Zhang Yanning couldn’t sleep.

The more she thought about the contents of the book, the more irritated she became.

Where exactly had everything gone wrong? There was no mention in the novel of her and the male lead going on a blind date at all.

So it was fine that she didn’t remember ever transmigrating into the book—but how did the male lead end up abandoning the female lead’s “destined storyline” and agreeing to a blind date with a random background character like her?

In the novel, the male lead was described as someone who already had someone in his heart before meeting the heroine, which was why he repeatedly rejected every arranged marriage proposal. That person was Han Nian, the celebrated “flower of the cultural troupe”—the very military arts performer she had once seen near the supply store.

It seemed the book mentioned that the two of them never ended up together because of misunderstandings and other reasons, and that the transmigrated Su Xiao eventually “snatched him away” at the last moment.

But what was going on now?

Could it be that the male lead, heartbroken and disillusioned, gave up on love and simply accepted a family-arranged blind date—ending up with her, a countryside nobody?

Lying on her side in bed, Zhang Yanning suddenly felt that the man behind her had become a hot potato—too valuable to throw away, too hot to hold onto.

The more she thought about how the male lead was destined to fall for another woman in the book—and how he would eventually be conquered by the transmigrated heroine’s intelligence and kindness, entering into a sweet, affectionate romance full of “sweet scenes”—

The more she had enjoyed reading it back then, the more suffocated she felt now.

A man destined to love someone else? She didn’t want him anymore.

Annoyed, she shoved away Shen Nansheng’s arm resting around her waist and moved farther toward the inner side of the bed, silently deciding to “separate beds” on her own until she figured things out.

Shen Nansheng, half-asleep, felt his arm pushed away. He fumbled around for her, didn’t find her, then drowsily moved closer again and fell back asleep comfortably.

Zhang Yanning, now completely cornered against the wall, gritted her teeth.

The next morning, Zhang Yanning got forcibly “powered on” by Shen Nansheng, who pulled her out of bed.

Before she could lose her temper, he hesitantly said, “Wife… I’m off today. Let’s go on a date.”

“I’m not going.” She wasn’t in the mood and pulled the blanket back over herself, only to be lifted straight out of bed by him with one arm around her waist.

“Hey—put me down!”

Her last bit of sleepiness vanished instantly. The sudden sensation of her feet leaving the ground made her instinctively wrap her arms around his neck.

“Wife, if you agree to go, I’ll put you down. If you don’t, I won’t.”

He had time to waste all day.

“…Fine! I’ll go! I’ll go!”

Once she was finally set down, she shot him a glare. Why did she feel like this man’s face was getting thicker and thicker?

Shen Nansheng was wearing a white long-sleeved shirt paired with army-green trousers and black military boots. His short black hair, no longer neatly combed, looked slightly messy, making him appear both sharp and handsome—exactly her type.

Even though she was resisting emotionally, she had to admit she had been completely captivated by his looks when they first met on the blind date. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have agreed to marry him so quickly.

After a bit more coaxing and lingering affection, she finally softened. He picked out a greenish-brown plaid dress for her to wear.

She tied her hair into a simple high ponytail, and the two of them left hand-in-hand—only to run into Lu Heng and his wife at the gate of the housing compound.

“Morning, Commander Lu. Out early today too?” Shen Nansheng greeted cheerfully.

“You’re heading into town?” Lu Heng glanced at the couple who had clearly dressed up.

“Yeah, just going around the city.”

“And you and your wife?”

“We’re going to the military hospital for a check-up.”

The two men chatted casually, while Zhang Yanning secretly observed Chu Qing.

This was her first time seeing a “real-life villainess.”

In the novel, Chu Qing was described as willful, spoiled, and looking down on rural people. She didn’t know if that was true yet, but her appearance matched the description perfectly—fair-skinned, stunning, radiant, a true beauty.

It was a pity she would eventually oppose the female lead. If she remembered correctly, her ending was that after her husband died, she passed away abroad alone, and even her only son ended up becoming the female lead’s son-in-law. A rather tragic fate.

Her gaze then shifted to the man beside Chu Qing.

Lu Heng—the “male lead counterpart villain husband,” the only character in the entire novel who never properly expressed his feelings, which led to a cold marriage.

He was almost always on missions or on the way to missions. Before his death, he left behind a significant fortune for Chu Qing, enough for her to live comfortably for the rest of her life without doing anything.

But… wasn’t Chu Qing introduced this early in the story?

She had only focused on the sweet interactions between the main leads when reading the novel, so she hadn’t remembered many side details. And after being transmigrated for over twenty years, memories of her past life already felt distant and unreal.

So everything now felt strangely disconnected.

Chu Qing, on the other hand, was experiencing emotional shock on a completely different level.

Years of business experience allowed her to maintain composure, but the trembling of her fingertips still betrayed her.

The young man in front of her—Shen Nansheng—was very young, yet completely different from the cold, distant man she remembered from her past life.

In this life, he was intimately holding the hand of a woman. Their relationship was obvious at a glance.

But in her previous life, at this point in time, he should still be single.

“Deputy Commander Shen!” she suddenly spoke up.

“May I ask… is this your wife?”

Shen Nansheng frowned slightly at the strange question.

“Of course she’s my wife.” Otherwise, would he be holding her hand like this?

Chu Qing’s expression finally cracked.

“How is this possible…?”

Shen Nansheng was already married—and his wife wasn’t the original rural cannon-fodder heroine Su Xiao, nor Han Nian!

“Are you alright?” Zhang Yanning asked worriedly when she saw her suddenly pale.

Chu Qing quickly recovered and shook her head.

Lu Heng steadied his somewhat shaken wife and apologized with a faint smile.

“She just arrived recently and isn’t quite used to things yet.”

Zhang Yanning nodded in understanding. She had also struggled when she first came to this unfamiliar place.

The two couples parted at the compound gate.

Zhang Yanning went with Shen Nansheng to wait for the bus, while Lu Heng and his wife only needed to walk ten minutes to the military hospital.

“Do you think she might be having trouble adjusting?” Zhang Yanning asked, watching them leave. “Shanghai is thousands of kilometers away. I’m not like her—I only came from a few hundred kilometers away, so it wasn’t that bad for me.”

“She probably is. Don’t worry about others. Today is just for us.”

“Morning shopping at the department store, lunch at the state-run restaurant, and a movie in the afternoon.”

Her day was fully planned out.

When they arrived at the department store, it had just opened. They bought some candy and biscuits they didn’t have at the supply store, then browsed clothing.

She picked out a blue floral fitted dress and a trendy denim pinafore dress. Both looked great when tried on, but they were expensive—30 yuan for the floral dress, 40 for the denim one.

She hesitated.

Before she could decide, Shen Nansheng handed both dresses directly to the clerk to wrap up, without giving her a chance to react.

The sales clerk couldn’t help but say, “Your boyfriend treats you really well.”

They saw all kinds of customers every day—some who only looked but didn’t buy, some who hesitated endlessly—but it was rare to see someone who didn’t even blink before buying such expensive clothes for his wife.

Zhang Yanning replied politely, “He’s alright,” but inside she was overjoyed.

Though the thought that he was the male lead still left her slightly conflicted.

They then went to the shoe section. She already had black leather shoes, so this time she chose white sneakers to match the denim dress. She also bought a pair of slippers for him.

His old slippers had been stolen by DouDou in the morning and completely destroyed in the doghouse, so new ones were necessary.

Since she was buying clothes, she also looked at men’s wear.

At first, Shen Nansheng refused, saying he already had military-issued uniforms, but she insisted on dragging him to try on a khaki trench coat.

“It looks great!”

Used to seeing him in military uniform, she found him even more stylish in casual wear—more refined, more literary.

He looked no worse than any male celebrity she had seen in her previous life.

As expected, even the author was a “face-enthusiast.”