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

Money is really hard to earn.

Su Wanqing increasingly felt that it was still easier to earn money on her own—thanks to the free cheat code that was the space.

With these hundreds of thousands of tons of coal as a foundation, she felt instantly more secure this winter.

Liu Shuqing kept his word and began making arrangements that very day. First, he sent people to buy up the village's surplus grain from house to house, storing it all in the regimental warehouse and registering it. Even if he hadn't bought it, the grain would have been sold anyway. His advance purchase was simply to provide everyone with an extra layer of insurance.

He then frantically sought out Su Wanqing, asking her "friend" to procure a few dozen tons of coal as an emergency measure. He dared not buy too much—mainly because he had no money. This coal, mixed with firewood, would be enough to sustain the farm for half a month until rescue efforts arrived, should a natural disaster strike.

Su Wanqing certainly couldn't sell whole honeycomb briquettes directly to the group; those things were too conspicuous. She took out a batch of honeycomb briquettes from her spatial storage, broke most of them into pieces, mixed them with some coal slag, making them look dusty, and sold them mixed with good coal.

"Secretary Liu, this is crushed coal that my friend processed. Apart from not looking as good, it burns much better than regular coal." She pointed to the pile of dark coal chunks. "It's also cheap, fifteen yuan a ton."

Liu Shuqing grabbed a handful, examined it carefully, and weighed it in his hand. His eyes lit up: "This isn't just cheap, this is a steal! Fifteen yuan a ton, cheaper than loose coal on the market, and it burns just as well—Dr. Su, your friend is really generous!"

He originally only planned to buy thirty tons, but now that his budget was more generous, he gritted his teeth and ordered eighty tons directly. In previous years, when the regiment distributed welfare benefits, they would only buy a maximum of ten tons, and each family would receive about a hundred kilograms, which was considered enough for the New Year.

Not only coal, but also grain needed to be stockpiled. Liu Shuqing used the various coupons he had to exchange for another batch of soybeans, corn kernels, and other coarse grains that could be stored for a long time.

When the corn kernels are ground into powder, they become corn hazelnuts. Mixing them with whole grains and cooking a little bit will make you feel full, but it will irritate your throat.

The warehouse of the 65th Regiment was never so full before.

Gu Zhixing followed his grandfather around the warehouse. Looking at the bags of grain and piles of coal, he felt much more at ease.

But he quickly frowned again—if the snowstorm really came as early as he predicted, what would happen to the alfalfa that had just been planted in the fields? Normally, a harvest could be made before the snowfall in winter, but if it came a month or two earlier, all those thousands of kilograms of seeds would rot in the ground.

Liu Shuqing waved his hand: "What's meant to be will be. If it snows early, there's nothing we can do but harvest the alfalfa. Even the immature ones can be made into silage, which is better than letting them rot in the ground." Although he had stockpiled supplies as Gu Zhixing had suggested, he still felt that the boy was being too cautious—a snow disaster is a snow disaster, but how could it happen so early? The alfalfa should be able to be harvested.

This matter will be put on hold for now.

Su Wanqing dared not relax. Knowing the impending disaster, she felt a strange sense of urgency, spending her days hoarding and buying, so busy she barely had time to breathe, and even neglected to check on her mother's recent elusive whereabouts. Zhou Yanshen was also busy, teaching his apprentices to drive tractors during the day and also having to find time to report to the army—Commander Zhao said they were almost finished and he was taking her to participate in some mineral exploration, telling her to prepare. He planned to investigate what his mother was up to after he finished this busy period.

Neither the couple could take care of Zhou's mother, so Su Wanqing had to focus on her own affairs first.

Two more drilling rig transactions took place on the back mountain, with Director Li personally escorting the trucks, taking away hundreds of rigs, their destination unknown. Each transaction brought in a substantial amount of cash and gold. Su Wanqing tallied her inventory; she had accumulated over 600 jin of gold—enough for the next level of space upgrade. She also had over 200,000 yuan in cash and a considerable amount of silver, meaning she had basically all the materials needed for the space upgrade.

All that's missing now is beryllium ore.

That day, Su Wanqing had arranged with Director Li to visit the granary in Yili Prefecture. She dared not delay any longer—if Old Zhang came to ask her to go on the exploration the next day, and she missed the tenfold return on the granary, and then a blizzard blocked the mountain, she would be left with nothing but regret.

To have someone visit a grain warehouse in the dead of night and demand samples—to Li Aiguo, this was an insult to his character. Wasn't this blatant espionage?

But it was Su Wanqing who made this request.

She repeatedly assured them: she was not a spy, not an agent; she was simply collecting samples for research and would never do anything to harm national interests. In fact, she could sneak in and get ten times the reward, but the risk was too great. Zhou Yanshen was now inseparable from her; she simply couldn't act alone.

If you want to get something for free, this is the only way you can resort to.

Fortunately, Li Aiguo believed her. Besides, even if Su Wanqing took a handful of coarse rice and beans out, what kind of spy could she become? These coarse grains can't be used as seeds.

She specifically requested to visit the wheat silos (unmilled) and the brown rice silos—these were the largest and most abundant storage areas there. She wasn't planning on paying ten times the price for refined rice and flour; that stuff was too conspicuous. Brown rice, corn, and sorghum looked unremarkable, and taking them out wouldn't arouse suspicion, but the problem was, she only had two chances a day to get ten times the return.

Therefore, she could only choose two items, and in the end she chose the two items with the largest quantity.

That night, the moon was dark and the wind was high.

The granary managed by Li Aiguo was located in a remote suburb. A large row of warehouses stored the entire reserve grain of the Ili Prefecture. It was heavily guarded, with each warehouse manned by a dedicated person.

"Xiao Su, you can go in now. We'll wait outside," Li Aiguo said after completing the registration. "Take your time, no rush."

Zhou Yanshen stood guard at the door, his eyes sharp as he scanned the surrounding darkness.

The warehouse keeper on duty was puzzled—what was a young girl doing in the granary so late at night? But since his superiors had given the order, he had no choice but to comply.

This was Su Wanqing's first time in such an important place. Luckily, she entered openly; if she had tried to sneak in, she would have been discovered from this distance.

The gate closed behind her, plunging the granary into darkness. Smoking was strictly prohibited here, so she could only use a flashlight. As a precaution, she used a hundred grams of precious gold to scan the surroundings with her all-seeing eye—ensuring there were no surveillance cameras or eavesdroppers.

Only then did they look inside the granary.

The enormous warehouse was five or six meters high, with bags of grain stacked neatly like small mountains. The brown rice here... was the entire Ili Prefecture's reserve for this year, amounting to at least a thousand tons.

Su Wanqing took a deep breath and snapped her fingers.

Receive!

In an instant, the entire warehouse full of brown rice vanished completely, stored away in a single cell of the space. This is the power of the Rubik's Cube space: although a single banknote occupies one cell, thousands of tons of grain occupy only one cell, with no upper limit.

"Tenfold return!"

In the blink of an eye, the amount of food in the space increased tenfold. She quickly took out the original portion and put it back in its place.

The entire operation took less than five minutes.

Next is the second warehouse—wheat. Yili also has a lot of wheat, and there are at least several hundred to a thousand tons stored here.

Each farm has its own flour mill, and the electric mill is very fast. In addition, wheat is easier to store than flour, so she decided to get wheat for free.