Interstellar to 80s: A Scientist's Farming Mission

An Guoming spun around, his expression fierce. He roared, ”What are you honking at?!” But after shouting, he froze on the spot, dumbfounded.

An Guoqing leaped out of the driver’s seat. His sturdy, muscular frame cast a large shadow over An Guoming.

”Brother An... a misunderstanding! I... I thought it was Jiang Xia.”

”So what if it was Jiang Xia? Let me tell you, Jiang Xia is my master!”

Still half-squatting, An Guoming was grabbed by the collar by An Guoqing and dragged aside to ”discuss life.”

An Guoming’s face was a mask of misery. He desperately wanted to say: ’Brother An, you’ve got the generations mixed up!’

Jiang Xia followed behind An Guoqing and An Guoming, trying to placate them.

”Brother An, don’t do that.”

”Brother An, take it easy.”

”Brother An...”

With every ”Brother An” Jiang Xia shouted, An Guoqing would give An Guoming a light rap on the head with his fist. It didn’t hurt much, but the position was rather awkward.

An Guoqing had An Guoming in a one-armed headlock, his head pinned between An Guoqing’s waist and arm. His butt was sticking out, making one itch to give it a good kick.

An Guoqing finally let go and strutted over to An Ning, eager to show off.

”Little sis, I learned how! Aren’t I amazing?”

An Ning, who had been watching the spectacle from the side, raised a thumb in disbelief and admiration.

”Amazing! Brother An, you’re so amazing!”

An Ning was even more curious about how on earth Jiang Xia had taught him.

Just then, Jiang Xia kindly helped An Guoming up, but An Guoming ungratefully shook off his arm and glared at him.

”You kid, what are you really up to?”

”Hm?”

Jiang Xia’s eyes were clear and innocent as he hummed in confusion.

”Second Brother An, what do you mean?”

An Guoming wasn’t stupid. He didn’t want to spell it out, but his brotherly scrutiny was hard to suppress.

”You’d better be on your best behavior, kid. I’m watching you.”

Leaving him with that, An Guoming returned to An Ning and An Guoqing’s side.

The four of them headed back together, with An Guoqing driving.

In the back seat, An Ning and An Guoming shared a single thought: ’How on earth did Brother An learn so fast?’

Unfortunately, no one told them.

Jiang Xia wouldn’t say.

An Guoqing just said that Jiang Xia taught him, and he learned.

What more could An Ning and An Guoming say?

Over the next three days, with Jiang Xia coaching him, An Guoqing became proficient at driving, reversing, and parking.

It was a complete departure from his performance when An Ning and An Guoming had tried to teach him on the first day, making them suspect he had just been messing with them.

In any case, An Guoqing had learned to drive.

During these few days, another batch of vegetables in the greenhouse had ripened.

As dawn broke, many women in headscarves skillfully entered the greenhouse with their baskets, picking vegetables, arranging them neatly, weighing them, counting them, and loading them onto the truck.

Master Tang was among them. He’d had his eye on the small cucumbers in the greenhouse for a long time.

An Ning and An Guoming were each in charge of a truck, checking the inventory.

Today, they were to drive two truckloads of vegetables to sell in different locations.

This time, An Ning was going along too, with the main purpose of buying shops.

The night before last, the An family held a small meeting. Everyone attended, including Hei Dan’er.

The final decision was that the vegetable shop would be the An family’s family business, and the profits would be divided according to An Ning’s allocation of two shares per person.

At first, An Guoping said he didn’t want any, since he hadn’t contributed at all, but he accepted in the end.

An Ning wasn’t short on money, and An Sancheng was also wealthy, but An Guoping and An Guoqing didn’t know that yet.

After the matter of the vegetable shop was settled, An Sancheng provided the capital for them to buy other shops. He would give An Guoqing and An Guoping three shops each, with An Ning fronting the money for now.

The public explanation was that they were afraid of future price hikes, but in reality, An Sancheng had given An Ning antiques to cover the cost.

As for An Guoming and An Ning, how much money they had and how much they could buy was their own business, and the others didn’t pry.

After the family meeting, An Sancheng pulled An Guoqing and An Guoping aside for a long talk.

The main point of his talk was that they shouldn’t compare themselves to each other.

The four siblings were destined to walk different paths. If they had to compete, they should compete with themselves and not damage the bond between them.

The simple-minded An Guoqing didn’t care; he was solely focused on raising his pigs well.

An Guoping was smart to begin with, and he absolutely doted on his sister. If An Ning told him to go west, he would never go east, so naturally, he had no objections.

Besides, he wanted to be a doctor.

That night, the An family set the tone for their future development.

At this moment, the vegetables on the truck had been completely boxed up.

An Guoming drove one truck, taking An Ning and two hired hands with him, and set off first.

The other truck was driven by a different crew, people An Guoming regularly employed.

The two trucks left the village, driving on a road just wide enough for one truck to pass.

An Ning sat in the jostling truck, gazing at the road outside, lost in thought.

”Second Brother, do you know anyone who paves roads?”

”Pave roads?”

An Guoming had never thought about it. He only wanted to live a good life and, by extension, ensure his family did too. As for other people, they were completely outside his consideration.

”Little sis, why are you suddenly thinking about paving the road?”

”The road is rough, so I thought about fixing it up.”

An Ning said it casually, but in reality, she wanted to use what the Third Grandfather had left her to give back to the village as much as possible.

”I’ll ask around. There might not be private contractors these days. Most road workers are government employees, but if you pay enough, you can get people to do it. You’ll just need to find someone to supervise the work.”

An Ning nodded in understanding. ”There’s no rush.”

Soon, the truck arrived in town. An Guoming skillfully drove to a spot, took out a tenth of the vegetables, set up a stall, and prepared to start selling.

”We’ll sell vegetables first. There are a few places I’ve got my eye on around here. We can go check them out later.”

”Okay.”

An Ning had sold vegetables once before, so she had at least a little experience.

But when she saw An Guoming in action, she realized she still had a lot to learn.

An Guoming must have come here many times. He hadn’t even turned on his loudspeaker yet, and passersby were already approaching.

They greeted An Guoming familiarly and bent down to pick out vegetables.

”What took you so long? We’ve been waiting for you all week.”

”Well, you have to wait for the vegetables to grow, don’t you? If they don’t grow well, they won’t taste good, and I can’t sell you anything that doesn’t taste good.”

With just a few words, the old auntie buying vegetables was all smiles, but her hands didn’t slow down. If she was slow, there’d be nothing left.

After exchanging a few more words, An Guoming turned on his loudspeaker. Within minutes, elderly men and women carrying baskets and with shawls draped over their shoulders rushed over from all directions.

The vegetable stall was instantly surrounded.

”Give me a pound of spinach, two pounds of rapeseed greens, and a few of those chili peppers too.”

”I’ll take five of those eggplants!”

”Hey, don’t push! I’m not done buying yet!”

”Who stepped on my foot?!”

”I want those tomatoes!”

”Who says they’re yours? Don’t you understand first come, first served?!”

The scene was so lively it looked like a fight was about to break out.

An Guoming had pretty good crowd control. For every customer who finished buying, he always managed to toss in a few extra vegetables, add a couple of green onions, or a handful of cilantro.

Every person who left was very satisfied.