Chapter 1: Past Life and Present Life

  At 8:00 in the morning, Ji Xin'an walked into the office with a lazy gait as usual, then slowly turned on the computer, boiled water, and tidied up the scattered files on his desk.

  Deng Ji Xin'an was pouring water from a thermos into a cup when the other two people in the office finally arrived, one after another, at 8:02.

  The three of them just smiled at each other as a greeting, and Ji Xin'an sat back down in her own seat to continue reading the update from last night that she hadn't had time to finish yet.

  Ji Xin'an sat opposite a soon-to-be-retired Xiao Jie, who had just sat down for a while when her earpiece suddenly blared out 'Hurry up and play your cards! The flowers I've been waiting for have all wilted!' Just by listening, it was clear that she was playing Fight the Landlord again, a game she had been obsessed with for almost two years.

  Next to Ji Xin'an was Shi Tou, who wasn't much older than him. He always called him Stone, and he didn't know what new online game he had started playing today, but he was excitedly starting from the newbie village and killing his way up.

  This is how the day starts for the three people in this office. In such a work unit, as long as you don't quit or break the law, you can basically guarantee that you'll be able to stay until retirement. No matter how well or poorly you do your job, no one will ever fire you. This has resulted in more people entering the system each year than leaving it. After all, the number of retirees is limited, while the number of new graduates from schools within the system, children of employees, and demobilized soldiers joining the unit can only be counted in the tens of thousands.

  The result is that almost every department is severely overstaffed, with several people doing the work of one person, so there's less workload for the poor, but they can't just sit there staring blankly all day, they have to find things to do themselves. Anyway, as long as you don't do anything too outrageous, no one will come to bother you.

  Ji Xin'an is the smallest in this department, and now every day, apart from doing some of her own work, she also does some errands that no one else wants to do. However, there is still a lot of free time, and during her spare time, she just sits in front of the computer and watches videos, passing each day aimlessly. It's not just her, everyone is like this, without passion, without ideals, helplessly indifferent, and then they just drag on until retirement, and it seems that their whole life passes by quickly.

  Ji Xian actually had ideals too.

  "Yes! I also had ideals. " Ji Xin'an was looking at a book where the heroine gave up her comfortable life for her ideals, and she thought of herself. "But this ideal is really something from long ago, just like it's from my past life."

  Ji Xin'an once wanted to be a soldier, which seems like an unusual idea, especially for a girl, but Ji Xin'an had this idea since she was little.

  As time went by and it really couldn't be realized, Ji Xin'an could only hide it deep in her heart.

  She also had the opportunity to achieve it, when she graduated from junior high school, her grades were not good, and she was in a rebellious period, after graduation, she didn't want to continue studying anymore. Her family wanted her to join the army, after serving for two or three years, she could directly go to work without worrying about finding a job. However, being a female soldier is not that easy, first, it requires money, male soldiers may only need to spend tens of thousands of yuan, but female soldiers may need to spend several times more. Second, it requires connections, because the quota is too small, and there are no guarantees in the army.

  Ji Xin'an's family was poor and had no one to rely on, so she ended up going to a vocational school within the system. Although university graduates were not guaranteed job assignments at the time, some places still had internal policies that allowed them to accept female employees from their own units. After graduating, Ji Xin'an easily found a job and it was relatively easy for her. She worked for ten years, which is longer than the eight years of the War of Resistance against Japan or the three years of the Liberation War. And in those ten years, Ji Xin'an only proved one thing - ordinariness.

  The more she looked, the less bored Ji Xin'an turned off her computer, raised her head to look at her watch, and it was only 10 o'clock. There was still an hour before getting off work, but she took out her phone and keys and threw them into her bag. She said to Xiao Jie opposite her: "Xiao Jie, I'm leaving first! If there's anything, call me!"

  "Come on, come on, what's the matter with you? Hurry up and find a handsome guy to fall in love with!"

  Ji Xinan didn't say anything else, smiled and took her bag to leave. Ji Xinan is already 29 years old this year, soon to be thirty, still single, she also had a passionate romance before.

  Ji Xin'an's school wasn't opposed to dating because it wasn't a high school, the situation was similar to that of a university, every class had at least a few couples, and at that time Ji Xin'an and her boyfriend Zheng Yuan were the most famous couple, their romance was known throughout the school, they were the object of envy for all the male and female students, and everyone looked up to them.

  At graduation, they had planned to be together, but despite their efforts, they unfortunately did not succeed and ended up parting ways. At the time, the two of them reluctantly boarded their respective trains back home.

  When they parted ways, Ji Xin'an was very confident about their feelings. After all, it had been three years of emotions, and the two planned to work for a period of time before finding a way to be together and then get married.

  But the idea is beautiful, reality is cruel. The good-looking society outside is too tempting for these people who have just walked out of school.

  When Ji Xin An arrived at her boyfriend's doorstep with infinite thoughts to surprise him, what she saw was two naked bodies on the bed.

  Originally distance not only produces beauty but also produces little three.

  Jing Xin An ran back home with a torn heart and fell ill at once, this illness lasted for a whole week.

  After recovering from her illness, Ji Xin'an never mentioned that boyfriend again. Although no one could see anything unusual about her afterwards, she never fell in love again.

  Later, I inadvertently saw the ins and outs of this matter in a chat record in the class group. It was actually as simple as it could be. Zheng Yuan had just reported to his work unit for only a few days when he was taken a liking by the daughter of the boss, and then came the relentless pursuit.

  Zheng Yuan's defense only lasted for a month before it was breached. The two of them secretly started dating behind Ji Xin'an's back, and later when Ji Xin'an found out, their three-year relationship came to an end, and they publicly got together, soon getting married. Although everyone knew Zheng Yuan didn't love her, what could be done about it?

  If there wasn't a lot of love, then there would have to be a lot of money; perhaps in Zheng Yuan's heart, having a lot of money was enough.

  Ji Xin'an had also been introduced to several people by her colleagues and friends, but she never showed any interest. That experience really scared her off. Three years of emotions were not enough to overcome the temptation of fame and fortune, so how could she possibly open up and give herself to someone she didn't understand at all? So everyone saw that she was uninterested and wisely stopped playing matchmaker.

  At the age of 29, if in big cities like Beijing and Shanghai, being single at this age is still considered young, it's not considered a leftover woman. But in a city that has just begun to modernize but is not very large, it's a bit embarrassing. At this age, people around her are sending their children to kindergarten one after another. So she doesn't worry, but the people around her do.

  Ji Xinan didn't go home directly after leaving the office, but instead ran onto the street and wandered randomly from store to store.

  Ji Xinan had just tried on a shirt and walked out of a specialty store when her phone suddenly rang. She reached into her bag to grab it and saw that it was Zou Ze, someone she hadn't been in touch with for a long time.

  "Hello!" Although they used to have a good relationship, it's been too long since they last contacted each other, so they're still being quite polite.

  "Is it Ji Xin'an? So polite, you don't know who I am?" Zhōu Zé teased on the other end of the phone.

  "How could you not know who I am! I'm Zou Da, a music person! It's been so long since we last met, what's the good news that makes you look for me suddenly?" Zou Ze is in the music industry and graduated from a relatively well-known music academy. He has always considered himself a musician.

  "Of course I'm looking for you because something good has happened, I'm getting married, just next Sunday." Although that's what he said, the voice coming from the receiver didn't sound happy at all.

  "This is really a good thing! You should be happy, why are you looking so listless and spiritless?"

  "What's there to be happy about? It's not like it's a big deal or anything, my grandfather has been urging me to get married at this age, and I'm just following orders. Anyway, since I don't have someone I love, who I marry doesn't make a difference." Zou Ze revealed a hint of helplessness despite his nonchalant tone.

  Although sympathizing with him, he couldn't think of any comforting words. "Anyway, you're going to get married, so be good to her, a girl's whole life is entrusted to you, you have to take responsibility."

  "Alright, I know, I'll be good to her, you're almost as old as my mother now."

  "I'm asking if you still want me to go?"

  "See you later, I'll definitely come then."

  "Alright, as long as I'm alive, I'll definitely go, okay?"

  "What was I saying! Alright, I still have to inform others, let's talk again when you arrive!"

  "Uh, goodbye."

  Ji Xinan had just put down her phone and lifted her head when she suddenly saw a car lose control and rush onto the pedestrian crossing, with a five or six-year-old little girl standing in front of it, stunned and seemingly frightened out of her wits.

  Ji Xinan rushed over without thinking, her subconscious thought was to pounce on the little girl and then roll to one side together, but thinking is always faster than action, she only managed to push the little girl out. She didn't have time to dodge, and the car that came crashing over suddenly sent her flying out.

  At that moment, Ji Xinan felt that the noisy sounds around her suddenly disappeared and became quiet. There was no feeling at all, not even a sense of pain.

  But she knew her life had come to an end. At this moment, however, she was exceptionally clear-headed and thought: "It turns out that life is only so short, I haven't done anything yet, career, love, can't even be mentioned now. Even my parents have not been well taken care of, don't know how sad they will be when I leave. If I could come back once, I would definitely live a different life." After that, she lost consciousness again.