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

Zhou's mother was unusually quiet.

Her eyes lit up when she saw the mountain of food piled up in the kitchen; she couldn't wait to start eating.

Upon hearing that Su Wanqing wasn't leaving until tomorrow, she immediately waved her hand, "Alright, alright, your uncle is here, you don't need to worry about anything. You should hurry up and pack your things, and leave early tomorrow! Just be back before we finish eating!"

Su Wanqing: "..."

Zhou's mother was still so cold and heartless, showing no human touch whatsoever, and never saying a kind word.

Fortunately, she and Zhou's mother didn't have much of a relationship, so she had long since stopped taking those words to heart. She took out some cooked food for dinner and continued tidying up the rest.

When Zhou Yanshen returned, he saw the luggage he was supposed to take piled up on the floor and fell silent for a moment.

In the past, when he went on missions, his luggage consisted of at most one change of clothes and a military satchel. Unlike now, it's all pots and pans, dried meat, snacks, seasonings, and dried vegetables—it's like he's going camping.

But then I thought back to the last mission, when I pitifully ate compressed biscuits, and the food at the camp was just steamed buns and porridge, so bland I couldn't even swallow it. Later, my wife came, and every day we ate all sorts of different kinds of meat, eggs, and hot soup... that's what I call a good life.

He asked, almost as if possessed, "Wanqing, can I make a luggage cart? Is there anything else you need to bring? Don't forget anything."

Su Wanqing thought about it carefully and nodded: "Now that the weather is getting cooler, we should bring more brown sugar to soak in water and warm ourselves up on the road. Bringing only meat and braised vegetables won't be enough, so bring some dried mushrooms too, in case we catch a pheasant, we can make chicken stew with mushrooms. We also need to bring all the seasonings, soy sauce, vinegar, peppercorns, star anise... If we catch a wild rabbit or pheasant, roasting them and sprinkling some cumin and chili powder on them would be so delicious."

Zhou Yanshen's stomach rumbled as if he had just remembered something. He had a strange feeling—was this trip a mission or a picnic? But it only lasted a moment before he calmly nodded: "Wanqing is right."

So Su Wanqing added a bunch of other things, including honey—in case she baked something, brushing on a layer of honey would make it crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, with a sweet and fragrant aroma that made her mouth water just thinking about it.

Uncle Ding, standing nearby, watched the two of them, his lips twitching. His nephew was spoiling his wife more and more.

"Alright, alright, let's eat quickly and get some rest afterward."

……

Early the next morning.

Zhou Yanshen carried, pushed, and held large and small bags to the intersection of the regiment's road, waiting for the truck that would pick them up.

A moment later, the truck chugged up and came to a steady stop on the side of the road. The door opened, and a familiar figure jumped out—it was that same young soldier, Xiao Wang, from last time.

When Xiao Wang saw the pile of luggage on the ground, his eyes lit up, and his mouth stretched almost to his ears. He was so happy that he almost shed tears.

Su Wanqing warmly handed over a handful of pork jerky: "Thank you for your hard work, Xiao Wang."

Xiao Wang flashed a smile, revealing two rows of white teeth. He deftly loaded the luggage into the car while stuffing a piece of pork jerky into his mouth. "Thank you, Dr. Su! What's the trouble? This job is highly sought after! I beat out three other drivers to get this job with you!"

Su Wanqing was taken aback: "?"

She'll be in high demand no matter when you pick her up.

Zhou Yanshen packed all the luggage into the car, helped Su Wanqing into the passenger seat, and said calmly, "Don't listen to his nonsense."

Xiao Wang chuckled, pointing to the still-swelling redness on his face: "Really, Captain Zhou, you don't know! Last time I accidentally let slip about the treatment we got on the way to pick up Dr. Su—the food was amazing! I was just bragging a bit. But everyone in the camp who'd tried Dr. Su's honey chicken cake and noodle soup was drooling! This time, several drivers were vying to come on the mission, they almost got into a fight! This is because Old Li scratched my face! We ended up fighting, and I won!"

He said it with great pride.

Su Wanqing: "..."

Good, good, it really did take a fight to get it.

The three got into the truck, which sputtered off the dirt road and headed deep into the mountains.

Since Xiao Wang had fought his way to get this mission, Su Wanqing naturally wouldn't let him down. As soon as the car started moving, she began her "feeding mode."

First, each person received a braised egg, followed by a handful of dried apricots to cut through the richness, then pork jerky, tiger-skin eggs, salt-baked eggs... and finally, a novelty was introduced—instant noodles.

This was something she crafted with meticulous care. She had originally gotten some dried noodles from the black market to cook on the road, but the quantity was small, so she simply returned tenfold and upgraded them for free. Unexpectedly, the dried noodles transformed into fragrant, crispy noodles, crunchy and flavorful with their own seasoning—so delicious she couldn't stop eating them. She returned tenfold again, and now her space holds thousands of kilograms of crispy noodles in various flavors; soak them in water and they become instant noodles, or eat them dry and they become snacks.

Zhou Yanshen took a bite, making a crunchy sound; the salty, fragrant, and crispy texture made his eyes light up.

For a moment, the three men in the truck cab were chewing like hamsters, making crunching noises incessantly.

……

Five hours later, the truck drove into an open valley.

In the distance, snow-capped mountains stretch as far as the eye can see; nearby, withered meadows lie scattered across the landscape. A small river meanders through the valley. A dozen or so military-green tents are pitched on the riverbank, wisps of smoke rising from their chimneys, and figures move about among the tents.

The camp is already set up.

Su Wanqing was constantly busy throughout the journey—literally, "constantly busy." While eating, she kept her keen observation skills constantly scanning the geological conditions along the way at the speed of the truck. She also spent five hundred grams of precious gold to expand the search area five times, scanning the mountains for dozens of kilometers along the route.

Unfortunately, nothing was found. If beryllium ore existed, the vein would have covered a large area, so there's only one possibility—there was no ore at all along the way.

In short, this route has been ruled out.

Zhou Yanshen jumped out of the car: "Let's go to the main camp and report to Commander Zhang first."

Su Wanqing nodded and followed him deeper into the camp. She was more enthusiastic about this mineral search than anyone else, even more so than Elder Zhang—finding it would allow her to directly upgrade her space. Now all the materials were ready, except for the beryllium ore.

She kept her passive clairvoyant eye active, scanning the area within a few dozen meters. Nothing special, nothing out of the ordinary. She'd probably have to run all over the mountain, conducting a thorough search.

As soon as I reached the main tent, I heard a loud argument coming from inside.

"To be honest, you guys overestimate that young man!" a strange voice said rudely. "It was just a lucky break that he stumbled upon the same mining site you were on your last mission. It's not like he has any real skills. Mineral exploration requires solid professional knowledge, not luck! Let's finalize our plan now. Are we going to wait for him to come and then change it?"

Commander Zhao slowly sipped his water, holding his thermos: "I'm only responsible for your safety and execution; I don't care about anything else. You can figure out what to do yourselves."