Chapter 114

Chapter 114

With the acting lord of Berry Star appointed, the planet's relocation could be scheduled. Yun Wan found a professional planet-moving team on the star network, and within two days, Berry Star was moved near Shennong Star, becoming its new satellite.

After the planet PK battle, Yun Wan was extremely busy. She had to find time to inspect Berry Star, promote the seed plan proposed by Jiang Jiayu, and resist the constant urging from fans who bombarded her daily with messages, demanding new fruits from Shennong Star.

Shennong Star's fanbase had exploded, integrating a large group of fruit fans and attracting new followers during the planet PK battle. Now, Shennong Star was leading the Lord's Charisma Contest, leaving the second-place contender far behind.

The exponentially growing fanbase of Shennong Star eagerly awaited the release of new fruits. The private messages in Shennong Star's live broadcast room were flooding in, and Yun Wan didn't need to open the red notifications to know what they wanted.

But the past two days had been crazy busy. After helping to replant the vegetable fields, Yun Wan had to focus on the long-delayed opening of the school. She posted teacher recruitment and student enrollment notices while also handling a group of unemployed residents on Shennong Star.

Originally, these residents had taken temporary jobs to quickly settle down after arriving on Shennong Star. However, as the planet's development progressed, jobs like land clearing became obsolete, leading to widespread unemployment.

Yun Wan had seen this coming. She had initially planned to launch a food city project, transforming Shennong Star into a culinary tourism hub. This would boost the economy and help reemploy some of the unemployed. However, the plan was put on hold due to a lack of ingredients.

With her current planting areas, the yield was nowhere near enough to supply Shennong Star's restaurants and online sales. Yun Wan was stuck in a dilemma: her customers were eager to spend, but she had nothing to offer.

Jiang Jiayu's seed plan couldn't have come at a better time, solving her urgent problem.

With limited energy, Yun Wan didn't consider forming a large-scale planting team. She aimed to keep the core technology without monopolizing the interstellar market.

Now, she was stretched thin, working like ten people, which was far from her original goal of a carefree life.

Yun Wan thought for a moment and realized the seed plan needed quick implementation to solve both the vegetable supply issue and the unemployment problem. There were ready-made locations for selling seeds, and individual planting could be promoted on both Shennong Star and Berry Star. This would also let her inspect Berry Star and grasp the specifics.

After sorting out her tasks, she finally announced in the Shennong Star live broadcast room, announcing the release time for the new fruits.

[Tomorrow night at 10 PM, new fruits from Shennong Star will be available. Stay tuned!]

As soon as the announcement was posted, Shennong Star's fans were ecstatic and shared the news widely.

[Finally, after waiting so long, Shennong Star's new fruits are coming!]

[Oh my god, I'm so excited! See you at 10 PM!]

[Wuwuwu, there are so many people, it's going to be hard to get one!]

[Please, let me get a watermelon tomorrow! Otherwise, how will I survive!]

*

Meanwhile, Mao Ling was unaware that Yun Wan would soon visit Berry Star. Having just regained control of the planet, she spent some time sorting through all the planetary affairs. To her shock, she discovered that during Mao Hao's management, Berry Star's finances were a complete mess. Not only were the salaries of the planet's civil servants in arrears, but the planet's account was almost empty. Berry Star had sold so many berries—where did all the money go?!

Mao Ling had a suspicion and planned to confront Mao Hao about it. Coincidentally, Mao Hao, knowing that Mao Ling was cleaning up the planet's affairs, came to her with a menacing attitude.

"Hey! Didn't Mom tell you to refuse the acting lord position? What are you doing now? Are you really going to compete with me?" Mao Hao kicked the lord's mansion door so hard that it slammed against the wall and bounced back.

Fortunately, the door was made of Mecha Materials, or it would have been destroyed on the spot.

Mao Ling wasn't intimidated by his aggression.

In fact, Mao Hao posed no threat to her. He wasn't particularly bright, and in the past, out of respect for their parents, she had chosen not to compete or push back, simply wanting the family to live together peacefully. But now, her parents' opinions meant nothing to her.

She had cared for her family, but her kindness had been trampled on like worthless grass.

Sometimes she felt weak-willed. Why did she keep such family members around? Why did she always forget the pain once the wounds healed, and feel sorry for them when they seemed pitiful?

Mao Ling sighed. She thought, this wasn't her fault. She was soft-hearted, and that wasn't her fault.

Clutching the contract card in her pocket, she began to form a plan.

In fact, the person she disliked the most and least wanted to deal with in this family was Mao Hao. Mao Hao was the biggest problem in the family, like a single bad apple spoiling the whole bunch!

But precisely because he was the biggest problem, he was the perfect candidate for this contract card.

By solving Mao Hao, the issues with their parents would also be resolved.

"Brother, I wanted to refuse, but the Lord said that even if I didn't take the position, they wouldn't choose you. So, I had to hold onto it for now. After all, it's better to keep things in the family, don't you think?" Mao Ling said while observing Mao Hao's expression.

Mao Hao's anger visibly subsided, but since he didn't get the answer he wanted, his face remained sour. "So, you're saying the acting Lord position is automatically yours?!"

Mao Ling chuckled lightly, "How could that be, Brother? As Mom said, I'm no good at managing planets. I only took this job because of you!"

"For me?"

"Yes, I'm just the nominal acting Lord. As for who's really running things, even the Shennong Star Lord has no idea!"

Mao Hao suddenly understood, his anger melting away. He looked at Mao Ling with a mix of belief and doubt, "So, just like before, you'll keep the title, but I'll still run the planet?"

Seeing Mao Ling nod, although it was what Mao Hao wanted, he still felt uneasy.

"Mao Ling, are you really this nice? Aren't you mad about the things I've done?"

Mao Ling was stunned by the question. She had never met anyone so shameless.

How could he even ask if she was mad?!

"Of course not. After all, Mom and Dad still depend on you!" Mao Ling lied through her teeth.

This made Mao Hao very pleased.

So what if his sister was more talented? He was the favorite in the family, and everything belonged to him!

"You know what's good for you!" Mao Hao lounged arrogantly on the rosewood chair. "Alright, since you're so nice to me, I won't forget you. If you ever have trouble, just come to me. I've got your back!"

"...Okay." Mao Ling faked a smile.

Give him a little praise, and he starts acting all high and mighty.

"But..." she hesitated, glancing at Mao Hao with a touch of embarrassment.

This shift made Mao Hao frown, "But what?"

"We still need to sign a contract, just to follow protocol. I'm worried the Shennong Star Lord might look into Berry Star's business," Mao Ling said.

"Is all this really necessary... That woman is such a pain! Fine, I'll get someone to draft a contract..."

"I've already got the contract ready. You just need to sign," Mao Ling smoothly pulled out the master-servant contract card, set it on the table, and handed Mao Hao the pen.

Mao Hao was momentarily stunned, "You're really on top of things."

"It's just protocol. Hurry up and sign. I've got experiments to run!" Mao Ling said with a meaningful tone.

Mao Hao, being quite arrogant, thought he could easily control his soft-hearted sister. Though he felt something was off, he didn't think too much about it and signed his name in the bottom right corner.

Mao Ling watched his messy signature and then signed her own name next to it.

"Hey, why do you need to sign too?" Mao Hao reached for the contract to take a closer look, but to his shock, it turned into a beam of white light and vanished at his fingertips.

Suddenly, something inexplicable filled his mind. Mao Ling also sensed the change after signing the contract. Her heart pounded like a giant drum being struck over and over.

She knew that the contract card had been activated.

"I'm a bit thirsty, get me some water," Mao Ling began her long-awaited experiment.

"Me?!" Mao Hao snapped, his tone sharp and unfriendly. Mao Ling didn't answer his question and dared to boss him around, really asking for trouble!

Of course, he wouldn’t listen. Since she had just handed over the acting lord's position to him, he decided to be merciful and let it slide, treating her like she'd lost her mind.

But despite his extreme reluctance, his body seemed to act against his will. Against his wishes, he poured water for Mao Ling, even testing the temperature before handing it to her.

"What the hell?" Mao Hao reacted, knocking the cup from Mao Ling's hand onto the floor.

Losing control of his body was terrifying, like his soul had left him.

"Brother, I just asked you to get me some water, why are you freaking out?" Mao Hao’s obedience proved the contract card was 80-90% effective. Mao Ling spoke with much more confidence.

"Did you do something to me? No! You don’t have that kind of power. Did you and that Shennong Star Lord team up against me?!"

Mao Hao's fists clenched so hard they cracked, like he was about to throw a punch any second. Mao Ling leaned back in her chair.

"So what if we did? Did you honestly think I’d let you keep being the acting lord? Look at how you've handled it these years—your subordinates can’t stand you, and who knows where the tax money’s gone. Are you even cut out to be a lord?" Mao Ling retorted.

Mao Hao hated being humiliated and was about to rush forward to shut her up by force. Mao Ling braced herself for a hit, but the contract card instantly kicked in. Mao Hao screamed in pain, collapsing to the ground as he clutched his head and writhed.

"It hurts! Damn it, who’s doing this? Who’s the bastard behind this?!" Mao Hao cursed in pain. A mechanical voice echoed in his mind:

[Warning: Hostile intent detected toward the master. Administering electric shock punishment at 200V.]

Mao’s parents heard the noise and rushed over, heartbroken to see their son writhing on the floor.

"Hao Hao, what’s wrong? Where does it hurt? Tell me!" Mao’s mother helped Mao Hao up, wiping the sweat from his forehead.

Mao Hao trembled in pain, unable to speak. His mother looked at Mao Ling, who was coldly watching from the side, feeling both angry and guilty.

"Ling Ling, what’s going on with your brother? What did you do?"

"How should I know? Brother, what’s wrong with you? It’s not like I bullied you, right?" Mao Ling didn’t answer her mother’s question, instead sarcastically asked Mao Hao.

Mao Hao’s eyes were bloodshot, burning with rage as he glared at Mao Ling.

He was sure Mao Ling was behind this—she must’ve slipped some kind of chip into him to control him. The situation wasn’t favorable, so he had to endure Mao Ling for now, figure out the situation, and then deal with her!

"Mom, I’m fine!" Mao Hao said, enduring the pain.

Within a few minutes, Mao Hao's face had lost all color.

Mao’s mother noticed the tension between the siblings. She saw that Mao Hao didn’t seem fine, but after he got up, nothing seemed wrong, and he said he was fine. The siblings seemed to get along well, as if nothing had happened.

Since nothing seemed wrong, Mao’s mother remembered the reason her son came to see his daughter and asked, "Hao Hao, didn’t you come to ask Ling Ling about the acting lord's position?"

The question was directed at Mao Hao, but her eyes were on Mao Ling, hoping to hear "good news" from her daughter.

"What acting lord? Brother didn’t mention anything to me!" Mao Ling pretended not to know.

Mao Hao didn’t dare to confront Mao Ling directly, swallowing his anger. "No need, mom, sister is doing just fine." Every word came through clenched teeth, like he wanted to tear Mao Ling apart.