Interstellar to 80s: A Scientist's Farming Mission

An Ning emerged from another cave entrance, a piece of seemingly glowing white jade in her palm.

With a flick of her wrist, the white jade vanished. An Ning leaped out of the entrance and said, ”Just grabbed it on the way out, nothing more.”

”Like changing a lightbulb at home.”

Muttering to herself, An Ning stood to one side, watching the cave entrance disappear.

Satisfied, she clasped her hands behind her back and walked away. She stopped at the edge of the circular area and looked back.

”Now *that* is what I call a beautiful sword.”

A blood-red sword, transforming from a mere line into a sharp blade, powerful enough to cleave mountains and slice the moon, utterly unstoppable.

She could only sigh. ’Such is life, such is destiny.’

An Ning walked out of the valley and found Feng Xiaoyu sitting by the sea, waiting for her.

”Let’s head back.”

”Okay!”

Feng Xiaoyu didn’t ask any questions. She piloted the boat with a sense of ease, taking An Ning back to the shore.

Although An Ning didn’t say anything, she truly liked Feng Xiaoyu’s personality.

The small fishing boat carrying the two of them slowly approached the shore. Feng Xiaoyu skillfully jumped into the water and began pulling hard on the rope by herself, trying to moor the boat.

”Huh?”

Feng Xiaoyu turned her head in surprise and saw An Ning was also in the water. Before she could speak, she felt the boat—which had been so heavy for her—glide effortlessly to the shore.

”Thank you.”

”Don’t men—”

”Feng Xiaoyu, how dare you touch a boat!”

A man in tall boots swung a bucket he was holding and hurled it right at Feng Xiaoyu.

The force behind it was enough to kill someone.

An Ning grabbed Feng Xiaoyu’s arm with one hand and lashed out with a side kick.

BANG!

The bucket shattered, the fragments flying back like shrapnel and showering the man’s head and shoulders.

The power of that kick spoke for itself.

”Feng Xiaoyu is the person we’re hiring. Who the hell do you think you are?”

An Ning pulled Feng Xiaoyu onto the shore, then single-handedly dragged the boat onto the beach.

”Feng Xiaoyu, is this your boat?”

”Yes.”

Feng Xiaoyu shouted, her voice firm. An Ning’s protection had infused her with new strength.

An Ning looked at the man and the people behind him, then pointed to the boat. ”This boat belongs to Feng Xiaoyu. Even if she wanted to chop it up for firewood, that’s her business. What’s it got to do with any of you?”

”And don’t give me that crap about women not being allowed on boats. If Lady Mazu were here right now, would you tell her she couldn’t get on? If your mother was dying and going to sea was the only way to save her, would you stop her? If there was an earthquake and the only way to survive was on the water, would you forbid your wife and daughter from getting on a boat?”

The string of three questions left the fishermen who had gathered on the shore speechless.

An Ning scoffed openly, pulling Feng Xiaoyu along. ”That’s just how people are,” she said. ”So eager to destroy what belongs to others when it doesn’t affect their own interests.”

”They only feel the pain when it’s their own skin in the game.”

An Ning led Feng Xiaoyu away. A single glare from her was enough to make the crowd part and clear a path.

The two of them walked away, heads held high, under the scrutinizing gazes of the fishermen.

’How long has it been since I walked like this?’ Feng Xiaoyu wondered in a daze.

Ever since her father’s accident at sea, she had never been able to stand up straight. The pointing fingers, the village rumors that she had caused her father’s death by being on the boat—it all had crushed her, step by step.

”Head up, chest out. Don’t punish yourself for their mistakes. All your father ever wanted was for you and your mother to live well. Nothing else.”

An Ning’s words made Feng Xiaoyu lift her head high. She let her tears fall as she strode forward with purpose.

When they returned to Feng Xiaoyu’s home, Feng Xiaoyu wiped the tears from her face and looked at An Ning with newfound resolve.

”I’ll go with you. I don’t want the house, and I don’t want the boat. But I’m not leaving them for the village.”

”Good. I support you.”

Feng Xiaoyu rushed into her mother’s room. A moment later, the sound of suppressed sobs erupted from within, quickly turning into unrestrained wails of release.

Jiang Xia and the others came out of their room. They glanced at Feng Xiaoyu’s mother’s room, then looked at An Ning.

”It was just one kick,” An Ning said nonchalantly.

The others, unsurprised by An Ning’s destructive power, sat down together and ate the breakfast Yin Xuemei had prepared.

After breakfast, Yin Xuemei told An Ning her plans.

She was planning to go to Beijing first to get her small business up and running before school started. Feng Xiaoyu and her mother would be a perfect help.

An Ning naturally supported Yin Xuemei, telling her to call if she ran into any trouble.

After their cathartic cry, Feng Xiaoyu and her mother emerged, supporting each other. They had also packed their belongings.

As if reborn, Feng Xiaoyu stared at the house before her. After a long moment, she walked over and picked up a sledgehammer.

”Want to smash the house? For fun?”

”Let’s do it!”

An Ning’s agreement was all the encouragement Feng Xiaoyu needed to start smashing the house in a frenzy of release.

”If I can’t have it, then no one can!”

CRASH! SMASH! CLATTER! The sounds were incessant.

Every sound was a cry of defiance from Feng Xiaoyu against the injustice she had suffered.

At Feng Xiaoyu’s invitation, An Ning and the others joined in the destruction.

By the time the elderly village chief heard the news and rushed over, the house was already half-demolished.

”Stop! Stop it!”

Her face smeared with dirt, Feng Xiaoyu looked the old man directly in the eye for the first time. Meeting his furious gaze, she brought the sledgehammer down again.

She smiled—a defiant smile that challenged the village chief’s authority and the centuries of bullshit customs he represented.

Unbeknownst to the chief, many in the surrounding crowd had looks of catharsis and support in their eyes.

”Keep going. I’ll watch the door.”

An Ning stood alone, a club in her hand, facing the old chief without a word.

But the old man didn’t dare move. He had heard about how An Ning had shattered the bucket with a single kick that morning.

The house was gone, leaving only crumbling walls and rubble.

”Feng Xiaoyu, don’t you want to pay respects to your father anymore?”

”My father? Weren’t his ashes scattered at sea? Wherever the sea is, that’s where my father is.”

Feng Xiaoyu stepped out of the dust, raising an eyebrow at the old man. ”Or what? Are you going to sift him out of the ocean for me?”

An Ning burst into applause.

”Well said!” she shouted in support.

Watching the old man tremble with rage, Feng Xiaoyu suddenly realized he wasn’t so powerful after all.

She picked up her luggage, took her mother’s hand, and walked out of the yard.

Just when the villagers thought Feng Xiaoyu was leaving for good, she walked to the seashore, right next to her family’s boat.

”Feng Xiaoyu—what are you doing now?”

”Offering my father... some incense.”

Using the engine oil from the boat, Feng Xiaoyu set the fishing boat on fire.

Billowing thick black smoke, the fishing boat burned brighter and brighter before their eyes.

Feng Xiaoyu fell to her knees and kowtowed heavily toward the sea. Then, with a resolute look in her eyes, she stood up like a phoenix rising from the ashes.

An Ning bowed silently to the sea. ’Although we’ve never met,’ she thought, ’thank you for guarding the place where my master rests. I will look after your daughter.’

The group waited, watching until the boat had burned completely.

When it was all over, An Ning took the lead, and the others followed behind her.

The group set off toward the rising sun, ready to live in its light.

The Feng family was gone, and they had left nothing behind.

After leaving, An Ning and her group made several stops.

At the police station, the property management bureau, and other such places, they left behind letters of complaint.

Some dregs of the past needed to be purged.