Interstellar to 80s: A Scientist's Farming Mission

A shriek from Lin Cuihua was answered by the door to their dorm being kicked open from the outside.

Wei Hong burst in, a pair of chopsticks in her left hand and a bowl in her right. ”Stop!” she yelled.

Seeing the commotion, An Ning quickly moved aside and explained, ”It’s fine. My mom’s just happy.”

”Wei Hong—”

Lin Cuihua darted forward, grabbing Wei Hong’s arm. Her mouth stretched into a wide grin, too excited to form coherent words.

”My daughter... An Ning... she got first in the college entrance exam! First! A perfect score! Perfect! First in the entire country!”

Lin Cuihua was babbling with excitement, but Wei Hong understood.

Upon hearing the news, Wei Hong was nearly as thrilled as Lin Cuihua. The two of them hugged and started jumping up and down in the doorway, completely forgetting themselves.

”That’s amazing! Congratulations!”

”The joy is mutual! The joy is mutual!”

Pushed to the side, An Ning could only listen with a wry smile as the two women wished each other mutual joy.

Lin Cuihua, who had been jumping for joy, finally calmed down. But she had barely sat down before she was getting up again to call the village.

An Ning stopped her. ”Mom, people will be going to the village. Let’s make it a surprise for Dad and the others.”

”Huh? Oh, dear...”

Lin Cuihua had an irrepressible desire to tell everyone, but she respected An Ning’s suggestion.

An Ning saw how antsy her mom was. Lin Cuihua couldn’t sit still and had even stopped watching TV. Instead, she kept Xiao Lang by her side, talking to him nonstop.

”Xiao Lan... An Ning got first place.”

”Do you know what ’first’ means? It means she’s the best.”

”There were so, so many people taking that test. Let me tell you, this ’first place’ is a huge deal.”

The chattering Lin Cuihua went on and on, repeating the same thing over and over: her daughter got first place; she was going to university.

After Xiao Lang shot her a pleading look for what felt like the hundredth time, An Ning had to step in.

”Mom, let’s go for a walk. You can tell other people then, how about that?”

”Let’s go!”

The moment An Ning’s words were out, Lin Cuihua abandoned Xiao Lang on the bed. She shot to the doorway with surprising speed and called out to An Ning.

An Ning could only smile and get up, trailing behind Lin Cuihua and playing the part of the perfect, obedient daughter.

Lin Cuihua tried her best not to say anything inside the factory. It wasn’t until she was out the main gate that she finally let loose.

On the street, the first person Lin Cuihua saw was an older woman on her way to buy groceries.

”Going grocery shopping?”

Lin Cuihua’s overly familiar greeting startled the woman for a moment, but she quickly replied, ”Yes.”

”Grocery shopping is good, very good. If you go early, you get first pick. Let me tell you, my daughter got a score of 640 on the college entrance exam—a perfect score, first in the nation!”

The grocery-shopping woman hadn’t been following Lin Cuihua’s train of thought, but when the four words ”first in the nation” came out, she instinctively offered her congratulations.

”Oh, thank you, thank you!”

Lin Cuihua thanked her profusely.

After bidding farewell to the first woman, Lin Cuihua went into a frenzy.

It didn’t matter if she knew them or not. Whether it was a stray dog or cat on the roadside, a crawling snail, or even a bird flying past, Lin Cuihua would shout, ”My daughter, 640 points!”

Lin Cuihua displayed an astonishing knack for socializing, feeling no embarrassment at all. If the mouse holes by the road weren’t so hard to dig into, she would have loved to pull a mouse out with her bare hands and inform its entire clan.

An Ning just followed quietly. If anyone looked at her, she wouldn’t speak, just perfectly play the part of a walking billboard—a billboard that just needed to nod and smile.

Along the way, everyone congratulated Lin Cuihua. The college entrance exam results were the kind of big news everyone loved to celebrate.

But there were also some who were skeptical. Those with family members who had also taken the exam knew a little about the situation.

”My daughter got 640 points, first in the nation.”

”First? That’s impossible. The scores aren’t even out yet.”

A middle-aged woman rolled her eyes disdainfully, her lip curling with scorn.

It was the first time Lin Cuihua had been contradicted. She turned and glanced at An Ning.

An Ning immediately explained, ”The scores of the top students are withheld. They’re contacted directly by the universities so the top schools can snatch them up.”

”That’s right! They snatch them up! The most brilliant students are naturally the most sought-after, aren’t they?”

As soon as Lin Cuihua finished, the woman across from her still looked unconvinced, as if she was about to expose her lie.

”Oh, give me a break. It’s impossible to get a perfect score on this year’s math exam. And English and Chinese too? Who would believe that?”

”If you’re going to make something up, at least make it believable.”

The middle-aged woman scoffed. Just as she was about to brush past Lin Cuihua, Lin Cuihua pointed at An Ning and said, ”My daughter’s name is An Ning. When the results are released, you just wait and see if the first-place winner got a perfect score, and if her name is An Ning!”

”Sweetheart, let’s go. We won’t let her bask in our top scorer’s glory.”

Lin Cuihua held her head high, holding her hand out behind her, palm up. An Ning suppressed a smile and placed her hand in her mother’s. She was like a three or four-year-old child, being led away by her mom.

The middle-aged woman behind them remained unconvinced, but the two words ”An Ning” seemed to magically stick in her mind.

”Hmph! An Ning... I’ll remember that name.”

The woman’s disbelief did nothing to curb Lin Cuihua’s desire to share her joy.

An Ning continued to follow quietly. From sunrise to sunset, Lin Cuihua showed no sign of fatigue.

By the time they returned to the auto factory, Lin Cuihua’s throat was dry, hoarse, and practically smoking from all the talking, but it still couldn’t dampen her spirits.

Carrying newly bought groceries, Lin Cuihua insisted on making a grand feast for An Ning, who let her do as she pleased.

The mother and daughter began their private celebration. Meanwhile, in Sanhe Town, Shili Gou was also welcoming its first guests.

A car from Beijing University had driven all the way from Beijing to Sanhe Town.

After arriving in Sanhe Town, they asked for directions as they drove. Once they found out which road led to Shili Gou, the principal and the others didn’t want to waste a second and headed straight there.

”Have you guys noticed? The roads in this Sanhe Town seem a bit better.”

”Yeah... and the one up ahead looks even better.”

The car turned onto the road leading to Shili Gou, the very one An Ning had paid to have paved.

The smooth, wide concrete surface spared the sedan from who knows how much jostling.

”That person just now said to follow this road to get to Shili Gou.”

The principal, in the back seat, looked out the window, full of curiosity about the Shili Gou they had yet to reach.

Soon, in just a few minutes, the sedan arrived at the entrance to Shili Gou village.

The car stopped rather than driving into the village.

The principal, the director of admissions, and the eloquent teacher all got out of the car, ready to ask for directions.

”Little one...”

”Hello, Sir.”

The child they addressed was so polite that the three of them were taken aback for a moment.

It wasn’t that they looked down on country kids; it’s just that they had also lived in the countryside before, and a child so poised and polite was truly a rare sight.

”Little one, is this Shili Gou?”

”Yes, it is. Who are you looking for?”