Chapter 191 I'll drink the wine you poured, even if it's poison.
When the old story was brought up again, Jiang Wanqiu let out a "woof" and buried her burning face in the man's firm, warm chest like an ostrich, refusing to come out.
She shifted closer, finding a more comfortable position, and a muffled voice came from his chest: "You...you knew all along and still drank?"
“My wife poured the wine herself, so even if it’s poison, I have to drink it,” Zhao Wenchang said matter-of-factly, tightening his grip on her waist. “Besides, how would I know our magistrate had prepared such a show if I didn’t drink it?”
Jiang Wanqiu fell silent, feeling that this person was utterly wicked. Knowing full well it was a trap, he still insisted on stepping into it, and then stood inside, leisurely watching her perform a one-woman show.
That's terrible.
She murmured softly, and before she knew it, she drifted off to sleep in his strong embrace and with the steady beating of his heart.
The next day, just as dawn was breaking, Jiang Wanqiu woke up.
She was counting down the days; it was time to give Zhou Jianjun feedback on her promise regarding the seeds.
Ping An went to school, Zhao Wenchang went to work, and Jiang Wanqiu took out the seeds she had already packaged from her space while no one was home. She also took out the small spray bottle with the label erased—the sow aphrodisiac spray—and carefully wrapped it in a thick cloth bag.
After packing her things, Jiang Wanqiu slung them over her shoulder and headed toward the greenhouse of the agricultural reclamation experimental group.
Before I even got close, I could hear several military wives chatting together.
"Hey, have you seen her? That Liu Lanhua, she's been going to Battalion Commander Zhou's place every day lately." A woman in a floral blouse winked and mimicked the people around her.
“Who says otherwise? She’s a widow, doesn’t she know how to be discreet? Battalion Commander Zhou is a decent man, now that he’s a team leader, Commander Le takes good care of him, he has a bright future ahead of him, he shouldn’t let her take advantage of him.” Another immediately chimed in, her tone sarcastic.
"Exactly, doesn't he even look at his own qualifications? Is he a good match for Battalion Commander Zhou?"
Jiang Wanqiu's face instantly darkened.
Jiang Wanqiu walked over and said with a half-smile, "What are you talking about? Let me hear it too."
When the military wives turned around and saw it was her, their expressions immediately became somewhat awkward.
“Jiang…Sister-in-law Jiang.”
Jiang Wanqiu sneered: "It seems that no one took the ideological mobilization meeting a few days ago to heart. To talk about comrades behind their backs like this, making unfounded accusations and ruining their reputations, is a serious ideological problem."
She immediately escalated the issue by speaking in a highly political manner.
Sure enough, upon hearing this, the faces of the military wives turned to each other, and none of them dared to utter another word.
"Um... I still have meat stewing on my stove, I'll head back now."
"Oh dear, I just remembered, the kid's pants are torn and haven't been mended yet!"
The group, their backsides practically on fire, found some lame excuses and scattered like birds and beasts.
Jiang Wanqiu snorted coldly, then picked up her cloth bag and walked into the warm and humid vegetable greenhouse.
Zhou Jianjun was squatting on the ridge, looking at the few drooping rice seedlings with a worried expression. Hearing the noise, he looked up and saw Jiang Wanqiu. He quickly stood up, patted the dirt off his hands, and said, "Sister-in-law, you're here."
"Battalion Commander Zhou, I've brought you what you wanted." Jiang Wanqiu didn't waste any words and handed over the cloth bag in her hand.
Zhou Jianjun was taken aback for a moment, then accepted it with a somewhat flattered air.
He carefully opened the cloth bag, and when he saw what was inside, he was instantly stunned.
Inside the cloth bag, more than a dozen kinds of seeds were neatly categorized in small cloth pouches. The corn kernels were golden and plump, a whole size larger than the varieties they already had; the soybeans were round like pearls, glistening with oil; and there were also some vegetable seeds he had never seen before. Beside them, two small spray bottles, each about the size of a palm, lay quietly.
He held the seeds, his hands trembling with excitement.
"This...this is the experimental seed from the United States?" He looked up, his face full of disbelief. "Sister-in-law, I...I didn't have much hope at all, I didn't expect you could actually get your hands on it!"
Jiang Wanqiu appeared modest: "I went through a lot of connections and put in a lot of effort, but I didn't expect them to actually give it to me. It's also thanks to the connections my family built up in our previous business."
She pointed to one of the spray bottles, which had no words on them. She explained, "This is for inducing estrus in sows. It's said to be very effective. Try it on a sow first, but don't use too much."
"To stimulate estrus?" Zhou Jianjun picked up the small bottle and looked at it.
Thinking of the sickly pigs in the pigsty, Zhou Jianjun still said to Jiang Wanqiu, "Let's go, let's go try it out in the pigsty!"
Without further ado, Zhou Jianjun immediately called on two core researchers in the group, and the group followed Jiang Wanqiu, heading towards the pigsty in a grand procession.
The pigsty reeked. They picked out a sow that had been listless and not eating much lately.
One researcher muttered, "Will this thing even work? What if it makes the pigs sick?"
After saying "let's give it a try," Zhou Jianjun sprayed a few times into the sow's rear end and the surrounding air.
Next, everyone stared wide-eyed at the pig without blinking.
One second, two seconds... less than a minute.
The sow, who had been lying on the ground whimpering and half-dead, suddenly sprang to her feet! She shook her head, then began to pace restlessly around the pen, squealing excitedly and rubbing her rump against the fence.
That vibrant, impatient energy was completely different from what it had been just moments before!
"My goodness!"
A researcher dropped his notebook with a thud. His eyes nearly popped out of their sockets as he pointed at the sow jumping around and stammered, "It...it moved! It's alive!"
"Amazing! This medicine is incredible!" another exclaimed, his face full of disbelief.
Zhou Jianjun was so excited that his face turned red. He grabbed Jiang Wanqiu's arm and exclaimed, "Comrade Jiang! Amazing! Absolutely amazing!"
Jiang Wanqiu was a little dizzy from his shaking, so she quickly steadied him: "Battalion Commander Zhou, don't get excited. Since the thing is useful, you should focus on your research. I only have one request."
Zhou Jianjun immediately calmed down and looked at her seriously: "Sister-in-law, what do you want to say?"
"The origin of these things must be kept secret." Jiang Wanqiu looked at him seriously.
Zhou Jianjun, being the kind of person he was, immediately understood upon hearing this. He nodded vigorously, patting his chest to assure her, "Sister-in-law, don't worry! I, Zhou Jianjun, guarantee with my integrity that this is a secret known only to heaven, earth, you, and me! I absolutely will not tell anyone!"
He paused, his eyes filled with gratitude and admiration as he looked at Jiang Wanqiu: "Sister-in-law, you've really helped us a lot this time, and you've also helped the country a lot! Don't worry, once the experiment is successful, I'll definitely give you the top credit!"
Seeing his expression, Jiang Wanqiu couldn't help but laugh. She took a half step back, subtly pulling away from his grip on her arm. In this day and age, men and women still had to avoid any impropriety.
"Commander Zhou, you're being too kind," she said with a smile. "I'm just a middleman; whether things work out or not depends on your abilities. I wouldn't dare accept credit for that."
After exchanging a few more polite words, Jiang Wanqiu was about to take her leave when she caught a glimpse of a scene in the far corner of the pigsty out of the corner of her eye.
Liu Lanhua was bent over, using a large iron shovel to laboriously shovel the hardened pig manure into the manure cart. Beside her were two little girls, as thin as bean sprouts, holding small shovels and imitating their mother as she helped with the work.
The pigsty was filthy and smelly. The two children's faces were flushed red from the stench, and fine beads of sweat appeared on their foreheads. They didn't utter a sound, just kept their heads down and shoveled with all their might.
Jiang Wanqiu frowned as she looked at it and walked over.
"Orchid Girl".
Hearing the voice, Liu Lanhua looked up sharply and saw Jiang Wanqiu. A look of joy flashed across her face. She quickly put down the shovel, wiped her hands on her stained trousers, and called out, "Sister-in-law Jiang, you're here."
Jiang Wanqiu looked at her hands, which were red from being soaked in pig manure, and said gently, "Why did you bring a child to work?"
“Oh,” Liu Lanhua smiled a little embarrassedly, and pulled her two daughters over, “The children are all grown up and can’t be kept at home, so I bring them out to help out, so we can finish the work sooner.”
She nudged her two daughters from behind: "Quick, call her Aunt Jiang."
The two little girls timidly raised their heads and whispered, "Hello, Aunt Jiang."
Just then, Zhou Jianjun came over, and she took the opportunity to say to him, "Battalion Commander Zhou, look at these two kids, how clever they are. I think they're old enough to go to school, it's not good for them to stay in the pigsty all the time."
Zhou Jianjun's gaze fell on the two thin figures, and a complex emotion flashed in his eyes.
He nodded: "It's time to go to school. Well then, I'll figure something out."
Upon hearing this, Liu Lanhua waved her hands repeatedly, so anxious that she could barely speak: "Battalion Commander Zhou, no, no! This... how can we trouble you any further! It's already a great blessing for the three of us to have food to eat and work to do here! As for school, we... we won't go!"
She was too afraid of causing trouble for the only person willing to help her and her daughter.
Seeing that Liu Lanhua refused no matter what they said, the two had no choice but to give up.
As Jiang Wanqiu and Zhou Jianjun came out of the pigsty, she said, "Lanhua is an honest person, but she's too timid. If you're not comfortable with the child's schooling, I can talk to Le Yunyun, or have my husband Zhao put in a good word with the school leaders. It shouldn't be difficult."
Le Yunyun is Chief Le's daughter, and Zhao Wenchang is now Chief Le's favorite. As long as either of them speaks up, the school will give them face.
Zhou Jianjun shook his head and stopped. He turned to look at Jiang Wanqiu:
"Sister-in-law, thank you. But leave this matter to me."
The next day, Zhou Jianjun, dressed in a crisp military uniform, went to the school for children of employees and met with Principal Wang.
Principal Wang was very polite to the young and promising Battalion Commander Zhou, offering him water and cigarettes. But when he heard Zhou Jianjun's purpose for coming—to enroll Liu Lanhua's two daughters in school—his smile immediately turned into one of embarrassment.
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