Chapter 14 Birthmarks

Light streamed softly through the small window, bathing the room in its warmth. Jiang's mother's heart pounded as she watched her daughter pull down a corner of her pajamas—on her fair skin, a small, dark red butterfly birthmark with clearly defined wing patterns was prominently displayed.

It was exactly the same as the one she remembered on her daughter's body—the location, the shape, it was perfect. "This..." Jiang's mother was completely stunned, her fingertips unconsciously tracing the familiar mark, her voice trembling with disbelief.

"Didn't you say... it's someone else's body? How could... how could even this birthmark..." This was completely beyond her superficial understanding of "rebirth".

Jiang Yining shook her head in confusion, "I don't know either, Mom. I've only been awake for a week. The day I woke up was so chaotic that I fainted right in front of the flower shop and spent three days in the hospital. I called you as soon as I was discharged." She straightened her clothes.

"Fainted?" Jiang's mother's heart clenched instantly, overwhelmed by the panic of having lost and then regained her. "No, we must go to the hospital again this afternoon for a thorough check-up, a complete check-up." Her tone left no room for argument.

"Okay, I'll do as you say." Jiang Yining nodded obediently, knowing that this was her mother's unspoken concern.

The mother and daughter left the bedroom. In the living room, Mr. Jiang sat on the only slightly higher chair, looking somewhat uneasy, his gaze fixed on his daughter with complex emotions. Although those private little secrets had lowered his guard, the unfamiliarity of the body before him made him unable to feel completely at ease.

Jiang's mother walked over and whispered a few words quickly in her husband's ear. Jiang's father's pupils contracted slightly, and he looked abruptly at Jiang Yining. The shock and last trace of doubt in his eyes vanished instantly, like dust blown away by the wind. He nodded vigorously and said in a deep voice:

"Okay, I'll go this afternoon."

Jiang's mother went into the kitchen, opened the refrigerator to look for some fruit, but instead found it crammed full of potato chips, chocolates, jellies, and all sorts of brightly colored drinks. She shook her head helplessly, but couldn't help a smile: "Your love for snacks is truly incorrigible..."

Fortunately, the fresh vegetables and meat that Aunt Chen delivered today were still quietly lying in the crisper drawer. Jiang Mu tied on her apron, and soon the familiar symphony of pots and pans filled the small kitchen. Before long, the enticing aroma of three dishes and a soup permeated the entire attic.

At the dinner table, Jiang Yining sat close to her father, chattering incessantly like a little bird that had finally found its mate. She deliberately recounted embarrassing stories of doing "bad things" with her father when she was a child.

Stealing comic books confiscated by mom, secretly taking dad's treasured stamps to trade with classmates for candy, deliberately stepping in puddles on rainy days and splashing mud all over dad's trousers...

As Mr. Jiang listened, the lines on his face softened little by little, and the smile in his eyes deepened, eventually turning into a helpless sigh and an undisguised doting affection.

These little secrets, belonging only to the father and daughter and unknown even to his wife and son, were like precise keys that completely unlocked the tightly closed door to Mr. Jiang's heart. He reached out and tightly grasped his daughter's hand, which rested on the table; the warm, soft touch felt so real.

He gripped it tightly, as if letting go would cause this precious treasure, which he had regained, to vanish again. His eyes welled up with tears, and he lowered his head, clearing his throat as if to hide his embarrassment.

When Jiang's mother brought out the last soup, her eyes instantly welled up with tears upon seeing this scene. She silently wiped her eyes and placed the steaming soup in the center of the table.

As Jiang Yining ate her mother's sweet and sour pork, the familiar sweet and sour flavor exploded on her tongue. She squinted her eyes in satisfaction and said, "Mom's sweet and sour pork is still the best. It's the best in the world." Jiang's mother smiled and habitually picked up a large chopstick of bright green vegetables and piled them into her daughter's bowl without saying a word.

Jiang Yining looked at the rice that was instantly "submerged" by the green vegetables, her face immediately fell, and she wailed, "Mom—, I don't want to eat green vegetables, I don't like them." She habitually cast a pleading look at her father.

When Jiang's father received his daughter's pitiful gaze, he simply shrugged and gave her a look that said, "Accept your fate, even your dad can't save you."

"You must eat it." Jiang's mother's tone was firm, but seeing her daughter's familiar face as she wrinkled her nose and stuffed the vegetables into her mouth bit by bit with a bitter expression, her heart felt like it was being soaked in warm lemon water, so tender and utterly soft, and the corners of her eyes, which she had just wiped dry, quietly moistened again.

After the meal, Jiang Yining naturally got up to clear the dishes and quickly wiped the table clean. In the Jiang family, children are taught to share housework from a young age, and if it weren't for her overflowing maternal love at this moment, she would have been the one to cook this meal.

In the afternoon, Jiang's parents took Jiang Yining straight to the best tertiary hospital in H City. Registration, consultation, prescription, payment... the whole process went on, and Jiang Yining, like a bewildered little tail, followed closely behind her parents.

Looking at the rows of self-service registration machines and report printers with flashing screens in the hospital lobby, her eyes were filled with novelty and bewilderment. In eight years, even the way to see a doctor has become so "high-tech".

Jiang's mother was also somewhat at a loss. Since her daughter left, she had been in a daze. Over the years, her husband and son, Jiang Yunting, had been the ones arranging everything for her to go to the hospital. She was also unfamiliar with this modern procedure.