DF Chapter 96

Chapter 96 Sheng Jia and Song Ji’an already knew the answer to this question.

Chapter 96 Sheng Jia and Song Ji’an already knew the answer to this question.

Sheng Jia’s arrival caught them both off guard.

Sheng Huaiying’s acting skills have always been poor. This is what Song Ji’an has learned in the five years of getting along with her. Therefore, her surprise at this matter was not an act. She really didn’t know Sheng Jia would come.

Song Ji’an’s hand holding the chopsticks tightened slightly, then relaxed again.

She looked up at the door. Sheng Jia was holding a bag of ginseng, still covered in mud, which she didn’t know from which mountain it was dug out, and was handing it to Sheng Huaiying.

“You, why are you here?” Sheng Huaiying was visibly nervous. When facing Song Ji’an, she could gradually find opportunities to figure out the other’s personality and find ways to get along. When facing Sheng Jia, she could rely on eighteen years of mother-daughter relationship to handle things with ease. But with both daughters appearing at the same time, she only felt her mind go blank and was at a loss.

Sheng Jia smiled at her and replied, “We talked on the phone a couple of days ago. Didn’t you say you bought chicken and duck these past two days and wanted to make something good to treat yourself? So I came uninvited, especially to see you.”

After saying that, she even asked knowingly, “You don’t welcome me?”

This surprised Sheng Huaiying. When had she ever seen Sheng Jia like this? She looked polite, but in reality, she cornered people into not having the possibility of refusing. In the past, Sheng Jia would have just walked in and said in a calm voice, “Can you not give a reason?”

So Sheng Huaiying could only open the door and let Sheng Jia walk straight in.

But there was no scene of hostility as she had imagined. Although the two daughters seemed cold and indifferent to each other, they actually greeted each other.

“Song Ji’an? Long time no see.”

And Sheng Jia took the initiative to greet first.

Sheng Jia pinched her elbow, feeling a sting, and then dared to confirm that she was not hallucinating.

“I’ll get you a bowl of rice,” Song Ji’an said in a low voice, “But we’ve already eaten half of it. If you don’t mind eating leftovers.”

“Of course I don’t mind. As long as it’s not over, it’s not leftovers.” Sheng Jia sat down opposite her, “This is called catching a hot meal.”

Song Ji’an handed her the rice in her hand. Their fingertips touched for a moment. Neither of them had foreseen this unexpected touch. Sheng Jia quickly took the bowl and retracted her hand, while Song Ji’an curled her fingertips.

Sheng Huaiying sat in the middle of the two, confused. She scrutinized their faces, and finally couldn’t help but ask in a quiet atmosphere of eating, “You guys…”

“Mom, we talked for a while some time ago. What happened in the past is over. We can’t never see each other again, can we?” This time it was Song Ji’an who spoke. She stared at Sheng Jia and slowly said, “You don’t want to never see Sheng Jia for the rest of your life, and I don’t want you to be caught in the middle between us. Although it’s not to the point of reconciliation, there’s nothing wrong with eating a meal together.”

Sheng Jia met her gaze and actually chuckled softly. Her gaze was deeper than Song Ji’an’s probing and provocative eyes, filled with extremely complex emotions.

Neither herself nor Song Ji’an could possibly make a scene in front of their elder, causing her to worry. They had to maintain basic decency. This was also the reason why she dared to come directly today.

“Yes, she’s right.” Sheng Jia nodded.

Sheng Huaiying pursed her lips. Her reaction wasn’t particularly slow. She could feel that the atmosphere between the two was still a little strange. But she didn’t know how to participate in her children’s affairs, let alone how to mediate. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have been able to hide and get along with both sides for five years, rarely mentioning each other in front of them.

So Sheng Huaiying only smiled. At least they could sit at the table and eat together. Even if there was something wrong, Song Ji’an and Sheng Jia were much smarter than her, so she believed that they would solve it themselves.

She hurriedly took out the stewed duck that she wanted to eat with Song Ji’an tomorrow. The duck soup simmered in an old casserole was so fragrant that people almost drooled.

Sheng Huaiying’s mood was obviously much better than before. Occasionally, she mentioned interesting things that had happened around her at the dinner table, and Sheng Jia and Song Ji’an would not let her words fall flat, and actually finished the liveliest meal she had had in the past five years.

The whole house was filled with the aroma of food. The comedy variety show was still playing on TV. The shadows of the trees outside the window were swaying. A gust of wind blew in, and the plaid curtains were lifted. Sheng Jia subconsciously got up and walked to the window, tidying up the curtains as she had done for many years.

The wall covered by the curtain entered her eyes without warning. It still hung photos of her and Sheng Huaiying. The photo of Sheng Huaiying wearing a cheongsam was placed in the middle, but there were many single photos of Song Ji’an and a few sporadic photos of Sheng Huaiying’s perspective with Song Ji’an.

Sheng Jia carefully traced over Song Ji’an and Sheng Huaiying in each photo. They may not have been happy at the moment the photos were taken. Most of the smiles on Song Ji’an’s face were forced, which was very different from the vibrant look in her past photos. Sheng Huaiying’s eyes were full of worry, revealing her helplessness in not knowing how to make Song Ji’an happy.

“I can do it,” Sheng Huaiying saw her standing there for so long, and remembering what was behind the curtains, she quickly said, “Sheng Jia, come back and eat.”

Sheng Jia didn’t move. She reached out the window and said softly, “It’s raining.”

“Ah?” Sheng Huaiying seemed to remember something, “Oh, I remember the community said there would be an orange rainstorm warning these days. It seems that a typhoon from somewhere may affect us a bit, bringing heavy to torrential rain. But it didn’t say it was today.”

But as if to prove her words, the rain outside the window suddenly increased. Raindrops hitting people’s hands seemed to be able to knock out large red marks. Sheng Jia retracted her hand and comforted, “Maybe we can wait for the rain to stop. Maybe it’s just a thunderstorm?”

But this rain didn’t stop so easily. After half an hour of rain, they realized that this seemed to be just the prelude. After a lightning bolt split the top of the sky, a deafening roar followed.

Sheng Huaiying patted her chest, startled. She muttered, “Jingjiang hasn’t had such scary thunder in a long time. Ji’an, I think you two shouldn’t go back today. It’s too dangerous to drive.”

After saying that, she paused slightly, a trace of annoyance flashing in her eyes. Mostly the atmosphere just now was too good, which made her have some fantasies of her two daughters being harmonious and substituting herself into it, so that the words she said at this moment were so fluent.

She glanced at Song Ji’an and Sheng Jia with a guilty and tentative look, and didn’t see rejection on their faces, which made her breathe a sigh of relief.

“But there are only two rooms in our house. This way, Sheng Jia will sleep in my room, and I will sleep on the sofa.” She made a decision, and her eyes were firm.

Compared with the rejection and conflict that might exist between them, Sheng Huaiying was more worried that they would both clamor to go home tonight, which would make her restless all night and worry about their safety.

But obviously, both Sheng Jia and Song Ji’an were sensible children.

Song Ji’an packed up the dishes at hand, lowered her eyes and said, “How can we let you sleep on the sofa? It’s okay for me and Sheng Jia to sleep in the same room. We can sleep on the floor.”

The sofa at home is not the wide sofa that is common now, but the small sofa that was common in the 2000s. It is usually full with three people sitting on it, crowded and narrow. How could they let Sheng Huaiying sleep here.

Sheng Jia also did not object. She just nodded, “You sleep in your room, anyway, we won’t go back in the rain tonight.”

Sheng Huaiying was relieved. After the three of them put the dishes into the dishwasher together, she went back to her room and took out the quilt and sheets that Sheng Jia used to use. She was a very diligent person. Usually at home, whether it was Sheng Jia’s bedding or Song Ji’an’s bedding, even if they basically didn’t come back, she would often take them out to bask in the sun.

After she finished what she had to do, she looked out the window. The rain didn’t seem to stop at all, and it was even getting heavier. The variety show on TV turned into a nighttime weather forecast, which made people know that this rain was going to last until tomorrow morning.

Probably remembering the mahjong room of Xiyanghong downstairs, Sheng Huaiying patted her head, took the key and hurried downstairs.

In the past few years, her relationship with Xiyanghong has been as good as an old friend. In addition to playing mahjong, she often goes down to help. It is impossible to expect the old ladies to go home in this kind of weather. Playing mahjong has become their career after retirement. They must play for ten hours every day.

Sheng Huaiying was worried that the old lady would not be able to cope alone, so after explaining to the two of them, she disappeared completely.

With Sheng Huaiying’s departure, the room was silent.

Song Ji’an and Sheng Jia sat face to face at the table. This time, no one spoke.

There was a ding-dong sound from the phone. It was Sheng Jia’s phone ringing. Messages came one after another, enough to foresee the urgency of the matter.

Sheng Jia glanced at the screen, took the phone and went to the balcony. Opposite was Wei Pan’s slightly anxious voice, “Little Sheng, where are you now? Coastal areas are being radiated by typhoons, and all recent flights have been suspended. The trip to Inner Mongolia the day after tomorrow may only be changed to take the expressway. Do you think it’s okay?”

“Okay,” Sheng Jia replied, “But I’m in Jingjiang now. The rain in Jingjiang won’t stop until tomorrow morning. I’ll drive directly to Fangling. You guys wait for me there.”

Wei Pan agreed repeatedly and quickly reported a round of work to her.

When Sheng Jia hung up the phone and looked back, she saw Song Ji’an looking at her deeply.

She met Song Ji’an’s gaze and sat back. Song Ji’an tapped the table with her fingertips and asked first, “What exactly do you want to do?”

“Song Ji’an, you’re not doing well,” Sheng Jia replied, “You don’t know how to get close to, Sheng Huaiying.”

“You seem to be doing very well,” Even if Sheng Jia’s words didn’t carry any emotion, it was just the simplest statement, Song Ji’an still had a sense of shame of being seen through by her, but she suppressed her emotions and said, “I think you came today, shouldn’t it be to care about me?”

“Indeed not,” Sheng Jia said slowly, “In fact, I’m not as good as you think. Madam Song is very similar to you. She faces her daughter who is full of guilt and doesn’t know how to get along, and also likes to care from afar, constantly trying to figure out what I’m thinking, trying to find a way to get along with me.”

“After discovering that she might not be able to easily confide in me, she took a more roundabout way. She was very afraid that she would say something wrong and hurt me, and then took on more busy work. In the past few years, the number of times I have met with her is probably similar to the number of times you have met with Sheng Huaiying.”

“Probably she feels that she is also a failed mother, and I have my own opinions, so she thinks I hope she will keep some distance from me.”

But in fact, this kind of relationship is pathological and wrong, just like the way Song Ji’an and Sheng Huaiying get along now, there are big problems.

Song Ji’an was slightly moved when she heard the words. In the past five years, what she dared not think about the most was Song Ningqiu, but at this moment, Sheng Jia spread Song Ningqiu in front of her without allowing her to resist in any way.

“So, what do you mean?” Song Ji’an’s voice was a little lower, and she vaguely had some guesses in her heart.

Sheng Jia lowered her eyes and said her intention for today, “Let’s cooperate, Song Ji’an.”

As soon as her voice fell, Song Ji’an didn’t even have time to reply, and the door clicked again, and Sheng Huaiying walked in muttering, “Xiyanghong is really getting older and more disobedient, stubborn old lady, she won’t let me stay below, saying that she saw Sheng Jia and Ji’an are back, let me go home quickly and leave her alone.”

Speaking, she paused slightly, and looked at Sheng Jia and Song Ji’an in surprise, seeming to feel the strange atmosphere between them, “What’s wrong with you?”

Sheng Jia reacted first, “It’s okay, we’re chatting.”

Sheng Huaiying looked at this one and then looked at that one, and finally simply walked over and touched both of them on the head, and said softly, “I’m so happy to see you two today. But Mom made a lot of dishes today and is a little tired, so I’ll go to sleep first, and make you your favorite breakfast tomorrow morning.”

After saying that, she turned and walked into the bathroom.

Song Ji’an and Sheng Jia tacitly did not mention the matter just now in the living room. Until Sheng Huaiying walked into the room, the two looked at each other and washed up before returning to another room.

The soundproofing in the living room was very poor, but there was a thick wall between the two rooms, so it was difficult to hear anything said next door.

Sheng Jia had to drive to the neighboring province early tomorrow morning, and Song Ji’an had a lot of things to do at the funeral home, so they prepared to rest early.

Sheng Jia lay on the ground, she looked up at the ceiling that she and Sheng Huaiying had repainted five years ago, and remained silent.

Song Ji’an on the bed turned her back to her, she was looking at the rain outside the window.

This was perhaps the closest moment the two had been in five years.

After a long time, Song Ji’an said softly, “Sheng Jia, what do you want to cooperate on.”

“I’m asking you to help me, and you may also need my help.”

Sheng Jia’s voice came from behind her.

Their opposition and estrangement may be difficult to eliminate for a while, but if it is for the sake of their two mothers, they will definitely go forward without hesitation.

Sheng Jia and Song Ji’an already knew the answer to this question.