Interstellar to 80s: A Scientist's Farming Mission

Lin Cuihua cried alone, tears streaming endlessly as she finished a plate of dumplings.

After she finished eating, Lin Cuihua seemed to be in a slightly better mood and immediately started preparing dinner for the whole family.

Her sister-in-law, who had come home early from the breeding farm intending to make dinner, found that Lin Cuihua had already done most of the work.

”Mom, I’ll take over. Go get some rest.”

Lin Cuihua felt a little embarrassed. She said nothing, but she relinquished her task.

Her sister-in-law worked deftly. As Lin Cuihua turned to go inside, she said, ”Mom, you work so hard.”

Those five simple words made Lin Cuihua’s tears stream down her face once more.

On any other day, Lin Cuihua would have retorted with something like, ’What’s the use of saying such pointless things?’

But right now, her emotions were like a small boat tossed about by the waves, completely beyond her control.

Lin Cuihua hummed in response and went back into the room.

That evening, Lin Cuihua said she wasn’t hungry and didn’t join the family for dinner.

The dinner table was unusually quiet. Everyone stared worriedly at the door curtain, trying to catch a glimpse of Lin Cuihua through the gap.

That night, several members of the An family couldn’t sleep.

An Ning remembered An Sancheng mentioning Lin Cuihua’s insomnia. She carried Xiao Lang to Lin Cuihua’s room, placed him in a corner, and patted his head.

”Be a good boy. I’ll give you some beef tomorrow.”

Xiao Lang was visibly delighted. He curled into a ball on his mat and went to sleep.

An Sancheng had been skeptical, but as Xiao Lang drifted off, he was overcome with a drowsiness so profound that he was no longer aware of what he was saying.

Lin Cuihua, who had been completely unable to sleep with what felt like waves of heat burning inside her, found her eyelids going from resistant to compliant in less than five minutes.

Seeing this, An Ning began to plan. ’I’ll have to figure out where to buy beef tomorrow.’

That night, the old couple slept soundly. The rest of the An family, however, tossed and turned, worried about Lin Cuihua.

「The next morning.」

Lin Cuihua’s mood had visibly improved.

An Ning brewed her a cup of tea using one of Master Tang’s tea bags. Between that and a good night’s sleep, Lin Cuihua seemed to have recovered.

The rest of the family, who had worried all night, felt things had improved almost too quickly. She was like a completely different person compared to the day before.

Even Master Tang was surprised when he saw Lin Cuihua.

’Are my tea bags really that effective?’ he wondered.

An Ning offered no explanation, just hugged Xiao Lang and showered him with kisses. ’This is the real hero,’ she thought.

It seemed Xiao Lang’s spiritual power could not only help people fall asleep quickly and enter a deep slumber, but it also had a calming and soothing effect on their minds.

He was, quite simply, the best walking ”sleeping pill” imaginable.

An Guoming watched An Ning fussing over Xiao Lang and asked curiously, ”What kind of dog is that? How come it never gets any bigger?”

An Ning heard him and looked down at Xiao Lang in her arms. It was true, he didn’t seem to have grown at all.

’The normal rules of growth just don’t seem to apply to Xiao Lang.’

”We’re just special, I guess.”

An Ning didn’t give An Guoming a direct answer. ’Should I really tell him this isn’t a dog, but a very special wolf?’

Fortunately, An Guoming was only asking casually; he had plenty of his own business to attend to each day.

After breakfast, everyone got busy again.

With nothing else to do, An Ning once again took on the role of babysitter, watching over Hei Dan’er and Xiao Lang.

Just as she was playing with the wolf and the child, a kid ran up to the door and shouted, ”Sister Anning, there’s a phone call for you!”

”Coming!”

An Ning ran toward the village office phone, carrying Hei Dan’er, with Xiao Lang trotting at her heels.

Just as she reached the telephone room, the phone began to ring.

”Hello? This is An Ning.”

”An Ning—this is... from the Jin City Automobile Factory...”

On her end of the line, An Ning murmured a few acknowledgments before saying, ”Alright, I’ll find a time to come by. Goodbye.”

An Ning hung up, paid for the call, and left.

An Ning had just sat down at home, the stool beneath her not even warm yet, when the same child reappeared, still shouting ”Sister Anning, phone!”

Once again, An Ning went to the telephone room, carrying Hei Dan’er, with Xiao Lang trailing at her heels.

”The Provincial Mechanical Factory... Hello, Factory Director Zhang... Yes, that’s possible, but I’ve already promised to visit the Jin City Automobile Factory first... Okay, I’ll head over to your place as soon as I’m back from there. Alright, goodbye.”

An Ning hung up the phone again, paid the fee, and headed home.

On the other end of the line, Factory Director Zhang, who had made the call himself, hung up and said to the person with him, ”See? I told you we should have called earlier. Now we’re second.”

”Second isn’t bad. We should be happy with that.”

Sure enough, Factory Director Zhang nodded in satisfaction. ”You’re right. Hurry up and tell Xiao Song to get our plot of farmland tidied up properly.”

Meanwhile, An Ning was called away for a third time.

This time, Xiao Lang refused to go with her. He walked into the house by himself, flopped down in his bed, and didn’t move.

”Alright, you watch the house.”

An Ning went to the telephone room carrying Hei Dan’er. This call was from the City Mechanical Factory.

As expected, they were now third in line.

After hanging up, An Ning stood by the phone for a while, lost in thought. She muttered to herself, ’That should be all of them, right? They couldn’t have all agreed to call me today, could they?’

She nodded firmly, confident in her conclusion, and headed home.

Elsewhere, Director Li of the City Mechanical Factory held up three fingers to show they were third in line.

”Not bad, being third. We should be able to get her here before the end of summer vacation.”

”That’s right. No problem. We definitely can.”

Overjoyed, Director Li immediately ordered his people to arrange accommodations and meals for An Ning, wishing he could oversee every detail himself.

An Ning didn’t know that after their various meetings at Anning’s house, all these factory directors had exchanged contact information.

For the three months leading up to An Ning’s college entrance exams, the group had agreed not to disturb her.

After her exams were over, they knew they had to give her time to relax.

They had decided on a period of ten days.

Ten days later—which was today—the various factory directors were each trying their best to invite An Ning to their respective factories.

The importance of securing a visit from An Ning was self-evident.

Just then, An Ning, who was heading home feeling relieved, saw the messenger boy again before she even reached her door.

The adult and the child exchanged no words, but tacitly turned and walked back together.

”Sister Anning, why don’t you just stay here?” the boy asked.

”My thoughts exactly.”

An Ning and Hei Dan’er stayed in the telephone room.

It was a good thing she stayed. For the rest of the day, every single time the phone rang, the call was for her.

If it wasn’t one factory director, it was another.

The directors who called later were already seventh or eighth in line. Through the receiver, An Ning could practically hear them beating their chests and stamping their feet in regret.

An Ning asked a few curious questions and finally learned about the gentlemen’s agreement these factory directors had made.

’So that’s what happened,’ she thought. It didn’t bother her; besides, it was time for her to get busy anyway.

She had, after all, promised her mentor that she would make the world a better place.

Besides, everyone else was already starting to work toward their futures.

A new idea had also just popped into An Ning’s head, making her look forward to the upcoming itinerary with even greater anticipation.