Interstellar to 80s: A Scientist's Farming Mission

The autumn harvest wasn’t completely over. Corn needed to be laid out to dry, other coarse grains had to be processed, and the stalks in the fields had to be hauled back.

After the stalks were cut, the remaining corn roots—the stubble—also had to be dug up and brought home. Once dried and with the dirt knocked off, they could be used to heat the kang beds in winter.

In short, absolutely nothing went to waste.

These past few days, An Ning hadn’t had much work, but An Guoqing was swamped.

A tractor rumbled through the village day in and day out, from the east end to the west and back again.

Even the children weren’t idle.

They dug up bean roots from the fields to use as fuel for the school stove in winter. They also scoured the fields for any fallen corn, peanuts, or sweet potatoes.

Finding a single dropped piece of food was as exciting as finding money.

Over the last few days, An Ning had resumed her morning lessons. After class, she would take out the materials Director Jin had given her and study them.

After three days of studying, she finally put pen to paper.

The first machine was one for digging up stubble—the corn roots.

The village remained bustling, and as the team leader, Sun Dazhuang was even busier. He had to calculate the public grain levy and tally up the work points.

In a word: busy.

In the midst of all this busyness, Sun Dazhuang was called away.

When Sun Dazhuang returned, a single piece of news sent shockwaves through the busy but otherwise peaceful village.

At the brigade headquarters, every household had sent a representative to gather.

The representatives were inside the building, while other family members stood outside, straining to hear.

”You think they’re really going to distribute land to us?”

”That’s what the leader said.”

”Oh my, I can hardly believe it.”

”What’s so hard to believe? Didn’t the land used to be ours anyway?”

”Not really. How much land did we ever have? It all belonged to the landlords.”

The villagers chattered excitedly at the door, their voices nearly drowning out the discussion inside.

Sun Dazhuang, standing at the front, shouted at the top of his lungs, ”Quiet down! We can’t hear a thing in here!”

The noise outside gradually subsided.

Sun Dazhuang raised a wooden megaphone and began to speak.

”The official documents are in. After this year’s autumn harvest, the land will be distributed. Once it’s distributed, you’ll be farming your own family’s plot. You won’t have to earn work points anymore.”

As soon as Sun Dazhuang finished, many people in the crowd started to speak up.

”Hold on, I’m not finished. You can ask questions when I’m done.”

Sun Dazhuang held up a slip of paper. On it were the key points he needed to cover.

”The land will be divided according to population. It doesn’t matter if you’re a baby or an elder, it’s all distributed per head. Each person gets 3.3 mu of land.”

”Some land is good, some is bad. To make it fair, each family will get a mix of both. We’ll draw lots to decide. As long as the total acreage adds up correctly in the end, it’s fine.”

”As for this year’s work points, once all the grain is in the warehouse, they’ll be settled and paid out to each family. What you do with your share—whether you eat it or save it for seed—is your own business. I’m not in charge of that anymore.”

”From now on, what time you go to the fields, whether you decide to slack off or work hard—that’s no longer the village’s business. This land is yours. A good harvest or a bad one, it’s all on you.”

”One more thing. We have a lot of mountains around here. Anyone willing to open up wasteland can claim it as their own. The claim is valid for twenty years.”

Sun Dazhuang rattled off several points in one go. When he finished, he took a large gulp of water and waited for questions from the crowd.

But there was too much information to process, and for a moment, no one spoke.

Sun Dazhuang glanced around. He figured they probably didn’t have any questions.

”An Ning, why is your hand up?”

In the crowd, An Ning was likely the only woman present aside from the director of the women’s federation.

She rose to her feet and asked, ”Will there be any land left over in the village? I’d like to contract an entire mountain. Is that possible?”

Sun Dazhuang put down his water cup.

”A whole mountain? What would you do with a mountain?”

”Farm it.”

An Ning’s reply was blunt. She loved this new policy.

From now on, she could plant whatever she wanted.

She wanted so much land.

”Um, let me ask about that for you. Give me a couple of days.”

”Okay, thank you, Leader.”

An Ning sat down.

After she took her seat, others in the crowd began to ask their questions.

Most of them, however, were just repeats of things Sun Dazhuang had already explained.

The meeting went on for nearly an hour before it finally broke up.

An Ning walked home alongside An Sancheng.

”Daughter, you want to contract a mountain?”

”One or two, either would be fine. I want even more land.”

At the mention of this, An Ning’s eyes lit up.

”I want to grow tons of grain, lots of fruit, and plenty of vegetables, too.”

An Sancheng was already struggling to follow his daughter’s logic.

”What for? Why plant vegetables?”

An Ning just smiled. ”Dad, let’s talk about it when we get home.”

The An family hurried home, where An Ning explained her plan to everyone.

”Right now, demand outstrips supply. In other words, people want to buy things, but there’s nothing to buy.”

”Food and drink are always the top priority. They’re also the biggest consumables—people need them every single day.”

”So, I plan to grow grain, vegetables, and fruit, and then sell them in the city.”

When she finished, An Ning looked at her family. ”So? What do you think?”

What did they think?

An Sancheng was the first to react. He thought it was a great idea.

They didn’t really know how to do any other kind of business, so they wouldn’t be much help there.

But farming? That they could do.

”I love it, Little Sis. I’m happy to just farm. I’m comfortable here in the countryside.”

An Guoqing was the first to declare his support. ”I’ll do the farming here at home, and you can handle the selling.”

”Great, Big Bro.”

An Ning then turned to An Sancheng.

”The idea is good, but where will the money come from? We can’t just let you pay for everything. Besides, the money you have isn’t nearly enough to contract a whole mountain.”

”It’s a great idea, and I like it. We can all help. But for a whole mountain... it’s not just the cost of the contract. There’s labor, the upfront investment in seeds... that all costs money.”

An Sancheng’s brow furrowed with worry.

”Dad, don’t worry about all that. I’ll figure out the money.”

An Ning’s words didn’t do much to reassure An Sancheng, but he didn’t try to discourage her further.

Besides, his daughter really was incredibly capable.

The An family’s small meeting paused. Lin Cuihua went to make dinner, An Guoping went to read his books, and An Guoqing headed out to drive the tractor again.

Her sister-in-law was at home, busy with mending, never an idle moment.

An Ning went back to her drawings, but An Sancheng’s words echoed in her mind. ’It really is a lot of money.’

’What am I going to do?’

’Selling the blueprints is one option,’ she mused, ’but for technology like this, there should be patents.’

’I just don’t know when Ancient Earth actually got patent laws.’

An Ning made a mental note to look into it, or to find someone she could ask.

Just as An Ning was lost in thought, her spiritual power began to burn, a feeling similar to the last time she received the interstellar note.

Only this time, it wasn’t nearly as painful.

’It must be from all the farm work I’ve been doing recently.’

An Ning glanced out the window. Seeing no one was around for the moment, she drew the curtains. If anyone asked, she would just pretend she was changing.

She unleashed her spiritual power, and the Klein Bottle appeared.