Epiphanies of Rebirth Chapter 76 (Part 1)
Translated by Pure
Chapter 76.1 Shen Tiantian stated, "I don't want to see him again."
Shen Tiantian: "..."
Xiao Miao: "..."
Xiao Shenxing: "..."
Yu Shuyuan: "..."
Lin Runsheng "..."
Shen Juanying: "..."
Lin Jingzhe: "..."
Xiao Chi: "Here, taste this one."
Xiao Chi was next to Lin Jingzhe, his gaze affectionate and loving, as if he was looking at some lost and found treasure. He continued to pick out food and piled them into Lin Jingzhe's plate one after another.
In the midst of him peeling a shrimp, Shen Juanying glanced at her husband from the corner of her eye, who had never left his eyes from the two children from the very beginning. He had just stopped crying not long ago, but now his mood was visibly dipping. She coughed and hurriedly broke the awkward silence at the table, "Um that, Tiantian, I remember you and Miao Miao are good friends?"
Shen Tiantian looked at Xiao Miao, who was wearing a dress of a similar style but just in a different color. The corner of her mouth twitched slightly, and after some hesitation, she finally responded softly, "Mhm."
"What an unexpected surprise!" Yu Shuyuan also said in cooperation, and at the same time nudged her daughter to straighten her tense back. She continued to divert the topic, "My daughter often mentioned Tiantian and her elder brother this and that. You guys often mentioned your son outside, but we never inferred it from the possibility of him being Jingzhe. You really did a great job at keeping this on the down low!"
Shen Juanying was a little helpless about this matter. In fact, she was worried when she initially heard that Lin Runsheng's son was admitted to Yan City for college. After all, their family structure was relatively complicated, and the Shen Family is not an ordinary family. Gossip outside had never ceased, so if a troublemaker were to arrive, she had feared that their whole family would never see a day of peace again.
What she hadn’t expected was that it would be Lin Jingzhe who wanted to keep avoiding them.
Shen Juanying never had any qualms when outside. When people asked about her clothes, she simply replied, "My son bought it for me." Shen Tiantian was even worse, and would try her best to show off her brother at every given moment. So much so that the grandparents of the Shen Family had developed a good impression for this cheap grandson even though he had maintained his mysterious identity. If not, the two elders would never have easily challenged the Shi Family and the Qi Family even at their daughter's rare request. Shen Tiantian's heart-piercing howls when she called her grandparents and Lin Jingzhe's long-term accumulation of goodwill all contributed quite a lot.
"We were also quite helpless. We have mentioned it many times, but this child is just too stubborn." Shen Juanying looked at Lin Jingzhe with melancholy eyes. After such a major event happened, he still hadn’t displayed any disparities in emotions. The one who cried the most actually was Shen Tiantian. "But it’s fine now, he doesn't need to hide like this in the future. Wasn’t it because they saw Jingzhe's lack of family so they dared to..."
Shen Juanying took a deep breath. In order not to spoil the mood, she didn't finish the rest of the sentence, but asked Xiao Shenxing, "Are you sure it's Shi Nanxing?"
"Leaving the country at this critical time, I’m almost certain it's him." Xiao Shenxing answered, "The Shi Family kept the news very tight, and even I didn't know it in advance. Fortunately, you had quickly applied for the travel ban. If it was an hour later, I reckon he would have escaped overseas, free and unfettered."
With a bang, the sound of shattering glass dropping to the ground interrupted everyone's discussion. Everyone turned their heads to look at Shen Tiantian. She smiled, slightly embarrassed, "I'm sorry, I wasn’t holding it properly."
"Look at you, when will you become as calm as Miaomiao? You’re already this old, yet you are still wearing your brother's shoes? And you’re always crying." Her daughter, in a sense, could also be regarded as narrowly escaping a disaster. Hence, Shen Juanying only reprimanded her in a light tone, as she stretched out her hand and pinched her daughter's nose adoringly.
Knowing that everyone was not in the mood to eat. Moreover, with the following topics they were going to talk about unsuitable for these innocent children to hear, Shen Juanying pulled her daughter, who wanted to pick up the shattered pieces, and said, "Don't pick it up. Go out and play with Miaomiao. I remember there is a place upstairs in this hotel where you can eat pastries."
Shen Tiantian smiled and agreed and ran towards the door of the private room like a little sparrow. Lin Jingzhe put down his chopsticks to stop her halfway. He grabbed her hand and examined it, when he made sure that it was not cut by the glass fragments, he patted her lightly and said softly, "Be careful when you go."
Shen Tiantian glanced at Xiao Chi. The latter, who was sitting beside Lin Jingzhe, was also looking at her, so their eyes collided briefly. She smiled shyly at her brother and left after slowing her pace.
Xiao Miao's mood seemed much more stable than Shen Tiantian. Her back was straight and dignified, but as soon as she left the sight of their parents, she immediately dropped her facade and hugged Shen Tiantian, sobbing softly.
"You scared me to death..."
Ever since she received a call from her parents after class, she had been crying silently in the back seat all the way, and only stopped after getting out of the taxi. When she saw Shen Tiantian and Shen Family's parents at the door, she subconsciously asked her friend if something happened to her particularly loving brother.
She didn't want to recall Shen Tiantian's expression at that time, just the thought made her quite embarrassed.
At this time, the two girls just hugged each other in silence, and then separated quietly after a long while.
Shen Tiantian took Xiao Miao's hand and led her out of the corridor. Without saying anything, she silently looked for the lobby that her mother had said to have desserts. Xiao Miao was actually much taller than Shen Tiantian, but now that she was wiping her tears with her hair down, she looked like a distressed young wife.
Shen Tian ordered a table of desserts, and sat down facing Xiao Miao. She was staring straight into space, as if concentrating all her energy at thought. After a while, she then turned to stare at a string of tiny crystal bracelets on Xiao Miao's wrist, "Did my brother give that to you?"
Xiao Miao sniffled, feeling quite guilty as she silently nodded. Although she was very reluctant, she still took off the chain, and handed it to Shen Tiantian apprehensively.
Shen Tiantian sighed, "That's not what I meant. Keep it, he gave it to you."
Noticing that Xiao Miao's uneasy eyes, Shen Tiantian smiled, and jokingly said while stirring her coffee, "There’s nothing wrong with that. Look at the dresses my brother usually buys for me, they are all pink… It’s so annoying, I don’t like pink that much, the blue dress he bought for you is obviously better.”
Xiao Miao looked at her pink dress, pink and white coat, pale pink silk scarf, and peach pink fruit-shaped earrings, and couldn't help laughing. She finally broke into a smile, "Then I'll go back and find that blue dress. Let’s change dresses, I prefer pink over blue."
"No!" Shen Tiantian put down her coffee cup and rolled her eyes. She then straightened the silk scarf around her neck that ‘she didn't like at all’, "I’ll ask my brother to buy me a new one."
After she finished speaking, Shen Tiantian once again fell into silence amidst Xiao Miao's soft laughter. The relaxed expression on her face was gradually replaced by an imposing one. After a short moment, she asked, "Sister Miao, you heard what your father said, right? My brother's car accident should have been caused by Shi Nanxing."
It was the first time for Xiao Miao to come into contact with such a cruel reality, so she weakly responded after a short delay.
Shen Tiantian laughed lightly. "If it was really him, then the Shi Family, and Elder Qi, they would definitely think up every possible method to prevent Shi Nanxing from being punished. They had even put a veil over a treacherous matter like smuggling… This time, because nothing happened to my brother, those...those bastards… most likely will only be sentenced to a few years in prison. And then after it’s being reduced bit by bit through false merits, they’ll then be released in about three to five months..."
Xiao Miao was terrified. Facing her friend's flickering eyes, she hesitantly asked, "What are you going to do?"
Shen Tiantian stared fixedly into Xiao Miao's face, her following words, astonishing to the core, "I don't want to see him again."
Xiao Miao almost jumped up in shock from her baleful look, it was not inferior to the fierceness of her own brother's. She immediately turned pale, looked around in panic, and gradually calmed down after making sure that no one around had heard their conversation.
The two continued to look at each other in silence.
Xiao Miao stared at the sparkling crystal bracelet she had just put back on her wrist, and recalled the feeling she had felt while crying when she rushed from her school to the police station.
After a while, she gently put down the spoon in her hand; there was a slight collision sound when the metal utensil touched the porcelain plate.
"Then let me tell you a secret, but don’t ever spread it out." She stood up, moved to the seat closest to Shen Tiantian, leaned over, and whispered cautiously, "I happened to be by my dad’s study room door one day and heard him talking to my brother. They said that Shi Nanxing and Qi Kai were now doing that kind of business..."
