At high noon, the sun was blazing overhead and the heat seemed to steam up from the ground. The office in the military compound was dead quiet, so still it felt solemn.

Commissar Xu lifted his eyes and looked at the stylishly dressed young woman standing in front of him. In a deep voice, he asked, "You’re saying you’re Captain Greystone’s fiancée?"

The woman wore a yellow-and-white plaid dress, her softly curled hair falling over her shoulders, shiny black leather shoes on her feet. She looked every bit the pampered city girl—delicate, proud, and a little flashy.

"Uncle Zhang, I already told you," Genevieve Thornton said firmly. "My name is Genevieve Thornton. I grew up with Nathaniel Greystone in the military compound. We already settled our engagement in Haicheng, and the betrothal banquet was held too."

As she spoke, she took a photograph from her dainty handbag and gently laid it on the desk.

Beside her, Vivienne Ashford leaned over for a glance and casually said, "That’s just a group photo. So many people crammed together, and not one picture of just the two of you. That can’t count as proof."

Commissar Xu immediately turned his head and looked at Vivienne Ashford, who stood there fair-skinned, round-faced, and plump in a way that made her seem sturdy and oddly likable. "And you?" he asked. "You also claim to be Captain Greystone’s fiancée?"

His head was already pounding with confusion. Nathaniel Greystone had led his men to the front lines and had been away from home for over five months. News from him had been scarce. Yet today, out of nowhere, two young women had shown up, both claiming to be his future wife.

And this was no ordinary man. Nathaniel Greystone was practically the war god of the military region, one of the toughest top soldiers across all five military regions. He had dominated the national military combat rankings for years. His skills were exceptional, and he had the kind of sharp, handsome face people remembered at a glance. Of course women in the military admired him.

There had even been a major scene in the compound last year. A certain senior officer’s daughter had stood in the auditorium with flowers in her arms and confessed to him in front of everyone. The whole place had watched. But Nathaniel Greystone hadn’t even flinched. He rejected her on the spot and bluntly said his body was no good, he couldn’t father children, and he had no intention of marrying or wasting time on romance in this life.

Just as Commissar Xu was tying himself in knots over the whole mess, Vivienne Ashford spoke up in a serious tone. "Commissar, you misunderstood. I’m not Nathaniel Greystone’s fiancée."

Hearing that, Commissar Xu instantly relaxed. His brows loosened and a smile spread across his face. "Good, good! That’s a relief. Girl, why’d you pause like that? Nearly scared me to death."

He was all smiles now. That was more like it. In his view, it would already be a miracle if that brat had even one romantic prospect. Two at once? Impossible. At his age, his heart could not take that kind of shock. He promptly picked up his enamel tea mug and took a sip of hot tea to steady himself.

Before he could recover, Vivienne Ashford added, each word crisp and clear, "I’m not his fiancée. I’m his wife."

Pfft—

The hot tea sprayed right out of Commissar Xu’s mouth. His face froze in disbelief, his mouth hanging open so wide his two front teeth—yellowed from years of cheap tobacco—showed plainly. He just stood there, stunned. "W-wife?"

At the side, Genevieve Thornton completely dropped her elegant act and shrieked, "Impossible! How could Nathaniel marry a country bumpkin like you? And this fat too—you look like a pig!"

Fat like a pig?

A chill flashed through Vivienne Ashford’s eyes. She looked straight at Genevieve Thornton with a sharp, cutting stare. The woman really did match her name—thin and slender, light and pretty to look at, but with a mean, narrow little heart.

Other people transmigrated into the lives of rich young ladies or wealthy family daughters-in-law.

But her? Fine. She had landed in the body of a village woman in the 1970s. And not just any village woman—a several-hundred-pound one.

Being fat would’ve been bad enough.

But on top of that, she had already been married once.

And that still wasn’t the worst of it.

She was pregnant too. With twins.

The absolute misery of it was this: the original owner of this body had come all the way from the countryside, changing trains, then changing to donkey carts, traveling thousands of miles with her belly sticking out, just to find her husband. She had finally reached the gate of the military compound, only to slip while getting down, crack her head on a stone, and die on the spot.

And just like that, she had ended up in this body, muddleheaded and confused.

Inside the ragged bundle the original owner carried, there had only been a few changes of clothes, one letter of introduction with a small slip of paper tucked inside, and three yuan eight jiao.

The introduction letter clearly listed her name and home address, stating that she had come to visit family at the army.

On the scrap of paper was one line in a man’s bold, flowing handwriting:

Nathaniel Greystone — XX Regiment Commander, XX Unit, Shan Province

She had barely stepped through the military compound gates and hadn’t even seen the father of the babies in her belly before she ran into this polished woman claiming to be his sweetheart.

"We went through the wedding rites, we shared a bed—if I’m not his wife, then wouldn’t Captain Greystone be guilty of hooliganism?"

When she had first arrived in this world, her head had still been spinning and she hadn’t fully regained her senses. She had only stood there staring blankly at the slogan posted on the wall.

Prepare for war, prepare for famine, serve the people — 1976

Vivienne Ashford felt like she had used up eight lifetimes’ worth of bad luck. She had traveled thousands of miles with a big belly to find a man she hadn’t even laid eyes on yet, only to be treated like a fraud and mocked to her face for being fat.

She could not swallow that.

No, really, she couldn’t.

So what if she was fat? Did people think a fat woman didn’t have a temper? Did they all take her for some soft persimmon they could squeeze however they liked?

"Fine. Maybe I won’t look for the children’s father anymore. Maybe I won’t even acknowledge that man. I’ll report him for ruining me instead. That works too, right? Comrade, I want to report—"

That sudden turn in her words left Commissar Xu dumbfounded, and Genevieve Thornton’s face changed too.

Genevieve’s heart started hammering.

Nathaniel Greystone was a regiment commander. If this foolish village woman made a scene like this, and if Genevieve herself pushed things too far and made the woman even angrier, then once word reached Nathaniel’s ears...

Just thinking about it made her scalp tingle.

Three days ago, her father had received a notice for investigation.

Her mother had hastily packed up the valuables in the house overnight and sent her running to the military compound to find Nathaniel Greystone.

Before she left, her mother had held her hand tightly and said, "Yanzi, listen to me. This time, no matter what it takes, you must get Nathaniel Greystone to marry you. That’s the only way to save you, save your father, save this whole family."

Ruining her?

Reporting that brat for ruining a woman?

Commissar Xu had been holding a cigarette, and he forgot to flick the ash. It burned all the way down to his fingers before he jerked and threw it away.

Wife? Marriage? Shared a bed?

His mouth hung open. He understood every single word by itself, but strung together like this, his brain simply stopped working. Nathaniel Greystone had actually gotten married? To this plump country girl?

He needed to make a call. Right now. He had to call that brat immediately.

Commissar Xu hurried into the inner room to use the phone.

The moment Genevieve Thornton saw him disappear inside, she quickly moved closer to Vivienne Ashford. "Well... elder sister, let’s talk this over nicely."

She put on a smile. "I, Genevieve Thornton, give you my word. As long as you’re willing to go back home and stop causing trouble for Nathaniel, whether it’s a job or money, whatever you want, I can arrange it for you."

Genevieve Thornton?

Nathaniel Greystone?

Vivienne Ashford’s eyes went round all at once.

She had only just transmigrated, and her mind was still a mess. The leftover memories in the original owner’s head were vague and incomplete. Mostly, they were of that man’s handsome face, his solid chest, the hard knots of muscle in his arms, and some messy fragments from that night with him.

No wonder something had felt off.

This wasn’t ordinary transmigration.

She had fallen straight into a novel.

A novel she had been reading before she died.

It was that military-marriage period piece, Sweet Military Marriage: Reborn Little Darling Wife.

And the heroine of the book was none other than Genevieve Thornton.

She and the male lead, Nathaniel Greystone, were the perfect match, heaven-made and story-approved. After being reborn, the heroine launched into a wild pursuit of her man.

So what role was she?

Only now did Vivienne Ashford realize—

she had become the male lead’s original wife in the story, the cannon-fodder ex-wife who gave birth to a pair of twins and then promptly died.

The moment those plot points came back to her, cold sweat broke out all over her back.

This was how the story went:

The fat village wife, heavily pregnant, ran to the military compound to find her husband. The male lead flatly insisted there was no way he could have children in this lifetime, so the babies in her belly had to belong to someone else. Once the babies were born, he demanded a blood test. The heroine worked as a nurse in the hospital and secretly swapped the blood samples. The results showed the children had no blood relation to the male lead. The fat wife cried, screamed, made a terrible scene, even tried to die—and in the end, she really did drink poison and die. The two children were sent to an orphanage.

And after that?

Vivienne only remembered skimming the beginning and then flipping straight to the ending.

At the end, the heroine held the fat wife’s child in her arms, slept beside the fat wife’s man, and the three of them lived a sweet little life as one happy family.

As for everything in the middle?

She had no idea.

She had only read half the novel. Then she worked three straight days of overtime, performed nine operations, had a heart attack, and dropped dead.

Under no circumstances could she go head-on with the heroine.

Vivienne Ashford, you absolutely have to endure this.

Staying alive matters most.

Keep your head down. Stay low-key.

And if it really came to it, she could just divorce the male lead.

"Here, take these three hundred yuan first."

Vivienne Ashford touched the three mao eight fen in her trouser pocket. In this life, a person could lack many things, but not money.

She reached out and took the cash. Before she could speak, Genevieve used the motion of handing over the money to lean close to her ear and whisper, "I’m a high school graduate, and I work as a nurse in the hospital. You’re just some fat country woman from nowhere. What right do you have to compete with me for Nathaniel?"

Then Genevieve’s eyes dropped viciously to her belly. "Believe it or not, I can make the child in your stomach disappear tomorrow without a sound."

As soon as she finished, a smile piled back onto her face. "Listen carefully. If you’re smart, then when Commissar Xu comes back, you’ll tell him clearly that you got the wrong man. Take the money and go."

Ha. Just as she thought.

This so-called heroine looked harmless on the surface, all sweet and proper, but underneath? Ruthless enough.

Vivienne Ashford had already talked herself down in her heart countless times.

But now, she really couldn’t hold it in anymore.

To hell with Sweet Military Marriage: Reborn Little Darling Wife.

Right now, she was starring in Surviving as the Fat Wife in a Book: Cling Tight to the Military Man.

"Miss Thornton, so you’re really that desperate for a man, huh? Even a man I’ve already used, you still want to snatch."

"You—shameless!" Genevieve Thornton pointed a pale finger at her, face flushing bright red.

"Shameless? Sleeping with my own husband is shameless? No wonder you can’t get married."

"Y-you—"

Genevieve pointed at her, but not a full sentence came out.

"What, you what? Don’t point at me. If you poke my belly and hurt the babies, can you afford to pay for that?"

"Y-you—" Genevieve’s lips trembled.

There were babies?

Commissar Xu happened to come out of the inner room just then, and the words made his two tobacco-stained front teeth show again in shock. Nathaniel Greystone’s injury had left him unable to father children—everybody in the army knew that. Commissar Xu’s eyes drifted toward the fat girl’s belly, then jerked away as if he had been burned, only to dart to her face and then hurry off again.

Good heavens.

This was explosive news.

Nathaniel Greystone was married.

He had married a big, plump country girl.

And now this girl had apparently put a green hat on him and come to his door carrying another man’s child.

Commissar Xu turned around and headed back into the inner room, his steps a little unsteady. He had to call that brat again. Captain Greystone’s unit was on the very front line of the self-defense counterattack. The call hadn’t gone through just now.

He had to try again immediately.