That evening, the Jiang family had congee.  

Although they had unexpectedly gotten six catties of rice, the Jiang family didn’t dare to indulge. Cooking it as rice wouldn’t last for many meals, but making congee would allow them to stretch it further.  

The side dish, naturally, could only be stir-fried wild vegetables with a bit more salt, eaten as a pickled dish.  

The family of five sat around the table.  

Jiang Dazhuang ladled a bowl of congee for everyone. The bowl for Jiang An’an was noticeably thicker, while his own was almost no different from water.  

Seeing this, Jiang An’an pushed her bowl toward Jiang Dazhuang and took his bowl instead.  

As Jiang Dazhuang was about to swap them back, Jiang An’an quickly said, “Brother, there’s still rice left. You don’t need to give me more, or I won’t eat any.”  

Her tone didn’t sound like a joke.  

Jiang Dazhuang was taken aback for a moment but could only nod silently, scooping some of the rice from his bowl into his wife Yang Shulan’s bowl.  

Yang Shulan tried to refuse, but Mother Jiang spoke up, “Eat more. You’re pregnant now and need the nutrition.”  

The family ate in silence. Yang Shulan lowered her head, tears streaming down quietly.  

The congee tasted salty.  

Watching the original host’s sister-in-law like this, Jiang An’an suddenly remembered the medicine she had taken from her space. After the meal, she handed it to Yang Shulan.  

“What is this?” Yang Shulan asked, puzzled.  

“This is medicine for your condition. It was given to me by…”  

Jiang An’an caught herself just in time, almost slipping up.  

“…a doctor friend of mine. He had someone bring it to me. Sister-in-law, why don’t you give it a try?”  

Yang Shulan listened but didn’t believe that such a few small pills could cure her long-standing “incurable disease.”  

Still, she knew her sister-in-law meant well and didn’t want to reject her kindness, so she accepted it.  

“Alright, I’ll try it later.”  

That night, lying on the kang, Jiang An’an’s mind drifted back to what had happened on the day she first transmigrated.  

Who was the man who had drugged her?  

And… who was the man who had saved her and ended up having relations with her? Would he really come back for her?  

What should she do if he did?  

But, to be honest, the man who saved her was incredibly handsome…  

Ahem!  

Better not think about that!  

But as she closed her eyes and tried to sleep, Jiang An’an felt a wave of nausea.  

What was going on? Had she drunk too much congee and gotten bloated?  

Meanwhile, at the special operations camp.  

“You want to submit a marriage report?!”  

A stunned voice came through the phone.  

“Yes.”  

The reply was a steady male voice.  

“Wang Jing, don’t you think this is too impulsive?”  

The person on the other end of the line sounded anxious. “You and Dr. Chen are such a perfect match. Why would you…”  

“I’ve already made up my mind. Dr. Chen and I are merely comrades; there are no romantic feelings between us. I hope you can grant my request.”  

The reply remained calm and firm.  

“Special Operations Camp Captain Xu Wangjing, are you absolutely certain you want to marry Jiang An’an from Sihe Village?”  

“Yes.”  

His voice carried unwavering resolve.  

After a long pause, the person on the other end finally relented with a sigh. “Very well.”  

After hanging up, an elderly man in military uniform let out a deep sigh.  

Just who was this Jiang An’an? Xu Wangjing had only passed through Sihe Village during a mission—how could he have suddenly decided to marry her?  

It seemed he would have to find time to go and see her in person.

…

The next day, as dawn broke, the work broadcast in Sihe Village sounded once again, and everyone filed out to the fields one after another.  

The Jiang family was no exception.  

After everyone gathered in the fields, they waited for the brigade secretary to assign the day’s tasks.  

However, both the brigade secretary and the village head had to attend a meeting at the commune today, so the task of assigning work fell to the village accountant, Li.  

As household after household received their assignments, the Jiang family waited and waited, but no task came their way.  

Seeing everyone else head off to work, the Jiang family grew anxious.  

Time waits for no one—if they couldn’t finish their work, they wouldn’t earn many work points.  

“Accountant Li, what’s our family supposed to do today?”  

Jiang Dazhuang walked over, scratching his head as he asked.  

Hearing this, Accountant Li frowned, opened the notebook in his hand, and flipped through it for a long time but found no assignment for the Jiang family that day.  

In Sihe Village, it was customary for the brigade secretary or the village head to assign tasks to each household the day before. So even if both were absent, everyone would still know what work they were supposed to do.  

But…  

Accountant Li looked through the notebook again and again but couldn’t find the Jiang family’s name.  

“It seems the village head and brigade secretary didn’t assign any tasks to your family…”  

After saying this, even Accountant Li felt somewhat embarrassed.  

This kind of situation usually shouldn’t happen—after all, not assigning tasks was equivalent to not giving them work points!  

Typically, this only occurred when there was too little work and too many people, forcing some to take the day off, but such cases were rare.  

“Accountant Li, are you sure you didn’t make a mistake?”  

Jiang Dazhuang was dumbfounded.  

How was this possible?  

Just then, Jiang An’an also heard the commotion and walked over to get to the bottom of it. At that moment, Zhao Chunmei happened to stroll by. She had the easiest job in the village—work-point recorder. Their eyes met, and Jiang An’an immediately saw the smugness in Zhao Chunmei’s gaze.  

“Well, well, well, not working? Just standing around here?”  

Zhao Chunmei cast a cold glance at the Jiang family, her eyes finally settling on Jiang An’an.  

“We weren’t assigned any tasks today. How are we supposed to work?”  

Jiang An’an responded in a low voice.  

Hearing this, Zhao Chunmei feigned surprise, covering her mouth. “Oh my! No tasks assigned? Well, you Jiang folks are really lucky—you get to rest today!”  

Though her words sounded envious, her mocking tone was unmistakable.  

Who would consider not being assigned tasks good luck? No work meant no work points. How much grain would they even get at the end of the year?  

“I guess I’m just not as fortunate as you Jiang folks. I still have to go record work points for everyone…”  

Zhao Chunmei walked away, laughing.  

Jiang An’an, oh Jiang An’an, you made me, Zhao Chunmei, lose money and get beaten yesterday. Well, isn’t this payback coming quick?  

Offend Zhao Chunmei and still expect things to go well?  

This was just the beginning. From now on, don’t even think about working and earning work points!  

And her actions were justified—after all, there were occasional days when there wasn’t enough work to go around, forcing some people to rest. Could the Jiang family even make a fuss about this?  

This was perfectly fair. What was there to complain about?  

Zhao Chunmei turned back to look at Jiang An’an and found her staring right back.  

“Still glaring at me? Why don’t you just go home and rest!”  

Jiang An’an, if you Jiang folks want to work and earn points? Then come and beg me!  

The more Zhao Chunmei thought about it, the more pleased she felt, and she burst into loud laughter.  

Now she could just sit back, cross her legs, and wait for Jiang An’an to come begging. When that time came, wouldn’t Jiang An’an have to obediently do whatever she said?