Interstellar to 80s: A Scientist's Farming Mission

Hei Niu’s father had leukemia.

It was a disease that required constant medication to manage, and each bottle of medicine cost what a rural person might earn in a year, or even two.

Hei Niu was very capable. To pay for her father’s treatment, she had already ventured deep into the mountains several times to find valuable medicinal herbs.

”Have you tried seeing a traditional Chinese medicine doctor?”

”I have, but I don’t know if the one I found is any good.”

”Hmm... I’ll ask around for you when I get back and let you know. So, for today... are you two going to resolve this peacefully, or are you going to fight it out?”

An Ning took a step back, looking between the tiger and Hei Niu.

The woman and the tiger were like a pair of old friends having a tiff. Both turned their heads away. Finally, the tiger turned its rear to Hei Niu and sauntered off with a sway of its hips.

After a moment of silence, Hei Niu said, ”To be honest, I’m the one who’s always been taking its things.”

”Sigh... I really can’t keep on being a hunter.”

Watching the tiger’s retreating figure, Hei Niu said, ”They understand people. Sometimes, they’re better than people.”

”I know. And I’m guessing you won’t be able to hunt for much longer, either.”

An Ning’s words immediately caught Hei Niu’s attention.

An Ning shared some inside information that left Hei Niu so shocked her jaw dropped.

”They’re going to protect all of them? Then what will us hunters eat and drink? I can understand it, I guess, but it hasn’t gotten that bad, has it? We’re very careful about conservation.”

”I know you are, but some people don’t care about long-term consequences when there’s money to be made.”

Hei Niu thought about it and understood.

”Looks like I need to make other plans soon. I can’t rely on this mountain for a living anymore.”

An Ning couldn’t think of a suitable job for Hei Niu off the top of her head, but she made a mental note of it.

The two parted ways there, heading down the mountain in different directions.

After returning home, An Ning first cleaned the game she had caught and handed it over to Lin Cuihua, leaving the rest to her.

She was just waiting to eat it.

It was still early. With Xiao Lang, the neighbor’s dog Da Huang, and Wei Qi—who had come down from the mountain on an ”inspection”—trailing behind her, An Ning and her three animal companions headed out to the fields to work.

An Ning had returned this time for two reasons: one, to attend An Guoming’s wedding, and two, to give herself a break.

Her way of relaxing was to work in the fields and teleport some more fresh vegetables to the interstellar era.

In previous years, she’d had very little free time. She usually only came back around the autumn harvest to save some seeds and teleport them to the interstellar era.

Fortunately, the people in the interstellar era could now grow their own crops. Although the yields were extremely low and the flavor couldn’t compare to that of Ancient Earth, they had at least succeeded in growing them, which was a huge step forward.

”An Ning, you’re up bright and early?”

”Yeah, didn’t have much else to do, so I got up early.”

”Have you eaten?”

”Not yet.”

”Heading to the fields, An Ning?”

”Yup, going to work for a bit.”

An Ning lost count of how many times she repeated the same pleasantries before she finally reached the fields.

It was July, the perfect time for digging up potatoes.

After finding the An family’s plot of land, An Ning put on a pair of gloves and started pulling up potato stalks.

When a stalk came out, it usually had two or three potatoes attached to its roots, but that wasn’t all. Many more were left behind in the soil and had to be dug out by hand.

Harvesting potatoes and sweet potatoes was skilled work. One wrong move, and the potatoes or sweet potatoes in the ground could get nicked, making them difficult to store.

One year, during the sweet potato harvest, they had damaged so many that the An family had to eat sweet potatoes for over a week straight.

That one week of sweet potatoes was enough to send An Ning fleeing back to her lab.

An Ning worked quickly. Once she started, she was completely focused, with eyes only for the potato stalks.

When she finished pulling up a small patch of stalks and reached the other end of the row, she finally straightened up, ready to stretch her back.

”Whoa—you scared the life out of me! When did you get here?”

Jiang Xia glanced at his watch. ”Thirty-seven minutes and eighteen seconds. You finally noticed someone was next to you?”

”I don’t know whether to be impressed by your focus or your back. Doesn’t it hurt to be bent over like that for so long?”

An Ning snorted and retorted, ”Don’t you have anything better to do? Are you that bored?”

”Kind of.”

An Ning stretched her arms and legs to relieve the ache in her lower back, then turned and squatted down to dig for potatoes.

A large basket sat on the ground. Inside were two small hoes and three mesh sacks.

”Here’s one for you. Since you’re already here, you can’t just go back empty-handed.”

”Wait, how did you know someone was coming? You brought two hoes?”

An Ning was already bent over, working again.

”I brought them for myself. If you don’t use it, I will.”

”No, no, no! I’m already here, after all.”

Jiang Xia, who had come looking for her on purpose, took the small hoe and squatted in the field, digging for potatoes.

”Be careful, don’t damage them!”

”I’m telling you, if you damage them, you’ll be eating potatoes every day!”

”Until your face turns the color of a potato!”

The two worked with their hands and bickered with their mouths, reaching the end of the row before they knew it.

Although it was just a small patch, their pace was surprisingly fast.

”Let’s bag them up.”

”Alright!”

The two worked together, one holding the sack open while the other filled it with potatoes.

In the end, Jiang Xia had to go back and get a three-wheeled flatbed to haul all the potatoes back.

As An Ning was about to head home to eat, Jiang Xia called out, ”You’re not leaving anytime soon, are you?”

”That’s right. I’m planning to stay for a while.”

”Are you still doing your morning exercises then?”

”Morning exercises? Yeah, I’ll do them. I have to go to the county town today, but I’ll be back on my normal routine tomorrow.”

Having gotten the answer he wanted, Jiang Xia said goodbye and left.

An Ning didn’t give it much thought. Her mind was on her trip to the county town to ask about Liu Yiyi’s situation. Master Tang was still waiting for news.

Of course, there was also the matter of teaching Tangtang self-defense, which needed to be scheduled. It was summer vacation now, so she could bring Tangtang to the village.

Lost in thought, An Ning returned to the An family home and took a quick shower.

In the village, mornings were a busy time for everyone, with people bustling about their own tasks right up until mealtime.

At breakfast today, there was an extra person at the An family’s table: Yin Xuemei.

Yin Xuemei and An Guoming had gotten up a bit late, but everyone had been warned by Lin Cuihua, so not a single person dared to tease them.

Breakfast was finished in a somewhat quiet atmosphere.

After the meal, Yin Xuemei rushed to do the dishes but was shooed away by Lin Cuihua.

”No, no, you must be exhausted—I mean, getting married yesterday was tiring, not that last night—Never mind, I’ll wash them, I’ll wash them—”

Lin Cuihua only made things more awkward the more she tried to explain. In the end, through some strange twist of logic, the task of washing the dishes fell on An Guoming’s head.

An Guoming washed the dishes in a complete daze. ’How did this end up being my job?’

But as he washed, An Guoming grew thoughtful. With so many people in the family, there were a lot of dishes, and washing them was tiring work.

A short while later, An Guoming found An Ning in her room, helping Hei Dan’er with his homework. He leaned in and whispered, ”Little sis, do you think it’s possible to make a machine that washes dishes?”

”A dishwasher?”

An Guoming nodded.

”It’s worth considering, but is there a big demand for it? I don’t think Mom would be willing to use it.”

”She’ll use it if we buy it. Besides, nobody likes washing dishes, so there’s definitely a market for it. If it really doesn’t sell here, we can sell it abroad.”