Chapter 12: A Second Chance: The Rebirth Original Female Lead  

When they returned from their mission, they did, in fact, encounter a young woman with the surname Su. 

Coincidentally, this Miss Su had also run into human traffickers. However, she was even less perceptive than Little An An, who was only four years old. She failed to recognize the danger and unknowingly ate the drugged biscuits the traffickers gave her. If Gu Weicheng and Hu Songlin hadn’t happened to come across the scene, she would have already been sold off to some remote mountain village by now. 

Through conversation, they learned that this Miss Su had come to the army base to seek refuge with her older brother. Since she was heading in the same direction, Hu Songlin suggested bringing her along. 

Gu Weicheng shot Hu Songlin a glance. He understood now—this guy was probably interested in the Su girl. 

“If you want to take an interest in her, that’s your business. Don’t drag me into it. I have things to do,” he rejected outright. 

Now that Miss Su had arrived at the army base, her brother and sister-in-law would take care of her. She didn’t need an outsider like him worrying about her. Besides, he barely had enough time to take care of his wife and child—where would he find the energy to concern himself with someone else? 

His priority was getting the family housing cleaned up. 

Hu Songlin’s expression turned slightly awkward, as if he’d just been caught red-handed. “What are you talking about? I was just bored and had nothing better to do.” 

“Oh? You have that much free time?” Gu Weicheng chuckled, then shoved a broom into Hu Songlin’s hands. “In that case, help me clean up. The house is a mess, and I really can’t get it all done by myself.” 

Hu Songlin: “…”

So, after finishing training, he had rushed back to the dormitory to wash up and change clothes—just so he could be all clean and fresh to help Gu Weicheng clean his house? 

But if Gu Weicheng wasn’t going with him to Regimental Commander Su’s house, it wouldn’t be appropriate for him to go alone either. 

Gu Weicheng noticed Hu Songlin’s reluctance and spoke as they walked, “Commander Su’s younger sister just arrived yesterday. His household is probably in chaos right now. This isn’t the best time for you to go and add to the commotion.” 

He knew a little about the situation at Commander Su’s home. Both of Commander Su’s parents were capitalists, and after their family was sent into re-education, his wife had already been unhappy, fearing that the family’s background would affect his chances of promotion. Now, with Commander Su’s younger sister showing up, his wife was bound to throw a fit. 

Hu Songlin thought about it and agreed. “Alright, I’ll listen to you. I’ll go help with the cleaning instead.”

The house had been unoccupied for too long, and cobwebs had formed on the beams.

To prevent dust from falling on his head, Gu Weicheng folded an old newspaper into a makeshift hat and put it on. The sight was rather amusing.

Hu Songlin burst out laughing the moment he saw it. “Old Gu, you look absolutely ridiculous in that.”

Before he could laugh any further, Gu Weicheng plopped an identical newspaper hat onto his head.

Hu Songlin: “…”

They started by clearing the dust off the beams before sweeping and mopping the floor. The order was crucial—if they cleaned the floor first and then dusted off the ceiling, all their effort would be wasted.

They also needed to check the electrical wiring to avoid the issue of moving in and finding that the lights didn’t work.

After a quick inspection, they found that the wiring was fine, but the bulbs in the living room and the secondary bedroom had burned out.

Apart from the built-in heated brick bed, the house had no furniture at all.

Since they were moving in soon, there was no time to have furniture custom-made. The only option was to buy ready-made pieces from the market.

Gu Weicheng took note of everything—they would need to purchase all of it.

….

“Su Wenbin, you’re really something, aren’t you? You didn’t even say a word to me before bringing your sister here. What, were you afraid I’d say no, so you went ahead and did it behind my back?” Chen Lina was so angry that tears streamed down her face. 

Commander Su quickly stepped forward to console her. “Why are you crying now? Come on, wipe your tears. The kids will be back soon, and it’s not good for them to see you like this. It’s my fault, I know… How about this—you can hit me a couple of times, will that make you feel better?” 

Chen Lina wiped her tears and pounded her fists against Su Wenbin’s chest twice, not too lightly. 

“You think I won’t? Hmph, I just did! Su Wenbin, it’s not your sister coming here that I’m mad about—it’s that you didn’t trust me enough to talk to me first. You just went ahead and made the decision on your own!” 

“And do you think I didn’t support her coming here for my own sake? I was doing it for you!” 

“When your parents first got into trouble, you were almost dragged down with them. If it weren’t for Commander Gu standing up for you, saying that you had risked your life for the country and shouldn’t be treated unfairly, do you think you would have gotten off so easily? Even if you weren’t completely ruined, you would’ve been skinned alive!” 

“And look at you—you’re already thirty-five and still stuck at the regimental commander level. Now look at Commander Gu! He’s five or six years younger than you. Why do you think that is?” 

“It’s because your family has been holding you back! If your sister had just stayed away, that’d be one thing. But now that she’s here, you can forget about your promotion this year. And next year, or even the year after? It won’t be your turn either!” 

Su Wenbin let out a long sigh. “I know you’re right, but she’s still my sister. She reached out to me for help—how could I turn her away?”

“Forget it. Do whatever you want. I can’t control you anyway.”

Chen Lina knew that there was no point in arguing any further. The decision was already made—Su Wenbin had made up his mind to let his sister stay. 

…

In the inner room, Su Wenyen had already woken up. She had heard every word of her brother and sister-in-law’s argument, but she didn’t come out. Instead, she lay on the bed, lost in memories of her past life. 

Su Wenyen had been reborn. 

In her previous life, because her sister-in-law didn’t want her to come to the army base, she had been sent to the labor farm along with their parents. 

And that was where her miserable fate had begun. 

At the farm, she had fallen in love with a man who had also been sent there. But his family was powerful, and before long, he was rehabilitated. 

She followed him to Beijing, thinking she would finally have a good life. But she had no idea that was where her nightmare would begin. 

Though the man had married her, he still had countless women outside. His mother looked down on her, imposed all sorts of rules on her, and even though they had maids at home, she was still forced to do all the chores. People ridiculed her, saying she was only fit to be a servant. 

She lived like that until she was over forty. She was only in her forties, but she looked withered and aged beyond her years. 

That was when regret struck her. 

She remembered how her brother had disapproved of her marriage back then and had even introduced her to one of his comrades from the army. But she had refused, thinking he was a divorced man with children and she didn’t want to be a stepmother. 

Then, years later, she saw that very man on the front page of a newspaper—he had become a commander of military district. 

Even though he was nine years older than her, he looked strong and full of energy in the photograph. Meanwhile, she, at only forty-something, looked older than he did. 

She had gripped that newspaper tightly, drowning in regret. 

And then she was reborn—back to the moment when her family had just fallen from grace and was about to be sent away. 

This time, she refused to follow her parents to the labor farm. Instead, she had written a letter to her brother at the army base, begging him to let her relocate with him. Then, she had taken the train and come here. 

She hadn’t expected her luck to be so good—she had run into Gu Weicheng on the train. 

She had seen his picture in the newspaper before, so she knew exactly what he looked like. In person, the young Gu Weicheng was even more handsome than in the pictures. 

She must have been blind in her past life to reject such a good man. 

Now that she had a second chance, she absolutely wouldn’t let him slip away again!