Chapter 004 The Best Outcome is Fish Dead and Net Broken

The next morning at seven o'clock, Xie Jingying made her punctual phone call to her brother's house.

Li Yun was making breakfast in the kitchen, Shi Peirong was cleaning the yard, and both Xie Lin and Song Jiawen were still asleep.

Xie Yanhai had tossed and turned until midnight before he finally fell asleep, and now he was very sleepy, but the ringing of the phone abruptly woke him up.

He threw off the blankets, got out of bed, and picked up the receiver in a rush, barking a coarse "hello." The voice on the other end, Xie Jingying, paused, then spoke up unhappily, "What's with you this early in the morning? Who's annoyed you?"

Who's annoyed me?

Who else could it be but you?

Remembering Li Yun's instructions, Xie Yanhai suppressed his anger, "You know it's early. Calling this early, are you not afraid of disturbing others?"

"..."

Xie Jingying couldn't help but laugh in irritation, "Fine, you're the boss, I disturbed you, that's my bad, I apologize. Anyway, have Jiajia come home later, her sister is waiting for her."

"Waiting for her to do what? Is something the matter?"

"What? Xiaoxi finally made it back from the city, and Song Jiawen didn't go straight home, instead she came to your place last night. Does she even have a conscience? Xiaoxi has doted on her for so many years, and she's ungrateful..."

Xie Yanhai scoffed, "Xie Jingying, if you want to scold Jiajia, just scold her directly, don't always look for excuses. Xiaoxi is her older sister, isn't it right for an older sister to dote on her younger sister? How does that become having a heart of stone? Just because Jiajia came to my house last night? What are you implying? You don't want your children to consider me their uncle?"

Xie Jingying was speechless; she only had this one brother and of course did not want to have a dispute with him.

But precisely because Xie Yanhai was her only brother, Xie Jingying could sometimes manage to partially conceal her attitude toward Song Jiawen in front of outsiders, but in front of Xie Yanhai, she didn't want to hide it at all.

Xie Yanhai believed that Xie Jingying's dislike for Jiajia stemmed from when she conceived her with the full expectation of a boy, only to end up with a girl instead.

That's why her attitude towards Jiajia had always been so cold.

Little did he know that the 'Jiajia' of those times had already vanished at the age of three...

The conversation between the siblings was discordant and they parted on bad terms.

Li Yun stood in the doorway to the kitchen, Shi Peirong stood in the yard; both mother-in-law and daughter-in-law had heard what Xie Yanhai had just said.

"Big sister is getting more and more muddled over the years. Is only Xiaoxi her daughter, not Jiajia? Such an outstanding child, any family would be blessed to have one, and she just..."

Having said her piece, Li Yun didn't expect Shi Peirong to respond. She straightaway went inside the house to make a phone call.

She had a good friend who was married off to Jianglin Village, not far from Song Laosan's home.

She directly told her friend to keep an eye on Song Laosan's house to see who would visit today, who they were, and what they did...

As she instructed her friend, Xie Yanhai sat beside her, and she did not avoid Shi Peirong, who was in the yard. She knew her mother-in-law heard every word.

If things turned chaotic today, it was inevitable that her mother-in-law would find out.

There was no need to hide it from her.

Although she was very fond of Xie Jingying, she believed her mother-in-law could discern right from wrong in significant matters.

Meanwhile, at Song Laosan's house.

Xie Jingying hung up the phone and sat brooding. She wasn't upset with Xie Yanhai but with Song Jiawen.

You silly girl, having a weekend to yourself and you chose not to come back, but to go to your uncle's... now look what you've started...

Xie Jingying put the blame squarely on Song Jiawen's shoulders, without sensing anything inappropriate in her reasoning.

Song Xiwen also had a rough night, tossing and turning, and when she finally managed to fall into a drowsy sleep, she was soon startled awake by a nightmare.

Even now, in the morning, she remembered that dream vividly--

"Sister, I'm cold..."

A little snowball, pale and tender, called out to her in the dream. Suddenly, the snowball's little face turned red, her eyes vacant, as she lay gasping for breath on the bed.

"Repeated high fevers have triggered encephalitis, I'm sorry, but you arrived too late..."

The doctor issued a cold death notice for the snowball. She couldn't accept this reality and wanted the doctor to save her, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't open her mouth to speak.

Then suddenly, someone grabbed her ankle, and when she looked down, the snowball had somehow fallen off the bed to the ground, clutching her ankle and looking up at her, "Sister, cold..."

It was at this point she woke up from the nightmare.

And then she lay awake until dawn.

It had been a long time since she'd had this dream, and now... it was probably because of what her mother said yesterday.

She also overheard the phone call between her mother and uncle just now; both her uncle and aunt really liked Jiajia, and it was normal for them to invite her to stay over on weekends or holidays.

So today, when her uncle didn't want Jiajia to come back, they didn't think it was abnormal.

On the contrary, she felt slightly relieved.

Although she had agreed to her parents' request yesterday, deep down she really didn't want to.

"If... Jiajia stays at her uncle's house and never comes back, that would be fine too."

But she knew that her wish was impossible. Since her mom had already agreed to her aunt, the grandmother and the others would undoubtedly force Jiajia to agree.

However...

After all, Song Xiwen had brought up Song Jiawen for many years and knew her temperament and personality like the back of her hand.

Even if it came to a fish-die-net-break scenario, she would never agree to this matter.

Song Xiwen turned her head to look outside the window, a brief moment of confusion in her gaze. Her parents worried that after the college entrance exam, Song Jiawen would soar into the sky, leaving the small place of Jianghai Town.

She was such an outstanding girl, bound to attract attention sooner or later. Then, the fact that she was "picked up" by her fourteen years ago in Yunzhou might be exposed.

At that time, three-year-old her and the real "Jiajia" were both white as snowballs. There was a huge fuss about finding her, with missing person notices all over TV and newspapers. It was clear her family background was not simple.

But her, being fifteen at the time and just having lost her sister due to negligence, couldn't accept that it was her fault her sister was gone. So, she stubbornly brought Jiajia home to replace her sister.

That way, she could pretend that nothing had ever happened.

Her parents, fearing she couldn't get over this hurdle, condoned her actions and even deliberately ended their business in Yunzhou to move back to Jianglin Village.

However, they certainly didn't feel the same guilt towards "Jiajia" as she did and didn't compensate towards the replacement.

They accepted Jiajia's existence, but most of the time, they ignored her.

That's probably why they were so indifferent and unburdened when dealing with Jiajia's future now.

Song Xiwen thought, compared to marrying off to that son of some bullshit dean, she'd much rather have Jiajia cut ties with the Song Family completely...

Cut them off, and after that, leave the Song Family, leave Jianghai Town, and go find your own place in the world outside.

Even if her true identity was discovered later, she would already be no longer connected to the Song Family, so it couldn't involve her.

...

At half-past eight, Song Shuqin, the younger aunt from the Song Family, barged into Song Laosan's home with a group of people in tow.

"Third brother, sister-in-law!"

As soon as she entered, Song Shuqin began calling out with a casual tone and not a trace of respect could be heard.

Song Laosan walked out from inside, his dull face squeezing out a smile, "Shuqin has come. Your sister-in-law has gone to pick up Jiajia and hasn't come back yet."

"Weren't we clear that we were coming over today? Why didn't you call her back earlier to wait at home?"

Song Shuqin was somewhat displeased, feeling that her words were not taken seriously and that her brother and sister-in-law were fobbing her off.

But since her husband's elder brother's family was also with her, she didn't say anything more and simply invited everyone to sit down in the main hall.

Walking in last, Grandma Song swept her gaze around the room. When she saw the obviously newly bought infant formula and black sesame paste inside the TV cabinet next to the wall, her eyes instantly lit up.

That damn girl always bought things for her parents whenever she came back but had never shown the slightest filial piety to her, her own grandmother.

Indeed, she was a heartless ingrate. Thank goodness she disliked the girl when she was little and never took her in; otherwise, she might have been angered to death by now.

"Where's your eldest? Didn't she come back from the city? Where is she? Her aunt has come, and she doesn't even know to come out to greet?"

Although Grandma Song was mindful of the other in-laws, she wasn't Song Shuqin—she had to vent her dissatisfaction first.

Song Xiwen, who was never her favorite, became that outlet at this moment.

But Song Laosan didn't indulge his mother, "Xiaoxi took Haohao out, she's not at home."

"Don't you know what's happening today? How could she..."

"Isn't today about discussing Jiajia's matter? You all fancy Jiajia, wanting her to marry the son of Dean Chen, but Jiajia is only seventeen after all. She's always been proud, never coming second in school, and her teachers even say she could vie for the city's top scholar in the college entrance exam. With such qualifications, you say don't take the college entrance exam and she just won't? How could Xiaoxi possibly agree with that? How can she not be distressed?

If I hadn't persuaded her to go out, you wouldn't even be able to enter my home."

After today, he, Song Laosan, and his wife would inevitably be the talk of the town—after all, that child's excellence was simply too much. Being the daughter-in-law of the county hospital's dean was nothing compared to her future prospects.

He and his wife might be subjected to gossip, but Xiaoxi could not be.

That's why he had Xiaoxi leave and not be involved in this. If anyone asked later, they'd just say she was kept in the dark, unaware.

Anyway, she's usually not at home. Today's affairs will be over, and tomorrow she'll be back in the city for work.

On the other hand, his words also served as a warning to Dean Chen's family—don't assume that just because your family has a higher status, we ought to cling to you.

That's not the case.

We agreed to this marriage out of desperation, not necessity. Without you, my youngest daughter's future might be even better.

So don't put on airs in front of me. We certainly didn't ask you to pursue this marriage.

From this, it's evident that Song Laosan was not as dull and honest as he appeared on the surface.