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

Afterwards, Su Wanqing went to the isolation area in the backyard of the command post in a good mood.

The scene before her eyes surprised her slightly—the expected scene of everyone lying down did not appear. The patients who had taken norfloxacin, which she had specially prepared with a tenfold return, along with the potent spiritual spring water, recovered at an astonishing speed and were all full of energy.

People couldn't stay idle. The men built several simple outhouses with mud bricks and wood, while the women gathered together to paste paper boxes, and some even made stools, chairs, and beds. In short, everyone was doing all sorts of things.

When Liu Shuqing came to inspect, Su Wanqing reported with a smile: "Officer Liu, everyone is recovering very well. I estimate that they will all be able to go home after quarantine in the next day or two."

However, Liu Shuqing showed no joy on his face, only managing a forced smile: "Comrade Xiao Su, thank you for your hard work." His brows were furrowed, and he seemed preoccupied.

Su Wanqing knew that something bad must have happened.

Sure enough, Liu Shuqing then gathered the entire village at the threshing ground. Looking at the dense crowd below, his voice was heavy:

"Fellow villagers, I have bad news. The water supply from upstream has completely dried up. Even with careful management, the water from our existing irrigation canals can only save less than a third of the wheat fields at most. The rest... we'll have to give up."

These words were like a bolt from the blue, and the scene instantly erupted!

"Officer Liu! We're not afraid of hardship or fatigue! We can fetch water from somewhere else!"

"That's right! The autumn harvest is just around the corner, how can we give up so much wheat? That's our food supply for the whole year!"

"The nearest water source for the 65th Regiment is more than 20 kilometers away. A round trip takes most of the day. How many buckets of water can they carry back? It's just a drop in the ocean!"

"Aren't we digging a well right now, Officer Liu? If the well water comes out, I won't drink a drop; I'll use it all to irrigate the fields!"

Liu Shuqing waved his hand wearily. "I know how you all feel! But the reality is that even if we all work ourselves to exhaustion, we can't save that much wheat! The most urgent thing now is to discuss which plots of land to abandon, concentrate all water resources, and save the rest! Otherwise, we won't even be able to save this little harvest!"

Everyone understood that what Secretary Liu said was true.

The diesel generator, which was previously considered crucial, now seems so insignificant in the face of the life-or-death food crisis—what use is a threshing machine when there are no harvestable crops?

Su Wanqing remained silent throughout, but her gaze was fixed on the well-digging site behind the house. She saw Zhou Yanshen and the men, shirtless, sweating profusely, their movements even more frantic and hurried than before.

At night, the entire village was shrouded in a silent despair.

The educated youth settlement was filled with sighs and lamentations.

With the harvest drastically reduced, they will not receive any food, and the winter will be extremely difficult.

The drilling team continued digging in three shifts that night, but the machines got too hot and needed to rest for a few hours. The well had been dug to a depth of about ten meters, but there was still no moisture in it; it was all dry, hard soil.

Su Wanqing originally thought that Zhou Yanshen, who was exhausted after a long day, would fall asleep immediately. However, when she asked him in a low voice whether to continue the acupuncture treatment, he remained silent in the darkness for a moment, and then gave a soft "hmm".

Su Wanqing raised an eyebrow slightly. As expected of the male lead, his stamina and endurance were indeed extraordinary.

And so, the familiar "torture" unfolded once again under the cover of night...

(The indescribable acupuncture process and Zhou's mother's suffering are omitted here.)

The next day, Su Wanqing looked around her space as soon as she opened her eyes. After thinking about it, she realized that she had been eyeing the big piece of cured meat that Aunt Zhang had given her for the past two days, but she couldn't bear to eat it... This was a rare piece of meat that had passed the official approval process. She would take her time with the others and focus on the meat that had passed the official approval process first.

"Tenfold return!"

Suddenly, ten large pieces of cured pork, each missing a corner, appeared in the space. Su Wanqing was delighted. From now on, she could add a piece of chopped cured pork to her stir-fries every day, and it would last a long time. It was so delicious!

Su Wanqing was in a good mood, but Zhou's mother had dark circles under her eyes that resembled those of a panda, and her face was ashen, as if her soul had been taken away.

She called out weakly to Zhou Yanshen, who was about to leave, her tone filled with an unprecedented sense of compromise and pleading:

"Yan Shen, once you've finished digging the well, hurry up and divide the house into two rooms with bricks. Make sure to install wooden doors, and sturdy ones at that!"

The most important thing is soundproofing, you know?

"From now on, you can do whatever you want at night, Mom won't interfere, just... just keep your voices down, don't torture Mom anymore. Mom's getting old, if I don't sleep all night, my old life will almost be over..."

Zhou's mother has been living too comfortably lately. She knows her son can't do anything and the two of them can't do much, which is why she doesn't allow them to put things down. If that brat Su Wanqing dared to call her, she would have hit her long ago, but it's her own son... what can she say?

Oh dear, she miscalculated. She didn't expect young people these days to be so adept at it.

Su Wanqing lowered her head and pursed her lips tightly to keep herself from laughing out loud.

This wicked mother-in-law couldn't take it after just two nights? She surrendered already? That's it??

A faint blush crept onto Zhou Yanshen's face as he whispered, "Okay, Mom. We'll put it away when the bricks arrive tomorrow."

He also felt that the partition had to be done immediately! Every night, listening to his wife's shallow breathing beside him while he had to hold his breath and dare not breathe too loudly was a bittersweet torment.

Su Wanqing: You see, sometimes solving problems is that simple. No need to argue or make a scene; as long as her core interests are touched, even the most difficult person will compromise. She was so adamant about not agreeing before, but that's because she hadn't felt the pain yet.

Today, the digging of the irrigation canal has been completely halted because there is no water to draw.

Even daily drinking water became difficult, and many villagers, whether hoping for the best or completely desperate, couldn't help but gather around the well-drilling site.

"Will this well ever produce water? If it doesn't, our whole village will die of thirst!"

"Look at this soil we dug out, it's so dry it's suffocating, there's not a drop of moisture in it!"

Sister Zhao, mingling in the crowd, crossed her arms and said loudly with schadenfreude:

"I told you so! My cousin works for a professional well-drilling team. They've already surveyed the area; it's a water-scarce zone, no water to be found! But some people just wouldn't believe it and insisted on messing around! Look at them, wasting two days' worth of effort and so much manpower!"

No sooner had Sister Zhao finished speaking than a rough male voice came from outside the crowd:

"Zhao Xiaojuan! How's the drilling rig going? The team over there is urging me to take it back!"

Everyone turned around and saw a middle-aged man in work clothes with dark skin squeeze in. It was Wang Tiezhu, Sister Zhao's cousin who worked on the county's well-drilling team.

He frowned as he looked at the deep pit and the surrounding geology, then clicked his tongue.

"Nonsense! Who chose this spot? The soil structure here clearly indicates a water-scarce area; we won't be able to drill for water at all! Didn't I tell your team this already? Xiaojuan, you too, you didn't mention you were borrowing the drill rig here! It's a complete waste of diesel!"