Chapter 559 - 574: Gossip

An Ning walked out of the office, thinking about her original intention for designing the system.

She had based it on interstellar identification technology, refining the system through several rounds of simplification. The goal was for a single ID card to handle all forms of verification.

’Should I bring this up next time, or should I call for backup now?’

’If you don’t have to put up with mistreatment, you shouldn’t.’

An Ning stood at the office entrance, pulled a small phone with buttons from her pocket, scrolled through her contacts, and made a call.

Half an hour later, An Ning successfully collected two years’ worth of her security payments and was escorted out.

"Sorry to have troubled you to make this trip."

"Somehow I get the feeling you did this on purpose."

An Ning made no attempt to hide it. "You’re absolutely right. Besides, isn’t this me giving you a gift?"

"How could something like this happen under your brilliant leadership? As a good citizen, I must naturally do my duty."

"Alright, alright. I really have to thank you for this."

The middle-aged man’s black hair was already peppered with gray at the roots. Only five years had passed, but he was truly a dedicated leader.

This was none other than the official who had insisted on inspecting Shili Gou during the heavy snow. An Ning had met him a few times since, and together they had promoted greenhouse cultivation throughout the entire county.

Thanks to greenhouse farming, the entire county had become a major vegetable producer. The people’s standard of living had improved significantly, and the man before her deserved most of the credit.

The two chatted like old friends, and their relaxed interaction terrified everyone inside the office.

’Who on earth is that young woman?’

Unless one paid close attention to the college entrance exams, no one would know the name An Ning.

After settling the matter, An Ning returned to Green Land and picked up Tangtang.

The black jeep sped along the smooth road all the way back to Shili Gou.

At home, Lin Cuihua had already prepared a room for Tangtang and warmly helped her get settled in.

Back home, An Ning set Tangtang to her homework, telling her she could go out to play after finishing a portion of it, or she could find her in the fields or up on the mountain.

Tangtang was very obedient and stayed in her room to do her homework by herself.

An Ning put on a sun hat and went next door first.

Master Tang, who had been waiting anxiously at home, dashed out and asked urgently, "Well? How did it go?"

"Single, doesn’t want to get married, and is afraid of marriage."

Every word was the opposite of what Master Tang wanted to hear, and his shoulders slumped.

"Master Tang, I don’t really understand these things myself, but Liu Yiyi’s daughter, Tangtang, is at my house."

"You mean—"

"No, I don’t mean anything. Even if I didn’t tell you today, you would have seen for yourself."

An Ning took two steps back and explained, "I’m just telling you the facts as I know them. As for what to do, don’t ask me. I haven’t even figured out my own situation yet."

"Huh?"

Master Tang was a bit dazed and didn’t quite catch what An Ning said. An Ning gave a tight-lipped smile, waved, and headed up the mountain.

Once on the mountain, An Ning first fed the dogs. After that, she was like a bandit chief, picking whatever she saw.

The apricots were ripe. She picked some.

The early peaches were ready. She picked some.

The mulberries were dark purple. She ate them as she picked.

The muskmelons smelled so fragrant. She chose a few.

The watermelons looked good. She grabbed one to quench her thirst.

With a full harvest from the afternoon’s work, she headed down the mountain in high spirits.

’There’s no place like home!’

That evening, Lin Cuihua made iron pot stew with cornmeal pancakes. An Ning alone ate two bowls of just the glass noodles from the stew.

An appetite like that was the envy of all the women present.

As the An family’s standard of living improved, both Lin Cuihua and her sister-in-law had gained a little weight.

An Ning ate a lot, but she didn’t forget to put food on Tangtang’s plate.

"Eat up. We start our lessons tomorrow."

"Oh right, Mom. Honey’s coming over tomorrow. He’ll probably arrive in the afternoon; I’ll go to the train station to pick him up."

"Okay, okay. He can have the third one’s room. He’s about to leave anyway."

An Ning turned to look at An Guoping, who snorted, feigning aloofness.

"Finally decided to show some concern for your little brother, huh?"

"Are you going to tell me or not?"

"Heh heh, I’ll talk."

An Guoping immediately put on a cheeky grin. "I’m leaving the day after tomorrow for an internship in Beijing."

"Not bad. Good luck."

"Of course. I can’t bring shame to you."

After dinner, the family milled about in small groups.

Hei Dan’er went running wild outside with Da Huang, Xiao Lang, and a pair of twins.

An Guoming pulled Yin Xuemei away for a romantic date.

With nothing else to do, An Ning decided to create a schedule with Tangtang and also assess the girl’s current physical condition.

Later that evening, two large watermelons were brought out again as the family sat outside to cool off and chat.

Around nine o’clock, the village gradually quieted down, leaving only the barking of dogs and croaking of frogs—a noisy sort of silence.

An Ning quite liked these sounds. She was used to them and fell asleep quickly, lulled by the familiar chorus.

In contrast, when she was in the lab, alone in a soundless room, the more she tried to sleep, the more awake she became.

Even without Xiao Lang’s sleep-inducing presence, An Ning fell asleep.

At the crack of dawn, the An family’s rooster let out a crow, setting off a chain reaction of crowing from roosters throughout the village.

An Ning sat up, her eyes still closed. When she went out to wash her face, Tangtang was already dressed and ready to go.

"One second."

With that, An Ning led Tangtang, An Guoping, An Guoming—who had been kicked out by Yin Xuemei—and the family’s three young troublemakers to begin their morning exercises.

As An Ning appeared, village children came out one after another, swelling the ranks of the morning runners into a peculiar spectacle.

Jiang Xia and Da Huang followed at the very back. He didn’t run up to An Ning’s side; this was her unique charisma at work.

Lap after lap, a few children would always run back home or get called back by their parents for breakfast.

Tangtang was the one who persisted until the very end.

The teenage girl’s face was covered in sweat, but it did nothing to diminish the determination in her eyes.

Jiang Xia sidled up to An Ning and said quietly, "She’s got good potential."

"Right? I think so too."

Sensing An Ning’s happiness, Jiang Xia said knowingly, "Somehow I get the feeling that what you love most is combat."

"Nonsense. I’m a respectable researcher."

An Ning picked up the pace, running beside Tangtang to teach her proper form and breathing techniques, leading her for a while longer.

After the warm-up run, An Ning took Tangtang up the mountain and began basic combat training.

By the time the two of them came down from the mountain, Tangtang’s arms and legs were trembling.

An Ning glanced at her, completely unmoved. "Don’t rest. Keep walking back. Use the method I taught you to relax your muscles, or you won’t be able to get up tomorrow."

"Yes!"

An Ning nodded in satisfaction and headed back first.

But before she reached home, she saw several people running in the same direction, their faces alight with the thrill of gossip.

"What’s going on?"

"A fight broke out at the Chen family’s place! Chen Mingliang grabbed a kitchen knife and is trying to kill Miao Xiaohua!"

An Ning’s mouth fell open. ’This gossip is a little too tempting,’ she thought, ’but it would be improper for me to go watch directly, wouldn’t it?’

’Maybe... I’ll take a side path? Climbing a tree isn’t out of the question either.’