reignition

"Mom!" Lu Chaochi exclaimed and rushed over in a panic.

But there were people even more panicked than him.

"Sister... Jiang Mian!" The syllable caught in his mouth for a moment before he managed to twist it back.

Jiang Mian didn't speak, but only glanced at Jiang Yu.

For some reason, Jiang Yu seemed to become much more docile when she glanced at him.

"Are you alright?" Jiang Yu asked.

Jiang Mian nodded, "It's nothing, I just... forgot I wasn't lying in bed."

"You scared me to death!" Lu Chaochi walked over and gently touched Jiang Mian's head with his small hand. "Did you bump your head anywhere?"

Jiang Mian hugged him. "It's okay, I'm fine."

Lu Chaochi said, "Then why don't you talk to your uncle?"

Lu Chaochi also realized that he must have let it slip, and not only that, his uncle might have already guessed it as well.

"I'm going in to paint," Lu Chaochi said, pointing to the room.

Jiang Mian nodded, "Good boy."

"Uncle bought breakfast, remember to eat it." After saying that, Lu Chaochi carried his breakfast into the room.

Jiang Yu seemed a little awkward, but still went to get breakfast and handed it to her, asking, "Want some?"

Jiang Mian glanced down at it and said, "I don't eat celery, you can pick it out for me."

She never ate celery in her past life. Sometimes, if there was celery in the dish, she would frown in disgust and ask Jiang Yu to pick it out for her.

She's incredibly pretentious; Jiang Yu always says she's a fussy person.

But despite saying it, I always help her clean it.

After her death, Jiang Yu stopped eating any dishes with celery in them. In the immediate aftermath of her death, Jiang Yu would even become lost in thought and feel sad when he looked at the celery used as a side dish in the food.

And now, when I hear this 'pretentious' request again...

Jiang Yu's eyes reddened, and his voice was low and hoarse, "So sentimental."

He took apart a pair of disposable chopsticks and picked out the celery stalks one by one from the fried noodles.

Jiang Mian watched his movements.

After a moment, she said softly, "You've grown up."

With a soft plop, a drop of warm water fell into the fried noodles.

Jiang Yu looked up at her, "Why..."

He could barely speak properly; his breathing was completely disordered.

But Jiang Mian seemed to know what he wanted to ask.

"At first, I wasn't sure if it was real, and sometimes I felt that it might just be a dream of my own."

Even now, Jiang Mian still sometimes harbors some very secret thoughts in her heart.

All of this is nothing more than a never-ending dream being experienced by a self that is already dead.

"I also worry that if I'm only temporarily possessing someone else's body, one day the body will return to its original owner, and I will return to dust..."

Upon hearing this, Jiang Yu's brow twitched, and his heart skipped a beat.

"Later, I felt that I was a failure. I had a chance to start over, but I still fell into the same trap. I felt a little embarrassed."

I'm too ashamed to face my family.

"Are you stupid..." Jiang Yu's voice was hoarse. "How could your family make you feel embarrassed? They're too busy feeling sorry for you."

“Mom and Dad saw you at the cemetery that day. They missed you so much they were almost going crazy, but they were worried about startling you, so they held back and didn’t say anything.”

This surprised Jiang Mian. "They...saw me?"

Jiang Yu nodded. "They used to go there all the time. A few years ago, they went almost every week."

Jiang Mian took a deep breath.

“But back then we always ran into that madman, and Dad’s blood pressure would spike every time he got so angry that he stopped going every week. He would still go on the first and fifteenth of each month, your birthdays and death anniversaries,” Jiang Yu said.

Upon hearing this, Jiang Mian was speechless for a moment.

After talking for a while, Jiang Yu pondered for a moment and asked, "Does he know too?"

Jiang Mian paused, realizing who the 'he' Jiang Yu was referring to was.

She nodded. "Yes, it should be."

"He...can he let you go?" Jiang Yu harbored a million grievances against his ex-brother-in-law.

But objectively, he was also well aware that Lu Bozhou's obsession with Jiang Mian was no less than anyone else's, and perhaps even heavier.

Both his parents and he had been suffering all these years because of Jiang Mian's death.

But I'm trying to live, trying to stay alive, trying to move on from my grief.

Lu Bozhou was different. As far as Jiang Yu knew, this man seemed to have started from the day Jiang Mian died.

Time seemed to stand still on that day.

They were all trying to move on, but Lu Bozhou remained stuck in that day.

I've never come out of this situation, and I have no intention of ever coming out of it.

Hearing Jiang Yu's words, Jiang Mian smiled and said, "Xiao Yu."

Hearing that familiar address, Jiang Yu felt a pang in his heart.

“I am a living person, I am free. Before, I loved him, but I had no leverage and could only hold him back. Now it's different, I don't care anymore.”

"Whether he lets me go or not, I'm going to leave him," Jiang Mian said.

Hearing Jiang Mian's words, Jiang Yu calmed down.

"Don't worry about what happens after that," Jiang Yu said. "We'll handle it."

Jiang Mian was taken aback and looked at him.

Jiang Yu smiled. "That's exactly what I wanted to talk to you about."

“If you don’t want to, you can stop having contact with Lu Bozhou,” Jiang Yu said. “Gong Yan will take care of the formalities for you.”

Because Jiang Mian had considered divorcing Lu Bozhou in her previous life, she was familiar with these procedures.

If we take Jiang Yu's words as they mean...

They probably never intended for her to have any further contact with Lu Bozhou. Gong Yan will likely just file for divorce on her behalf.

Jiang Mian was silent for a few seconds, then nodded gently, "Okay."

I had thought about whether there was anything else I wanted to say to Lu Bozhou.

But after thinking about it, I couldn't think of anything else to say for the time being.

It's like all the things I wanted to say to him were thwarted after seeing Xu Yawei return and hearing her voice on his phone.

It seems like there's nothing left.

Jiang Yu didn't want to leave, didn't want to go anywhere, but he also felt that staying here was a bit inappropriate.

Jiang Mian noticed his unease and smiled, "If you want to stay here, then stay here. There's no need to be so nervous."

Jiang Yu stared at her for a moment, then whispered, "May I hug you?"

Jiang Mian smiled and leaned forward to embrace Jiang Yu.

Jiang Yu held her in his arms, as if only at this moment did he realize that the piece that had been missing in his heart for years had finally been pieced together and filled.

"I miss you so much," Jiang Yu said hoarsely.

Jiang Mian didn't want to make him too sad, so she paused for a moment, then chuckled softly and said, "Now shouldn't I call you brother?"

Jiang Yu's previously sad mood immediately eased considerably. "You can call me whatever you want."

"Little Dog Yu"

This is a nickname for him that only Jiang Mian would know.

Jiang Yu buried his face in her shoulder and gently closed his eyes, "Sister..."