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

As soon as Su Wanqing reached her doorstep, she smelled a rich aroma of stewed chicken and mushrooms. These days, if someone is stewing a chicken, the smell can be smelled throughout half the village, let alone her yard.

Pushing open the door, the chicken feathers and blood in the yard had been cleaned up neatly. Gu Yuan was carrying a large pot of steaming chicken stew with mushrooms into the house. The table was already set with: a large portion of cabbage stew with smoked bacon, a side of stir-fried greens with garlic given by Director Wang from the yard, and a small pot of scrambled eggs with scallions. In total, there were six dishes, and the staple food was rice.

Even the landlord wouldn't dare to eat such a luxurious meal.

Seeing Su Wanqing return, Gu Yuan smiled familiarly and said, "Little Su, your mother said she wanted to have some nourishing food, so I killed a chicken. We just happened to have some guests, and I saw some smoked meat hanging on the wall, so I took it down and stir-fried it too. You don't mind, do you?"

Su Wanqing: "..."

"If I mind, you won't make it?" But she couldn't say anything, since it was something Zhou's mother wanted to eat.

She glanced around the room and saw three people: Lin Tingting, who seemed to be at home; Qin Xiao, who looked restless; and Qin Xue, who was curiously looking at Gu Yuan.

Su Wanqing sighed – Why are these three great gods here again?

Qin Xiao immediately stood up to greet her: "Sister-in-law is back? I was on a mission here, so I just stopped by to check on you. I already met with Yan Shen this morning."

Su Wanqing replied with a smile, "Hello, Brother Qin. Now that you're here, you should take a good rest for a few days."

He wondered to himself: Did these three hear about Zhou's mother's "deeds" last night and rush over overnight, or was Qin Xiao just passing by?

Qin Xue greeted her warmly, "Hehe, Sister-in-law Su, how have you been? We're here to bother you again. But your belly... it's growing really fast!"

Su Wanqing smiled but didn't reply.

Lin Tingting, legs crossed, munched on sunflower seeds, glancing sideways at Su Wanqing's belly, her jealousy surging again. She scoffed, "Uncle, why are you telling her so much? These chickens are raised by my eldest uncle, this smoked meat was bought by my eldest sister, and the vegetables in the garden are either taken care of by my eldest uncle or my cousin. What does it have to do with her? Now that my aunt wants to eat something nice, does she have to ask her, her daughter-in-law? Does she have the right to make decisions in this family?"

Su Wanqing smiled slightly and slowly rubbed her hands together: "Tingting, you've been gone for months and still haven't learned your lesson. Anyone can be in charge of this family, but when did it become your turn to speak? I think you're being cheeky again, do you want to get a beating again?"

Lin Tingting shuddered, remembering how daring Su Wanqing had been a few months ago, and immediately chickened out, swallowing back the words she was about to say.

Gu Yuan was quite pleased to hear Lin Tingting call him "Uncle," thinking how sweet the girl was. But after hearing her next words, he frowned: "Tingting, you can't say that. Your cousin and your sister-in-law are married, so everything in this house belongs to both of them. No one is in charge. Your sister-in-law usually cooks more, so she knows how much food is needed. I naturally need to let her know before using anything, so she doesn't misunderstand and think something is missing."

Qin Xue immediately chimed in, "That's right! Sister Tingting, if you were even half as good at talking and dealing with people as my uncle, you would have won my brother over long ago. If you ask me, with your stupidity, still mocking Sister Su, no wonder you still can't handle my brother."

These words struck Lin Tingting right to the heart.

"You!" Lin Tingting spat out the sunflower seed shells and glared fiercely at Qin Xue. If Qin Xue hadn't been guarding against her like a thief these past few months, following her everywhere, she would have already won over Qin Xiao.

Seeing this, Su Wanqing understood immediately—these three definitely knew what happened last night. Of course, with them here, everyone around would gossip about Zhou's mother. But judging from Qin Xiao's embarrassed expression, he probably just happened to be passing by to see Zhou Yanshen, only to hear this shocking gossip as soon as he entered the group.

Before the two could start arguing, Zhou Yanshen returned, carrying two bottles of wine. He put down the wine and greeted them, "Brother Qin, you came in a hurry, so I don't have much to offer. Just have a simple lunch. Since you're off today, let's have a couple of drinks."

Qin Xiao was filled with regret. He had been leading a team on a mission and was going to stay in the 65th Regiment for a few days. He had planned to come and chat with Zhou Yanshen and complain to him—he was really fed up with Lin Tingting's nagging and wanted to ask his brother to take his cousin back as soon as possible.

As soon as he arrived at the troupe, he heard about Zhou's mother's situation. Only then did he realize that his brother was having an even harder time than he was!

"Alright, let's have a few drinks together today, you two!"

The atmosphere at the meal was relatively harmonious on the surface, thanks to Qin Xiao's presence.

Zhou Yanshen was indeed unhappy and drank a few more cups with Qin Xiao. Uncle Ding also had a couple of sips with him. Su Wanqing was seeing Zhou Yanshen drink for the first time, but she could understand—who would be in a good mood suddenly having a "stepfather" who was only a dozen years older than them?

That said, the meal was indeed delicious, especially the chicken stew with mushrooms, which was so fresh you could swallow your tongue.

Lin Tingting ate like she hadn't eaten in ages, burying her head in her food. These past few months, following Qin Xiao in the military family compound, she had suffered enough—the canteen there served bland soup every day, with hardly any meat scraps.

Seeing that she had devoured almost half a basin by herself, Zhou's mother frowned: "Tingting, your uncle stewed this chicken for me to nourish my body, can you leave some for me? You should eat more vegetables, don't you dislike meat the most?"

Lin Tingting used to have a small appetite; she would find even a third of a bowl of rice too much. But that was in the past—if you put this pampered young lady in a place where there was only porridge and mixed grains for a few months, she'd never be picky about food again.

Qin Xue ate to her heart's content, squinting her eyes as she thought: This Lin Tingting is really annoying. If I weren't wary of her, I could have been living a good life here with Sister Su and Brother Zhou long ago. Wouldn't it be better if the three of them lived a good life?

At the dinner table, Zhou Yanshen asked Qin Xiao, "Brother Qin, what exactly is your mission this time?"

Qin Xiao swallowed a mouthful of wine: "The higher-ups said there might be a blizzard this year, possibly even earlier. They've ordered us to take supply trucks to distribute supplies to various places, ensuring each county has enough food and winter gear, and also to check on response measures and storage conditions. We're also responsible for allocation—for example, distributing the extra corn from the 62nd Regiment to other counties, and redistributing the specialties from the 63rd Regiment. Now it's your 65th Regiment's turn; you'll have to stay for a few days." He paused, somewhat puzzled, "But it's only October; isn't it still a long way off for snow?"

Su Wanqing's eyes lit up.

Her letter to Leader Jiang and Old Li last time worked. Now there's someone specifically in charge of this matter.

Zhou Yanshen looked at Su Wanqing. Qin Xiao noticed something was wrong and asked suspiciously, "What's wrong? Is this... related to your sister-in-law?"