Meng Youyou had to admit to herself that although she had her own grievances against him, if she put herself in his shoes, she would never have gone this far.

One thing was one thing. If he ever needed help, she would still choose to lend a hand rather than stand by coldly and leave him to fend for himself.

Still burning with anger, Meng Youyou made her way to the office. Through the slightly open door, she could vaguely see a tall man standing inside, talking on the phone.

She silently rolled her eyes. What rotten luck. In a single day, she had already run into the person she least wanted to see twice.

The border defense unit had limited facilities and scarce resources, including office space. After Meng Youyou arrived, there simply was no spare office for her.

Later, Commander Peng slapped the table and made the decision on the spot: half of Huo Qingshan’s office would be cleared out for Meng Youyou to use.

After all, the man barely used his office anyway. He spent all day on the training grounds, so leaving it there untouched was a waste. Besides, having the two of them share an office would make work coordination easier. A perfect two-in-one arrangement.

The thought of having to work in the same room as that annoying man for quite some time to come made her even more depressed.

He hasn’t shown his face in the office these past few days, so why does he suddenly have the leisure to come here today?

Without much politeness, Meng Youyou pushed the door open. She walked straight past the man on the phone without even looking at him and headed directly to her own desk, pretending he was nothing but air.

At this point, she could not even be bothered to keep up appearances. She had zero interest in being civil.

A bright, hearty male voice came through the receiver. “Then it’s settled. I’ll be heading to Fanzhou on a business trip in a couple of days. When I get there, I’ll bring the thing over and hand it to you directly.”

Huo Qingshan gave a low hum and hung up.

Before leaving, he glanced at the woman sitting at her desk. Her cheeks were puffed out with anger, and her whole little face radiated displeasure. She looked as though she had a sign pasted to her forehead that read: I’m in a terrible mood! Watch yourself! Don’t even think about provoking me!

Who upset this young lady now?

Training Ground.

Zhong Heng was hanging from the pull-up bar doing reps, while Zhang Yong stood nearby wearing a deeply troubled expression.

“I shouldn’t have spoken so fast just now. The relationship between Translator Meng and the commander has definitely gotten even worse.”

Zhong Heng dropped neatly from the bar and landed steadily on the ground.

He raised both hands, clapped them hard twice, then rolled his shoulders and stretched his arms. “Don’t you think there’s something off about the commander’s attitude toward Translator Meng?”

“Of course there is. The two of them clearly can’t stand each other. Anyone can see that.”

Zhong Heng shook his head in a mysteriously thoughtful way and began his analysis. “No, what I mean is, the commander’s prejudice against Translator Meng is too strong. Strong enough that it feels strange. Based on what we know about him after all these years, he’s definitely not the petty type. At first, I also thought Translator Meng’s big outburst on the training ground had angered him, so he didn’t really care about her wanting to buy medicine. But after you told me that Ruizhi Pavilion belongs to his family, I started to feel that something was off. Given the commander’s character, he shouldn’t have taken it that far.”

Zhang Yong slapped his forehead and nodded in agreement. “Now that you put it that way, I think it’s strange too. Battalion Commander Zheng from the neighboring Second Battalion is always at odds with our commander and picks at him whenever he gets the chance, yet the commander has never once held it against him. But this time, he’s being so sharp and confrontational toward a single female comrade. That really is odd.”

Unable to figure it out, Zhang Yong asked directly, “Then do you know why?”

Once again, Zhong Heng put on that enigmatic air… and shook his head. “Not yet.”

Zhang Yong: “…”

What was that supposed to be? Acting all mysterious for no reason.

After settling her emotions, Meng Youyou sat in the office and focused on preparing her lesson.

Most of the soldiers in the border defense unit had only a junior high or high school education. Most of them had received only very limited foreign-language instruction. Very few even knew a little English, let alone a minor language like Mang.

This was also Meng Youyou’s first time teaching a group like this. Somewhere deep inside, an invisible sense of responsibility and mission stirred in her. She wanted to do everything she could to teach each class well.

Then suddenly, a familiar crackling sound of electricity rang out in her mind.

At the same time, the line of big words that had been hovering on the illusory screen in front of her for days — [Updating…] — disappeared, replaced by a translucent little circle spinning endlessly.

A few seconds later, the screen became completely clear, and a virtual figure appeared in her field of vision.

[Hello, Host Meng Youyou. I am Doudou, the system assistant assigned to you by the Mengda System. It is a pleasure to serve you.]

Meng Youyou: “…”

She still had not fully recovered from the shock.

[Host, the system has now finished updating. If you have any questions, you may ask them now, and I will answer them for you.]

Snapping out of her daze, Meng Youyou sorted through the mess of thoughts in her mind and asked the question she cared about most. “Why did you bring me here? Is the world I’m in right now part of a book?”

[Host, you are currently in a real border defense unit in the 1980s, not in the world of a book. The Mengda System selected you because you are required to complete a system mission: to safeguard the target’s marital quality and financial security.]

[Ding~]

Another crisp system notification rang out.

A kraft-paper-colored dossier appeared on the screen. Then the virtual dossier opened, and the information inside came into Meng Youyou’s view.

[Host Meng Youyou:
The Mengda System hereby officially assigns you the mission: Protect the Soldier Brother’s Wallet!
The target you must protect is: Huo Qingshan, male, 26, an officer in the border defense unit, one of the many unsung and heroic soldiers in history who made important contributions to the building of the nation and the defense of the homeland.]

[However, four years from now, he will go through a series of misfortunes: his wife’s infidelity, his family assets being drained by his wife working together with outsiders, and even the child not being his biological one.]

[Your task is to prevent this entire chain of events from happening and stop the protected target from taking the wrong path in marriage. While ensuring the moral standards expected of a military family member, you must also protect the financial security of our people’s soldiers!!!]

Meng Youyou stared at the three neat, unmistakable characters on the screen — Huo Qingshan — and fell into a long silence.

Did it really… have to be this unlucky?

Then she laid it all out plainly. “I can’t do this. Change the target. Or just replace me instead.”

[Host… that isn’t possible. According to our system algorithm, you are the optimal candidate from the entire host pool for this target. Based on our calculations and assessment, the projected success rate for you completing this mission is very high.]

“Then your broken algorithm should be scrapped,” Meng Youyou shot back. “It’s completely inaccurate. He and I clash like fire and water. We fight every time we meet. There’s absolutely no way the two of us can stay in the same space peacefully, let alone have me protect him.”

She kept ranting. “You have no idea how much prejudice he has against me. That clinic clearly belongs to his family, but he still lied to me and said he didn’t know anything about it.

“And from the very first moment he saw me, he decided I was just some decorative little miss who came here to pad my résumé. How can one person be that biased? Is that even something a normal person would do?

“But none of that really matters. It’s fine if he doesn’t like me. I don’t like him either, so we’re even.”

Doudou replied in a rational, objective tone:

[Comrade Meng Youyou, in the face of duty to the nation, personal grievances may be set aside for the time being.]

Look at that. Just look at this system.

That perspective.
That breadth of mind.
That sheer gravitas.

Meng Youyou mercilessly shot back, “Don’t come at me with that lofty nonsense. I don’t buy moral coercion.”

The more she spoke, the more convinced she became that her reasoning was absolutely flawless. She even began giving the system advice out of the goodness of her heart.

Trying to overturn the strategy it had set from the start, she said, “Honestly, I think your system should just introduce him to a decent eye doctor. That would solve the root of the problem directly. It’d be way simpler and far more effective than going through this huge detour of finding a host to protect him.”