Interstellar to 80s: A Scientist's Farming Mission

It took An Ning almost two hours of cycling to reach the Hu family’s village.

Even she was a little out of breath.

’This is too far. It’s not very practical.’

An Ning planned to hire people to plant and look after the fruit trees.

But the distance was quite far, and the round trip would be a hassle.

An Ning entered the village and was quickly spotted.

"Who are you looking for?"

The villagers were very friendly. Seeing a new face, one of them took the initiative to come over and ask.

"I’m looking for Hu Chunguo’s home."

"Hu Chunguo..."

The kind villager frowned, trying to remember who Hu Chunguo was.

An Ning recalled that when An Sancheng was recording the workers’ names, he also didn’t know their formal names.

"The family that lost their child a few days ago."

"Ohhh—you mean Old Man Hu! Head that way, make a turn, it’s the fifth house on the south side."

"There’s a big hawthorn tree in front of his house."

An Ning thanked them. ’Nicknames really are king in the village,’ she thought.

She followed the villager’s directions and found the house with a tree in front. As for whether it was a hawthorn tree, she couldn’t tell.

An Ning didn’t even need to knock, because she recognized a small figure by the door, his back turned to her.

"Er Niu, is that you?"

Er Niu, who was playing in the dirt, turned around, let out a yelp, and ran.

He got halfway before running back, rubbing his bottom and looking at An Ning sheepishly.

"Sister Anning, what are you doing here?"

"Why’d you run when you saw me?"

Er Niu chuckled. "I thought I was going to get another spanking."

An Ning didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, but at least it seemed the boy had a very vivid memory of the incident.

Er Niu was very talkative. He led An Ning into the house, chattering as they walked. "Sister Anning, my butt only just got better these past two days. For a while there, I could only eat lying on my stomach, just like my cat."

"But I don’t even eat as well as my cat! At least it gets to suck on fish bones and slurp up all the flavor. All I get is congee, all kinds of congee."

"My mom said I can’t eat fish, calling it an ’inflammatory food’ that’s bad for my butt. I think she’s lying to me."

"Sister Anning, do you think my mom is right?"

An Ning met Er Niu’s gaze, which was pleading for her support. She nodded, and sure enough, she saw his eyes light up.

"Your mom is right."

With that one sentence, the light in his eyes went out.

Er Niu shook his head like a little adult.

"Sister Anning, you’re being naughty."

An Ning couldn’t help but be amused by Er Niu, but she still asked, "Are your parents home?"

"Nope. They went down to the fields to prune the fruit trees."

This time, it was An Ning’s eyes that lit up. She squatted down to look at Er Niu and said, "Can you take me to the fields to see them? I need to talk to your parents about something."

"Okay!"

Er Niu agreed readily. He skillfully locked the door, hung the key around his neck, and then skipped ahead, leading An Ning to the fields.

An Ning rode the bicycle with Er Niu on the back. He sat there, a little excited, gesturing with one hand to show An Ning the way.

The ride was bumpy, but it did nothing to dampen the joy of the boy on the back.

"Sister Anning, over there!"

After leaving the village proper, An Ning saw the only patch of fruit trees in sight.

She could vaguely make out some figures working among them.

An Ning rode the bike over and hit the brakes. Er Niu jumped off, a little reluctantly, and An Ning dismounted and parked the bike.

"Dad—! Mom—!"

Er Niu yelled at the top of his lungs. The two people working looked up toward the edge of the field.

When they saw An Ning, they hurried out to meet her.

They met halfway. Er Niu’s parents didn’t understand why An Ning was there, but they knew she had done their family a great kindness.

"Honey, you should hurry home and cook something. She has to at least stay for a meal today."

"I can stay for a meal, but I’m really here on business. Ma’am, don’t rush off. Let me talk to you both."

An Ning didn’t refuse the offer. She explained her reason for coming to the couple.

"I’m planning to plant fruit trees on my mountain, but we don’t have anyone over there who knows how to do it..."

"The problem now is that the two villages are too far apart, so commuting back and forth is very difficult."

An Ning explained her idea and the monthly salary she was offering, then waited for their reaction.

"An Ning, are you really offering to hire us?"

"Of course, it’s true. My mountain is just sitting there waiting."

Er Niu’s dad slapped his thigh and said, "I’ll do it! I’ll go!"

"Home won’t be a problem. When it’s busy, I’ll live on the mountain. When it’s not, I’ll come back home."

For Er Niu’s dad, a stable income was an incredible opportunity.

His child needed to go to school, and everything costs money.

In the past, many people in their village grew fruit trees, but they couldn’t sell the fruit. So, people stopped planting them, and more and more of the trees were cut down.

The two parties came to a quick agreement. An Ning went back with Er Niu’s parents and then found Da Bao’er’s family. Both Da Bao’er’s and Er Niu’s families made the same decision.

The men would go work for An Ning, while the women stayed home to manage things there.

After the three parties agreed, the two men decided they would head to Shili Gou the next day to start digging pits for the trees.

In the end, An Ning left with her backpack on. As for the meal, she didn’t end up staying to eat.

An Ning rode her bicycle home. The first thing she did after arriving was design a vehicle. 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

For future commutes, a single bicycle definitely wouldn’t be enough. They couldn’t always use a large truck, either. They needed some kind of convenient vehicle for use in the village.

Tricycles—gas-powered ones, electric ones, all sorts of styles—An Ning designed one of each.

An Ning went to bed a little late that night.

When she got up the next day, the first thing she did was take the wood Jiang Xia had given her to the village carpenter.

The carpenter was happy to get the work. The two discussed the plans, settled on the basic frame for a bookshelf, and then An Ning left.

Back home, An Ning ate, held her class, and after class, she assigned homework to everyone.

Including Jiang Xia, who also got an assignment.

A little after nine in the morning, Er Niu’s father and Da Bao’s father arrived. An Ning introduced them to An Sancheng and then left them to it.

An Ning took her blueprints, put on her backpack, and prepared to set out on a long trip.

Because of the blueprints, An Ning headed straight for Jin City.

After arriving in Jin City, An Ning went to the automobile factory, found Director Hu, and handed him the blueprints.

The two sat down in his office. Director Hu stared at the six blueprints in front of him, momentarily speechless.

"Director Hu?"

"I’m here, I’m here."

Director Hu finally snapped out of it and pushed three of the blueprints across the desk.

"An Ning, we can’t make these three."

An Ning glanced down at them and asked.

"Is it because they’re electric vehicles?"

"Yes. On a technical level, we simply don’t have the battery technology."

Director Hu tapped a finger on the other three blueprints on the desk. "These three, we can do. And the design and concept are excellent."

Director Hu looked at the calm An Ning across the desk and asked, a little nervously, "Is something wrong?"

"No."

’When I designed the electric vehicles, I was just thinking about conserving some non-renewable resources.’

’So now, should I reveal even more?’