Forced to marry a disabled man in the countryside? I'll repay you tenfold!

As for the gold hidden by Zhou's mother? Su Wanqing wasn't worried. In the original story, Su Lingshan only managed to get it thanks to the key and her spatial ability; now, without the key and her spatial ability, she couldn't get in at all. However, if Su Lingshan couldn't get it, she could get it as soon as possible and then upgrade her spatial ability.

"Of course I'm telling the truth. You should all be out these next couple of days, right? You'll know when you get back." Su Wanqing's tone was sincere. "I'm here today to give you a heads-up, out of consideration for our family ties. So you won't be completely clueless when you get back and run into Director Hao's gun again."

"That damned good-for-nothing! That was gold meant for Yaoguang to marry off and be passed down through generations! How dare she steal it!" Xie Lanhua pounded her chest and stamped her feet, crying and cursing.

"That brat ran away, where are we supposed to find her? It's like looking for a needle in a haystack!" Uncle Su panicked. They had lost their jobs, their savings had been stolen, and now that they had no gold, how were they supposed to live?

Su Wanqing offered a timely suggestion: "Finding Su Lingshan? It'll definitely be difficult for you two. But... there's someone who definitely wants to find her even more than you do." Seeing their puzzled looks, she uttered three words:

"Hao Jianguo".

Seeing the expressions of sudden realization on Uncle Su's and Xie Lanhua's faces, Su Wanqing continued to kindly offer her guidance:

"However, even if Director Hao has a lot of influence, it will be difficult to find him. I do know a few places that Su Lingshan might go to..." She casually mentioned the places that Su Lingshan might develop or was familiar with, as mentioned in the original text.

Want to make a fortune with gold? Su Lingshan, keep dreaming.

Of course, Su Wanqing couldn't let Su Lingshan go free. To be honest, she was afraid that Su Lingshan would cause trouble again if she left this troublemaker around. Since that was the case, she might as well find something for Su Lingshan to do.

Meanwhile, in Bincheng, a thousand miles away, the Su family was already in complete chaos.

With his obese belly protruding and a gloomy expression, Hao Jianguo sat on the chair that originally belonged to Uncle Su, and mercilessly lashed the back of Su Yaoguang, who was kneeling on the ground, with his cane.

"Ah! Brother-in-law... Director Hao! Have mercy! I really don't know where Su Lingshan ran off to!" Su Yaoguang grimaced in pain, his face covered in snot and tears.

"Where are your parents? Haven't those two old bastards gotten back from Xinjiang yet?!" Hao Jianguo's voice was icy.

"It should be in the next few days... I'll ask them as soon as they get back! They definitely know where Su Lingshan is!" Su Yaoguang hurriedly assured him, inwardly cursing his missing sister and his parents far away in Xinjiang a thousand times over. The house was ransacked, and everything of value was gone—Su Lingshan must have come back! That damned sister of hers stole the money and ran away, leaving them to bear Hao Jianguo's wrath!

Hao Jianguo felt a surge of anger rising in his chest.

He had originally planned to send those three idiots to bring back Su Wanqing, the eldest niece of the Su family, to replace the restless and bored Su Lingshan. Who knew these three were more trouble than they were worth? Not only did they fail to bring her back, but they themselves were also detained by the police! That wasn't all; to escape punishment, they dared to make baseless accusations and pin the blame on him, Hao Jianguo! And that bitch Su Lingshan was even more vicious—she actually wrote a letter of denunciation!

Fortunately, he had old connections and received advance notice, allowing him to pull strings and barely weather the storm of the investigation without suffering serious damage. However, he was humiliated and lost many favors. He simply couldn't swallow this insult!

"Su Lingshan! Since you dared to run away, your whole family won't get away with this!" Hao Jianguo gritted his teeth, a ruthless and lewd glint in his eyes. Once he caught that woman, he had plenty of ways to torture her slowly! But before that…

He looked at Su Yaoguang, then suddenly grinned, "Your sister ran away. She owes me money. As her younger brother, shouldn't you pay off some interest for her?"

"No...no! Director Hao! I don't want my job anymore! I don't want anything, please let me go!" Su Yaoguang was so frightened that he kowtowed repeatedly.

Hao Jianguo, however, seemed to have discovered a new toy. He used the stick to lift Su Yaoguang's chin, carefully examining his terrified face. He clicked his tongue and said, "In a little while... you should scream as loudly as you are now, that'll make it more interesting."

For the next few days, strange noises kept coming from Old Su's house, but the neighbors didn't dare to do anything about it. They heard that Old Su's family had stolen something from someone else's house and the creditors had come knocking on their door!

……

Su Wanqing emerged from the detention center in a good mood.

Seeing the miserable state of Uncle Su and Xie Lanhua, and having successfully sown the seeds of "pursuers" for Su Lingshan, she felt much of the resentment in her chest dissipate. Evil people will be dealt with by other evil people; someone like Su Lingshan needs Hao Jianguo to handle her.

She glanced at the sky, estimating it was almost time to get off work, then got back on her bicycle, carrying a basket full of her heartfelt wishes, and rode towards the county materials bureau.

Li Aiguo's new office was in the compound of the Materials Bureau, in a drab three-story building. Su Wanqing had just parked her bicycle at the door, picked up her basket, and walked to the entrance of the building. When she reached Li Aiguo's office, she heard a loud argument, and Li Aiguo's voice could be heard among the words.

There's some juicy gossip!

Su Wanqing immediately stepped forward to eat the melon.

A frantic, hoarse voice almost roared, "Director Li! Of the 28 Soviet-made combine harvesters in our 12 state-owned farms in Ili Prefecture, more than half are out of commission and waiting to be replaced with these imported roller bearings! The winter wheat harvest is just around the corner, and if they aren't replaced soon, the harvest of 300,000 mu of grain will be severely affected! If the planting season is missed and the grain rots in the fields, who can afford that loss?!"

Another voice immediately retorted with a cold laugh:

"And what about agricultural losses? Do you know that half of the anti-aircraft guns in the border defense company can't rotate because they're missing this bearing? Is it more important to cultivate hundreds of thousands of acres of crops or to national defense?! If a border conflict breaks out, can you bear the responsibility?"

This was immediately followed by Li Aiguo's loud shout:

"Stop arguing! Will arguing solve anything?! This year, Ili Prefecture has only been allocated these six sets of equipment, and it's been approved by the higher-ups! So, prioritize war preparedness and give four sets to the military industry! The remaining two sets can be used in agriculture as an emergency measure, replacing the most critical machinery..."

"Two sets? We have 28 machines, but only two sets? Isn't that a drop in the ocean? Director, please think of another way. This summer, half of our machines couldn't operate because of this shortage, and we had to rely entirely on manpower. In the end, so much wheat was left unharvested and rotted in the fields! With the winter harvest about to begin, how will we meet our grain production targets if this continues?"

"How much money is wasted on that little bit of grain? Do you know how much foreign exchange this set of imported roller bearings costs? One set sells for several thousand dollars on the black market, enough for several years of your salary! This thing is a core component in the gearbox of our Type 59 tank and the directional mechanism of our twin 37mm anti-aircraft guns! It's a life-saving device! If your harvesters break down, you can just use more manpower and sweat more! But if our guns can't turn, it's bloodshed!"