CH 3

CHAPTER 3—Margaret

After Xie Yu received psychological counseling in the emergency center, he was taken by the staff to have his subcutaneous chip reset.

The subcutaneous chip, a standard accessory of all Star Citizens, was painlessly implanted at birth in the most optimal position where physical conditions could be monitored according to the physical composition of different races.

The human chip was located at the proximal end of the armpit of the left arm.

When vital signs become weak, the chip directly connected to the Citizen Information System will give timely feedback and automatically request medical assistance.

When vital signs disappear, the chip will notify the Interstellar Citizen Information Center, lock all the access permissions of the citizen, and force their personal light brain to enter a dormant state.

Before the hospital procedures were completed, Fei Chen had already taken a public aircraft to avoid the attention of the media, and headed to the Citizen Information Center to reactivate the light brain for Xie Yu.

Anna, on the other hand, set off to Xie Yu’s apartment first to pack up supplies to be taken to the film festival.

When Xie Yu and his manager left the emergency center and got on the civilian light track suspended in the sky, the media aircrafts that surrounded the emergency center swarmed after them.

Until Xie Yu’s aircraft connected to the port of his apartment, they still hovered around and refused to leave.

His apartment was in the bustling business district of the Capital Star, and it only takes ten minutes to get there from the emergency center.

From the moment Xie Yu entered the apartment, he looked at the interior decorations curiously, matching each thing and room with his memory.

Zhou Cheng, who had just entered the door, had a bad complexion, apparently thinking of the report titles he saw on his light brain screen just now on the road.

[The popular artist Xie Yu’s apartment was visited by an emergency aircraft! Suspected suicide!]

[The first death in the history of the Golden Toilet, the final choice of the vase actor!] (TL: a vase actor is someone who only has their looks going for them, and no real talent)

[Gossip Zaozhi will follow up for you: Is the worst actor still alive?]

He was still thinking about how to deal with the annoying media, but his train of thought was interrupted by Anna’s voice.

“Brother Cheng, Ayu, come and have something to eat. I ordered food for you according to your usual tastes.” Anna walked out from a room, holding half-folded clothes in her hand.

Xie Yu thanked her, and took his own lunch box according to the original body’s habits in his memory.

When he opened it, he was pleasantly surprised to find that it was Chinese food, so he immediately raised his chopsticks and ate it.

He didn’t expect for the food to be cooked well, but the taste was really not flattering.

The sour and astringent seasoning made Xie Yu put down his tableware silently while managing to maintain a smile, and then he leaned back on the sofa after saying a brief excuse.

Zhou Cheng was quickly eating his food, but when he heard the noises around him stop, he raised his head and found that Xie Yu had only eaten a few bites of his food. “Don’t you want to eat more? After getting on the spaceship later, the journey will take nearly ten hours.”

Xie Yu responded and lied that he wanted to eat later.

“We’ll be leaving soon, so you can only eat on the spaceship.” Zhou Cheng reminded him, and then remembered something in the middle of talking, “Oh, we booked the tickets too late. There was only one flight to the Giant Cat Clan Star with seats still left. It’s just an ordinary seat, but it’s also a pity that we couldn’t book it in the same area, so you have to sit on your own. I’ll ask Anna to prepare a coat for you, so keep a low profile when boarding the spaceship.”

The listener was not paying much attention to the speaker, and Xie Yu, who was worried about not having anything to eat, became more and more worried when he heard about only being able to eat the food and drink that would be provided on the spaceship.

In case the food on the spaceship was worse than the takeaway meal he was unable to eat…he must continue to go hungry.

“I’ll go to the kitchen to have a look. If I can, I’ll make something and bring it on the spaceship. I’ll eat that later.” He got up resolutely, and searched for the location in his memory and made his way to the kitchen.

“Pay attention to the time, we leave in an hour.” Zhou Cheng reminded him, while thinking about the work at hand, and then continued to eat quickly.

Xie Yu responded, remembering that he had an hour, and imagined the specific things that could be made.

But after looking, there were no fruits or vegetables in the huge kitchen, only some pastry ingredients left from some point in time.

All interstellar races have different cooking skills, and the human race was no exception.

In this future environment, there are also raw materials similar to those found on Earth.

Although the taste was slightly different, they were still used by the ingenious descendants of the human race, retaining a small part of their culinary heritage.

Xie Yu searched, and found a large bag of flour and two dozen golden-winged eggs from the low-temperature storage area of the kitchen.

After that, he found ingredients one after another, and barely made up the ingredients needed for a pastry.

According to his taste, the first choice must be the fragrant and soft fried egg pancake.

But considering the public space of the spaceship, he had no choice but to choose Western-style baked snacks with less smell.

Xie Yu leaned against the kitchen table, thought for a moment, and quickly came up with a plan.

Then he took out the baking utensils that were rarely used by the original body, and turned on the large-scale interstellar oven in the corner, which was bought at a high price, to preheat it.

The golden-winged eggs were more than twice the size of earth eggs, and two dozen whole eggs were taken out, separated, beaten, and mixed well.

After completing a set of procedures, Xie Yu broke out in sweat in the well-ventilated apartment.

During that period of time, Anna, who had packed up the things Xie Yu needed to bring, came over due to the scent.

“Ayu, what are you doing? Need help?” she asked.

“I can make the cake by myself.” Xie Yu, who was doing everything in an orderly manner, declined, saying that he could do it by himself.

Seeing this, Anna watched curiously and at the same time called Zhou Cheng over.

Zhou Cheng who was usually quite steady was surprised that Xie Yu still had this ability.

He smelled the increasingly strong fragrance in the kitchen, thought about it, and reached out to tap the light brain in Anna’s hand.

“I made the simplest sponge cake, and added some dried Moore berries that you sent me last time, Brother Cheng. The baking tray is big enough, so everyone can have a share later. This kind of cake doesn’t smell much after it’s cooled. So we can take it out and eat it on the spaceship.”

There were materials left, and Xie Yu thought about finishing it all up at once, so he then started making some small biscuits.

He turned around before he finished speaking, and he saw Anna holding up her light brain which seemed to be filming, “…Huh? Anna?”

“Oh——” Anna sighed with a smile on her face, obviously very satisfied with the current picture, “Ayu, do you know that you were so attractive just now. I was taken aback for a bit.”

“Really? Don’t flatter me.” Xie Yu laughed, and pulled over the empty baking tray that was lying aside.

“What do you mean flattering? I’m telling the truth.” Anna’s face was still a little flushed.

Although she didn’t have any ambiguous thoughts about her artist, she still couldn’t calm down from being teased.

“Just now you turned your head to look at me. I almost thought that I was in love? I like girls, and I was almost swayed by you. You being like this, it’s a crime…”

Xie Yu smiled and shook his head, thinking that his female assistant had a very funny personality.

“Brother Cheng just gave me a task.” While talking, Anna also snapped a detailed picture of Xie Yu mixing ingredients and putting them into a bowl.

“What task? Taking pictures?” Xie Yu recalled her actions just now, and guessed casually, “Post on Moments or Weibo?”

While talking, he felt things were miraculous. The Interstellar era and the ancient Earth have long histories. But somehow, WeChat and Weibo have miraculously been handed down, starting from a software brand to becoming an interstellar universal platform.

“Well, I’m going to post on Weibo. If you don’t update, everyone will really think something happened to you.” Anna nodded wholeheartedly as she said this, processed the picture, and forwarded it to Zhou Cheng.

Then, she immediately put down her light brain and rolled up her sleeves.

She was tempted by Xie Yu to join the cookie baking ranks.

Zhou Cheng, who was sitting outside, received the pictures, and after affirming Anna’s photography skills, he logged into his account and quickly edited a new post.

A few minutes later, he logged into Xie Yu’s account with his agent’s authority to forward it.

“Xie Yu: Haha. [Happy]//@ZhouCheng: Do you see the oven behind Ayu? Can you guess what’s in it? There are also these materials on the table, which are said to be able to turn into small biscuits. [picture][picture][picture]”

In the snapped photo, a slender young man was standing in front of an oven holding kitchen utensils, smiling calmly and softly in the warm, yellow-toned kitchen.

His pair of twinkling peach blossom eyes were narrowed, and his exquisite facial features became more three-dimensional in the flickering of light and shadows.

The smooth and plump forehead was slightly sweaty, stained with the breath of life, which helped eliminate the sense of distance.

It was a photo that would not lose to photos taken by famous interstellar magazines.

In the detailed photos that followed, the young man lowered his eyes, with thick eyelashes, facing the baking pan, poking his finger intently into countless pale yellow dough balls.

Not long after the photos were posted, a large number of comments accumulated, most of which were from Xie Yu’s fans.

[Love my family Ayu: who said that something happened to Ayu! In a word, get out liars! My family’s Ayu is doing well! (Hands on waist)]

[Sweetie from Ayu’s family: Wow, I’ve seen Ayu’s Chinese food before, but this is the first time I’ve seen him bake! It looks good, I don’t know if it tastes good or not.]

[Yuyuyu: Am I the only one who is worried about Brother Ayu’s mood recently? It doesn’t seem like he feels too good.]

[Entertainment New Gossip: Today’s Xie Yu’s smile is very different from usual, it’s more flavorful. Am I the only one who wonders what kind of biscuits those are? I feel like Xie Yu is going to break them. (poof)]

[Fisherman’s Love: What is Xie Vase doing? Doesn’t he feel pressure from the Golden Toilet Awards at all? No matter how good-looking it is… Forget it, forget it, I’ll just slip away these pictures.]

Most of the first to leave comments were Xie Yu fans, followed by various passers-by and black fans.

In the end, all kinds of media came to join in the fun, and they didn’t mind that their previous reports were being slapped in the face—they simply took advantage of this news to publish new reports.

While the sponge cake made by Xie Yu was being baked, bringing out a strong aroma, Zhou Cheng was able to attract the media by updating Weibo.

The sponge cake made of interstellar golden-winged eggs, which had no eggy smell, was baked to a golden brown. It was caramel-colored on the outside, and soft and fluffy on the inside.

Xie Yu put on gloves, took out the baking tray, and told Anna to quickly put the baking tray with the small biscuits in the oven.

The task of keeping an eye on the oven was left to Anna.

Xie Yu walked out of the kitchen with a square sponge cake that was as wide as his body, and took a knife to cut the cake into pieces.

The dark purple dried fruit scattered on the cut surface added a bit of beauty to the overall golden cake.

“Try it?” Xie Yu saw Zhou Cheng approaching, and picked up a piece.

Zhou Cheng smelled the aroma for a long time, and then he took a piece and took a bite slowly.

The cake was dense and soft in the mouth, and the thick egg aroma mixed with fresh and slightly sweet fruity flavors filled the whole mouth.

He was taken aback for a moment, then he made a serious gesture of praise to Xie Yu who was waiting for his evaluation.

With the mentality of “crossing the river by feeling the stones”, Xie Yu was completely relieved, and divided the cake into pieces with great focus. (TL: I believe it’s a Chinese saying similar to saying taking things step by step, which he is doing, faced with a new environment and also never-seen-before ingredients to cook and bake with)

Seeing that the time was almost up, he returned to the kitchen to confirm the baking progress of the biscuits.

Unlike the sponge cake, which has a sweet taste, no dried fruit was added to the biscuits, and they were just pure and plain cookies after baking.

The small biscuits were cute in shape, the outer circle was concave and a pit was formed in the middle by pressing them earlier. And after biting into them, they were extraordinarily crisp.

Xie Yu had a busy time preparing food, and after reminding Anna to pack her own bags for work, he found a reason to go back to his room, taking advantage of the rare opportunity to be alone to familiarize himself with the belongings of the original body.

Fei Chen, the assistant who went to the Citizen Information Center earlier, had gone directly to the spaceport after getting Xie Yu’s light brain.

The group of three left the apartment, and got off at a special passage connecting to the spaceport, perfectly avoiding being sighted by the media, and rushed to the boarding point without stopping.

Unlike Earth planes that required complicated check-in procedures, interstellar spacecrafts do not even have checkpoints.

Xie Yu was tightly wrapped up by Anna, wearing a dusty-colored overcoat and a big scarf that covered half of his face.

After storing his luggage, he followed the crowd and found his seat in a short time.

His seat was in the corner near the side wings of the spaceship, which was very spacious.

And the so-called common area seats also had a bit of privacy.

Xie Yu breathed a sigh of relief after sitting down, and began to observe the interior of the giant spaceship.

He couldn’t really believe this kind of spacecraft could break through a planet’s atmosphere and undertake space travel, according the original’s memory.

Now that he could observe it up close, he was almost stunned.

They departed from the Capital Star and would travel all the way to the Giant Cat Star, and the passengers sitting next door seemed to be sleeping, snoring and unconscious.

Xie Yu hoped that he could rest freely in this space.

Once he was done admiring the mysterious scenery of the universe, he leaned against the window and fiddled with his light brain screen.

By chance, he came across the Weibo post that Zhou Cheng sent for him earlier, skipped the taunts from black fans, read the questions from his own fans, and responded casually.

“Xie Yu: Moore berries were used in the sponge cake, and the biscuits are commonly known as Margarets, which are a classic biscuit from the Earth. The full name is very long, so I don’t remember much. // @MasterJam: I’m a fan of Xie Yu who is good at cooking and eating, and who is also so handsome. Can I ask what the name of the biscuit is? I am very curious, I have never seen such a type of cookie.”

Xie Yu was still replying to the message, not noticing that the spaceship had already connected to the Giant Cat Star.

It wasn’t until there was a sound around him of someone walking to this side, that he looked up.

The previous passenger should have gotten off at this station, and the new passenger was a tall and strong young man.

He wore a low-buttoned shirt and a wide-brimmed hat, and in his arms was a long-tailed creature—as long as his arm.

Xie Yu’s casual glance stayed staring at the young man’s arms, and he looked at the animal calmly.

Its whole body was fluffy, with hair poking out at the tips of its ears, a fluffy and long tail, and gray and black markings.

It seemed flexible, and its paws were scratching the new passenger… When it turned around in his arms, several long strands of fur and a pair of big, round, green-blue eyes were revealed!

Xie Yu, who hadn’t fully adapted to the interstellar environment yet, was taken aback.

He widened his eyes and reconfirmed the size of the creature in the young man’s arms, then looked away in a daze.

——It looks so similar to a cat, but why does it have such a huge body?

*****

Author’s note:

Shen Liu, who clings to the boss: Brother, brother! There’s someone over there staring at me! ⊙V⊙