Interstellar to 80s: A Scientist's Farming Mission

Next, Jiang Xia.

An Ning was the one who dragged Jiang Xia in.

After an examination and some X-rays, the dentist who looked at the films said, ”This tooth needs to be pulled.”

An Ning could clearly feel the muscles in Jiang Xia’s arm tense up. ’He’s probably clenching his jaw so hard he could shatter his own teeth.’

”Don’t be nervous. They’ll give you an anesthetic.”

Jiang Xia’s smile was a bit stiff. After seeing what a tooth extraction looked like, he felt anyone who *wasn’t* nervous had something seriously wrong with them.

’That’s not pulling a tooth... it’s a full-on demolition job.’

Regardless, under An Ning’s watchful eye, Jiang Xia didn’t even have a chance to run.

The dental surgery was scheduled quickly. By the afternoon, Jiang Xia was already lying on the operating table. The dentist walked over with a syringe, wearing a creepy smile.

An Ning, who was there to support him, wanted to hold Jiang Xia’s hand to give him some strength.

”You, stand back. Don’t want anything splattering on you.”

Before An Ning’s hand could even touch him, the dentist shooed her away.

’What did he mean, ”splatter”? Blood?’

’Somehow, that just made it even more terrifying.’

Lying on the chair, Jiang Xia really wanted to jump up and bolt. If An Ning hadn’t been there, he would have.

Running now would really be a bit damaging to his image.

Jiang Xia began to psych himself up. ’It’s fine. They’re using anesthetic. It won’t hurt, it won’t hurt.’

”Open your mouth.”

Jiang Xia opened his mouth. As if in slow motion, the long, sharp needle plunged into his mouth. Jiang Xia instinctively shut his eyes. He felt the sharp point pierce his gums.

After a few minutes, the dentist asked if he could still feel anything. Jiang Xia shook his head.

”Alright, we’re starting.”

”Don’t be scared. It’s normal to feel something, as long as it doesn’t hurt.”

Jiang Xia’s eyes widened in terrified confusion. ’What the hell do you mean by that?! Explain yourself!’

Unfortunately, the dentist had already begun.

When the dentist’s small scalpel cut into Jiang Xia’s swollen gums, he understood what the dentist had meant.

Did it hurt? No.

But Jiang Xia could clearly feel the blade cutting into his gums, feel the dentist pressing down bit by bit, feel the pus being squeezed out, feel the ZZZT of the drill, and feel the pliers yanking and pulling with brute force.

He felt like he was being disemboweled and forced to watch the whole thing.

After spitting countless times, Jiang Xia’s wisdom tooth was finally, miraculously, yanked out by the dentist’s brute strength.

The dentist held up the wisdom tooth for Jiang Xia to see.

”Look at that! What a beautiful tooth. It’s really solid. Took me a ton of effort. Did you bring a box? You can take it home as a souvenir.”

The scene was strangely similar to a new mother being shown her baby for the first time right after giving birth.

An Ning, who had been waiting by the door, walked over, biting her cheek to keep from laughing. With a flick of her wrist, she shook open a plastic bag. POP.

”Here, here, put it in here.”

A tiny little tooth was dropped into a great big bag.

Still lying on the chair, Jiang Xia had a thousand things he wanted to say, but his mouth couldn’t form the words.

An Ning had to help Jiang Xia walk out of the hospital.

”I... I... Mmmph mmmph—”

”I can’t understand you. Don’t talk. Let’s go home.”

An Ning helped the mumbling Jiang Xia into the car and casually handed him a plastic bag. ”The dentist said you’ll be drooling. Use this to catch it.”

Jiang Xia felt that the plastic bag in his hand was piercingly unpleasant.

But facts speak louder than words. He really was drooling, and he couldn’t stop it.

When the car stopped, Jiang Xia got out, hiding the plastic bag behind his back and walking sideways.

An Ning understood and didn’t call him out on it. ’Men and their pride.’

For the next few days, Jiang Xia temporarily stayed away from the office, mainly because he couldn’t talk and could only communicate by typing.

Special Assistant Zhang came to the courtyard house every day to deliver various documents, and An Ning simply stayed home to take care of Jiang Xia.

She didn’t know how to cook, but someone else did.

An Ning, who went to Yin Xuemei’s house for meals every day, would bring back a lunchbox three times a day to feed Jiang Xia.

However, after this incident, An Ning felt she really should learn how to cook.

At the very least, she ought to learn how to make simple things like congee and noodles.

Over the course of three days, An Ning mastered a ”scientific” method of cooking: strictly controlling the weight of the rice, the number of noodle strands, and the milliliters of water, so she wouldn’t add too much every time.

Three days later, the swelling in Jiang Xia’s mouth finally began to go down, and he officially returned to the office.

Their lives returned to normal, only now with the addition of daily dates and little surprises and gifts from each other.

Jiang Xia learned to send flowers.

He sent many kinds of ”flowers”: real fresh ones, bouquets made of vegetable skewers, ”meat flowers” made of meat skewers, and even hand-woven craft flowers he made himself.

It had to be said, once a man figured things out, he could come up with an endless variety of tricks.

After a month of this playful chase, a sweet, couple-like feeling finally blossomed between them, even though they hadn’t officially confessed their feelings and gotten together yet.

Jiang Xia was looking for an opportunity to confess his feelings to An Ning in a very formal way.

As August arrived, the weather grew hotter and hotter.

To escape the heat, An Ning simply hid out in her air-conditioned room, hardly ever going out during the day.

Only when it cooled down a bit at night would she go out for a walk with Jiang Xia, grabbing some grilled skewers and the like along the way.

This particular evening, after they had eaten a bunch of lamb skewers, Jiang Xia patted his stomach and said, ”If this keeps up, I’m going to get fat before we even get married.”

”Married?”

Jiang Xia’s words had also caught him by surprise.

”What, is Comrade An Ning planning to love ’em and leave ’em?”

”I haven’t even ’used’ you yet, so how can I ’leave’ you?”

Hmm... A flash of something risqué just went by.

The two of them laughed and changed the subject.

”An Ning, I have a business trip to Southeast Asia tomorrow.”

”Southeast Asia? It must be really hot there, right?”

Jiang Xia shook his head and chuckled, looking at An Ning. ”Your focus is, as always, spot on. It’s extremely hot.”

An Ning made a very regretful face. ”It’s not about the heat. The main thing is my research has reached a critical stage, so I can’t get away.”

”Exactly. You do your research, my great scientist. You can do it!”

Jiang Xia had only been notifying An Ning; he hadn’t intended to ask her to go with him.

After they finished the skewers, Jiang Xia threw away the trash. As they were walking, a large hand took hold of a small one. The corners of Jiang Xia’s mouth curved up, his heart filled with happiness.

An Ning wasn’t awkward about it at all. In fact, she was even more open than Jiang Xia. She was even thinking to herself, ’This progress is a little slow, isn’t it?’

’In novels, after holding hands, there’s always a next step. Why is it that with Jiang Xia, we’ve been stuck on step one for so long?’

’Do I need to be more proactive?’

”An Ning? An Ning? What are you thinking about? You’re so lost in thought.”

Snapping back to reality, An Ning said with a straight face, ”A math problem.”

”Oh... I have my doubts, but so I don’t prove myself to be an idiot, I think I’d better not ask.”

Jiang Xia had discovered that his knowledge base was completely unable to keep up with An Ning’s train of thought. Better not to ask for humiliation.

”Did you hear what I said?”

An Ning shook her head. Not at all. She had been completely preoccupied with how to take things to the next level.

”I said, do you want to go back to your old home in the countryside for a while? It’s not as hot there as it is in Beijing. I’m going to be away for a while anyway, at least for half a month.”

The moment An Ning heard this, she immediately agreed.

Jiang Xia would go on his business trip, and she would go back to her old home.