Interstellar to 80s: A Scientist's Farming Mission

An Ning sat properly, waiting for Director Jin’s answer.

"Here’s the situation. The blueprints you drew for Li were excellent. We were hoping you could take a look at our machinery factory and see if there’s anything that needs improvement."

"What can you offer me?"

An Ning’s blunt question reminded Director Jin of what Director Li had said. He immediately smiled and replied, "Of course, we definitely have something. I have job quotas here, or I can pay you in cash and ration coupons."

"That works."

An Ning stood up and asked, "Should we go look now?"

Her simple and direct way of doing things was something Director Jin wasn’t quite used to, but he quickly stood up as well and led An Ning to their factory building.

"Right now, the factory mainly produces tractors. The blueprints you gave Director Li require different machinery. We’ll need time to build it before we can start production."

At this point, the group had entered the workshop.

The elderly Zhang Qihua stayed by An Ning’s side, explaining the operation of each machine to her.

An Ning observed everything very seriously. In her eyes, this was a fair transaction.

The workers in the workshop, however, were a little confused.

’Didn’t Master Zhang dislike that person from Beijing?’

’So what’s the deal with this young lady now?’

’Is he being a little too enthusiastic?’

’Don’t tell me it all depends on whether she’s good-looking or not.’

They were full of questions, but not a single person dared to ask.

When Master Zhang dealt with them, his temper was never this good.

The group of four toured every workshop. When they came out, they saw An Ning had stopped and was standing at the workshop entrance, lost in thought.

The two directors beside her, along with the machinery factory’s most skilled master craftsman, all held their breath, not daring to make a sound.

They say geniuses have their own world.

They didn’t dare to disturb her.

"Do you have paper and a pen?"

"Yes!"

Director Jin, quick on his feet, led the way into an office. An Ning took the professional drafting paper and began to write and draw.

The three men standing at the office door looked at each other, now even more afraid to speak.

After they had been standing there for about half an hour, someone came to the office looking for Director Jin. He had just started to speak when the glares from the three men scared him into retreating.

He even felt a suffocating sensation, as if the air had been snatched from his lungs. ’Are they going to eat me alive?’

Director Jin pointed a finger to the side, silently mouthing "over there."

The person outside quietly shuffled over, not even daring to take large steps.

The three men at the door also moved over, closing the office door lightly.

Director Jin took the staff member out to the hallway to conduct their business.

Outside the office, the elderly Zhang Qihua and Director Li each pulled up a chair and sat down.

The sun gradually set behind West Mountain, and its last ray of light faded away.

The light in the office was turned on, and the clock on the wall continued to tick forward.

The clock ticked on for an unknown length of time. Outside the door, the three men on guard were all growing drowsy.

CLICK.

The three men were startled awake.

"I’m done."

An Ning walked out holding a roll of blueprints. She naturally walked over to the three men, unrolled them, and began to explain.

"This one is for retrofitting the tractor production line."

"This one is for the new machinery the textile factory will use, including the production process."

"First, we’ll start with blank manufacturing... relying on the toolpath to obtain the desired part shape, lathing the outer circumference of the spherical bearing on a lathe, relying on the blank’s rotation... utilizing the six-point rule for workpiece locating, rotational and translational degrees of freedom to determine a unique position..."

An Ning continued speaking, but aside from the elderly Zhang Qihua, who could barely keep up, the other two were completely lost.

Finally, even the elderly Zhang Qihua was lost.

When An Ning paused, Director Jin finally managed to interject.

"An Ning, we don’t understand."

"You don’t understand? Then I’ll explain it again."

An Ning pointed her finger back to the beginning, about to start over.

Director Jin quickly stopped her, saying, "That’s not what I mean. We won’t understand no matter how many times you explain it."

An Ning finally stopped, saying with some frustration, "Then what should we do? I have to go home and farm." 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

"What?"

Director Jin let out a confused "What?", so An Ning had no choice but to repeat herself, "I have to go home and farm."

Director Jin heard her clearly this time. He looked at Director Li and saw him nod.

"How about this? You stay for a few days and explain it clearly to our master craftsman. You won’t be needed after that. I’ll pay you a salary."

"Or if you want a job here, that’s fine too. Or you can have someone else take the job."

An Ning didn’t refuse outright. She nodded in agreement, but said she needed to go home first since she hadn’t brought anything with her.

"Alright, no problem. We have a car, we’ll drive you back."

And so, the matter was tentatively settled.

That night, An Ning stayed temporarily in the staff dormitory.

Early the next morning, An Ning rode back to Sanhe Town on one of the machinery factory’s trucks, and then returned home.

She was walking past the brigade headquarters when her steps suddenly halted.

Jiang Dongcheng.

At that moment, Jiang Dongcheng was saying something to Sun Dazhuang. Sun Dazhuang’s face was full of impatience, and finally, he grabbed a large broom from the courtyard and swung it at Jiang Dongcheng.

"You tired of living, you motherfucker?!"

"Trying to scare me! Who the hell do you think you’re scaring?!"

"Get the hell out!"

Jiang Dongcheng was no match for Sun Dazhuang. He dodged continuously while shouting, "You’re all just unruly peasants!"

"Stubborn and ignorant!"

Just as An Ning was about to go help, she heard several children start yelling at the top of their lungs.

"Someone’s bullying the Chief!"

"Someone’s hitting the Chief!"

An Ning decisively joined the ranks, adding her own voice to the shouting.

The villagers—men and women, young and old—all rushed out, armed with rolling pins, kitchen cleavers, clubs and sticks, brooms, and one even clutching a large head of napa cabbage.

"Which bastard doesn’t want to live, daring to bully our Chief!"

"Fuck! Get him!"

Jiang Dongcheng had never seen such a spectacle and ran so hard he lost both his shoes.

But in a crowd that large, there were always some fast runners. One person would pull at him, another would grab a handful of his hair.

Quite a few strands of Jiang Dongcheng’s hair were pulled out, his clothes were torn to shreds, and his head was covered in bits of vegetable leaves.

He looked absolutely miserable, but he didn’t actually have many injuries.

They had all seen the Chief’s broom miss several times, hitting the empty ground instead. It was clear he was just trying to drive the man away.

The villagers had their own life experience; they were sharp observers.

From the back of the crowd, An Ning took the opportunity to throw a few handfuls of weeds, hitting Jiang Dongcheng precisely on the head.

’As for the napa cabbage, he wasn’t worthy.’

Jiang Dongcheng fled in utter disgrace. Sun Dazhuang stopped the villagers and waved his hand, saying calmly, "Everyone, go home."

"Alright, Chief."

"Just give us a shout if you need anything."

The villagers quickly dispersed. An Ning walked up from behind and asked Sun Dazhuang, "Chief, what did Jiang Dongcheng come here for?"

"You know him?"

Sun Dazhuang was even more surprised than An Ning.

"I saw him in the county town. I don’t like him."

"Right not to like him. He’s a piece of work."