The Interstellar’s Expert Plant Tamer

Xie Sen looked at the large row of trees in the distance, and was very distressed. In order to block the giant lynx beast, he had exchanged twenty trees at once, and spent twenty energy. He looked at Maine. “Can you get someone to transplant them into the courtyard?”

“Yes, I’ll call someone later.” Maine nodded, and took him outside.

Xie Sen grabbed his hand. “Have you not gotten your diploma yet?” Going by the order the teacher handed out the Plant diplomas, Maine’s grades were probably last.

Maine said, “I’ll get it after we go to the hospital.”

“I’m fine. I’ll go with you to get your diploma, and we’ll leave together later,” Xie Sen said.

Maine hesitated, but Xie Sen pulled him towards the Information Department. “It’s decided.” The crowd of onlookers dispersed, and gave way to them.

The people who had followed Maine over continued to trail after them. Someone said, “Xie Sen, can I have a potato?”

“I want a chili!”

Maine said in a cold voice, “Don’t even think about it.”

Xie Sen accompanied Maine to get his diploma, waited for him to finish taking the group photo, and then suggested, “Can we take a picture in front of your classroom?”

The classrooms in college often weren’t fixed, but the one classroom was still the place where all the students spent the most of their time. Xie Sen thought of that, and wanted to take a picture in front of that classroom.

Maine had been in that classroom for a long time.

Naturally, Maine had no problem with it, so the two of them took a photo in front of the Information Class. They declined the invitation of the rest of the students to take a group photo, and left the classroom. Someone started walking towards them.

Maine’s body instantly went into combat readiness, and he stared coldly at the person who approached.

The male stopped two meters away, and looked at Xie Sen with glowing eyes. “Xie Sen, I want to challenge you!”

After that, one after another, people came running over and challenged Xie Sen.

Xie Sen was baffled. He didn’t understand why so many people suddenly wanted to fight with him. When he thought about the earlier fight with the male, although he won in the end, he still felt very much at a disadvantage. He wasted too much energy, and didn’t have enough attack power.

Also, he hadn’t developed attack methods for many of his later activated plants. With the earliest activated plants, although he had thought of attack methods, his practical combat was very unskilled.

It was nice to have someone come to him for a fight when he didn’t have to conceal the plants anymore.

Maine snorted. “Looking for a challenge from a pregnant female? If you want to challenge him to a fight, win against me first.” He swept his eyes over them. “I’ll be waiting for your challenge.”

As he sat on the shuttle, Xie Sen opened the academic forum and felt depressed. “I actually want to fight. I’m too unskilled in real combat. I have so many plants and energy now, I should’ve finished off that person in seconds by today, but instead I almost let him escape.”

Maine said, “You are already very good, besides it isn’t suitable for you to do any strenuous exercise right now.”

Xie Sen patted his stomach. “It’s okay. You saw that I fought today, and I didn’t feel anything at all. I fight mainly with plants, so it’s not too much of a test of my own physical strength.”

After the shuttle stopped, Maine put down the seat and leapt to the back. One hand reached out to lift the hem of Xie Sen’s shirt, and Xie Sen flinched back. “What? I’m going! What’s so scary?”

His ribs and shoulders each had two long, thin, bruised stripes from where the vines had tied him. His fingers touched one, and there was a little pain. “Hey, the vines are good, but when they are fast, they can be too tight.”

“Fighting is hard on your body,” Maine said. He lowered his head and kissed him on the lips. “If you want to fight, at least wait until after the baby is born.”

Xie Sen, “Mn. But I’ll practice more so I can at least react faster when I’m in a real fight.” He glanced out. “This is the hospital?”

“Mn. Let’s go see Dr. Bai.”

When Dr. Bai examined Xie Sen, he was very surprised, and a little scared. “How did you get hurt? Luckily, you avoided your abdomen otherwise it would be very dangerous.”

After the examination, Dr. Bai breathed a sigh of relief. “It’s okay. You and the baby are fine. You must pay more attention in the future.” He wrote down the name of an ointment. “This ointment is suitable for pregnant females. There are no side effects when you apply it. Just go to the counter and buy it.”

They thanked him, bought the ointment and went back home.

Not long afterwards, the doorbell rang. Xie Sen opened his bracelet to see two tall males were standing at the door. Behind them was a trailer with trees piled on it.

Xie Sen’s eyes brightened, and he immediately got up. Maine said, “I’ll go over there. Where do we plant these trees?”

Xie Sen took his arm. “Let’s go together. We’ve already planted seeds for the trees by the wall, so there’s no need to plant them again. We’ll plant these trees in front of the home.”

In the end, twenty trees were planted in a circle in front of, and to the left of the house, which left an open space in the center where Xie Sen intended to put a set of tables and stools for tea and relaxation.

After the trees were planted, Maine went to make lunch while Xie Sen took a shower. Then he sat on the couch to catch up on the news. The news about his attack had already spread on the Starnet, with comments that basically expressed anger and demanded severe punishment for the attacker, as well as many concerned about his health.

He looked around then cut to the anchor control panel. His private messages were 999+ again. He opened the first few. They were all asking about his health, while praising him for being great.

He didn’t continue to read, just wrote an announcement, [Thank you for your concern, my body is fine. Ready for lunch right now! [smiley face]]

He had just sent it, when there was a reply. [Just fine! Want to have lunch with the anchor!]

[I’m begging for a live lunch. I’m happy to see it!]

[Same request. I’ve seen a lot of contract beasts and food I’ve never heard of in this room.]

Xie Sen wasn’t going to reply, and certainly wasn’t going live.

Before, in the concert hall, he had started to get uncomfortable eating in front of 20,000 people, but the stage was large. He just looked at the food, and hadn’t felt the presence of the audience. The most important thing was that the people around him were eating very fragrant food, and it really had the atmosphere of a gathering. He got into it and forgot about the rest.

If it was a live stream at lunch where only he and Maine were eating together in front of tens of millions of viewers, his attention would be on the audience, and he would definitely not be able to eat.

When he thought about the private message that praised him for being so capable, he cut back to the news page and clicked on the video included with the news of his attack.

The video was not long, and the picture quality wasn’t too clear. It started when the giant lynx beast ran away with its beast master on its back and ended with the crowd dispersing. Many of the comments under the video were discussing how the trees had suddenly appeared.

[It’s too handsome, right? So many trees suddenly appeared!]

[I watched it several times in slow motion. The people fighting behind Xie Sen, were they grabbing potatoes?]

[Yes, that yellow thing being kicked around is a potato!]

[I remembered Xie Sen’s previous cutscene video. He definitely fought with a plant.]

[So, the potato and trees were both left behind after the battle?]

[Hahahaha! I have a great idea! I’m going to ask God Xie for a sparring session!]

[Wake up. Xie Sen is now a pregnant husband. Looking for a pregnant husband to spar with? Shame on you. And Maine has said that if you want to spar with Xie Sen, you have to pass him first.]

Xie Sen looked at the comments, and once again sighed at the wit of the netizens. That they weren’t detectives was simply burying talent. However he finally understood why those people wanted to spar with him.

It was all about the plants!

The video, apparently taken by onlookers, was shaky and unclear, so it seemed that the school was quite reliable and didn’t let the real video get out.

After lunch, Maine made a strawberry milkshake for Xie Sen. Xie Sen sat on the couch, leaned against Maine, and sipped it slowly while they chatted. “Do you have any career plans?”

Maine’s fingers were stroking his black hair, while he rubbed it in his hand. “I’m going to continue working on various software programs. What about you? Is there anything you want to do?”

Xie Sen thought about it. “Nothing in particular. I like to cook, but you have too little food here. I have to remember a lot of foods and I don’t know how to cook everything. I still have to figure it out.” He laughed. “It’s fun to think about.”

From the ingredients to the finished product, it gave him a special sense of accomplishment. He was particularly happy when he successfully made bean sprouts and tofu from his recollections. He knew that he had made bean sprouts in elementary school nature class, but he felt particularly accomplished when he saw them grow.

On Brandt Star, and even the other planets, many cuisines had disappeared because of the scarcity of plants. Some recipes had been passed down, but some hadn’t. There was still a long way to go before a true food revival.

Xie Sen thought about that, and became excited. “If I only rely on System energy, it won’t work. I need more land, need to plant more, and then we’ll have all kinds of food. In the future, we can open a restaurant, then the materials and finished products will all be sold together.”

Maine, “As long as you enjoy it, but a restaurant will be very tiring.”

Xie Sen didn’t care. “It’s okay. It’s not to make money. It’s just a hobby. I will develop dishes, but not be the chef.”

Maine laughed, “Okay, I’ll be the first to try every dish you make.”

As they were talking, Xie Sen’s communicator rang. When he saw the contact, he sat upright, put his juice on the coffee table, and turned on the speaker. “Qi Shao, what did you find out?”

Qi Shao said, “Well, it’s someone from Booth Star, a professional spy trained from childhood. He chose the Plant Department just because there were fewer people to deal with. Both for covering up his identity, and so he’d have a lot of time to do other things. You were a surprise to him.”

Xie Sen rolled his eyes. “I wonder if he still likes it?”

Qi Shao laughed out loud. “The military is dealing with Booth Star, but I don’t think there will be any results. Since he was captured, he is destined to be abandoned.” He sounded serious. “In addition to Booth, the rest of the planets will definitely be interested in you. You have plants, and for any planet, that is a huge appeal.”

Xie Sen said, “I will keep my distance from any strangers, and I won’t easily trust people I don’t know well.”

Qi Shao, “Okay. It seems you still don’t want to let anyone close to protect you, and the military leader has ordered that everything is based on your opinion. If there’s any danger, contact me.”

“Good.” Xie Sen asked before he ended the call, “What about the giant lynx beast?”

“The Contract Beast Institute took it over, you can ask President Mu.”

Xie Sen ended the communication and took a sip of his juice. “Your military here is quite nice to talk to.”

After the attack, he thought the military would get tough, and insist on sending someone to protect him. So when he received Qi Shao’s communication, he was wondering how to refuse.

Maine wasn’t surprised. “It’s not that they’re nice, it’s just that you’re special and they’re worried that if you’re not happy with Brandt Star, you’ll go to another planet. If you were a native of Brandt Star it would be fine, but you are an adopted son. If you recognize people from other planets as your parents and follow them away, there is nothing the military can do but use coercion which will start a war. What’s more,” Maine laughed. “They’re also afraid that you’ll get angry, and not provide plants.”

Xie Sen thought about it for a moment, and smiled. “Whatever you think. It turns out to be what I want, since I won’t have people following me around at all times anyway.” He opened his address book, and found Mu Lin. “I’ll ask President Mu for information.”

Mu Lin quickly answered, and Xie Sen asked, “How is the giant lynx?”

“It’s awake, but because it was separated from its master and is injured, it’s cranky.” Mu Lin tsked. “Do you know the identity of its beast master?”

Xie Sen, “Yes. If its beast master is imprisoned, what will happen to it?”

Mu Lin said in a low voice, “Separate imprisonment.” He didn’t hold back a curse, then sighed. “Contract beasts will follow the instructions of their beast master. If they aren’t imprisoned, they will definitely fight. A long time ago, there were been contract beasts that helped their beast masters escape from prison.”

Xie Sen thought of the research he had discussed with Bai Jiao. “What if the bond is lifted?”

Mu Lin sounded surprised. “What do you know?”

Xie Sen said, “I don’t know much. Has the uncoupling drug been successfully researched yet?”

Mu Lin said, “We obtained research data from Meyer’s bracelet. There are a lot of records about contract beasts after various stimulations of their mental reaction. The uncoupling medicine research teams, after looking at the research, made some uncoupling medicine but we’re not sure of its effect.”

Xie Sen didn’t expect Mu Lin to explain to him so carefully, and was a bit surprised.

Mu Lin added, “We had a few meetings, and decided to try the drug. Whether the drug is successful or not, the contract beasts may go into a frenzy. Especially those that have established a close partnership with their beast master. We wanted to ask you to help. During the contract beasts’ surgeries, you proved that you can be very good at calming a contract beast.”

No wonder Mu Lin had told him everything. If he had agreed to help, he would have found out anyway. He said, “Okay, when will you try it?”

Mu Lin laughed. “That’s good enough for today. I’ll be in touch. It will be as soon as possible, since the sooner we test it, the better. If it doesn’t work, the research team will continue to work on it.” He sighed. “There are quite a lot of contract beasts who have been imprisoned at the same time as their beast masters.”

Xie Sen, “Just contact me when the time is right. I have nothing to do right now.”

In the evening, Xie Sen came out of the bathroom with his hair scrubbed. When he walked out of the door, Maine stepped in front of him and went down on one knee. Xie Sen froze in the middle of raising his hand to grab the towel.                                             

Xie Sen’s heart jumped wildly. Maine moved very quickly, without any preliminaries, and took out a black, faintly glowing box and held it up as he looked at him intently. “A’Sen, will you be my partner?”

Xie Sen came back to his senses. He grabbed the towel and threw it behind him, then nodded and reached out. “Yes!” When he thought about his current big pants and tank top outfit, he couldn’t help but sigh, “Can’t you propose when I’m handsome?”

A smile flashed in Maine’s eyes. “You’re handsome right now.”

The corners of Xie Sen’s mouth curled up, and he hummed softly. “Now it’s not a tenth of what I am when I’m at my most handsome.” A drop of water dripped from the hair at the back of his head, but he focused on watching Maine open the box, and resisted the urge to look back at his messy hair.

You can pretend to be handsome if you can’t see it.

The box was opened to reveal two plain silver rings that shone beautifully in the light. Maine gently pinched his finger, and put the ring on him.

Xie Sen picked up the other one. He looked at it carefully, and saw his initials on the inside of the ring. He turned the ring on his finger, and knew without looking that his ring must have Maine’s name on it.

He put the ring on Maine’s hand carefully then crossed their hands, so their fingers rested on the back of each other’s hands. Xie Sen smiled. “Nice, your aesthetics are in proportion to your looks.” He lifted his hand upward. “Get up. Why are you still kneeling?”

Maine pulled his fingers away, kissed him on the back of his hand, then lowered his head to his waist and pressed his head against his belly. As he leaned his head against his abdomen, his voice was tinged with joy, “Baby, your dad said yes to my proposal!”

Xie Sen rubbed his hair, a little embarrassed. If it was before and he were given ten heads, he still wouldn’t have thought that one day there would be such a scene. But besides his embarrassment, he was even more happy. He and Maine had no family. Now, the two of them had formed a family together, and would have their baby.

At this moment, he felt that it was a great thing for him to have a baby.

After a while, Xie Sen tugged Maine’s hair. “Get up. He’s probably not as big as my fist right now, and he doesn’t understand what you’re saying. I need to blow-dry my hair.”

Maine got up, carried him to the stool, bent down and kissed him on the cheek with a happy look. “I’ll dry it for you.”

Xie Sen inclined his head to look at Maine. Maine’s usual expression was no expression. When he was with him, his expression was still very mild. He could smile, but he was never this happy. It was as if the strands of his hair were happy.

He couldn’t help but smile too. “So happy?”

Maine pinched his earlobe. “Mn. I’ve been waiting for this day to get my diploma.”

Maine’s movements were gentle. His fingers wove in and out of Xie Sen’s hair, while the hair dryer in the room was quiet.

Xie Sen rubbed his stomach. “So when are we going to get our certificate? When is the wedding?”

“Tomorrow morning.” Maine had obviously thought it through long ago, and had an answer ready. “I haven’t designed the wedding yet, and you can’t get too tired when you’re pregnant, so let’s do it after the baby is born, okay?”

Xie Sen has never raised a child, but he had seen other people raise their children. After the baby was born there were a bunch of things that were particularly taxing.

“No, this month or next month for the wedding. My belly isn’t obvious yet, and after the birth of the baby we don’t know how busy we’ll be. Don’t do something too big. Let’s just invite good friends and eat a meal on the live stream.”

Maine rubbed his hair which was already dry, put the hair dryer back, and leaned over to hug him. “I want everyone to know that you are my partner.”

Xie Sen gave him a kiss. “Who do you think doesn’t know already? I don’t want to think about the wedding later and only have memories of chaos, tiredness and exhaustion.”

When Maine heard him say that, he immediately agreed, “Okay, let’s do it your way. Not too big. I’ll make the arrangements. You don’t have to worry about it. You just have to decide who to invite.”

Xie Sen nodded, “Okay.”

The next morning, Xie Sen had just finished his breakfast and was drinking orange juice when he received a communication from Mu Lin informing him that the drug trial was scheduled for ten o’clock at the Institute.

He and Maine went to get their marriage license first. The license officer looked extraordinarily excited when he took their picture.

When Xie Sen and Maine got the license, they were thrilled to see each other’s names written in the partner identity section, and they ended up making out on the shuttle for a while.

The two arrived at the Institute at 9:50. Gu Luo was waiting for them in the parking lot, and took them to a building in the back, where Gu Luo had to scan his face to get all the way to an oversized room.

There were six other people in the room. Mu Lin, Father Bai, Bai Jiao, a doctor they had seen during the contract beast surgeries, and the other two were unknown to them.

The room was divided in two by a transparent wall, then halved again by a concrete wall. On the left was an oversized unconscious kangaroo, and on the right lay an unconscious male.

Xie Sen immediately recognized them. “Is that the contract beast dealer?”

Mu Lin nodded. “It’s him.”

Father Bai, who was standing next to a huge apparatus on the right, said, “Everyone is here, so let’s start.”

“Okay.” The tall, middle-aged doctor beside Father Bai nodded and tapped on the device. The ceiling behind the transparent wall opened to reveal the various instruments above. Two bundles of thin tubes dropped down, each with the same pale blue liquid inside them, though the kangaroo’s side was three times the size of its beast master.

The thin tips stabbed into the unconscious man and beast, and the light blue liquid gradually disappeared.

Except for Xie Sen and Maine, everyone gathered around the instrument and watched the changes in the values.

Xie Sen kept looking at the kangaroo. Before long, he noticed the kangaroo was stirring its legs, and he immediately said, “The kangaroo seems to be waking up.” He took a step forward, and put his hand on the transparent wall.

Mu Lin said, “The effect has almost worn off.”

Soon the kangaroo came to full consciousness, jumped up with a yelp, then froze. It turned its head in confusion, and stopped when it saw Xie Sen. It jumped to the transparent wall, put its head against Xie Sen’s palm, and opened its mouth to bark.

Tuan Tuan was there to translate. “It said it was sorry. It didn’t want to hurt you.”

Xie Sen looked at the kangaroo in surprise. It blinked its big eyes, and its super-long eyelashes brushed against the wall, almost like two brushes. Its voice purred weakly again.

Tuan Tuan continued to translate, “Is my beast master dead? I can’t feel him anymore. It’s so good, I hate him so much. I don’t want to be bonded with him at all. But if the beast master is dead, I’m going to die too. I deserve to die, I’ve done so many bad things, and hurt many beasts.”

The kangaroo’s big tears fell on the wall. Xie Sen was heartbroken and angry. The kangaroo had obviously been forced to bond. He reassured it, “You’ll be fine. Don’t be sad. You were just following your beast master’s orders. You’re not bad.”

“This is?” A doctor asked in surprise.

Xie Sen touched the kangaroo through the wall, and turned his head to look at the doctors. “It worked. It can’t feel the beast master’s presence anymore.”

The tall, middle-aged doctor operating the instruments nodded, his voice filled with suppressed excitement, “Yes, the data shows that it is now in an uncoupled state. It’s just physically and mentally weak.” He looked at Xie Sen. “You’re really amazing. You can talk to it?”

Xie Sen pointed to Tuan Tuan. “It translated.”

This result made all the doctors even more excited, and Bai Jiao’s eyes were especially bright. “That’s wonderful.”

The contract beast dealer was taken into exile, while the kangaroo was sent to the Institute’s care area to recuperate. After he consulted with the doctors, Mu Lin decided to proceed with the others.

After all, there was enough time, and Xie Sen was here. To uncouple a few more groups of contracted pairs would help determine if the uncoupling drug was stable.

The first few groups of people to be uncoupled were all contract beast dealers. The process went very smoothly. Since the contract beasts were all forced to bond, after unbonding they were particularly happy but weak, and were sent to the recovery area.

The situation changed suddenly when the giant lynx and its beast master came to their senses. It roared loudly and attacked the walls, with huge blood-red eyes, as it stared at the doctors. It  wanted to come out immediately, and swallow them alive.

Tuan Tuan said, “It’s cursing and saying that it wants you to return it to its master, and eat you all!” Tuan Tuan waved his wings, and flew to the same height as the eyes of the giant lynx beast, then chirped and chirped. “Humph. You can’t see what you look like now, but you are still yelling harsh words, and telling jokes? That beast master of yours attacked A’Sen. He isn’t a good person, and you’re not a good person like him!”

The giant lynx beast, who had to look cross-eyed in order to see Tuan Tuan clearly, snarled at Tuan Tuan.

Tuan Tuan, “You shout. Well, shout through your throat, no one will help you. You think you can scare me with your loud voice? What a big joke, I have more guts than you do!”

The entire outside room was filled with the roar of the giant lynx beast and Tuan Tuan’s incessant chirping. The giant lynx beast shouted, got tired and stopped for a while. However, Tuan Tuan’s incessant chirping was especially energetic.

“It…What is it saying?” The tall, middle-aged doctor asked, as he pointed at Tuan Tuan.

What else can be said? Cursing the fight!

Xie Sen smiled awkwardly. Naturally, he couldn’t translate Tuan Tuan’s words completely, so he just said vaguely, “Nothing. It’s teaching the giant lynx beast. The giant lynx beast wants to find its beast master, and also wants to help the beast master to take revenge.”

The tall middle-aged doctor smiled, looked at the giant lynx beast, and then looked at the instrument display. “They should have been autonomously bonded.”

Mu Lin said, “Looking at the reaction of the giant lynx beast, it must be the case.” He frowned. “It’s emotionally out of control and needs a tranquilizer.”

This was the first time Xie Sen didn’t have a calming effect on a contract beast. He looked at the giant lynx beast, whose growling voice had become much quieter. It was already injured and unbonded from its master, so its physical and mental condition was particularly poor.

Just now, it had been arguing with Tuan Tuan, which consumed too much energy.

Xie Sen looked at the giant lynx beast. At the same time, the giant lynx beast’s blood-red eyes turned towards him. The giant lynx beast, after a pause, leapt at the transparent wall as it tried to attack Xie Sen.

Obviously, it still remembered that it was injured by Xie Sen before.

Xie Sen was startled, and subconsciously took a step back.

Tuan Tuan flew in front of Xie Sen, “Bastard, back off! Who are you scaring? If there’s a door here, I’ll come in and peck you to death. Look at your unlucky appearance now, why are you so fierce?”

The giant lynx was blocked by the wall, dizzy from hitting it, and even more dizzy from being yelled at by Tuan Tuan. It slid down the wall and stared at Tuan Tuan while it leaned it.

Xie Sen looked at Mu Lin. “What should we do with it?”

Mu Lin said, “We still have to negotiate that. It’s impossible to let it out.”

Xie Sen nodded. With the giant lynx beast in this state, the degree of danger if it were released was too high. Also, since it was bent on its beast master, it may try to save the beast master.

The staff got the giant lynx beast and its beast master out of the way, then continued by replacing it with another criminal pair.

It was almost lunchtime when the middle-aged doctor said, “That’s it for today.” He looked at Xie Sen. “Thank you for your hard work.”

Xie Sen shook his head to indicate that he was fine, said goodbye to the people, declined the invitation to join them for lunch, and followed Maine out of the Institute and back home.

While Maine was cooking, Xie Sen went to see the contract beasts. Some of them were lying down and chatting, while others were playing with each other, and all were happy.

The corners of Xie Sen’s mouth curved up, and his mood became much better.

During the uncouplings, in addition to the giant lynx beast, there were two contract beasts that had a particularly strong reaction after the uncoupling. Their owners were criminals who had committed serious crimes, but they weren’t the same as the kangaroo. There was no good and evil. Their beast master was in the right, they didn’t think they had done something bad, and they wanted to save and avenge their beast master.

Little Spot came over and rubbed against him. He reached out and stroked the side of Little Spot’s leg. Little Spot happily wagged its tail and ran to the play.

Now that he thought about it, the contract beasts he knew were very simple. They may not know good and evil either. Just who was their friend without understanding sides.

This was also very normal. Even people couldn’t determine absolute right and wrong.

He figured that lunch was almost ready, and was preparing to go back home when a gift broadcast came through.

[‘Grass’ gave the anchor a watermelon rain. Congratulating the anchor on his license! Wishing the anchor a happy new marriage and a hundred years of good luck! When will you hold the wedding? I want to attend the wedding!]

Xie Sen raised his eyebrows. It had spread so quickly? When he heard the audience’s blessing, he was particularly warm and happy. He was about to open his mouth to say thank you, when the sound of gifts being broadcast came one after another.

At the same time, there were also the cries of various contract beasts.

“A’Sen, you got your license!”

“Oh, married! Married!”

“Congratulations A’Sen, that’s great!”

Black Leopard ran up to Xie Sen, his voice serious, “Human marriage is a very important thing, it must be a big wedding.”

Big Tiger echoed, “Yes, invite lots and lots of friends. Hilarious!”

The contract beasts gathered around Xie Sen. They kept giving their blessings, and talking about the ideas they came up with in passing.

There were also the people who kept sending gifts while asking the contract beasts what they were doing, in addition giving their own blessings.

[Happy wedding to the anchor! What are the contract beasts doing around you?]

[They heard the anchor received his certificate before running over. They must have just gotten the news from the broadcast room as well and are wishing the anchor well!]

[Yes, yes. Agree with the previous idea, they heard about getting the certificate before running over!]

[The contract beasts are still so smart! Will they attend the wedding? I feel super excited just thinking about it! I want to go to the wedding.]

Xie Sen was surrounded by contract beasts, and did not look at the pop-ups for the time being. He smiled, and calmed the contract beasts. “Thank you for your blessings. The wedding is still being planned, and won’t be big. But friends will be invited, and you are all my friends.”

The contract beasts cheered, and Black Leopard reminded him, “There has to be time to prepare the gifts.”

The rest of the contract beasts echoed, “Yes, yes, yes! You have to give gifts to attend the wedding. I have to think about what to give to Sen!”

Xie Sen looked at the group of large beasts as they talked. They really couldn’t think of what they could give as gifts. Should they go to the forest to hunt, and give him prey?

The giant tiger beast from the lab group pointed out that the recovery of their bodies was good, but their mental condition wasn’t suitable for hunting. If they really went out, they would inevitably encounter danger.

Xie Sen thought about it, and quickly said, “No need to send gifts. You guys just participate. You have earned a lot of money, and with that money I can buy anything I want, so what gift is better than that?”

[‘Hong Hong’ gave the anchor a watermelon rain. Wow, they are discussing how to give the anchor a gift? Anchor don’t refuse, ah. Curious about what they will send!]

[‘Ayi’ gave the host a watermelon rain. Yes, I’m curious! Let them do it!]

Black Leopard roared, “When I say give a gift, I will give a gift. I must give a gift!”

“Sen is getting married. We have to show it!”

The voices of the contract beasts rose and fell, and the audience kept urging them to send gifts. Xie Sen smiled helplessly, “All right, go ahead and send them. I’m looking forward to it.”

The contract beasts cheered again, and the black leopard wagged its tail. “I can’t let you know about the gift, otherwise there will be no surprise.”

After it finished, it led the contract beasts to the front corner of the dormitory area, and the group of contract beasts began a discussion.

Xie Sen stayed where he was. He wanted to laugh when he saw them with that look, but he also felt a special sense of expectation. He was just as curious about what the contract beasts would give him. He opened his bracelet to look at the pop-up screen, and saw the audience was begging to attend the wedding. He told them, “The wedding will be live, so we won’t be drawing lucky audience members.”

[Ah, ah, ah! Must be notified in advance when the wedding will be held, ah! I do not want to miss a thing.]

[Super look forward to it. Fans not going to the scene is also quite good. The anchor just encountered the danger, caution is better.]

[Yes, yes. Everything is safety-oriented. We will be squatting and broadcasting at the time!]

[The anchor must check the equipment in advance. Do not cut off the network, or have equipment failure!!!]

Xie Sen couldn’t help but laugh at the three exclamation marks, and said with special sincerity, “My equipment and network here are really good. Forget about the past, those were accidents, not getting disconnected.”

[I won’t believe it unless the whole wedding is uninterrupted!]

[Yes, we only believe in facts.]

Xie Sen said, “Okay, okay, okay. After the wedding, don’t mention disconnection again! Let’s go eat lunch. I’m going to eat too.”

Xie Sen turned off his bracelet, pretended not to see it, and went back home to eat.

During the meal, he and Maine chatted. “Someone just sent us a gift to wish us well. The contract beasts heard it, and said they wanted to give us a gift.”

Maine looked out thoughtfully. “We’ll know when we get there.”

Xie Sen nodded. “Mn, it’s actually kind of nice to have something to look forward to.”

During the next few days, Xie Sen went to work every day as a human tranquilizer and helped Mu Lin and the others uncouple the major criminals. Faced with the mixed reactions of the uncoupled contract beasts, he no longer found it hard to just be a spectator, and stopped asking Mu Lin about their results.

By the end of August, the research team had come up with a targeted sedative, and Xie Sen no longer had to help.

On the last day of August, the Plant Research Institute held another launch event, this time featuring tomatoes and their discoverer, Li You. The official announcement from the Institute was followed by simultaneous news coverage.

The public’s reaction was even stronger than the chili launch. If the chili introduced them to a new plant and the concept of an edible plant that could be grown in large quantities, the appearance of the tomato made them believe that Ma Qun’s previous words might not have been a pie in the sky.

The day when humans could eat vegetables and fruits every day was something to look forward to, not a dream.

Xie Sen gave Li You a hand, and attended the launch as a chef. For the launch of a new species, according to the process they had to show people how to eat it. This demonstrator was generally the plant discoverer.

However, Li You couldn’t cook, so he contacted Xie Sen and asked him how to cook tomatoes. Xie Sen subconsciously replied, “The shortest answer is tomatoes and eggs scrambled together. It’s just a few minutes to prepare.’

Li You heard him say ‘easy,’ then asked him to help. Xie Sen didn’t refuse. He had been at home for a little over half a month, and wanted to get out and about. Plus it was good for him to collect energy by making food.

As soon as Xie Sen and Maine appeared backstage, Li You greeted them and said gratefully, “Thank you so much. I’ve never cooked anything other than fried meat. It’s really hard for me to use tomatoes.” He gave them an embarrassed smile. “And with so much popular demand, I was worried that I would be nervous because of the large venue and the large audience at the launch, so I figured you were the only ones who could help me with this.”

Xie Sen laughed. “You’re welcome. I like to cook.”

He had been to a launch once before, and was familiar with the process. He sat in the background and listened to Ma Qun’s opening remarks. He was more excited than last time, as he introduced the tomatoes, then revealed that many more plants had been successfully bred and would be announced in two months.

The audience, both live and in the broadcast room, were in high spirits because of this statement, and had great confidence in improving their daily diet.

Xie Sen was very calm while he cooked, and the tomato scrambled eggs were ready in a few minutes. As the aroma wafted through the air, many people silently gulped.

Xie Sen said, “There are many ways to eat tomatoes, but this is the easiest way. You can also make a very good soup with a little bit of sourness, and you can also cook with meat, such as beef brisket.” After his presentation, he asked Ma Qun, “Want to try it?”

Before Ma Qun could say anything, the audience shouted in unison, “Yes!!!”

Ma Qun laughed, “Let’s try it. If I take it backstage and eat it alone, the audience will start fighting with me.”

Xie Sen laughed. “Then let Uncle Li do it.”

Ma Qun thought that was a good suggestion. “Now we will start selecting the lucky audience members, who will be given a taste by the food discoverer, Researcher Li You.”

Xie Sen retreated backstage, while Li You walked to the front of the stage. The audience saw Li You, and that set off a cheering frenzy.

Xie Sen looked at the red-eyed Li You on the screen, thought of the scene when he met Li You, and felt very emotional. Li You almost lost his life for the tomatoes, and now he was getting all the praise and glory he deserved.

These days, Xie Sen stayed at home and read a lot of plant related books. He especially focused on the history of plant cultivation.

Brandt Star was located in a system that once suffered a natural disaster comparable to the end of the world. After that catastrophe, many plants disappeared. Due to the environmental impact, the surviving plants were also difficult to cultivate. Compared to that period, the current plant species seemed plentiful. Rice, cabbage, and potatoes but almost no edible wild plants.

For those plants, batch after batch of plant researchers went over the mountains to find them. Some even went into the crevices of glaciers to find residual fruit, and then slowly cultivated them.

During that long process, many people lost their lives. Even though he disliked the taste of the nutrient solution, there were many people who paid for it with their lives.

After the disaster, because of the lack of plant nutrients, humans developed many diseases. The scientific researchers came up with the idea of a synthetic nutrient solution in order to improve the situation.

It was only that many of the remaining plants had mutated, so most of them were toxic, and in the forest, many people lost their lives in order to collect the plants.

After the success of the first generation of nutrient culturing, various diseases no longer appeared in newborns and human life returned to normal. The difference was the food was mainly meat, and people needed to regularly replenish their nutrient solution.

As Xie Sen watched the audience that was jumping up and down because they ate a small piece of tomato, his eyes were tinged with laughter and his heart was spirited.

One day, people would take vegetables and fruits for granted, just like modern people did.

After the launch, Xie Sen exchanged the energy collected that day for 100 sweet potatoes, 100 rice plants, and ten each of various melons for Ma Qun.

The former was a staple food, while melons had more seeds and were more suitable for mass cultivation.

Ma Qun was very excited, and thanked him over and over again, while Xie Sen repeatedly told him he was welcome.

When he returned home, Xie Sen habitually turned on his bracelet to check the status of the farm. Since his plant was revealed, he exchanged seeds and planted all the rest of the open space on the farm.

Now the ground had all sprouted. It looked green and especially beautiful. Most of the land was planted with peppers. They were the first to be planted and since they had already been bred by the Institute as seedlings they had already grown twenty centimeters high.

After he looked at the farm, he tilted his head and saw Maine was staring intently at his bracelet.

Xie Sen took him by the shoulder. “I should ask you what you’re up to. You’ve been so secretive these days, what are you doing?”

Maine pinched his earlobe. “Nothing.”

Xie Sen scowled, grabbed his hand and pretended to glare at him. “Don’t touch.” He laughed. “Nothing’s wrong. You’re making wedding plans, right?”

Maine looked at him with a smile. “Are you sure you want to know, and don’t want to be surprised?”

Xie Sen thought back to modern weddings. “We have to rehearse before the wedding, so you still have to tell me in advance.”

“No.” Maine held his hand. “You can just follow me when the time comes. We won’t have a rehearsal.”

“In that case, don’t tell me yet. It’s the first time you are getting married, so you can still keep it a surprise.” Xie Sen made a decision and didn’t ask about the wedding. There was nothing for him to do but design the invitations, then he had to organize the list of people to be invited and fill in the invitations.

He did all that work in the second floor workroom. When he was there, Maine would always avoid him. He wouldn’t sit on the other side of the table, but instead he went to the area where the contract beasts were active.

He suspected that Maine and the contract beasts were working together on something, and was very tickled. He couldn’t help but turn on the workroom monitor, only to find that he needed to enter a password. He was wondering what the password might be when Maine’s message came through.

“Curious? Want me to tell you?”

Xie Sen thought of what he had said, and immediately replied, “No!”

The monitor couldn’t be watched, but he was becoming more curious, so he tried to ask Tuan Tuan. Tuan Tuan changed from his usual shrewd look, and behaved like a silly bird, when it answered his three questions.

Xie Sen leaned back in his chair, and asked hopelessly, “Didn’t you see what they did?”

Tuan Tuan shook his round head, “No.”

“And when you played with the leopards, didn’t you hear them talking?”

Tuan Tuan continued to shake his head, “No.”

Xie Sen stared at the fluffy white feathers on top of Tuan Tuan’s head and wanted to pluck them. “Tsk, you usually talk so much. Why are you so tight-lipped now?”

Tuan Tuan stood on his palm, lowered its head and rubbed his arm. “Maine said, if you knew, there would be no surprise.”

Xie Sen smiled. His heart was touched and he stretched out a finger to rub its head feathers. “Thank you. You’re awesome. You’re doing a great job of keeping secrets.”

Tuan Tuan chirped excitedly, and Xie Sen looked at it. “Have you grown again?” Before it was less than the size of his palm, but now its paws were almost the size of his palm.

Tuan Tuan nodded its head. “Yes. The bigger I get, the faster I grow,” it said. Then its voice dropped. “I won’t be able to step on Sen’s shoulders and hands anymore.”

Xie Sen soothed, “It’s okay. When you grow up, you can stand on the ground and talk to me face to face.”

Tuan Tuan chirped excitedly, “Chirp! Sen is so smart. But when I grow up, I’ll be on my back with my head down to talk to you face to face. You’re too small.”

Being called small by a bird that was standing on his hand, instantly made Xie Sen’s feelings extraordinarily complicated.

When he thought about the size of the flying eagle beast, he calmed down again. When Tuan Tuan said this sentence, it was very cute. When he thought about the tiny Tuan Tuan, he was looking forward to seeing how Tuan Tuan would look like when he grew up.

On September 5th, Xie Sen held a fan meeting as promised. This meeting was mainly for fans to visit the flying eagle beast and the contract beasts that had undergone surgery.

Only six of the contract beasts brought back from the lab were left now. The other five had bonded with the Special Forces. They had all recovered well, so the fans didn’t have to be careful. The fans’ two-hour meet-and-greet experience was similar to that of a two-hour thrill ride.

High-speed flight, free fall, running and jumping…There was also hilarious dancing and natural water spraying activities.

Fans left with fond feelings and the live stream audience was green with envy as they wished everyone good luck for the next meet and greet.

At night, Maine embraced him in bed. “I have a wedding date in mind. September 23rd.”

When Maine took him to the hospital and knew he was one month pregnant, he was curious and asked Maine, who said it had been a whole month.

The 23rd of September, was exactly his third month of pregnancy.

He leaned over Maine, and kissed him on the lips. “Have you been thinking about it for a long time?”

Maine stroked his back, “The month isn’t fixed. I was planning on having a big event, but September is not necessarily too late.”

Xie Sen smiled, “I like September.” He had read a lot of information about pregnancy, and after three months, his belly would begin to change.

The wedding date was set, and Xie Sen calculated that it was only a little over half a month away, so he sent out the invitations one by one.

He also thought that the August meeting he had promised his fans should be moved to September, and after discussing it with the contract beasts, he opened a second lottery for September and held another meeting on the 15th.

The meeting was a great success, and Xie Sen was happy that everything was done, so he just had to wait for the wedding.

On the morning of the 16th, he woke up with a start. There were floor-to-ceiling racks of clothes all over the room, filled with all kinds of men’s clothes in all colors.

Maine went to the bed, leaned over, and kissed him on the cheek. “Go wash up and have breakfast. We’re taking wedding pictures today.”

Xie Sen scanned the room. “So many clothes?”

Maine, “Pick what you want to wear. The wedding outfit will also be from the selection. Do you see anything you like?”

Xie Sen was so excited that he went back to his room after breakfast to try on the clothes. All the outfits were in pairs, and the smaller one fit him perfectly. He looked at Maine in surprise. “These are all custom-made?”

Maine smiled as he undressed, and asked, “Do you like it?”

Xie Sen couldn’t resist. He grabbed his collar, stood on tiptoe and kissed him. “I like it a lot.” He originally thought that when Maine designed the wedding, that meant he’d only design the decoration and set-up of the wedding site. He hadn’t expected that even the clothes would be specially prepared by him.

Maine deepened the kiss, and let go only after half a second, his voice slightly muffled, “It’s good if you like it.”

Xie Sen put on an outfit, looked at himself in the mirror, and praised the clothes. The style of the suit was simple, but the effect on his body was particularly good. It made him look tall, with long legs and a thin waist. It was especially beautiful.

The two spent the whole day taking pictures, and the contract beasts also participated in the shooting. They posed a lot, and many of the photos had more ambience, warm and happy because of their inclusion.

The next afternoon, the photos were processed, and Xie Sen spent the afternoon looking at them. Then he picked out a white suit to wear for the wedding.

On the night of the 22nd, instead of staying at home, Xie Sen and Maine stayed in a hotel suite.

On the morning of the 23rd, Xie Sen was kissed by Maine in a daze. He squinted at the window, but the curtains were drawn, and he couldn’t see the sky. “What time is it?”

“It’s still early. You go back to sleep.” Maine kissed his face. “I’ll pick you up.”

Xie Sen mumbled. He knew what the schedule was after they spent the night at the hotel.

When he woke up again, Maine was no longer in the room. The curtains in the room were still drawn, he couldn’t see the sky, so he hurriedly looked at the time. 7:30. He immediately sighed in relief.

He called out to Maine, but no one answered. After a while, there was a knock on the door, and Bai Jiao’s voice came. “A’Sen, are you awake?”

Xie Sen got up. “Yes.”

Bai Jiao came in with breakfast. Xie Sen knew Maine had made it. “What are you doing here? Where is Maine?”

Bai Jiao smiled, “He’s not here. He has to pick you up, and bring you back home later. He asked me to watch you finish your breakfast.”

Xie Sen was a little embarrassed. “Thank you, I’ll go wash up first.”

After breakfast, Xie Sen went back to his room to change into his suit, and returned to the outer room, where someone did his hair and makeup.

Xie Sen looked at the mirror and saw that he could not see any real evidence of makeup, so he didn’t mind.

He couldn’t help but ask Bai Jiao. “Have you been home?”

Bai Jiao shook his head, “No. Maine told me two days ago that I should come over this morning to keep you company, so I came straight here.”

Xie Sen could only continue to be confused, and from that confusion, a sudden mood of belated panic arose. He got up, straightened his clothes, pulled his hair back, and looked seriously at the mirror. Handsome.

He moved his toes. His shoes fit well. He walked around again, and moved normally without any falters or stiffness. His body was comfortable, there was no problem.

So, he definitely won’t fall during the wedding!

Bai Jiao laughed from the side. “Don’t be nervous. You didn’t invite outsiders, it’s all close friends, and you and Maine are so familiar with each other. It’s not like you met on a blind date.”

Xie Sen rubbed his ears in embarrassment, and sat down next to Bai Jiao. “I don’t know, I’m suddenly a little nervous. Maine didn’t tell me anything.”

Bai Jiao laughed. “Since you don’t know anything, you’ll remember today even better.”

Xie Sen said, “You’re right.” He glanced at the door. “What time is he coming?”

Bai Jiao said, “Usually it’s ten o’clock when the males pick up the females.”

As Bai Jiao said, once ten o’clock arrived, there was a knock on the door. Xie Sen jumped up from the sofa, but Bai Jiao pressed on his shoulder. “You sit down. I’ll open the door.”