He was a disabled military officer who doted on his research work in the Northwest.

Under the dim light, Shen Tang borrowed a radish from the kitchen and squatted in the yard to practice her knife skills. "Snap!" With one stroke, the radish was cut, but the slice was uneven, and the blade slipped—

"Hiss!" Shen Tang gasped as a bloody gash appeared on her left index finger, from which a drop of bright red blood rolled down.

She sighed, rinsed it hastily with water, and wrapped it in a clean piece of gauze.

This terrible knife skills are a complete disaster for this scientific research whiz!

The night breeze was cool, carrying the dryness characteristic of Northwest China. Shen Tang was exhausted after a long day, ignoring the pain in her injured hand, and collapsed onto the hard bed, drifting off to sleep.

In my dream, all I saw were radish strips that Liu Mei mocked for "cutting like clubs."

-

On the morning of the third day, a loud bugle call pierced the sky, and Shen Tang suddenly sat up in bed.

The moment I opened my eyes, two crisp electronic voices suddenly burst into my mind:

[Ding—Drought-resistant bok choy has been detected as mature! 100% survival rate!]

[Congratulations, host, on completing your first planting! Starry Farm Space Experience Points +100!]

It's ripe?! It grew to maturity in just two nights?!

Shen Tang didn't even bother to put on her shoes properly before pushing open the door and rushing into the yard.

The flower bed, which was originally dry and cracked and white, was now crowded with clusters of lush, tender, and vibrant green bok choy!

The leaves gleamed alluringly in the morning light, each one incredibly full and vibrant. If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, who would believe that these plants grew on the extremely arid Gobi Desert, where even scallions can't survive?!

Shen Tang excitedly squatted down, her fingertips just touching the tender, dew-kissed vegetable leaves when the system's voice rang in her mind again:

[Ding—Experience points reached, 1 drop of Spirit Spring Water obtained.]

With a slight thought, a crystal-clear drop of water, like morning dew, appeared out of thin air in her palm.

In an instant, a refreshing and unique fragrance wafted out. Shen Tang felt invigorated, and the fatigue from days of train travel vanished.

What shocked her even more was that the wisps of water vapor from that drop of spiritual spring water lingered on her left index finger. The cut she had accidentally made while cutting a radish yesterday actually sent a tingling, itchy sensation through her. Then, at a speed visible to the naked eye, the bleeding stopped, scabs formed, and fell off, leaving not a single scar!

Shen Tang gasped.

She's a top-tier successor of traditional Chinese medicine! This mere drop of spiritual spring water has such miraculous blood-activating and tissue-regenerating effects! With this aid, combined with her acupuncture, Mu Qinghan's crippled legs... could definitely be saved!

If she becomes his savior, how could he possibly take the bracelet back?

Shen Tang took a deep breath, suppressing all the excitement in her eyes. Just as dawn was breaking, the bugle call sounded precisely on time.

The courtyard gradually filled with voices. The first to notice the commotion was Wang Xiulian, who had gotten up early to fetch water. She was carrying a basin when she passed by Shen Tang's courtyard, glanced inside, and with a "clatter," the basin fell directly to the ground.

"My God! This...this is a ghost?!"

This exclamation attracted all the military wives who were preparing to wash up in the courtyard.

Zhang Cuihua, clutching a handful of sunflower seeds, squeezed to the front. When she saw that the frost-covered saline-alkali land was indeed teeming with clusters of fresh, juicy bok choy, she forgot to spit out the sunflower seed shells in her mouth. Her face turned pale and then flushed, a truly fascinating sight.

"Is something buried in this ground? Has the feng shui of Commander Mu's yard changed?" someone muttered incredulously.

Zhang Cuihua, who had just made those harsh remarks a few days ago, felt her face burning with embarrassment. She gritted her teeth, spat out the sunflower seed shells, and forced a smile, saying, "Pshaw, I thought it was something rare! This is just the cheapest, fastest-growing bok choy! What's the use of growing so fast? It's not nutritious and doesn't taste good!"

She rolled her eyes and raised her voice, "Besides, it's not like nothing can grow in this saline-alkali land of Northwest China. As long as you water and fertilize it like you're tending to your ancestors every day, what's so special about growing two or three plants? With just a few leaves, who's going to get anything?"

Several of Zhang Cuihua's sisters-in-law, who usually gossiped about her, chimed in with a sour tone: "That's right, a pampered young lady from the city, she's just growing these two vegetables to show off."

Shen Tang was holding a bamboo basket, deftly pinching off the tender roots of fresh cabbages. Hearing Zhang Cuihua's mockery, she didn't even raise her head until she had neatly stacked half a basket of cabbages before straightening up.

She patted the dust off her hands and looked at Zhang Cuihua with a half-smile: "Sister-in-law Zhang, when are you planning to write your name backwards?"

Zhang Cuihua choked, her face flushing red: "You, you don't have to be so smug! This half-basket of vegetables wouldn't even be enough to make a waste of money at the cafeteria!"

"We didn't have any before, but now that we do, we can never have too little." Shen Tang picked up the vegetable basket, her gaze sweeping over the group of sour-faced military wives. Her tone was calm and indifferent, yet it carried an inexplicable air of dominance. "If I can grow a few plants on this barren land today, I can grow a whole lot of them in the Northwest in the future. Don't be envious then."

After saying that, Shen Tang didn't even give them a second glance, and walked straight to the cafeteria with her basket.

Zhang Cuihua and the others were left behind, stamping their feet in anger, but they couldn't help but swallow hard—the freshly picked bok choy looked so tender!

……

The logistics canteen of the regiment.

As soon as Shen Tang entered the kitchen, Liu Mei, with her sharp eyes, spotted the half-basket of bok choy in her hand.

"Oh my goodness, what is Miss Shen holding?" Liu Mei raised her voice sarcastically, as if afraid no one would hear her. "This is a large canteen, with hundreds of people with their mouths open! You throw these few leaves into the big iron pot, and you won't even see a splash! What, are you going to serve everyone boiled vegetable leaves in plain water for lunch today?"

Squad Leader Wang heard the commotion and came over. When he saw the fresh, green cabbages, his eyes lit up. He quickly tried to smooth things over: "Alright, Liu Mei, say less! It's not easy for a girl to grow leafy greens in this Gobi Desert. I think we should add a couple more buckets of water to the bone broth at noon, chop up these cabbages and sprinkle them in, and make a cabbage soup. At least the soldiers can see some greenery."

"No need to make soup." Shen Tang put down the bamboo basket, her eyes shining.

Her gaze swept over the leftover scraps from the lunch on the stove: a bowl of cleaned-out meat and bone scraps, a few pieces of soaked dried kelp, half a bowl of leftover potato chunks, and a large string of dried red chilies hanging in the corner.

"Squad Leader Wang, lend me a big iron pot. We're not having bland soup for lunch today, we're having something flavorful—we're making spicy hot pot!"

In those days, the concept of "mala tang" (a spicy hot pot dish) didn't even exist in Northwest China. Squad Leader Wang was completely bewildered: "Mala what?"

Without wasting any words, Shen Tang immediately started heating the oil in a wok. As soon as the oil was hot, a handful of dried chilies, Sichuan peppercorns, scallions, ginger, and garlic sizzled and released an extremely strong, spicy aroma! Next, he poured in the minced meat scraps and stir-fried them until the oil turned a bright red. Finally, he poured in the simmering, whitish bone broth with a "whoosh".

As the soup simmered, Shen Tang turned to ask, "Squad Leader Wang, does the kitchen have any milk or milk powder? Goat milk is fine too."

"Yes, we do have some. We usually use it to supplement the wounded's nutrition, and we still have about half a vat of milk left. But why would you need milk for cooking?" Sergeant Wang asked, looking puzzled.

"Lend me a small half bowl." Shen Tang took the milk and casually poured it into the boiling red oil bone broth.

As the white mist rose and the milk dissolved into the soup, Shen Tang subtly dripped a drop of spiritual spring water into the soup without making a sound.