Epiphanies of Rebirth Chapter 76 (Part 3)
Merry x-mas to anyone who celebrates it 🥳🥳
Translated by Pure
Chapter 76.3 Shen Tiantian stated, "I don't want to see him again."
Shi Nanxing soon realized how dire the situation was.
His travel ban was approved with a very legitimate and fair cause. It was on the basis that Dominion Properties, which he owned part equity of, was at risk of delaying their loan payment. The Shi Family originally wanted to mediate for him, but the elder of the Shen Family disregarded their past affections and always refused to relinquish.
The Shi Family was still unaware of the gravity of this situation, they had thought that Shi Nanxing had done something that displeased the elderly. Wanting to turn a dire matter to a trivial one, the Shi Family relented and asked Shi Nanxing to stay in the country for a while before leaving. There was no rush, he could just wait it out until the elder’s anger was appeased.
However, only Shi Nanxing knew that his situation was nowhere near optimistic.
The payment date he had agreed on with Sha Peng was about to arrive, and with each passing day, the risks of being discovered grew exponentially. It was absolutely impossible for him to come up with that sum of money in such a short period of time, and he had no way of predicting what Sha Peng would do if he were to find out the loan couldn’t be repaid.
His naive family kept persuading him that ‘harmony was to be prized’ and ‘it was best to take a step back’. Shi Nanxing didn't dare mention Sha Peng, so in a moment of desperation, he confessed to hiring a hitman.
He had no choice but to confess.
The local gangster who had previously cussed him out could no longer be reached while the drunk driver who insisted it was an accident was never taken out of custody.
Shi Nanxing tried to inquire about related news, but with the high confidentiality of this matter, there was very little that was disclosed. All he knew was that the public security in Yan City had been recently strictly enforced, and many lawless local ruffians were taken away for investigation. In these last few days, Yan City uprooted many gangsters, and the famous local gangster who had cooperated closely with him might not be able to withstand this storm. If the other party was really caught, matters would grow troublesome.
Shi Nanxing had planned everything beforehand, all of his plots were to be done while he was on his way aboard. In his plan, at this time, he should have wandered to new land where he could act without scruples. Thus, even if the waves were raging, he was eager to clearly disclose to Xiao Chi what he had done to Lin Jingzhe, so he didn’t put any effort into concealing himself from this calculated murder.
He had never expected this meticulous plan to fall through, nor did he expect to be stopped right before his flight.
He had no other method than putting pressure on his family.
Every single member of the Shi Family, from the bottom to top, was overwhelmed by his confession. The lighthearted grievance they had initially envisioned completely crumbled. Mother Shi cried bitterly: "How could you be so muddle headed? You could have messed with any other family, but you choose to mess with Shen Juanying's? Just think of her uncompromising temperament, did you really believe you could overwhelm her?!"
Shi Nanxing's expression was gloomy when he heard his mother's crying, "How do I know that someone surnamed Lin was from the Shen Family? I only know that there was a Shen Tiantian from the Shen Family. Could it be that you’re more informed than I?"
The family composition of the Shen Family was never hidden, and it was a well known fact that Shen Juanying had only one daughter, which was Shen Tiantian.
Truth be told, Shi Nanxing regretted it a little. He really did not expect Lin Jingzhe to be related to Shen Juanying in any way, if he had known, he may have just held back from acting upon his anger.
He said, "The Shen Family are really overbearing. Lin Jingzhe is obviously fine, he didn’t even get a scratch. At most, his car was totaled, but shouldn’t it be enough for me to buy him a new one? Why do they have to unreasonably detain me in the country for so long? What do they want to do? Send me to jail?!"
When Grandma Shi heard the probable consequences, she hugged her grandson and broke down, "No! Our family only has you, Xingxing, as the sole deceident, you can’t go to jail!"
"They are going overboard." Mother Shi also said indignantly, "It’s true, their child had obviously come out unscathed, so why would they retaliate like this? That surname Lin isn't even Shen Juanying's own child. To bring trouble to an old acquaintance like us for a second-hand child, she’s acting as if it was her own son who was hurt. Is she suffering from a psychological illness? This is not how she should be acting."
Grandmother Shi snorted coldly, "I have never heard of any stepmother who could treat their stepchild as her own son."
Shi Nanxing's heart skipped a beat, and he immediately added, "I heard that Shen Tiantian seemed to be with Lin Jingzhe during the accident and was almost implicated. Shen Juanying must have gone crazy because of this, right?"
Mother Shi slapped her son hard, "You fool, don't you know to carefully investigate everything before acting?"
"Okay, okay!" The elderly couldn't bear to see her precious grandson be beaten, so she quickly grabbed her daughter-in-law's hand and reprimanded, "What's the use of beating him? Why not use this time to think of a way to solve the current problem. That girl Shen Tiantian is also quite stupid, she isn’t even aware that the ‘second-hand’ has already taken a step into their own domain! Once he takes over the family property will she learn to regret it!”
Mother Shi pursed her lips and fell into deep thought.
Shi Nanxing finally saw a glimmer of hope and dared not delay, so he hurriedly disclosed Lin Jingzhe and Xiao Chi's true relationship to them.
******
Shen Juanying no longer concealed Lin Jingzhe's existence. When she took Shen Tiantian to her father's house for dinner on weekend, she handed a bag to her old man in everyone’s presence. "Dad, this is a gift Jingzhe asked me to bring you."
The relatives in the room had various thoughts, but the elderly acted completely unaware. He opened the bag and poured out the content inside and laughed as soon as he saw it; it turned out to be an interesting and appealing antique pipe.
He enjoyed collecting these strange antiques, and was immediately impressed by the craftsmanship of the pipe. There was also a small wooden box in the bag; inside was a round hand fan created with exquisite workmanship.
The fan was made of pure white silk, on it was a single dark green pine embroidered by hand. It was a gift for Shen Juanying's mother. Grandma Shen loved it so much that she couldn't put it down.
The two elderly had always accepted many of Lin Jingzhe’s goodwill, but in the past, they were all sent by Shen Juanying and Shen Tiantian with a request for it to be given privately. The two of them quickly preserved the change and cooperated immediately. The old lady even glanced behind Shen Juanying, and asked loudly, "You know how to bring these gifts, where is my grandson? Why hadn’t you brought him here so we could see him?"
Shen Juanying smiled, "He still has a busy task in hand, where can he find the time? New Beginnings Real Estate is still in the midst of its development period. I heard that the shopping mall on 2nd Middle Read is just about complete, so Jingzhe has been so busy that he barely has any time to rest. When he’s free of these obligations, I will definitely bring him here and let him personally brew tea for you two."
Shen Tiantian also coyly said to her grandfather, "Grandpa, you enjoy drinking tea, so you’ll definitely like my brother. The tea my brother makes is really~~~ delicious~~~!"
Grandpa Shen loved this innocent granddaughter the most, and his body melted at her playing spoiled. Upon hearing her praise, his steadfast face wrinkled into countless creases from his smile. "Is that so? That's great! It’s hard to find young people who know and love tea these days, and it’s even rarer for them to be able to brew tea. The newest batch of Da Hong Pao (expensive type of oolong tea) arrived, you can take a little and bring it to him later."
"Wow." At the table, walked by a relative from Shen Juanying's sister-in-law's side of the family, who smiled and said, "It's really not easy to be able to receive a bit of Da Hong Pao from the elder’s collection. Such a treatment is as if he were his biological grandson."
Shen Tiantian stared at her for a while, then regained her look of displeasure as she pestered her grandfather, "Just a little?!"
Grandpa Shen laughed helplessly, "Half? How about one half? Is that okay?"
"Grandma, please give me the cigars and alcohol here." Shen Tiantian insisted, "I'll bring them to my brother. These things are not good for your health, Grandpa. You can’t indulge in them and should watch out for your health."
The elder didn't lack those things, so he just pretended to restrain himself as he nodded repeatedly. The relatives in the room looked at each other, and the woman who spoke just now continued to ignorantly speak, "Tiantian, why hadn’t you asked for cigars for your Auntie’s son, Brother Zhuangzhuang? Why only ask for cigars for your new brother, it’s best not to act too partial."
Shen Tiantian innocently replied, "What do you mean by new brother? My brother is my brother. My brother treats me well, so I do the same. Who is Brother Zhuangzhuang? I don't remember him being kind to me, so why should I treat him well?"
The corner of the woman’s mouth twitched involuntarily.
With a profound expression, Shen Juanying sat outside for a while, and then went inside with her parents to carefully discuss the follow-up strategy for Shi Nanxing.
Shen Tiantian stayed outside to continue playing as all the trivial relatives, who were of her age range, came forward to accompany her.
Slap!—
A loud slap suddenly sounded amidst the lively conversation, causing everyone to speechlessly look towards the noise in shock. The girl who was slapped was about the same age as Shen Tiantian, and had landed on the ground from the impact. She raised her head and saw the surprised eyes of her peers, feeling ashamed and embarrassed, the girl covered her face and burst into tears.
"What's going on, what's going on?" The relative who was talking in a strange manner just before immediately rushed over. When she saw this situation, the woman immediately rushed to hug the crying girl on the ground and kept panicking asking if she was ok. Soon she turned to glare at Shen Tiantian, "Tiantian, how can you raise your hands at your cousin?!"
"I'm playing with her." Shen Tiantian laughed, maintaining her lovely and cute facade as she condescendingly looked down at the pair of people hugging each other. "Don't cry, I didn't hit you on purpose. Who told you to speak ill of my brother, and curse my grandparents and my mother?"
"I didn't—I only—" The girl was startled, and immediately wanted to explain.
"What? Didn't you say to make me be careful that my brother is falsely putting on an act to deceive me? Didn't you say to be careful when my grandparents and my mother passed away that he would robbed me of inheritance? My grandparents and my mother are healthy right now, so how long have you been thinking about this inheritance? Is there only money in your eyes?"
Shen Tiantian raised her voice and questioned the other party until they were left speechless. With a sweet smile, she walked towards the older woman who was frightened by her words, and leaned over to help her up.
"Aunt Zhao, get up quickly. You are my maternal aunt's relative, and on that basis, I won't bother anymore with her today. But—"
She straightened up, let go of Aunt Zhao’s hand, and stared fixedly into her eyes. After a while, she turned away and circled around the group of peers closeby.
"If anyone continues to talk to me about this again in the future, don't blame me for being rude! Do you think I’m also a person without an ounce of future prospects, with my sights on the little speck of money here?"
Everyone fell silent for a while. The little girl, who originally wanted to nitpick and drive wedge between the siblings, turned pale with fright. She hid in her mother's arms, trembling and whimpering.
The Shen Family elder’s voice resounded from inside the room, "What's the matter, why is there so much commotion outside?"
Shen Tiantian silently stared at Aunt Zhao. The older woman's face twitched, and after a while, she smiled stiffly, "It's nothing."
Shen Tiantian immediately hopped into the room like a little sparrow. She hugged her grandfather's arm and began to act coquettishly, "Grandpa, have you discussed it with mother? I don't care! This time you have to help me and my brother vent our anger!"
Grandpa Shen listened to Shen Tiantian's pitiful experience of being frightened by a car accident and the nightmares that tormented her afterwards, and couldn't care about anything else. He just wanted to engulf that little scoundrel in his mouth and give him a hard time, and exert all his power if needed. Shi Nanxing had to pay for what he had done to his precious granddaughter!
