Rebirth: He Decides to Lie Flat
Chapter 144 - 144 141 Grandmas Passing (Second Update)

Chapter 144: Chapter 141 Grandma’s Passing (Second Update) Chapter 144: Chapter 141 Grandma’s Passing (Second Update) Because of what Shi Peirong said, Xie Yanhai and his wife tossed and turned, unable to sleep all night.

Finally, Li Yun sighed, “Regardless, we have to tell Jiajia, right? To see her mother for the last time?”

Xie Yanhai didn’t make a sound.

Li Yun turned her head, unable to make out his face in the darkness, “Aren’t you disappointed? Isn’t Jiajia your niece by marriage?”

Xie Yanhai sneered, “You’re thinking too much. Compared to Jiajia, Xiaoxi is truly the one I have watched grow up. She’s just about a decade younger than me. Back then, when we didn’t have children, her grandparents favored her less and didn’t take care of her, so I often went to her place and carried her back to our home. I would save any good food for her. Despite everyone having a tough time then, she never lacked anything in terms of food and clothing, in fact, she even had it better than everyone else.

So if you’re talking about the emotional investment and effort, I have put much more into Xiaoxi than into Jiajia. After all, Jiajia is only a year older than Xiaolin, and when she was young, we naturally focused more on our own son. It’s just that later on, when I couldn’t stand seeing my sister and her husband favor their own child, that’s when we occasionally brought Jiajia over. But to be honest, we didn’t really raise her. Instead, she is quite sentimental and would call home from time to time to check in. Despite not talking much, I bet she understands everything in her heart.”

“You mean, she knows she’s not biologically related?”

Xie Yanhai wasn’t actually sure about that.

Li Yun also didn’t know what to say anymore. She thought about the relationship between her mother-in-law and Jiajia and brought the conversation back, “You still haven’t said if we should notify Jiajia. Mom’s condition now…”

Xie Yanhai was also conflicted, on one hand not wanting to go against his mother’s wishes, but on the other wanting to give them a chance to see each other again.

He tossed restlessly and finally got out of bed abruptly, “I’ll go see mom and get her some water.”

Xie Yanhai carefully opened the door to Shi Peirong’s bedroom and entered tiptoe.

He stood silently by his mother’s bed for a few seconds, only relaxing once he heard the soft but steady breathing. Then, using the light from the next room, he poured out the cold water at the bedside and replaced it with hot before leaving.

The next morning, while Xie Yanhai was still deep in sleep, a mournful wail suddenly reached his ears—

“Mom…”

He sat up reflexively, his body reacting before his mind could even process it, throwing off the covers and rushing out of the room…

In Shi Peirong’s room, Li Yun was collapsed on the bedside, sobbing loudly.

Xie Yanhai stood dumbstruck looking at Shi Peirong, who lay quietly in bed as if asleep, with even a faint smile on her face, and beside the pillow, the portrait of his father was standing there, also with a peaceful, smiling face…

…..

On the afternoon of September 28th, two days before military training was to end.

“Song Jiawen, step out, run two thousand laps as punishment.”

Song Jiawen began to run around the track without a word, her forehead quickly covered with tightly packed sweat drops which soon began to stream down her temples, and with those drops, tears surged from her eyes as well…

After a nap and before coming to the field, Song Jiawen received a phone call from Song Xiwen—

“Grandma passed away this morning. The funeral is in five days. You should be able to make it back, right?”

How could it be so soon?

When she left for Beijing at the end of August, her grandmother was only coughing. Though always frail, she didn’t have any serious health issues… Song Jiawen had been mentally prepared, but she never expected it to happen this quickly.

Numerous glances were being cast toward the track, but almost no one noticed she was crying because of her hat. Only Xue Weisong realized on her third lap that the color beneath her chin on her camouflage uniform was unusual.

It was soaked with both sweat and tears.

Also closely watching her was Xia Shi, who maliciously thought that Song Jiawen was either embarrassed or crying from exhaustion.

Of course, she preferred the first idea since how could a girl being punished to run in front of the entire Physics department not feel humiliated?

Not until she finished the fifth lap did Song Jiawen continue running.

By the time the sixth lap was complete, even the instructor had noticed something was amiss. He turned his head and shouted towards Song Jiawen, who had already started her seventh lap and was far ahead, “Song Jiawen, fall in!”

But whether it was too far away or for some other reason, Song Jiawen seemed not to have heard and continued to run without looking back.

Xue Weisong, holding a record book beside the instructor, turned his head and whispered softly, “Instructor, something’s wrong with Song Jiawen.”

“Go check on her.”

Only at that moment did the instructor recall that, throughout the many days of military training, this pretty girl had always performed her movements properly, and she never arrived late or left early, nor had she ever asked for leave.

It really made no sense that just as things were coming to an end, she would march with the wrong foot.

Was something the matter?

Comrades in charge of other classes often said that their female students frequently made mistakes during ‘that time of the month,’ or they would simply hold their bellies and ask for leave outright.

In the science class, things were better since there weren’t many girls, but in the liberal arts classes, there were almost daily requests for leave. A few comrades were so frustrated they wanted to ask outright, “Can’t you all coordinate and synchronize?”

That way, they could take a collective break!

Xue Weisong quickly ran towards her and only upon getting closer did he see Song Jiawen’s usually dark eyes, silently shedding tears.

Surprise flickered across his eyes as he quickly reached out to grab her arm, “Song Jiawen, that’s enough.”

Song Jiawen reflexively shook his hand off before staggering a few steps and coming to a stop.

She quickly regained her composure, looked down, raised her arm, and roughly wiped her face with her sleeve before apologizing to Xue Weisong with a slightly hoarse voice, “I’m sorry, just now…”

“It’s alright.”

Xue Weisong waved it off unconcernedly, asking, “Are you okay?”

Song Jiawen shook her head, “I’m fine.”

She claimed to be fine, yet her eyes were red, and it was obvious she had been crying.

“You go rest, I’ll ask for leave on your behalf.”

Having said that, Xue Weisong turned and walked away. Song Jiawen stood still for a moment, not immediately leaving until Xue Weisong returned to the instructor’s side. Then, when the instructor nodded towards her from afar, she finally turned and slowly walked outside the field.

Xia Shi looked discontentedly at Song Jiawen’s departing figure and scornfully glanced at Xue Weisong, thinking what’s so great about her? It’s just a face.

Unfortunately, her displeasure was ignored by everyone as the military training continued regardless, and after leaving the field, Song Jiawen aimlessly walked along the school’s asphalt road.

When passing by the computer science college’s field, Jiang Yan, just like Xue Weisong, was holding a record book next to the instructor calculating the pass rate. He looked up and immediately recognized the figure, who, despite wearing the standard camouflage uniform, was extremely familiar.

This girl…

Without needing to specifically observe her expression, just by the way she walked Jiang Yan knew she was in a daze.

What happened to her?

Fortunately, there was a break soon after. Jiang Yan handed the record book to Tian Xiaohui and greeted the instructor before dignifiedly leaving ahead of time.

He quickly followed the direction Song Jiawen took and soon found her on a bench by the artificial lake where they often stayed.