Chapter 83
The packaging for Xie Xingchen’s new batch of skincare products could be said to balance two advantages at once: “refined and classy” and “low cost.”
In other words, while it dramatically cut production costs and helped the boss make money, the pretty appearance also made consumers more willing to pay.
A product that looks like this isn’t just something the boss likes—consumers are happy to buy it too.
What’s more, its refined, high-quality feel paired with an affordable price aligns perfectly with the positioning Xie Xingchen has in mind.
As far as Xie Xingchen is concerned right now, whether it’s the loofah line, the cucumber line, or the aloe line, he only wants to go with the “cheap, big, generous” route.
So he set prices that ordinary families could afford:
- Toners: 1,000 starcoins / 100 ml
- Lotions: 2,000 starcoins / 100 ml
- Creams: 3,000 starcoins / 100 ml
- Aloe gel: 3,000 starcoins / 100 ml
- Sheet masks: 100 starcoins / sheet
Compared to those skincare products that casually cost tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, or even millions, the effectiveness and pricing of Xie Xingchen’s upcoming products could honestly be called the skincare industry’s conscience.
All three lines used green-themed packaging: the mini-cucumber series leaned toward a yellowish green, the loofah series was a fresh, clean green, and the aloe series was a captivating emerald green.
After arranging the twelve products neatly, Xie Xingchen took a “family portrait” photo and uploaded it to StarBlog, instantly drawing a wave of attention.
[Xie Xingchen V]: “In a little while, the skincare shop will be launching some new products—toners, lotions, creams, sheet masks, and aloe gel, etc. Affordable prices, great results. Everyone’s welcome to grab them!
P.S. Repost this post to enter a giveaway—10,000 winners will each receive a random new-product trial set.”
[Sunflower]: “First! Hahahahaha I finally got first!”
[Dust on the Ceiling]: “Front row group photo! Hehehe Boss Xie, you finally came out to post again—so touching! And it’s new products with a giveaway again!”
“…”
This wasn’t Xie Xingchen’s first time doing giveaways of trial sets on StarBlog.
But precisely because it wasn’t the first time, everyone was extra enthusiastic.
Thinking back to the last time he gave away essential oils and hydrosols, a mere ten thousand comments now was basically nothing.
And sure enough—
As time passed, more and more netizens flooded in. In less than ten minutes, reposts and comments on Xie Xingchen’s newest giveaway post exceeded one hundred thousand—and were sprinting toward a million at breakneck speed.
But everyone knew that a million reposts wasn’t the finish line. It was only the starting point.
[Drowning]: “Hahahahaha I’m here, I’m here! Boss Xie finally launched new products again, and they’re useful ones too—Boss Xie I love you to death!”
[Between Day and Night]: “Affordable, affordable, affordable—Boss Xie said ‘affordable’! Does that mean I can actually afford these new products this time?!”
[Meow Meow Meow]: “Girl I think so! I just went through Boss Xie’s entire StarBlog—anything he’s ever called ‘affordable’ was genuinely affordable! I can’t take it, I’m so excited I’m about to suffocate!”
[Passionfruit Smells So Good]: “Boss Xie is the GOAT hehehehehe I love Boss Xie, Boss Xie love me!”
“…”
As the hype climbed, Earth Shop hit the trending list again.
#EarthShopRepostForSamplesGiveawayLet’sGo#
#EarthShopNewSkincareLaunch#
#BossXieFinallyPostingAgain#
Three trending topics in ten minutes made celebrities go silent like quails.
It also made the celebrities who had planned to buy a trending slot today instantly back off after weighing it—deciding to fight another day, because… they really didn’t want to repeat the fate of those “test-the-law” predecessors.
When they thought of those fearless peers who’d assumed Earth Shop was “just a store” and Xie Xingchen “just a nobody,” and figured, “I’m a big star, what’s there to fear?”—then stubbornly bought a trending slot and still couldn’t hold even a shred of attention—everyone shuddered.
Sigh. People say competitors are enemies. Somehow, even non-competitors became enemies here.
And their situation was even more complicated!
After all, they disliked Xie Xingchen because they were celebrities and he was a regular person—yet they couldn’t outcompete a regular person for attention. And on top of that, they still had to buy his products!
Especially the hydrosols and essential oils.
Now the celebrity crowd literally can’t live without them anymore—they’ve become everyday necessities.
Back when they first started using them, everyone thought they were “doing Earth Shop a favor.” But as more and more people used them and the products got purchase limits, those celebrities finally changed their attitude—quietly admitting that using these products actually made them feel classy.
Especially when other people couldn’t afford them or couldn’t manage to buy them—then a casual little flex felt even better.
Because of that, even though countless celebrities complained that Boss Xie “had no sportsmanship” and kept stealing their trending spots, no matter how annoyed they were, they still reposted when needed—and still bought the skincare when it dropped.
Sigh. Who told Earth Shop’s skincare to work so well—so well that people had no choice but to use it?
[Xiao Xiao]: “Do you think Boss Xie would ever hire a celebrity spokesperson?”
Suddenly, one celebrity asked a soul-level question.
The screen, which had been scrolling like crazy, went instantly blank.
It was obvious everyone got stunned by the question.
After several minutes, people finally snapped out of it.
[Gu Dong]: “Xiao Xiao, are you dreaming? With Earth Shop’s hype, do they need a celebrity spokesperson?”
[Jia Jie]: “Exactly. Celebrities paying Boss Xie for a spokesperson deal—Boss Xie would probably worry that the celebrity might suddenly get a scandal and damage the brand image.”
[Gu Dong]: “So, babe, can you wake up? Stop fantasizing about reaching the moon by clout-chasing—let’s just be well-behaved fans. Fans should stay far away from idols’ private lives—FAR!”
Afraid Xiao Xiao would do something stupid, everyone lectured sincerely.
From this you could tell Xiao Xiao’s friends weren’t fake friends.
[Xiao Xiao]: “Sigh, what are you thinking? Me endorsing Earth Shop? I wouldn’t dare dream that could happen! I meant other mega-superstars.”
[Jia Jie]: “Still impossible. Does Earth Shop lack hype? Even a mega-superstar—so what? Isn’t that still clout-chasing?”
[Gu Dong]: “Hard not to agree! Companies hire celebrity spokespeople mostly to raise prestige and harvest fans’ wallets. But clearly Earth Shop doesn’t need ‘prestige’ and doesn’t need hype—because it’s already more popular than those mega-superstars.”
A bunch of celebrities analyzed it rationally, and their conclusion was: Earth Shop had no need to hire celebrity endorsements.
But at the same time, plenty of stars who fancied themselves “important” were eyeing this sweet opportunity.
To be fair, the guesses from these third- and fourth-tier celebrities were completely correct.
Ever since Earth Shop exploded in popularity, countless top celebrities had been waiting for an endorsement contract— even the currently “most badass” Best Actor in the industry, rumored to have A+ mental power, was no exception.
But just like everyone thought, Xie Xingchen had zero intention of hiring a spokesperson.
Even when that rumored A+ Best Actor personally came knocking, Xie Xingchen still declined politely.
[Xie Xingchen]: “Sorry! Best Actor Lu, Earth Shop currently doesn’t have plans to hire a spokesperson.”
The other party was a celebrity—and not just any celebrity, but one with real influence and hype.
Xie Xingchen was completely shocked that the man contacted him directly.
But no matter how shocked he was, he still wasn’t hiring a spokesperson.
Spokespeople were expensive—what else couldn’t he do with that money?
Did Earth Shop lack customers?
Not at all. If anything, customers were holding money in their hands and still couldn’t buy his products.
[Lu Fei]: “No, no, no—Xingchen, junior, don’t call me ‘Best Actor,’ that’s way too distant. We graduated from the same school!”
Lu Fei had zero Best Actor aura right now. He sounded humble like someone trying to pull strings.
And honestly—who wasn’t?
If he didn’t want to pull strings, he wouldn’t be here today.
[Lu Fei]: “Junior Xingchen, look—your senior’s been in the entertainment industry for years, I’ve got some standing, and my personal conduct is super clean, I definitely won’t cause you any scandals. Most importantly, I’ll endorse for free—how about you consider it?”
For his kid’s milk powder, Lu Fei was going all in.
A real Best Actor—bowing his head without hesitation, speaking softly without any reluctance at all.
Free?
Still no!
If he didn’t want it, he didn’t want it.
[Xie Xingchen]: “Senior, I’m really sorry, but Earth Shop truly doesn’t plan to hire a spokesperson right now. If we ever do in the future, I’ll definitely consider you first.”
Who can’t sell a little dream?
In this situation, selling a dream was exactly right.
Lu Fei got rejected and didn’t seem sad at all—or maybe his real purpose was never the endorsement in the first place.
[Lu Fei]: “I see… then junior, could you take pity on your senior? To soothe my wounded heart, can you open a back door and sell me a few cans of milk powder?”
Xie Xingchen: ?
Xie Xingchen: !!
Xie Xingchen suddenly got it.
Damn—so this senior’s fox tail finally showed!
He knew it. Anyone normal could guess he wasn’t going to hire a spokesperson right now. Why would a legendary, A+ mental-power, smart Best Actor from First Academy come charging in asking to be Earth Shop’s spokesperson?
Sure enough, endorsement wasn’t the goal. He had another goal.
But… using connections to buy milk powder?
This turn of events completely stunned Xie Xingchen.
It was absurd to the point that Absurd’s mom opened the door—absurd all the way home.
No matter how hard he tried, he would never have guessed this was the reason.
[Lu Fei]: “Junior, look at me. Look at your poor senior. For the sake of us both being First Academy students—and both being Professor Ni’s students—can you sell me a few cans of milk powder? My nephew is crying and refusing to drink any other milk powder. I’m really out of options.”
A Best Actor playing the pity card had zero bottom line.
His words weren’t coercive, but every sentence made him sound miserable—like if you didn’t help, your conscience would sting.
Sigh. This damn acquaintances society.
After all, Lu Fei had once been Professor Ni’s most favored student. Even though that title had been “stolen” by Xie Xingchen now, Lu Fei still brought gifts to visit Professor Ni every year. And even though Professor Ni acted like he couldn’t stand him because he’d switched careers to become a star, he still let him come every year.
Thinking of that, Xie Xingchen couldn’t very well refuse.
Of course, the most important thing was… Lu Fei had picked a good name!
[Xie Xingchen]: “Okay, but milk powder production is low, so I can only give you one can per month. Is that okay, senior?”
[Lu Fei]: “Okay! Of course it’s okay! Junior, you’re too polite! One can a month, right? I’ll transfer you five years’ worth of milk powder money right now! My nephew will thank you!”
Xie Xingchen’s decision was beyond Lu Fei’s expectations.
This had been the plan he wanted, but since he wasn’t close with Xie Xingchen, he’d thought it over and abandoned it. He never expected Xie Xingchen to be this considerate!
So what was there to say? Send money.
He’d scored big, scored big!
Lu Fei grinned like an idiot. And without even consulting his manager, he went to StarBlog and reposted all of Xie Xingchen’s product posts on his main account, openly showing how badly he wanted the trial set.
Lu Fei was the top Best Actor in the entertainment industry. He didn’t chase “traffic,” but he himself was traffic.
Fans reacted in two completely different ways.
Some fans wailed in despair, because Lu Fei’s reposting was lowering their odds of winning.
Other fans were shocked—and exactly as the wailing fans predicted, they followed the post straight to Earth Shop.
Once they arrived, they were instantly stunned.
This was their first time seeing a comment section this active!
It was basically a giant encrypted chatroom.
Image
Abbreviations everywhere, dazzling the eyes. And the god-tier comments made people burst out laughing in seconds…
Wow. No matter what Earth Shop was like, this comment section was amazing.
Lu Fei’s fans: sold, sold, sold!
They hit follow immediately. Fans who’d only heard the name but never paid attention jumped into the comment chaos. Seeing the latest repost post that hadn’t been drawn yet, they reflexively commented and reposted too.
Whether they won or not—they didn’t care. As long as they could lower other people’s odds, that was enough!
Hahaha, let the chosen ones become even more chosen!
Time passed as fans “tortured” each other.
Although there were still three days until the draw, the number of participants had already become so high it left people speechless.
It wasn’t exaggeration—people truly hadn’t seen anything like this.
A bunch of goofy new fans poured in shouting they were here to lower everyone’s odds.
At first, no one took it seriously. But then… they actually lowered it.
These entertainment-fandom people who were used to mass-voting and campaigning for their idols were terrifying.
How many relatives’ accounts did they borrow to lower the odds like this—every aunt, uncle, and cousin?
Even if the final repost count might be “only” hundreds of millions, right now, with three days left, reposts had already broken a hundred million—and were still skyrocketing. Hitting a billion tomorrow wouldn’t even be surprising.
These numbers shocked not only the fans—Xie Xingchen himself was shaken too.
No matter what, the outcome for him would be roughly the same (not enough stock to sell), but the data itself was terrifying.
Most people only had one StarBlog account, but these people were acting like they had endless alts—one word: insane.
Thinking of the person who caused this scene, Xie Xingchen couldn’t help opening the chat log he’d just had.
Best Actor Lu Fei felt like a slightly goofy, friendly big brother to talk to. His fandom was also famously “chill.”
But here’s the problem:
These fans were not chill at all!
If they were “Buddha-like,” then they were the Victorious Fighting Buddha.
And this was the fandom known for being chill?
Terrifying. The entertainment industry was terrifying!
Remembering past “toxic fan” incidents, Xie Xingchen shuddered.
Seeing Xie Xingchen frozen for so long, Prosperity walked over. “Boss, are we still going?”
Xie Xingchen snapped back. “Oh—yes, we’re going.”
Then he added, “Get-Rich, remember to mail Best Actor Lu’s kid’s milk powder to him later.”
He waved at Prosperity. “Prosperity, let’s go.”
Xie Xingchen and Prosperity got into the hovercar, preparing to complete today’s exploration plan.
This plan had been in his mind for a long time, but only now was it being carried out.
That’s right—Xie Xingchen wanted to explore the legendary black soil!
To find black soil, the hovercar headed north.
Because he had a clear target, Xie Xingchen didn’t search as carefully as he had during previous explorations.
His goal was black soil; from the air, his view would be broader and clearer.
Now, the northern hemisphere had fully entered deep winter.
As they traveled north, the world looked sealed in ice and snow—everything in sight was white, and only white.
At first, Xie Xingchen was excited because the snowy scenery was magnificent. But after seeing snow everywhere for a long time, he suddenly stopped being excited.
He wasn’t just unexcited—he even felt kind of stupid.
In the middle of winter, he came to look for black soil?
Look for what black soil?
The ground was covered in snow. How was he supposed to see whether the soil was black?
Realizing this, Xie Xingchen felt like a complete idiot.
But turning back was impossible.
Since he was already here, he might as well explore.
Besides, it wasn’t like he knew nothing about Earth.
Black soil meant the Northeast.
Since he knew the general direction, he could just drive the hovercar over there!
Prosperity was long used to his boss being unreliable, so he said nothing.
He adjusted the hovercar’s direction and drove toward the Northeast as Xie Xingchen instructed.
The farther north they went, the heavier the snow became.
The more they approached the north, the more Xie Xingchen felt what literature described as “northern scenery”—the “a thousand miles of ice, ten thousand miles of drifting snow” was vividly real.
There were no evergreen plants here. The tall trees were all cold-resistant species, coated with frost rime in the icy world, making them look like crystal-clear ice sculptures.
Xie Xingchen drove the hovercar around and still couldn’t find black soil, but judging from the increasing amount of rime, he felt it had to be here.
However, the frozen earth was too hard. Xie Xingchen didn’t want to dig it up—also, he’d just thought of something… fun.
What should you do when you arrive in an ice-and-snow world?
Obviously: enjoy the local winter scenery!
And how do you enjoy it?
Xie Xingchen grinned.
Hahahaha—the legendary ice sculptures and ice lanterns, here I come!
He parked the hovercar casually by the river. After bundling up, he excitedly ran down.
Without hesitation, he started pulling out tools. But right before he ran to the river to get ice, he suddenly remembered something—so he opened his livestream and changed the title to:
“Xingchen’s Wonderful Ice-and-Snow Adventure.”
Viewers who received the live notification froze when they saw the title.
At first they thought they’d entered the wrong stream.
Only after seeing Boss Xie’s familiar face did they realize they hadn’t—Boss Xie had changed the stream name.
[I Live on Snow Planet]: “First seat! Boss Xie I’m here—hahahahaha… I’m judging all those stunned idiots.”
[King Leaf]: “Boss Xie Boss Xie [carrying my little stool, trotting in happily.jpg] What delicious thing are you making today? Judging by the environment, is it frozen food?”
[Cat Who Doesn’t Eat Fish]: “Hahahahaha frozen food my ass—this beauty is too funny. Why would you go to a snowstorm place to make frozen food? Look at the stream title, Boss Xie is probably out having fun.”
[Switch Accounts and You Can Grab It]: “I don’t get it—what’s fun about heavy snow… skiing? But this is a riverside, I don’t see any mountain ski resort.”
“…”
Xie Xingchen greeted the camera and said with a grin, “Yep, we’re playing. Today I’m taking everyone to make ice lanterns and ice sculptures. If you’ve got the conditions, you can play along too.”
Then he turned to Prosperity and whispered a few words. Prosperity drove the hovercar closer while Xie Xingchen ran to the river to collect ice.
The river surface was frozen solid. Just looking, it was all thick ice—thick enough that even if a bunch of people stood on it, it wouldn’t collapse.
He didn’t know about others, but this ice satisfied him completely.
Standing on a hoverboard, Xie Xingchen pulled out a small laser cutter.
On the ice, he effortlessly cut out the shapes of the ice blocks he wanted, then had Prosperity use the hovercar’s hook to lift and transport them to the spot Xie Xingchen had chosen earlier.
Xie Xingchen cut more than a dozen large ice blocks before stopping.
Staring at the blocks in front of him, he jumped with excitement.
His delicate features against the snow looked like an ice spirit; his eyes shimmered with starlight. Xie Xingchen curved his lips and looked at the blocks with bright, eager eyes.
The blocks were huge. For actual use, he’d have to cut them down as needed.
Since ice sculpture was harder, he decided to practice with ice lanterns first.
Ice lanterns were easy: hollow out a block of ice, then put something glowing inside.
No lamp or candle wasn’t a problem—Xie Xingchen had plenty of glowing high-grade energy stones in his storage button.
Yawning, he stepped forward and cut one big ice block into countless neat little cubes.
Then he took one cube and pulled out… a small cutting knife. With the knife in one hand and the other hand (in protective gloves) measuring and marking, he began.
He wanted to make a palace lantern—a simple four-corner palace lantern.
The bottom would be a pillar base, and on top would be a square lantern with an eave-like roof.
The pillar base was easy. With steady hands, it could be done in one go.
But the lantern itself was harder.
That “roof eave” alone made his head hurt.
After scrapping three lanterns, Xie Xingchen finally found the trick and—success!
The lantern wasn’t ultra-fancy, but it was quite delicate.
Inside the square four-corner lantern, he hollowed out a tidy space and placed a warm yellow-glowing energy stone inside. The four sides were thin ice panels, and for realism, Xie Xingchen even etched patterns into the ice to make it look more like a traditional lantern.
In the snowy world, an ice palace lantern glowed softly—so beautiful that it made people feel happy and warm from the inside.
[Holy crap, this is an ice lantern?]
[Ahhh this is the correct way to open an ice-and-snow world!]
[@SnowStar your chance has come—come learn this already!]
[Wuwuwu I can do it, I can! My hands are super skillful—I’ll definitely make a prettier ice lantern than Boss Xie!]
Watching Xie Xingchen make ice lanterns made everyone itchy with envy.
The livestream erupted into waves of wailing again—people wished they could swap places with him.
But Xie Xingchen didn’t have time to read comments. He was busy making ice lanterns!
After admiring his “perfect” piece, his imagination exploded. He rounded the cubes into balls, fixed them in place, poured water to fuse the joints, then carved a long column of ice and assembled a candied-hawthorn-skewer-shaped ice lantern.
That candied-skewer lantern unlocked his creativity. After that, he made a bunny ice lantern, a little squirrel ice lantern, a little horse ice lantern, an elephant ice lantern, and more.
All kinds of ice lanterns opened viewers’ eyes—and made Xie Xingchen brimming with confidence.
As expected of me—amazing!
Ice sculptures, just you wait—I’m coming!
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