Chapter 13: 013
With Xiuna’s help, Zhu Ran quickly picked out a house.
The apartment was located five kilometers away from Zefaer’s residence. Originally, it was a residential complex built for the senior executives of the Star-Rail Transport Company. However, because Planet Aispu was so remote and the number of passing fleets was dwindling, the company no longer required that many management personnel.
As a result, the complex had been left mostly vacant.
The neighborhood was fully equipped with amenities—supermarkets, hospitals, express delivery stations, and patrol robots were all readily available, making life very convenient. Most of the residents currently living there were military personnel who had been transferred for rotation, ensuring an atmosphere of discipline and integrity.
The rent wasn’t expensive either—2,500 Star Coins a month, with a one-month deposit and one month’s rent upfront.
Zhu Ran chose a unit on the top floor. It was a two-story loft with three rooms, and the second floor came with its own balcony, which was perfect for him to bask in the sun and grow flowers.
With Xiuna present, Zhu Ran quickly signed the contract and paid the money, allowing him to move in immediately.
“This is the app for the local supermarkets. You can place orders directly on it and have the delivery robots bring them up.”
“If you run into any trouble, you can find me. I live not too far from here.”
“Don’t just open the door for people you don’t know…”
Xiuna nagged him over and over, looking a bit like a worried old father who couldn’t leave a troublesome child alone.
“Alright, I get it. Thank you.”
Sensing Xiuna’s kindness, the smile on Zhu Ran’s face deepened.
“By the way, this is medicine for external injuries. His Ma—the effect is better than what you’d find outside. It’s for military use; Officer Vier asked me to bring it to you.”
Xiuna placed a jar of ointment into Zhu Ran’s palm. “Apply it to the scratches on your face so they don’t get inflamed.”
Zhu Ran’s skin had been broken by the wind and sand. He himself felt these were minor injuries and hadn’t paid them any mind, so he hadn’t expected that cold-faced but warm-hearted officer to prepare this for him.
His heart felt a surge of warmth.
“I’ll apply it in a bit. Please tell Officer Vier thank you for me.”
Xiuna: “Then if there’s nothing else, I’ll head out. Keep in touch.”
“Please wait a moment,” Zhu Ran called out.
Under Xiuna’s puzzled gaze, Zhu Ran returned to his room. He topped up two daisies with purified water infused with his spiritual power and reinforced the spiritual nets around them.
Zhu Ran brought the two small daisies and handed them to Xiuna.
“These are for you and Officer Vier. Thank you for helping me so much.”
Although the daisies, with their beautiful round flowers, were held in crude test tubes, the natural aura they emitted completely made one overlook the container.
Xiuna didn’t reach out. “This is too precious.”
Natural plants were extremely rare and expensive; ordinary people simply couldn’t come into contact with them. With Zhu Ran giving away two at once, even though he knew Zhu Ran meant well, Xiuna couldn’t accept them.
However, Xiuna had a second thought. Natural plants could help the Emperor soothe his violent spiritual sea, at least allowing His Majesty to sleep well for a dozen minutes or so. Thus, he spoke up again.
“How about this, I’ll buy them?”
“This…”
“Military personnel have regulations against accepting gifts from others; we’ll be punished if caught. But there’s no problem if it’s a standard transaction,” Xiuna explained. “Natural plants are very rare; I’m not losing out by buying them.”
“Alright.”
Seeing this, Zhu Ran didn’t insist further. After Xiuna transferred 48,000 Star Coins to Zhu Ran, he cradled the two bouquets of daisies and returned to Zefaer’s residence first.
“Your Majesty, Zhu Ran sent us two natural plants. I’ll place them in the hall for you.”
With no one else around, Xiuna addressed Zefaer as “Your Majesty” directly.
“These seem to be a new variety. I really want to slap these plants onto the faces of those arrogant researchers to take them down a peg.”
“Besides them, there are others in the stars who can cultivate natural plants. What do they have to be so proud of?”
Whenever the research institute was mentioned, Xiuna was full of fire. Relying on being the only place in the stars capable of cultivating natural plants, the people inside were arrogant to the extreme, nearly riding on the Emperor’s head. Unfortunately, His Majesty indeed needed natural plants to stabilize his spiritual sea, so he had to turn a blind eye.
But… now that Zhu Ran seemed able to cultivate natural plants, did that mean they wouldn’t have to endure the research institute’s attitude in the future?
Zefaer, who had napped for a while, had strands of golden hair falling over his brow, softening his sharp aura. His gaze landed on the green plants with blooming red-centered white flowers on both sides. A scent of the wild, mixed with a sweet woody fragrance, was intoxicating.
Zefaer discerned that this sweet woody fragrance was a scent unique to Zhu Ran and did not originate from the plants. His gaze darkened as he pondered something.
“Suppress the news. For now, don’t let the research institute find Zhu Ran.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
Having moved into his new home, Zhu Ran first shipped out a pot of Freesia and a Daisy bought by Mu Qingzhou yesterday. Of course, he still separated a cutting of the Freesia to keep as a backup for himself.
Since he had sold two daisies to Xiuna, Zhu Ran now had only one daisy left. The daisy was blooming vibrantly, but being the only one, it felt a bit lonely.
“Supply can’t keep up with demand; I need to find a way to expand production.”
Previously, because he was short on money, Zhu Ran usually catalyzed plants and listed them for sale on the same day to earn money as quickly as possible. But now that he had solved his basic needs and wasn’t that short on cash, he could easily make more cuttings today, let the plants grow overnight in water infused with his spiritual power, and then sell them the next day.
This way, not only would it be easier for him, but his supply could also increase. Zhu Ran began to calculate.
The three Freesias sent out yesterday had all been confirmed as received. Combined with the two sold before and the money Xiuna gave him today, he had 150,000 Star Coins. According to the Xinggou Newbie Store Incentive Regulations, his current turnover was already enough to obtain a shop in District 20 with one month of free rent and 5,000 in decoration funds.
For Zhu Ran, this was already a very good result.
“It looks like I can aim for the top-tier reward.”
There were three days left in the seven-day newbie period, and the next incentive tier required a 300,000 turnover. Zhu Ran was still 150,000 short. A 150,000 turnover sounded like a lot, but by Zhu Ran’s calculations, he only needed to sell about seven plants within three days to meet the requirement.
It didn’t seem that difficult. Why not… give it a try!
With that thought, Zhu Ran decided to make more cuttings today. He first logged onto the Xinggou app and posted a store update.
[Zhuying Anxiang]: No restock today. Multiple natural plants will be listed tomorrow. Please look forward to it!
Afterward, he began separating the Freesia and the Daisy. Each plant was split into three small cuttings. After Zhu Ran catalyzed one of them, he used that plant to continue separating more.
Thus, he obtained five Freesia cuttings and five Daisy cuttings. He placed the cuttings into glass vessels he had just bought from the neighboring supermarket. He added purified water to the vessels, infused the water with his spiritual power, and wove spiritual power nets around each cutting to filter out interstellar pollution.
After finishing all this, a bit of sweat seeped from Zhu Ran’s forehead. His spiritual power was nearly depleted again.
A wave of pain came from his spiritual sea due to the emptiness, but this slight pain vanished instantly when Zhu Ran saw the ten cute little cuttings.
Changing into the pajamas the cold-faced officer had thrown to him out of “disgust,” Zhu Ran found a spot where the sun could reach and began his afternoon nap. The sunlight was warm, and Zhu Ran, wearing the warm and fluffy pajamas, slept very soundly.
“What is this Zhuying Anxiang shop selling? How is the turnover so high? It’s almost catching up to me.”
Zhou Zheng gazed at the Xinggou app’s newbie leaderboard, his brows furrowed in disbelief. Currently, the newbie store leaderboard stood as follows:
[First Place] Store Name: Ye Zhao Merchandise Store Cumulative Turnover: 181,000 Star Coins
[Second Place] Store Name: Zhuying Anxiang Cumulative Turnover: 174,000 Star Coins
Zhou Zheng was a newbie store owner in this session’s Mengxin Street, running the shop named “Ye Zhao Merchandise Store.” He was also the assistant to the big star Ye Zhao. With Ye Zhao’s consent, he put merchandise online to sell to expand Ye Zhao’s popularity.
Zhou Zheng had obtained inside information that the first place on this month’s Xinggou newbie leaderboard would get a one-day exhibition slot in the central plaza of all districts ending in 1.
How massive was Xinggou’s traffic! If he could secure this exhibition slot, it would be a huge help in promoting the great Ye Zhao. Because of this, Zhou Zheng had put Ye Zhao’s merchandise up for sale online.
Ye Zhao was currently the most influential young idol in the stars, having debuted in the center position of the show Interstellar 101 with the highest score. His professional skills were beyond doubt. His fans were extremely passionate and very capable of spending money, making him the absolute top tier within the group.
After the temporary group ended, Ye Zhao further shone in movies, receiving unanimous praise for his roles. His personal solo album sales also entered the top 10 of the yearly charts. It could be said that among young people chasing stars across the interstellar space, almost no one didn’t know Ye Zhao.
Zhou Zheng thought that relying on Ye Zhao’s influence and these limited-edition items, he could easily take the first place for newbie stores, right?
But… what the hell was this Zhuying Anxiang? How could its sales revenue jump by nearly 50,000 to 70,000 Star Coins in a day?
It was simply too terrifying!
“No, I must take the first place for newbies.”
With that thought, Zhou Zheng began frantically listing Ye Zhao’s limited-edition merchandise.
[The “Ye Zhao Merchandise Store” you follow has listed ‘Ye Zhao 1st Performance Stage Limited Photobook’.]
[The “Ye Zhao Merchandise Store” you follow has listed ‘Ye Zhao 19th Birthday Artbook, limited to 1,000 copies interstellar-wide’.]
[The “Ye Zhao Merchandise Store” you follow has listed ‘Ye Zhao Unreleased Travel Poster, Badge, and Photo Card Set’…]
That day, everyone who followed the ‘Ye Zhao Merchandise Store’ on Xinggou received a flood of push notifications during the noon period.
What? Stage photobooks? Birthday artbooks? Unreleased posters?
What kind of divine shop was this, to even have these treasures!
Buy, buy them for me! If you don’t buy, you’re not worthy of Ye Zhao’s hard work!
Ye Zhao’s fans flocked to the shop to buy merchandise, fearing they wouldn’t be able to get them if they were late. Before long, several shelves in the Ye Zhao Merchandise Store were empty.
In just a few hours, the ‘Ye Zhao Merchandise Store’ turnover surged by 35,000, reaching 216,000 and continuing to grow. Zhou Zheng watched the rising income with a grin, feeling extremely proud. Ye Zhao’s charm was indeed unmatched.
Zhou Zheng checked on the enemy again, looking at the situation of the ‘Zhuying Anxiang’ shop.
Oho~ Zhuying Anxiang is closed today, no stock for sale.
Oho~ it’s not selling plants until tomorrow.
How much could interstellar genetically synthesized plants sell for? Could they sell better than Ye Zhao’s merchandise? Could they really hit a 200,000 turnover in a day?
Nonsense. His first place was secure. Zhou Zheng was absolutely certain.
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