The First Night in the Army in the 1970s : The Strongest Officer’s Eyes Are Red with Anxiety

Song Nanting, a woman in her late forties who had spent her life serving the Pan family and later finding love with Lu Jian’an, dies and wakes up in her twenty-two-year-old body on December 25, 1974. She finds herself in the Pan household, where her mother-in-law Wei Danni and sister-in-law Pan Shiying are plotting to splash her with cold water while she pretends to be unconscious. In her previous life, Song Nanting had been deceived by their false kindness, working as a servant for four and a half years while believing her fiancé, Pan Shifeng, was dead. She later discovered he had abandoned her for a wealthy official’s daughter and continued to exploit her family. This time, Song Nanting rejects her fate, slapping Pan Shiying and confronting Wei Danni with cold fury.

Song Nanting demands compensation for her years of unpaid labor, threatening to expose Pan Shifeng’s deception to his workplace in the capital if they do not pay. Wei Danni, terrified of losing her son’s career and marriage prospects, hands over 1,520 yuan. Song Nanting then ransacks the house, taking valuable fabrics, food, and letters that prove the Pan family’s lies. She stages a scene to make herself appear as the victim, garnering sympathy from neighbors before leaving. That night, she discovers she possesses a spatial dimension—a replica of her future home filled with food, supplies, and tools. This space becomes her sanctuary and resource base.

Her natal family, the Song family, arrives at her guesthouse, led by her mother Zhao Xiue and brothers Song Nanfeng and Song Nanshan. They are greedy and abusive, having treated Song Nanting as a commodity since childhood. Upon learning she has cut ties with the Pan family and received money, they demand she return it. Song Nanting feigns compliance but secretly uses her space to empty her family’s home of all valuables, including gold bars, cash, and ration tickets. She then visits the youth relocation office, bribing the director to send herself and her two brothers to a remote area in Northeast China, far from their home. She also includes Pan Shiying’s registration papers, ensuring the woman who bullied her will share her fate.

That evening, Song Nanting ambushes her brothers in a dark alley, beating them severely with a stun baton to silence them and exact revenge for past abuses. She leaves them for dead or near-death, ensuring they cannot track her. With her affairs settled, she travels to the provincial capital, selling bicycle tickets and converting ration coupons into food with the help of her friend Sun Huining. She boards a train heading north, leaving her toxic past behind.

As she travels, Song Nanting reflects on her previous life. After escaping the Pan family, she had met Lu Jian’an, a kind and just man who rescued her from suicide and taught her to read, fight, and live independently. They married and lived happily until his death. Now reborn, her primary goal is to find Lu Jian’an earlier, protect him, and ensure he lives a long life. She arrives in the capital, ready to begin her new life with the resources she has gathered and the knowledge of the future. The story ends with her stepping into a new era, determined to rewrite her destiny and cherish the love she lost.