When Wen Yan spoke up, everyone turned to look at her.
The one whose sled had overturned was Xiao Zhao, the very soldier who had been driving it yesterday.
He frowned when he saw it was Wen Yan; he didn’t like her bragging.
But he couldn’t just stand by and watch Wen Yan embarrass Jiang Yingzhang.
“Comrade Wen, where are you headed?
I can show you the way.”
Xiao Zhao blocked Wen Yan’s path, frantically signaling her with his eyes: ‘Go on, get out of here.’
Wen Yan had no idea about the convoluted thoughts running through Xiao Zhao’s head and asked with concern, “Did you get something in your eye?”
Embarrassed, Xiao Zhao gritted his teeth.
“No!”
“Oh.
Then it might be a vitamin deficiency.”
Wen Yan walked around Xiao Zhao, who was left holding his breath in frustration.
Having bypassed him, Wen Yan had already begun to introduce herself.
“I’m Wen Yan, Jiang Baizhou’s wife.
We had an argument before, but we’ve made up.
We aren’t getting divorced, my papers to join him at the post are all in order, and we plan on building a good life together.”
‘Did we ask?’ everyone thought.
Wen Yan crouched down to inspect the sled and continued calmly, “Everyone was asking on the way here, so I figured I’d say it first to save you the curiosity.”
The crowd chuckled.
Inwardly, they all had the same thought: ‘Jiang Yingzhang’s wife really has a personality.’
They were indeed curious, but it wouldn’t look good for a group of grown men to be gossiping like that.
Old Zhu, a self-proclaimed half-carpenter, even took the lead in greeting Wen Yan.
He didn’t stop her from fiddling with the sled, giving Jiang Yingzhang some face.
Meanwhile, Xiao Zhao, who had been about to stop Wen Yan, stood with his brow furrowed, trying to figure out how to get her away from there.
Just as he was about to turn, he heard Old Zhu exclaim in surprise.
Old Zhu: “Hey, you’ve really got some skill!
You actually know what you’re doing?”
It turned out that after crouching down, Wen Yan had deftly dismantled several wooden parts of the sled.
You can tell if someone knows their craft the moment they get their hands on it.
Wen Yan set down the crossbeam she’d removed from the sled, raised an eyebrow slightly, and said, “Of course.
If I say I can do it, I can do it.”
“The structure of this sled is fine.
The problem is that the force isn’t distributed evenly.
In layman’s terms, it’s lopsided.
It just needs a small adjustment.”
Surrounded by a crowd, Wen Yan swiftly took apart the crossbeams, then used a simple carving knife to fashion a few wooden wedges.
CLANG, CLANG.
Xiao Zhao’s tightly furrowed brow finally relaxed a little.
Old Zhu’s eyes lit up as he watched.
“You know mortise and tenon joinery?”
Wen Yan pointed to the repaired sled.
“I do.
I can’t lift it, though.
Could you all lend a hand and flip it over?”
The next second, three soldiers flipped the sled upright.
Old Zhu stood next to Wen Yan, pressing her, “Can you make a plow, then?”
Wen Yan once again affirmed, “I can.”
His brow, which had just relaxed, furrowed again as a worried Xiao Zhao reminded her, “Do you even know what kind of plow to make?”
‘What if you agree without knowing and can’t make it later?’
Wen Yan looked at Xiao Zhao.
Seeing him frantically sending signals, Xiao Zhao thought she understood and gave a slight nod, conveying a message: ‘You go!
I’ll cover you!’
But then he heard Wen Yan say, “I can make any kind.”
Xiao Zhao: “…”
‘I’m worrying for nothing.
I’m done with this!’
But when Wen Yan prepared to make a plow on the spot, his disobedient feet carried him over anyway.
Xiao Zhao: ‘I’m just watching to make sure she doesn’t cause trouble for Jiang Yingzhang!
That’s all!’
Wen Yan was completely unaware of Xiao Zhao’s internal turmoil.
While selecting wood, she asked a lot of questions.
She learned that when the Reclamation Team first arrived last year, they didn’t have any tools.
They would poke a hole with a branch, drop in a soybean, and call it planting.
Of course, since the reclaimed area wasn’t large, the harvest naturally wasn’t much.
For the whole of last year, the main contingent was focused on reclaiming land, leaving only a small group to build houses, cut lumber, and handle basic farm tool production and logistics.
As for machinery, Big Brother Su Su had provided a few units, but with over fifty farming teams, there was no way everyone would get a turn.
Plus, with resources being tight across the country, they tried to conserve steel and iron whenever possible, which made mortise and tenon joinery especially useful.
It was currently March, and planting here began in late April or early May.
Before then, their logistics department wanted to make more plows and farm tools to prepare for the spring planting season.
The problem was that they were all former soldiers.
While they knew some basic carpentry, it was limited to making simple things like tables and chairs.
Their skills were limited when it came to more complex tasks, and the things they made weren’t very effective.
After selecting her wood, Wen Yan processed all the information she had gathered and looked at Old Zhu.
“I’ll teach you all how to make plows and other farm tools now.”
Old Zhu couldn’t quite follow her train of thought.
Old Zhu: “You’ll teach…
us?
Right now?”
Wen Yan assumed he was afraid he couldn’t learn.
In her past life, many students would panic when starting a new subject, unwilling to leave their comfort zones.
The smile vanished from Wen Yan’s fair face, replaced by the dignified air of a teacher.
“Don’t worry, it’s not difficult.
And I’m a very good teacher.
You’ll definitely be able to learn.”
Old Zhu’s mouth opened and closed.
He didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, but in the end, he couldn’t bring himself to say what he was thinking: ‘I don’t believe you can actually do it.’
After a few seconds of deliberation, the more seasoned Captain Zhu said tactfully, “I just think…
isn’t this a bit too fast?”
At most, only half an hour had passed since Wen Yan arrived.
The serious expression on Wen Yan’s face relaxed a little.
She asked, puzzled, “Don’t you want to make more plows?”
Old Zhu immediately shook his head.
“Of course we do!”
Wen Yan stated matter-of-factly, “You want to make them, I know how to make them, so I’ll teach you.
What’s wrong with that?”
Old Zhu opened his mouth, but only a gust of cold wind filled it.
‘I guess there’s nothing wrong with that.’
It’s just that something felt off, though he couldn’t quite put his finger on it.
Shouldn’t there be a period of getting acquainted, discussing things slowly, maybe even a formal apprenticeship?
In any case, nothing ever happened this fast.
But Old Zhu was a decisive man.
What was the harm in trying?
‘Worst case, we waste a few pieces of wood, which we can still use for firewood.
But if it actually works, this would be a huge boon for our farming efforts.’
“Right!
No problem at all!”
Seeing that Old Zhu agreed, Wen Yan quite naturally took the lead.
“Captain Zhu, find the soldiers who know basic carpentry.
I’ll teach the steps for each part of the plow, and each person can specialize in one component.
We’ll assemble them at the end to speed things up.”
“We’ll also need more lumber.
Squad Leader Zhang, you’ll be in charge of coordinating with the logging team.”
“Also…
does this matter need to be reported and approved?”
Wen Yan’s serious expression vanished in an instant.
She pressed her lips together and looked at Captain Zhu with a burning gaze.
Captain Zhu had a feeling something was about to happen.
“Captain Zhu, why don’t you go file the application report with the regiment commander?
I can tell just by looking at you that you’re someone who can get big things done.
You’re definitely more capable than me!”
Captain Zhu’s mouth twitched.
‘This would be a lot more convincing if you weren’t so obviously trying to get out of it.’
But when he met Wen Yan’s bright, expectant eyes, he couldn’t bring himself to refuse.
The longer he looked, the more he wanted to laugh.
‘Does Jiang Yingzhang know his wife is so…
adaptable?’
Still, Wen Yan had a point.
The matter did need to be reported, and there was nothing wrong with him being the one to do it.
The prerequisite, of course, was that they actually had to make something first.
“Alright!
Let’s make the plow first.
Once it’s done, I’ll go report it!”
Wen Yan’s eyes immediately curved into a smile.
She didn’t mind one bit that Captain Zhu didn’t trust her one hundred percent.
‘He doesn’t even know me.
It’s already impressive that he’s willing to go this far.’
“Okay, I’ll make the first one.”
She liked hands-on work, not paperwork.
In her last life, she had literally worked herself to death pulling all-nighters to revise her thesis.
Next, everyone witnessed Wen Yan’s incredible efficiency.
She got right to work without a single wasted word, her small face so tense it looked like she was commanding a decisive battle.
The people around her subconsciously tensed up as well.
Xiao Zhao, Jiang Yingzhang’s die-hard fan, had been ready to find an excuse to pull Wen Yan away the moment she faltered to keep her from embarrassing his commander.
But now, he was stunned.
‘This…
Comrade Wen seems pretty capable after all.’
‘Could it be that Jiang Yingzhang was the one in the wrong…
No!
How could I think that?
Jiang Yingzhang is my hero!’
Xiao Zhao shook his head and, with a renewed determination to defend his idol, drove the sled away.
A few hundred meters later, sitting on the now smooth, non-bumpy sled, Xiao Zhao cracked his whip.
“Holy crap!
She really fixed it!”
*
Meanwhile, Jiang Baizhou had been searching all over the reclaimed lands and finally found the biggest gossip of them all, Zhang Yingzhang.
Zhang Yingzhang jumped when he saw Jiang Baizhou.
“Whoa, holy shit!
What are you doing here?”