Chapter 14: Really Gone!

Chen Xueying had initially thought she would have trouble falling asleep, given the excitement of her rebirth and lying on a heated brick bed with a stranger, both making her feel that tonight might be sleepless.

Contrary to her expectations, she fell asleep shortly after closing her eyes. Jiang Yanqing, however, was the one who ended up unable to sleep. At first, he had worried that his presence would keep Chen Xueying awake, so he lay motionless on the bed, deliberately adjusting his breathing. In the end, she fell asleep, but he was the one left awake.

After sensing that Chen Xueying was asleep, he opened his eyes and stared blankly at the pitch-black ceiling. Everything that had happened today had overturned half a lifetime of his beliefs.

Long before enlisting, he had known that Liu Guixiang and her husband did not love him at all—they treated him even worse than a stranger. His existence seemed only to serve the purpose of taking care of Jiang Jiali.

After joining the army, he met many people and made many friends, which helped him resolve his emotional entanglements with the Jiang family. He no longer placed as much importance on his kinship with them.

Later, when he achieved merits, got promoted, and even retired and transitioned to civilian work, he never informed them. Every month, he sends money home, starting with five yuan and gradually increasing it by one or two yuan every year or two.

Now, he sends nine or ten yuan home each month. The family was satisfied, and he was content with the arrangement. Although his monthly salary had long exceeded fifteen yuan, he still sent money based on that amount.

At that time, he didn’t know he wasn’t their biological child, nor did he know he might have been trafficked. He had simply thought of it as providing for their old age.

Jiang Yanqing suddenly felt a strong urge to smoke. He had been forced to return this time to get married. If he hadn’t come back, Liu Guixiang would have gone to his military unit. He didn’t want them to find out certain things, as it would cause trouble.

He never expected to witness such a dramatic scene upon his return or to accidentally uncover clues about his origins.

Jiang Yanqing was not a good person. As a child, when Liu Guixiang gave food to Jiang Jiali and often left him hungry, he had to scavenge for food everywhere, fight with other children, and use every trick in the book just to survive.

Although he toned it down after joining the army, a wild child remained a wild child his untamed nature was hard to suppress.

When he encountered older soldiers in the unit who liked to trip them up, he preferred to retaliate covertly. So, Liu Guixiang, you stole me but didn’t treat me well, making me suffer for so many years. Shouldn’t I repay you properly?

A fierce glint flashed in Jiang Yanqing’s eyes as he slowly closed them, a faint smile on his lips as he drifted off to sleep.

Chen Xueying had a dream. She was back in her previous life, treated as a slave by the Jiang family. In the blink of an eye, Jiang Jiali appeared before her, holding a pregnant Lu Niannian, laughing arrogantly and unrestrainedly:

“Chen Xueying, so what if you’re pretty and a high school graduate? You still must wash my underwear in the dead of winter.”

“Haha~ When mine and Jiali’s child is born, you’ll have to wash our diapers too, haha~”

“That’s all she’s good for. If there weren’t still uses for her, I would’ve kicked her out long ago. Chen Xueying, you should thank Niannian.

If it weren’t for her, you’d be thrown out of our Jiang family all alone, with nowhere to live…”

Those images were so vivid, as if she had truly returned to her previous life. They were utterly unrestrained, not even bothering to pretend anymore. Jiang Jiali had married his newly widowed sister-in-law just a week ago, yet the child in her womb was already two months along. Everyone had kept it from her, deliberately making a fool out of her. They must have laughed heartily behind her back then, right?

Tears involuntarily streamed from the corners of Chen Xueying’s eyes. “Lu Niannian, I wish you a miserable death, a miserable death… Jiang Jiali, I hate you… I hate you…”

Jiang Yanqing had just fallen asleep when he was awakened by her intermittent murmurs. Frowning, he turned his head and saw the moonlight gently illuminating Chen Xueying’s delicate face. The glistening tears at the corners of her eyes slipped down unexpectedly, tightening his heart with a sense of pity and sorrow, like watching a beautiful flower suddenly battered by rain.

Like a thief, he slowly shifted closer to hear what she was saying. As his ear neared her lips, her warm breath brushed against it, startling him as if scalded. He quickly pulled back, sat up, and stared in shock at the woman lying on the bed, her face contorted in agony. Her palm-sized face was drenched in tears. He sighed, grabbed a cigarette from his jacket pocket, and stepped outside.

She was still muttering about Jiang Jiali and Lu Niannian in her dreams. He understood that kind of obsession, just like his own childhood self. Liu Guixiang had treated him poorly, yet he yearned even more for her maternal love and attention, going to great lengths for it. But Liu Guixiang remained unmoved. The moment Jiang Jiali was born, even a simple smile from him was treated as something extraordinary. That was when he began to hate Liu Guixiang and her husband and hate Jiang Jiali. That hatred stemmed from love unreciprocated, from never being loved in return.

He thought Chen Xueying must be feeling the same way now. Suddenly, he regretted agreeing to register their marriage with Chen Xueying. He should have given her more time to think it over, not rushed into it so hastily. Yet, thinking of her unloved state, like his own childhood, stirred a wave of sympathy within him.

Leaning against the courtyard wall, he finished his cigarette and looked up at the bright moon, his eyes filled with complexity and inner conflict.

Chen Xueying was jolted awake by the nightmare. Gasping for breath, she realized she had been reborn. Glancing out the window, she saw the sky still deep blue, with moonlight faintly illuminating the room. Turning her head, she noticed Jiang Yanqing was not in bed. Faint sounds seemed to come from the yard. She quickly got up, opened the door, and stepped out.

There, she saw Jiang Yanqing emerging from the kitchen, holding a half-eaten boiled egg. He froze at the sight of her and asked stiffly, “Do you want something to eat?” He had taken all five eggs from the henhouse and boiled them, planning to eat while leaving quietly without disturbing anyone. He hadn’t expected Chen Xueying to wake up.

Chen Xueying glanced at the sky, noting the faint hint of dawn in the distance, and shook her head at him. She walked closer and asked, “Are you leaving already?” Her only goal was to take revenge on Jiang Jiali, Lu Niannian, and Jiang Jiali’s uncle. Jiang Yanqing was a good man, and she knew he would die in a year, yet she hadn’t considered stopping it. She felt guilty toward him; there was little she could do for him. She had originally planned to prepare some food for him to take on his journey in the morning, but she had overslept, leaving him to fend for himself.

Jiang Yanqing handed one of the eggs he was holding to Chen Xueying. Seeing her innocent expression, he recalled her tears from the previous night and sighed. He stuffed the half-eaten egg into his mouth, then pulled out the two remaining eggs from his pocket and pressed them into her hands.

Noticing her still staring wide-eyed at him, he frowned: “That’s really all I have!”

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