Chapter 64: Calamity
Shi Meng knew that her actions were a bit unreasonable, even though from Shi Hai's perspective, her behavior could only be described as "incomprehensible" and "irrational."
She actually wanted to say everything.
From the beginning, she had been planning to tell her brother everything she knew.
But she didn't know how to start... and she didn't have the courage to bring it up on her own.
What she wanted to say was far more difficult to express than confessing her feelings.
Her hands gripped Shi Hai's blanket, and she wiped her tears on it as they welled up uncontrollably, struggling internally.
Shi Hai noticed her internal conflict and spoke in a gentle tone.
"I understand. I won't sleep yet, so Mengmeng, why don't you tell me a story?"
Shi Meng raised her head slightly and asked, "Tell you a story?"
"Yes, I want to hear your story. From the past... and the future."
Hearing Shi Hai's words, Shi Meng realized that the time had come when she could no longer avoid talking about the "future."
"You're really clever, aren't you, brother? You already figured it out."
"Rather than being clever, it's more like you weren't trying to hide it at all."
Shi Meng's actions had clearly indicated her difference, almost as if she was signaling to him, "I'm a reborn person."
"Yeah... actually, I made up my mind from the start to tell you everything, brother... It's just, I didn't know where to begin, and I wasn't sure if you'd believe me..."
Shi Meng knew that Shi Hai was the kind of person who believed in evidence and facts, and what she had experienced was too unbelievable for anyone to accept easily.
"I'm willing to believe you. So, will you tell me?"
"I'm willing! Of course I am... Brother, you're the most brilliant person I've ever met, and your ideas will definitely be far more comprehensive than what I could come up with alone."
"Then, let's start with what I most want to know. Earlier, you said you were afraid that I might not wake up if I slept... Does that mean I die in the future?"
"No, brother, you don't die..."
"I don't die... Ah, I see."
Suddenly, Shi Hai understood.
And along with it, the strange behaviors Shi Meng had exhibited all made sense.
"Though I don't die, I end up in a state that's almost like being dead. I guessed that much, didn't I?"
"Brother, you—!"
"Did I get some kind of incurable disease? Am I bedridden and unable to get up?"
"How... how did you figure that out?"
Shi Hai explained by connecting the strange things he had noticed before.
"I just thought about it from my own perspective. I don't think I'd turn into the kind of brother who orders his little sister around to wash his socks and underwear."
"So, I guessed that you wouldn't do these things because you wanted to, nor because I asked you to, but because you had no choice..."
"In other words, in the future, I probably lose my ability to move, right?"
"If that's the case, your strange requests also make sense."
"You specifically asked to use my cup. If you simply liked my cup, or wanted to share a cup with me, that wouldn't make much sense."
"But if in the future I can't use a cup at all, and the one you're using now used to be mine that you took over, then it makes perfect sense."
"Also, the fact that you insist on watching me fall asleep to feel at ease... it's because you've spent a long time watching 'the sleeping me.' That's become your daily routine."
"But in your mind, 'the sleeping me' is 'someone who won't wake up,' so you were scared and woke me up, afraid I wouldn't wake again."
Completely accurate.
Though Shi Meng had deliberately dropped these clues, she hadn't expected Shi Hai to so accurately grasp the core of the situation.
"As expected of you, brother..."
With things having been deduced to this point, Shi Meng knew she had to reveal the harsh truth about the future.
"Yes... Brother, in the future, because of an accident, you lose part of the function of your central nervous system—specifically, a part of your cerebral cortex."
"I know what that means. In layman's terms, I become a 'vegetative state,' right?"
"Yes..."
"So, in the future, you're the one taking care of me?"
"Yes."
Shi Meng looked straight at Shi Hai and said, "As your sister, it's my responsibility."
This was the reason behind the determined look in her eyes.
Shi Hai had seen the same look in their mother's eyes when she took care of their father during his illness—no matter how difficult it was, she never complained and never thought of giving up.
When someone carries the weight of another person's life, they grow mature.
"Thank you for all your hard work."
"It wasn't hard at all."
"So, what kind of accident happens that makes me a vegetable in the future?"
"I'm not entirely sure... By the time I received the news, you were already in that state..."
Shi Meng didn't know the specifics. If she had, she would have avenged her brother. However, since she had no leads for revenge, she chose to prioritize taking care of her brother in his vegetative state.
"When exactly do I become a vegetable?"
"About nine years from now."
'Nine years... That's around the same time as Jian Sichun's rebirth.'
So, that's what Jian Sichun didn't want to say?
That in the future, I become a vegetable... Such news would indeed be hard to tell the person involved.
But there was still one strange thing—Shi Meng seemed to hate Jian Sichun and Zhu Lingjie.
Bad relations between sister and sister-in-law? Something felt off...
Shi Hai decided to ask anyway.
"Am I married in the future?"
"No, you aren't."
"Do I have a girlfriend?"
"No... Brother, you've always been single."
Not a wife, and not even a girlfriend!
Could it really just be a close friend?
That's too far-fetched...
Shi Hai decided to ask directly.
"So, what's my relationship with Jian Sichun?"
Unexpectedly, Shi Meng frowned and replied with some displeasure.
"Why are you asking about her? I don't know. I've never met her before."
Huh???
Never met Jian Sichun?
How is that possible!
"Have you really never met Jian Sichun?"
Shi Meng grew more upset and responded firmly, "I really haven't! Why would I need to meet her?"
This...
That contradicted what Jian Sichun had said.
Jian Sichun knew Shi Meng, even calling her "Mengmeng" affectionately, and she had said she had been living at Shi Hai's house. There's no way Shi Meng wouldn't have met her.
But neither of them seemed to be lying, yet there was a clear contradiction. What was going on?
Shi Hai decided to put that mystery aside for the moment and asked, "What about Zhu Lingjie?"
"I've never met her either... but you did mention her once. Isn't she the daughter of the neighbors across the hall? But they moved out a long time ago. Why is she still around?"
"..."
Jian Sichun had also mentioned that the apartment across the hall was empty.
This point seemed to match, but it was still strange...
"Since you haven't met them, why do you dislike them so much?"
Shi Meng bluntly gave her reason.
"Because your misfortune is all caused by women!"
"Huh?"
"Throughout history, beautiful women have brought calamity—Those two women are the 'calamities' that will harm you!"
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