Rebirth: He Decides to Lie Flat
Chapter 375 - 375 370 Two Birds with One Stone

Chapter 375: Chapter 370: Two Birds with One Stone Chapter 375: Chapter 370: Two Birds with One Stone After dinner, Mu Jiawen said goodbye to the three of them, planning to head straight home.

But as soon as she left the hotpot restaurant, she received a call from the second eldest, “Jiajia, Maomao just called crying, her grandma has passed away…”

Mu Jiawen hurried to Xinyu, and together with the second eldest, they drove to Maomao’s and her grandma’s home.

The original reason she didn’t want to go with her sister to Yunzhou was because she was worried about her grandmother.

The old lady was sixty-eight this year, not particularly old, but she was in poor health, and her legs ached with rheumatoid arthritis, making it impossible for her to walk when the weather was cloudy or rainy.

Some people said that she was now a burden to Maomao, better dead than alive.

Thankfully, Maomao didn’t hear this comment; otherwise, she would have fought with them fiercely.

Xu Qian, on the other hand, felt her younger sister was grateful and knew how to repay kindness, so later, when Maomao didn’t want to leave with her, she didn’t insist. She just made sure to send her money regularly, call her to check on her studies, and kept her homeroom teacher’s phone number.

Maomao was very smart, but because she didn’t spend much time on her studies due to family matters, her grades were only above average in class. It wouldn’t be a problem for her to get into an undergraduate program, but anything beyond that couldn’t be guaranteed.

Xu Qian hoped she could get into a university in Yunzhou, so she could take care of her if needed in the future.

Of course, that was a matter for the future, as Maomao was only in her first year of high school right now.

It took the two of them nearly an hour to reach Maomao’s home in the suburbs.

By that time, it was half-past seven in the evening, and it had gotten completely dark. Lights were on in Maomao’s yard, and quite a few people were coming in and out of the yard gate, apparently neighbors.

The second eldest parked the car on the road not far from the entrance, and he and Mu Jiawen got out and walked towards the yard.

In the center of the main room, there was a bed laid out with a white cloth covering the body of Maomao’s grandma, who had already been dressed in her burial clothes.

Maomao was kneeling by the side of the bed, her expression blank.

“Maomao.”

The second eldest and Mu Jiawen arrived at the entrance to the main room and called out from the doorway.

Maomao at first stared blankly, then turned her head to look over, and immediately threw herself into the second eldest’s arms, bursting into loud sobs.

“Oh dear, the child has finally found her voice.”

“Yes, it’s good to cry it out, holding it in is what’s awful.”

“Who is this young man? And the girl that came with him is quite lovely.”

“You don’t know? Last year, Maomao’s own sister found her, and this girl was with her then, too. She must be her cousin or her sister’s friend, I guess. Usually, she also comes by to bring something over to her.”

“Then why didn’t her real sister take her away?”

“What do you mean ‘take her away’? It was Maomao herself who didn’t want to go. She couldn’t leave her grandma.”

“This child also knows love and loyalty.”

“Indeed, she does.”

Because there were only Maomao and her grandma in the family, Maomao had no idea how to arrange the funeral. So, the uncles and aunts from next door all came to lend a hand. Even so, many decisions still needed to be made by Maomao.

For example, the time to send the body for cremation, the choice of an urn for the ashes, and whether to hold a funeral banquet or not?

The neighbors all knew her family’s situation, an elderly lady taking care of her young granddaughter, so by all accounts, there was no need for a formal funeral service; a simple cremation and burial in the village’s collective cemetery would have sufficed—there really was no need to go to the expense.

Maomao didn’t understand any of this, and when the neighbor uncle came over to explain, she looked completely bewildered.

Before coming, Er had brought some money with him, and he handed over two thousand yuan, “Uncle Zhao, thanks for your trouble. Please do as you said and cremate her tomorrow. Choose a medium-quality urn for the ashes. We still should have a simple funeral—let me know how much more it will cost.”

When his father had passed away, Er was an even few years younger than Maomao and he had been just as clueless about these matters. His family, being outsiders in Jianghai Town, didn’t have any close relatives of the sort, and the neighbors on either side had helped to choose the cheapest urn after the cremation, then hastily buried it in the ground.

He hadn’t understood back then, but now every time he thought about it, it seemed as bleak as it possibly could be.

Er had met Grandma Mao many times—a very kind and benevolent old lady—so within his means, he still wanted to give this elderly woman a dignified farewell.

Mu Jiawen tugged at the back of his clothes and whispered, “I’ll pay for Grandma Mao’s funeral expenses, don’t argue with me, after all, Maomao is like a sister to me.”

Er glanced at her and nodded.

Upon hearing this, Maomao choked up and called out, “Sister Jiajia…”

Mu Jiawen raised her hand to stroke her head, remaining silent.

She wasn’t very good at comforting people, and besides, the departure of someone so close couldn’t be soothed with just a word or two from others.

Er stayed over that night to keep Maomao company and didn’t leave. Around nine o’clock, Jiang Yan came to pick Jiawen up and also brought two packs of cigarettes for the helpful Uncle Zhao.

Seeing this, Uncle Zhao’s wife, Auntie Zhao, thought to herself that these two kids really knew how to handle things, unlike her own son who was nearly twenty yet still couldn’t understand the simplest of matters. And talking to him about it made him impatient. Alas, the good kids always seem to belong to someone else’s family.

Early the next morning, before seven o’clock, Jiawen and Jiang Yan had arrived.

The cremation was today, and according to local custom, the deceased should be kept at home for three days for friends and relatives to come over and pay their last respects upon receiving the news.

But that was the general case, and Grandma Mao’s life had been harder. After her only son’s accident, her nephews on her maternal side had all passed away, with none left, and the nephew’s wife had long since stopped communicating with her, taking her grand-nephews with her.

The relatives on her husband’s side were even more detached, saying she had a hard fate, accusing her of not only bringing about her husband’s death but also the end of her son’s lineage, before ultimately causing her son’s death as well.

Therefore, as far as relatives were concerned, there were none.

In such a case, there was no need to wait three days; a direct cremation followed by the rest of the procedures was more appropriate.

Uncle Zhao and his wife were quite sincere, and because they had been neighbors for so many years, having a good relationship with Grandma Mao, they took the money and made sure to organize the funeral properly and respectfully.

By the third day, all the funeral matters had already been concluded.

“Maomao, your auntie wants to have a heart-to-heart with you.”

After Auntie Zhao and a few women had tidied up the courtyard and entered the house, she spoke to Maomao who had red, swollen eyes, “Good child, no matter how sad you are, your grandmother can’t come back. She loved you and she would have wanted nothing more than for you to be well. Listen to your auntie, our area is the suburbs of Beijing, and according to the secretary, sooner or later it might be demolished for apartment buildings. Otherwise, why would they have registered the land for each household before? Your grandmother changed the house and courtyard to your name—you take the property deed with you and go live with your sister.”

Maomao thought Auntie Zhao was concerned about her living alone being inconvenient, but she had been independent from a young age, so being without her grandmother meant primarily feeling lonelier and perhaps a bit scared at night. But she wouldn’t have problems managing her life.

Not to mention the living expenses sent by her sister, even on her own, she could support herself.

Auntie Zhao knew Maomao hadn’t grasped what she meant; after all, what could a child of barely a teen understand about the wicked ways of the world.

“Silly child, you are not the biological offspring of the Mao family. Once it’s confirmed that this area is to be demolished, those distant relatives of the Mao family that have never been in touch will surely jump at the chance to claim this house and courtyard. Even though it’s in your name and they may not succeed in taking it, who knows what they might do for a house and money?

Listen to your auntie, take the property deed and leave this place. When it’s certain that the area will be redeveloped into apartment buildings, your auntie will inform you to come back and sign the necessary documents.”

This way Maomao would avoid any conflict with those people and yet preserve both the house and the money—a win-win situation.