An Ning stuck out her tongue and followed Lin Cuihua into the house.

"Hurry and wash your hands, it’s time to eat!"

"Okay!"

An Ning readily agreed, not daring to waste a moment. She washed her hands and sat obediently on the stool, waiting for dinner.

Seeing An Ning act like this, Lin Cuihua felt a surge of frustration with nowhere to direct it.

She placed the bowls on the table, unable to stop herself from nagging, "You’re just a young girl. No matter how capable you are, you’re still all alone. It’s so dangerous to go up the mountain at night—do I even need to tell you that?"

"No, you don’t."

An Ning sat ramrod straight, shaking her head obediently.

"Let’s just eat."

Lin Cuihua really didn’t know what to say to An Ning.

She was just a young girl. If Lin Cuihua was too harsh, she worried An Ning would take it to heart, but if she said nothing, she feared An Ning wouldn’t learn her lesson.

It was tough.

An Ning knew she had made Lin Cuihua worry, so she obediently finished her meal and cleared the dishes.

"Mom—"

She called out, her voice cautious.

Lin Cuihua couldn’t help but laugh. She waved her hand and said, "Go on, get out of here. Go do whatever you need to do."

"Okay!"

An Ning replied cheerfully and returned to her room to read, write, and draw.

The last time Director Zhao visited, he had given her so many books.

It wasn’t just that one time, either. For over a month now, a package from Director Zhao would arrive every few days.

Each package contained either books, recent scientific journals, or newspapers.

An Ning made time every day to read through all of it.

Even when she was designing something, she had to ensure it was practical and aligned with long-term, sustainable development.

For example, electricity.

Especially natural power generation.

An Ning had learned from various sources that most electricity was currently generated from coal.

Not only did it pollute the environment, but more importantly, it wasted non-renewable resources.

The Earth was like an orange; once all the fruit inside was scooped out, the orange itself would cease to exist.

Therefore, sustainable development was the best option.

The night air was cool. An Ning turned off the lights at ten and lay down on her pillow.

’Building a natural power grid is possible, but it would take too much time.’

’In the interstellar civilization, they have special power generation equipment. A single, tiny energy stone can power an entire planet for a year.’

’The scale of the interstellar civilization is vast, equivalent to tens of thousands, or even hundreds of millions of Ancient Earths.’

After midnight, unable to sleep, An Ning got up, threw on some clothes, and tiptoed to the backyard.

She skillfully hopped the wall from the backyard and headed for the greenhouses.

Upon arriving, An Ning greeted the night guard, then entered one of the greenhouses and switched on the light.

Inside the greenhouse were rows of lush, green rapeseed plants.

An Ning crouched down and slowly began to pull up some of the rapeseed plants.

Each time she pulled two, one would disappear.

The one that disappeared was stored by An Ning in the Klein Bottle.

She was preparing to transport it to the interstellar civilization.

Ever since her spiritual power had leveled up, the speed and quantity of physical objects she could transport had increased exponentially.

A small number of people in the interstellar civilization had now tasted vegetables, eaten fragrant rice, and even, under An Ning’s guidance, made a batch of unleavened steamed buns.

Every time An Ning went to the fields to pick vegetables, she always set some aside to transport to the interstellar civilization.

This was one of the minor reasons she had contracted the land in the first place.

The loss of farming traditions was a major reason for the lack of agriculture in the interstellar civilization, but another was the poor environment.

Half an hour later, An Ning left the greenhouse and headed home.

On the way home, she operated it directly with her spiritual power, no longer needing to take out the Klein Bottle.

Soon, ten kilograms of young rapeseed greens were successfully transported.

As for the seeds of various vegetables, An Ning had bought them in large quantities during her trip to the provincial capital, specifically for interstellar transport.

Currently, the variety of seeds available to the interstellar civilization was the same as An Ning’s.

It was just that their cultivation techniques weren’t as developed, and more importantly, their soil was unsuitable.

Laboratories were working around the clock, studying the soil An Ning had sent, trying to perfectly replicate the growing environment for the seeds in an effort to advance the interstellar food industry.

By the time the rapeseed greens were transported, An Ning had also arrived home.

Along with the greens, An Ning had sent a letter.

In it, she wrote down her questions and requests. The next time the interstellar civilization sent something, they would include the items she wanted.

An Ning finally drifted off into a groggy sleep. She felt like she had only slept for a moment, but the rooster’s crowing told a different story.

She forced her eyes open, got up, and walked out of her room, yawning.

After splashing her face with cold water, she finally felt awake.

An Ning went outside and called for An Guoming and Li Chengze to go running with her.

As usual, the small group led the way, with the village boys and girls following behind An Ning, An Guoping, and Jiang Xia, running together.

Many of these kids were students—some in elementary school, some in middle school, and some in high school.

There weren’t many in all of Shili Gou who didn’t go to school.

The An family had an ancestral rule that required their children to get an education.

Except during the most difficult times when it was impossible, all of them attended school whenever they could.

Plus, with the An family hiring recently, everyone had more money on hand, so both boys and girls were sent to school.

Of course, if they couldn’t pass the entrance exam for high school, there was nothing to be done.

After An Ning finished her third lap, a girl, followed by three others, came to stand beside her.

"Sister Anning."

"Sister Anning."

The girls called out her name, hesitating as if they wanted to say more. An Ning asked, "What’s wrong?"

The lead girl tugged on the corner of An Ning’s shirt and led her aside.

"Sister Anning, when we’re walking home from school at night, some boys from the next village block our path."

The girl looked at An Ning, a hint of fear in her eyes.

"How do they block you? What did they do? When did this start?"

After An Ning’s questions, the girls all started talking at once.

"It’s been going on for a week now."

"Middle school gets out late, so it’s always dark when we walk back. They wait for us halfway."

"They pull our braids, and last time they even yanked our hair."

"There are a lot of them, and they’re older than us."

The more the four girls talked, the more they captured An Ning’s full attention.

"Have you told your parents?"

The girls all shook their heads. Although their families didn’t favor sons over daughters, they didn’t communicate much.

Most parents just made sure their children were fed and clothed, and didn’t ask much about anything else.

"Alright, don’t be afraid. Just go to school like you always do. I’ll be there tonight. I’ll take care of this for you."

The girls had complete faith in An Ning. In their eyes, she was the most capable person they knew.

The girls ran off to go home, eat, and get ready for school.

An Ning walked home, a little angry. An Guoping and the others behind her didn’t dare ask what was wrong at first.

Finally, it was Jiang Xia who spoke up and asked, "What’s wrong?"

An Ning stopped and explained what the girls had told her.

"So, what do you think? Should we handle this ourselves, or should we get the parents involved?"

"Together."

Jiang Xia gave the only possible answer, explaining, "And if we’re going to do this, we need to scare them so bad they’ll never try it again."

"With a big group, there’s strength in numbers. They won’t be able to cause trouble."

"You’re right," An Ning said, looking at Jiang Xia. "I’ll go tell my dad right now, and then I’ll find the village chief."

An Ning turned and ran home. A moment later, she came back out with An Sancheng, who was cursing under his breath, and they headed for the village office.