“Which one is your blind date?”
Inside the transport bed of a green canvas-top truck, a few young educated women huddled together.
The girl with braided pigtails at the center of the group clutched a black-and-white photo of two people.
She pointed to the man in the military uniform on the right, a smug look on her face.
“He’s so handsome!”
“He looks so tall.
What’s his rank?”
The girl holding the photo lifted her chin slightly, her voice rising with pride.
“A battalion commander.”
A chorus of compliments erupted.
Wen Yan glanced over.
‘Huh?’
‘He looks a little familiar.’
She took another look.
‘What a coincidence!’
‘Isn’t that my husband of two years, the one I’ve only met once?’
A solo photo of that same face was tucked away in her own pocket.
On the back, written in blue ink, were the two words: Jiang Baizhou.
Aunt Wang, who had been out shopping, pulled down her neck warmer, her breath fogging in the cold air as she leaned in for a look.
“Isn’t that Battalion Commander Jiang?
I remember he got married…
but it seems he’s getting a divorce.
His wife sent him twelve divorce telegrams in one go!”
The flames of gossip instantly ignited inside the truck bed.
The subject of their gossip, Wen Yan, sat quietly to the side with her arms crossed.
The twelve divorce telegrams were real, but she wasn’t the one who sent them.
The original owner of her body and Jiang Baizhou had gotten married after being matched through photos.
On their wedding day, Jiang Baizhou received an urgent assignment and left.
He was gone for a whole year.
When he returned, he was immediately reassigned to the Reclamation Team stationed in Black Province.
The original ‘Wen Yan’ had married him out of spite towards a scumbag ex.
Later, coaxed by that same ex’s first love, she sent twelve consecutive divorce telegrams to Jiang Baizhou and even threatened her parents with a hunger strike to get them to agree to the divorce.
In the end, she didn’t make it.
After she was brought here by the “Support the Army Wife System,” she discovered that the original owner of the body looked exactly like her.
First, she took care of the scumbag, then she focused on recuperating and comforting her new parents.
The moment she received a letter from Jiang Baizhou, she packed her bags overnight and headed for the Great Northern Wilderness.
The first mission the system gave her was to not get divorced.
Regarding this, Wen Yan decided to just roll with the punches.
‘In her modern life, she’d died from overwork.
Her ashes have probably been made into a necklace by now.
There’s definitely no going back.’
According to the system, Jiang Baizhou was the best candidate for a military marriage it had screened in this entire plane of existence.
Broad shoulders, a narrow waist, and long legs were the basic requirements, and on top of that, he was supposed to be extremely loyal and responsible.
But now, Wen Yan seriously doubted that last part.
‘Would a responsible person really arrange a blind date before she had even signed the divorce papers?’
The pigtail girl clutched the photo and said, “My aunt told me that Battalion Commander Jiang’s divorce papers have already been approved.”
“Oh, then they’re definitely divorced.”
“What kind of person sends twelve divorce telegrams?
Such a waste of national resources.
That’s just bourgeois thinking for you.”
“Isn’t that just trampling all over a man’s dignity?”
“One hundred percent, they’re divorced.”
The girl with the photo silently agreed.
‘That’s what I think, too.’
She had admired Battalion Commander Jiang for a long time, but she’d been a step too slow, and he had gotten married.
This time, after asking her aunt about his situation, she came immediately.
‘Battalion Commander Jiang must be heartbroken right now.
That woman humiliated him with twelve telegrams.’
‘And now, here I am, the understanding and considerate one.
Battalion Commander Jiang will surely be moved.’
The others eavesdropping on the gossip felt the biting cold a little less, united in their shared contempt and criticism for Battalion Commander Jiang’s original wife.
‘She sounds just like some pampered daughter of a capitalist, only knowing a life of hedonism.’
CLUNK!
The moving truck ground to a screeching halt.
Everyone stopped gossiping and started asking what was going on.
“Comrades, the truck’s broken down.
We’re working on fixing it.
If you’re tired of sitting, you can get out and stretch your legs, but the wind and snow are fierce out there.
Make sure your hats and scarves are on tight.”
A soldier from the passenger seat came over to the truck bed to make the announcement.
Inside, Aunt Wang, who was familiar with the situation, started organizing everyone.
“Let’s all get out and move around.
The longer we stay up here, the colder we’ll get.
This truck breaks down all the time; no telling how long the repairs will take.”
“What if they can’t fix it?
We’re not going to have to camp out here in this frozen wasteland, are we?”
The young soldier replied, “Don’t worry.
The supply truck has a round-trip schedule every day.
If we’re delayed too long on the return trip, the Reclamation Team will send a vehicle to pick us up.”
The people in the truck finally relaxed a little.
You could freeze to death out here in this icy wilderness.
The passengers climbed out of the truck, helping each other down.
Wen Yan was the last one out.
She jumped down, carrying a small, long canvas duffel bag.
The young soldier beside her advised, “You don’t need to grab your luggage.”
Wen Yan pulled her scarf down a bit.
“I can fix cars.
The sooner it’s fixed, the sooner we can get going.”
The young soldier wasn’t even wearing a scarf, and in just this short time, his hair, eyebrows, and shoulders were already coated in white.
“This comrade can fix cars?”
The women who had just been in the truck also turned to look at Wen Yan.
‘This quiet woman can fix cars?’
“Yes!”
Wen Yan’s “Yes!” was firm.
She didn’t offer any other explanation, but she exuded a strange, convincing confidence.
“Alright, then I’ll have to ask you to take a look, Comrade.”
The young soldier thought it would be rude to refuse the woman’s offer and hurt her pride.
‘She’s just trying to be helpful, after all.’
‘Anyone willing to come to Black Province to join the reclamation effort is a good comrade.
It’s fine even if she’s just putting on a show.’
‘We’re just waiting around anyway.’
Wen Yan walked to the front of the truck, her boots CRUNCHING on the snow, and then stood still.
The young soldier and the women who had come over to watch the spectacle followed her.
The young soldier wondered, ‘Why isn’t she moving?’
The other women thought, ‘What a waste of time.
How shameless, trying to show off at a moment like this?’
If it wasn’t too cold to open their mouths without getting a faceful of wind, they would have said a few critical words.
The young soldier asked tentatively, “Comrade, is there a problem?”
Wen Yan grunted in reply.
“My hands are freezing.”
The young soldier’s eye twitched.
It was an obvious truth he hadn’t expected, but one he couldn’t argue with.
The young soldier wanted to give Wen Yan an easy way out, to tell her it was fine and that they already had people working on it.
But instead, Wen Yan took a deep breath and slowly pulled off her gloves, her expression showing clear reluctance.
The instant her gloves were off, her movements suddenly accelerated.
The toolbox was snapped open with a CLICK.
Inside, the tools were a salvation for anyone with OCD: perfectly neat, arranged horizontally and vertically, sorted by size and type.
“Clogged fuel injector, carbon buildup on the spark plugs.”
Moving with incredible speed, Wen Yan squeezed past the young soldier who was bent over investigating the engine.
She grabbed her tools and, with a series of CLICKS and CLACKS, disassembled the parts.
After clearing the injector and cleaning the spark plugs, she swiftly reassembled everything.
The second she was finished, Wen Yan put her gloves back on, pulled up her scarf, hunched her shoulders, and let out a puff of white breath.
‘So cold.’
An expert reveals their skill the moment they act.
The young soldier, who had been a little annoyed at being pushed aside, wasn’t angry anymore.
“Try starting it.”
VROOM—
“It started!
You’re amazing!”
The young soldier’s praise was cut short by the sound of a whip cracking behind them.
A horse-drawn sleigh approached from behind, and a tall, long-legged man dismounted and walked toward them.
His voice was steady and clear.
“Sounds like you got it fixed?”