Interstellar to 80s: A Scientist's Farming Mission

An Ning spoke with Vice Factory Director Li and Director Jin for over forty minutes.

When the office door opened, Li Chengze, who had been waiting outside, stood up with a lunchbox in hand.

"The cafeteria is closed. I brought you all some food."

Li Chengze placed the lunchbox on a desk and turned to leave.

"Wait a moment."

An Ning called out to stop Li Chengze.

Li Chengze turned back, confused, and waited for An Ning to speak.

"Li Chengze, I have three questions for you. Don’t rush to answer. Think them over, and then tell me your answers."

"First, why do you like mechanical design?"

"Second, why did you return to this country?"

"Third, if you had the ability, what goal or objective would you want to achieve?"

Having said her piece, An Ning took the lunchbox.

"Thank you for the meal. You can answer the questions, or you can choose not to. I’m going to the provincial capital, and I’ll stop here again on my way back."

An Ning walked past Li Chengze, lunchbox in hand.

Director Jin followed behind An Ning without the slightest hesitation and clapped Li Chengze on the shoulder.

"This is your chance. The door is open in front of you. Don’t ask why, just go in and seize the opportunity."

With that reminder, Director Jin quickened his pace to catch up with An Ning.

Li Changcheng also seemed to understand.

Li Chengze was, after all, his nephew. He said only one thing to him.

"Think carefully about the questions."

He couldn’t say more. Sometimes, interfering too much leads to worse outcomes.

The three of them walked past Li Chengze, whose mind was filled with only An Ning’s three questions.

’What are they all talking about?’

He was completely bewildered, but he still wanted to answer An Ning’s three questions.

Meanwhile, An Ning, Director Jin, and Vice Factory Director Li left and set off for the provincial capital that very night.

Vice Factory Director Li drove himself, in a sedan.

The sedan was his private vehicle. The Li family was wealthy.

In the car, An Ning wasn’t drawing blueprints. She just leaned against the window, resting with her eyes closed.

In reality, her mind was racing.

’One tree does not make a forest.’

’My strength alone is ultimately limited.’

An Ning had originally wanted to develop things quietly, let the An family live a better life, and provide crops for the interstellar world.

She had thought she would be satisfied with such an outcome.

But the incident with Jiang Dongcheng had forced her to think more deeply.

’It turns out I can’t just go with the flow as I please. A person needs to have a certain status before they can truly live as they wish and enjoy a peaceful life.’

’Without power, it’s called compromise. With power, it’s called freedom.’

’In that case, I will now fight for the things I originally had no intention of pursuing.’

An Ning’s silence made the entire car fall quiet.

Director Jin, sitting beside her, was starting to wonder about her entire ancestry.

’Which family produced such an heir? How is her aura getting stronger and stronger?’

The matter of Jiang Dongcheng stealing the design had infuriated him, but An Ning, the person at the center of it all, hadn’t shown a shred of anger from beginning to end.

Director Jin snuck several glances at An Ning. When she suddenly opened her eyes, he was so startled that he immediately whipped his head around to look out the window, pretending he hadn’t been watching.

An Ning chuckled softly.

"Something on your mind, Director Jin?"

"Heh heh... I suppose so?"

His hesitant reply made An Ning laugh.

"Go ahead and ask, Director Jin. Don’t worry about it."

"Alright."

Director Jin turned slightly and voiced his biggest question.

"An Ning, aren’t you angry at all? About that whole thing with Jiang Dongcheng."

"Does getting angry change what has already happened?"

Director Jin shook his head, smiling a little sheepishly.

"I know that too, but I still can’t help it."

An Ning looked ahead and said, "Director Jin, it’s not that I can control my anger. It’s because someone like Jiang Dongcheng isn’t worthy of it."

"If my family or friends were treated unfairly, I would get emotional too."

Director Jin asked no more questions. An Ning turned her head and continued to gaze out the window.

Vice Factory Director Li, who was driving, also heard An Ning’s words. He agreed with them and admired her even more.

In his mind, An Ning wasn’t just a brilliant genius, but also a capable person who got things done.

The car drove through the night. About halfway there, An Ning took over the task of driving.

Vice Factory Director Li asked several times, but An Ning insisted she knew how to drive.

With An Ning at the wheel, Vice Factory Director Li was a nervous wreck, while Director Jin in the back had simply resigned himself to it.

’To him, the An Ning of this moment was omnipotent.’

Vice Factory Director Li gave directions as An Ning drove the sedan steadily. The vice director beside her finally started to relax.

Once he had relaxed, Vice Factory Director Li finally found an opportunity to talk with An Ning.

"An Ning, what’s your plan once we get to the provincial capital?"

"Do you like technology?"

"Like it? It’s more than like, it’s a necessity."

A confident smile played on An Ning’s lips.

"I have the technology. I’ll trade it for justice."

"That could work."

Vice Factory Director Li knew all too well how things worked in the provincial capital.

The entire country, from top to bottom, was searching for technology.

They most often went abroad, only to buy back things other countries had discarded.

"What kind of technology do you have?"

An Ning didn’t answer, just gave a mysterious smile.

Seeing that smile, Vice Factory Director Li was once again struck by how mysterious and powerful An Ning was.

’A person like that is a little frightening.’

After driving for more than two hours, they finally arrived at the provincial capital at 12:30 in the morning.

Vice Factory Director Li gave directions to a guesthouse, where the three of them checked in.

Only, the light in An Ning’s room stayed on all night.

Early the next morning, there was a knock on An Ning’s door, followed by Vice Factory Director Li’s voice.

"An Ning—"

CREAK. The door opened.

An Ning, having opened the door, turned and went back to the desk.

"I need twenty minutes. Please wait."

As soon as she finished speaking, An Ning sat down in the chair and began to draw.

Understanding, Director Jin held Vice Factory Director Li back. He put a finger to his lips, then gently pulled the vice director with him as they tiptoed to stand behind An Ning.

Vice Factory Director Li had wanted to say something. Time was of the essence; they had driven through the night precisely to act before Jiang Dongcheng and the director of the City Mechanical Factory could react.

But his mouth had barely opened, no sound yet escaping, when the sight of An Ning’s movements made him swallow every word.

He even forgot what he was about to do.

He looked at Director Jin in disbelief, mouthing the words, "Drawing? A ruler?"

Director Jin shook his head and, using a combination of gestures and mouthing words, explained that An Ning didn’t need a ruler to draw blueprints.

Twenty minutes later, An Ning put down her pencil. Behind her, Vice Factory Director Li manually closed his gaping mouth.

"Amazing! You’re incredible!"

An Ning accepted the thumbs-up with a pleased expression.

"I’ll become even more capable."

She stood up, rolled up the blueprint, and walked over to the window.

It was only then that the two directors noticed the pile of long, rolled-up papers on the bed.

"Are these all...?"

Vice Factory Director Li’s pointing hand was trembling slightly.

"Just something to get my foot in the door."

An Ning finished packing up, then turned and called to the two men, "Let’s go. We’re going to file a complaint."