Chapter 29
The Consul General, several other consuls, and Director Li were preparing to watch the livestream together today. They had been keeping a close eye on the admin panel, wondering if a new sales link would be posted.
Unexpectedly, before any link appeared, the one hundred pounds of fruit they had ordered yesterday arrived.
Director Li eagerly opened the package.
Inside were eight exquisite red gift boxes. The boxes were adorned with hollowed-out carvings of eight classic Hua nation paintings, each one lifelike.
“So beautiful! What era is this from? It looks a bit like the attire Host Anran wore in that one stream.”
“Look at this! It’s a ship! Exactly like the ones recorded in the archives—a two or three-story wooden ship! Heavens!”
A crowd gathered around, marveling at the sight. Director Li, wearing special gloves, carefully undid the red Chinese knot clasp on one of the gift boxes. Inside, lychees and cherries were neatly arranged.
The first four boxes were all filled with fruit. When he opened the fifth, Director Li suddenly gasped.
Inside was a lifelike white porcelain flower basket. Even the veins on the leaves were clearly visible, and the petals were curled as if they would flutter in the wind.
“White Porcelain Peony, a Symbol of Wealth and Honor.”
Director Li picked up the equally exquisitely packaged card at the bottom, which detailed the gift and its historical origins.
“A craft with a thousand-year history, all fired by hand,” Director Li said, unable to resist reaching out to touch the white porcelain. It was indeed a hard yet delicate texture.
The other leaders also couldn’t help but touch it. The Consul General sighed in sheer delight. “It’s simply unimaginable that such exquisite items could exist on ancient Earth with its less advanced technology. This is the power of humanity.”
Director Li eagerly opened the remaining boxes. As expected, they were all gifts specially prepared for them by the Hua nation. They included a cloisonné vase, a piece of Su embroidery, and a wooden carving model of the Great Wall.
Instantly, the hall was filled with a chorus of gasps.
“What is this? Heavens, it’s a vase!”
“The Great Wall! This is the Great Wall! I never thought I’d have the chance to see what the Great Wall really looks like with my own eyes!”
“What did you say? This was also embroidered by hand? I don’t believe it. Such a level of exquisite detail…”
“The letter says this is cloth woven from silkworm silk, and the pattern on it is embroidered with gold and silver threads.”
The consul of the Fourth Planet said excitedly, “Consul General, these gifts from our mother planet should be exhibited throughout the entire United Star System, so that our citizens can see the cultural heritage of our Hua nation!”
The Consul General nodded and immediately began to arrange for a nationwide exhibition.
There were several pieces of Su embroidery sent from the Hua nation. Director Li was carefully immersed in these exquisite works of art. When he turned over the last piece, his eyes lit up.
This piece of Su embroidery was framed, with several characters written in regular script calligraphy—Tian Xia Da Tong (Great Harmony Under Heaven).
The Hua nation had also thoughtfully included an explanation below. Whether it was the people of the Hua nation from fifteen thousand years ago or fifteen thousand years in the future, they were all as close as one family, like brothers.
This piece of embroidery was immediately hung in the center of the consulate’s council hall. Looking at these words, the Consul General’s eyes suddenly welled up with tears.
“This is a state gift. We of the United Star System cannot fail to reciprocate. Draft a list as soon as possible and send our gifts over through Host Anran’s livestream.”
…
Having just placed the gifts prepared by the state one by one into the box, Xia Anran nervously pressed the confirm button. They had stuffed quite a few extra items in addition to the one hundred pounds, and she wasn’t sure if this cursed system would accept it.
Sure enough, the black box flashed back and forth several times, alternating between a red light and a green light. Finally, another message popped up.
[Please reconfirm if the items are placed correctly.]
Xia Anran tapped “Yes,” and then saw an [O_o] emoji flash very quickly across the box’s LCD screen. But it was gone in an instant, and then it immediately displayed “Packaging Complete” and vanished.
Xia Anran: ?
Holy crap! Is this thing alive?!
She had wanted to study this thing properly, but the livestream was about to start. Xia Anran had no choice but to put it aside for now and begin her preparations.
On his first day participating in the livestream, Ji Minghui, though still a bit skeptical about its authenticity, was diligently and seriously preparing for the broadcast. With his apprentice’s help, Director Huang was clearly much more relaxed. He was no longer running around like a firecracker, but was now strolling around with his hands behind his back and a teacup in hand, conducting a final inspection.
The one running around like a firecracker was now Ji Minghui.
No wonder Director Huang had so strongly recommended him to join. It was so he could openly slack off! Xia Anran thought slyly, watching the frazzled Ji Minghui. As they say, the older the ginger, the spicier it is. So cunning.
The interstellar audience also entered the stream on time. Now, for anyone in the interstellar era with a photon-computer, watching Xia Anran’s livestream had become a daily fixed activity. For office workers, their superiors would also turn a blind eye during this time, and would even secretly open the stream in their own offices.
[Here, here, arrived on time!]
[Anran, I’m here! What’s the stream about today?]
[I want to see wheat! Scallion pancakes!]
[I want to see flowers! See the flowers!]
[Let’s go for a walk! I want to see the scenery outside!]
[Animals, animals! Will Heiniu and Huahua appear today?]
[Our Claw-Dragonfly Tribe’s ancestor, your descendants wish to see your majestic form again.]
[The Fur-tail Tribe too!]
[Stream more Beastmen, please! I want to see them!]
[No Beastmen! No Beastmen! They’re disgusting!]
[?? Person above me, say that again. Give me your address, I’ll fly my mecha over to beat you up.]
[Beastmen are disgusting, what about it?]
[Neither human nor beast.]
[…No need to be so vile.]
[Waaah, why are you cursing us? We didn’t curse anyone.]
[You disgusting humans, look how you’ve scared our cute little Fox-Cloud Tribe member!]
[I’ve found your photon-computer ID. Third District of the Interstellar Empire, right?! You just wait for me!]
[As expected of the Interstellar Empire.]
[This fits my stereotype of the Interstellar Empire and the Beastman race perfectly.]
[What’s wrong with the Empire? Your United Star System also fits my stereotype of a bunch of cowards.]
[Stop fighting! The stream is starting!]
[I suggest you go have a starship battle. Don’t fight here!]
Ji Minghui, who had taken over Director Huang’s position behind the monitor, finally truly believed what Xia Anran had said when he saw the rapidly scrolling comments and the skyrocketing viewer count. Such a miracle really did exist!
Having already spent a whole night studying modern livestreaming techniques and feeling overwhelmed, Ji Minghui was instantly re-energized. Today, he had to watch for another ten hours, learn the ropes, and give the interstellar audience the best viewing experience!
At nine o’clock, Xia Anran’s livestream lit up on time. But unlike previous streams, this time, when the broadcast started, she was nowhere to be seen.
The first thing that came into view was a scroll with auspicious cloud patterns, slowly unfurling. An oracle bone script character for “Hua” (华) appeared on the screen, then transformed into bronze script, small seal script, clerical script, cursive script, regular script, running script, and finally the modern simplified character for “Hua.”
Finally, a graceful swallow landed on the screen, picked up the character “Hua,” and flew over the vast rivers and mountains of the motherland, eventually landing on a map shaped like a rooster. The nimble swallow let out a clear cry and transformed into the character “Xia” (夏).
The two characters “Hua Xia” (华夏) froze on the screen. A drop of water fell, as if hitting the surface of a clear lake, and finally bloomed into an elegant landscape painting. Magnificent mountains and rivers, a picturesque land.
This was also the first time Xia Anran hadn’t appeared at the start of the stream. She was watching with Sister Wang and the others behind the monitor.
“Is this Ji Minghui’s idea? It’s very romantic,” she whispered.
“It was mostly Little Ji’s idea. The moment it was decided last night, he stayed up all night contacting several master calligraphers. In the end, it was Minister Wen who pulled the strings. Plus the post-production and editing, they were busy all night. You didn’t see Little Jiang today; he’s still in his room, catching up on sleep.”
Little Jiang was in charge of post-production for their team. He had worked until four in the morning to make this video and was delirious by the time he finished.
[Wow wow wow wow wow, I didn’t quite get the beginning, but the end is Hua Xia, right?!]
[So beautiful, so beautiful!]
[The beginning must be the evolution of the script. I think I saw something similar in an ancient document when I was doing research a while ago.]
[An expert from the Research Institute has appeared!]
[Where’s Anran? Where’s my big host?!]
[What does Hua Xia mean?]
[The black and white painting at the end is so beautiful! Was that also drawn by a person?]
[I don’t get it, but for some reason, I’m a little moved. What’s going on?]
[What was that thing that flew by at the end? An animal?!]
[I noticed it had wings too!]
Only after the specially designed opening sequence was finished did Xia Anran make her official appearance. Today, she was wearing the traditional attire of a local ethnic minority, with exquisite embroidery and many silver accessories. Her hair was braided into multiple small braids. The hairstyle alone had taken Little Yan over an hour to complete.
“Hello, everyone! Today’s livestream has officially begun!”
The moment she finished speaking, a scream suddenly came from the gate. “The pig’s out! Quick, catch it!”
Xia Anran: “?”
Then came a flurry of footsteps and a jumble of shouting and clamor.
[Wait, what did I hear? A pig! Is it a pig?!!]
[Ahhh, do pigs really exist? I thought they were just made up in the history books.]
[Anran, I want to see the pig! I want to see the pig!]
[Why are you all reacting so strongly? What is this pig?]
[Imperials really don’t know. A pig is an animal from our historical records that can speak human language, walk upright, and is very beautiful and cute!]
[An animal? I want to see, I want to see!!!]
[I thought it was just made up in the books. The animals that have appeared in Anran’s stream before couldn’t talk. But there’s really a pig!]
[The books say that ancient Earth humans loved pigs very, very much and regarded them as totems. Especially children, who all grew up with pigs as companions!]
[Hehe, that’s why my parents used the word ‘pig’ in our names. My name is Li Yizhu (Li One Pig). I think it sounds great!]
Xia Anran’s expression after seeing the comments was the classic “subway, old man, smartphone” face.
Here it comes. The cognitive dissonance between ancient and modern people has finally arrived.
A pig that could talk, walk upright, and was a companion to children… Could this pig’s name be Peppa?
Xia Anran’s expression was complicated as she looked at the comments vehemently demanding to see the pig. She thought, If I open this gate, won’t the worldview of my interstellar fans collapse?
Unable to resist everyone’s strong demands, she opened the courtyard gate. Just then, the escaped pig shot past her door, covered in weeds and muddy water. It had been well-fed and was quite plump, squealing sharply as it ran.
Auntie Tang was leading a group of people in pursuit behind it.
“Hurry and catch it! If you keep running, you won’t even make it to the New Year! I’ll slaughter you right now!”
[???]
[NO!!! I don’t believe pigs look like that!]
[Sob, Mom! We’ve been lied to!]