and son who started the trend had already left the entrance.

Handing the fruit tea over, Chu Ling affectionately ruffled her son’s fluffy head.

Spotting an empty seat on the long bench in the middle of the street, she quickly carried him over and sat him down.

Zai Zai’s chubby, fair little face was full of contentment. He happily swung his little feet and drank his favorite fruit tea as if he were the king of the world.

He didn’t just drink it himself—he even invited his mom to drink too.

The considerate, well-behaved look was a sharp contrast to his old picky and explosive self.

“Mom, drink another sip,” Zai Zai said, holding up the cup, his eyes shining.

Chu Ling leaned down and took a big sip, squinting with satisfaction.

Their matching cuteness made passersby smile, their moods brightened.

Halfway through the drink, the little dog mascot came over and gave Zai Zai a cute lemon balloon, making the kid squeal with joy.

Playing with the balloon and drinking his tea, Zai Zai sighed like a little grown-up when the cup finally ran out.

Chu Ling knew what he was thinking. She patted his fluffy head and comforted him softly, “Don’t be sad. When we get home, we’ll train your mental power more. Then you’ll be able to play here longer in the future.”

Zai Zai perked up, clenched his chubby little fist, and puffed out his little potbelly like kids do. “Okay! When we get home, I’ll start training right away!”

Chu Ling couldn’t have been more pleased.

She used to worry about his training. Now? Earth Trading Co. had basically taken that responsibility off her hands!

One word—awesome.

“Good boy. Then let’s browse for ten more minutes and log off,” Chu Ling said, her smile dazzling.

She lifted him off the bench, took his chubby hand, and strolled down the street with him.

But as they walked, the short, stocky Zai Zai tugged on her skirt and shouted, “Mom! There’s a new shop over there!”

The words “new shop” were like a spell. Chu Ling turned her head on reflex.

In the first second, she saw that a shop they’d just passed—an unrenovated default storefront—had turned into a beautiful little cabin in a fairy-tale forest style.

Chu Ling: !!

Chu Ling lit up. “Come on, Zai Zai—quick, go with Mom!”

No time for questions. Running to buy things was the only correct move!

Luckily the shop was close, and everyone nearby was still stunned by the sudden appearance. Otherwise, Chu Ling wouldn’t have been the first to enter and successfully shop.

Don’t think. Don’t look. Just order!

Don’t worry about links—just crank the purchase quantity to the maximum.

By the time Chu Ling bought seven or eight listings, everyone else finally snapped out of it.

As more and more people rushed in, Chu Ling took a deep breath and kept ordering without distraction.

One order after another—more than ten in total. Only after confirming everything did she finally have time to look up and examine the suddenly appeared shop.

“Mom, did you get them?” the child asked, starry-eyed.

Chu Ling nodded, smiling warmly—her eyes and heart both smiling. “Of course! I was even the first customer at this fruit shop. I got a priority purchase card too.”

The people nearby practically glowed at those words, speeding up their buying even more.

“Huh? A card? Is it this?” The child stood on tiptoe and pulled up the little card displayed on his light-brain to show his mom.

Chu Ling was overjoyed that her son had managed to grab one too—she almost wanted to scoop him up and kiss him.

But the shop was getting crowded, so she decisively said, “Zai Zai, let’s go outside first, okay? We can talk after we log off.”

Unexpectedly, the usually obedient Zai Zai refused. He lowered his head and whispered, “Mom, wait a bit—just one more minute.”

Chu Ling still didn’t know what a huge surprise her clever, adorable son was about to give her.

Her brilliant little boy not only bought the fruit shop listings once with his own light-brain—he even switched to his dad’s light-brain (where his dad had granted permissions) and bought them again.

And his timing was even better than she imagined.

Right after the crowd arrived, he used his dad’s light-brain and just squeezed into the first 100 buyers—meaning their family now had three priority purchase cards.

That dreamlike operation left Chu Ling completely stunned.

After being dazed for a long while, she finally snapped back and tossed her son up into the air.

Hahahahaha—her kid was too smart!
Hahahahaha—and she gave birth to this genius!

That indescribable good mood lasted all the way until the fruit delivery arrived—and then it became even more intense.

Earth Trading Co.’s fruit shop limited purchases to one jin per fruit per person. With three identities between them, the mother and son could buy three jin of each fruit.

Mangoes, lychees, longans, passion fruit, coconuts, lemons, bananas, jackfruit, papayas, tomatoes, carrots—11 items total. Three jin each meant 33 jin of fruit!

And because jackfruit was huge and had been repackaged by robots, their three jin of jackfruit was all pure flesh—no rind at all!

Heavens—what a delightful surprise.

Mother and son exchanged a look, eyes full of excitement.

They carefully stored most of the fruit in the freshness cabinet. The rest, they happily ate.

Afterward, they even made plans for what fruit to eat tomorrow, how much, and how to eat it.

Having agreed, they went to sleep content, looking forward to the next day.

However—

The next day was full of tears.

That unlucky husband/dad came home in the middle of the night and destroyed more than half the fruit. In the morning, he even said he still wasn’t satisfied and told the butler to buy more fruit.

Chu Ling: ?
Zai Zai: ?

A bad feeling struck both of them.

They realized something at the same time. Their faces changed instantly.

Without another word, they sprinted to the freshness cabinet, opened it—only to find a small leftover portion.

“Damn it, Cheng Xi, are you trying to die? Just wait—kneel on the washboard!”

“Wuwuwu, Dad’s the worst! Dad ate Zai Zai’s fruit! Zai Zai is angry!”

Seeing his wife and child look like the sky had fallen frightened Cheng Xi badly.

W-what… was it really that serious?

It was just fruit, wasn’t it?

It wasn’t like they were poor—if it was gone, just buy more!

“Buy, buy, buy—buy my ass. If you’ve got the ability, go buy it and show me.”

“Wuwuwu Dad is bad! This isn’t a money problem—money can’t solve it!”

Cheng Xi froze, a big “?” popping into his head.

He felt like he didn’t recognize the world anymore.

He’d only been away on a two-month business trip—why did everything feel different now?

Since when did money stop working?

Soon Cheng Xi found out why money didn’t work.

To Xie Xingchen’s surprise, Earth Trading Co.’s fruit shop—without any promotion—got blasted onto the trending list purely through word-of-mouth…

But the trend wasn’t praise.

It was people cursing.

Yes. The exact kind of cursing you’re thinking of.

Xie Xingchen had listed 11 “fruits,” but strictly speaking, tomatoes and carrots weren’t fruit.

And that’s where the argument started.

A video showed two young women celebrating at first.

From their conversation, viewers learned they were excited because they’d successfully snagged fruit from Earth Trading Co.’s newly opened fruit shop—and bought quite a lot.

Then the problem arose.

They chatted about what they bought, and somehow the topic turned to tomatoes and carrots.

Everyone knew that Earth Trading Co.’s tasting shop had previously listed tomato-and-egg stir-fry and carrot-and-pork-bone soup.

And everyone also knew that interstellar food culture was basically nonexistent.

So it wasn’t hard to see that in their minds… fruit was fruit, vegetables were vegetables, and fruit couldn’t be cooked into dishes the way vegetables could.

So now what?

Both girls had eaten tomato-and-egg and drunk carrot soup.

But they’d bought tomatoes and carrots from the fruit shop.

So… were tomatoes and carrots vegetables or fruits?

One girl insisted they were fruit because Boss Xie had placed them in the fruit shop. The other insisted that Boss Xie only did that because he hadn’t opened a vegetable shop yet.

Both sides had “logic.” Neither could convince the other. The once-friendly vibe turned into open warfare. Their voices got sharper, and eventually they started cursing each other out.

And oddly enough, even while cursing, they were surprisingly logical—dragging a bunch of spectators into the argument.

Once people took sides, the shouting grew louder, and soon enough it climbed into the trending list.

After it hit the trends, many people realized: Boss Xie had secretly opened a fruit shop.

That lit a fuse.

Everyone lost it.

Why did you get to buy things when we didn’t even know the shop existed?

Enraged viewers piled in, and the fight stopped being just “fruit vs. vegetable.” It became the haves versus the have-nots—a battle of unlucky “non-Euros” against lucky “Euro emperors.”

But would the lucky ones pamper the unlucky ones?

Heh. Cursing? Who can’t curse?

So what if you’re mad—do you think only you have a mouth? Only you can run your mouth? Want to fight? We’ll fight!

Don’t be a coward—roll up your sleeves. Whoever loses today is the grandson!

So by the time Xie Xingchen discovered Earth Trading Co. had hit the trending list, the war had already reached peak intensity.

Everyone was too invested in the “satisfying” flame war to care about anything else, so despite Earth Trading Co. usually taking up multiple trending topics at once, this time it only got this one.

But this single trending topic had more heat than the previous ten combined—and created a terrifying gap between itself and #2. Clicking in showed mostly mosaics; people who didn’t know what was happening might’ve thought it was a word-guessing game.

Xie Xingchen: “……”

Now he felt stuck—posting wasn’t right, and not posting wasn’t right either.

After agonizing, he weakly posted: “Stop arguing, please.”

And—

Nobody listened.

[Lifelong Comedian: Hahahahaha I’m dying—Boss Xie can’t even control them anymore!]

[Duck Quack Quack: This drama is SO good. Quack quack quack, I haven’t seen something like this in years—worth living for today. I must thank everyone for their passionate contribution ??]

[I’m going to the Animal Civilization to raise geese: I laughed like a goose, but honestly… netizens are insane. You can fight this topic to #1? Meanwhile “Good Guy Li, the Heavenly King” is stuck at #2—he cheated and still got less attention than Earth Trading Co. [like.jpg]]

One especially vicious netizen even edited Li Tianwang’s name and posted:

[Li Tianwang: Joy from the heavens! Thanks, Earth Trading Co.!]

That line instantly made people laugh.

They got tons of likes and a flood of “hahahahaha…” replies.

Meanwhile, the idol at the center of the scandal watched this and cycled through every color of rage before slamming the table, face black.

Cheating exposed, persona ruined—if it hadn’t trended, he might’ve managed PR. But now the “stone-cold evidence” was sitting at #2 on the main trending board—how was he supposed to spin that?

What made him even angrier was that even after cheating, he still got outshone by Earth Trading Co.

For the first time, Li Tianwang felt the world had no justice.

Earth Trading Co. was a demon—even this kind of thing had to steal his spotlight?

Unaware that an entertainment “Heavenly King” had such a strange line of thinking, Earth Trading Co.’s boss, Xie Xingchen, was currently nursing a splitting headache.

Sigh. He’d only wanted to quietly open a fruit shop to deal with surplus fruit—how had it turned into a massive cursing war?

Staring at the tomato and carrot listings, Xie Xingchen finally decided to take them down.

Well… how to put it?

Even in modern times, people argued about these.

He didn’t know how to categorize them in a way that would convince everyone, so—fine. Take them down.

At worst, he could feed the extra tomatoes and carrots to the horses. He refused to believe those greedy eaters would reject them!

Once he decided, he acted. While the flame war was at its hottest, Xie Xingchen quietly removed the carrot and tomato listings.

But that sneaky move completely confused the internet.

Netizens: ?
Netizens: Erkang-hand.jpg

Damn, stop it!

They were just using the chance to bicker a little—and Boss Xie actually took tomatoes and carrots down?!

People never cherish something while it’s there. The moment it’s gone, even enemies instantly make peace and point their guns in the same direction—at Xie Xingchen.

[ChirpChirp: Boss Xie, please explain why tomatoes and carrots are gone. [table-slam.jpg]]

[What the hell: AHHHH we were just talking, why did you take it seriously?! Put carrots and tomatoes back up right now!]

[Got caught in the crossfire: ugly crying Did we innocent netizens do anything wrong? We just want tomatoes to stir-fry with eggs, carrots to stew with soup! Why are you so cruel?! Taking them down?! Boss Xie, you’re not human, wuwuwuwu…]

Xie Xingchen: ?

Wait—weren’t you guys fighting like crazy just now? Now you’re not fighting and you’re coming for me?

Xie Xingchen was dumbfounded.

This development was not what he expected.

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