I was reborn after my cousin stole my life.

Chapter 8: I'm lucky

"Achoo!"

As soon as the jeep drove into the military base, Jiang Zhou let out a deafening sneeze.

His comrades in the same vehicle joked with him, "Look, look, look! That sneeze was so loud and clear. Is the person talking about our Battalion Commander Jiang a woman?"

Jiang Zhou rolled his eyes at him. "Don't talk nonsense."

He subconsciously touched the photo in his chest pocket. He didn't know what he was thinking, but he had brought the photo with him when he went on the mission.

"Battalion Commander Jiang, you don't seem to have a girlfriend yet, do you? You're twenty-five, it's time to settle down. My wife has a cousin who's quite pretty, how about I play matchmaker for you?" another person in the car said.

Jiang Zhou waved his hand: "I have a girlfriend."

"Commander Jiang has a girlfriend? When did they start dating? I've never heard you mention it before?"

"It was a marriage arranged for me when my parents were still alive."

"Then why aren't you married yet?"

"The woman is a few years younger than me; she just reached the legal age this year."

"So it was a childhood betrothal! I never imagined that Battalion Commander Jiang would agree to an arranged marriage."

Jiang Zhou smiled and shook his head, not continuing the topic.

The jeep entered the main road of the military area.

At that moment, Sister Chunmei was leading Yuan Juan out of the service center. As soon as they stepped outside, Yuan Juan stuffed the canned food jar she was carrying into Sister Chunmei's arms.

"No, no, how can I take your things? You should take them back and eat them yourself."

Chunmei pushed the can out, but dared not push it too hard, afraid that Yuan Juan might accidentally let go and the can would fall to the ground.

"Sister-in-law, please take this back for your child. I've troubled you a lot these past few days."

Yuan Juan felt bad about giving things away for nothing, but the thought of seeing Jiang Zhou today made her very anxious. What if Jiang Zhou suspected her? What if he didn't like her?

She didn't know anyone else here, and this person in front of her was quite warm towards her. She was also the wife of her good friend from Jiangzhou, so she should win her over no matter what.

As the saying goes, "He who takes a man's money is bound to him, and he who eats a man's food is bound to him." She didn't believe that Sister Chunmei, who had taken her money and eaten her food, wouldn't speak well of her to Jiangzhou.

"I can't accept this," Chunmei's sister-in-law said, unable to refuse, and had no choice but to accept it with embarrassment.

She hadn't expected Yuan Xiu to be so generous, giving her four cans of food as a gift; she usually wouldn't even buy them herself.

It seems that the girl's life back home wasn't as bad as they thought.

Sister Chunmei has sharp eyes. She glanced at the passing jeep and spotted Jiang Zhou sitting inside.

She quickly shouted twice, "Battalion Commander Jiang! Battalion Commander Jiang!"

The jeep slowed down, and several heads popped out of the vehicle. "Who's shouting?"

"She's Battalion Commander Li's wife."

"Hey! Who's that young woman next to her?"

"Could he be a relative of hers?"

Jiang Zhou's gaze fell on Yuan Juan, and his brows slowly furrowed. He raised his hand and touched the photo on his chest, and the spark that had been igniting in his heart these past few days died down.

"Battalion Commander Jiang, this is for you. Do you need me to stop?" the driver asked.

Jiang Zhou turned his gaze away from the outside world. "Let's go back to command post first."

The jeep drove away, and Sister Chunmei pointed to the departing car and asked Yuan Juan, "Jiangzhou was sitting inside, did you see him?"

Yuan Juan shook her head. She was so nervous that she couldn't possibly see whether Jiang Zhou was sitting in the car or not.

"You've seen Jiangzhou's photo, haven't you?" Chunmei asked.

Yuan Juan nodded. The reply included a photo of Jiang Zhou in military uniform. Her father could tell he was an officer just by looking at the four pockets on his uniform. He also saw in the letter that he could accompany the troops and that his lowest rank would be deputy battalion commander. So he immediately decided to let her take Yuan Xiu's place in the army.

"Sister-in-law, I'm nervous. What if Battalion Commander Jiang doesn't take a liking to me?"

Sister Chunmei laughed, "How can you think like that? If he didn't like you, would Battalion Commander Jiang buy you clothes and send you photos? His intentions are very clear: he likes you. If you like him too, come to the army and marry him!"

But the person in that photo isn't her.

"Sister-in-law, have you seen my photo?" Yuan Juan asked cautiously.

"Yes, I've seen it. It's quite beautiful, but the photographer there isn't very good at taking pictures, so it's not very clear."

The cameras at the Xiangyang Commune photo studio were all old cameras from over twenty years ago, so the photos they took naturally couldn't compare to those from photo studios in the city.

Yuan Juan breathed a sigh of relief. That's it! Even Sister Chunmei, who had seen the photo and spent several days with her, didn't recognize her. Jiang Zhou, being a man, certainly wouldn't be as observant as a woman and definitely wouldn't recognize her!

……

In the conference room, Jiang Zhou glanced at Li Shan next to him with a puzzled look. Had this guy taken the wrong medicine today?

Why are you staring at him instead of looking at what you should be looking at?

"Practice?" he said in a low, menacing voice.

Li Shan shuddered and stopped looking at him.

What's the point of practicing? Doesn't he have any pride?

After the meeting ended, Jiang Zhou was kept behind by Political Commissar Wang.

"...Jiang Zhou, come to my office, there's something I need to talk to you about."

In the office, Jiang Zhou finally understood what the political commissar wanted to tell him, and also why Li Shan had been staring at him so intently.

"...After receiving the call, I contacted Xiangyang Commune to confirm that it was indeed true. The woman who is coming to the army is named Yuan Juan, Yuan Xiu's cousin, and the daughter of her uncle Yuan Xinmin. Yuan Xiu herself is already on her way to the army."

The spark that had been extinguished in Jiang Zhou's heart began to hiss and flicker again.

"Everyone knows she's fake, why not kick her out?"

Political Commissar Wang: "We checked her background these past few days, and it was only confirmed today that her background is very simple. She came to the army because she wanted to replace Yuan Xiu and marry you."

Jiang Zhou snorted coldly: "She can marry whoever she wants? She'll have to see if I marry her or not! I haven't even looked at her."

Political Commissar Wang, unaware that he had already met the imposter Yuan Juan, assumed he hadn't taken a liking to Yuan Xiu and glared at him, saying, "You didn't like her, yet you sent her to the army base to find you? Aren't you just toying with this girl? Although I don't approve of arranged marriages, this is something you decided on. As a soldier of the people, you can't just go back on your word!"

Jiang Zhou: "Who said I was going to back out?"

"Then what you just did...?"

"I didn't like the fake one, but I did like the real one."

Political Commissar Wang burst out laughing and pointed at him with his finger. "You! I don't know whether to say you're lucky or not. Luckily, the girl wasn't stupid and knew to call for help. If it weren't for that call, I wonder what you would have done."

Jiang Zhou laughed and said, "That's why I'm lucky."

Political Commissar Wang waved his hand: "Alright, alright, hurry up and go. Your wife should arrive in the next day or two. I'll give you two days off. Go to the train station and wait for your wife. While you're at it, send that fake one away."