Rebirth: He Decides to Lie Flat
Chapter 203 - 203 200 Looking for Someone

Chapter 203: Chapter 200 Looking for Someone Chapter 203: Chapter 200 Looking for Someone “That auntie, she seemed to be that sister’s mother. When I opened my eyes, I saw both of them and a few little boys, but they were so scared, none of them dared to run…”

Song Jiawen head buried in Jiang Yan’s chest, smelling the familiar scent on him, slowly began to describe the scene she remembered, “The auntie burned the curtains, and then she took me and that sister and ran out from inside. But there were many of them, and after we were discovered…”

At this moment, Song Jiawen hugged Jiang Yan even tighter, her body trembling, “The auntie told me not to look back, but I looked back… I saw… her head—it seemed like… it seemed like it was split in two…”

The sister ran ahead of her and squeezed through a small hole first. When she crawled in and looked back to see if the auntie was coming, it was just that one glance…

A head split in two?

Jiang Yan’s eyes showed shock. Such a brutal murder case would surely shake the whole Yunzhou City once it was discovered.

Jiajia was picked up by Song Xiwen in Yunzhou years ago. Given her age, it was impossible for her to have run out of a city on her own.

So, the murder must have happened in Yunzhou.

“Alright, no more thinking about it. Now that we know this much, let’s find someone to look into it. Perhaps we can find out the name of that auntie.”

Today, reaching these memories under Dr. Ouyang’s hypnosis was already pushing the limit. As for the sister who escaped with her, and the place they emerged… Song Jiawen really wanted to remember, but the glance she took had scared her almost to the point of losing her soul, and she ran forward aimlessly. Even if she fell and hit her head, she would just get back up and keep running until she was completely exhausted and could not run anymore.

The place where she collapsed must have been the alley where Song Xiwen found her.

….

Yunzhou, the military academy.

The afternoon classes had ended. Because Zhou Youming had a physical fitness test for the students in the evening, he did not go home for dinner.

When he received the unfamiliar call from Beijing, Zhou Youming had just started on his meal and hadn’t taken more than a couple of bites.

Looking at the number, his heart leaped with joy. Had Jiajia bought a phone?

Before school started, when he had left, he had told Song Xiwen to give her money, but she hadn’t taken it. He had even discussed with his wife recently about buying a phone for Jiajia during the winter break.

With that thought in mind, Zhou Youming pressed the answer button—

“Hello?”

“Brother-in-law, it’s Jiang Yan.”

Zhou Youming was startled, then quickly understood, “Jiang Yan, is it something about Jiajia?”

Jiang Yan was standing in the yard holding a pink flip phone. As the two had exchanged phones before, she hadn’t deleted his number and still had it stored in the simple contacts list.

“Jiajia is fine, but what I’m about to discuss is indeed about her.”

Saying this, Jiang Yan paused before continuing, “Ask Song Xiwen which area, which alley in Yunzhou she found Jiajia in. Also, you should know someone from the city bureau’s criminal police team, right? Help me ask around, was there a murder case fourteen years ago where the victim’s head was split in two?”

Zhou Youming: ….

It took him several seconds to grasp what he’d just been told, incredulously asking, “Jiang Yan, do you realize what you’re saying?”

“It’s exactly what you’ve heard. Jiajia is not Song Xiwen’s biological sister, and you can go home to ask about that. Besides, Jiajia remembered some things from the past. When she escaped from the human traffickers, the woman who helped her might have been killed—just like I said before, with her head presumably split in two. If you have someone familiar with this kind of case, see if they can find out anything.”

After hanging up the phone, Zhou Youming couldn’t bring himself to eat anymore.

He got up and walked outside.

As he walked, his mind wrestled with what Jiang Yan had just said, feeling it was both hard to believe and yet quite plausible. Engrossed in this internal conflict, he found himself entering the military school’s family housing.

Song Xiwen was cooking, and Haohao sat alone on a mat in front of the sofa, playing with building blocks.

Hearing the door open, the little guy twisted his head to look, “Daddy.”

Hearing Haohao’s shout, Song Xiwen poked her head out from the kitchen and said in surprise, “Didn’t you say you wouldn’t be back for dinner? Why are you back again, I didn’t prepare your dinner.”

Zhou Youming picked up his son, who had run over to hug his leg, and then set him back on the mat in front of the sofa, pausing as he saw a large bucket filled with colorful blocks of different shapes on it.

These building blocks had been bought by Jiajia in Beijing and sent to him.

Song Xiwen was still busy in the kitchen. Zhou Youming entered and shut the kitchen door, then turned off the gas stove that was being used to cook.

Song Xiwen glared at him, “What are you doing? Didn’t you see the food wasn’t cooked yet? Why turn off the heat?”

As she spoke, she tried to squeeze past Zhou Youming to re-ignite the stove.

“Jiajia, she isn’t your sister?”

The hand Song Xiwen had extended froze mid-air, her head remaining turned towards the pot, motionless.

Zhou Youming leaned against the countertop, chuckled softly, “So it’s true after all. No wonder…”

His laughter startled Song Xiwen. It seemed she had anticipated this day would come, so after a moment of panic, Song Xiwen quickly regained her composure.

She looked at Zhou Youming calmly, “Did Uncle tell you?”

Even though they weren’t biological sisters, having lived together for over a decade, Song Jiawen’s character was something she was familiar with. If Song Jiawen had wanted to speak out, she would have done so a long time ago, not waited until now.

Therefore, the only person she could think of who might have told Zhou Youming was Xie Yanhai.

But Zhou Youming ignored her question, looked down at his watch, and said, “I’ll give you an hour to feed Haohao. I’ll come to pick you up at 7:30, and you will take me to the place where you found Jiajia that year.”

Having said that, Zhou Youming turned and walked away, but his arm was suddenly gripped by Song Xiwen. She glared at him, “Zhou Youming, what do you mean? No matter what, I saved Jiajia’s life. What’s with this attitude?”

“What does this mean? You did save her life, that’s true. But if you had taken her to the police station, maybe you could have saved more than just her. The place she escaped from could very well have been a human trafficker’s den.”

Zhou Youming looked at her coldly, “Jiajia was only three years old at the time, but you knew she was exceptionally intelligent. Now, she’s gradually remembering some things. Somebody helped her escape then, but that person… might already be dead.”

Hearing the words “dead”, Song Xiwen’s face turned pale, and she nearly broke out in a cold sweat.

“How far could a three-year-old child run, even if she were physically fit? A search within a three-kilometer radius could probably turn up someone.”

But because of Song Xiwen’s selfishness, what should have been a lead had vanished.

Zhou Youming had asked a colleague to cover his evening class, then flipped through his contacts to find an old comrade who had transferred to the criminal investigation department of the city bureau and dialed him.

Regrettably, this comrade turned up no cases involving a female body with its head split in half from fourteen years ago in all the archived homicide cases.

“Fourteen years ago, a total of four unclaimed bodies were found in Yunzhou, three male corpses, and one female corpse, oh, not a normal female corpse but a little girl. According to the file, the little girl died from drowning after accidentally falling into the water, around five years old…”