Lu Jiansen spoke gently: “The water level dropped a bit today. At Langliwan, the floodwaters receded and exposed some of the rice that hadn’t been harvested in time. Although there was a big loss, the political commissar wants us to help the people salvage what we can.”

Gu Xiaoxi nodded. “I understand!”

“When the time comes, you can pick up rice ears along the shore,” Lu Jiansen assigned her a task.

“Okay!” Gu Xiaoxi actually quite liked this kind of work.

Stuff like rice could be stored in the old goods storage—it’s easier to trade old for new and earn points that way.

An hour later, Gu Xiaoxi and her team arrived at Langliwan.

Once there, she realized it wasn’t just her battalion—people from the third battalion were also present.

There were even some local villagers among them.

Aside from large rice fields, Langliwan also had a river and a patch of low-lying forest.

Although the water had receded a lot, the rice fields were still half-submerged.

So everyone was basically harvesting rice in the water—and it was cold.

Just as Gu Xiaoxi was taking it all in, she spotted Li Guifen from afar, running over with a winnowing basket in hand.

“Xiaoxi, you came too!”

Gu Xiaoxi turned around and smiled slightly. “Sister Guifen!”

Li Guifen pulled her aside and whispered, “I just heard the village branch secretary say, whoever picks up the rice scattered in the water gets to keep it!”

Gu Xiaoxi was a little taken aback. “Really? Isn’t it collective property?”

Li Guifen sighed. “A few of the local production brigades took heavy losses. A lot of families are probably going to go hungry. The team doesn’t have grain to distribute either, so they decided whoever picks it up keeps it—to motivate everyone.”

Gu Xiaoxi blinked. “That shouldn’t include us, right?”

Li Guifen lowered her voice even more. “Not soldiers, but it includes us military wives! Didn’t you see over there? Those military wives are working super hard.”

She pointed toward several military wives working solo in the distance.

Gu Xiaoxi was surprised by the branch secretary’s decision and said, “Then Sister, you better get to it! I’ll see if I can pick up some too.”

“You should first look around to see if there are any handy tools,” Li Guifen shared her tips.

“Alright. I’ll take a look!” Gu Xiaoxi glanced around and walked a bit farther.

She didn’t find any proper tools, but she did pick up a worn-out woven bag.

Dragging the bag over to a grassy spot, she first traded it for a new one in the Trade-in System. Then she opened it wide and started scooping rice floating on the water nearby.

At first, she didn’t manage to get much. But once she activated her Garbage cleanup and sorting skills, she quietly collected half a bag of rice.

She washed the bag in the water and easily removed the trash and impurities from the rice.

Since the soaked rice had a bit of a weird smell, she went ahead and deodorized and disinfected it.

Because there were a lot of people around, she didn’t air-dry the rice. Instead, she threw the not-so-full looking grains into the old goods storage.

Then, she noticed three new options in the New Products Display Hall:

1. Rice Ears

2. Rice Seedlings

3. Rice Seeds

Gu Xiaoxi thought for a moment, then chose Rice Seeds.

But since the original rice quality was already poor, the seeds didn’t look great either. She hesitated, then tossed the newly exchanged seeds back into the old goods storage.

And then… her rice seeds turned into a pile of straw—and all other options disappeared.

Gu Xiaoxi: “…”

Frustrated, she grabbed another small handful of straw and threw it into the old goods storage.

Then, she saw the pile of straw turn into a handful of straw ash!

Still unconvinced, she threw that handful of straw ash into the old goods storage too.

Oh! The ash disappeared into thin air, leaving her with nothing but a wisp of air.

After taking two deep breaths, she calmed down again.

Forget it. She still had a whole pile of straw left, didn’t she?

Grabbing the woven bag, she went back to collecting rice grains.

This time, though, she only cleaned, sterilized, and deodorized them. She didn’t put any of it into the old goods storage.

Once the bag was full, she didn’t keep the rice for herself. She placed it together with the rice the soldiers had salvaged—all of it was given to the village.

Because of this action, she earned another merit point, and with it, a new skill: Beginner Porridge Crafting!

Getting a cooking skill out of nowhere—she was genuinely happy!

After that, she became even more motivated. She dragged over a piece of oilcloth from the soldiers, poured out the rice from the woven bag onto it, and went back to picking rice ears and scooping up rice grains.

No one noticed that each time Gu Xiaoxi came back, her rice pile had grown significantly, and the previous batch had quietly air-dried.

Every so often, Lu Jiansen would glance over at the little girl from his unit.

Seeing her work non-stop like a cheerful, hardworking little bee, with a smile on her face the whole time, a trace of amusement flickered in his eyes.

What an easily contented and happy little girl!

As night fell, everyone was still busy. Gu Xiaoxi, who had previously felt a little clumsy, took advantage of the dim light to swiftly gather up rice ears and grains scattered in the water and buried in the soil.

Unknowingly, she racked up another 22 merit points.

By the time the entire rice field at Langliwan had been salvaged, it was already 9 PM. Gu Xiaoxi and the others followed the villagers into the village and set up camp on a barren hillside.

Secretary Lin from the village was deeply impressed by Gu Xiaoxi. Seeing this young girl work tirelessly without complaint all day, helping them recover a significant loss without keeping a single grain for herself, he deliberately gave her a pound of flour from the limited village supplies.

When the soldiers of the first battalion found out, their respect for Gu Xiaoxi grew. They looked at her with more admiration and treated her with greater deference.

Lu Jiansen felt proud. Looking at the flour the secretary had sent over, he gently ruffled the girl’s hair and said, “What do you want to eat? I’ll make it for you!”

Gu Xiaoxi blinked playfully. “Noodles! Hand-rolled noodles!”

“Alright!” Lu Jiansen decided to roll the noodles extra thin. That way, even in a plain broth, they’d taste great.

Gu Xiaoxi sat beside him, watching him work and also checking the new batch of skills that had just appeared in the Skill Store.

Basic Culinary Skills: Requires 1 merit point.  

Pastry Master: Requires 2 merit points.  

Shaping Master: Requires 5 merit points.  

Baking Master: Requires 5 merit points.  

2-Star Repair Skill: Requires 9 merit points.  

Gu Xiaoxi did the math and realized that learning all these new skills would use up all her merit points.

It was almost as if someone had calculated it for her?  

With curiosity and doubt, she quietly learned all the new skills.

When she closed her eyes, others thought she was just tired—but only Gu Xiaoxi herself knew how shocked, amazed, and enlightened she felt inside!