Interstellar to 80s: A Scientist's Farming Mission

An Ning was completely unaware of Jiang Xia’s dilemma.

She didn’t have a habit of eavesdropping, so she wouldn’t use her spiritual power when it wasn’t needed.

Besides, the An family had more important things to deal with right now.

After washing and hanging things to dry in the backyard, An Ning had just returned to the house when she heard Lin Cuihua say, ”An Ning, did you go hunting this morning?”

”Today’s hunt wasn’t great. Their necks are all messed up.”

”Did you use traps?”

An Ning watched Lin Cuihua walk in, carrying three pheasants with mangled, bloody necks, muttering, ”I don’t know what was up with the big rooster today. It was making a racket this morning.”

’The big rooster was making a racket this morning?’

’Why didn’t I hear it?’

An Ning walked over and took the pheasants from Lin Cuihua’s hands. A single glance was all she needed to determine they had been killed by an animal.

’Killing pheasants, bringing them to the An family, and getting the rooster all worked up... Other than the wolf pack from yesterday, An Ning couldn’t think of any other culprit.’

She silently took the pheasants outside to clean them, spreading out her spiritual power to try and find a trace of the wolf pack.

However, An Ning couldn’t find them. The pack had probably come too early.

If they had come at dawn, the pack would have run into villagers heading to the fields.

If the villagers had encountered wolves, the village wouldn’t be this quiet.

An Ning deftly cleaned the pheasants. When she gave them to Lin Cuihua, she said, ”Mom, save a whole one for Xiao Lang.”

”Who’s Xiao Lan?”

Xiao Lan, Xiao Lang... For a moment, she couldn’t tell them apart.

An Ning didn’t correct her and continued, ”Xiao Lan is the little one I’m raising.”

”Huh? It can eat a whole one? This chicken is almost bigger than it is.”

An Ning glanced into the yard and shrugged. ”Probably a day’s worth of food.”

Lin Cuihua didn’t object. Although it was a bit extravagant to feed it to a dog, their family’s dogs were so capable—guarding the house and being obedient—that it was fine to let them have some.

According to An Ning, you’d have to pay someone to watch over the mountain, so their dogs were basically family employees.

Lin Cuihua took the pheasants to cook, preparing one first for Xiao Lan to eat.

An Ning turned and went back into the house, discovering that Xiao Lang, who had been lying on the kang bed, was now awake.

”Your eyes...”

An Ning squatted down, meeting Xiao Lang’s gaze.

For the first time, she noticed that Xiao Lang’s pupils were blue—a translucent, mesmerizing blue.

An Ning’s spiritual power jolted. Her slightly dazed mind cleared instantly, but the doubt in her heart didn’t lessen in the slightest.

On the kang bed, Xiao Lang’s nose twitched a few times. It familiarly nudged against An Ning, then rolled over, exposing its belly.

An Ning had seen this posture from Da Huang before.

It wanted her to scratch its belly, a sign of trust.

An Ning reached out and gently rubbed its belly a couple of times. Xiao Lang stretched out comfortably. Coupled with its fluffy appearance and innocent, dewy eyes, it was truly hard to be wary of it.

Moreover, its eyes had changed.

From a mesmerizing, translucent blue, they had turned an inconspicuous gray.

An Ning took it all in, mentally planning to observe it closely over the next few days.

She picked up Xiao Lang and, using her spiritual power to soothe it, praised it for not making a mess on the floor yesterday.

”You did a great job.”

As for house-training it to go outside, An Ning figured it would be better to wait until Xiao Lang was a little older.

”From now on, I’ll call you Xiao Lan. It matches your eyes.”

Xiao Lan followed at An Ning’s heels, a bit mischievous and playful.

It would tumble and scramble over the threshold. Seeing the fire pit of the stove, it couldn’t resist approaching to test it out, only to get so scared by the heat that its fur stood on end.

Raising a little guy like this was indeed a lot of fun.

The day for the An family had begun.

An Ning’s routine remained the same: running, practicing her punches, and then coming home to eat.

A small incident occurred during the meal. Xiao Lang refused to eat the raw meat Lin Cuihua had prepared for it. Not only did it refuse, but it also backed away several steps in disgust.

As it retreated, Xiao Lang clutched An Ning’s ankle pitifully, its eyes welling with tears as if about to cry.

”Oh my, quick, quick! What do you want to eat? I’ll go make it for you!”

Lin Cuihua had never been particularly fond of dogs, but seeing such a good-looking and pitiful little pup, she couldn’t help but feel a pang of sympathy.

In the end, Xiao Lang got to eat cooked chicken, which it devoured with relish.

Seeing this, An Ning had no choice but to say to Lin Cuihua, ”Mom, from now on, let’s just feed it whatever we’re eating. Just set a little aside for it before you add salt.”

”Alright, alright, I’ll remember. You poor little thing.”

Lin Cuihua gave Xiao Lang a look of fondness and pity before turning back to her meal.

Nearby, An Guoqing dipped his chopsticks in some vegetable broth and turned to feed it to Hei Dan’er.

”Hei Dan’er, you’re not even as cute as the puppy.”

An Guoqing, who routinely belittled his own son, earned a fierce glare from his wife.

”Honey, why are you glaring at me?”

Gao Guifen was too flustered to answer. Lin Cuihua, who was sitting nearby, chimed in, ”Why are you just glaring at him? If I were you, I’d give him a good smack. That mouth of his is always running, day in and day out.”

After being told off by Lin Cuihua, An Guoqing lowered his head and muttered, ”He must get it from you, then.”

”An Guoqing, what are you muttering?”

Lin Cuihua’s raised voice silenced the whole table, and everyone lowered their heads to focus on eating.

The family hierarchy was plain to see.

After breakfast, An Ning continued tutoring An Guoping and the others, going over questions and having them do test papers.

After everyone was finished writing, the first thing they did was wash their hands.

The mimeographed test papers left their hands completely black after every session, and sometimes, for reasons unknown, the ink would end up on their faces too.

When the lesson was over, An Ning habitually went into the house, slung her backpack on, and prepared to leave. But when she reached the main gate, she froze.

She didn’t need to go to her teacher’s place anymore.

Suddenly, a gap had appeared in An Ning’s routine.

But she felt that it wasn’t just her schedule that was empty—her heart felt empty, too.

”An Ning!”

An Ning followed the voice and saw Jiang Xia and Hua Cheng.

”Wanna go fishing?”

”Fishing? Sure.”

An Ning made an instant decision. She turned and shouted into the yard for An Guoping, and the two siblings followed Jiang Xia and Hua Cheng to the river by the village.

This time, however, they didn’t go to the river to catch fish but to a small river pond. The water was deeper, and there were many reed marshes. Every now and then, flocks of unfamiliar birds would fly by.

”Alright, time to hand out the fishing rods.”

Jiang Xia took out the equipment he was carrying on his back. There were four fishing rods in total, one for each of them—a perfect match.

An Ning took a rod and asked, puzzled, ”Why did you bring so many?”

”I was planning to set them all up. Doesn’t that increase the chances of catching a fish?”

’That actually sounds pretty reasonable,’ An Ning thought.

Behind them, Hua Cheng, who knew the real story, nearly rolled his eyes out of his head.

’As if someone didn’t drive hundreds of miles in the middle of the night just to buy a few stupid fishing rods.’