Chapter 522 - 536: Tao Quan’s Return
With Jiang Xia’s help, An Ning finally had a full meal.
Meanwhile, news that the math competition team had won the championship had spread throughout the major universities. Every school hung celebratory banners for their students and gave out rewards.
When An Ning went to school, she received congratulations from people all along the way.
She acknowledged them as she made her way to the mathematics department office to request a leave of absence.
The retrieval of the electric stone was pending, and the research institute was waiting for her.
For An Ning, asking for leave was as simple as eating or drinking. The professor didn’t even ask for a reason and directly wrote her a leave slip for several months. If the school hadn’t forbidden it, the professor would have gladly written out a leave slip for all four years for An Ning.
Leave slip in hand, An Ning first returned to her dorm.
In the dorm, she happened to run into Luo Li, who was rushing out with only one shoe on.
"Where are you off to in such a hurry?"
An Ning stepped aside to let her pass, not wanting to obstruct Luo Li’s difficult maneuver of putting on a shoe while running.
"I’m late! We have a cadaver dissection today!"
"Oh—time to wield the scalpel."
An Ning entered the dorm with full understanding. After packing a few things, she left the school with her backpack on.
That day, no one knew where An Ning went.
The next morning, when Jiang Xia knocked on the door of Anning’s house, there was no response for a long time.
He lowered his hand, looked at the basin he was holding, and muttered to himself, "So diligent. She left pretty early."
An Ning had told him the previous night that she was going to start working hard from today onward.
"Looks like I need to work harder, too."
Jiang Xia went back home with the food basin. Not long after, a handsome young man in a suit came out and left for work.
After returning from the competition abroad, both Jiang Xia and An Ning had taken leaves of absence to handle their own affairs.
An Ning dove headfirst into her research on the electric stone. She became incredibly elusive and was rarely seen.
Most of the time, she simply stayed at her current location to avoid the hassle of traveling back and forth.
Time was tight. The sooner she finished, the better the situation outside would become.
While researching the electric stone, An Ning also drew up design blueprints for many factories.
If you were to load up the blueprints she had drawn, they would fill several trucks.
Time slipped by unnoticed. The winter chill gradually faded, and spring arrived stealthily, without An Ning even realizing it.
In May, Beijing was already quite warm.
On many days, you could even feel a hint of summer, as if it were just around the corner, waiting to be met with a simple turn.
Many people had switched to short sleeves and started wearing straw hats, just to block the scorching sun.
An Ning finally pulled herself away from her research. It wasn’t because she had hit a snag or was looking for inspiration, but because Tao Quan had returned.
The matter with Tao Quan had always occupied a small space in An Ning’s mind. If it wasn’t completely resolved, it would be difficult for her to be truly at ease.
It was strange. Based on Tao Quan’s injuries, he should have been back half a month ago. But the teacher over there said that his injuries had suddenly worsened overnight.
This was the reason they had stayed abroad for an extended period.
Walking under the shade of the trees, An Ning mulled over what the teacher had said. ’Why do I get the feeling that Tao Quan himself didn’t want to come back?’
This strange feeling made An Ning a little curious about some of Tao Quan’s affairs.
As she walked, An Ning finally stopped. Standing in an inconspicuous spot, she used her spiritual power to connect to the interstellar instrument she had placed in Tao Quan’s home.
The instrument was not large.
It was probably only the size of a grain of rice.
The day before she went to the research institute, An Ning had used her agile skills and the cover of her spiritual power to place several monitoring devices in Tao Quan’s home.
When she had left the research institute, An Ning had already given it a cursory check, but it was all just the daily routines of Tao Quan’s parents. Although there was a great sense of distance between the two, nothing out of the ordinary had happened.
However, the couple did not sleep in the same room.
An Ning, who had never been married, didn’t quite understand if this arrangement was right or wrong, because sometimes sleeping with another person really could be tiring.
She had heard from her sister-in-law that her older brother, An Guoqing, snored so loudly he could wake her up in the middle of the night.
Her thoughts drifting, An Ning crouched down in a patch of grass, her figure completely hidden by the tall bushes.
In truth, she didn’t need to be so cautious, because the house she was near now was her own.
An Ning had openly requested a house from Director Zhao, one right near Tao Quan’s home, not far away.
With all preparations complete, An Ning waited.
She was waiting for Tao Quan to come home.
About two hours later, Tao Quan appeared.
An Ning, who had gone from waiting to doing some gardening to pass the time, wiped the sweat from her forehead. Gripping a hoe, she continued her work.
But her spiritual power remained connected to the surveillance on Tao Quan’s home, and she was ready to control the small camera to follow Tao Quan at any moment.
At that moment, Tao Quan stood motionless at the front gate.
Just as Tao Quan was about to knock, he looked directly in the direction of An Ning’s house. Although he couldn’t see anything, An Ning, who had been observing him the whole time, was still startled.
’Can he really sense me?’
An Ning felt more certain of her theory, but on the other end, Tao Quan quickly turned his head back and knocked on the door.
’He has to knock to enter his own home.’
It was the same mother with her usual enthusiastic expression. In a loud, warm voice, she led Tao Quan into the house. She solicitously asked if he was hungry, what he wanted to eat, and listed all the things she had made for him.
An Ning frowned.
For a whole month under her surveillance, Tao Quan’s family had not called him once, nor had Tao Quan ever called home.
This family was clearly a unit in name only. The sight made An Ning find a chair and sit down.
She had a premonition that some things were about to come to light.
Two small surveillance robots, attached to Tao Quan’s body, followed him into the house, providing An Ning with a 360-degree view and sound.
On the monitor, the moment Tao Quan entered the house, the heavy front door swung shut without a sound.
’This door... is very unusual.’
An Ning had never paid attention to the furnishings in Tao Quan’s home. This was the first time she was watching them from such a perspective. Before, she had always fast-forwarded through the footage, just giving it a cursory glance.
But now, seeing this door used in a home... ’Is it to keep out thieves, or something else?’
The door closed silently. An Ning noticed the image tremble slightly. It seemed Tao Quan was afraid.
An Ning watched as Tao Quan silently changed into slippers. His father, who had been sitting on the sofa, stood up with a strange look in his eyes. He walked over and held out a hand to Tao Quan.
With a vacant look in his eyes, Tao Quan extended his own hand and placed it in his father’s palm.
The two grown men’s hands clasped together. A numbing, nauseating feeling washed over An Ning.
’What kind of bizarre development is this?’
The next second, Tao Quan was pulled away by his father. The mother behind them completely changed her tone and pitch.
"Hurry up. I’m still waiting."