Interstellar to 80s: A Scientist's Farming Mission

An Ning emerged and continued the tour.

The three men behind her had talked their throats raw. They really didn’t want to follow her anymore.

Unfortunately, someone wasn’t having it.

An Ning looked back at the three men who had fallen behind. "You need to keep up," she said, feigning an air of self-importance. "Opportunities to get this close to the person you admire are rare."

"You must cherish it."

After saying this, An Ning, not feeling she had done anything wrong in the slightest, instead asked with great consideration, "You must be thirsty, right?"

"Director Hu, give each of them a water bottle."

Director Hu was about to burst from holding in his laughter.

He even thought, ’Even if An Ning isn’t as capable as I’d hoped, I’m okay with that.’

This whole act was just too brilliant!

Worth it!

Totally worth it!

"Yes, yes, I’ll arrange it right away. It was my oversight."

Director Hu didn’t give the three men a chance to refuse. He called over Wang, who had been following them, and had him bring three large enamel mugs.

The three gentlemen in their sharp suits, each holding a rustic, oversized mug, followed the group like walking sound systems, serving as both megaphones and broadcast stations.

They clearly didn’t want to speak anymore, but An Ning gave them no choice.

Whenever they looked like they wanted to leave, she would ask with utmost seriousness, "Was everything you just said a lie?"

Under the watchful eyes of everyone, the three men naturally didn’t dare admit it.

Biting the bullet and forcing smiles, they continued their praise.

What was supposed to be a "praise-to-kill" scheme had gotten to the point where they had almost forgotten their original intention.

They even began to wonder if their voices would still work when they got home today.

Most importantly, they had truly run out of compliments!

They racked their brains so hard they felt like they’d scraped off a few pounds of fat.

But An Ning, up ahead, would always chime in with a timely reminder whenever they repeated themselves: "Watch your language. Use a different word."

The three men, their minds turned to mush from all the praising, didn’t even notice that An Ning could accurately recall every single word they had said.

’A memory like that... it’s not something a normal human should possess.’

Alas, they were no longer the same men they were at the beginning of the meeting.

The tour didn’t end until after eight o’clock that night.

The moment it was over, the three men felt a great weight lift from their shoulders.

An Ning stood before the three of them with a beaming smile. While she wasn’t very tall, her presence was overwhelming.

It felt like a homeroom teacher scolding her students.

The three men across from her stood there, completely dejected.

"You did well today. We’ll continue tomorrow. I’ll be waiting for you in the workshop."

"Keep it up!"

An Ning made a cute, encouraging fist pump, then clasped her hands behind her back and walked away.

Li Chengze followed closely behind her, a chill running down his spine.

’Was Teacher An Ning doing that on purpose, or was she *doing that on purpose*?’

It wasn’t that Li Chengze was overthinking it; it was just that An Ning’s smile was too similar to Jiang Xia’s.

The two of them were practically cut from the same cloth.

After catching up to An Ning, Li Chengze looked like he wanted to say something but hesitated. 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

An Ning kept her eyes forward, her voice crisp.

"Go ahead and ask."

She was quite patient with her prospective apprentice.

"Teacher An, do you know what those men were trying to do?"

"I do. There’s a classical text about it. It’s called ’praise to kill’."

Li Chengze nodded like a chicken pecking at rice. He looked at An Ning, confused, momentarily unsure what his question even was anymore.

"Why did you stop asking?"

Li Chengze scratched his head and chuckled foolishly. "I don’t know what to ask. Now that I know you were punishing them on purpose, there doesn’t seem to be anything left to ask."

An Ning smiled faintly and asked in return, "Then let me ask you, did you know their intentions?"

"I did."

"Then why didn’t you tell me?"

An Ning stopped, and the pressure of her gaze fell on Li Chengze’s shoulders.

Li Chengze instinctively straightened up and explained hurriedly, "It’s not that I didn’t want to tell you, Teacher. I know how capable you are. Their little tricks couldn’t possibly hurt you."

"I didn’t do it on purpose. Besides, I was planning to warn you when it was all over."

Just those two simple sentences made Li Chengze break out in a nervous sweat. He was flustered.

"Calm down."

The two words, as if magical, gradually calmed Li Chengze down.

An Ning paused for a moment before saying, "It’s good that you trust me, and you should always remember that trust. However, you should still give a warning when a warning is due."

"Even a horse can stumble, and even a person can make a mistake. Everyone needs a well-intentioned reminder from others."

"Whether they accept it or not is their business, but whether you say it or not is yours. Understand?"

"I understand. I’ll do better in the future."

After he finished, Li Chengze looked at An Ning cautiously and asked, "Am I still a prospective apprentice?"

An Ning shook her head with a laugh, took a step ahead, and her voice drifted back from in front of him.

"Still count."

The two words fell, and Li Chengze’s heart settled.

The two of them had already eaten dinner, accompanied by Director Hu. They had also taken the opportunity to drop off their luggage at the dormitories he had arranged for them.

So now, they navigated the auto plant with practiced ease, heading toward their dorms.

An Ning was walking in front. When they reached the women’s dormitory, she said to Li Chengze, "Breakfast is at seven tomorrow. Don’t be late."

"Got it."

An Ning went inside, and Li Chengze left on his own.

An Ning returned to her private dorm room. It was quiet, with no one to disturb her.

After washing up, she went to bed early.

The next day, she was up a little after six. After getting ready, she went downstairs to the cafeteria.

The previous evening, Director Hu had already given them meal tickets.

An Ning arrived at the cafeteria before seven, but Li Chengze wasn’t there yet.

She didn’t think much of it and went to get her own food first.

However, by the time she had nearly finished eating, Li Chengze still hadn’t arrived. She started to get a little worried.

Given Li Chengze’s personality, he wasn’t the type to be late.

’Could something have happened?’

An Ning couldn’t help but worry. She stood up and quickly walked out of the cafeteria.

She headed in the direction of the men’s dormitory to look for him.

As she got closer, An Ning saw Li Chengze, but she quickly sensed that something was wrong.

She didn’t call out to him. Instead, she used her spiritual power to observe him directly.

After observing for a moment, she understood.

Li Chengze was lost.

At that moment, Li Chengze was pacing back and forth next to a flowerbed.

There were three paths branching out from the flowerbed. Li Chengze was holding a small notebook, jotting something down.

Li Chengze was so absorbed that he didn’t even notice when An Ning walked up.

This gave An Ning a chance to see the contents of his little notebook.

On it was a hand-drawn map, the kind that probably only Li Chengze himself could understand.

"What’s this little stick figure for?"

An Ning’s voice made Li Chengze jump.

"Ahh— Teacher An Ning, you scared me to death!"

Li Chengze clutched his wildly beating heart and apologized first.

"I’m sorry, I’m late."

An Ning furrowed her brow and asked Li Chengze, "How long have you been here?"