The Shi Ying Star Summit concluded successfully after two long months.
Jiang Ye discovered that the land auction method could greatly increase prices.
The final transaction amount for Shi Ying Star actually reached 88 trillion!
Keep in mind that the initial purchase of Shi Ying Star only cost a little over ten trillion.
Later, when Bai Xiaobai came to buy it, Jiang Ye gritted his teeth and tried to scare her by quoting 60 trillion.
Now, the price had soared to 88 trillion, which was an absolute sky-high price for a wasteland planet!
The same amount of money could even buy a small star! Or exchange for three to four wasteland planets!
Most importantly, the summit sales basically satisfied all parties.
The military originally wanted to acquire ten relatively good plots of land but ended up with eleven. A prominent figure who wished to remain anonymous conveyed a message to Jiang Ye through Li Nannan, affirming his contributions and expressing hope for further cooperation in the future.
The Octopus Civilization also acquired two plots of land, specially designated for their royalty. Jiang Ye soon received medals from several different royal families of the Octopus Civilization, bestowing upon him the honorary title of "Little Octopus King." kAnshu伍.ξà
Jiang Ye secretly cursed himself, wondering when he had become an octopus and why he, a superior vertebrate, had to transform into a mollusk. However, his face bloomed with a smile, and he accepted with great honor, conveying his highest respect and sincerest greetings to the Octopus Civilization.
Several interstellar conglomerates and major business groups also reaped benefits. As they departed, they bid farewell to Jiang Ye, stating that they would consider investing in Jiang Ye Star and Bi Rong Star in the future to promote commercial cooperation. Jiang Ye, smiling outwardly, welcomed their consideration, but inwardly cursed, "Why consider investing now? Invest now! Why bother with such insincere pleasantries? Do you think I'm a fool?"
There were also some small companies and smaller capital investors who gained nothing in the fierce competition of the summit, and some even suffered losses.
As they left, they sought out Jiang Ye to complain. Jiang Ye feigned concern and sympathy, promising support next time, while inwardly cursing, "What are you guys? Don't you know your own limitations?"
After the summit, Jiang Ye drank anti-inflammatory tea daily. He realized he had changed, becoming increasingly irritable and duplicitous. He felt this was not good and that he should cultivate a nobler character.
Cen Yemeng decided to take a week off to reunite with her husband at home.
Since her return, Jiang Ye felt his anti-inflammatory tea had gone bad; the more he drank, the more inflamed he became.
He initially attributed it to his wife being too hot, but a few days later, while getting up to urinate at night, Jiang Ye found Cen Yemeng wasn't in bed. He tiptoed around the house and discovered his wife grinding a powder in the kitchen, which she then sprinkled into the anti-inflammatory tea bags.
The powder was made from ginseng, deer antler, and red dates. Drinking this stuff daily, it would be a miracle not to get a nosebleed; it was no wonder it failed to reduce inflammation.
Discovered by her husband, Cen Yemeng shrieked in fright, her face blushing crimson down to her neck. She squatted in the kitchen corner, covering her face.
Jiang Ye was speechless. "Do you know why I drink this tea? To reduce inflammation. What are you trying to do by secretly adding these powders?"
Cen Yemeng parted her fingers covering her face, "I… I wanted to supplement you."
"I don't need supplementing! I need to vent!" Jiang Ye said helplessly.
"Husband, you… I'm enough to help you vent," Cen Yemeng replied, her voice as small as a mosquito's buzz.
On the last night of Cen Yemeng's vacation, the couple received an email.
The email was from Jiang Senlin in Minjiang City, located in the southern hemisphere of Jiang Ye Star. As per Jiang Ye's arrangements, he had begun traveling among the common folk of Jiang Ye Star, or rather, conducting a discreet private visit. This was the first report submitted from his private visit, similar in format to his monthly diaries when he was studying on Leng An Star.
Jiang Ye brewed a cup of anti-inflammatory tea and sat on the sofa.
Cen Yemeng nestled in his arms, quiet as a kitten.
The couple read the email from their son together.
Jiang Ye inexplicably recalled a game from his youth called "Travel Frog." The frog in the game would leave home to travel far away and mail back a postcard every few days. Jiang Senlin was just like that travel frog.
【When I was young, I thought Jiang Ye Star was a very simple planet. But in these past few years, I've discovered it's no longer simple.】
【I've heard some things and seen some things with my own eyes, and I feel this planet has changed. Mom and Dad might not know about these things either.】
【The first matter: the Dream Clinic in the slums of Zeming City.】
【Zeming City has been established for three years, with a current population of 1.5 million and still rapidly increasing. A slum accommodating 200,000 people has appeared on the outskirts of the city, consisting entirely of illegal self-built shacks, unfinished buildings, and shelters made of corrugated iron and tarpaulins. The people here are all poorly dressed; the elderly walk barefoot, their feet covered in thick calluses. Caucasians are the majority, as are the disabled and middle-aged and elderly.】
【Deep within the slum, on a street with no name, a clinic is hidden. From ground level, it appears to be a place with poor medical conditions, dispensing medicine and giving injections. Parents bring their feverish children to get medicine, and thieves with severed fingers come to get bandaged. Flies buzz everywhere, and there are dark bloodstains on the floor.】
【However, upon entering the clinic's small operating room and pushing open the traditional Chinese medicine cabinet, a secret passage is revealed.】
【The passage leads to a vast underground complex. The first time I entered, I was utterly stunned. The area was comparable to a university library.】
【There are at least a hundred beds, neatly arranged, with people of all kinds lying on them, eyes closed, eyeballs rolling wildly, and murmurs of dreams in various accents rising and falling. The breath exhaled by everyone carries the scent of herbs, and simultaneously, an IV drip is connected to their arm. The bag contains a yellow liquid resembling urine.】
【In fact, the bag does contain urine – the urine of a certain alien badger species, distilled after adding chemical agents to form a liquid. It is very expensive. The raw urine costs one thousand yuan per jin from the source. After passing through various middlemen and being smuggled from another planet to Jiang Ye Star, the price becomes three thousand yuan per jin, and this is even the diluted, inferior grade.】
【This underground facility is packed every day. Local residents who have earned money come here to indulge. They first drink two large bowls of specially prepared herbal medicine, which ensures their brains are highly excited for two hours but prevents them from waking. You feel as if your brain is a bladder after drinking two jin of water – about to burst, but unable to urinate, thus becoming increasingly distended, even experiencing hallucinations of your skull expanding and hearing a cracking sound, like an eggshell shattering.】
【After drinking the herbal medicine and lying on the hospital bed, the clinic owner comes to administer the IV drip, injecting the alien badger urine into your body. This urine has two effects: first, you feel the time in your dreams slow down. Two hours of sleep in the real world feel like two weeks, or even two months, in your dreams. Second, your ability to control your dreams increases.】
【I did not dare to personally experience this dream clinic because, reportedly, there is a certain mortality rate. However, I paid to interview several people who had emerged from the dream clinic.】