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

The higher-ups have dispatched thousands of soldiers to dig up and repair roads outside; how could they possibly have the energy to deal with this inside?

Gu Zhixing panicked upon hearing this, "If we don't do something now, it might be too late!" He then turned to Su Wanqing for help.

"Sister-in-law, this matter is indeed very important. If we don't reinforce it now, it will be even more troublesome if it really slips." The losses in terms of time, energy, money, and materials will be enormous!

Su Wanqing's eyes lit up as soon as she heard that.

She already knew that Gu Zhixing was probably a reincarnated person, and the fact that he was speaking so confidently now meant that he must have dug out some key information from his past life's memories.

She immediately looked at Wei Guoliang: "Commander Wei, I think Zhixing makes a good point. He's precocious and knows geology, so he wouldn't make things up. If we really can't spare any manpower here, we can organize the mining area's labor force to do it. We have enough food now, and at least we don't lack manpower. We can also find ways to overcome other difficulties."

She thought to herself—if she could help prevent this second collapse, she might gain extra merit.

Upon hearing Gu Zhixing address Su Wanqing as "sister-in-law" and seeing Su Wanqing's serious expression, Wei Guoliang patted his chest and laughed without saying a word:

"Comrade Su Wanqing is truly prescient! In that case, I'll go find Commander Lei Dabiao in the mining area and ask him to send two teams of experienced miners over to lend a hand."

Wei Guoliang could ignore what other people said, but not what Comrade Su Wanqing said.

Although he still felt that the matter wasn't urgent, since Comrade Su Wanqing seemed to be in a hurry, he was determined to handle it perfectly, even if it meant risking his life.

Gu Zhixing silently retreated to the corner, his little face showing a mixture of relief and emo. He knew that his words as a child carried little weight, but he hadn't expected them to be this weak—when he spoke, people would give perfunctory replies and delays; but when Su Wanqing spoke, the other party immediately treated it as a top priority.

The difference is too big?

He's a useless reborn person. He'd be better off compiling all the important milestones and events that will happen in the next few years and giving them to Su Wanqing so she can prepare in advance; that would be much more practical.

As they were talking, a commotion suddenly broke out not far away.

"Dad, please eat a little more! You only ate that small bite, but there are still four of us. If the whole family eats sparingly, it'll be enough for several days. We won't starve!"

Old Zheng waved his hand and pushed the rice ball into his son's arms: "I'm full, I'm full. Old people have small appetites and can't eat much."

"Dad, don't lie to me! You usually eat three or four pounds of food in one meal, along with half a pot of porridge. Now you're saying you can't eat anymore? You're just trying to save food for us!"

Zheng Youniu's eyes were red with anxiety. "The higher-ups have distributed so much food, saying it's all there is to eat. Uncle Wu's family has already gone to get more a second time. How could you be so foolish? Are you trying to starve yourself to death? Even if you die, do you want us to live the rest of our lives carrying this guilt?"

Upon hearing this, Old Man Zheng also became angry and pointed to the sheds to the south:

"Look at Old Wu's family, and then look at Aunt Han's family. Which of the elderly people doesn't eat a couple of bites and then put it down? Do you think everyone is stupid?"

We don't know how much grain the country has in reserve right now, but this time it might have been scraped together by the higher-ups emptying the country's coffers to stabilize us.

Do you know how much food these more than one million people consume every day? Even if the roads are reopened in half a month, how much can be brought in from outside? Do you think we can eat such good food every day?

"Can we eat this for months until the reconstruction is complete? I won't eat such precious rice balls; I'll save them for you. I'm old, just need to keep myself going!"

Zheng Youniu's eyes were so red they were almost bloodshot. Aunt Han, standing nearby, also sighed.

"Hey, don't try to persuade them to stop. The Wu family is the same, and so is the old man from the Wang family. We're doing alright here. I heard that several thousand veterans in the third mining team aren't touching any food, saying that grain is too precious and should be saved for the young and strong who can still go down the mine."

Su Wanqing was happily counting on her fingers how many merit points she could earn this time when she heard them arguing over here, saying things like "I dare not eat" and "I will eat sparingly." She was furious when she heard that.

What is that?

She painstakingly collected over 100,000 tons of food so that everyone could have a full meal and earn the merit points.

These old folks are going on a hunger strike? That won't do! Eat! Everyone has to feed her until she's full today, and she has to be well-fed for the next few months. No one is allowed to go hungry!

Wei Guoliang turned his head and saw that Su Wanqing's face was as black as the bottom of a pot. He was puzzled when he saw her stride over.

He took two steps after them, saying "Hey, hey, hey," and quickly lowered his voice to explain:

"Comrade Su Wanqing, you have to understand. These old people are terrified of hunger. How many people starved to death across the country in the 1950s... So even now that there's grain, they don't dare to eat freely. Don't worry, I'll have Zhao Mingyi call Lei Dabiao over right away. The disaster relief grain has been distributed; how can they not eat it?"

Su Wanqing, her face dark, pushed her way through the crowd and stood in front of Old Man Zheng. She looked at him, then at Zheng Youniu, whose eyes were red, and then glanced around at the elderly people around her, clutching their rice balls, reluctant to eat. She took a deep breath.

"You mean, the food has all been distributed, but many veterans are afraid of running out of food later and aren't eating it? And you too, you're keeping most of your rice dumplings to yourself?"

She was so heartbroken she was almost speechless; her voice even trembled.

The surrounding miners and their families looked at the group of leaders who had suddenly appeared with bewilderment, assuming that officials from higher up had come to inspect the place, and began to chatter amongst themselves:

"That's for sure! Even though the higher-ups said they'd provide enough food, nobody knows how long this batch of grain will last. Besides, all our houses have collapsed, the roads are cut off, we have to start all over again, it'll take at least a month or two."

"That's right, these rice balls are fragrant, and they even have meat and eggs inside, but we can't eat too much. We've been starving for four days, and we're afraid we'll have to endure it for a long time to come. It's better to be frugal now than to be caught off guard later." Old Zheng's voice lowered.

Wei Guoliang squeezed forward, waved to the crowd, and pointed at Su Wanqing, his voice tinged with excitement:

"Listen up, everyone! This is Comrade Su Wanqing, who donated all this food to you today! She donated over ten thousand tons of food, all of it sent to Yanshan. There are also meat-filled naan breads coming up, plenty to go around! Enough for over a million of us to eat our fill! That's why the higher-ups said it's all-you-can-eat! And you're all saving it, how can you face her kindness? Eat! Eat your fill!"

"What? Hundreds of thousands of tons? And it's cooked food?"