Chapter 87
Lady Cilia was a loyal customer of Earth Trading House.
When Earth Trading House released new products again, she snapped up a lot. For sheet masks alone, she hoarded the maximum allowed—100 pieces. She also bought every toner, lotion, cream, and even aloe gel right up to each item’s purchase limit.
When the delivery arrived, it came as several huge boxes. Lady Cilia saw them and smiled so widely her eyes curved, fluttering over like a butterfly. Then, in the lavish, aristocratic hall, she began “checking inventory” with a stern, serious expression.
She looked so earnest, as if she hadn’t bought a few-thousand-starcoin “budget” set, but luxury skincare worth millions—or even tens of millions—of starcoins.
But in Lady Cilia’s eyes, Earth Trading House products were far rarer than so-called luxury goods.
For one simple reason: flash sales.
Flash sales were extremely difficult for someone like her, who’d grown up wealthy. Every time she wanted to buy Earth Trading House items, she usually had to rely on scalpers. The only things she could reliably secure by herself were the expensive essential oils and hydrosols.
So these items in front of her weren’t just products—they were trophies.
Thinking back to her lightning-fast fingers yesterday, she couldn’t help admiring herself.
Cilia: “As expected of me!” (proud cat.jpg)
So were these products?
No. These weren’t products.
These were her treasures—her glory.
In a wonderfully buoyant mood, she had the servants carry her “counted treasures” to her bedroom. Then she personally arranged them on the gorgeous vanity that the butler had already cleaned.
The vanity was enormous, with plenty of spaces meant for skincare.
It used to be filled with top luxury brands. Now, only Earth Trading House hydrosols and essential oils remained—plus the three new lines she was about to place there: a total of twelve products.
According to the product details from Earth Trading House’s skincare store, all three lines were primarily hydrating products, but each had slightly different highlights on top of hydration.
- The cucumber line had the weakest hydration effect of the three, but it had a unique anti-wrinkle effect.
- The loofah line had medium-level hydration, but it also offered some anti-inflammatory benefits, promoted metabolism, provided deep cleansing, and improved rough skin texture.
- The aloe line had the strongest hydration effect, and also offered anti-inflammatory and brightening/fade-spot benefits.
Of course, according to Boss Xie’s own description, the main function of all three lines was hydration, and the other effects were extremely minor. If you didn’t want hydration and only wanted those other effects, you shouldn’t buy them.
But… hydration alone was enough.
If you properly hydrate, you can solve 70% of skin problems.
And besides, these products still had those “extra” effects.
Even though Xie Xingchen had repeatedly said those extra effects were tiny, people who hadn’t tried them still clung to the thought: “Maybe it’ll work on me.”
Lady Cilia was exactly that kind of person right now.
As the daughter of a wealthy family and the wife of a tycoon household, she never lacked money. Money, to her, was just a string of digits sitting in an account.
But not lacking money didn’t mean not having worries. And her worry was one many girls had: small spots on the face.
From childhood to adulthood, Cilia had been fair and beautiful. Her only “flaw” was that she was prone to freckles and pigmentation spots.
Sure, cosmetic medicine was advanced these days—if you had money, you could fix it. But cosmetic procedures came with an awkward recovery period, and Cilia had sensitive skin (min gan xing), with a fragile skin barrier that couldn’t handle repeated long-term procedures.
Worse, cosmetic medicine carried real risk these days.
Dark-matter contamination was everywhere, adding layers of danger. Cosmetic procedures couldn’t be done with “absolute purity” forever. If any product used contained even a trace of dark matter, then “a ruined face” would already be the best-case outcome.
So after several medical accidents, many people stopped doing cosmetic treatments.
Based on her needs, Lady Cilia chose the aloe line.
That night, she took a fragrant essential-oil bath, then happily had her personal maid massage her body, apply a face mask, and layer toner, lotion, and oils.
After half a month, the results were striking.
Cilia’s complexion was rosy and hydrated. Her skin gained a healthy, dewy glow on top of being already fair, and most impressively—every single pigmentation spot on her face had faded away.
Looking at her smooth, creamy skin in the mirror, her lips couldn’t stop lifting.
At the monthly tea gathering, Cilia’s transformation shocked the other rich ladies.
When they learned she hadn’t done cosmetic medicine at all, but had simply used a cheap skincare line, everyone cried “Impossible!” Some even sneered that Cilia was “lowering herself.”
But regardless of what they said out loud, once the tea gathering ended, they all went straight to Earth Trading House and ruthlessly bought everything they could.
When the deliveries arrived, they tried the products too—skeptical at first—and were instantly hooked.
It felt comfortable, intensely hydrating, and on the face it even gave a soothing, “comforted” sensation.
The well-informed rich ladies immediately realized this wasn’t ordinary. The application feel alone was enough to crush many expensive products they’d used before.
After just a few days, many noticed clear improvements to their skin problems.
After a month—well, that was something else entirely.
These “budget” products instantly became the favorites of countless wealthy ladies.
And because of that, ordinary people who couldn’t afford luxury skincare heard the news and couldn’t resist buying the same “rich-lady skincare” set.
They never expected that once they tried it, they’d fall straight into the Earth Trading House trap and never climb out again.
It turned Earth Trading House into an industry legend: whether you were poor or rich, you used the same things.
In the future, people across different social classes even shared one common topic: Earth Trading House.
Whether you were a high official or a civilian, wealthy or broke—back then, everyone’s home always had a few familiar, comforting everyday staples from the same place: Earth Trading House, the “good conscience” store everyone complained was impossible to buy from.
Companion Info Panel
Name: Fat Bunny (Feifei)
Species: Travel-loving rabbit folk
Status: Wants to travel~
Travel pack: [+]
Note: Your companion wants to travel. Please prepare an adventure travel pack as soon as possible~
Half-asleep, Xie Xingchen kept hearing the system’s ding-dong notifications.
He checked and realized Feifei wanted to travel again.
Looks like the travel pack he prepared last night didn’t satisfy the bunny—otherwise the system would’ve simply announced that Feifei had departed, instead of prompting him to repack.
With a sigh, Xie Xingchen helplessly took out the extra steak he’d made last night and swapped it for carrots.
Food: Carrots x10
Tool: A cute hoe x1
Lucky item: Legendary Four-Leaf Clover x1
Other: A large tent that can withstand storms x1
Confirm this travel pack? [Yes] [No]
Xie Xingchen clicked [Yes]. The status instantly changed to “Happily traveling.”
Faced with that, Xie Xingchen had nothing to say.
Fine. As long as you’re happy.
Carrots it is.
Feifei still hasn’t gotten sick of carrots after all this time—what does that mean?
It means Feifei might be a little strange, but he really is a rabbit.
Better he doesn’t want steak anyway. Xie Xingchen could eat it as lunch.
Yawning, Xie Xingchen went back to sleep.
He was exhausted.
He’d fallen asleep close to 4 a.m. last night, and it was only a bit past 6 a.m. now. Not being able to get up was perfectly normal.
Maybe it had been too long since he stayed up that late—because even though he was awake, his brain felt like a rusted machine that wouldn’t turn.
So he looked for something that didn’t require thinking, like… making green-substance potion.
Right now, his stock of green-substance potion was basically zero. And since Feifei was traveling with a legendary four-leaf clover, Xie Xingchen needed to prepare potions in advance.
He brewed potions while letting his mind go blank. When he heard the system notification again, he didn’t even react immediately. It took him five minutes to become somewhat alert.
Yawning, he slowly opened the game shop. The first thing he saw was a red flash-sale link at the top.
System Flash Sale: Information Pouch
100,000 starcoins each (limit 3)
Countdown: 04:58:01
Information pouch?
Xie Xingchen froze mid-yawn.
What was that?
He didn’t know what it did, but he had a gut feeling it might help him. He jolted fully awake and fumbled through the purchase as fast as he could.
Ding-dong. Congratulations, purchase successful.
300,000 starcoins have been deducted.
Current balance: 108,965,236,941 starcoins.
Three pouches sat in his in-game mail.
Curious, he opened one.
Information Pouch: A pouch containing valuable information. Carry it and you might obtain information that lights up your collection index!
Xie Xingchen: !
System Prompt: You have opened an Information Pouch. Confirm use?
Xie Xingchen: “Use.”
System Prompt: Information Pouch used. Information obtained -> Coordinates (69838, 18974)
Coordinates?
Could this be the location of an undiscovered flower in his collection index?
Xie Xingchen’s spirit surged. Without wasting time, he sent the coordinates to Prosperity, then drove the hovercar with Prosperity to (69838, 18974).
When they arrived, Xie Xingchen didn’t even get out. From above, he saw an enormous field of baby’s breath—tiny little white flowers scattered like stars across a night sky, unbelievably beautiful.
He climbed down, delighted, and touched the blooming baby’s breath.
Ding-dong. Congratulations, you have discovered “Baby’s Breath.” Unlocked.
That familiar system sound almost made Xie Xingchen cry from excitement.
He practically teared up. “This information pouch is insane!”
Information pouch is the best!
So system products really are top-tier?
This wasn’t one little plant or a couple of seeds—this was an entire vast field. It could be listed for sale immediately and still leave plenty behind.
Taking deep breaths to calm himself, Xie Xingchen opened the second pouch, nervous and thrilled.
System Prompt: You have opened an Information Pouch. Confirm use?
Xie Xingchen: “Use.”
System Prompt: Information Pouch used. Information obtained -> Coordinates (78968, 33365)
This time, he didn’t hesitate at all—only pure joy.
He drove the hovercar toward (78968, 33365). From far away, before he even reached the exact spot, he saw rows upon rows of trees two to three meters tall forming a forest of white and green.
White were the flowers. Green were the trees. The contrast was gorgeous.
He got out—and before he even reached them, he smelled an intensely pleasant fragrance.
Night-blooming jasmine.
Ding-dong. Congratulations, you have discovered “Night-blooming Jasmine.” Unlocked.
Touching the trees, Xie Xingchen stood there for a long time in a daze.
This was like the jasmine grove he’d found before—these plants were huge, beyond normal size, forming their own forest.
But unlike the jasmine grove, these night-blooming jasmine plants were downright aggressive.
They didn’t just cluster in one area. After forming a grove, they actively swallowed neighboring plants’ territory, expanding rapidly through constant invasion.
It was shameless… and Xie Xingchen absolutely loved it.
If he had to choose one naturally growing flower that could provide massive quantities for sale, it would be night-blooming jasmine.
With that vitality and growth habit, he hardly needed to help. As long as he watered and fertilized regularly, this grove would eventually become the fastest-growing, most flourishing giant in the region.
He was so happy—so, so happy.
This information pouch was ridiculously powerful.
Why did the system only sell information pouches now? If it had sold them earlier, he might’ve already unlocked page one of the collection index!
With that thought, Xie Xingchen’s gaze on the third pouch turned predatory.
System Prompt: You have opened an Information Pouch. Confirm use?
Xie Xingchen: “Use.”
System Prompt: Information Pouch used. Information obtained -> “Because you are within this mountain.” (Hydrangea) [1]
That line came from Su Shi’s poem “Inscription on the Wall at Xilin Temple.” The previous line was: “I cannot recognize the true face of Mount Lu.”
Combined with “Because you are within this mountain,” Xie Xingchen’s first instinct was that the flower mentioned—the hydrangea—was hidden in one of the places he frequented in daily life.
Back in the hovercar, he listed his usual locations:
The flower fields, the starship, Chang’an Workshop, the ranch, and Qiong Island.
The places he visited most were the flower fields, the starship, and Chang’an Workshop.
His sixth sense told him it was the flower fields… but unfortunately, his sixth sense was wrong.
He gathered all robots and spent two full days combing the flower fields twice, meticulously. Still, he found no trace of hydrangea.
After a third sweep with no result, he moved on.
His second choice was the starship—but honestly, it was the least likely. It was his daily base, and the flower fields were right next to it. Flowers growing in the fields made sense, but hydrangeas couldn’t just magically sprout inside the starship.
So he searched once, found nothing, and gave up.
Finally, he went to the large residence courtyard where he lived at Chang’an Workshop. Looking at the winding paths and lush greenery, he silently prayed: please let hydrangeas be here.
But after one search, two searches, three searches—still nothing.
He even searched every factory building and courtyard at Chang’an Workshop, anywhere any greenery existed. No hydrangea.
Out of options, he went to the ranch and Qiong Island.
Still nothing.
He searched for a full week. He even dreamed about hydrangeas. He started doubting whether he’d misunderstood the poem.
After a week of failure, he thought of one more place: the snowy northeastern lands.
Hydrangea was a plant that tolerated both heat and cold. It wouldn’t die at minus 30 degrees Celsius, and it wouldn’t die at plus 40 either—so maybe it could survive in heavy northern snow?
He wasn’t sure.
But this was the last place he could think of.
Clinging to that tiny chance, he dug up the hovercar’s flight records from that day and found the coordinates of the ice-snow castle.
Protected by the shield, the ice-snow castle still stood as before—even the glowing energy stones were still “working hard.”
This was a world of ice and snow. Only ice and snow could roam freely here. Any other plants, even if not frozen to death, were wrapped in a thick, crystal-clear coat of ice and snow.
Finding a plant in heavy snow was extremely difficult, especially with thick snow piled on the ground. It made Xie Xingchen’s search infinitely harder.
He spent three full days in that snowfield, searching everything within a hundred-li radius. Still no hydrangea. In fact, he didn’t see even the shadow of any other flower.
He looked up at the swirling snowfall and sighed gloomily. “I searched everything inside and out… so why didn’t I find hydrangea?”
Was he not careful enough?
That didn’t feel right—he’d been extremely thorough.
Or had he misunderstood the poem?
After ten days of searching with nothing to show, he started questioning his own comprehension.
With that doubt, he went nowhere else. Back on the starship, he stared at the lavender field near the entrance and kept muttering, “Because you are within this mountain.”
No matter how much he muttered, apart from a brief spell of looking deranged, he ended up trusting his first instinct again.
But… he still couldn’t find it.
Xie Xingchen: Fine. Then it is what it is.
(lying-flat cat.jpg)
Back in his room aboard the starship, he felt nothing but exhaustion.
He’d said he would “lie flat,” but during his bath he still thought out of habit.
Even thinking until he felt bald, he couldn’t make sense of it.
“Ahhh, forget it. Whatever.”
He sprawled on the bed like a starfish and bonked his head against the pillow.
Burying himself in the blanket, he swallowed the sigh that was about to escape.
Eyes closed, he breathed in the faint lavender scent in the air.
After a while, he rolled over, hands behind his head, staring blankly at the ceiling.
His long legs twitched unconsciously, and with a sudden sit-up—because he’d been lying awkwardly near the foot of the bed—his flailing legs knocked over the flowerpot on the bedside cabinet.
Clang—
The pot fell, soil spilling everywhere. A plant with tiny new sprouts, buried in the dirt, suddenly appeared in his view.
This seed had been dug up by Feifei long ago from who-knows-where. When Xie Xingchen picked it up back then, the system gave no prompt (meaning it wasn’t a plant in his collection index), so he casually tossed it into a pot with soil.
Then he got busy.
Because the kitchen was messy, the pot—originally by a kitchen window—was brought into the bedroom. He meant to move it back out after a few days, but…
Once it entered the bedroom, he got too lazy to take it out again. It wasn’t in the way, so it stayed.
But this plant had one strange trait: it sprouted slowly.
Not just slow—so slow that even feeding it green-substance potion didn’t help. It stubbornly grew at its own pace.
And now the sprouts were this big?
Xie Xingchen was mildly surprised.
But only mildly—because he’d touched it before and the system didn’t react. So he was sure it wasn’t what he’d been searching for.
“Ah… if only you were the hydrangea I’m looking for,” he said, chin in hand, gloomily staring at the plant lying in the soil.
Ten full days. Ten days. He didn’t know how others would feel, but he felt like he was going crazy.
“Why don’t you just transform? Transform into hydrangea? Come on—transform, transform, transform.” Childish Xie Xingchen performed “magic” with a perfectly serious face.
After playing around for several minutes, he remembered he needed to pick everything up and clean the room.
He crouched down, feeling a little less depressed now, and quickly picked up the plant that had fallen.
But the instant his fingers touched the new sprout, the system prompt sounded.
Ding-dong. Congratulations, you have discovered “Hydrangea.” Hydrangea unlocked.
Xie Xingchen: ?
Xie Xingchen: “No way… do I actually have magical powers? Did my ‘ritual’ work?”
Staring at the green plant in his hand, Xie Xingchen went completely blank.
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