Chapter 39: The Machinery Scrapyard
"Xiao Bao, Xiao Bao..."
An old woman burst from the crowd, dropped to her knees, and hugged the little baby sitting on the ground.
An Ning crawled out from under the truck as well, patting the dust off her clothes before standing next to An Guoming.
"Second Brother, I’m fine. Don’t cry."
"I—"
An Guoming had wanted to lecture An Ning, but after all that, he’d lost his momentum.
He stammered for a moment, unable to find the right words. Finally, he just huffed, "Just you wait until we get home!"
"Oh... that’s fine, too."
An Ning calmly accepted An Guoming’s not-so-threatening threat and turned to look around.
’Which one is the driver who’s supposed to give us a ride?’
"I’m so sorry. I didn’t know there was a child under the truck. I shouldn’t have said what I did to you."
The truck driver walked up to An Ning, apologizing profusely. An Ning gave him a sweet smile and shook her head, unconcerned.
"It’s alright. The child is so small, you really couldn’t have seen him."
"Yes, yes, that’s right. I really didn’t see him. I always make a point to check whenever I back up."
The driver was genuinely terrified in hindsight.
Just then, a young woman ran over. The moment she saw that Xiao Bao was alive, her legs went weak.
Someone had sent word to her, but she hadn’t heard clearly—only that Xiao Bao had ended up under a truck. The news made her head buzz with terror, and she had sprinted over like a madwoman.
「A few minutes later」 Everyone’s emotions had stabilized. The baby’s mother, holding her child, dropped to her knees before An Ning with a THUD.
"Thank you, thank you so much."
An Ning had never been in a situation like this. Kneeling before someone—in the interstellar era, that was something you only did for the dead.
She scrambled to help the woman up, shaking her head frantically.
"No, no, I’m still alive! I can’t accept this! I can’t accept this!"
An Ning’s words made the people nearby laugh. The young lady was quite amusing.
Lin Xue was also amused by An Ning. She stood up, holding her child, her eyes filled with a palpable mix of lingering fear and immense gratitude.
"My name is Lin Xue. Thank you so, so much for today. If not for you..."
She was terrified—so terrified she never wanted to experience anything like it again in her life.
"I just saw him, that’s all. There’s no need for this."
An Ning cherished children. In the interstellar era, naturally conceived children were rare, and every single one was incredibly precious.
Since she had seen him, she naturally couldn’t let the child get hurt.
Lin Xue insisted on thanking her and making a gesture of her gratitude. The old woman beside her, the child’s grandmother, was just as insistent. She had brought the boy to wait for his grandfather to get off work, and the child had crawled away while she was talking to someone.
No one saw it happen. He just happened to crawl under the truck, where An Ning discovered him, leading to the events that had just unfolded.
"You must accept our thanks, and you have to leave us your address! I won’t let you leave otherwise!"
"That’s right! Xiao Bao is the apple of our eye. You saved him, which makes you our family’s great benefactor."
The old woman and the young woman bombarded her with one statement after another, not giving An Ning a chance to speak.
"Where’s Xiao Bao? Where is he?"
A man with graying hair, wearing blue work clothes, ran out from the machinery factory’s main gate.
When he saw that Xiao Bao was unharmed and heard the story from Lin Xue, the number of people trying to persuade An Ning grew by one.
"Stop! Let me say something."
An Ning shouted, and the group finally fell silent, looking at her with slightly aggrieved expressions.
An Ning let out a sigh of relief, looked around, and asked loudly, "Who is the driver arranged by Director Li of the textile factory? I need to hitch a ride back to Sanhe Town."
The moment the words left her mouth, the truck driver’s eyes lit up. He raised his hand and yelled, "That’s me! I’m the one going to Sanhe Town!"
So it was the driver who had nearly run over the child at the gate.
Now that she had confirmed her ride, An Ning turned to Lin Xue and the other two. "I have to go with my ride now. I can’t keep him waiting."
"It’s fine! I’m not in a hurry!"
The driver’s shout instantly invalidated the excuse An Ning had just come up with.
She glanced at the driver, who gave her a very friendly and affirmative look, telling her not to rush and to take her time.
An Ning was exasperated. She really didn’t think what she had done was such a big deal.
But then her gaze swept over the factory building behind them. ’The machinery factory.’
"You work at the machinery factory?"
An Ning directed her question to Xiao Bao’s grandfather, Zhang Qihua. The old man nodded.
"In that case, would you happen to have any unwanted scrap materials here?"
Old Master Zhang Qihua nodded again, but this time he asked, "You want some?"
"I don’t want them for free. I’ll buy them from you."
An Ning didn’t feel she should accept a reward from the Zhang family, but she thought it was acceptable to use their connection to buy a few things she needed.
Zhang Qihua didn’t give it much thought. Since she wanted something, and it wasn’t a difficult thing for him to arrange, he’d just do it.
An Ning spoke to the waiting driver, who was completely understanding and promised to wait for her. Only then did she follow Old Master Zhang Qihua into the machinery factory.
Along the way, An Ning learned that Old Master Zhang Qihua was the only Level 8 worker in the entire machinery factory.
As of now, An Ning didn’t understand what kind of rank a Level 8 worker actually represented.
She asked worriedly, "Will the factory director agree to me buying these materials? I don’t want to cause you any trouble."
"And you don’t need to feel obligated to help me just because of what happened with the child. I would have saved him no matter what."
Old Master Zhang Qihua had a very good impression of An Ning. She was polite, had good judgment, was brave and kind, and was even charming in appearance.
"Don’t worry, I have the final say on minor matters like this."
Since Zhang Qihua said so, An Ning believed him.
She followed the old master to a warehouse for storing scrap materials. Zhang Qihua stood at the entrance while An Ning went inside on her own.
With a sweep of her spiritual power, she got a rough idea of what was inside. She picked through the items, selecting some materials she would need.
"Alright, how much should I pay for these?"
An Ning had picked out a large pile of items—screws, gears, belts, and the like. Zhang Qihua squatted down to take a look. Besides being sold for scrap, he couldn’t see any other use for them.
"No need to pay. Just take them."
"I really do have money."
An Ning instinctively reached into her pocket, only to find it empty.
’Crap! I’ve spent all the money I had on me. The only thing left is the stash in my underwear!’
"Really, there’s no need. This stuff is only good for selling as scrap. Just take it."
In the end, An Ning found a box, packed the pile of assorted parts inside, and carried it herself as she followed Zhang Qihua out of the machinery factory.
"Young lady, what do you need these things for?"
"I don’t know yet."
In reality, An Ning wanted to build a water pump to quickly move water from the river to the dry fields.
But until she had results, she couldn’t just say whatever she wanted.
Old Master Zhang Qihua didn’t press the issue. He saw An Ning to the truck and thanked her once again.
"Goodbye."
"Goodbye."
An Ning waved goodbye and sat in the back of the truck as it drove away from the machinery factory.
The truck drove for over two hours. By the time they reached Sanhe Town, the sky had already grown dark.
In the end, the truck driver offered to take the two of them all the way home, also as a way of thanking them for what had happened that day.
An Ning didn’t refuse and was driven all the way to Shili Gou.
"I can’t go any further ahead. I’ll have to turn around here and head back."
"Thank you. This is already more than enough."
An Ning got out and took their things from the truck bed. An Guoming casually handed the driver a pack of cigarettes, and the two chatted happily by the truck door.
An Guoming waved to the driver. The driver got in, reversed, turned around, and drove off.
"Little Sister, you watch our things here. I’ll go back and get some people to help carry them."
"Okay!"