Interstellar to 80s: A Scientist's Farming Mission

"Okay..."

That single, gentle, and delicate "okay" rang in An Ning’s ears like a death knell, a summons from hell.

’Tao Quan is in a relationship?’

’Why did she find that so hard to believe?’

An Ning didn’t interrupt the couple’s secret rendezvous. Her impression of Tao Quan remained that of a dog abuser; the prejudice had already taken root in her mind.

A refined man who drove a car and had a dedicated place and tools for abusing dogs. And this same refined man had even been admitted to the most prestigious university.

She was holding on to everything she knew, and for the time being, she didn’t want any contact with Tao Quan.

An Ning silently backed away.

Two minutes later, the whimpering girl left the storage room, her face a peachy pink. Tao Quan emerged a minute after her.

As he walked away from the corner, his figure paused for a moment. His nostrils flared slightly, and an all-knowing smile spread across his face.

Tao Quan took a deep, somewhat perverted breath. He reached out one hand as if touching something in the air, reveling in it with a mad, intoxicated obsession.

"So you heard, did you? How fun."

Tao Quan lowered his hand and, in a second, reverted to his usual charming appearance. As he walked, he could hear many people greeting him along the way.

More than ten minutes later, An Ning returned and retrieved the erhu.

After getting the erhu, An Ning dutifully went to the rehearsal. As luck would have it, the girl who was secretly involved with Tao Quan—the one with an inexplicable hostility toward An Ning—was performing right before her.

The girl’s movements were flawless. She performed a classical-style dance, earning thunderous applause.

After a performance like that, An Ning’s erhu act seemed rather shabby in comparison.

Of course, that was what others were thinking. An Ning herself had never thought so.

When it came to musical instruments, she was indeed just average.

’But who said she was simply going to play an instrument?’

After her dance ended, the girl walked off the stage. Dressed in a gauzy, classical-style dress, she deliberately stopped next to An Ning.

"So embarrassing. I don’t think my performance was very good today."

She delivered this piece of false modesty in a smug tone, and everyone around, whether they were supposed to get it or not, understood.

An Ning, whose path was blocked, simply held her erhu and nodded affirmatively. "If you know your dancing was bad, then you should go back and practice more."

An Ning’s agreement made the girl’s expression turn sour for a second. She then crossed her arms, standing her ground. "You’re right. Someone as bad as me would love to see how good you are. After all, your act didn’t even need to go through auditions."

"I’ll be sure to watch and learn."

The words were once again spoken in that snide, passive-aggressive tone, which An Ning both did and did not understand.

She genuinely thought the girl was right. She really didn’t need to go through auditions; her act was simply too outstanding to be more outstanding.

"Then step aside and watch carefully. But judging by how your dancing and rhythm weren’t perfectly in sync, I’d guess you don’t have much talent for musical instruments."

An Ning’s words were both earnest and sincere. She gently pushed the girl blocking her way aside, and, holding her erhu, went on stage following the host’s introduction.

"Please welcome our next performer, An Ning!"

As soon as An Ning’s name was announced, the students in the audience who had dropped by to watch burst into applause.

"It really is An Ning."

"I didn’t see her at the last few rehearsals."

"I heard her act was fast-tracked."

"She deserves it. It’s An Ning, after all. What do you think she’s performing?"

"Didn’t they just say? An erhu performance."

Amidst everyone’s anticipation, An Ning, the popular genius student, came on stage from the wings, holding her erhu.

She simply walked onto the stage and gave a slight nod to the students below. There was no deep, ninety-degree bow like the other performers, yet everyone somehow felt this was perfectly natural.

The performance hadn’t even begun, but her stage presence, which commanded the entire hall, filled everyone with anticipation.

An Ning sat down on a chair, nodded at the air, and drew her right hand across the horsehair—that is, the bow of the erhu.

The famous erhu piece, "Horse Racing," filled the performance hall for the first time.

The stirring, energetic melody soared through the performance hall.

But her skill level... was a little hard to describe.

It wasn’t that An Ning played terribly, just not as well as everyone had imagined. To sum it up: it was average.

Backstage, the girl who had been verbally slapped down by An Ning, her face previously filled with resentment, had a sudden change of expression.

She covered her mouth with one hand, her body shaking with laughter, and said in a mock-sympathetic tone, "Oh, my... a skill level like this... is truly quite surprising."

Surprisingly bad—that was what everyone was thinking.

Jin Youyou, who had strongly recommended An Ning’s act, found herself being stared down by an upperclassman.

Jin Youyou remained outwardly calm and said, "She’s holding back. It’s not the official performance yet, is it?"

"Jin Youyou, you’d better be right. Otherwise... hmph."

That single "hmph" said a lot.

Jin Youyou shouted back without a trace of fear, "I’m sure of it!"

In reality, Jin Youyou had no idea either. But when she had asked An Ning about her skill level, An Ning’s reply had been: world-shocking.

Jin Youyou had believed her without a doubt. Her blind admiration left no room for suspicion.

’Whew... It’s fine. It’ll definitely be fine. My idol is the best. Besides, her playing isn’t that bad, right?’

On stage, An Ning could clearly sense the shift in the audience’s mood. She finished the entire piece, gave a slight bow, and walked backstage.

It was that same spot backstage, and that same secret lover of Tao Quan’s.

"I’m truly shaken. So this... is the extent of your talent."

This passive-aggressive taunt was met with one of An Ning’s infuriatingly direct replies.

"If you’re this shaken, you must not have seen anything good in your life."

An Ning’s words made many people bite their lips to keep from laughing.

She was mocking herself while simultaneously delivering a fatal blow to her opponent.

In front of Tao Quan, the secret-lover girl was gentle, sweet, and kind, but in front of everyone else, she was arrogant, conceited, and had a rather nasty mouth.

So, most people were rather pleased to see her get put in her place.

Setting aside her erhu skills, her way of shutting people down was, you could say, refreshingly unconventional.

After shutting the girl down, An Ning politely took her leave. She returned the erhu and left the performance hall.

That evening, the news that An Ning’s erhu performance was terrible and that she had used her status to monopolize a performance slot spread widely throughout Beijing University.

That night, An Ning and Luo Li returned to their dorm to rest. They first picked up their new keys and then closed the door to their new dorm room.

CLANK, CLANK. Luo Li remarked with feeling, "It’s iron."

"Yep. Built to last."

"And soundproof..."

Luo Li and An Ning ceremoniously used the key from the outside to perform an "initiation rite" for the door. Once inside, the two of them chatted and shared gossip.

"There’s a rumor going around that your erhu playing is terrible."

"It’s not a rumor."

An Ning replied calmly, and Luo Li asked just as calmly, "Do you owe someone money?"

"No."

"No? Then were you threatened or forced to perform? Tell me, and we can look into it."

An Ning finally turned to look at Luo Li, who was twirling a scalpel in her hand.

"I’m very curious to know what you mean by ’look into it’."

"Hehe, some things are better left unsaid. It’s illegal, you know."

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