Part 2
To coordinate with the store expansion yesterday, Zhu Ran had changed the listing time of all products to midnight. Now, nine hours after listing, the items in the store were sold out without any surprise.
“Is the lavender essential oil sold out too? I thought it might not sell.”
Since essential oil products were being listed for the first time and the price wasn’t cheap, Zhu Ran had prepared himself for the possibility that Interstellar citizens might be conservative and the products would be hard to sell.
Who knew that after looking at the sales records, all 12 bottles of lavender essential oil were sold out within 10 minutes of opening the shop.
It sold much better than Zhu Ran had imagined.
Not only were the products in the store sold out, but the “other turnover” actually broke 300,000 Starcoins, which surprised Zhu Ran.
Other turnover included income from the aromatherapy experience rooms and the sale of holographic Daisy Tea.
According to the income breakdown, it could be seen that the bulk of the other turnover came from the holographic Daisy Tea. Although a cup of Daisy Tea was only 10 Starcoins, 30,000 out of the 40,000-plus visitors had purchased the holographic Daisy Tea, resulting in 300,000 Starcoins of income.
Moreover, this was only half a day’s worth of business. He believed that after a full day, the income from selling holographic Daisy Tea could more than double.
Zhu Ran then looked at the latest comments on the shop; whether it was new or old customers, they all gave positive reviews.
[The new shop is so beautiful~ The shop owner put in a lot of heart.]
[The holographic tea room on the second floor is amazing. I made an appointment with my superior to have a meeting there. After drinking the Daisy Tea, my boss actually discussed the report with us calmly and didn’t get angry for once.]
[Already placed an order for the lavender massage oil; I hope the shop owner ships it quickly.]
[Giving a thumbs up to the aromatherapy experience room. I fell asleep in seconds after trying it once. This is too magical!]
……
Seeing that there were no problems with the expansion or the aromatherapy products, Zhu Ran’s last trace of uncertainty vanished.
Since the aromatherapy products sold well, he could continue to expand.
“I can first process roses into essential oil and tea for the shop, and then stimulate other seeds…”
“I can also try integrating mutated plants into the essential oil production to see if the therapeutic effect can be expanded to the entire spiritual sea.”
Having decided this, Zhu Ran walked out of the room, and unsurprisingly, Z was already sitting on the sofa checking his optical computer.
Z hadn’t combed his hair back today, instead letting the golden hair fall messily between his eyes.
He also wasn’t wearing a meticulous shirt like before; lately, he seemed to especially favor knit sweaters. Today, he was even wearing a creamy white knit sweater for the first time, making him look much younger and softer.
Seeing Zhu Ran arrive, Z naturally closed his optical computer and stood up: “Breakfast is ready.”
Zhu Ran nodded: “Okay.”
Zhu Ran usually woke up late and rarely ate breakfast.
Today seemed to be the first time the two of them sat down for breakfast together after Z moved into Zhu Ran’s home.
The last time they ate breakfast together was when Zhu Ran moved away from the Lower City and stayed for a night at Z’s house while Z was disguised as Officer Will.
The breakfast variety was simple: sandwiches with fried eggs and fruit milk.
However, the shape of the sandwiches this time was a bit cute—a bear-like appearance with semi-circular ears.
Although the taste wasn’t particularly special, this interesting shape alone made Zhu Ran’s mood improve.
Zhu Ran had a shallow smile on his face: “The kitchen assistant robot can make such interesting sandwiches?”
Z: “Do you like them?”
“Yeah, I quite like them.”
“Then I’ll make them for you again next time.”
“Okay… wait?”
Zhu Ran seemed to have discovered something, his green eyes widening slightly: “You made them?”
Z nodded, his tone very natural: “This is what an assistant should do, isn’t it?”
Zhu Ran was slightly stunned before replying: “It’s very delicious, thank you.”
An assistant making breakfast for their employer seemed like there was indeed nothing wrong with it, but when the person doing it was Z, it always felt a bit strange.
“Next time I’ll improve the flavor; you can try it again.”
“Okay.”
Breakfast over, Zhu Ran went to the balcony to produce rose essential oil and rose tea.
Rose tea was very easy to make; he just had to pick semi-open rose flowers, wash them, and dry them once at a high temperature of 110 degrees, then dry them again at 80 degrees after they cooled.
In just half an hour, a jar full of rose tea was ready.
“Rose tea has the effect of clearing internal heat and beautifying the skin. it can relieve stagnant Qi and eliminate fatigue.”
Zhu Ran immediately brewed a cup of rose tea to drink. The aroma of roses rushed toward him; it was slightly bitter in the mouth, with a unique flavor.
Afterward, Zhu Ran produced rose essential oil.
With the experience of making lavender essential oil, making rose essential oil was a familiar task. Zhu Ran used his spiritual power to envelop the rose blossoms and extract the aromatic factors, then placed them in brown light-shielding bottles.
The naturally rich and fragrant roses, after extraction and refinement into essential oil, had an even more pronounced scent. Compared to the grassier scent of lavender oil, the rose was entirely floral—sweet with a hint of luxury.
However, the yield of rose essential oil was slightly lower. Unlike the two pots of lavender that could yield about 8ml of oil, 10 pots of rose flowers were needed to get about 5ml of pure oil.
“The yield of rose essential oil is smaller, so the price will be relatively more expensive. I’ll send the rose derivative products for testing first and list them after I get the reports.”
Setting the completed rose essential oil aside, Zhu Ran then began to try integrating mutated plants into the essential oil production process.
Essential oils extracted from natural plants could only act on the superficial spiritual sea. They needed a boost to break through the defensive barriers of the deep spiritual sea. After thinking it over, the aggressive mutated plants were most suitable for this pioneering work.
Zhu Ran thus touched the black-red vine on his wrist: “I need you to help with something.”
The vine straightened its tendrils and shook them, indicating it was at Zhu Ran’s disposal.
Zhu Ran smiled and gently stroked the vine.
He then expanded his spiritual power and divided it into two streams: one enveloping the lavender, and one enveloping the vine.
The aromatic factors extracted from the lavender stayed quietly in mid-air, perfectly still and silent.
The aggressive factors extracted from the vine, however, swam around in the spiritual power net, occasionally poking out small corners from the net, looking very lively.
Once the extraction from both plants was complete, Zhu Ran brought the two separate streams of spiritual power together, opening a gap in the spiritual power net.
He attempted to blend the two completely different auras together.
As a mutated plant, the vine’s factors were highly aggressive. Zhu Ran worried it would bully the lavender’s aromatic factors. So, after the gap opened, Zhu Ran only let one or two drops of the vine factor enter the lavender factors.
Under spiritual monitoring, the vine factors were red circles with fuzzy thorns on the outer wall. The natural lavender factors were light purple, smooth ovals.
The vine factor quickly merged in. The “red fuzzy” first curiously touched a lavender factor with its body.
Because the lavender factor was too fragile, it “popped” and broke.
The vine factor was surprised and immediately softened its outer fuzzy thorns, changing from a needle-like sharp appearance to soft fur.
It continued to approach the lavender factor; this time, the lavender factor wasn’t destroyed.
Seeing this, the vine factor snuggled with the lavender factors—one vine factor was surrounded by about six lavender factors.
They lived together in harmony and soon merged into one.
No rejection reaction occurred after the two plant factors merged. Zhu Ran then formulated the “Mutated Lavender Essential Oil” at a ratio of 6:1.
The formulation process went smoothly; after a while, about 10ml of essential oil was put into a brown bottle.
Zhu Ran used his hand to fan the air and smell it. The lavender scent had become slightly lighter, and the originally tranquil atmosphere now had an extra touch of passionate warmth.
However, the overall scent didn’t change much; the lavender fragrance could still be identified.
Both the lavender and the vine, having had their factors extracted, were a bit listless. Zhu Ran watered them with spiritual power water and placed them in the sun to soak up the light and undergo photosynthesis.
“I wonder if this essential oil will be effective…” Zhu Ran glanced at Z sitting in the living room and then retracted his gaze: “I’ll take it for testing along with the rose oil first. Once the report is fine, I’ll let Z try it.”
With that, he sent the package to Hyuna, asking her to take it for testing.
Z sat in the living room, using his peripheral vision to observe Zhu Ran’s behavior.
The rose essential oil scent, completely different from lavender, made Z realize that Zhu Ran was blending a new oil.
And the subsequent fusion of lavender and mutated plant factors made Z even more surprised.
Is Zhu Ran… trying to use mutated plants to break open the spiritual sea’s defenses and achieve deep healing?
No one in the Interstellar era had ever made this hypothesis; it sounded a bit like a fantasy.
But if it was Zhu Ran… perhaps he would succeed.
And since the new essential oil was finished, would Zhu Ran ask him to try it?
Z sat in the living room and waited, waiting for Zhu Ran to find him to use the oil.
But Z waited and waited, from the afternoon until evening, from evening until midnight, and Zhu Ran still didn’t come to him.
It wasn’t until Hyuna sent a Star-Message telling him: [I’m rushing the testing of the products Zhu Ran gave me for the medical department tonight.] that Z realized Zhu Ran didn’t intend to let him try the oil.
Zhu Ran might be avoiding him.
This realization left Z in a bad mood.
Sitting alone on the bed, Z had a deep expression and a heavy aura, appearing somewhat unapproachable.
Finally, he smothered his head with the quilt, sensing the remaining scent of Zhu Ran in the bedding, and slowly fell asleep.
In his dream, Z was still enveloped by a pleasant fragrance, but… the originally bright and natural world had become gloomy. A gray brush-stroke erased the color from the corner where the sun shone, bit by bit.
Color turned to black and white, warmth turned to cold, and the originally filling fragrance became faint.
The vanilla candy Z had held in his arms yesterday was gone today.
Translator’s Note:
Star-Map APP (星圖APP): This is the story’s version of social media platforms like Instagram or Xiaohongshu (Little Red Book). It’s very visual-heavy, which is why Zhu Ran’s beautiful shop decor is causing such a stir there!
Clear Internal Heat (降火 – jiàng huǒ): A classic concept in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). “Internal heat” or “Fire” can cause things like irritability, sore throats, or skin breakouts. Rose tea is famous for cooling this down!
Relieve Stagnant Qi (緩解氣郁 – huǎn jiě qì yù): Another TCM term. Stagnant Qi usually refers to emotional blockages or feeling “stuck” and moody.
Vanilla Candy (香草糖 – xiāng cǎo táng): At the end, Z refers to Zhu Ran as his “vanilla candy.” It highlights how Z sees Zhu Ran as something sweet, comforting, and essential to his well-being.
See you in the next chapter!
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