“Why are you only here now?”
Jiang Ting entered with his tall, upright figure. When he saw that Meng Weiguo was also there, he nodded at him before placing the file folder in his hand on the desk.
“I spent the past two days organizing the materials from the military exercise. I’m here to hand them over to the division commander for review.”
Meng Mingyuan picked up the documents and quickly went through them. When he reached the end, he burst into laughter.
“Good! Very good! As expected of our ace soldier! Let’s see what the 36th Division has to say now!”
The more he looked at his prized subordinate, the more satisfied he became.
Meng Weiguo, who was standing nearby, had long since become accustomed to this. Whenever he stood next to Jiang Ting, anyone could immediately tell that Jiang Ting was the division commander’s biological son while he was the adopted one!
Seeing that the two of them were about to discuss some matters, Meng Weiguo took the initiative to say goodbye.
“I won’t disturb you any longer, Division Commander Meng. I’ll be leaving first.”
Meng Mingyuan casually waved his hand.
“Go on and get back to work. And tone it down a little. Don’t scare the new recruits half to death.”
“I won’t.”
Meng Weiguo left.
Jiang Ting asked, “Is the 233rd Regiment responsible for training the new recruits this time?”
Meng Mingyuan nodded. “The 233rd Regiment just completed a mission in the first half of the year. There aren’t any important missions for them in the near future, so I arranged for them to take it easy for a month.”
Training new recruits could hardly be considered difficult.
Before today, Meng Weiguo had felt that this assignment was an insult to the 233rd Regiment. If they were ordered onto the battlefield, they would have no complaints. Training new recruits was barely acceptable, but training female recruits? What did that mean? Did they think so little of them?
However, after going to the Political Department today, his mind had changed.
There were far too many single men in the regiment. It might be a good thing for them to spend some time around female soldiers.
……
When Wen Jiaojiao returned to the dormitory, she immediately sensed that something was wrong with the atmosphere.
“How unlucky. How did our dormitory end up with such a shameless woman?”
The speaker was Qiu Shumin. She looked Wen Jiaojiao up and down with undisguised contempt.
Wu Qin frowned, while Wang Xiaomei glanced between the two of them without saying anything.
Wen Jiaojiao’s expression immediately turned cold.
“Who are you talking about?”
Qiu Shumin snorted.
“You, of course! You look like the kind of woman who can’t behave herself. Not only are you shameless, you even steal things! How can someone like you become a soldier? Go back home!”
“…!”
Wen Jiaojiao immediately thought of one person.
Wen Lili really was something. She had only been at the army base for one day, yet she had already started spreading rumors about her.
Wu Qin couldn’t stand listening to it anymore.
“Qiu Shumin, that’s enough. Your words are too harsh. Jiaojiao isn’t that kind of person.”
Yao Fang, who was standing beside Qiu Shumin, spoke up.
“Her own cousin said these things about her. If she really isn’t that kind of person, why would her cousin say such things?”
As expected, Wen Jiaojiao let out a cold laugh.
“If you’re going to spread rumors, you need evidence. I have nothing to be ashamed of and I’ve done nothing wrong. If you have the guts, bring Wen Lili here and let her accuse me to my face.”
“If you can’t bring her here, then all of you can shut your mouths!”
After saying that, she returned to her bed and prepared to read for a while. The book was one she had borrowed from Wu Qin.
Qiu Shumin and Yao Fang weren’t sure whether the accusations were true, but they believed they were. So Qiu Shumin said,
“Fine, we’ll find her. I want to see what else you’ll have to say when your cousin gets here!”
With that, she and Yao Fang left to look for Wen Lili.
Only the three of them remained in the dormitory.
Wu Qin looked at Wen Jiaojiao worriedly.
“Jiaojiao, how could your cousin slander you like this?”
Wen Jiaojiao gave a disdainful smile.
“She tried to steal my letter of introduction before. I exposed her, so now she’s spreading rumors about me.”
“What? How could she do something like that?”
Wu Qin couldn’t understand it. How could someone’s own cousin do such a thing?
Wen Jiaojiao explained briefly, “Because I was adopted. She can’t stand seeing me living as well as she does.”
“I see.”
Wang Xiaomei looked at her sympathetically.
She had seen plenty of situations like this in the village. Adopted children could never truly be treated the same as biological children. Fortunately, she was her parents’ biological daughter. Otherwise, she probably wouldn’t have gotten the chance to join the army either.
“It’s okay, Jiaojiao. We believe you’re a good person.”
Wang Xiaomei moved closer to her.
Seeing that the two of them were taking her side, Wen Jiaojiao felt a warmth in her heart.
“Thank you.”
Wu Qin also sat down beside her.
“We’re friends. Of course I believe you. Besides, I trust what I’ve seen with my own eyes.”
Although they hadn’t known each other for long, Wu Qin simply felt that Wen Jiaojiao wasn’t that kind of person. There was nothing inappropriate about the way she behaved.
Wen Jiaojiao smiled at her.
If this had happened to an ordinary girl, she probably would have been so angry that she would have gone looking for the person responsible and fought her on the spot.
But Wen Jiaojiao wouldn’t.
Or rather, she was already used to it.
In her previous life, after running away from an arranged marriage, her outstanding appearance had caught the attention of a talent scout. She followed him to Hong Kong and began a career in show business.
She had an astonishing talent for singing and dancing and became a popular star in just two short years.
But her fame had been short-lived.
For a beautiful woman with no powerful connections, trying to establish herself in the ruthless entertainment industry was harder than Tang Sanzang making his journey to the West.
Because she refused to become the mistress of a greasy old rich man, she was blacklisted by the industry and subjected to vicious online harassment.
That had been the darkest period of her life.
She didn’t even know how she had managed to make it through.
Compared to what she had endured back then, these rumors were nothing. They couldn’t hurt her anymore.
The dormitory door opened, and Zhang Shaoying walked in from outside.
She looked at Wen Jiaojiao strangely.
“You can still sit there?”
Wen Jiaojiao looked at her in confusion.
“Why wouldn’t I be able to?”
“Do you know you’ve become famous?”
Zhang Shaoying couldn’t understand it. If she found out who was spreading rumors about her, she would punch that person so hard they wouldn’t even recognize their own parents!
“You mean that?” Wen Jiaojiao asked. “If someone is deliberately spreading malicious rumors about me, I should be able to report them, right?”
Zhang Shaoying nodded.
“Of course.”
Since that was the case, Wen Jiaojiao immediately borrowed paper and a pen from Wu Qin and began writing a report.
Seeing that she was actually going to file a complaint, Zhang Shaoying sat down beside her with great interest and watched her write.
“I heard all of this came from your cousin. What’s the situation with your family?”
“She spreads rumors about you, and you’re going to report her?”
Wang Xiaomei explained from the side, “Shaoying, you don’t know Jiaojiao’s situation…”
She then proceeded to tell her the whole story about how Wen Jiaojiao wasn’t her family’s biological daughter.
Coming from Wang Xiaomei, the story made Wen Jiaojiao sound incredibly pitiful.
Like a little cabbage growing in the fields—only three or four years old, with neither mother nor father…
Even Zhang Shaoying, who was normally tough and straightforward, couldn’t help feeling sorry for her.
Wen Jiaojiao couldn’t help wiping away a cold sweat.
Was she really that pitiful?
“Okay, I’ve finished writing the report. Where should I submit it?”
Zhang Shaoying stood up.
“I’ll take you there.”
The two had barely left the dormitory when Qiu Shumin and Yao Fang returned with Wen Lili.
“Where’s Wen Jiaojiao?”
Qiu Shumin wore a smug expression, as if she had everything under control.
Wang Xiaomei immediately became timid when facing Qiu Shumin and the others. She answered softly,
“Jiaojiao just went out.”
Qiu Shumin sneered.
“Did she run away because she feels guilty?”
Wu Qin immediately stood up for her.
“Qiu Shumin, don’t assume the worst about Jiaojiao. You shouldn’t believe every rumor you hear.”
Wen Lili couldn’t stand seeing anyone defend Wen Jiaojiao. She immediately said,
“Comrade, don’t let Wen Jiaojiao fool you. Otherwise, you won’t even realize how she’s taking advantage of you until it’s too late.”