Interstellar to 80s: A Scientist's Farming Mission

And what exactly are you?

The mocking tone and contemptuous look sent Jiang Dongcheng into a fit of rage. He struggled to sit up in his hospital bed, pointing a finger at Jiang Xia, ready to erupt in a tirade of curses.

Xiao Yan, who was sitting beside Jiang Dongcheng’s bed, hadn’t turned around. Only now did she reach out with her pale fingers and press down on his wrist.

”There you go getting angry again. This is exactly what he wants, for you to be consumed by rage.”

Xiao Yan’s calm words brought Jiang Dongcheng’s burning reason back from the brink. He suppressed his anger and leaned back against the headboard.

”You’re right.”

Jiang Dongcheng looked at Jiang Xia in the doorway as if he had seen through his scheme. ”Unless you kill me,” he said smugly, ”you won’t get what you want.”

”Heh... Kill you? What a nice thought. Your worthless life isn’t worth a damn thing.”

Jiang Xia showed no sign of anger. He walked into the room with a look of great concern and greeted Xiao Yan, who was turned away from him.

”Mrs. Jiang, you’re looking well.”

As someone who had been disfigured, the thing Xiao Yan hated most was people mentioning her face. Jiang Xia had come in and immediately rubbed salt in the wound, yet he failed to provoke her.

”Jiang Xia, is this all you’ve got?”

Xiao Yan turned to meet Jiang Xia’s gaze.

Jiang Xia simply raised the file folder in his hand, swinging it back and forth for her to see without saying a word about it.

”Indeed, I am still young. My skills are nothing compared to yours, Mrs. Jiang.”

Xiao Yan just sneered. She would respond when she felt like talking and completely ignore Jiang Xia when she didn’t.

Seeing this, Jiang Xia understood. ”It seems the two of you have an expert guiding you from behind the scenes.”

And Jiang Xia knew exactly who that expert was.

It could be none other than Xiao Xian.

”In that case, I’ll just get this over with quickly.”

Jiang Xia set the file folder down, the amusement and mockery in his eyes completely undisguised.

”I imagine the reason you two were able to reconcile so quickly is largely thanks to Jiang Xia. After all, he’s such a sincere and good boy. Even I find him remarkably likable.”

Jiang Xia had mentioned Jiang Xia.

SCREECH! The chair Xiao Yan was sitting on scraped backward across the floor.

”Jiang Xia, if you dare touch him, I’ll show you a fate worse than death.”

”Jiang Xia, you dare!”

As they both hurled threats, Jiang Xia, still by the door, waved his hand dismissively.

”Relax. He’s done nothing wrong. I don’t involve the innocent. There’s still a difference between me and animals like you.”

Jiang Xia let out a long breath and shrugged. He tapped a finger on the file folder on the table. He lowered his head, seeming to mutter to himself, but everyone in the room could hear him perfectly clearly.

”When I was a child, I used to wonder why Jiang Dongcheng would abandon his entire family. Later, I learned it was thanks to the efforts of Ms. Xiao Yan. And then, even later, I learned of the existence of a Jiang Xia who was even older than me.”

”I’ve always been curious. The two of you are so healthy, and there are no hereditary diseases in either of your families. So why does Jiang Xia have brain damage?”

”Also, I went out of my way to find photos of Jiang Xia from his childhood. I found that we didn’t look alike at all when we were young.”

As he spoke, Jiang Xia pulled several photos from his pocket and tossed them onto Jiang Dongcheng’s bed.

”Coincidentally, Jiang Xia was injured a few times as a child, and the injuries just happened to be to his face. He was hospitalized several times.”

”After that, I noticed that our faces started to look more and more alike.”

The speaker’s words were deliberate, and the listeners took them to heart.

Jiang Xia had a death grip on Xiao Yan’s weak spot. She tried to remain calm as she reached for the photos.

”I don’t know what you’re talking about. Dongcheng, we—”

Xiao Yan never got her hands on the photos. Jiang Dongcheng had already picked them up and was examining them closely.

’What Jiang Xia said... it seems to be true.’

’The two of them really didn’t look alike at all when they were children.’

’But after Jiang Xia fell ill and got injured a few times, their faces really did start to look more and more alike.’

In the past, Jiang Dongcheng had never paid it any mind. Or perhaps, he had long forgotten what his son, Jiang Xia, looked like as a child.

”Ms. Xiao Yan, don’t be anxious. The best part is yet to come.”

Jiang Xia revealed the result of his meticulous plan in a nonchalant tone.

”A few days ago, I happened to learn about something called genetic testing. I originally wanted to test myself, since I seriously suspected I wasn’t Jiang Dongcheng’s son. Unfortunately for me, the results were conclusive.”

”Out of curiosity, I also had a test run for Jiang Xia—your son. The results were quite surprising.”

At this point, even someone as slow as Jiang Dongcheng understood. A thousand thoughts flashed through his mind, and the anger he had just suppressed erupted in an instant.

The photos in Jiang Dongcheng’s hand scattered into the air as he lunged forward, his hands clamped tightly around Xiao Yan’s neck.

”You bitch! You bitch!”

”Whose child is Jiang Xia?!”

”You bitch! Die!”

Jiang Dongcheng truly wanted to strangle Xiao Yan, but she seemed too stunned to resist, offering no struggle at all.

In the end, it was the on-duty nurse and doctor who rushed in and separated them.

Jiang Xia and An Ning, who had been watching the show from the doorway, were kicked out. Xiao Yan, her eyes vacant, was escorted back to her ward. Her expression held a mix of worry and relief.

Inside the hospital room, Jiang Dongcheng was howling and cursing.

The open file folder on the floor was irrefutable evidence, a slap to his face.

For the sake of a child who wasn’t even his own flesh and blood, he had caused the death of his own mother, the death of his wife and the unborn child in her womb he never got to meet. He had driven away his own son and his own father. He had even, at one point, wanted to kill his own blood with his own hands.

Before, for everything that had happened, he could still blame others. He could blame Xiao Yan.

Even while blaming Xiao Yan, he had clung to a sliver of hope, telling himself he still had a good son.

But now? He had nothing left. Truly, nothing at all.

”AHHH— XIAO YAN— XIAO YAN—”

”Jiang Xia! Jiang Xia, come back! I’m your dad! I’m your dad!”

”Why?! Why!”

”I wasn’t wrong! I did nothing wrong! It was all Xiao Yan! She made me do it!”

Jiang Dongcheng’s tortured screams disturbed the entire hospital until, finally, a doctor had no choice but to give him a sedative.

Around the corner in the stairwell, Jiang Xia and An Ning listened to Jiang Dongcheng’s crazed ramblings until the very second silence fell.

Jiang Xia smiled, relieved. ”Good. He didn’t apologize.”

Only this version of Jiang Dongcheng allowed Jiang Xia to exact his revenge without a shred of guilt.

”You just told him a fact. Everything that happened was driven by their own emotions,” An Ning said.

After a moment, An Ning added, ”Did you notice? When you first started talking about Jiang Xia’s identity, Xiao Yan was terrified. But after you finished, she actually seemed a bit relieved.”

Jiang Xia thought back and analyzed the situation. ”For Xiao Yan to be relieved... that must mean the biological father’s identity is extraordinary, and she desperately doesn’t want us to know who it is.”

The two of them exchanged a look, a bold speculation forming in both their minds.

”Jiang Xia has an intellectual disability. The genetic sequence indicates it’s genetic; a part of his sequence is repeated.”

”Marriage between close relatives is forbidden.”