Who Told Him to Re-Enlist?

After six years of service, three enlistments, and three discharges, Chen Lie had become a laughingstock in the entire mechanized infantry brigade. The first time, he was already on the bus home when his grandfather’s phone call yanked him back. The second time, his paperwork got stuck in bureaucratic limbo, and he was sent straight back to his unit for a do-over. This third time, the whole family signed off, his discharge report was stamped, and even his household registration was transferred out—he had finally made it out the door. But before the decommissioning bus even reached the city, a sharp buzz rang in his head. The ink on his forms was barely dry, his body still warm from barracks life, and the system was telling him: want the cheat codes? Then get back in uniform. Cursing under his breath, he walked through his front door. His grandfather, not even looking up from his enamel tea mug, said flatly: "The first grandson was a waste—time to reroll a new one. Blind date tomorrow. Get married by year’s end, and I'll raise the great-grandchild myself." Trapped between a system that demanded he re-enlist and a grandfather who demanded he produce a family heir, Chen Lie discovered an even crueler truth—the only reason he'd gotten back in the previous three times was because of powerful connections pulling strings. This time, his name had been permanently purged from the conscription office’s database. He wanted to serve, but couldn’t. He didn’t want to marry, but his family was shoving him toward the altar. The system’s countdown ticked away. His grandfather’s mug thumped against the table. The Chen family’s front door, it seemed, would not open for him a second time. And as for Su Muqing—a fresh graduate from the military medical academy—she didn't seem particularly interested in him either.