Interstellar to 80s: A Scientist's Farming Mission

In the back of the truck, the five of them were completely lost in song.

After a round of ”The East is Red,” Yang Jianguo stood up and led them in a rendition of ”The Sun That Never Sets Rises Over the Prairie.”

”White clouds drift in the clear blue sky... Horses gallop beneath the clouds...”

By the line about galloping horses, Yang Jianguo’s raspy voice had already cracked. But at that moment, no one cared whether it sounded good or not; they just sang along with him at the top of their lungs.

The song must have been a cheerful one, because they didn’t just sing—they all stood up and started pretending to ride horses.

They swayed back and forth with the lurching of the truck, tumbling over several times.

But no one minded. They just picked themselves up when they fell, then kept right on singing and dancing.

When that song ended, Yin Xuemei sang ”Sing a Folk Song for the Party.”

Everyone quieted down for this one. There was no dancing, but they all sang along until the end.

Next, all eyes turned to Jiang Xia.

Jiang Xia stood up with a long sigh. He cleared his throat with a flourish and said to the others, ”Let me show you what a real professional singer looks like.”

”A professional from where?”

An Ning asked. Jiang Xia lifted his chin smugly. ”I was the lead singer for my senior kindergarten class, you know.”

Jiang Xia’s deadpan expression and serious tone sent the other four into a fit of laughter, leaving them breathless.

An Ning was laughing so hard she started slapping the side of the truck, nearly rolling on the floor.

But Jiang Xia was something else. He managed to keep a straight face. Not only that, he actually began to sing.

”The Five-Star Red Flag flutters in the wind; the songs of victory are resounding and clear.”

”We sing of our beloved motherland, from this day forward, on to prosperity and strength.”

The moment he sang the first two lines, their laughter came to an abrupt halt.

An Ning turned stiffly to Yin Xuemei. ”Are senior kindergarteners really this good?”

Yin Xuemei shook her head.

”I don’t know. I never went to kindergarten.”

An Ning turned to look at Yang Jianguo.

He shook his head, too. ”I never went either.”

An Ning was about to look at An Guoping but stopped. ’The village doesn’t even have one of those,’ she thought.

The four of them, who had never been to kindergarten, didn’t dare interrupt. They let Jiang Xia finish ”Ode to the Motherland” all by himself.

His voice was powerful and full of emotion—clear, uplifting, and surprisingly beautiful.

”Over the high mountains, across the plains, we cross the rushing Yellow and Yangtze Rivers.”

”This vast and beautiful land is our beloved home.”

”The heroic people have stood up; we are united in friendship, as strong as steel.”

When Jiang Xia sang the final line, the other four broke into applause in unison.

Even An Sancheng, sitting in the truck’s cab, couldn’t help but lean out and applaud for Jiang Xia.

And that wasn’t all. Passersby and people in other vehicles applauded for him, too.

Jiang Xia feigned indifference, waving his hand. ”A piece of cake. After all, I’m a guy who’s been to kindergarten.”

To that—”a guy who’s been to kindergarten”—the other four had no rebuttal.

They had never gone.

Jiang Xia sat down, and all eyes shifted back to An Ning.

An Ning, who had clearly been expecting this, stood up. She put on the air of an expert and said, ”While I may not have attended kindergarten, with singing, pitch is one thing, but emotion is another.”

”And I assure you, my performance will be full of emotion.”

Having stood up and braced herself, An Ning added, ”So please, focus on the emotion and ignore everything else.”

Her tone of preemptive warning made the others chuckle. Only Jiang Xia was thinking, ’An Ning is so adorable.’

”AHEM—here I go.”

All four of them stared at An Ning. ’Is the atmosphere getting a little tense?’

”Our broadswords, down on the devils’ heads they go... Patriots of the nation... the day of resistance has arrived...”

Thus began An Ning’s rendition of a song filled with soaring morale and the courage to slay the enemy.

Just as An Ning had warned, her singing wasn’t the prettiest, but she performed with an abundance of spirit.

An Ning even matched her singing with chopping motions from a broadsword.

With every move, it was as if devils were truly falling to her blade. For a moment, you could almost see millions of her countrymen, broadswords in hand, charging fearlessly into a hail of enemy gunfire. They were heroic and dauntless, pressing ever forward, refusing to stop until they had won.

”Take aim at the enemy! Annihilate them! Annihilate them!”

”Charge!”

”Our broadswords, down on the devils’ heads they go!”

After the final line, An Ning finished the song with a sharp karate chop. It startled Yang Jianguo so much that he flinched backward, feeling as though a real blade was about to strike him.

”Well? What did you think?”

An Ning raised her arms, palms facing up.

Jiang Xia was the first to stand up. He pulled a one-fen coin from his pocket and placed it in An Ning’s palm.

”An excellent performance. Take it. You’ve earned it.”

Jiang Xia’s joke gave the others an idea.

They all got up, pulling coins and small bills from their own pockets and stuffing them into her hands.

At this point, everyone felt comfortable enough to tease An Ning.

An Ning looked at the change in her palm and began to count it.

”Thirteen fen? Come on, everyone, try a little harder. How about I do another performance? If you all chip in and get me to fifteen fen, I can buy a popsicle and a Xiao Taoqi snack.”

As soon as An Ning finished, Jiang Xia led a round of applause.

CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP!

”Brilliant! Alright, alright, let me see if I can try a little harder.”

Jiang Xia pretended to rummage through his pockets again, finally making up the difference to get An Ning to fifteen fen.

Holding the fifteen fen, An Ning cupped her hands at Jiang Xia. ”Many thanks for your support.”

The five of them dissolved into a heap of laughter in the back of the truck, happy and carefree.

The joy of being done with the college entrance exams lasted the whole journey. Even as they reached Shili Gou, it showed no signs of fading.

The long, bumpy hours on the road had somehow only made the five of them more and more excited.

As the truck entered the Shili Gou area, An Ning was the first to stand up. She cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted with all her might to the villagers working in the fields.

”I’m back!”

”I’m back!”

The scene looked exactly like Monkey Brother being set free.

But the villagers who heard her weren’t the least bit annoyed. They shouted back enthusiastically, which only fueled An Ning’s ”bravado.”

”An Ning’s back!”

”An Ning—!”

”Finished your exams, An Ning?”

From a hundred or two hundred meters away, they would call out a greeting, and she would tirelessly shout back a reply.

The other four on the truck didn’t try shouting. They all knew that only An Ning commanded this kind of popularity.

The truck drove all the way to the An’s house, where her sister-in-law was already waiting outside, holding Hei Dan’er.

An Ning leaped directly from the back of the truck.

”Sister-in-law! Hei Dan’er! Did you miss your auntie?”

Gao Guifen happily passed Hei Dan’er to An Ning, who was eager to hold him. Then, filled with joy, she helped Lin Cuihua get down from the truck.

The past few days had made Gao Guifen realize something profound—having a big family was a wonderful thing.

Having a mother-in-law around was a wonderful thing.

Gao Guifen had always been a content person, but she had never fully appreciated what it was like to raise a child all by herself.

After this experience, Gao Guifen felt even more grateful. Her longing for Lin Cuihua had reached its absolute peak.