After Wang Zhanfeng finished his performance, the militia took him away.

The village had a labor re-education point, and the Red Star Commune had a special labor reform team.

For someone like him, an intellectual youth who had secretly escaped to avoid labor, two years of labor reform was inevitable.

Later, there was a big meeting, one that Su Xiangwan had been planning for a long time.

After Wang Zhanfeng was taken away, she stepped onto the stage.

Song Qingshan, unaware of how much influence his wife had in the village, didn’t dare to leave.

He stepped out from behind the stage and stood at the front.

After all, he was now the regiment leader. With his authority, even if there were dissenting voices, people generally didn’t dare speak up.

Today’s meeting topic was about the fact that many families were quietly raising chickens and ducks.

The villagers wanted to hear the leader’s opinion on the matter.

Although Su Xiangwan was the village party secretary, normally, any major discussions were led by Zhao Guodong, and she usually didn’t speak.

However, raising chickens and ducks, though a small matter, touched on Su Xiangwan’s personal interests.

So, she decided to speak up. “The policy states that everything belongs to the state and is public property. But production should be organized in village communes or smaller groups. So, each family can form a production group, and whatever profits are made will go half to the collective, right? Some say that raising livestock privately violates the policy, but that’s not correct. As long as we set each household as a small production group, it’s legal and in line with the policy, whether we raise chickens or pigs privately. But outside of Xiaosong Village, we must say we are part of the small production group, understood?”

“Is the policy really like that?” Sun Shufen asked, somewhat skeptical.

Su Xiangwan confidently responded, “You just haven’t fully understood the policy. It is exactly as I said.”

The villagers exchanged glances, amazed.

They thought to themselves, “The village secretary is right. Each family forms a production group, so it seems like a group, but actually, the amount produced is up to each individual family to decide.”

This way, each household could have some surplus grain, a small savings.

Who would want to advertise such a private business?

Zhao Guodong stood off to the side, watching with his arms crossed.

In fact, Zhao Guodong’s training in Xiaosong Village was about to end, and he would soon join the county party committee.

His father had been looking for a capable person from the grassroots to help manage Qingchuan County’s administrative affairs.

This person had to be a woman because, no matter how chaotic the situation, the government’s departments must remain strong and the production must continue to rise.

The most popular candidate right now was a woman named Gu Nan, who was the women’s director at the Hongqi Commune.

If all went as expected, Gu Nan would be paired with Zhao Guodong to handle Qingchuan County’s next administrative tasks.

However, Zhao Guodong thought to himself, no matter how outstanding Gu Nan might be, he would still choose Su Xiangwan as his partner.

This woman was simply too efficient and capable, whether in administrative work or handling government affairs.

That evening, when he returned to the dormitory, Zhao Guodong immediately wrote a letter to his father, recounting Su Xiangwan’s work in detail.

At the end of the letter, he added, “In my opinion, Su Xiangwan is the only one capable of handling county-level production work. If the county committee truly needs a female committee member, she is the only one for the job.”

Song Qingshan had also returned to his old house.

It must be said that because Su Xiangwan didn’t mention Song Qingyu’s issues in front of everyone and had sternly dealt with Wang Zhanfeng, the old lady finally breathed a sigh of relief.

But she was still worried. After all, now that Su Xiangwan was the unchallenged village secretary, her authority was absolute.

The old lady was truly afraid that Su Xiangwan might make things difficult for her or for Qingyu.

Because of this, she had no choice but to pretend to be humble, fearing it would draw attention from Su Xiangwan.

At home, Su Xiangwan had already gone to bed when she heard the sound of her husband entering.

Sitting by the bed, Song Qingshan said solemnly, “Let’s not talk about that poetry business anymore, and never bring it up again. Today, I have something even better to give you.”

Su Xiangwan’s eyes lit up as she noticed he was holding a suitcase. “What’s this good thing?”

She knew that in her previous life, her greatest joy was receiving gifts.

It’s only natural for people to not mind receiving gifts, no matter how small.

Song Qingshan rummaged through the bag and pulled out an item. “I specifically asked Hou Qingyue to buy this. How is it? Pretty, right?”

It was a blouse, also called a dress. The color was quite beautiful, just like Su Xiangwan’s favorite—white with black dots.

However, when Song Qingshan unfolded it, Su Xiangwan’s smile gradually faded. “Isn’t this a duvet cover?”

“Isn’t this the blouse you wanted? And you said you liked the biggest size?” Song Qingshan said seriously, as he took off his clothes, stretching his muscles. His physique was as alluring as his muscle definition.

He had a buzzcut, a stern face, and straight legs, his posture sharp.

Even taking off his clothes seemed mechanical, like a soldier’s precision.

“It’s the biggest size.”

Hou Qingyue, after all, was Hou Qinghua’s younger sister.

She had always held a secret admiration for Song Qingshan and was willing to do anything for him.

Su Xiangwan took the dress and said, “Song Qingshan, did Hou Qingyue ask you if we have enough food to eat?”

“She asked. She even said if we don’t have enough, she’ll send us some,” Song Qingshan replied.

“No need for more food. If she’s willing, she can send me some boxes of Pechilin cosmetics from the Shanghai Cosmetics Factory,” Su Xiangwan said with a smile.

“I’ve been keeping up a correspondence with Comrade Hou Qingyue. You won’t be mad, will you?” Song Qingshan seemed quite conscientious, worried that his correspondence with a female comrade might upset his wife.

Su Xiangwan, being magnanimous, reassured him, “No, why would I be mad? Pechilin is fine. In the future, if I need anything good, I’ll have to trouble Sister Hou. It’s really not a big deal.”

Song Qingshan, the blockhead, actually had his old flame buy her a dress—and in the biggest size too.

Su Xiangwan thought to herself, “In Hou Qingyue’s mind, I must be the fattest person in the whole republic.”

She laughed inwardly, thinking, “In my previous life, I was always so outstanding that it made other women feel inferior. Now, when Hou Qingyue sees me, she’s going to suffer such a blow. I’m so beautiful, so outstanding, so young, and so slim.”

But Song Qingshan wasn’t done with the conversation yet.

Following the principle that when you send something nice to please your wife, you must also raise some requests, he said, “The child’s name is Li Chengze. I heard he has a godmother, but from what I’ve gathered, I don’t think she’s a very good one. Could you at least go and see him?”

Li Chengze?

Wasn’t that the troublemaking boy she was supposed to take care of in the future?

Su Xiangwan suddenly sat up straight, “Are you asking me to grab a stick right now and go beat him to death?”

At that moment, she once again received a “death stare” from Song Qingshan.

“Is he out begging for food now?” Su Xiangwan asked.

Song Qingshan was already used to this and replied, “You know about that?”

Su Xiangwan thought to herself, How could I not know?

Li Chengze originally lived in Yunnan, but after both his grandfather and mother passed away, he heard from his mother that she had two distant uncles in Qingshui County.

He hopped on a train and ran to the city of Qingshui County.

According to the book, he probably realized halfway that stealing was more suitable for him, so he joined a theft gang and began his life of crime.

His biological father was one of the famous eighteen chieftains of Qinghai, owning several mountain ranges in Haixi, all rich in minerals.

Li Chengze’s ancestors had been with Sun Dianying in looting the Battle of Dingyuan, so their family fortune was considerable.

As for his mother, she was an archaeologist—her prowess was something not to be mentioned lightly.

According to the original book, he wasn’t into violence; instead, he would draw remittance slips.

Even in the current times, he could take money out of the bank or even draw currency and ration coupons by hand, which ordinary people couldn’t distinguish.

In short, he was a textbook-level criminal.

Later, one of his grandfather’s old subordinates, who knew how wealthy he was, tried to seize the family’s fortune.

Li Chengze, helpless, fled to the border of Yunnan with a girl named Zhi Zhi, stepping onto the path of crime and lawlessness.

That was probably the entirety of Li Chengze’s life story.

“Indeed, he’s in our Qingshui County. I heard he’s with a woman named Gu Nan. They’re working together at Hongqi Commune on labor redistribution,” Song Qingshan said.

Gu Nan was someone Su Xiangwan remembered from the book.

She was the daughter of a division-level cadre, exceptionally talented since childhood, and like Zhao Guodong, one of the people specially trained by the party.

To be precise, she was a “successor” of the Party.

In the future, she was supposed to work alongside Zhao Guodong, advancing from Qingshui County to the city level and then up to provincial-level female officials.

How could she be involved with Li Chengze?

This didn’t fit the original plot at all, and Su Xiangwan felt something was off.

“So, Li Chengze has arrived. Xiao Su, here’s the deal: I’ll give you an IOU, but we hand over those two items to that kid, okay?” Song Qingshan said.

Su Xiangwan rolled her eyes. “No, it’s not okay. I’m not giving them.”

“You’re being unreasonable. Even if I owe you money, can’t I just give him the things?” Song Qingshan asked.

Su Xiangwan thought the man must be stupid. “Do you even know those two pieces of jade will be worth millions in the future?”

Song Qingshan had no concept of money. “Then I’ll write you an IOU for millions. I’ll repay you with my whole life, is that alright?”

A typical example of a straight man cancer.

Su Xiangwan glanced at Song Qingshan and asked, “How much are you worth?”

Song Qingshan replied, “You don’t understand. Whether it’s on the Treasure Island or Taiwan, if war breaks out, I’ll be the first to send the troops. My job is irreplaceable. If I die, all the honors and the compensation will be yours.”

If he really died, she could receive two compensation payouts.

Seeing that Su Xiangwan remained unmoved, he continued, “I belong to the Party, I belong to the country, because it was the Party and the country that trained me. But all my honors belong to you, and half of my military achievements are yours.”

Su Xiangwan thought to herself, A soldier of the Republic… straightforward and lovable. So cute it makes me want to pull him in, but at the same time, so straightforward that it makes me want to slap him.

“The things? I will definitely hand them over to the museum, understand? Because if I give them to someone else, they will be smuggled out of the country, and I won’t let that happen. But as for that Gu Nan, I want to meet her. After I meet her, we’ll discuss the rest,” Su Xiangwan said.

This was the first time Song Qingshan had heard about the museum, and for some reason, his heart skipped a beat.

It was only then that he realized, his wife really was different from before.

But no matter how he looked at it, she was still the same as she had always been.

His head ached from all the thoughts, so he decided not to dwell on them anymore.