Chapter 1

Who else could be like her, waking up in the sea with a man tightly clutched under her arm?

It was terrifying, bewildering, and somewhat absurd.

She, a national team swimmer, with top-tier skills, had been trained from a young age by her father at a military unit, a model athlete who couldn’t afford to show weakness.

Following her instincts, she swam forward, and in her line of sight appeared a dilapidated fishing boat.

“Baoni, swim over quickly, everyone, lend a hand, let’s pull him up…”

In an unfamiliar environment, surrounded by unfamiliar people, Jiang Jiaojiao was stunned. It took her a moment to realize that this was not the seaside where her team had gone for a team-building activity.

Her last memory was of jumping into the sea to rescue someone, and beside her was a luxury cruise ship. Where was this? Where was she? Who was she?

She had no answers to these three questions, and they didn’t help the dazed person.

A group of people dressed in clothing with a very old-fashioned look, patched-up clothes, braided hair, red faces, dark complexions, and white teeth…

A buzzing sound, the sinking weight, Jiang Jiaojiao instinctively felt something was wrong. But saving the person was the priority. With her professional knowledge, she judged that this People’s Liberation Army soldier would die without immediate medical attention.

Hearing a group of people calling her Baoni, Jiang Jiaojiao realized that, just like in the novels, she had somehow crossed over!

Whether she had crossed over or not wasn’t the important part. The key thing was that the person she had saved needed immediate medical treatment.

“Everyone, step aside, don’t crowd around.”

Jiang Jiaojiao casually pushed aside the people surrounding the unconscious People’s Liberation Army soldier, sending them a considerable distance away.

There was no time to think about why her strength had become so great. Saving the person was the priority.

The man lying on the ground wore an old-fashioned military uniform, his eyes tightly shut, his face pale. Jiang Jiaojiao knelt down and placed her hand on his carotid artery.

This was bad. There was no pulse, and he remained unconscious. Immediate emergency treatment was essential!

For an unconscious drowning victim, the first step was to clear the airway.

Jiang Jiaojiao knelt beside the People’s Liberation Army soldier, pressing his forehead with one hand while lifting his chin with the other to open his airway.

“Someone, come over and clear the water plants from his mouth.”

As soon as the words left her mouth, an Aunt ran over. “Baoni, do you just use your hands to fish it out?”

“Yes, get the seaweed out, quickly.”

The Aunt was quick and efficient, clearing the seaweed from the People’s Liberation Army soldier’s mouth in just a few moments.

Jiang Jiaojiao checked that the airway was clear, then pinched his nostrils with her thumb and forefinger, covering his mouth with her lips. She began to blow air into him—once, twice, five times in total, with a one-second interval between each.

“My gosh, how did you end up kissing him?”

A loud voice rang out, nearly scaring Jiang Jiaojiao into collapsing.

“Wang Daya, you’re a fool, my Baoni is saving a life! Stop talking nonsense or I’ll tear your mouth off.”

The Aunt who had cleared the seaweed immediately retorted, not missing a beat.

“Li Daya, don’t fool people. Since when has kissing someone ever saved a life?”

“Yeah, that’s a little shameless!”

“She kissed him several times!”

Jiang Jiaojiao couldn’t care less about the chatter around her. She was racing against time to save this person.

She knew that no matter what, there would always be different opinions.

She also knew that to protect herself, she should have used a piece of cloth or something to cover the drowning person’s mouth.

But they had just come out of the sea—where would they find something like that?

Once the airway was cleared, it was time for chest compressions.

Jiang Jiaojiao placed the heel of her palm in the center of the People’s Liberation Army soldier’s chest, on the lower part of his sternum.

As soon as the words left her mouth, an Aunt ran over. “Baoni, do you just use your hands to fish it out?”

“Yes, get the seaweed out, quickly.”

The Aunt was quick and efficient, clearing the seaweed from the People’s Liberation Army soldier’s mouth in just a few moments.

Jiang Jiaojiao checked that the airway was clear, then pinched his nostrils with her thumb and forefinger, covering his mouth with her lips. She began to blow air into him—once, twice, five times in total, with a one-second interval between each.

“My gosh, how did you end up kissing him?”

A loud voice rang out, nearly scaring Jiang Jiaojiao into collapsing.

“Wang Daya, you’re a fool, my Baoni is saving a life! Stop talking nonsense or I’ll tear your mouth off.”

The Aunt who had cleared the seaweed immediately retorted, not missing a beat.

“Li Daya, don’t fool people. Since when has kissing someone ever saved a life?”

“Yeah, that’s a little shameless!”

“She kissed him several times!”

Jiang Jiaojiao couldn’t care less about the chatter around her. She was racing against time to save this person.

She knew that no matter what, there would always be different opinions.

She also knew that to protect herself, she should have used a piece of cloth or something to cover the drowning person’s mouth.

But they had just come out of the sea—where would they find something like that?

Once the airway was cleared, it was time for chest compressions.

Jiang Jiaojiao placed the heel of her palm in the center of the People’s Liberation Army soldier’s chest, on the lower part of his sternum.

She overlapped her wrists, interlocked her fingers, and kept her arms straight, using her body weight to press down.

Professionally, the compressions should go at least 5 centimeters deep, but no more than 6 centimeters.

She had to press at a rate of 100-120 times per minute, and after every 30 compressions, give 2 mouth-to-mouth breaths.

While Jiang Jiaojiao mentally went over the process, she carried out the actions diligently.

Sweat trickled down her cheeks as she relied solely on willpower to keep going. She couldn’t stop.

She wasn’t sure how many cycles she had done, but just when she felt she couldn’t hold on much longer, she felt the People’s Liberation Army soldier’s heartbeat slowly returning. She also heard voices calling from the sea.

Before losing consciousness, Jiang Jiaojiao saw a team of People’s Liberation Army soldiers rushing toward her. She knew her task had been completed.

“Baoni, Baoni…”

The heartbreaking cries from a woman made her feel a deep ache in her heart. She wanted to comfort her, but her eyelids felt as if they were glued shut, and she couldn’t open them.

Jiang Jiaojiao didn’t know that after she passed out, the Military Unit team had arrived. The accompanying military doctor checked her and said she had just exhausted herself, with no other issues.

The drowning soldier also had a gunshot wound, but with the dark-colored combat uniform, no one had noticed. The doctor did a simple bandage and quickly left.

When the Military Unit soldiers departed, the people on the beach began to gossip in loud voices.

“They kissed, and then just left like that. Who would want to marry Lin Baoni after this?”

“Yes, Lin Baoni was already strong, and ordinary people didn’t dare to compete with her. Now, no one will dare to propose to her anymore.”

The two women were from other villages, and they were speaking the truth, unlike Wang Daya, who was just looking for trouble.

The woman who had been arguing earlier was Lin Baoni’s mother, but she didn’t have the energy to fight with them anymore. She had to hurry and take Baoni home, change her clothes, and let her drink some brown sugar water… there was too much to do, so she decided to ignore these gossiping women for now.

In Mother Lin’s heart, nothing was more important than her Baoni.

The several aunts of the Lin family took turns carrying Baoni back home, ignoring the gossip behind them.

When Jiang Jiaojiao regained consciousness, she found that her mind was filled with memories that didn’t belong to her. They were someone else’s fleeting life.

The original person, Lin Baoni, was 19 years old and had graduated from high school but didn’t make it into university.

Lin Baoni had been born on August 15, 1945, which was famously the day Japan surrendered.

The little girl, when she was born, was chubby and loud. The Lin family, young and old, were all very happy and believed that the girl was very fortunate.

As she grew, the little girl displayed her extraordinary strength: she was incredibly strong.

The girl, named Baoni by Father Lin, grew up smoothly without many setbacks, the only difficulty being that she had stomach problems during the college entrance exam and didn’t make it into university.

Jiang Jiaojiao’s mind played out Lin Baoni’s life like a movie, replaying the girl’s less-than-19 years.

She was a happy girl, a girl with opinions, a capable girl, and an admirable girl…

And then she thought of her own life. Jiang Jiaojiao thought about her own nineteen years.

Jiang Jiaojiao, born in 2000, had a father who was a soldier and a mother who was a teacher.

Not only was her father a soldier, but her grandfather, uncle, and cousin were all soldiers too. It could be said that hers was a military family.

From the moment she could walk, her father consciously trained her. By the time she was three years old, she was already standing in military posture and practicing horse stance.

Her father was a strict soldier, and any warmth he had was reserved for her mother.

Since she was young, her father had trained her as if she were a soldier—combat, Sanda, military boxing, sea infiltration, swimming, diving… she couldn’t even remember how much she had learned.

Her father said that in case he sacrificed his life, she would be able to take care of her mother and live a good life.

Jiang Jiaojiao hated her father, hated being a soldier, hated the training…

She hated hearing her father repeatedly shout: “Jiang Jiaojiao, focus, aim at the target, whip kick.”

“Jiang Jiaojiao, jump down, what are you looking at?”

“Jiang Jiaojiao, move faster, faster! This is armed cross-country, not school’s running drills.”

…

For a while, the name Jiang Jiaojiao became the one phrase she least wanted to hear.

For a time, her father’s voice made her feel physically uncomfortable, a reflex making her want to hide.

She had tried countless times to escape, but she never expected to finally escape for good this time.

She hadn’t joined the army, and instead, she made it into the national swimming team because her mother unexpectedly got pregnant with her younger brother. After a big fight with her father, she finally changed her college application and vowed not to attend a military academy.

And here she was, wearing Lin Baoni’s identity to save someone, while the real Baoni had lost her precious life to save others.

“Baoni, are you awake?”

A concerned voice from outside the door pulled Jiang Jiaojiao’s thoughts back. She was no longer Jiang Jiaojiao from 2023, but Lin Baoni from 1964.

This was something she had to remember, something she couldn’t make a mistake about. It was a matter of life and death.

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