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

Su Wanqing tiptoed and kissed him on the cheek. The two said goodbye reluctantly.

Uncle Ding hurried to find Captain Zhang to repair the toilet for Zhou's mother—so that she wouldn't have to go to the dry toilet again, which was far away and slippery.

Su Wanqing was secretly overjoyed.

In the past month or so, she has transported tens of thousands of tons of coal to the back mountain, and the frequency has been increasing recently.

But after so many attempts, I haven't received a single merit reward.

What does this mean? It means the disaster isn't over yet! The settlement hasn't even begun! She has no idea how much merit and reward she'll receive when the settlement comes.

It's a win! It's a win!

There are still plenty of merit points to accumulate later.

We can ask Director Li what else she needs soon—back in the Yili granary, she returned ten times the amount of rice and flour from the entire warehouse. Those things have lost their precious metal power and can't be used to upgrade the space. Instead of keeping them, it's better to sell them all and exchange them for money or gold—it'll also bring merit!

Zhou Yanshen is gone, she can finally unleash her full potential!

……

Before Su Wanqing could recover from the slight disappointment of Zhou Yanshen's departure, there was a loud banging on the door. She put on her thick cotton-padded coat and got off the kang (a heated brick bed) to open the door—she still felt that this was the downside of the countryside; the kang was so comfortable, but it was freezing cold as soon as she got off.

Grandma Wang blushed with excitement: "Dr. Su, hurry to the planting site! So many big reporters have come, I heard they're from the People's Daily! And some high-ranking officials, they all want to meet you and interview you, some even have cameras to take pictures!"

Su Wanqing was taken aback: "Oh, I'll change my clothes and go right away."

She didn't expect that Old Master Shen would actually bring people over, and so many of them at that.

She quickly took off her old clothes, changed into a more presentable red sweater and navy blue trousers, put on a military overcoat, and combed her hair into two braids and pinned them up at the back of her head. Instantly, she looked both intellectual and beautiful. This was going to be in the newspaper, so she couldn't be too casual.

When Su Wanqing arrived at the planting site, although she was mentally prepared, she was still taken aback by the scene—a large crowd of more than a dozen people were gathered there, some carrying cameras, some holding microphones, and some taking notes, blocking the entrance to the planting site completely.

Mr. Shen was giving a radiant introduction to everyone, while an elderly scholar stood beside him, his face beaming with excitement, his eyes practically popping out of the mushroom shed.

"Here she comes! Dr. Su is here!"

"Let Dr. Su tell us!"

Old Shen pushed through the crowd, pulled Su Wanqing in, and proudly introduced her: "Little Su, this is from Xinjiang Daily, this is from Guangming Daily, this is reporter Zhang from People's Daily. And you know this one too, my old classmate, researcher Lao Liu from the Central Academy of Agricultural Sciences."

Su Wanqing greeted everyone.

A reporter wearing glasses was the first to ask: "Comrade Su, I heard that your shiitake mushroom cultivation cycle is four months, and one batch of mycelium can produce 3,000 jin of shiitake mushrooms? That's more than double the yield of the artificially cultivated mushrooms by the Academy of Agricultural Sciences?"

Su Wanqing nodded: "The yield of this batch is indeed as stated, there is no exaggeration. Now that the mycelial propagation technology is mature, we can achieve an even higher yield for the next batch."

A collective gasp filled the air.

This yield is simply unbelievable at this stage—it's as shocking as hearing that someone's rice yield is 1,000 jin per mu. The Academy of Agricultural Sciences hasn't even cultivated artificial shiitake mushrooms yet, and you're already mass-producing them?

Old Liu, Mr. Shen's old classmate, didn't care about losing face anymore and excitedly pressed for an answer:

"Last time we came, you were still working on the problem of mycelial propagation for shiitake mushrooms. You've solved it this time? Last time you estimated a four-month cycle, but this time it's done in three and a half months? To what extent will your mycelial propagation reach the next batch? Is it possible that as long as there is enough original mycelium, the next batch can produce 300,000 jin (150 tons)?"

Whether it's shiitake or oyster mushrooms, the current problem is still the quality of the mycelium of the original and mother cultures. In principle, as long as there is enough mycelium and no other fungi grow, the yield can be increased.

Su Wanqing hadn't expected the ordinary spiritual spring to be so effective, managing to shorten the cycle by more than half a month. Ultimately, it wasn't that she was particularly powerful; it was simply that the ordinary spiritual spring in her space was incredibly amazing.

She nodded: "The mycelium has been propagated sufficiently in the past two months. As long as the auxiliary materials and manpower are sufficient, this output can be achieved in principle." Even without the spiritual spring in the future, with the advancement of mycelium extraction technology, it will not be difficult to reach the output of later generations.

Most reporters didn't quite understand the significance behind this; they only knew that the artificial cultivation of shiitake mushrooms and white fungus was a good thing for ordinary people, as it meant they would have another food to eat.

But for Lao Liu, this was absolutely outrageous—

"Good, good, good!" He grabbed Old Shen's hand, heartbroken.

"Old Shen, you must give me this man! If you delay any longer, you're wasting the nation's seeds and hindering agricultural progress! You know what it means for the whole country that Comrade Xiao Su can cultivate such shiitake mushrooms! You can't selfishly keep him here! Comrade Xiao Su must come back to the Central Committee with me!"

He became more and more excited as he spoke: "Time is tight and the task is heavy. Comrade Xiao Su has prepared the original and mother cultures. Come back to the Central Committee with me and distribute the original cultures directly. Cultivate them according to her guidance, and in three and a half months, the people of the whole country will be able to eat artificially cultivated shiitake mushrooms and tremella! Do you know how big of a progress this is? Do you know what this means!"

Old Shen was both proud and reluctant to let her go, waving his hands anxiously: "Old Liu, what difference does it make where you develop your career? Xiao Su is going back to Bincheng with her husband next month, so it's the same if you want her back then. She still needs to stay here to research rice seeds... Besides, this isn't something you can say in front of reporters, aren't you being reckless? Finish the interview first, we'll talk about the rest later!"

Old Liu's eyes lit up, and he glared at Old Shen: "That won't do, you have to say it now!" He couldn't care less about anything else! The problem he'd been researching for over a decade had been solved today; how could he possibly care about anyone else?!

He turned to Su Wanqing, his tone earnest, "Comrade Su, I heard you're going back to the city soon? It doesn't matter where you go, just come directly to our Central Academy of Agricultural Sciences! I know you're pregnant and don't have the energy, so I'll make you a specially appointed researcher, with the待遇 of a division chief, an apartment, and all the usual rewards!"

The surrounding reporters looked at Su Wanqing with envy—growing mushrooms had earned her a division-level position at the Central Academy of Agricultural Sciences, something many people wouldn't even dare to dream of.

Su Wanqing smiled apologetically: "Mr. Liu, I appreciate your kindness. My wife is going back to Bincheng, and I will definitely go back to Bincheng too. However, I have no problem occasionally going to the central government for business trips or technical exchanges, or even taking up a temporary post there. I'm happy to contribute to the country. So I think going to the Bincheng Academy of Agricultural Sciences would be the same."

Several reporters stared wide-eyed, all feeling it was a pity that Su Wanqing had refused—this was the Central Academy of Agricultural Sciences!

So you just casually rejected me like that?