Chapter 1 The Barber

On May 11, 300 of the Standard Interstellar Era, humans from the seven planets celebrated the annual Earth Day together. The lively scene was broadcast live across space in real time. Although there was a delay of a few minutes, it was harmless.

Like many festivals, this day was originally a tragic anniversary - 300 years ago, the earth's civilization was destroyed, and only a small number of human beings continued to reproduce and rest on the newly developed planet - year after year, the tragedy gradually faded. Go, the festival can be preserved and become one of the important dates that can be paralleled with New Year's Day.

The most grand festival scene is the high-altitude electromagnetic fireworks show. At dusk, the wind is light and the clouds are light, and the high-altitude begins to display colorful pictures. The theme varies from year to year and lasts for several hours. During peak hours, it can often cover dozens or even hundreds of square kilometers. , and more than one place, to ensure that residents everywhere can enjoy this beauty as long as they raise their heads.

This is also the time when several major planets compete for strength, secretly competing, even if they can't compare, they can't appear too weak.

"It's all money." Shao Yunyuan, the barber, looked up for a while, and felt that his neck was uncomfortable, so he said this and turned back to the store.

At this moment, Shao Yunyuan didn't know that a huge pie was about to fall on his head.

He is from Zhai Wangxing and lives in the old town of Zhaijing City. He owns a small and medium-sized barber shop. He entered the business at the age of 23 and has been in the business for more than 20 years. His business is stable year by year. January is thicker and thicker, and hair and beards are decreasing day by day. The only thing that remains unchanged is the craftsmanship, which is still as mediocre as before.

In this regard, Shao Yun would like to have his own explanation: haircuts are done by machines, and manual haircuts are just a gimmick. After a long day of work, compared with machines, there is only a 1% difference, which may not be as good as machines. A real barber should It is the abbreviation of psychologist-mind barber expert.

To put it bluntly, the main business of a barber should be chatting with guests. Shao Yun would like to call it a "social organization activity". He is like the master who controls the scene at a party. , to ensure that every guest can participate and enjoy an hour or two of fun.

There are not many customers who eat this set. The poor have no problem with machine haircuts, as long as the price is low. As for customers who can afford the money, they are still willing to accept the "gimmick" of manual haircuts and pay more for the one percent difference. Several times, dozens of times the price.

Shao Yun's dream of moving out of the old city and entering the new center has never been realized.

He has long been used to the somewhat sad thought that "life won't get better".

The store is not big, it is arranged in a semi-circle, with seven seats evenly placed, with the hair-cutting machines standing behind the three middle ones. One is in good condition, while the other has some minor problems from time to time, which brings embarrassment to both the host and the guests. One was reduced to a decoration, and it was not repaired well, and it was not removed.

Because it is a holiday, there are more guests than usual, and all seven chairs are occupied. Most of them are old neighbors nearby who are used to getting haircuts and chatting here, which is one of the few hobbies they can afford.

There were two strangers, both of them looked young, out of tune with the decaying atmosphere in the store, but they didn't have the vigor of young people. They sat there barely moving, didn't speak to talk, and seldom made eye contact with people, like Tourists who are tired from walking on the street use the haircut as an excuse to enter the store to rest for a while.

No matter what, they had to pay when they left, which was the only reason Shao Yunyuan didn't open his mouth to expel people.

The other five were regulars and were arguing passionately about where the fireworks show would be the best.

The argument has been going on for a while, and it is entering the boring stage. No one can convince the other party, and there is gradually more anger in the tone.

Shao Yun wished to return just in time, and immediately changed the subject, "After all, electricity is used and money is spent. This year is a seven-star competition, and next year it will be an eight-star competition."

Even on a day of national celebration, "Eight Stars" is still a very hot topic.

"It's really unexpected. It stands to reason that a planet developed more than 300 years ago has either been proven to have failed in development, or has been completely forgotten. Why did it suddenly appear, and it is said that it has entered a mature stage, which is acceptable. What about human migration? I don’t think it’s right, there’s something wrong here.” Shao Yunyuan added, pointing out the direction for the topic.

"Conspiracy" always attracts people's hearts. One person starts, everyone follows, and all kinds of incredible theories are developed smoothly.

What is more attractive than conspiracy is wealth. The topic quickly turns to the value of the new planet. Every now and then, someone's eyes are dull for a few seconds. That is, he is retrieving the news that has just been released through the chip in his body, adding new material to the chat.

At this moment, the huge pie showed a tempting corner.

"Hey, did you see it?" A regular customer's voice rose suddenly with excitement, "The Star Alliance has just made a decision, and the ownership of the new planet will be determined with reference to the Law of Succession!"

"Which company is so lucky? I'm afraid it has long since ceased to exist, right?"

"It's not the company, it's a family that owns the company, or someone..."

All of a sudden, the people in the store shut their mouths all at once, and at the same time entered a state of dull eyes, and a lot of news appeared on the Internet like a volcanic eruption, with at least one exclamation mark after the title.

"Yixing Company...I haven't heard of it."

"The company has long since disappeared. There is a major shareholder, and there are many small shareholders. The one who benefits the most should be the major shareholder, right?"

"Of course. The major shareholder's surname is Shao, the heir... It is said that it is being determined, but there will definitely be."

"A whole planet, the machines on it, and the Guangye Farm, all belong to the Shao family? This is too outrageous."

"Three hundred years, there must be a lot of descendants of the Shao family, right? Besides, there are other shareholders, the descendants, I am afraid there must be hundreds of thousands of people."

"The news that just came out said that the new planet was developed by the Shaw Brothers with family funds and is not owned by the Yixing Group."

"The entire planet is only owned by one family? Really... Hey, Lao Yun, isn't your surname Shao? Shouldn't you be one of the heirs?"

"Haha..." Shao Yunyuan laughed a little fake, "If I were the heir, I would give each of you a free lifetime haircut coupon."

"It's stingy."

"It's dark outside, and Lao Yun is still daydreaming. With such a big company, the descendants of Shaw Brothers should be a big family now, so how can they do haircuts?"

The guests laughed, and Shao Yunyuan laughed along with him. Accepting ridicule was an important part of his work. He was used to it, but he felt a little uncomfortable today.

The guests chatted and chatted, and after it was completely dark, they left one by one. The two young people who were unfamiliar finally got up, paid the money obediently, and didn't say a word of nonsense.

Shao Yun wished to keep his composure reluctantly, but in fact he had lost his mind, lost most of his judgment, and did not notice the strange gaze cast by the stranger when he was leaving.

It was just an hour into the night, there were people coming and going on the street outside, and the electromagnetic fireworks in mid-air continued. Shao Yun wished that he would not have the heart to do business any more, so he locked the door, turned off the lights, covered the windows, rummaged through the boxes, and found the microcomputer that had not been used for a long time. Then sit in a chair and start searching for the family tree.

He was very cautious and didn't use the chip in his body.

Shaw did not have a ready-made family tree, so he had to go back through birth certificates, and he could only look up his own family tree.

Half an hour later, Shao Yun was willing to suspend the operation of the microcomputer, sit still, and it took a long time to recover.

It is confirmed that he is really the descendant of the Shaw family. Coincidentally, the chairman of Yixing Development Group in the earth era is called Shao Xinyuan, which is only one word away from the name of the eighth grandson.

The chairman seems to have only one granddaughter who was lucky enough to escape and end up in Zhai Wangxing. Shao Yunyuan is her descendant.

"It turned out to be for this day." Shao Yunyuan suddenly had a thin layer of perspiration on his body, his arm loosened, and the microcomputer fell to the ground. He jumped up and didn't pick up the things on the ground, but walked in circles, his pace Both big and fast, the small storefront becomes more and more cramped.

There are still many things that cannot be determined, such as how many descendants of Shaw Brothers are there? How are inheritance rights distributed? Will Starlink's decision change again...

But the joy has swelled, filling the ventricle, overflowing the body, and is looking for space everywhere to rush out of the room.

"Maybe it's empty." Shao Yunyuan murmured, he had to pour himself some cold water, but he couldn't keep calm anyway, so he unlocked the door and joined the crowd outside.

The streets were full of people, and the vehicles flowed slowly like viscous syrup.

The fireworks show in mid-air was not over yet. At this time, a giant spaceship appeared, which was more than ten kilometers long and almost suspended.

A real spaceship couldn't be so close to a planet, and the illusion was so realistic that it seemed to weigh heavily on the city at any moment.

Shao Yunyuan was not very interested in spaceships at first, but now he looked up and admired it for a while, because he suddenly thought that he might be about to own such a behemoth.

Not just the spaceship, everything has different meanings in his eyes. For example, the pedestrians and vehicles on this street, which were part of his life not long ago, have become much smaller now. Shao Yunyuan even felt that he was "looking down" on all beings.

Someone bumped him, turned his head and cursed, blaming him for not standing still for no reason.

Shao Yun is willing to smile and be too lazy to respond. His thoughts are flying to the eighth planet that has not yet been officially named. Even if it only occupies one ten thousandth of the share, it will be an unimaginable huge wealth, far beyond this street. On, no, on the entire Zhai Wangxing, all personal assets.

The old city is full of entertainment venues, and most of them are cheap. Shao Yun is willing to pass by and go to a relatively high-end bar outside Santiao Street.

The waiters here are all living human beings. Unlike other places, the charging and drinking system are all automatic systems, and there are no human-shaped machines.

Expensive prices did not deter customers. The bar was crowded with young people, and the noise kept irritating the eardrums. Shao Yun wanted to squeeze in the crowd to get a glass of wine. He stood outside the counter and took a sip. He was disappointed to find that it was no better than a cheap bar. Delicious.

A total of five waiters are busy behind the long counter, skilled and efficient, almost like robots.

With just a glass of wine, Shao Yunyuan left in a hurry, returned to the street, and silently sighed that his youth was no longer there. Thinking that at the beginning, he was like these young people, sweeping every playground in groups, and in half the night, he was gone. Can spend a week's income.

He continued to go in and out of bars, house after house, for a maximum of two drinks, staying away from his own neighborhood to avoid meeting acquaintances.

Tonight, he doesn't want to meet with acquaintances, and he probably won't meet again in the future, he thought, and make adjustments soon, some people can meet, especially those who have looked down on him.

He has had three love experiences, but failed to achieve a positive result. He often regrets it, but now he can only be happy.

"Seeing the news, their expressions must be very interesting." Shao Yunyuan whispered, drinking one more drink for each ex-girlfriend.

After coming out of the tenth bar, he was already drunk, his feet staggered, his mind fell slightly from the cloud, and he seriously considered how to use the wealth he was about to get, and designed the future houses one by one...

Before he knew it, Shao Yun wanted to go deep into the core area of the old city. There were tall buildings older than him, and the streets were full of water-filled potholes, but some of the best small shops were hidden in them. Meet interesting people.

Shao Yunyuan hasn't been here for a long time. Tonight, he wants to relax completely.

He is the descendant of the Shaw Brothers and the heir of a planet. Shao Yunyuan has no doubt about this, and believes that he will receive an official official notice soon, and he will never be so frivolous again.

There are many fewer pedestrians in this area, and there is often a bright light only a few tens of meters away. Shao Yun is not afraid. He knows the streets here like the palm of his hand, and he will not get lost if he closes his eyes.

There was a group of teenagers, about seven or eight people, and Shao Yun would like to avoid him no matter how drunk he was. Crowds of teenagers have always been one of the three major public hazards in the old city, and no one wants to fight with them.

The teenagers laughed for no reason. Obviously they passed by. One of them turned around and spat on the ground, and asked loudly, "Old guy, how do you get to the funeral home?"

The teenagers laughed louder, Shao Yunyuan didn't dare to reply, or even took a second look, but he had already made a decision in his heart that the new planet would never welcome these people, let alone build a bunch of high-rise buildings, which would become unscrupulous after a few years. Teenager's playground.

Shao Yunyuan was bumped, neither serious nor serious, the man did not apologize, and walked quickly, unable to see his age and appearance, and whether he was a member of the group of teenagers.

Shao Yunyuan stood against the wall for a while, felt a burst of dizziness, and went home after another drink, he thought, but he couldn't move.

Someone ran up and grabbed his right arm roughly.

Shao Yun wanted to lose the last bit of strength and sat down slowly along the wall. With the help of the dim light, he saw a slightly familiar face, and he quickly remembered that it was one of the two strangers sitting in his shop at dusk. one.

There were footsteps approaching again, and another strange guest appeared, with an obvious surprised look on his face.

"You did it!" said the latter in a low voice.

"Idiot, how could it be me?" The first person released his palm, took a half step back, and looked in the direction where the teenagers disappeared.

Shao Yunyuan was surprised. He wanted to squeeze out a professional smile, but he couldn't. He looked down for a while, and finally recognized that a large dark spot on his clothes was actually blood, and he didn't feel pain at all.

Strange, he thought, never looking up again.

The two strangers looked at each other and ran away suddenly, in opposite directions. The giant spaceship in mid-air had just dissipated, revealing the eighth planet to be inherited. to a large number of machines and equipment that slowly wriggle.

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