Chapter 14: A Complete Image Change, Returning to My True Self

Although it was just a few short sentences, she understood. Zhang Meimei wouldn’t be transferred; she would likely stay.

Well, it’s fine. She hadn’t had enough fun yet.

Zhang Meimei’s hypocritical facade hadn’t been completely exposed, although Wen Yanyan knew it deep down.

The matter of Zhang Meimei tempting her to drug Nan Jue was revealed to Commander Liu. She would skillfully embellish the truth.

She would certainly say she was helping a friend, that she kindly obtained the medicine to help Wen Yanyan consummate her marriage.

As for her ulterior motives and hidden agendas, she would certainly conceal them well.

Instead, Wen Yanyan would leave Commander Liu with a bad impression of being ungrateful.

It’s a double-edged sword.

But she didn’t care about this double-edged sword. After all, she was a time traveler!

Fine, let’s play a couple more rounds. Life is too boring without a little excitement.

Women like Zhang Meimei are born villains. To achieve their goals, they will stop at nothing. She will surely cause more trouble in the future.

Wen Yanyan went home.

On the way, she met several army wives who asked what happened between her and Zhang Meimei. She said they had a little disagreement, without revealing the truth.

Because she promised Commander Liu that she wouldn’t say anything before the results were out.

However, she already had a plan in mind.

No matter what the outcome, she wouldn’t go to headquarters again to cry and make a fuss.

The nagging, the tantrums—those were things of the past.

From now on, she would completely change her image and return to her true self.

…

After returning home, Wen Yanyan didn’t idle. She picked up a large iron shovel and loosened the soil in the small courtyard by the window where the sun shone.

She planned to buy some seeds tomorrow—spring onions, Chinese cabbage, lettuce, chives—for easy access to fresh vegetables.

After all, she had nothing better to do.

Time was the one thing she didn’t lack. It wasn’t until dusk that she went back inside, cleaned up the leftover lunch in the kitchen, and considered it her dinner.

Wen Yanyan was controlling her diet.

Then, she washed the bracken she had pickled yesterday, squeezed out the water, cut it into pieces, added some seasoning, and tasted it. It lacked a little sugar, but it was acceptable.

Next, she cleaned up the kitchen, boiled a kettle of hot water, filled the thermos, boiled another kettle, and took a bath, changing into clean clothes.

She washed her dirty clothes and hung them on the clothesline.

Finally, seeing there was nothing left to do, she checked the time in the bedroom. It was eight o’clock in the evening. Whew, another busy day.

In this era, there was no internet or entertainment venues. Besides working, there was only rest. Wen Yanyan lay down on the bed in her clothes, not taking them off. She felt insecure, a sense of strangeness still clinging to her.

Wen Yanyan stared at the drooping round light bulb on the ceiling and began to daydream. She missed home, her home in the new century, and her mother.

Her mother must be very sad because her beloved, most excellent daughter, Yanyan, had unexpectedly… died.

Life is unpredictable.

As Wen Yanyan thought, her eyes welled up. She felt sorry for herself. She was only eighteen and had to endure all this suffering. If it were just hard work, it wouldn’t be so bad, but after a busy day, she came home to find herself completely alone, without anyone to talk to.

Where was her newly acquired husband now?

If he returned from his mission, she would find a way to keep him at home, even if it was just to sit beside her and chat. She was terribly lonely.

Wen Yanyan tugged at her blanket with her small, chubby hand and closed her eyes…

---

Thousands of miles away, in the Wild Boar Forest—so named because of the abundance of wild boars—lay a village of fewer than 500 indigenous people, called Wild Boar Village.

The village’s origin, it is said, dates back to an ancient natural disaster when a group of hunters, who relied on hunting for their livelihood, gathered there.

Because of the abundant wildlife and fertile land, they stayed. Over time, a village formed.

However, the villagers hunted without restraint, not even sparing newborn piglets. As a result, they were punished by the laws of nature, and the wild boar population plummeted, disrupting the food chain.

With fewer wild boars, the wolf population increased.

To maintain ecological balance and protect wildlife, the government designated wild boars as a national Class II protected animal.

But after several years of recovery and breeding, the wild boar population became excessive again.

The wolf population didn’t decrease either.

Wolves are cunning; they are disciplined and work in packs. When hungry, they prey on wild boars.

Threatened by the wolves, the wild boars could no longer live in the forest.

Sometimes they would leave the mountains and wreak havoc on the crops, eat sheep, and encroach on people’s land, scaring the villagers and causing them to flee in terror.

The village head of Wild Boar Village, whose surname was Na, immediately contacted the township to report the situation, saying that the Wild Boar Forest needed to control not only the wild boars but also the wolves, or the villagers would not survive.

The township reported the situation to higher authorities.

Finally, they contacted Commander Liu Zhendong of the South Xinjiang Garrison, as this was the nearest military unit to Wild Boar Village.