Just as she was thinking about it, a mysterious prompt suddenly appeared in her mind:

Level 2 Trade-in System: Only finished furniture crafted by carpenters can be exchanged for new furniture. All other materials revert to their original wooden form.

Gu Xiaoxi was stunned for a moment, then selected the smoother set of wooden planks.

She checked her points again—her score had increased by one, and her merit points had also risen by one.

That worked out well. Since she had merit points, she decided to learn the Level 1 Solidification Technique as well.

Immediately after learning it, she realized that once the Solidification Technique was used, any damaged object missing parts would behave like an ultra-fast puzzle—the missing pieces, as long as they were nearby, would automatically reassemble, solidify, and restore themselves.

She suddenly had an epiphany—if she had learned this technique earlier, that soldier with the fractured ribs wouldn’t have needed an emergency transfer to the hospital.

Moreover, these skills were not limited to just one use; they could be combined with each other!

It seemed that doing more good deeds and earning more merit points was the way to go!

With this belief in mind, she began cleaning and sorting the debris floating on the water.

The intact furniture that could be recovered with the Solidification Technique was set aside for cleaning. The ones that couldn’t be restored all transformed into new wooden planks in her New Product Display Hall.

When Li Kun returned, he found that Gu Xiaoxi had gathered three tables, seven chairs of varying heights, a wooden bed, a low cabinet, and two wooden barrels.

He was both astonished and delighted. Without hesitation, he picked up a few chairs and ran back to find help.

Gu Xiaoxi walked forward and was just about to fish out a woven bag when a sharp female voice suddenly called out from behind her.

“You’re salvaging these privately! Do you plan to claim them for yourself? Are you trying to take advantage of the people’s resources?”

Gu Xiaoxi turned around and saw Fu Yao, her eyes wide with fury and resentment.

Behind her stood the bespectacled man, Li Ming.

Facing Fu Yao’s accusation, Gu Xiaoxi calmly replied, “Comrade, don’t speak nonsense. I am helping the people recover their losses. If you don’t want to help, fine—but how dare you slander me?”

Fu Yao gritted her teeth as she glared at Gu Xiaoxi’s delicate and beautiful face. “I just saw you trying to take things for yourself! Li Ming, you saw it too, didn’t you? Didn’t she just mutter to herself about salvaging everything from the water and taking it home?”

Li Ming hesitated for a moment, slightly surprised by Fu Yao’s words.

But in the end, he nodded in agreement. “Yes, I heard it.”

Hearing this, Gu Xiaoxi let out a laugh out of sheer disbelief. “Alright then! If you say you heard it, then sure, you heard it.”

“See? You admitted it! You’re so selfish—I’ll report you to the military district leadership!” Fu Yao declared.

Gu Xiaoxi nodded. “Go ahead! And don’t worry, I’ll also report you two to the military hospital leadership. Two military doctors ignoring their duty to treat patients, running off together to flirt—people like you are a disgrace. You’re incompetent in medicine, and your character is just as bad!”

Li Ming’s expression suddenly changed, while Fu Yao was outraged.

“What nonsense are you spouting? Who’s flirting?!” she shouted.

Gu Xiaoxi sneered. “You two are inseparable everywhere you go. Isn’t that dating? I even saw him touch your waist just now—you didn’t reject it. You seemed to enjoy it.”

If they wanted to twist the truth, she could play that game too!

“You—! I’ll tear your mouth apart!” Fu Yao lost control and suddenly lunged at Gu Xiaoxi.

Right behind them was the river—she was planning to make this woman who stole Lu Jiansen from her suffer!

Gu Xiaoxi was shocked, and her first instinct was to treat Fu Yao like garbage, clean her up, and categorize her properly—so she simply redirected Fu Yao, sending her crashing straight into Li Ming.

Li Ming, being physically weak, failed to steady himself, and the two of them toppled into the river together.

As they flailed and splashed in the water, Fu Yao started crying and shouting.

“Murder! Someone’s trying to kill me!”

Gu Xiaoxi rolled her eyes and immediately shouted back.

“Help! A couple is attempting a double suicide!”

Li Kun, who had rushed over with people to move things, was scared to death at this moment.

Even though he was far away, he clearly saw that Fu Yao had tried to crash into their sister-in-law.

The soldiers behind Li Kun were already shouting, “Who are those two bastards? How dare they touch our sister-in-law? We’ll beat them to death…”

Hearing the commotion, people nearby all ran over.

Those who didn’t understand the situation thought Fu Yao and Li Ming were drowning and even rushed down to rescue them.

While flailing in the water, Fu Yao swallowed a mouthful of dirty water. Soaking wet, she was both furious and humiliated. Pointing at Gu Xiaoxi, she turned to the people behind her and said, “She pushed us!”

Gu Xiaoxi’s eyes immediately reddened with grievance. “There were two of them, and one of them is a man. How could I possibly push them? They were clearly hugging each other, planning to die together, and jumped in on their own! Did anyone see? Weren’t they hugging just now?”

Someone spoke up truthfully, “Yes, when I arrived, I saw them hugging each other.”

Fu Yao was so angry she nearly fainted. She turned and shouted at the person, “Are you blind? She obviously pushed me.”

The person who was yelled at was also annoyed. “I clearly saw you hugging that man.”

Li Kun was itching to throw punches at this point. He had seen everything—this woman had tried to crash into their sister-in-law, but sister-in-law dodged, and then the woman lunged at the man instead. The two ended up hugging and jumping into the water together.

Seeing more and more people gathering around, Li Kun, worried that sister-in-law would be affected by the situation, turned to a soldier behind him and said, “Inform the political commissar to handle this. I saw these two people last night; they’re military doctors. Also, notify their superiors.”

There was no way they could let their sister-in-law suffer injustice or be falsely accused!

…

Evening.

Gu Xiaoxi was called to the regiment headquarters tent. When she arrived, Lu Jiansen was already inside.

Her heart skipped a beat. Could today’s incident have affected Lu Jiansen as well?

Lu Jiansen glanced at his little girl, looked her up and down, and then spoke reassuringly, “Don’t be afraid, I’m here.”

Gu Xiaoxi glanced at the stern-faced Political Commissar Luo and the regiment commander, then immediately ran to Lu Jiansen’s side.

Just then, Director Chen arrived with Li Ming and Fu Yao.

Political Commissar Luo nodded slightly at Director Chen, then turned to Gu Xiaoxi.

“I’ve already looked into today’s incident. Now, tell me what happened.”

Gu Xiaoxi had just opened her mouth when Fu Yao cut in, “Why should she speak first? She’s clearly the one slandering me and Li Ming! She even pushed us into the river. I swear I’m not lying.”

She and Li Ming indeed had no improper relationship. At most, Li Ming liked her and tried to please her at every turn.

But hadn’t she never accepted it? That meant there was nothing between them, let alone any so-called ‘lovers’ suicide pact.’

Gu Xiaoxi looked aggrieved but spoke firmly. “I didn’t lie either. You tried to push me into the water. I dodged, and then you turned around and lunged at Li Ming, hugging him as you both fell in, trying to frame me.”

“You’re talking nonsense…” Fu Yao was furious, on the verge of tears.

She was afraid Director Chen would believe Gu Xiaoxi’s nonsense!

Director Chen frowned. “Comrade Fu Yao, it’s not your turn to speak yet. Comrade Gu Xiaoxi, you say she tried to push you—what was the reason?”