Rebirth: He Decides to Lie Flat
Chapter 512 - 512 507 What Should Be

Chapter 512: Chapter 507 What Should Be? Chapter 512: Chapter 507 What Should Be? By the time they finished taking the group photo, it was already six in the evening. Xue Weisong and Shen Mengfei had booked a restaurant for their class to have dinner together tonight.

Jiang Yan called Mu Jiawen to remind her not to drink any alcohol, not even a single drop.

But a person who blacks out after one drink is mysteriously confident in their alcohol tolerance, always thinking they’re not that bad. However, she still listened to Jiang Yan’s advice and promised him she wouldn’t touch a drop.

A group of them joked and laughed their way to the restaurant, where at the entrance, Mu Jiawen glanced at the Xiang Cuisine Restaurant diagonally across from them.

At that moment, Jiang Yan was standing to the left of the entrance of the Xiang Cuisine Restaurant, with a man and a woman standing opposite him.

Mu Jiawen didn’t recognize the man, but the constantly talking woman she knew; she was from Jianglin Village, named Jiang Mei, the granddaughter of Jiang Yan’s great-grandfather’s household. In other words, Jiang Mei’s father and Jiang Fengwei share the same grandfather.

By lineage, Jiang Mei was quite close to Jiang Yan, his cousin once removed.

But Jiang Yan had severed ties with the direct relatives of the Jiang Family, let alone others.

So Mu Jiawen was quite curious about Jiang Mei’s purpose in coming over.

Since Jiang Yan was facing away from Mu Jiawen, she couldn’t see his expression, but the speaking Jiang Mei didn’t seem to be in a particularly good mood.

After thinking it over, Mu Jiawen told Xue Weisong to go ahead into the restaurant first, and then she turned to cross the street diagonally towards them.

“…No matter what, he was still your own grandfather. You are a highly educated intellectual, a graduate of Beijing University. You can’t always cling to those issues of the past, neglecting even your own grandparents. Besides, the dead deserve respect. Your grandfather has passed away; at the very least, you should go and see him off. And then there’s my uncle, as a son, especially the eldest, should he not return when his own father dies? During the funeral, he even has to perform the ritual of breaking the bowl…”

Jiang Mei wanted to continue, but her voice froze when she saw the approaching girl, her eyes widened in surprise, and after opening and closing her mouth a few times, she finally managed to utter two words, “Jiajia…”

Jiang Yan turned around, and Mu Jiawen saw his calm expression, his gaze so indifferent that not a ripple disturbed it, and she let out a slight sigh of relief, her mind at ease.

To her, Old Third Song and Xie Jingying were like the past, easy to cut off without any burden.

However, Jiang Yan was different from her—because the Jiang Family members were indeed related by blood. While relations could be cut, it was almost inevitable that he would be criticized by some who always liked to stand at the moral high ground.

One could choose not to care or think about it, but that still might be annoying.

For example, right now…

Mu Jiawen walked up and naturally took Jiang Yan’s arm, her cool gaze turned to Jiang Mei and she asked indifferently, “Why is Cousin Mei in Beijing? Did you come specially to find Jiang Yan?”

Jiang Mei’s eyes moved to the intertwined arms of the two, her expression complex.

She had also heard that the second daughter of Old Third Song’s household wasn’t born to the couple themselves; they had claimed the child for their own many years ago instead of returning her to her people, raising her in Jianglin Village as their own deceased second daughter.

Raising her was one thing, but Old Third Song and his wife had only cared about their eldest daughter, not treating this second one well.

That’s why people in the village now say that Xie Jingying’s current state is her karma. The adopted child soared high and was even recognized by her real mother to return to her family. The daughter they raised with all their hearts turned out to be callous, cutting ties with her family now that she had money and power, not even coming back for her own mother’s death.

On the day Xie Jingying was laid to rest, it was still her maternal nephew who performed the ritual of smashing the pot.

Actually, the Song Family had so many nephews that if Song Laosan had merely given the word, there would have been plenty of people to smash the pot.

But Song Laosan simply ignored this matter. It was said that after his wife’s funeral, he wrote a letter, even went to get it stamped by the brigade and the commune in the town, effectively making it his will.

The old house, those plots of land he owned, as well as the savings of more than a hundred thousand yuan, everyone in his family counted for one, would all be left to his grandson Zhou Zihao after his death…

“Sister Mei?”

Mu Jiawen’s call pulled Jiang Mei back from her memories. She couldn’t help but utter an “Ah,” as she hurriedly diverted her gaze from the arms of the two people and then turned to look at Mu Jiawen.

Compared to her childhood, this girl had grown even more beautiful!

No, that wasn’t accurate to say either, because she had always been beautiful. That face was something she hadn’t seen in all the years she spent working outside, a truly stunning beauty. Only now, over the years, she had acquired what could perhaps be called an intellectual charisma, very appealing anyway, not to mention men. As a woman, even she found it hard to take her eyes off Mu Jiawen.

The man next to her saw her still staring dumbly without responding, so he couldn’t resist leaning over and repeating Mu Jiawen’s question into her ear.

She was already married, this was her husband, and currently, they were both working in a factory in Beijing.

Yesterday, Jiang Mei had received a call from her father, informing her of the death of her great-uncle.

Her father asked her to try and find Jiang Yan at Beijing University. His own grandfather had passed away, and it seemed right that he should return for the funeral. Not to hope that he could make it for the cremation, but at least he should be present for the burial ceremony.

And then there was Jiang Fengwei, who was the eldest son. Wouldn’t it be improper if he didn’t return?

Only none of the Jiang Family knew where Jiang Fengwei was now, and to find him, they could only look for Jiang Yan.

“My partner and I have been working in Beijing for two years now. Today, we really did come here specially to find Jiang Yan. My dad asked me to pass on a message; my great-uncle passed away last night. The burial will be in five days. Dad said that it would be best for Jiang Yan to come back before the burial, and for the uncle…”

“Sister Mei,” Jiang Yan cut her off expressionlessly, his voice conveying no emotion, “Three years ago, my father was injured saving someone in prison. When my grandmother and uncles went to see him, they didn’t ask how my father was doing or how serious the injury was, but how much money they could get from the person who died?”

Jiang Mei was shocked and her eyes widened as her expression changed.

She didn’t know about this. Not only did she not know, but none of the Jiang Family knew either.

Jiang Yan gave a faint smile, but there was no warmth in his eyes. “Everyone knows how to preach the moral high ground, especially when it hasn’t happened to them. They can criticize others while making themselves seem noble. Of course, this isn’t aimed at you, Sister Mei. I know you had no choice; it was my grandmother and uncles who sent you. But our family’s affairs really can’t be explained in a few words. You should be aware of how much my father helped the family before, how much money he gave them, to the point where my mother divorced him. Whether he’s filial or what kind of person he is, I believe you and the elders are clear about that. So, if he weren’t truly heartbroken, would he live away from Jianglin Village after getting out, not even contacting the Jiang Family, and choose to live alone elsewhere?”

At first, Jiang Mei’s expression turned somewhat embarrassed, but as Jiang Yan went on, her mind also recollected how Jiang Fengwei had helped the Jiang Family in the past, not just his great-uncle’s family, but hers had been under the uncle’s protection as well.

Gradually, Jiang Mei didn’t feel so self-evident anymore.

In the end, she said to Jiang Yan, “Let’s just pretend I didn’t come here today, and you never saw me.”