Told to sit, Li Chengze plopped down, fumbling to get his bearings. Once seated, he couldn’t help but feel he had just asked the most idiotic question.

In that moment, a thought suddenly struck Li Chengze, a staunch believer in materialism.

’This place must clash with my destiny.’

"Uh, thanks."

Slightly embarrassed, Li Chengze sat on a small stool, facing An Ning, who sat with a perfectly straight back. Between them sat Master Zhang to the left, Director Jin to the right, and a young boy.

"This is my younger brother. His skills are limited, but he can still listen in."

After this special introduction for An Guoping, An Ning glanced at her wrist and said, "You have half an hour. We’re very hungry."

"Okay, okay."

Intimidated by An Ning’s steady command of the situation, Li Chengze’s mind went blank for a moment, and he didn’t know what to ask.

He didn’t speak, and no one opposite him spoke either.

An Ning simply sat on her stool, calm and composed, and waited.

"What is the proper fit between the inner ring of a rolling bearing and the shaft?"

"The hole-basis system. That is, a system in which the tolerance zone of a hole with a fixed fundamental deviation is combined with the tolerance zones of shafts with different fundamental deviations to form various fits."

Li Chengze asked the question, and An Ning answered without any need for thought.

"You’re correct. Next question."

Li Chengze paused, thinking for a moment.

"How do you make a pneumatic cylinder responsive and eliminate crawling?"

"Use the exhaust air throttling method."

Li Chengze looked up and nodded again. "Correct. All correct."

Next, Li Chengze asked three more questions he already knew the answers to, and An Ning still answered each one fluently.

"Correct. Still correct."

An Ning looked at the disbelieving Li Chengze and said, "I don’t need your confirmation. You have eighteen minutes left."

"Everything my sister says is definitely right. If there’s something you don’t know, you can just ask her."

An Guoping’s words made Li Chengze force a strange smile. He asked An Ning for paper and a pen, then began to write and sketch.

It was a problem he had never been able to solve.

"How would you solve this problem?"

An Ning took the paper, read the problem through once, then picked up a pencil and began to write.

The SCRATCH, SCRATCH of the pencil on paper made Li Chengze crane his neck in curiosity. He watched the smooth flow of An Ning’s writing. She didn’t seem to need to think, or even perform any rough calculations.

’No, that’s not right. It’s not that she didn’t need to do the calculations. For her, a problem like this was as simple as one plus one equals two. She didn’t need any scratch paper at all.’

From the moment An Ning started writing to the moment she produced the result, Li Chengze was already convinced she was the real deal.

’So geniuses really do exist.’

Li Chengze knew geniuses existed. He knew several, in fact, and Jiang Xia was one of them.

However, Jiang Xia’s situation was different from An Ning’s.

The education Jiang Xia had received as a child was incomparable to that of an ordinary family.

Even after he went to the countryside, no one dared to underestimate him.

Because Grandpa Jiang was even more formidable, and it was impossible that his own grandfather wouldn’t have taught Jiang Xia a thing or two.

But An Ning was completely different. She was a raw, untamed genius—the kind who could accomplish more than others do in a lifetime just by casually flipping through some books.

A genius like that left you feeling utterly helpless.

"Take a look. I even went easy on you and wrote out the steps."

An Ning handed the paper to Li Chengze. With a complicated expression, he took it and read it from top to bottom, once, then twice.

The sense of helplessness in his heart grew stronger, and his desire to compete with her withered away.

"Thank you. And I’m sorry."

Li Chengze stood up and apologized to An Ning.

"I was blind and failed to recognize your greatness. I’m sorry. I apologize for my behavior."

An Ning had already stood up as Li Chengze was apologizing.

"I accept your apology. There’s no need to dwell on it."

When it came to academics, as long as it wasn’t a matter of principle, An Ning was very magnanimous and forgiving.

’In the interstellar era, technology was something to be shared, something that existed to provide a better life for all humanity.’

After apologizing, Li Chengze suddenly felt a bit sheepish.

Director Jin said a few words to smooth things over, and from the side, An Sancheng called everyone to come and eat.

There were many guests today, so Lin Cuihua, having returned from working in the fields, had added several more dishes to serve them.

Everyone sat down at a large round table, and An Sancheng, playing the host, began serving the guests.

On the table was a platter of braised rabbit, blood sausage stewed with radishes, bok choy stir-fried with pork cracklings, scrambled eggs with tomato, stir-fried pork belly with pumpkin slices, and a large basin of fish stew with tofu.

Even for someone like Director Jin, a feast like this was a rare treat.

At first, Li Chengze looked down a little on the communal platters of food; he was used to eating from individual plates abroad.

But he knew to do as the Romans do, so he kept his thoughts to himself.

When he took a bite of the braised rabbit head, Li Chengze thought it tasted alright.

When he tried a bite of the fish and tofu, it was quite good.

After sampling every dish, Li Chengze found himself eating his words:

’Chinese food is still the best!’

By the time the meal was over, the sky was completely dark.

It was too late for Director Jin and the others to leave, so An Sancheng arranged for them to stay the night in An Guoming’s room.

A large kang bed could easily fit several people without a problem.

The night was pitch-black, and the moon had climbed above the treetops.

On a kang bed in a side room, three men lay with their eyes wide open, unable to sleep.

"Mr. Li, any thoughts on today?"

Li Chengze, who was lying at the very edge of the bed, let out a muffled grunt.

"There’s always a higher mountain. And farmers really have it tough."

"That’s a good realization to have..."

Director Jin didn’t say much more. He just said, "Let’s get some sleep," and the three of them fell silent.

Li Chengze closed his eyes, but he couldn’t fall asleep. He opened them again in the darkness. 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

His mind was reeling, but more than that, he was in pain.

There was a throbbing pain in his body. When he tried to rub it, the pain immediately radiated out until his whole leg was aching.

He really wanted to cry out in pain, but the sound of snoring next to him made him hold it in.

’How humiliating!’

That night, Li Chengze barely slept. Even when he did drift off, the aches and pains in his body would always wake him up.

After the rooster crowed at dawn, the village was already bustling with activity.

Li Chengze was woken up by Director Jin.

He got up groggily, and when he came outside, he saw An Ning wearing a headscarf, ready to head to the fields.

"Are they always up this early?"

"Of course. It’s always like this during the autumn harvest."

Director Jin picked up a basin and quickly washed his face. Li Chengze walked over to him, confused, and asked in a low voice, "Why does An Ning still have to work in the fields?"

"With her abilities, couldn’t she be doing much more important things?"

Director Jin didn’t know the answer to that question either.

"You and I will never understand the mind of a genius."

Bluffing, Director Jin tossed the water from his basin and told Li Chengze to wash up so they could leave.

An Ning had already told him that morning that she would call them once she had finished the design.

The autumn harvest continued, and An Ning worked tirelessly every day.

Her spiritual power was also replenished once again.

「In mid-October, the autumn harvest finally drew to a close.」

The An family’s unfinished house, which they worked on whenever they had a spare moment, was now starting to take shape.

The roof had been finished previously. Every morning, An Sancheng would take An Guoping, along with Uncle An and his two sons, to work on it for a while.

Now, the glass doors and windows were installed. All that was left was to build the kang bed, fire it up to dry, and then they could move in.