Until Daniel’s wife was sent into the emergency room, only then did Elena plump down on the bench in the long hospital corridor.

  The official actually followed her and sat down right next to her.

  Daniel and his sister were pacing back and forth anxiously. Their moving figures made Elena’s heart hang in suspense just like theirs, but she was helpless.

  Being able to get the person safely to the ward was already a very smooth situation for Elena. She hadn’t experienced this in her past life and didn’t know what would happen next.

  At this moment, Elena finally felt a bit bad. This official didn't need to suffer through this ordeal with her. She handed the car keys back to him:

  "You should go back first. I'll stay here and wait until they are safe before I go back to the countryside."

  The official’s eyes widened: "Comrade, I don’t know how to drive!"

  "Ah?" Elena just remembered. She was in such a rush that she forgot everything.

  Instead, the official comforted her: "Don't worry, young comrade. I’m in no rush to get back. You’re a relative of the pregnant woman, right? Wait until she’s safe, then you can drive me back to my unit."

  "That works too."

  The two started chatting. The official's name is Arthur. He is the Director of the Bureau of Planned Economy. Today, he came to the countryside for a secret investigation into smuggling along the Rio Sangreza border river.

  His driver had actually taken a bullock cart through the small paths to find an observation spot for the night first.

  Smuggling only starts at night, so Arthur had been waiting in Beldora town, and then he ended up doing a good deed by saving a life.

  Arthur even showed Elena his work ID and some daily documents to prove that what he said was true.

  Elena’s eyes lit up.

  This is a civil official, not someone from the military district.

  Based on her memories before her rebirth, the civil servant system will fully take over this country in about a year.

  Following a civil official is the most promising path.

  Elena frankly told him that she was just a small support soldier from the military district.

  As for why she could drive, she just made up a reason: she had a relative who fixed cars, and she started learning at thirteen or fourteen, which is why her skills are so good.

  Arthur clicked his tongue in wonder. He, a man in his forties, didn’t know anyone around him who could drive except for professional drivers. Today, he actually met a seventeen or eighteen-year-old girl who could drive. It was an eye-opener.

  Learning that Elena wasn't a relative of the pregnant woman, Arthur made a request: after the woman is safe, could she drive him back to Beldora? He wanted to observe the smuggling on the Sangreza River overnight.

  If the woman was out of danger, Elena was going to return to Solana today anyway, so she readily agreed:

  "Sure."

  Finally, the cry of a baby came from the emergency room. The nurse who pushed the door open reported the good news to the family first.

  "Sir, your wife gave birth to a 4kg big fat son. Both mother and child are safe."

  After a while, the nurse thoughtfully pushed the large baby out of the ward to let the relatives outside see his cute face.

  "Actually, not cute at all." Elena secretly laughed in her heart. Although this child was very large, his skin was wrinkled. He really didn't look cute right now.

  But she knew that next month, once the baby filled out, he would become cute.

  The father, Daniel, was different. He held the baby in his arms, laughing and crying at the same time:

  "Doctor, how is my wife?"

  "She lost quite a bit of blood on the way. We are giving her a transfusion now, and the bleeding has stopped. She should be fine after a few days in the hospital."

  Hearing the doctor say this, Daniel's sister cried out loud: "Really? My sister-in-law is okay? She's okay! Waaaaah..."

  After the doctor took the baby away,

  Daniel wiped his tears and grabbed Elena’s hand. "Little sister, what’s your name? I need to thank you. Are you Roan’s neighbor?"

  "Yes!"

  "You saved my child. My child will recognize you as his aunt from now on. You can't refuse."

  "Ah?"

  Elena froze for a moment before reacting. She had just gained a god-brother, a god-sister, a god-sister-in-law, a god-father, a god-mother, and a whole bunch of Daniel’s relatives...

  "Alright," Elena laughed...

  Daniel finally turned to face Arthur. Just as he was about to kneel and kowtow, Arthur quickly held him up, not letting his knees touch the ground:

  "No, no, no! Comrade."

  "Aiya, comrade, we are Communist Party members. We cannot accept the people's kneeling. Kneeling is feudal thinking..."

  "Fine, fine, don't go reaching into your pockets for money. I don’t accept money. I want nothing, nothing, nothing..."

  Daniel smiled through his tears and snot: "Not even a cigarette?"

  Arthur finally took the cigarette this time and put it into his folder: "Comrade, actually I don’t smoke, but I can keep this cigarette as a souvenir to commemorate your child’s safe birth."

  When they parted, Daniel, acting as the older brother, gave Elena a major task:

  Go back to Solana and tell the good news to his parents.

  On the way driving back from the county seat to Beldora, because they weren't in a hurry, Elena lowered the speed to make it easier to chat.

  Arthur asked Elena if she had any thoughts on developing the rural economy.

  Elena pointed out bluntly that what the Sangreza River basin plains lacked most was not land, but people.

  Because after ten years of war, everyone wanted to squeeze into the cities over a thousand kilometers away. The cities had no land to farm, and plus the foreign economic blockade, the famine happened.

  To attract people back here, first, there must be no more war. Second, enterprises must be set up so that people here can live a good life without necessarily being farmers. Then, the population that ran to the cities will flow back to the Sangreza border river area.

  Arthur’s eyes widened!

  This was part of the economic proposal he had just finished writing last night to report to the provincial government. It was actually spoken by a little girl he met on the roadside.

  "Elena, have you really never been to college?" After Arthur asked, he slapped his forehead, "Oh, my brain. The college entrance exams have been suspended these few years, and you’re only 17..."

  This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  Elena smiled: "I learned it from reading books myself."

  "Then, Comrade Elena, I want to hear more of your brilliant ideas. What kind of business do you think can be started in our countryside?"

  Elena originally wanted to say a jam factory, but jam was the hope of Roan’s family. She felt she shouldn't reveal this business opportunity to anyone else.

  Elena thought for a little while longer. Combining the situation in Solana, she boldly proposed the idea of building a chestnut cake processing factory.

  Chestnut cake is a specialty snack of this area. Even in the capital a thousand kilometers away, many people know about this little snack. This is a gold-lettered brand.

  More importantly, chestnut cake is easy to store and can be sold at a very high price. Chestnuts that could only be sold for 6 pesos a kilogram, after processing, a piece of chestnut cake only the size of two fingers can sell for 15 pesos. The price increases by dozens of times.

  As long as the chestnut cake factory can make big money, many employees won't need to go out and farm the fields. Once the farmers in the city hear that growing chestnuts can make money, they will definitely run back to farm.

  In this way, grain production increases, and isn't the famine solved?

  Besides, chestnuts—this kind of semi-wild fruit—are actually very easy to grow. You almost don't need to spray pesticides, and they bear fruit easily.

  Arthur was shocked into silence. Although this set of circular economy ideas had been specifically discussed by several economic experts in the county and province—and was considered feasible and far-sighted.

  But this was just a little girl met randomly on the road! She spoke about economics so logically, just like an expert.

  How could he know that Elena was a person who had lived two lives?

  However, Arthur raised a doubt, which was also the doubt he raised at the provincial expert meeting.

  Chestnuts, being tall trees, take many years to bear fruit. If the chestnut cake factory starts up, the current chestnuts won't be enough for the supply. What should be done then?

  Elena answered with a mysterious smile: "Grafting! There are many chestnut trees on the mountain slightly taller than a person. Just graft branches from old trees directly, and they can bear fruit in the second year. Also, there is a cutting technique for fruit tree cultivation."

  Arthur "..."

  A little girl... she knows everything about starting a factory and planting trees.

  He had only seen grafting and cuttings on TV. It wasn't easy for him to watch TV; it was only available in the government guest house, not at his home.

  He didn't expect this little girl to actually know these things.

  Truly incredible!

  Arthur now wished he could transfer Elena into the Bureau of Planned Economy to be his own secretary.

  What distressed Arthur was that Elena belonged to the military. He, a civil official, didn't have the final say.

  Arthur decided to find some common ground first and get to know this little girl better. "So, do you know how to make chestnut cake?"

  "Here!"

  Elena held the steering wheel with one hand and took a piece of chestnut cake from her pocket. She carried a small snack in her pocket every day to prepare for when she might need a child's help.

  Arthur opened the small piece of paper wrapping the chestnut cake and took a small bite. It was delicious! Better than any chestnut cake he had ever eaten.

  "You really made this?"

  "Yes!" Elena then introduced the recipe for the chestnut cake in detail. Since she learned it from Agnes anyway, she wasn't afraid of Arthur stealing the secret.

  "Good, good, good! You wait, I must transfer you to the county, or I'll set up a state-owned chestnut cake factory for you."

  Elena was also thrilled to hear Arthur say this. However, she guessed that since economic reform hadn't started yet, Arthur wouldn't be able to transfer her to the Bureau or help her set up a factory.

  For someone in the civil system to want to transfer a female soldier from the military camp, or to want to start an enterprise inside the military camp—if that wasn't a joke, what else could it be?

  For now, Elena could only tell herself—get to know this person, build the connection first, and then find a way after the economic reform.

  The two were so engrossed in their chat that they returned to Beldora without realizing it.

  But the eatery owner told Arthur: his driver heard he was already back in the county, so the driver took a bullock cart back to the countryside.

  Arthur was now in an awkward spot.

  Seeing that it was getting late, he couldn't ask a little girl to drive him back to the county seat again, or drive him to the village to find the driver, right? The car couldn't even get into that mud road in the driver's village.

  He was stuck!

  Elena didn’t want to miss the chance to continue contacting Arthur. Also, she wanted to see what the smuggling on the river was really like, as long as safety could be guaranteed.

  So she said: "I'll take you there. I also want to see the smuggling. But, I have a condition: I want to bring a male friend along."

  Arthur wished for one more person for more safety, so he quickly agreed. However, he misheard "male friend" as "boyfriend":

  "Sure, sure. When we get back to the county seat, I'll apply for a work-loss fee for both of you as compensation."

  The two drove back to Solana to find Roan. They saw Roan gathered with a group of people at the entrance of the village. Daniel’s parents and Lucy were also there.

  Presumably, everyone was waiting for news of the pregnant woman.

  Before Elena even parked the car, she shouted: "Roan, come over here."

  Roan replied with a "What is it?"

  After Elena parked and the whole village gathered around, she realized she should report the news to the villagers.

  "Both mother and child are safe. 4kg, it's a boy. Don't worry."

  Before she could finish her sentence, and just as she was about to turn off the engine and pull out the key, Arthur had already gotten out of the car. He shook hands with Roan and said bluntly: "Quick, get in the car. Your girlfriend said she wanted to pick you up and go together."

  Girlfriend?

  Roan’s face instantly turned red all the way to his neck.

  The whole village, and Lucy, all widened their eyes. When did Roan and Elena become a couple?