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

Secretary Liu set a rule: one person from each household would shovel snow every day, in the morning, at noon, and in the afternoon. Gu Yuan and Uncle Ding carried their shovels out the door; after shoveling their own snow, they also had to shovel the main road in the village. The snow had been falling for two days, and the un-cleared areas were almost as high as the houses.

Because the 65th Regiment had made advance preparations, their warehouses were well-stocked with supplies. Party Secretary Liu distributed thirty jin of coal to each household; mixed with firewood, it should last for a few days, at least until the snow stopped.

Party Secretary Liu looked at the dozens of tons of coal in the warehouse and was also worried. If he had known this would happen, why didn't he buy more? This coal would only last the regiment for ten or fifteen days...

He slammed his hand on the table as punishment. Dr. Su had warned that the snowstorm was coming early, yet he still harbored wishful thinking, only buying such a small amount of coal...

Meanwhile, Zhou Yanshen and Qin Xiao started cracking eggs.

When Su Wanqing came out, the two men had already placed the bowl on the table, and Zhou Yanshen was using a homemade egg beater to whip the egg whites.

Qin Xiao, holding the egg beater, looked completely unconvinced: "That's it? Yan Shen, what's so difficult about this? I'm not bragging, but back in military training, there were some metrics where I wasn't as good as you, but when it comes to endurance, you can't beat me. I'll definitely beat this bowl of eggs faster than you."

Zhou Yanshen smiled but didn't say anything, focusing solely on preparing the eggs.

Brother Qin is still too young.

Su Wanqing ate her breakfast leisurely, gazing out the window. Snowflakes were falling heavily, blanketing everything in white—a breathtakingly beautiful sight. If only she had a bubble tea or taro balls with it!

She thought for a moment, then pulled out the imported Nestlé coffee she'd bought with the ticket Director Li had given her, added some malted milk powder, and sat by the window with her cup. Enjoying the snow, sipping her coffee, and watching the two handsome men, Zhou Yanshen and Qin Xiao, prepare eggs—she finally found some semblance of comfort.

Both of them were indeed in good physical condition. After finishing two large basins, they continued to beat, their hands practically gleaming with light as they swung them.

Lin Tingting and Qin Xue were both curious about what this "honey chicken cake" that Su Wanqing mentioned was. Just hearing the name made it sound delicious. Su Wanqing didn't let them sit idle either, instructing them to grind red dates, mix dough, and do various preparatory work, while she only had to talk.

Qin Xiao initially thought it would just be a matter of cracking a few bowls of eggs, taking at most an hour or two. Who knew it would take all day? He'd switch hands repeatedly, his left hand getting tired, then his right, then his right, until it went numb. Towards the end, Qin Xiao started to question his existence, almost wishing he could just use his mouth!

He thought to himself, maybe he should just admit defeat, he really couldn't fight anymore. But when he saw Zhou Yanshen still fighting silently, he thought the kid was really good at pretending, even though he was sore and cramping, he was acting like nothing was wrong.

That Zhou Yanshen, he's been pretending ever since he joined the army! No way, I'm not going to believe it, I'm going to expose him today!

Several hours passed.

If it weren't for the irresistible aroma of honey chicken cake that Qin Xiao caught halfway through, he might have actually given up. Well, Zhou Yanshen, that kid, really... he admits he's no good.

Fortunately, when the first and second batches of sponge cakes came out of the oven, their sweet, soft, and fluffy aroma wafted across half a street, which was a powerful weapon in those days.

Su Wanqing distributed the first batch of sponge cakes to everyone: "Brother Qin, Yan Shen, you should try them quickly, they taste best when they're fresh out of the oven."

Qin Xiao felt like his arms weren't even his own anymore, but after taking a bite of the chicken cake, his eyes lit up. Qin Xue and Lin Tingting were even more so; they had been complaining about having too much work, but now they were eating without even lifting their heads. Only Zhou's mother lay comfortably on the kang (a heated brick bed), reading a comic book while eating chicken cake, and even left seven or eight for Gu Yuan.

Su Wanqing asked with a smile, "Brother Qin, Yan Shen, are you tired? I want to make more so that I can share some with the villagers as a thank you gift, and keep some for myself."

Qin Xiao wiped his sweat and shook his hand, which he couldn't lift. "Not tired at all! This is nothing! I'm definitely better than Yan Shen at cracking eggs. We haven't decided a winner yet, right, Yan Shen?"

Zhou Yanshen gave a faint "hmm": "I don't feel anything either." He appeared to be in complete control and at ease, but his hands were actually trembling slightly. However, he didn't say anything; he was good at enduring it.

So the two continued fighting.

Su Wanqing chuckled as she went to prepare lunch—she couldn't possibly do it herself, so she naturally used the supplies stored in her spatial storage.

They made chicken cakes all day long. With the tenfold return from Su Wanqing's space, they almost used up all the eggs and made more than a dozen large pots of chicken cakes. They gave some to every family in the village, kept a lot for themselves, and filled their space to the brim.

In the end, Zhou Yanshen and Qin Xiao did not determine a winner.

Whenever Qin Xiao felt he couldn't move anymore, Zhou Yanshen would casually remark from the side, "Brother Qin, it seems you're not up anymore."

Qin Xiao immediately bristled like a fighting rooster: "Who said I can't do it? I think it's you who can't do it!"

So they kept fighting until everyone was done. Qin Xiao didn't even eat dinner; he went straight to bed and fell asleep, snoring loudly almost immediately—he was clearly exhausted.

Zhou Yanshen looked like a victorious rooster, his face calm and collected, but he was secretly delighted. However, when Su Wanqing saw that he didn't even pick up his bowl during dinner, but instead placed it on the table for the first time ever, she knew that he had probably reached his limit.

Sure enough, after dinner, Zhou Yanshen went to bed earlier than Su Wanqing.

At least she wasn't bothered anymore.

Su Wanqing smiled slightly: It seems that after a while, we won't be able to eat sponge cake anymore, but we can eat cream cake instead, and let Zhou Yanshen continue to serve us.

She then recalled last night... everything was fine at first, but later on, the emergency protective shield actually came out, although she forcibly retracted it after only a few seconds. But what does that mean?

This means that if you sense the force, you can really activate this thing.

Be more careful next time. As for whether she can be a free umbrella... Su Wanqing thinks it's possible, but she needs to test it out again.

……

The days of hibernation passed by quickly.

Ten days have passed in the blink of an eye.

For the first few days, everyone was laughing and joking, some pickling vegetables, others chopping firewood, and everything was going smoothly. But now, after ten days or so, the atmosphere in the whole village is not good—although the hail has completely stopped, the blizzard hasn't really stopped.

These days, it snows heavily all night or all day. In areas that haven't been cleared, the snow has piled up to the height of a three-story building, completely blocking traffic throughout the Ili Prefecture! All roads in villages, towns, and counties are blocked, and apart from people pulling ice sleds to transport some goods, no other means of transportation can get through.

A meeting is being held at the command center of the 65th Regiment.

Qin Xiao said in a deep voice, "If we hadn't received the order a month ago to transfer supplies from more than a dozen surrounding farms and counties, the various closed farms would probably be suffering heavy casualties now."

This wasn't just idle talk. Some farms had plenty of grain, while others specialized in cotton cultivation and had no food. The truck convoy he led had just managed to redistribute supplies from all the farms, covering more than a dozen farms and the county town, and now they had basic necessities like food, clothing, and other necessities.