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

Aunt Wang clicked her tongue: "Alright, I've got plenty of strength anyway, you tell me what to do!"

After finishing with the mycelium, Su Wanqing went over the accounts with Xiuer. Xiuer was truly a strong woman; she could work eighteen hours a day. She was quick-witted and had a good memory. While carrying boxes, she reported the accounts clearly.

After checking the accounts, Su Wanqing received her share of the oyster mushroom earnings from the past two weeks—a full 2250 yuan. In those days, this was undoubtedly a huge sum of money. Keep in mind, this was only two weeks' worth of income, and it was what was left over after the farm's share had been distributed!

"Okay, you guys go ahead with your work. I'll go talk to Secretary Liu and ask him to build a few more rooms."

Building a brick house with a kang (heated brick bed) for an individual would cost at least 500 yuan. But it's different when the production and construction corps (farm) takes care of it—they provide a dozen or so laborers, each earning ten work points a day; they have cooperative relationships with the brick and tile factory, so they can get cheaper materials; and they have tractors from the production and construction corps for transportation. All in all, the cost of a house is only about 200 yuan. However, the brick house is the property of the production and construction corps.

……

When Su Wanqing found Liu Shuqing, he had just finished processing Gu Yuan's grain ration. Seeing her, he assumed it was about that and immediately said, "Don't worry, Dr. Su, your father-in-law's grain ration is all settled. Now that it's done, we need to arrange work for him, otherwise he won't get his grain rations next year. There's a suitable job available now—the school needs a substitute teacher."

He paused, then explained frankly, "But I also have to make it clear that school teachers are tenured. He's only a temporary worker, with only work points and basic coupons. He doesn't get the food coupons, cloth coupons, or border subsidies that regular employees get. If he doesn't want to do it, he'll have to work in the fields."

Even this temporary teacher position is a coveted job—sitting in the classroom and talking, you can earn ten work points a day, much easier than working in the fields. Liu Shuqing only gave it to him because of Su Wanqing.

Su Wanqing: "..." Father-in-law?

Su Wanqing forced a smile: "Thank you, Secretary Liu. I'll ask Uncle Gu for his opinion. But the main reason I came here is to discuss with you the matter of adding a planting shed." She emphasized the words "Uncle Gu".

Liu Shuqing then understood that she could no longer call her father-in-law.

However, Liu Shuqing's eyes lit up when the topic of adding planting sheds came up. The planting site had earned the group over ten thousand yuan in the past few months, especially in the last two weeks, with income skyrocketing. He waved his hand confidently: "Build it! It's just adding a few rooms, right? Ten rooms should be enough!"

Su Wanqing nodded and added, "By the way, I'd like to build another one myself. When we return to the city, this house will naturally still belong to the farm."

Liu Shuqing nodded repeatedly: "Okay, then let's go with the cost price. We'll make it public later to avoid gossip in the village." This money definitely has to be collected—every time brick houses are built, thousands of eyes are watching, and everyone knows who gets a house and who doesn't. Su Wanqing is paying for the construction herself, so it's perfectly legitimate, and no one can say anything about it.

He knew that Su Wanqing's family was not short of money, and accepting the money would prevent anyone from accusing him of favoritism and giving all the good houses to Su Wanqing's family.

"The oyster mushroom cultivation is now stable. We can grow 3,000 jin of fresh mushrooms per cycle, and the cultivation bags can produce several hundred mushrooms a week. The shiitake mushrooms and white fungus will also enter the fruiting stage in a few months," Su Wanqing continued. "We really don't have enough manpower, so I'd like to apply to hire two more people. As usual, the farm will provide one subsidy, and I'll personally provide an additional 80 cents per day. Do you have any reliable people you can recommend? I've already found someone myself."

Although Su Wanqing is in charge of the planting site, she won't be staying there for long. She plans to return to the city next year and wants to take Xiuer with her, but the situation between Xiuer and Guo Mingyuan is still uncertain. In any case, she needs to leave a local person at the planting site to prevent the business from falling apart once they leave.

Liu Shuqing was surprised that Su Wanqing would give him such a great spot for a recommendation, and he was a little excited: "Dr. Su, you really want me to recommend you? Your planting site is the most sought-after place in the whole group right now, you can earn double wages a day, so many people are desperate to get in!"

Su Wanqing said seriously, "I trust the people recommended by Party Secretary Liu more. This kind of mushroom is a big deal and cannot be taken lightly. If something goes wrong and our reputation is ruined, dozens of counties around us are eating our oyster mushrooms."

Liu Shuqing felt comforted by these words and thought about it carefully: "You're right, we need to find someone trustworthy. Then I won't hold back—I have a cousin named Liu Yingchun. She only has an elementary school education. Her parents passed away early, and she has had a hard life, but she's reliable and capable. She found a temporary job in the county town a while ago, worked there for a few months, but was replaced by someone else, and is now worried about finding work. Having her do this kind of delicate work would definitely be suitable."

My cousin only earns a dozen yuan a month in the county town, and now someone else has taken her job. She's really worried. Growing mushrooms here pays double a day, which is better than in the county town, so she'd definitely be happy to come.

Su Wanqing nodded. What she needed was someone Secretary Liu could trust, so she could feel at ease handing over the planting site after returning to the city.

"I'd also like to recommend someone—Chuncao, the wife of Ga Laosan."

Liu Shuqing was somewhat surprised: "Her?"

Su Wanqing hummed in agreement. The experimental lavender field was growing perfectly, the flowers were in bloom, and it was just a matter of waiting a few days to harvest them for extracting essential oils and making soap. She had only hired Ga Laosan, but his wife Chuncao had been helping to take care of it, so it was like a buy-one-get-one-free deal. She had seen how diligent Chuncao had been these past few months, and of course, she would prioritize hiring people she knew well.

Liu Shuqing nodded: "Okay, then it's settled. I'll arrange for the addition of the planting house right away. Have them deliver the bricks today, start construction tomorrow, finish the house in a week, and let it air out for a few more days before it's ready to use."

After saying this, Su Wanqing prepared to take her leave. However, Liu Shuqing whispered that his master told Su Wanqing to come see him as soon as she returned, since a lot of goods had accumulated over the past half month and it was time to settle accounts.

Su Wanqing agreed and said she would go to the county town this afternoon. She remembered that she had left Director Li with a lot of drills when she left last time. She wondered how much gold and cash she would receive when she returned this time.

Coincidentally, she went there today to exchange the dozens of kilograms of gold in her storage space for cash with Director Li.

Afterwards, she went to the farm's health center and posted a notice: work will resume tomorrow. She then went to find Ga Laosan and Chuncao and told them the good news. Chuncao was so happy she almost knelt down.

On the way back, she didn't dare to linger. Everyone looked at her strangely, as if they wanted to say something but held back, and in the end, they could only respectfully call her "Dr. Xiao Su".

She guessed that as soon as she left, there would be whispers behind her back: "Hey, did you know? Dr. Su's mother-in-law is having an affair..."

"Sigh." Su Wanqing quickened her pace and hurried home.

Regardless, let's avoid the limelight for now and stay home as much as possible. It's clearly Zhou's mother who's messing around, but why is it being made to look like she's the one doing it?