Chapter 24 Doubt
Looking at her mother's face, which had suddenly become much more haggard, Jiang Yining felt a pang of sadness in her heart. She could only nod vigorously and say, "Yes, Mom, Dad, Aunt, you should get some rest too." She left her parents' room, turning back to look at them every few steps.
Back in her quiet room, Jiang Yining slid down onto the carpet, leaning against the cold door. She let out a long, fearful breath, wiped away the tears still wet at the corners of her eyes, and muttered to herself, "Phew, that was close." She had almost torn her mother's newly healed heart apart again.
In another corner of the city, a brightly lit villa district.
Xiao Xiao's living room was warm and bright, with various toys scattered on a soft playmat. Three-year-old Xiao Xiao's daughter, Lu Xinyao, was giggling as she pushed a toy car.
Three-and-a-half-year-old Zhou Huaijin quietly built a block castle, while Chen Nian sat on the edge of the mat, gently watching the children play. Xiao Xiao held a plush toy and played games with her daughter, her slightly protruding belly indicating the birth of a new life.
An Kexia walked in with a heavy heart. After nodding to the men in the living room (Xie Shiyan, Zhou Yanzhe, and Lu Jingshen in the tea room), she went straight to the playmat and sat down next to Xiao Xiao. She hesitated, her fingers unconsciously twisting the hem of her clothes.
"Kexia, what's wrong? You seem distracted." Shen Nian'an was the first to notice her unusual behavior, putting down the storybook in her hand and asking with concern.
Xiao Xiao also stopped playing with her daughter and looked at An Kexia: "Yes, what happened? You don't look well."
An Kexia pursed her lips, glanced cautiously in the direction of the tea room, lowered her voice, and said with the nervousness of sharing a secret: "My car was rear-ended today."
"Ah?" Xiao Xiao and Shen Nian'an exclaimed at the same time, their expressions changing. "Are you alright? Are you hurt?" The two immediately looked her up and down.
"It's nothing, I'm perfectly fine." An Kexia quickly waved her hand. "The only thing is that the back of the car is dented."
Hearing that she was alright, Xiao Xiao and Shen Nian'an breathed a sigh of relief. Xiao Xiao patted her chest and said, "It's good that she's alright. The car can be fixed. I was so scared."
The atmosphere seemed to ease. But the struggle on An Kexia's face didn't disappear; instead, it deepened. After hesitating for a long time, as if she had finally made up her mind, she said with an incredulous confusion and a hint of barely perceptible fear, "But the girl who hit my car, she looks exactly like the Ningning you all mentioned. Really, she's the Ningning in the photo. I heard her brother call her Ningning."
"boom--"
An Kexia's words were like a silent thunderclap, instantly exploding above Xiao Xiao and Shen Nian'an, as if the air itself had been sucked away. The color drained from Xiao Xiao's face in an instant, and the plush toy she was holding fell to the mat with a "thud."
Shen Nian'an's gentle smile froze completely, her pupils dilating sharply, filled with utter shock and overwhelming grief. The two children seemed to sense the sudden stillness as well, stopping their play and staring blankly at the suddenly silent adults.
On the playmat, only the faint hum of the toy car spinning on its own remained.
"No...it can't be...right?" Xiao Xiao was the first to find her voice, dry as if sandpaper was being rubbed. She shook her head vigorously, trying to shake off the absurd thought, but her eyes quickly filled with tears.
"It must be because we look alike and our names just happen to be the same," she said, as if trying to convince An Kexia, but more like trying to convince her own heart, which had been suddenly thrown into turmoil.
Shen Nian'an snapped back to reality, took a deep breath, but it only brought out an uncontrollable sob. She raised her hand to cover her mouth, and tears welled up unexpectedly, sliding down her fingers. Her voice was broken, filled with an overwhelming sorrow: "Yes, Ke Xia, you must have seen wrong, Ning Ning, she... she already... we saw her with our own eyes..." The rest of her words were completely drowned out by the torrent of tears.
Eight years ago, the cold hospital corridor, the heavy voice announcing death, the figure being wheeled out covered in a white sheet... every detail is etched in my memory, and now it is being dredged up again in a bloody way.
“Mommy, don’t cry… don’t cry…” Zhou Huaijin put down the building blocks, climbed to Chen Nian’an’s side, and awkwardly wiped away her mother’s tears with her little hand, her little face full of worry.
Shen Nian'an hugged her son tightly, burying her face in the child's small shoulder. Her suppressed sobs sounded particularly desolate in the quiet living room.
Xiao Xiao's eyes also reddened. She reached out and tightly grasped Shen Nian'an's cold, trembling hand, silently offering support. The two children seemed to be affected by the sorrowful atmosphere, and they quieted down, nestling close to their mother.
Looking at the scene before her, An Kexia felt a surge of regret and self-reproach. She shouldn't have said it; she knew perfectly well what the name "Ningning" meant to them. She watched Shen Nian'an break down in tears and Xiao Xiao suppress her grief.
She lowered her head in annoyance: "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have mentioned it. I probably really saw it wrong. It looks too similar, and I was a little confused for a moment." She tried to make up for it with a dry explanation, but her voice sounded so pale and weak.
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