Chapter 15
A thought struck Xia Anran, and she tentatively asked, “Is the fruit being confiscated because researchers want to try cultivating it in the interstellar era?”
The moment she asked, two more golden-red bullet comments, signifying the VIP status of the viewers, flashed across the screen.
[Imperial Academy Director Hukeni]: Miss Anran, our Empire is indeed trying to cultivate the fruit. We all hope that such delicious food can one day grow on interstellar soil!
[United Star System Science Academy Director Li Sheng]: Yes, and please rest assured, we have provided corresponding compensation to all citizens from whom fruit was received. The majority of the populace is also very supportive of our work and has united with unwavering determination for the sake of fruit cultivation!
Minister Qiao had a meeting at his department today, so he wasn’t present. Xia Anran, seeing the direction the conversation was heading, was unsure if she should continue with this line of questioning. But among everyone present, her rank was arguably the highest. After all, she was the overall head of Project Liuhe!
Xia Anran thought for a moment. With half an hour of broadcast time today, she had plenty of time. She couldn’t miss such a rare opportunity to learn more about the interstellar humans.
The moment these two leaders of the interstellar scientific community spoke, the comments section exploded.
[My god, live long enough and you’ll see everything. The Imperial Academy and the Science Academy are actually on the same side for once.]
[Hehehehe.]
[Don’t be like this! I prefer it when you two are at each other’s throats.]
[Director Hukeni, don’t hold back! I know you’ve been wanting to curse out that old man Li Sheng for a long time. Go on, let him have it!]
[I can testify. Director Hukeni’s three daily routines at academic meetings are: drinking Xuan water, reading reports, and cursing out Li Sheng.]
[That’s not right, it’s cursing out that old bastard Li Sheng.]
[It’s okay, it’s okay, Director Li has cursed out that old coot Hukeni just as much.]
[What a resilient, mutual affection.]
[Just passing by, taking a bite of this ship.]
[Love it, shipping it. The Science Academy and the Imperial Academy should get married tomorrow.]
Director Li’s assistant watched as his hundred-something-year-old boss squinted at the comments, his pupils then dilating in shock. He looked like he was about to have a stroke and was even trying to get up to clarify things in the chat. The assistant was struggling to hold back his laughter.
Please, stop! You’re abusing the elderly!
On the other side, Director Hukeni was clearly more receptive to the younger generation’s way of thinking.
[Imperial Academy Director Hukeni]: We will consider strengthening our communication and cooperation with the United Star System’s Science Academy in the future. Please rest assured, Director Li and I have always been very good friends.
Director Li, who had just managed to sit up, saw Hukeni’s message and promptly collapsed back down again.
Damn it all! Who’s friends with that old coot!
Xia Anran sighed in front of the screen. It seemed gossip truly was a human instinct. Even after sixteen thousand years, people were still passionate about it.
Seizing the opportunity, Hukeni asked the question that was currently most on his mind.
[Imperial Academy Director Hukeni]: Miss Anran, I’d like to ask a question. Our fruit cultivation efforts have hit a wall. Following the ancient texts of the United Star System, after planting the fruit in soil, there are no signs of life at all.
“That shameless old man actually stole our ancient cultivation methods!” Director Li clutched his chest, feeling his blood pressure rise even higher. Their records on cultivation were highly classified! Even the versions the United Star System had now were incomplete; most of the ancient texts had been lost over thousands of years of transmission. And Hukeni dared to so brazenly admit he had peeked at their materials! It was outrageous!
“Notify the Consul General immediately! And tighten security on our United Star System network! We’ve been infiltrated by those bastards from the Interstellar Empire again!”
Xia Anran, seeing Hukeni’s message, was also curious about how they were cultivating fruit in the interstellar era. She asked, “Could you explain in detail how you’re planting them?”
Hukeni replied immediately.
[Imperial Academy Director Hukeni]: We wash the lychees and cherries and then cultivate them in five centimeters of soil. We also use a complete vacuum for cultivation to prevent foreign pathogens, and we water them once a day, with enough water to cover the soil by three centimeters.
Xia Anran: …
For a moment, she didn’t know where to even begin her critique.
“Uh… Director Hukeni, I’d like to ask, when you said you wash them and then bury them in the soil, do you mean you put the entire fruit in?”
[Imperial Academy Director Hukeni]: Yes!
“…And the lychees too?”
[Imperial Academy Director Hukeni]: Yes!
Cherries, maybe. But throwing a whole lychee, shell and all, into the ground? It would be a miracle if anything grew! And cultivating fruit in a complete vacuum, watering it with three centimeters of water… Xia Anran couldn’t help but wonder if the Imperial Academy had bought a fake book. This was too ridiculous!
As expected, before Xia Anran could even speak, Director Li immediately jumped in to add fuel to the fire.
[United Star System Science Academy Director Li Sheng]: This is a completely wrong cultivation method! Fruit must be cultivated in an environment with oxygen, and watering should be done three times a day!
Director Li, perhaps trying to maintain some decorum in front of the citizens of both nations, was still being somewhat diplomatic.
[United Star System Science Academy Director Li Sheng]: The other steps taken by the Imperial Academy are not too problematic. I hope our two nations can engage in more discussion and exchange. Let’s work hard together!
[Imperial Academy Director Hukeni]: Yes, let’s work hard together!
…Work hard together, my foot!
One of them dared to say it, and the other dared to believe it!
The onlooking production team was about to burst. Director Huang had to cough several times to keep himself from laughing out loud, then quickly had someone prepare a guide on fruit cultivation.
Director Li, however, finally felt a bit better. Hmph, as expected, the Empire can’t even steal properly. It would be a ghost’s work if they managed to grow anything.
His assistant, looking around, whispered a reminder, “Director, our cultivation attempts haven’t succeeded either.”
Director Li: …Crap, I almost forgot about that!
Fortunately, Xia Anran had finally processed this bizarre cultivation method. She said, “Directors, on Earth, fruit cultivation might be a bit different. Generally, we grow fruit either from seeds or by grafting saplings.”
She figured seed planting would be easier for them to understand, so she started with that method.
“A seed is… an organ, I guess, that a fruit uses to propagate and reproduce.”
Xia Anran tried to think of how to explain the concept of a seed to interstellar humans. It was really taxing her knowledge base.
“For example, with a lychee, you peel the shell to eat it. That hard, dark brown thing in the middle of the flesh is the lychee’s seed. It’s not for eating,” she said, starting with an example. “When you plant it, you plant the seed in the soil, not the whole fruit.”
The researchers from both the Interstellar Empire and the United Star System were frantically taking notes. Someone even managed to ask in the comments if the seed of a cherry was the round, white object in the middle of the flesh.
After Xia Anran confirmed this, the worlds of the researchers from both academies collapsed.
When they had collected the fruit, both nations had, by coincidence, made similar allocations. A few pieces were used for scientific cultivation, while the majority were given to the military. Now, the few pieces they had tried to cultivate were deader than dead, showing no signs of life and even starting to smell. As for the ones given to the military… how were they supposed to know those things were seeds and not for eating? For this hard-won, precious fruit, every soldier who received some had devoured it, leaving not even a speck of dust behind.
“Additionally, the cultivation process requires sunlight, water, oxygen, and so on. So a vacuum environment is absolutely out of the question!” Xia Anran continued. “Watering must also be done in moderation, not too frequently or too much. Each type of fruit has different water requirements and different planting methods. During the growth process, you also need to fertilize, and some even require fruit thinning and pruning of branches and leaves. There are also specific temperature requirements.”
Xia Anran’s family owned an orchard. Although her parents had doted on her and never made her work in the fields, she had grown up hearing them talk about it and knew a thing or two.
A staff member who had already printed out the fruit cultivation information saw Xia Anran speaking so eloquently and was unsure whether he should hand it over. Director Huang waved his hand, telling him not to. Xia Anran was doing a great job improvising! What a smart and generous girl.
The ordinary interstellar citizens in the stream, though they had no need to cultivate fruit themselves, were listening with great interest, constantly asking questions about what fertilizer was, what kind of water to use, and what grafting was.
After explaining for a while, Xia Anran noticed that Hukeni and Li Sheng had gone completely silent, no longer asking questions in the comments. This was clearly not normal.
Sure enough, when she asked, Hukeni was the first to send a crying emoji, explaining that all the seeds had been eaten by the soldiers who participated in the volunteer experiments. They now had a belly full of knowledge but no way to apply it!
Xia Anran was also silent for a moment, then gave a dry laugh. “…Well, everyone must have very strong teeth, huh.”
Director Li’s silence at this moment indicated that the situation in the United Star System was probably much the same.
As expected, the moment she said this, the comments exploded.
[WHAT!!!! YOU CONFISCATED SO MUCH OF OUR FRUIT AND YOU COULDN’T EVEN GROW A SINGLE SPROUT!!!]
[AHHHH I’M SO ANGRY!]
[TWO WASTES! VERDICT IS IN!]
[…I said from the beginning it would have been better to just let us eat it. Stop embarrassing yourselves here.]
[CAN YOU DO ANYTHING RIGHT! YOU WASTED ALL THE FRUIT!]
[Today is another day I want to overthrow the Imperial Academy.]
[So our fruit cultivation progress is still at zero?]
[Help me, I’m the unlucky soul who won both times! My lychees and my cherries! DAMN YOU! I’m calling the police to have you arrested!]
Xia Anran rubbed her nose. “The peaches that will be sent out next also have seeds. I hope everyone won’t eat them this time.”
“Additionally,” she added, “I hope the Empire and the United Star System will respect the wishes of the lucky viewers whose fruit was confiscated. If there are people who want to try the fruit, I hope you won’t forcibly take it from them.”