A stunning beauty arrived on the island; she invented everything from childcare to babysitting.

After Anning decided to make this money, Zhao Xuemei gave him some advice.

The shovel she modified was useful, but its structure was too simple.

People nowadays are very skilled with their hands; as long as they get a sample, they can easily replicate it.

If she wants to earn this processing fee, it would be best for her to take on more jobs at once, register the names and quantities of the people who need them, collect the processing fees, and then complete all the jobs together before sending them out.

In this way, even if similar imitations of the shovel appear elsewhere soon, Anning will still make money.

So for the next few days, Anning spent most of her time demonstrating the usefulness of her improved shovel while beachcombing.

After the high tide ended, quite a few people actually came to her for help with the modifications.

Not only military personnel and their families, but also local residents, have experienced the convenience of the entrenching tool while going to the beach.

The renovation cost three yuan per piece, and Anning received a total of forty-two orders.

Once she completes the modification of all these shovels, she can earn a net profit of 126 yuan, which is equivalent to three months' salary for Song Wenying.

If we had the right machine, this job wouldn't even take three days.

Wait, a machine?

Anning suddenly thought of the largest factory on the island—the shipyard.

If a shipyard can even produce ship parts, wouldn't it be a piece of cake for her to modify a shovel?

After she finishes making the changes, she can even sell the blueprints to the shipyard and make another profit.

However, borrowing the shipyard's machinery was not easy, and one person immediately came to An Ning's mind—Chen Hai.

"Boom boom boom!"

There was a knock on the door.

"Excuse me, does Shen Anning live here?"

An Ning hurriedly went to open the door, where a soldier with a shoulder bag stood: "Hello comrade, I am Shen An Ning. May I ask what brings you here?"

The soldier handed over a pen, a notebook, and a letter: "This is your letter. Please sign here."

An Ning glanced at it; the words "Shen An Ning received" were written in bold, flamboyant strokes, and the signature in the lower right corner was "Port".

It really means Cao Cao and Cao Cao are here!

She had just thought of Chen Hai when his letter arrived.

Five days have passed since she sent the letter. Even if the post office is slower than her going to the county town herself, it should have arrived in two days at the earliest. But she has only just received the reply.

If we also consider the days she spent getting her bicycle, it's clear how long Chen Hai's voyage at sea was this time.

"sorry to bother you."

An Ning quickly signed her name and returned the notebook and pen.

"Serve the people!"

The soldier saluted her and went to deliver the message to the next household.

Back inside, Anning opened the envelope.

I thought Chen Hai's handwriting would be as messy as the cover, but when I took out the letter, I found that it was neat and tidy regular script, which was definitely the result of his hard work.

Before even reading the contents, An Ning's impression of Chen Hai improved even further.

There are two sheets of letter paper in total:

The first message briefly explained his regret at not being able to hand over the bicycle to Anning because he was temporarily reassigned to work on a ship last time, and praised her for making delicious squid strips, which were all taken by his colleagues. He expressed his hope to buy some from her.

The second message was a reply to An Ning's letter regarding the old radio. He said he could help get one and had arranged a time to meet with An Ning, including today.

There's no time like the present, so Anning decided to make it happen today.

Previously, when she went to the county town, she would take a military vehicle to go out to buy supplies, so she left Xiao Ni'er next door and asked Zhao Xuemei to take care of her.

This time, she had a bicycle, so she could take Xiao Ni'er with her when she went to the county town.

To be honest, she's been eating seafood every meal for the past few days and is really craving a change of pace from the state-run restaurants.

Coincidentally, while modifying the shovel, she also modified the back seat of the bicycle, adding a guardrail and a soft pad so that she wouldn't have to worry about her child falling off while drowsy on the road.

After packing two bags of dried squid, Anning set off with her child.

Meanwhile, news of Anning's modification of a very convenient shovel also reached the troops.

The Chinese military has a long tradition of using entrenching tools, and soldiers are now mostly equipped with the Type 65 entrenching tool, which is a very frequently used and important piece of equipment.

The Type 65 entrenching tool can handle tasks like shoveling, chopping, and cooking, but the soldiers couldn't imagine using it for prying or picking. They could only try to understand it from their wives' descriptions.

Yan Fei, having received orders from the regimental commander, kept a close eye on An Ning's situation. So when An Ning was preparing to help everyone modify their shovels, he reported the news.

That day, Qiao Shanshan happened to be invited by her aunt to have dinner at her aunt and uncle's house, where she met Yan Fei again, who had come to report on the situation.

When Yan Fei saw that the regimental commander's family members were also there, he was unsure whether he should speak up directly.

This was something the regimental commander had instructed him to do privately, so he chose to report to the commander at his home outside of work hours.

However, he felt that this matter couldn't really be considered a private matter, so he hesitated.

"Commander, I..."

"What is it?" Li Bowen asked.

"It's related to Sister-in-law Anning."

"It's alright, we're all on the same side, just say it." Li Bowen waved his hand dismissively.

"That's right, Sister Anning recently modified a multi-functional shovel, and now many military families are paying her to help them modify it."

"What's the big deal? It's hard work helping people modify things, so what's wrong with getting a little pay? It's a way to supplement the family income." Li Bowen thought for a moment and said, "Speaking of which, those two packs of squid strips she gave me last time were pretty good. They'd be great with drinks. Go buy me some more."

His subordinates were serving the country abroad, and after so many years in the military, this was the only favor they had asked him to do. He had to make sure the mother and daughter were well taken care of.

He added, "The price could be increased slightly."

"Yes," Yan Fei agreed, then added, "Everything else is secondary. The main thing is that I think the shovel she modified is quite practical; it feels even better than our Type 65..."

While Li Bowen and Yan Fei were talking, his wife Lu Yan noticed her niece's low spirits and quietly called her into the kitchen.

"Shanshan, what's wrong with you?"

Upon hearing her aunt's question, Qiao Shanshan finally couldn't hold back her tears, which fell down in a steady stream.

"Auntie... he got married."

"What?" Lu Yan Hui didn't react for a moment.

Qiao Shanshan explained, "Song Wenyuan, I never expected that he would actually get married."

Lu Yan looked bewildered: "You like him? I remember he told you that at the dinner table when you two first met?"

Qiao Shanshan choked up, "I thought he didn't like me and was just using that as an excuse. After all, I'm different from those delicate women; I have a very outgoing personality and I don't speak in a coquettish way..."

Looking at her niece whom she had watched grow up, Lu Yanhui couldn't help but sigh: "Xiao Song does look younger than his actual age, which can easily lead to misunderstandings. But if he were really single, how could your uncle and I not introduce such an outstanding person to you? You don't think your uncle and I would conspire with him to deceive you, do you?"