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

"Wow, this girl's drawing is so beautiful! We've never seen anything like this back then!"

A group of disabled old men surrounded Zhou's mother, praising her work. Zhou's mother couldn't suppress her smile; she became more and more proud as she drew.

Su Wanqing shook her head – Zhou's mother seemed to be living quite comfortably, and that was good, so she wouldn't go back and upset her.

She stepped forward and greeted her, "Mom, are you settling in well here?"

Zhou's mother put down her pen, smoothed her hair, and gave a rare kind look: "It's alright, but the biggest room is still a bit small, though it's convenient for taking a bath. Tell the cafeteria to add an extra meat dish for lunch; there's still too little meat. Your uncle gave you all his savings, can't you afford to give him more meat?"

Su Wanqing was too lazy to argue and casually replied, "Okay, add a dish of braised pork every day at noon from now on." Uncle Ding had already given her several hundred kilograms of gold, so adding a piece of meat for Zhou's mother was nothing.

The disabled soldiers standing nearby felt embarrassed: "That's enough, that's enough. Two meat dishes are enough. Any more would be a waste."

Just then, some people saw Old Wang and immediately surrounded him, exclaiming, "Oh! Old Wang is here!"

"Director Wang, you've finally arrived! We've been here for the past few days, and we've had nothing to do all day. What exactly is this job you mentioned?"

"Yeah, we're eating and living here for free. My daughter even cooks here, saying she gets seventeen yuan a month! I'm too ashamed to stay any longer."

"That's right! Don't let my missing hand fool you, I was a front-line soldier back in the day, incredibly strong! Old Zheng said they needed people to do the work here and wanted me to contribute to the organization, so I came!"

"Exactly! You even let my husband come along. All he has to do is cook, and you even pay him a month. You couldn't find a job like that even with a lantern! I don't feel at ease with this; I need to get started right away!"

An old man spoke loudly and quickly, as if afraid of being chased away if he was even a step too slow.

When these disabled veterans first heard that the organization needed them to work, and that they would not only be paid but also provided with meals, and that they could bring their families along, they were overjoyed. Without saying a word, they packed their bags and came with their spouses.

After eating and staying for free for several days, everyone was quite uneasy, feeling that it wasn't right to eat for free.

Old Wang smiled and waved his hand, calming everyone down: "Alright, alright, don't rush! This is Comrade Su Wanqing, the founder of the Disabled Veterans Mutual Aid Center I told you about. She built the building, and she's the one who gathered you all from all over the country. We should have assigned you tasks a long time ago, but she went to give birth recently, which delayed her by a few days. So, she's here today to assign you tasks!"

Everyone turned to look at Su Wanqing, as if to tell her: old soldiers may be old, but they can still go into battle! What they lack is not strength, but an opportunity to prove that they are still "useful".

Su Wanqing greeted everyone with a smile: "Don't worry, everyone. Today I'm just here to assign you tasks. But this mutual aid center isn't a charity; it's not about letting you eat and drink for free. It's about enabling you to create value and earn money so that more disabled veterans can come and settle down here. Now, let me ask you all: are you settling in well these past few days? Is the food good? Is there anything you need?"

These words immediately caused an uproar among the veterans.

"What's there to be unaccustomed to! Every meal has meat, rice, and vegetables. It's much better than at home. We can pick and choose from seven or eight dishes. Even landlords don't get this kind of treatment!"

"The living space is spacious. Back in my hometown, we still live in mud-brick houses. Here, there are white walls, red tiles, and multi-story buildings. The toilets are all flush toilets, which is very convenient!"

"The key is that before, it was just my wife and me, all alone. Now, everyone here is together, talking and having fun. It's more lively than heaven!"

A hearty laugh rang out in the courtyard.

Su Wanqing smiled and waved her hand, saying, "Alright, in that case, everyone come with me to choose your jobs."

She led the large crowd toward the neighboring Academy of Agricultural Sciences.

With no one watching, Zhou's mother scoffed, stopped drawing, and turned to go back to her room to watch TV.

After a year of living in the countryside, she cherished her life even more: she didn't have to cook, she didn't have to clean her room, she could watch TV whenever she wanted, she could go downstairs to paint and be envied by others, and she could even take a walk with Gu Yuan after dinner.

As for her daughter-in-law not serving her? It doesn't matter. She'd rather stay away from her son and daughter-in-law than see them being all lovey-dovey every day.

Su Wanqing led the wounded soldiers to the chicken farm and first introduced them to their colleagues who were already working there.

She cleared her throat. "This chicken farm is now a secret national experimental base. Whether ordinary people can eat an egg a day in the future depends on whether everyone can raise these chickens well. This is an extremely important task, and it is only entrusted to people trusted by the organization."

Good heavens, as soon as those words were spoken, the veterans who had previously thought raising chickens was just about feeding them all straightened their backs immediately, as if they had received some glorious mission, and eagerly made their promises:

"Mission accomplished!"

Su Wanqing immediately allocated more than twenty more slots.

Xiao Wang's lips twitched as he watched from behind—there were clearly only a few hundred chickens, but Su Wanqing's description made it sound like there were tens of thousands. However, according to the plan, the number could indeed be expanded to several thousand or even tens of thousands in two months, and with more people, there would be no shortage of work.

After allocating the quotas for chicken farms, the remaining slots were assigned to mushroom farms.

As for those with mobility issues, Su Wanqing asked Lao Wang to find some craftsmen to teach them to weave handmade bamboo crafts, straw sandals, cloth crafts, and the like.

She didn't say anything extra, only casually mentioning, "Next month, the country is organizing a trip abroad for inspections, and we'll take some of our handicrafts with us to sell." Upon hearing that their goods were going to be sold abroad, the legless men were as excited as if they'd been injected with chicken blood, eager to start working on the spot, determined not to be looked down upon!

After a busy morning, Su Wanqing finally managed to get the work for the disabled veterans roughly arranged.

However, she also realized a problem: the current profit model is too singular, relying entirely on chicken and mushroom farming, which can only accommodate a limited number of people.

"Ultimately, it's because I don't have enough businesses. I can't fit more people in."

She reflected on what opportunities there were to start a business and make money in the 1980s, and how to bring together disabled veterans from all over the country to do something profitable—relying solely on her investment was not a long-term solution; the mutual aid center needed to be able to generate its own revenue.

She thought for a moment and decided there was no rush. "Let's leave this to Xiuer. Didn't she say she had a new idea after the New Year?"

Then she remembered the musk deer that had already paired up in the space. "Right, before Xiuer's plan is implemented, we need to find some people to raise musk deer. The musk deer cubs in the space are old enough to run errands, and the ones in the real world should be pregnant too. When someone comes in a few days, we'll give them priority in raising musk deer."

Musk is a valuable substance that costs tens of thousands of dollars per kilogram; it shouldn't be wasted.