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

When Zhou Yanshen returned after packing his things, he saw his new wife looking like this—her cheeks were rounder than when she first arrived, and her body was no longer thin, but rather had gained a touch of plump charm. She was lounging there lazily, her eyelashes fluttering, and her mouth was still moving.

For some reason, he felt a heat in his lower abdomen.

He had never valued these things; they had been absent from his life for the past decade or so. But everything changed after he married Su Wanqing.

He could hardly bear to look at it for more than a few moments.

"Wanqing, after you finish eating, let's do some exercise." His voice was a little hoarse.

Su Wanqing squinted her eyes contentedly, and Zhou Yanshen rarely took the initiative like this: "Alright. But Yanshen, I don't want to move."

It's as if she had undergone surgery before.

"Okay, I'll do it."

It's not that Zhou Yanshen isn't proactive, but rather that he doesn't dare to be proactive and can only be passive. If his wife thinks about it and says something, he can immediately go for it. Not to mention once or twice, even three or four times wouldn't be a problem.

There are other tents just a dozen meters away from this tent, but as long as the noise isn't too loud, it can't be heard outside at all.

Zhou Yanshen carefully placed a pillow under his wife's waist before starting.

……

Early the next morning.

Su Wanqing was used to sleeping until eight or nine o'clock, but the old guys at the camp were light sleepers. Before dawn, at less than seven o'clock, Zhou Yanshen, radiating cold air, crawled into the tent.

He got up at five o'clock to patrol, and after handling some miscellaneous tasks, he brought breakfast back to call his wife: "Commander Zhao, Old Li, and Old Zhang have all finished eating and are waiting in the conference room."

Although I didn't have the heart to wake her, there were so many people waiting, I couldn't just leave them standing there helplessly.

Su Wanqing opened her eyes groggily: "What time is it?" She had stayed up quite late yesterday, so she was really tired.

"Seven o'clock."

Su Wanqing: "..."

"So early, before dawn, are they rushing to be reborn?" She muttered to herself, but still got up to wash up. For breakfast, she didn't drink porridge, but made herself a cup of malted milk powder, which she ate with steamed buns, braised eggs, and pickles. Zhou Yanshen had a good appetite and devoured most of the leftover snake and rabbit meat from last night, but deliberately left the meatiest parts for her.

After the two finished packing, they opened the tent.

Commander Zhao was sipping goji berry and jujube water with his eyes half-closed, looking quite content; Old Zhang was humming a tuneless little tune as he flipped through a book; only Li Guodong was pacing back and forth in the tent, checking his watch every three seconds.

Upon seeing Su Wanqing enter, he couldn't help but exclaim, "Look at the time! It's seven o'clock! We got up at five to wait for you, and here you are—"

The words were on the tip of his tongue when he remembered the braised snake meat from last night. He was indebted to those who had fed him. Then, recalling Zhou Yanshen's words from this morning, he swallowed the rest of his sentence and sighed, "Never mind, never mind, let's go when we're ready. Everyone's waiting for you."

Su Wanqing yawned: "You old folks get up at five, you can't blame me, can you? Xinjiang is in a different time zone than the rest of China, they don't start work until eight, seven is already very early. Besides—" She winked mischievously, "Didn't you say you didn't believe there were mines there? Why are you in such a hurry than anyone else?"

Li Guodong was speechless.

That makes sense. If he doesn't think so, why is he in such a hurry? He stubbornly insisted, "Since we've already agreed to go take a look, let's go. We can't let any opportunity slip by."

Su Wanqing shrugged: "Let's go. Just bring the drilling equipment, nothing else."

Li Guodong was taken aback: "Don't you need the other equipment?"

"Hmm, no need for it."

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Li Guodong opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but then held back. He couldn't bring any other assistive devices; they were all being repaired today.

……

The group set off.

The equipment was minimal, consisting only of a generator and a drilling rig, with seven or eight people pushing a cart. Commander Zhao, having nothing better to do, joined in the fun. There were also two horses, one to carry supplies, and the other for Su Wanqing to ride—she was pregnant and couldn't handle walking too much on the mountain paths.

A group of more than twenty people, scattered here and there, headed into the mountains in a grand procession.

There were no roads, only footsteps. Sometimes they had to turn over rocks, sometimes they had to climb slopes. Li Guodong and Zhang Lao were old, but they were used to being in the wild, and their legs were very nimble, walking more steadily than young people.

More than an hour later, we arrived at our destination.

The sun had just risen, casting a warm glow on the mountain valley. The terrain here was low-lying, with a small river flowing by, its banks covered with pebbles of all sizes. The mountains on both sides were bare, with grayish-white rock layers exposed, and clumps of tangled shrubs scattered here and there.

Su Wanqing pointed to an inconspicuous spot on the riverbank in the distance: "There, dig down."

Old Zhang squinted for a long time, then hissed, "Here? This place doesn't look like it... Fluorite deposits are usually found in granite contact zones, and there should be skarn alteration around them, but here..."

Li Guodong laughed in exasperation: "You didn't just point randomly, did you? I thought you'd base your judgment on some terrain feature, and this is it?" He turned to the two students, "Tell me, does this place meet the conditions for mineralization?"

The two students took out their notebooks, flipped through them, and then looked around. They shook their heads in unison: "This is a sedimentary rock area, so there usually aren't any fluorite deposits here."

Old Zhang coughed lightly: "Usually... but not always. We're already here..."

Su Wanqing didn't bother to explain and directly pointed to the location: "Dig from here, about ten meters down. I've observed the area, and there are scattered signs of mineralization here."

Commander Zhao immediately made the decision: "We're already here! We won't need the equipment today anyway, so let's dig!" He waved his hand, "Men, let's get to work!"

Li Guodong shook his head, a look on his face saying, "I knew this would happen." But he still pointed to another spot: "If we really want to dig, I suggest starting over there. The rock strata here aren't aligned correctly..."

Su Wanqing said firmly, "Right here."

Li Guodong's face turned red, and he flicked his sleeve: "Whatever! Humph!" He turned and walked to the side, out of sight, out of mind.

The drilling rig roared to life.

An hour later, after digging down more than four meters, they encountered several large rocks. People jumped down to clear them and continued digging.

Two hours later, after nearly eight meters, it was still just rock fragments.

These are all good drill bits, much better than those drill bits used for well drilling that can't even dig a meter per hour. Each of these drill bits costs a lot of money! Every one we use is one less available!

Li Guodong's heart ached: "This drill bit is made in China, and its lifespan is inherently short. If we keep wasting it like this..." He looked at Su Wanqing, "How about we just forget about it? I won't hold what happened before against you."

Su Wanqing sensed the distance being approached—thanks to the feedback from her Eye of Insight. She smiled slightly: "Old Li, you said yesterday that if we really found it, you'd..."

Li Guodong's face darkened: "I did say that! But look how deep they've dug! I advise you not to be so stubborn until you've actually dug it out, then come back to talk to me about this—"

Before the words were even finished, an exclamation suddenly came from the drilling rig: "Oh no! The drill bit is stuck! It seems to have hit something hard!"