Rebirth: He Decides to Lie Flat-Chapter 84 - 81 Substitute

Chapter 84: Chapter 81 Substitute

Chapter 84 -81 Substitute

Perhaps it was because she had grown accustomed to treating Song Jiawen as her younger sister over the years that suddenly saying “My sister is dead” felt strange and awkward to Song Xiwen.

Similarly, Song Jiawen felt awkward too.

She looked at Song Xiwen and asked, “How did she die?”

This time Song Xiwen was silent for a long time before speaking. “Our family moved to Yunzhou when I was ten. On the one hand, it was for the vegetable business; on the other hand, my parents mainly wanted to avoid the birth control policy and try for another child. The following year, Mom did indeed get pregnant successfully, but unfortunately, it was still a girl, not a boy.

So, my parents were not very welcoming of my sister’s arrival. After she turned one, they often left her with me to take care of while they were busy with the business. When I went to school, I would ask the neighbors to help look after her.

She was late in learning to talk; at three years old, she still couldn’t articulate words clearly. Sometimes I would get impatient listening to her. There was a period when she was crying a lot. I knew she had a cold, but I didn’t pay much attention to it—I merely gave her two pills of adult medication and ignored it. When my parents came back late at night, she was usually asleep, so they didn’t notice that she had a fever. Until… that afternoon when she was foaming at the mouth with a high fever, it scared me. I wiped her with a towel, then I ran to find my parents. By the time we got her to the hospital, she was… gone.

The doctor said she had been literally burned up with encephalitis, chiding my parents for not taking her to the hospital and not giving her any antipyretics.”

I wanted to say I had given her medication, but suddenly couldn’t remember what I had given her. Was it for reducing fever?

I never imagined that day I took her to the hospital would be the last time I saw her. Her name was Jiajia, Song Jiawen—actually, that’s her name.”

The two talked for over two hours, with Song Xiwen mostly reminiscing while Song Jiawen sat across from her, listening quietly.

Her eyebrows and eyes drooped, her facial expression inscrutable, as she occasionally stirred the cooled coffee with a small spoon without drinking it.

When it came to the missing person notice about finding Song Jiawen, “At that time, your photo and name were published in the newspaper… Your real name is Yu Luo, a very nice-sounding name, easy to remember. The contact person listed on the missing person notice had the surname Yu, probably your father… I’m sorry Jiajia, I was too selfish, I didn’t let your family find you, causing you to be separated from your family for over a dozen years…”

Song Jiawen’s hand, stirring the coffee, paused. She put down the spoon and looked up at Song Xiwen, “Where is she now?”

“Ah?”

Song Xiwen was caught off guard by the sudden question and asked reflexively, “Who are you talking about?”

“Jiajia, Song Jiawen, your sister. You had me take her place in the Song family, so where is she? Where did you bury her? As an unnamed, unremembered lost spirit, surely you haven’t forgotten even the burial site, have you? Or are you saying…” that there’s no burial site at all.

Song Xiwen’s face turned ashen instantly. She had said so much without expecting the other person to focus on this. Didn’t she care where her family was from when they were searching for her?

As for where her sister was buried after her death… children who passed away could not enter the ancestral graveyard, naturally, she couldn’t be buried in the Song family plot in Jianglin Village. Moreover, as she had died in the hospital, the people from her hometown were completely unaware.

So, she vaguely overheard her parents whispering, it seemed they found some desolate hill in the suburbs and hastily buried her there.

Now, fourteen years have passed, and it’s likely that the little grave mound has long since vanished.

“How could you not go to see her even once?”

Song Jiawen found it incomprehensible and could not understand Xie Jingying and Song Laosan even more.

Is the human heart so cold?

She could understand if it were like that with her; after all, she wasn’t their biological child. But the little girl who was about her age…

To this, Song Xiwen had nothing to say; indeed, her sister had garnered little attention whether in life or in death.

But…

Eventually, she couldn’t help but ask Song Jiawen, “Don’t you care about news of your family?”

“Care about what? You’ve already said my name. Isn’t that enough? If it’s meant to be, I will naturally meet them again.”

If fate would have it?

Song Xiwen’s eyes brimmed with confusion. “You’re not going to look for them? Your family… should be decent.”

But Song Jiawen clearly had a different idea. “Sister, you needn’t worry about my background. I’m very grateful that you saved me, but… you should think about how to reveal the truth to Uncle and Grandmother.”

These two people were bonds she found hardest to sever. If Song Jiawen had to tell them, she found herself at a loss for words.

Song Xiwen frowned. “Jiajia, I agree to tell you the truth, but… does everyone need to know?”

Was she planning not to tell anyone else?

“Just think about it. Grandmother and Uncle have been so good to you. Do you have the heart to let them know the truth and then treat you like a stranger?”

The words sounded quite pleasant, as if she were truly considering Song Jiawen’s feelings, but Song Jiawen could only laugh at herself. Her pitch-black pupils stared at Song Xiwen. “What’s fake can’t become real; a substitute will always be a substitute, even if you don’t tell.”

Moreover, do you think you can keep it a secret?

“Jiajia…”

Song Xiwen wanted to persuade her further, but Song Jiawen shook her head. Rising to her feet, she made a request before leaving. “Ask your parents where the real Jiajia is buried. I want to light incense for her.”

Having used someone else’s name and identity for fourteen years, she should at least… make some gesture.

Upon leaving the café, she had nowhere to go. After thinking for a moment, she extravagantly hailed a taxi and gave Jiang Yan’s neighborhood address.

Unfortunately, her timing was not fortuitous. The door was locked, and there was no sight of Er-ge’s van below, suggesting that the money-loving guy was either collecting scrap computers or selling used ones in the county town.

In short, aside from the tasks Jiang Yan arranged, Er-ge never had a moment’s rest.

He was a very energetic fellow.

At this time, it was only four o’clock in the afternoon, and the sun outside still scorched the earth, baking the cement ground to the point of practically sizzling.

There wasn’t a soul in the residential complex, the lotus leaves in the pond floated listlessly on the water, and the occasional breeze would lazily rustle them.

Next to it, there was a small pavilion that served as a gathering place for the elderly in the evening, where they played chess and chatted. Of course, right now it was also empty.

Song Jiawen walked into the pavilion, propped her cheek with her hand, and sat at the stone table — a perfect spot to keep the main gate of the complex within sight, so she could notice anyone coming or going immediately.

However…

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She hadn’t expected that her wait would extend until nightfall when the sky was jeweled with stars before she finally saw Jiang Yan.

“When did you come here?”

Jiang Yan truly hadn’t expected that Song Jiawen would be foolish enough to wait for him in the pavilion on such a hot day. Although it was dark now and the pavilion was not too hot, the weather was still far from cool.

Most importantly, there were mosquitoes, and Song Jiawen attracted them.

He pulled her arm over and examined it under the dim streetlight, only to find a bunch of red spots littering her skin.

“Are you crazy?”

Jiang Yan was about to scold her more, but when he looked up, he noticed her languid expression. She leaned weakly against the stone table, her already pale face looking even whiter.