Chapter 24
The moment she returned to the small courtyard, Xia Anran received a call from Uncle Li. The old man had seen her house locked for several days in a row. Xia Anran had left in a hurry without saying anything. After discussing it with his wife, Uncle Li remembered that government officials had come on the day she disappeared. Fearing something had happened to her, the elderly couple had asked around for days, and only after hearing nothing did they try calling her.
Receiving the call, Xia Anran finally realized she had been away from Yanshan Village for nearly a week. To think, she had originally just wanted to help her fellow villagers sell their fruit through a livestream, only to stumble her way into connecting with the interstellar future and even landing a government job.
At this thought, Xia Anran immediately sent a message to the top leader, asking if the fruit promised to the United Star System could be purchased from her hometown of Yanshan Village. There would surely be many more such large-scale fruit transfers in the future. It was better to keep the benefits within the family, so to speak. It would also fulfill her original wish to help the villagers expand their fruit sales.
The top leader agreed on the spot and even praised her for being a comrade who didn’t forget her roots. Xia Anran scratched her head, a little embarrassed. If it hadn’t been for Uncle Li’s concern, she would have been so busy lately that she would have completely forgotten about it.
During dinner, Xia Anran casually mentioned this, and Director Huang, with a slap on his forehead, suddenly had a new idea for tomorrow’s livestream.
“Why don’t we go to Little Xia’s hometown tomorrow? We can stream on the way and introduce the mountains and rivers. Plus, Yanshan Village grows fruit. It’s just too perfect.”
Xia Anran, chewing on her chopsticks, hadn’t expected Director Huang to have already decided on tomorrow’s plan so quickly. Seeing him look over at her, she nodded, a little dazed. “Sure, I have no problem with that.”
Master Guo was still in the kitchen, busy with the last dish, caramelized bananas. Seeing Director Huang put down his chopsticks halfway through the meal and run off, he poked his head out and asked, “What’s wrong? Is the food not good?” Never before had someone run off in the middle of eating his food. This was a huge blow to his professional career.
Little Yan was frantically stuffing freshly made tofu and meat rolls into her mouth, hissing from the heat and unable to speak. She raised a hand and gave a thumbs-up. “Super delicious! The director just had something urgent come up.”
Only then did Master Guo feel relieved and continue cooking.
Director Huang didn’t even finish his meal before going to submit his report. Project Liuhe had its own dedicated green-light channel. In less than ten minutes, he was back downstairs.
Seeing his jubilant expression, Xia Anran knew his request had most likely been approved. Sure enough, the moment he sat down, he announced tomorrow’s arrangements.
“We’ll gather at seven tomorrow morning, go to the airport, and fly to Little Xia’s hometown. After we land, a dedicated car will take us to Yanshan Village. We should be entering the mountains around the time for the livestream, so we’ll go live then,” Director Huang said, then looked at Xia Anran and continued, “Little Xia, the content for tomorrow will be the beautiful scenery of your hometown, our local culture. Just improvise. You’ve had no problems with the past few streams, so we won’t add unnecessary complications by giving you pointers.”
“Also, the higher-ups’ intention is for us to stay in Yanshan Village for a few days. Then we can go to some scenic spots and travel around the country.”
Xia Anran hadn’t expected that in just a dozen minutes, she would be able to go home the next day and even stay for a few days. She was ecstatic and nodded excitedly. She was also calculating in her head that after tomorrow’s stream, her donations would probably meet the requirement for Lv. 3, and she could unlock the shop. She wondered what good things would be waiting for her to buy. The thought was thrilling.
…
The next day, for a rare change, Xia Anran didn’t sleep in. She started packing her luggage early in the morning and was waiting obediently on the first floor with her suitcase before six o’clock.
When Sister Wang came downstairs, she was startled to see her. “The sun must have risen from the west! Little Xia didn’t sleep in. She’s the first one up.”
“Hehe, I want to go home.”
Little Yan followed closely behind, carrying her makeup case. She also paused when she saw Xia Anran, then quickly began to set up her things. “Since Little Xia is already up, why don’t we do your makeup now? You can catch up on sleep on the plane.”
Sister Wang thought for a moment. “That works. I’ll have Xixi bring the costumes over.”
Xia Anran glanced over and saw Master Guo had already entered the kitchen to start making breakfast. She quickly rejected the proposal. “I’m not sleepy. Let’s do it on the plane.” If they started getting her ready now, she would miss Master Guo’s freshly made breakfast.
Fortunately, Sister Wang and Little Yan didn’t insist and just said that was fine, then went about their own business. Before long, Xixi, a fellow foodie like Xia Anran, also came down. The two of them sat side-by-side on the sofa, watching Master Guo cook.
“Master Guo, what’s for breakfast today?” Xia Anran called out.
Master Guo was kneading dough. Hearing her question, he looked up with a chuckle. “We have meat pies, fried dough sticks, sugar cakes, braised noodles, and some pickled side dishes I made myself. You can all try them later.”
“Alright!”
“I want braised noodles! Two bowls! And a fried egg!”
Although Master Guo had been a chef for decades, he still couldn’t stop smiling when he saw his food being so popular. He agreed to all their requests.
Smelling the fragrance coming from the kitchen, Xia Anran happily swung her legs. Good food, and in a few hours, she would be home. Life was good.
“By the way, are our plane tickets first class? And is there a place for makeup?” Xia Anran asked casually as she peeled an orange to share with Xixi.
Xixi shook her head. “The tickets are all booked together. Director Huang probably arranged it.”
Only then did Xia Anran realize that no one had asked for her ID. How did they book the tickets?
After breakfast, the group picked up their luggage and set off. Instead of going to one of the capital’s major airports, they drove to a small airport on the outskirts of the city. There were soldiers on duty at the gate. After Director Huang showed his credentials, they were allowed to pass.
Seeing the private jet parked on the tarmac, Xia Anran: “…”
It seemed her imagination was still not wild enough.
After boarding the plane, a flight attendant served some drinks and snacks and then left. Sister Wang immediately pulled Xia Anran over to start her makeup.
Director Huang was watching a film nearby. Xia Anran glanced over; it looked like a movie from the Republic of China era, with a very typical Shanghai style. But Director Huang’s mood was a bit strange. He would periodically let out a cold laugh or a disdainful snort. Yet, despite looking down on the movie so much, he still sat there and watched it obediently.
Xia Anran secretly asked Sister Wang what film it was that could make Director Huang so disgusted yet unable to look away.
Sister Wang glanced over and also whispered, “That’s Little Ji’s film. It was just released a few days ago. Of course, the director has to watch his own apprentice’s first independently directed film.”
“Don’t mind his attitude. He’s all bark and no bite. The fact that he’s still watching means he’s quite satisfied.”
Just as she finished speaking, the movie ended. Director Huang snapped his laptop shut with a thud. “Hmph. What a piece of garbage. He’s simply disgracing me.” Then he walked out with his hands behind his back.
Tsundere, she thought. Got it.
…
The flight was just over an hour. They landed at the provincial capital’s airport. The moment they landed, dedicated personnel were there to meet them, leading them to a reception lounge on the north side of the airport. The top official of the provincial capital personally received them. When he shook Xia Anran’s hand, he praised her enthusiastically. Having gone through this in the capital, Xia Anran was now very experienced with such scenes.
Smile, nod, and then remain silent. That was all it took.
After a few pleasantries, the official, knowing they were on an important mission, immediately arranged for a car to take them to Yanshan Village. After getting in the car, Xia Anran looked back and asked, “Isn’t this a bit too much fanfare?” It was just short of a cannon salute and a welcome banner. But their work was best kept low-key, right?
Director Huang, who had been dozing in the front, said, “The official arrangement from the higher-ups is that we are filming a national-level documentary. It’s a major production, to be screened on the anniversary of the founding of the nation. Besides the few leaders in the capital, no one else knows.”
“That’s pretty good. Hiding in plain sight,” Xia Anran said with a smile. Being sneaky all the time would actually attract more attention. It was better to travel around the country openly under the banner of scouting for a documentary.
“It’s almost time. Ten minutes left. Final preparations.”
The livestream was about to start. The cameraman had already found the best angle, set up Xia Anran’s phone, and gave an “OK” sign.
Xia Anran opened the livestream interface and found the previous sales link. She listed two thousand pounds of cherries and two thousand pounds of lychees. But the moment she hit confirm, a warning box popped up.
[Item overweight. Unable to transport. Please re-enter.]
This delivery service has a weight limit?
She frowned and deleted the two thousand pounds of lychees.
[Item overweight. Unable to transport. Please re-enter.]
Xia Anran: “…”
Helplessly, she painfully cut the amount in half again, but it still said no.
Finally, after deleting and reducing all the way down to one hundred pounds, the system was finally satisfied and mercifully allowed her to post the link.
So stingy!
With a wooden expression, Xia Anran listed fifty pounds of cherries and fifty pounds of lychees in the final minute as planned.
The moment it went on sale, it was instantly sold out. She nervously checked the backend and was relieved to see the buyer’s ID was the [United Star System Consulate]. She then quickly took down the link.
Sister Wang rushed to fix her hair one last time. At nine o’clock sharp, Xia Anran opened the livestream.
“Good morning, everyone! Today’s stream has begun!”
….
Li Xing was an ordinary citizen of the United Star System’s Second Planet. Ever since Xia Anran’s livestream had appeared, he had been a loyal viewer, camping out in front of the stream every day. Today, as usual, he had stocked up on the cherry-flavored nutrient solution he had fought so hard to get, and was comfortably lying in his nutrient pod, ready to watch. But when it was time for the stream to start, the interface just kept buffering. He couldn’t get into the page at all.
“What’s wrong with the StarNet now?”
He opened the comments and saw that many people were saying their streams were very laggy.
[Ahhh, I’m going crazy! What is this crappy network trying to do?!]
[Sob, I want to see Anran!]
[@UnitedStarSystemConsulate, come out and say something! Fix your crappy network!]
[I was already kicked out by the lag…]
[If the United Star System can’t even handle this little thing, I suggest they transfer the broadcast rights to the Empire.]
[Inside info: it’s because the Beastman race connected to the internal network, causing it to crash.]
[???]
[???]
[WHAT?!!!]
[WHO LET THE BEASTMEN IN!!!]