Interstellar to 80s: A Scientist's Farming Mission

Jiang Xia was truly at a loss when it came to his grandfather.

Grandpa Jiang Xia still didn’t say anything, just turned around, went back into the house, and went to bed.

In the kitchen, Jiang Xia sat on a small stool, staring blankly at the candle flame inside a glass bottle.

It wasn’t that he hadn’t thought about his recent actions; he just wasn’t sure how firm his resolve was.

Regardless, he just wanted to be a little nicer to An Ning—and then even nicer.

As for how long this kindness could last, he didn’t know either.

Jiang Xia himself didn’t really believe in love.

His parents had never been a shining example of love.

Their love was filled with ugliness, selfishness, and retaliation.

Jiang Xia didn’t want that kind of love, and he feared that, deep down, he was just like Jiang Dongcheng.

But if the other person was An Ning, he didn’t want to hurt her in the slightest.

’Or get beaten up.’

Considering An Ning’s personality, it seemed more likely that he would be the one getting beaten up.

However, he was very clear on one thing: An Ning was oblivious. As far as she was concerned, they were just good friends.

For now, Jiang Xia had no plans to confess or make any big moves. He simply wanted to be a little nicer to her, so long as it didn’t harm her reputation.

Jiang Xia shook his head with a self-deprecating smile. ’This isn’t like Young Master Jiang at all.’

It’s said that the moon of the fifteenth is fullest on the sixteenth.

But in reality, the moon on the fifteenth was still quite round and bright.

Tonight, there was no need for any lights at all; it was bright enough to see clearly indoors.

Cool moonlight flooded the entire room. Bathed in its glow, An Ning opened the Klein Bottle and began teleporting the seeds.

She hadn’t dared to teleport before because she had no land to help her recover her depleted spiritual power.

However, her spiritual power had unexpectedly expanded by a great deal last time, and An Ning was itching to try it again.

She took out a small handful of dried corn seeds and opened the Klein Bottle.

’It’s gotten so big.’

The space inside the Klein Bottle was now almost as large as An Ning’s room.

An Ning’s passbook and some cash floated in a corner.

’I should put some more emergency supplies in here.’

An Ning pulled her thoughts back to the task at hand: teleporting the corn seeds.

The small handful contained about twenty corn kernels. Along with the seeds, An Ning included a small slip of paper with information about corn written on it.

After getting everything ready, An Ning mobilized her spiritual power. The drain she had anticipated never came.

With ease, the twenty seeds vanished inside the Klein Bottle’s space.

An Ning grew thoughtful.

’I’ll try again.’

She got up, grabbed another twenty corn kernels, and teleported them. Again, she barely felt a thing.

’Has my spiritual power changed somehow?’

An Ning couldn’t figure it out. Her spiritual power was already at the highest interstellar level, and no one knew what the next stage of its development would be.

An Ning teleported another sixty corn kernels and finally felt the drain on her power. She stopped, not pushing any further.

Without access to land, spiritual power recovered slowly.

Therefore, she’d have to wait until the weather warmed and the flowers bloomed in spring.

After teleporting the seeds, An Ning found a few changes of clothes and a pair of shoes in her wardrobe and placed them inside the Klein Bottle’s space.

Once she had everything packed away, An Ning fell asleep, ready for her trip the next day.

Early the next morning, the rooster dutifully crowed, waking the An family.

An Ning had already told them she was leaving today.

Lin Cuihua had woken up early to make her some savory pies and had asked Yin Xuemei to help boil some tea eggs.

"Is everything packed?"

"All packed."

An Ning finished the last mouthful of porridge in her bowl. "When I get back," she said, "we can build the greenhouse."

"Over on Big Brother’s side, if you can break ground, you can go ahead and build the chicken coop and pigsty first."

"Just go, and don’t you worry," An Sancheng said. "You don’t need to trouble yourself with matters at home."

An Ning thought An Sancheng made a good point. When it came to farm work, her family members were the experts.

She turned her head to look at An Guoping, who understood and said, "Don’t worry, Sis. We’ll study every day and won’t fall behind."

An Ning nodded again.

After breakfast, An Ning shouldered her bookbag, carrying a small basket filled with food and drinks prepared by Lin Cuihua.

She headed out the door with her family following behind. As soon as they stepped outside, they saw Li Chengze and Jiang Xia waiting with their bags packed.

Everyone knew Li Chengze was coming along.

He was the apprentice An Ning planned to accept, so this trip was a sort of evaluation.

But Jiang Xia...

"Jiang Xia, are you leaving too?"

An Ning asked. "Yeah," Jiang Xia replied. "The New Year celebration’s over. I figured I’d go out and earn some money before spring starts."

’That makes sense,’ An Ning thought. ’An Guoming had the same plan.’

After her simple question, An Ning said goodbye to her family. The three of them then rode on a tractor driven by An Guoqing to town, where they boarded a train and left.

On the train, An Ning learned that Jiang Xia was also headed to Jin City.

The three of them had bought hard-seat tickets, but once they were on board, Jiang Xia found an attendant, paid the difference, and upgraded them to a soft sleeper car.

Neither An Ning nor Li Chengze was the type to be stingy.

Since money wasn’t an issue, who would want to suffer in a hard seat when they could travel comfortably lying down?

The soft sleeper compartment had four bunks in total.

However, there were no compartments where the three of them could be together, so An Ning was assigned to a separate one.

Li Chengze and Jiang Xia were in a compartment one down from hers.

When An Ning entered the compartment, three people were already inside.

All three were women—two older and one who was relatively young.

She glanced at them, pointed to an upper bunk, and said, "Excuse me, would you mind taking those things down? This is my bunk."

An Ning showed them the upgraded ticket in her hand, and the women didn’t give her any trouble.

"We’ll get it right down. So sorry about that, we thought no one was taking it."

One of the older women moved the items down from the bunk and stuffed them under the one below.

An Ning tossed her bookbag up, took off her shoes, and climbed up.

She didn’t say a word throughout the entire process.

Once she was settled on her bunk, An Ning took a book out of her bag and began to read.

The three women chatting below exchanged a glance, shrugged, and resumed their conversation.

An Ning read continuously until about eleven-thirty, the time she had arranged to meet Jiang Xia for a meal.

She set her book on the bunk, climbed down, put on her shoes, and left the compartment.

A moment after she left, the younger woman slid the compartment door open, glanced left and right, and then made a gesture to the two behind her.

The other two women understood immediately. They took down An Ning’s bookbag and began rummaging through it.

Their movements were practiced and efficient; they put every item back exactly where they found it.

The bag’s compartments, its hidden pockets—nothing escaped their search.

"Damn it! Unbelievable. She’s dressed so well, but she’s broke."

"She’s not broke, she just doesn’t keep her money in here."

One of the women zipped the bag shut. "Put it back," she said. "It’s a long trip. We’ll get our chance."

The young woman standing watch by the door stepped back inside.

The compartment door was left open, and it remained so until An Ning returned.

The moment An Ning walked in, a single glance was all it took for her to know her bookbag had been disturbed.