Rebirth: He Decides to Lie Flat
Chapter 425 - 425 420 Jiang Yans Birthday Gift

Chapter 425: Chapter 420 Jiang Yan’s Birthday Gift Chapter 425: Chapter 420 Jiang Yan’s Birthday Gift Xie Yanfeng invited Mu Jiawen to visit Haishi during the summer vacation, but she didn’t directly accept the offer, just smiled and said she would see when the time came.

Jiang Yan felt an inexplicable resistance toward Haishi. While she didn’t quite understand why, it didn’t matter to her. Her greatest wish in life was to have someone accompany her, and now it seemed that wish had been fulfilled.

Her second wish was to own her own gallery, which also seemed to have been realized. Although Jiang Yan said that his mother’s gallery didn’t count as hers and that he would buy her another one in the future, she felt it was unnecessary. Between painting and physics, she still preferred physics.

So, as a hobby, owning the same gallery as her mother was good enough.

She didn’t know if Jiang Yan had been persuaded by her arguments, but for now, the matter was no longer brought up.

After the two arrived in Yunzhou, they first went to Shanshui Street. They had intended to visit Song Qingping, but it happened that his mother-in-law had passed away, so he wasn’t at Shanshui Gallery.

They spoke with Huang Kai because Jiang Yan had arranged to meet Ma Zheng at twelve o’clock. Therefore, they declined Huang Kai’s invitation to dine, and after leaving the Shanshui Gallery, went straight to the neighborhood where Shu Wan was currently living.

Before reaching the neighborhood, from a distance, they saw a young boy in a blue tracksuit eagerly waiting at the entrance.

“Brother?”

The white Audi slowly came to a stop in front of Ma Zheng. Once he saw who was driving, Ma Zheng exclaimed and ran over, “Bro, did you change cars? An Audi, wow, this car’s pretty expensive. My dad can’t even afford one. Is it nice to drive?”

After nearly a year, the kid was still as talkative as ever.

Shu Wan was also there. When she saw Jiang Yan, she came over to greet him, then hesitated, as if she had something to say.

Ma Zheng, being quick-mouthed, blurted out what his mother wanted to say, “Bro, today is grandpa’s seventieth birthday. There’s a dinner at our house tonight. You and sister should come with us, okay?”

Jiang Yan wanted to say no, but now Ma Zheng was bolder in his presence; he tried to hug him through the open car window.

Jiang Yan glared at him, “What are you doing?”

“Come on, please. Grandpa often asks about you. Okay? It’s just a meal, and if you’re unhappy, we can just say hi and take off.”

‘We can just take off,’ it seemed he had already planned to spend the night with Jiang Yan.

But Jiang Yan had no time to babysit tonight. It was his birthday yesterday, but he hadn’t celebrated at his uncle’s house. Tonight, Mu Jiawen said she would make it up to him.

The original plan was to treat Ma Zheng to lunch and then send him back. Who would want to have dinner with him again?

But…

“Brother, I prepared a birthday gift for you,” Ma Zheng said. “Mom told me yesterday was your birthday, but since you didn’t come, I already prepared it in advance. Look, it’s in the bag.”

While saying that, Ma Zheng gestured at the backpack behind him, then hopped to the back door, opened it, and jumped in.

Then he waved at Shu Wan through the car window, “Goodbye, Mom. I’m going to have lunch with brother and sister. We’ll go to grandpa’s house at five o’clock.”

This little rascal, did he even agree to this?

By four thirty in the afternoon, Jiang Yan was so annoyed by Ma Zheng that Mu Jiawen persuaded him, “Just go for a bit. At worst, we can leave after sitting for an hour.”

“That’s right, that’s right,” Ma Zheng said eagerly, nodding his head as soon as he heard Mu Jiawen.

He then added, “I even used all the New Year’s money I saved up to buy you a phone. Please go, please…”

The birthday gift Ma Zheng gave him was a new blue bar phone from Nokia. He’d seen his brother using a feminine phone model – a tall guy holding a pink, sparkly flip phone – and thought it looked odd. Whether others found it strange or not, he certainly did.

He thought his brother was reluctant to change phones, so he decided to use the New Year’s money he had saved for years to buy him a new one.

When Mu Jiawen saw the gift and heard Ma Zheng’s words, the expression on her face was… indescribable.

Jiang Yan told Ma Zheng, “Do you know how much my phone costs before you want me to change it? It’s more than double the price of the one you bought.”

In reality, no, it was just about two thousand yuan. But the problem is, no matter how much it costs, he can’t just switch phones, especially since his phone was still in good condition, having been used for less than two years. To replace it would be such a waste!

Ma Zheng insisted with conviction, “Bro, I’m not saying your phone isn’t good. It’s just that the color and style don’t suit you. But you could give it to your sister, it would be perfect for her.”

Jiang Yan and Mu Jiawen exchanged a look, both at a loss for words.

At five in the afternoon, the door of the Shu family’s senior’s house was knocked on. Shu Ruixuan was closest to the door, but he was taken aback when he saw the few people standing there.

“Hi, cousin.”

The chatterbox Ma Zheng cheerfully greeted Shu Ruixuan and introduced Mu Jiawen to him, “This is Jiajia sister, my brother’s girlfriend.”

Shu Ruixuan regained his composure and turned his gaze to the girl standing behind Jiang Yan. She was tall and had delicate features, but she looked cool and distant, as if she weren’t easy to approach.

He stepped aside to let the three of them in, while calling out to the elderly man sitting in the living room, “Grandpa, Jiang Yan is here.”

“Come in… Wait, who did you say?”

The Shu patriarch, who had been jovially chatting with the person beside him, belatedly realized what was said and abruptly turned his head to look over.

“Grandpa, it’s my brother, my brother has come to celebrate your birthday.”

That kid sure talks a lot.

Jiang Yan playfully smacked Ma Zheng on the back of the head as a warning, but Ma Zheng just giggled, unfazed.

He handed over the gift he had bought on the fly, politely saying, “I wish you fortune as vast as the eastern seas and a lifespan greater than the southern mountains.”

“Yes, yes, yes…”

The old man wasn’t concerned with his manner, happily accepted the gift, and pointed to the sofa beside him for him to sit down.

Jiang Yan pulled Mu Jiawen down to sit with him, while the quick-mouthed Ma Zheng re-introduced her to grandpa, but this time he said a bit too much, “Grandpa, the doctor who operated on me is Jiajia sister’s brother. Mom said we were discharged from the hospital so quickly because we had backdoor connections.”

The Shu patriarch was taken aback. Shu Wan had only mentioned that the doctor was found by Jiang Yan, but she hadn’t elaborated on how exactly it was arranged. So this was the real situation.

At this moment, Shu Wan was in the kitchen helping with the cooking, hearing Ma Zheng’s incessant chatter, she knew he had come over with Jiang Yan.

She peeked at the living room, then grabbed two cans of Coke and a plate of fruit and walked over.

“Jiawen, help yourself to whatever you want to eat.”

“Thank you, Auntie.”

Shu Wan smiled warmly at her, and returning to the kitchen, she picked up the potato she had been peeling. Shu Chao’s wife, that is, her sister-in-law, leaned in and asked quietly, “Is she Jiang Yan’s classmate from Beijing University?”

Shu Wan nodded without elaborating.

Shu’s sister-in-law glanced again at the living room and said enviously, “That girl is really beautiful, and her brother is a doctor; their family must be well-off. I hadn’t expected Jiang Yan to have such discernment in picking a partner. Sigh, unlike Ruixuan, he’s about to graduate and hasn’t dated anyone yet. He isn’t bad-looking, so why hasn’t any girl taken a fancy to him?”

How is anyone supposed to respond to that?

After greeting Jiang Yan when she had just arrived, the old Mrs. Shu overhead and glanced at her before speaking indifferently, “You were the one who told Ruixuan not to date in college, saying it would be troublesome if they had to part ways after graduation. Better to focus all his attention on his studies and find someone compatible once he’s working. What? Have you forgotten what you’ve said so soon?”

“I did say that, but if he really wanted to date, I couldn’t have stopped him.”

The old Mrs. Shu didn’t want to continue this topic and turned to Shu Wan, asking, “Did you invite Jiang Yan, or did Xiaozheng nag him into coming?”

Shu Wan thought for a moment and said, “Both.”

Regardless of the details, everyone in the Shu family thought it was good that Jiang Yan had come. It meant that the relationship between them and him was slowly dissolving, that perhaps in the future they could resume their interactions…