DF Chapter 97

Chapter 97 A Very Familiar Feeling

“Tell me the specifics of what to do,” was Song Ji’an’s response to Sheng Jia.

She accepted Sheng Jia’s help and her request.

She couldn’t bear to see her two mothers torn apart by them. Tonight, Sheng Huaiying’s happiness was overflowing, a look that Song Ji’an hadn’t seen in a long time.

“Song Ji’an, no one in this world understands Sheng Huaiying better than I do, and no one understands Song Ningqiu better than you.” Sheng Jia lay on the ground, hearing Song Ji’an slightly turn over in bed. She knew that just saying this much would make Song Ji’an understand her meaning.

They didn’t speak again that night. The rain outside the window made it hard to fall asleep. Song Ji’an stared out the window, somewhat dazed.

Perhaps she hadn’t really expected Sheng Jia to say this to her.

In her memory, Sheng Jia was always in control, neither humble nor arrogant. Even when they argued in the villa that day, she was confrontational. She hadn’t expected Sheng Jia to soften her tone like this and ask her for help.

She didn’t know what had happened to Sheng Jia in the past few years, but it was clear that she had changed a lot.

In the past, Sheng Jia would always charge ahead and get hurt, like an untempered hammer. The people she hit would suffer, and she herself would develop cracks.

But now she had learned to speak and act tactfully, her methods were much gentler.

This, however, made Song Ji’an feel somewhat strange and unaccustomed.

She couldn’t see if Sheng Jia still had cracks, but she knew where her own cracks were. If she wanted to live a normal life, she had to either figure it out herself or rely on external forces to heal.

The former, over the past five years, had shown her that she couldn’t do it. She had once naively thought that courage and sincerity could help her win every battle, but that fall had left her without courage or enthusiasm, and even without the ability to heal herself.

But if it was for the sake of her two mothers, perhaps she could try to cooperate with Sheng Jia, just like she said, to put aside their grievances and help each other.

It wasn’t just their two mothers who were learning how to be mothers, they should have learned how to be new daughters long ago.

The rain outside the window grew heavier, the wind howled, and the room was silent as if they were both lost in deep dreams, until dawn the next day, when the rain that had washed the entire city stopped.

The ground was already wet, and the moisture from the oldest tree closest to the window spread along the branches into the room. Sheng Jia woke up earlier than Song Ji’an.

In recent years, her sleep time had not exceeded six and a half hours. Whether she was in college or working at a company, she pushed herself hard. She was very worried that she would be criticized because she was not good enough for Song Ningqiu, or that Song Ningqiu would regret her choice. The eighteen years of missed nurturing was an insurmountable gap, and she could only fill it with effort.

Perhaps her nerves had been strained for too long, so waking up in a familiar room at this moment felt somewhat unreal. She almost didn’t come to her senses and thought she was still that high school student living a difficult life, suffocating under the weight of secrets, only able to get a moment of respite and relaxation in her own bed.

Last night, she hadn’t felt sleepy at all, but when she sank into the warm blankets, those complex emotions were temporarily smoothed out, and she actually felt drowsy and at ease.

She got up from the floor, not disturbing the still-sleeping Song Ji’an. In the living room, Sheng Huaiying was awake even earlier than them, humming a little tune while busying herself in the kitchen.

Sheng Jia had just walked in when she was spotted. She quickly waved her hand, “You go sit in the living room, I can do it myself.”

“Can I give you a hand?” Sheng Jia lowered her eyes and looked at the steaming pressure cooker, which was brewing the aroma of lean meat porridge, a long-lost taste.

“Then you go get three bowls of porridge, I also fried some fried dough sticks for you, you can bring them out later,” Sheng Huaiying, in the end, was not too polite with her, and took a few bowls out of the cupboard with a smile.

Sheng Jia ladled out the porridge and had just brought it to the living room when she heard the sound of the room door sliding open. Song Ji’an was already dressed neatly, but there was a faint grayness under her eyes.

“Didn’t sleep all night?” Sheng Jia put the porridge in front of her.

Song Ji’an’s face was somewhat blurred by the rising steam. She shook her head.

She wasn’t lying. Song Ji’an had originally thought that it would be difficult for her to fall asleep in the same room as Sheng Jia, especially since she already had difficulty falling asleep and often relied on alcohol, and she couldn’t drink in front of Sheng Huaiying.

But after their brief conversation, Song Ji’an realized that something in her heart seemed to have loosened a little. The weariness of many days swept over her, and in the rain, she had a rare few hours of good sleep.

“Don’t you look the same?” Song Ji’an looked up at her. In fact, she had noticed it last time. The dark circles under Sheng Jia’s eyes were no less than hers, someone who had lived an irregular life for several years.

They didn’t continue on this topic, but instead fell silent, quietly drinking their porridge.

Sheng Huaiying walked out of the kitchen with the breakfast she had made.

“There are also four boiled eggs,” she placed the eggs on the table and began to chatter, “The other day, I specially asked Xiyanghong to get me some local eggs from the countryside. Look at how thin you two are, you still need to eat more.”

They didn’t refuse.

In fact, neither Sheng Jia nor Song Ji’an had eaten breakfast in a long time.

Song Ji’an’s work hours were too unstable, and most mornings were spent sleeping, eating a hurried lunch before rushing back to the hospital or the countryside, while Sheng Jia had never liked to eat breakfast since high school. Later, Sheng Huaiying would occasionally nag her to eat a little, but after returning to the Song family, she relied on the fact that Song Ningqiu wouldn’t specifically manage her and simply didn’t eat it.

The warm soup pouring into her stomach was actually a little uncomfortable.

They didn’t eat much. Sheng Huaiying didn’t urge them when she saw this. To her, it was already a great happiness to have the three of them sitting together, quietly eating breakfast without any conflict.

The morning news was playing on the TV. Sheng Huaiying had tuned into the local TV station, which was reporting on the city’s losses from last night’s storm. It was said that several mudslides had occurred in the surrounding countryside, and three people were missing. The police and firefighters were currently leading the search.

In the city, countless trees had been blown down by the strong winds last night, covering the streets. Sanitation workers and volunteers were urgently dispatched today to clean up, but some roads were still closed.

Song Ji’an’s phone rang at this moment.

It was a call from Xiao Zhou.

Her voice was filled with a hint of panic, “Sister, come quickly! Sister Fangyang and I went to the suburbs to pick someone up this morning, but there was a mudslide in the middle and blocked our way. Sister Fangyang was injured in the leg while saving someone and is bleeding a lot.”

“What about Xiao Wang?” Song Ji’an asked quickly.

“She went to pick someone up on the other side today, she’s not with us!” Xiao Zhou’s voice was trembling a little, “I just called for an ambulance, and we have three children here. The hospital said that the road here hasn’t been cleared yet and it will take at least an hour and a half to get here.”

“Send me the specific location, I’ll come right away,” Song Ji’an said in a deep voice.

She hung up the phone and stood up, saying, “Something happened on our side, Mom, I have to go first.”

Xiao Zhou’s tone was too anxious and distraught. Both Sheng Huaiying and Sheng Jia heard bits and pieces of what had happened.

Xiao Zhou quickly sent the address. Song Ji’an glanced at it and hurried back to her room to get her bag. As she walked out, Sheng Jia stopped her, “The location is near Seven Star Village. The news just said that the cement road has been submerged by the mudslide. Your car probably won’t make it.”

Song Ji’an’s car engine was only 1.5l, and driving on this kind of road would most likely get stuck in the mud.

With that, Sheng Jia picked up the keys and passed her, “I’ll take you there.”

In an emergency, Song Ji’an didn’t even have time to think. She nodded and quickly followed behind Sheng Jia.

Sheng Huaiying stood in front of the door, anxiously urging, “Be careful, don’t be reckless.”

They both responded and went downstairs together.

Sheng Jia’s car was parked downstairs, still that Mercedes-Benz G63.

“Send me the location,” Sheng Jia said while putting on her seatbelt.

Song Ji’an paused slightly, suddenly remembering that they hadn’t even added each other on WeChat. She directly handed over her phone, quickly connected to Bluetooth, and the map navigation immediately opened.

Sheng Jia stepped on the accelerator and quickly sped off. Song Ji’an suddenly remembered Sheng Jia’s phone call last night, “Aren’t you supposed to go to Fang Ling today?”

“There’s still time, it’s okay,” Sheng Jia replied in a calm voice.

Song Ji’an was silent for a long time, then she looked out the window and said softly, “Thank you.”

Sheng Jia: “Since you’ve decided to cooperate with me, then this doesn’t count for anything.”

As she spoke, she paused slightly and suddenly said, “Song Ji’an, have you ever thought about telling Sheng Huaiying about your frustrations and grievances over the years?”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s just that you don’t have to worry so much about whether your bad emotions will affect her. Maybe she’s stronger than you think,” Sheng Jia said, stopping there.

This was her sincerity.

After observing for a night and a morning, it was enough for her to discover some of the problems between Song Ji’an and Sheng Huaiying. If it were before, she wouldn’t even need to say anything, Song Ji’an would realize it herself, but now she was blinded by her own involvement. Song Ji’an seemed unable to think rationally when facing Sheng Huaiying and could only respond with the mechanical reactions she had developed over the past five years.

Sheng Huaiying was actually not someone who was easily affected by bad emotions. Song Ji’an might know what Sheng Huaiying had experienced, so she always had more sympathy and guilt towards Sheng Huaiying. She felt that her mother, who had suffered so much, needed to be treated carefully and kept happy, but she didn’t know that behind that experience was a strong and independent soul who had emerged from hardship. Even if Sheng Huaiying was still a microcosm of countless ordinary women, she already possessed an absolutely strong heart.

“Try being a child in front of her,” Sheng Jia said slowly, looking ahead, “Don’t be a daughter separated by a layer of bubble wrap. You go tell her how to treat you, otherwise she won’t understand.”

Song Ji’an fell silent.

But she herself didn’t even know how she wanted Sheng Huaiying to treat her.

Sheng Jia was not lying, and even the two sentences she said were right on the mark.

The real problem lay with Song Ji’an herself.

“Why are you so eager to tell me this?” Song Ji’an asked.

Sheng Jia smiled, “Because I’m also quite anxious. Your current state can’t help me, let alone cooperate.”

“Is that so?” Song Ji’an remained noncommittal, but she always listened to Sheng Jia’s words.

She just didn’t expect that one day Sheng Jia would teach her how to be a child, such an absurd thing.

No one spoke on their own for the rest of the journey. Song Ji’an received another call from Xiao Zhou, saying that the ambulance was stuck on the road and didn’t know when it would arrive, but the old doctor in the village had brought people to give Cheng Fangyang an emergency bandage, saying that her leg bone might be broken and she still needed to go to the hospital, but at least the bleeding had stopped.

Song Ji’an frowned slightly, relieved.

They soon arrived at Seven Star Village. The road from Sheng Huaiying’s neighborhood to here, except for the part covered by mudslides, had basically no fallen branches and was relatively unobstructed, taking only half an hour.

Xiao Zhou was already helping Cheng Fangyang lie on a bullock cart that the old grandma in the village had specially helped them get. Seeing Song Ji’an, she quickly waved her hand, “Sister, we’re here!”

Song Ji’an was the first to get out of the car. She ran to Cheng Fangyang’s side, only to see that the other party was pale and almost unconscious. Sheng Jia, who was behind her, didn’t get out of the car, but stepped on the accelerator a few more times, simply driving the car in front of the bullock cart.

“We’ll move her onto the car and take her straight to the hospital,” Song Ji’an said.

The three of them worked together to quickly lift Cheng Fangyang onto the car. Sheng Jia drove back faster than when they came. They didn’t choose the city center hospital, but simply changed direction and went to the orthopedic hospital next to Fajin Temple, and helped Cheng Fangyang complete the admission procedures in less than an hour.

By the time Song Ji’an walked out of the hospital, it was already 11:00 a.m. She breathed a sigh of relief and looked at Sheng Jia, who was walking in front of her and was about to unlock the car to back it out.

After making this trip, Sheng Jia probably wouldn’t even have time to eat lunch and would have to rush to Fang Ling.

“Sheng Jia,” she knocked on the car window.

The car window rolled down, and Sheng Jia asked, “What’s wrong?”

“What you really want me to help with is not just learning how to get along with Song Ningqiu, right?”

Song Ji’an wasn’t stupid. To solve the relationship between each other and their mothers, perhaps cooperating with each other was the best way, but she didn’t believe that Sheng Jia would be so anxious about her relationship with Song Ningqiu. Now that Sheng Jia had money and power, she had plenty of time to find out how to get along with Song Ningqiu. Even if she really wanted to find out through cooperation, she couldn’t be as eager as she was today.

Song Ji’an smiled at her for once, her eyes clear, “Just tell me straight, no need to beat around the bush.”

Sheng Jia met her gaze and saw a hint of sharpness in her eyes.

In fact, both she and Song Ji’an had changed a lot, but the difference was that Sheng Jia had smoothed out many of her edges in order to integrate into the upper circles, while Song Ji’an had erected thorns all over her body in the past five years, and sometimes she could even be seen becoming unstoppable.

A very familiar feeling.

It was as if Sheng Jia had lived as the past Song Ji’an, and Song Ji’an had lived as the past Sheng Jia.

So Sheng Jia also chuckled and said, meeting her gaze, “I’ll leave you with some suspense, I’ll tell you when I get back.”

With that, she added, “It’s deliberate, you saw through it, I want to make you a little uncomfortable.”

Then she rolled up the car window and quickly drove away from the hospital.

Song Ji’an stood there without moving, watching her merge into the traffic until she disappeared.

There was a hint of complexity in her eyes. She scoffed lightly, almost muttering, “What can make me uncomfortable.”

After all, the one with the real purpose hidden is Sheng Jia, who is now really asking for help.