Chapter Two

“Academician Zhou is inspecting the Changlong base. When we get there, we should listen more and speak less.” Early the next morning, Qin Yun and Gao Hongwei headed to Changlong Town in Zhuhe County.

Zhuhe County has twelve townships and 276 administrative villages. Changlong Town, located in the southwest of Zhuhe County, is a well-known wheat planting base. Now that Academician Zhou is inspecting Changlong, each village sent two representatives to learn.

At nine in the morning, the two arrived at the Changlong government building. Many vehicles were parked in front; all were representatives from villages and towns in the surrounding area.

“Village Chief Gao?”

Just after Gao Hongwei got out of the car, many village representatives greeted him. Gao had worked at the grassroots level for twelve years, so everyone often met him at the county government building.

“Director Li.”

“Mayor Wang!”

…

Gao Hongwei exchanged greetings with the group. Since Academician Zhou was inspecting the Changlong planting base, after all the village representatives gathered, they would go to the base together.

“Who’s this?” During the conversation, a slightly overweight leader glanced at Qin Yun. Gao and the others had been socializing for a while, and Qin Yun followed silently, looking very steady.

“A new assistant?” the leader teased.

“Qin Yun, a top student from Jinghe University,” Gao Hongwei proudly introduced. Jinghe University was a top national university. Zhuhe’s teaching resources were weak; not a single Jinghe student came from any town. Gao continued boasting, “He’s from our village. Follow me and learn a thing or two.”

“Oh, Jinghe? What’s your major?”

“Young people are impressive nowadays.”

…

The average age of the leaders present was over 40. Due to their generation, most had graduated from junior colleges. Hearing Qin Yun was a Jinghe University graduate was quite surprising.

“Times are better now, luck’s better too,” Qin Yun replied humbly. Though young, he was calm and steady, impressing everyone present.

“The bus is here!”

At 9:30, seven buses parked outside the Changlong government building, and people boarded in order. The planting base was about twenty kilometers from Changlong. Village representatives could have gone on their own, but having hundreds of cars parked at the base entrance looked untidy. After careful discussion, the county government arranged unified transport.

“Don’t be nervous when we get there. Just think of it as a county-level learning session.” On the bus, Gao Hongwei seriously advised Qin Yun.

“I’m not nervous.” Qin Yun smiled. According to the plan, each village representative had two hours to communicate with Zhou Yuanheng. With six days left on the System Task, whether he could get in touch with the academician depended on today.

Qin Yun suddenly felt a headache. In his previous life, he had cared about system planting but hadn’t paid attention to wheat research. If he had read some journals earlier, he wouldn’t be so passive now.

While lost in thought, at ten in the morning, the bus arrived at the Changlong planting base. The base covered over 20,000 mu. From afar, golden wheat fields lined both sides of the road. Qin Yun felt like he was not in Changlong but in a sea of fields.

Roll call, distribution of work badges, route explanations…

The village representatives, like kindergarten students, followed the instructions and headed toward the demonstration base half an hour later.

Among the crowd, Qin Yun noticed Gao Hongwei fiddling with a silver pen.

Feeling Qin Yun’s gaze, Gao sighed helplessly: “Meeting recorder, won’t turn on.”

In this information age, government meetings had evolved from traditional paper notes to transcription recording. Gao, at his age, never quite mastered these smart devices.

“You didn’t turn the switch properly.” Qin Yun took a look and fixed it for him.

It was mid-July. After walking a while, they arrived at a plastic greenhouse. Inside, a thin old man bent over studying wheat, surrounded by researchers in white coats taking notes seriously.

“Academician Zhou!” County Magistrate Li Qing stepped forward first.

“County Magistrate Li.” The elder straightened up.

Zhou Yuanheng, sixty-nine, was thin. Even through the crowd, Qin Yun could sense the bones beneath Zhou’s coat. The man was calmer and gentler in person than on TV.

“Academician Zhou, these are grassroots cadres from Zhuhe County. They came to learn about wheat after hearing you were here,” Li Qing introduced them.

“Hello everyone.” Zhou greeted the group, then looked at the wheat in his hand. “Grain is the foundation of life. Our county has deep soil layers, which help retain water…” Zhou explained the soil structure and wheat characteristics in Zhuhe County, not just superficially but based on actual research.

The July sun was scorching. The greenhouse had temporary air conditioning, but beads of sweat still formed on Zhou’s nose from time to time.

Qin Yun recalled his previous life. During the food crisis, areas like Longxia, South China, and Southwest China suffered as Harma affected crops, which withered almost overnight. At that national crisis, Zhou led his research team to the disaster area in South China to study the damaged soil structure and solve the food crisis.

Zhou stayed a month in the disaster area. Though soil research had made no progress, he was hospitalized due to chemical infection. Tests found that the disaster planting base was contaminated with Harma waste, and prolonged exposure infected Zhou. The chemical damage was irreversible; the best advice now was to stop researching.

But Zhou didn’t follow medical advice after discharge and continued to stay rooted in the disaster area. In interviews, he calmly said he could last a few more years physically, but Longxia couldn’t go a day without food. Every extra day of research could bring Longxia closer to solving the food crisis.

Zhou was a choice made in times of disaster. Amid global crises, countless teachers, soldiers, and medical workers fulfill their social duties. Longxia’s stable social structure exists because of these countless contributors.

Now Zhou stood spiritedly in the middle of the wheat field. Qin Yun felt both relieved and worried.

Relieved nothing had started yet.

Worried history might be unchangeable like before.

“Our grassroots work must ensure every township has enough grain to eat, and enough to be full. Thank you all for listening to this old man ramble… Does anyone have questions?” Zhou finished at 1 p.m.

“Many of our village lands are mountainous. Can we still grow wheat?”

“This is our village’s terrain map…”

…

Many village officials raised their hands. Most were older and had expected this session to be difficult to understand, but Zhou’s explanations were clear and progressive. They fully understood wheat’s national importance and now wished they could return immediately to pull up all the potatoes and sweet potatoes in their villages.

“We plant food crops based primarily on adapting to local conditions,” Zhou Yuanheng said with a smile.

Zhou Yuanheng answered several more questions in succession, and the learning atmosphere was very strong.

“Very useful.” In the crowd, Gao Hongwei patiently took notes with a ballpoint pen. Although he had a voice recorder, he still preferred to write down key points by hand.

“Don’t you want to raise your hand?” The village chief next to him smiled, seeing how seriously Gao was taking notes.

“No need.” Gao shook his head. Other village chiefs had already asked the questions he wanted to, and with over five hundred people present, he felt shy to speak up.

“Does anyone else have questions?” As the meeting neared its end, Zhou Yuanheng asked kindly.

No one raised their hand. In a learning-style meeting like this, one or two questions made for interaction, but too many would be repetitive and delay the schedule.

Just as everyone tacitly agreed not to ask further questions, a distinct, knobby hand shot up from the crowd: “Academician Zhou.”

Everyone looked toward the voice. It was a fresh-faced young man in his early twenties, wearing a plaid shirt, looking like a gentle recent graduate.

Gao Hongwei was stunned. He had been discussing the meeting with the neighboring village chief and blinked—had Qin Yun just raised his hand?

“Academician Zhou, with current food technology, can Longxia handle a large-scale food crisis?” Qin Yun stood and asked.

Gao Hongwei felt his head explode. It really was Qin Yun! And a food crisis… what a hypothetical question! Gao was about to discourage him when Zhou Yuanheng looked over: “What kind of food crisis?”

“If global chemical pollution caused all food crops in South and Southwest China to wither overnight, reducing the world’s arable land by 62%,” Qin Yun briefly described the food crisis.

After Qin Yun’s question, the crowd exchanged glances. Chemical rain, crop failure in South and Southwest China, and global farmland loss… this wasn’t a sci-fi movie like 《Natal》, so the question seemed pointless.

“If the affected soil structure can be analyzed, it might be possible to resolve it.”

Zhou Yuanheng smiled. If such a situation truly occurred, it would not just be a food crisis but a global survival crisis. Like the village reps, he assumed Qin Yun was a young dreamer making wild hypothetical guesses.

“Any other questions?” Zhou Yuanheng looked around.

Qin Yun raised his hand again. Now not only Zhou Yuanheng but also other representatives sensed something unusual about Qin Yun.

Zhou Yuanheng looked puzzled.

“Academician Zhou, I have a private question. May I speak with you privately?”

Qin Yun seemed to grit his teeth. Before coming to the Changlong base, he had never planned to question Zhou Yuanheng in public. But he had waited here for two hours, and Zhou was always surrounded by staff with no chance for private contact. Now that the meeting was ending, he didn’t want to waste this rare opportunity.

“Xiao Qin!” As Qin Yun finished speaking, Gao Hongwei anxiously tugged his sleeve. He had been tense since earlier. Qin Yun was smart and polite, and Gao was happy to take him out to learn. But he never expected Qin Yun to mess up on his first outing…

“Sit down first,” Gao whispered.

Qin Yun didn’t respond.

“Thank you all for attending this agricultural training…” County Magistrate Li Qing stepped in to smooth things over.

Qin Yun still stood alone, and the atmosphere was a bit tense.

“You have a private question?” Zhou Yuanheng asked Qin Yun.

“A very important private question.” Qin Yun tried his best to ignore the eyes around him. By right and by feeling, his behavior was improper, but the chance only came once, and he didn’t want to give up.

As for awkwardness and saving face… he didn’t consider those.