Switch Mode

TNAB ch 42

End of term holiday

The sketchbook was a circle larger than ordinary books and looked almost brand new.

Standing with the drawing book in hand, Zhao Linong flipped it open, curiosity replacing her earlier sleepiness. Tong Tong, half-awake on the bed, looked around groggily, found no immediate cause for concern, and soon fell back asleep.

It was near the end of the semester, and everyone was on edge. They were all too sleepy to stay up late.

Zhao Linong lowered her eyelashes and looked at the sketchbook. The first page of the book stunned Zhao Linong. It displayed a plant with similar symptoms but suffering from two different diseases, neatly labeled. As she flipped through, she found more pages of side-by-side comparisons: the left showed one disease, the right another. Each page included the disease names and text analyses explaining the subtle differences.

This…

Her sleepiness vanished completely. She immediately recalled what Teacher Kang Anru had said about the second round of the planting officer assessment requiring on-site identification of plant diseases.

Was this why Yan Jingshui had been lingering outside their dormitory? To deliver this?

The book wasn’t fully filled—only about ten pages, each detailing a unique set of symptoms—but the illustrations were vivid and the explanations easy to understand.

Thinking of how flustered and hurried Yan Jingshui had been, Zhao Linong put the drawing book on her desk and turned on her optical brain. She quickly found Yan Jingshui’s contact information and sent her a message.

AAA Farming Xiao Zhao: [Student Yan, was the plant disease drawing book meant for me? Could it have been a mistake?]

She watched the typing indicator appear for a long time before finally receiving a response.

Yan Nuli: [I just lent it to you for two days. I don’t want to see my father recommend someone who fails the exam and embarrasses him.]

AAA Farming Xiao Zhao: [Thank you.]

Although the drawing book wasn’t critical to Zhao Linong, she appreciated the thoughtfulness behind it.

Meanwhile, standing in the middle of the campus circle road, Yan Jingshui stared at the simple “thank you” message displayed on her optical brain. Her face turned red, and she paced back and forth before she finally calmed herself enough to reply.

Yan Nuli: [The planting officer assessment isn’t easy. You’d better study hard and not laze around like Wei Li.]

AAA Farming Xiao Zhao: [Did you draw this book recently?]

Yan Nuli: [Do you think I’d draw it just for you? Don’t flatter yourself. It’s my study notes.]

Glancing at the small production date sticker on the last page of the drawing book, Zhao Linong noticed it had been created just over ten days ago. She chose not to point this out.

AAA Farming Xiao Zhao: [Aren’t you worried I’ll share it with others?]

Yan Nuli: [That’s up to you.]

Yan Nuli: [Why is it okay for you to share information, but not for me?]

Yan Jingshui stood by the road, a little angry.

In truth, she thought of herself as generous—especially since her father had encouraged her to communicate and collaborate with classmates.

At first, she hadn’t fully understood what he meant. She assumed she just needed to study hard on her own.

After all, she could emulate Luo Fanxue, who bypassed the Ninth Agricultural Base altogether, completing the planter and planting officer assessments directly, and qualifying for the researcher exam within a year.

Luo Fanxue had been the first to gain an exception under the new regulations. She was the first person who did not go to the Ninth Agricultural Base to study and directly took the assessment since the new regulations came out.

Although she didn’t go to school, she had already grown crops in the laboratory of the Central Base.

Her laboratory’s performance was then compared with the performance of graduates from the Ninth Agricultural Base, and she was qualified to become a planter.

But Luo Fanxue not only took the assessment of plant officers but also took an additional assessment for planters.

The assessment for planters was set by the teachers of the Ninth Agricultural Base, combined with
the content of the agricultural students’ study in those four years.

Like Luo Fanxue, Yan Jingshui had grown up immersed in laboratories, learning from her father. Logically, she could have taken the same path, but her father insisted she attend the Ninth Agricultural Base.

She had agreed, trusting his judgment. However, she soon realized that many students in Class A avoided meaningful collaboration or effort. They delegated tasks to others and rarely did the work themselves—She looked down on such people.

At one point, she had considered leaving and following Luo Fanxue’s example.

Still, some students at the Ninth Agricultural Base genuinely wanted to learn. Last semester, she had visited Class C of Agricultural Science, hoping her presence might inspire some curiosity. But no one approached her for guidance afterward.

AAA Farming Xiao Zhao: [I know. You’re very generous.]

Yan Jingshui couldn’t suppress the arc of the corners of her mouth, raised her hand to pretend to cough, and then poked the light screen keyboard:[You can take photos and share them in your group. Let others see.]

AAA Farming Xiao Zhao: [Okay.]

The sketchbook wasn’t particularly valuable to Zhao Linong, but it could benefit her classmates. Zhao Linong took photos one by one and posted them in the freshman group as usual, and told everyone that this was the information Yan Jingshui from Class A of Agricultural Sciences gave.

In the middle of the night, Zhao Linong went to sleep after posting the information. When she returned to the dormitory, Yan Jingshui did not check the group. She took a shower and went to sleep, and had no idea that they had stirred up a storm.

By morning, the photos of the drawing book had spread like wildfire—not just within the Ninth Agricultural Base, but to other bases as well.

A collection of over ten comparative diagrams detailing similar plant diseases become a valuable resource for students everywhere.

“Yan Shengbian wants to recruit that student?” Li Zhenzhang sat comfortably on the large sofa in his home, addressing the three people seated across from him with a look of surprise. “I think he’s just trying to gather all the talent into his team.”

Peng Boping sneered. “Didn’t he already do that with Luo Fanxue?”

“Yan Shengbian’s status is special, and he’s deeply respected by agricultural scientists. It’s only natural for someone like Xiao Luo to align with him,” Yao Xuzhi replied, shaking his head. “But who is this student from the Ninth Agricultural Base?”

Senior Researcher No. 9, Cao Wenyao, handed them a document. “Nothing special. She’s just a descendant of a ruined researcher. This might be all the information she has. Still, we need to keep an eye on Yan Shengbian. If he starts using his daughter to recruit people from the Ninth Agricultural Base…”

Li Zhenzhang interrupted with a scoff, “What powerful people can he recruit from the Ninth Agricultural Base? It’s a stretch to even call it a base. And beside him, what does the Yan family even have? Now, if it were Shan Yun, then we’d have cause to worry. But unfortunately, her daughter is useless.”

Though Yan Shengbian held a higher status and greater influence than Li Zhenzhang, most of the power in the Central Base rested with others.

The Shan and Luo families controlled the seed supply, effectively holding the lifeline of every base.

Except for Zhou Qianli, the dean of the Ninth Agricultural Base, which other senior researchers didn’t have various industries behind them?

In contrast, Yan Shengbian had focused solely on researching mutant plants, to the point of neglecting financial gain. His family’s only business had been struggling in recent years.

“If he wants to recruit people, let him recruit them.” Peng Boping didn’t care, “So what if he recruits a bunch of researchers.”

The group exchanged glances and burst into laughter.

Everyone knew researchers were vulnerable. The moment they encountered mutant plants, their survival was anything but guaranteed.

The process of creating the sketchbook gradually brought Yan Jingshui and Zhao Linong closer together.

Of course, this familiarity existed solely in their messages. Every morning, without fail, Yan Jingshui would send motivational texts to Zhao Linong.

Yan Nuli: [Good morning. A new day—remember, study hard.]
Yan Nuli: [Good morning. Learning is like rowing upstream; if you don’t advance, you fall behind.]
Yan Nuli: [Good morning. If you don’t work hard in your youth, you’ll regret it in old age.]

The messages were unrelenting, and Zhao Linong always responded with a simple, “Good.”

As the semester came to an end, Zhao Linong rode her three-wheeled motorcycle to the trading market to sell the bitter melons and cabbages she had grown.

“Linong, are you going back to the Central Base soon?” Tong Tong asked as she waited outside the market. “When does the planting officer assessment start?”

“December 31st,” Zhao Linong replied. She had already bought a ticket, though it had cost her quite a bit.

Tong Tong thought for a moment. “Then I’ll come too. I want to watch your assessment.”

“Go to the Central Base?” He Yuesheng chimed in, appearing with an empty bucket. “I’m coming too.”

“You’re not going home?” Zhao Linong asked, remembering that this world also celebrated the New Year.

“There’s still time before the New Year,” He Yuesheng said, rubbing his hands together. “I’ll watch your cross-level assessment first. When you pass, you can treat us to a big meal.”

Zhao Linong laughed. “Alright.”

The day before leaving the Ninth Agricultural Base, Zhao Linong returned to the city. Along the way, she encountered countless people wishing her good luck in the assessment.

Some were classmates who knew her personally, while others were upperclassmen or strangers. Their blessings were sincere, their hope palpable.

“Buddha! Don’t worry! You’ll pass the exam and become a senior researcher at the Central Agricultural Base someday!”

The voice stood out from the crowd. Hearing it, Zhao Linong raised her eyebrows and scanned the faces.

The speaker was a thin young boy with a severely disfigured face and a frail, skeletal frame. Despite his condition, his eyes were strikingly bright and clear.

It was him.

She remembered him—a quiet student who rarely went to the cafeteria and was always the first to arrive in class. His clothes were older than hers, patched and faded.

Everyone in Class C had their way of coping with poverty.

“It’s just the planting officer assessment,” Zhao Linong said seriously, meeting his gaze. “I’m still a student of the Ninth Agricultural Base. I’ll be coming back to class.”

The cross-level assessment had drawn widespread attention, but for most agricultural students, it had little to do with them.

It’s just that Zhao Linong was different from the others.

The agricultural students of the Ninth Agricultural Base inexplicably saw a kind of hope in her. They unconsciously expected Zhao Linong to bring different changes in the future.

Some people brought tickets for the same train carriage. Zhao Linong got on the train with a suitcase that was no different from when she came. She felt complicated and more or less uneasy.

——Before the assessment, she will meet this body’s mother.

Comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Ads Blocker Image Powered by Code Help Pro

Ads Blocker Detected!!!

We have detected that you are using extensions to block ads. Please support us by disabling these ads blocker.

Powered By
100% Free SEO Tools - Tool Kits PRO

Options

not work with dark mode
Reset