Chapter 126:  The Cruelest Cut

A soldier who had gone with Zhou Yubai to collect the food whispered to someone nearby, “I wasn’t kidding!  The Captain Zhou is so incredibly docile around our sister-in-law!”

As soon as he finished speaking, Zhou Yubai’s sharp gaze swept across the group.

Everyone unconsciously straightened their posture, standing at attention.

“Was the food delicious?” Zhou Yubai’s deep voice boomed.

The soldiers answered in unison, “Delicious!”

The deafening response made Shen Chuning’s ears ring.

A quick-witted soldier saluted Shen Chuning, his voice full of energy, “Thank you, sister-in-law!”

Immediately, a chorus of “Thank you, sister” filled the camp.

Shen Chuning composed herself and responded gracefully.

Zhou Yubai then took Shen Chuning to the petroleum exploration team’s experts.

Shen Zhengrong watched his younger sister walk past, unable to say a word, and glared resentfully at Zhou Yubai’s back.

A sharp-eyed soldier saw this, his eyes gleaming with gossip. He boldly approached, “Deputy Commander Shen, you’re from the same village as Commander Zhou. Do you know sister-in-law?”

Shen Zhengrong, usually easygoing, casually replied, “Yes, of course. We’ve known each other since we were kids.”

The soldier’s eyes lit up even brighter.  He quickly and quietly moved away.

Shen Zhengrong felt a pang of discomfort. Zhou Yubai’s beautiful wife was his sister, his own sister!

But everyone only knew she was Zhou Yubai’s wife, not his sister.

He didn’t realize that the soldiers now saw him as a rival who had lost the competition for his sister’s affection.

“I knew why Deputy Commander Shen was staring at sister-in-law; it’s unrequited childhood love!”

“This is explosive!  The Captain Zhou and Deputy Commander Shen are not only from the same village, but they were rivals!”

“But if I were sister-in-law, I’d choose the Captain Zhou, the gentle Captain Zhou…” A short, stocky soldier said dreamily, his face flushed.

His comrade kicked him, “Get lost! You choose the Captain Zhou, but the Captain Zhou wouldn’t choose you!”

The stocky soldier scratched his head sheepishly.

“I feel sorry for Deputy Commander Shen. He’s overshadowed by the Captain Zhou in the army, and now his childhood sweetheart was taken by the Captain Zhou. Let’s be nicer to Deputy Commander Shen from now on!”

Everyone nodded in agreement.

Shen Zhengrong was completely unaware of the soldiers’ sympathy.

Zhou Yubai and Shen Chuning were even less aware.

After Zhou Yubai showed the oil-stained stick to the experts, they were ecstatic, “Oil! It’s oil!  It’s really oil!”

The lead expert, his hands trembling with excitement, immediately ordered, “Gather all equipment; let’s go!”

Soon, Zhou Yubai and Shen Chuning, along with the expert team and a squad of soldiers, set off again.

Upon returning to where they found the black liquid, the experts’ excitement was even more evident.

Soon, exciting news spread throughout the army.

The Captain Zhou and his wife discovered surface oil on their way back!

The Daqing Oil Field, currently the largest and most productive in China, required drilling 1300 meters deep to extract oil.

If this was surface oil, although the reserves were unknown, extraction would be significantly easier than from an underground field.

However, everyone was also puzzled.

The expert team had already explored this area and confirmed there was no oil, prompting them to continue their search deeper into the mountains.

The discovery of surface oil in a previously explored area was almost magical.

Although oil was discovered, exploration and extraction would involve a series of complex steps.

Shen Chuning, not being part of the army, couldn’t stay long.

Once the experts began their work, Zhou Yubai couldn’t leave, so he asked Shen Zhengrong to take Shen Chuning home.

Shen Zhengrong was more than happy to.

But as the siblings left, the soldiers started gossiping.

“Wow, the Captain Zhou actually asked Deputy Commander Shen to take sister-in-law home!  Is he magnanimous or just careless?”

“Magnanimous or careless? I think the Captain Zhou is deliberately twisting the knife!

Imagine, your rival, your superior, marries your childhood sweetheart and asks you to take her home. How would you feel?”

The soldier, putting himself in that position, felt a crushing pain.

That’s the cruelest cut of all!

Captain Zhou is brilliant!

Truly brilliant!

Shen Zhengrong was also puzzled, “Little sister, how did you and Mr. Zhou discover the oil? We explored that area and found nothing.”

Shen Chuning explained how they discovered the oil and showed Shen Zhengrong the ginseng they’d dug up.

Shen Zhengrong’s eyes widened at the sight of the ginseng.

Their family had sold ginseng before, but they had risked their lives to find it deep in the mountains.

Now, according to his father and brother, the shallower areas of the deep mountains had been thoroughly searched without success.

Yet, his sister found a decades-old ginseng by the roadside and, while digging it up, accidentally discovered surface oil.

His sister must be the mountain god’s favorite child!

The mountain god sent all the good things her way.

When Shen Zhengrong took Shen Chuning home, Lu Qiaoqing was waiting at the entrance.

Seeing Shen Zhengrong, Lu Qiaoqing’s eyes lit up, completely ignoring Shen Chuning.

With a bright smile, she approached Shen Zhengrong and extended her hand, “Comrade Shen Zhengrong, hello. My name is Lu Qiaoqing. I’m a sent-down youth from Guangzhou, and I have a large family…”

Shen Zhengrong politely shook her hand, but he was utterly confused.  They barely knew each other; why was she introducing herself?