Chapter 308 - The Torn Pictures

"Whose photos are these?" Zizi asked.

Zhiyuan held a photo album in his hands. As they flipped through the pictures, they found that most of them were pictures taken in some University.

In one of such pictures, Xinyi found a young woman brightly smiling towards the camera, donned in a beautiful sunny dress.

"Is she Han Zongying?" Xinyi curiously tilted her head. "She is, right? She resembles Grandpa."

Zhiyuan nodded. "I feel the same."

Xinyi then stared at the siblings duo. "Hmm.. You two too. Though I feel like Zizi's resemblance is on a higher side."

Zizi was confused. "Okay, I am totally lost here. Who is Han Zongying?"

Zhiyuan sighed. "Supposedly, she is...she was our Aunt. Dad's sister."

"Huh?" Her jaw dropped wide open. "Dad had a sister."

"Is what we came to know at the Summit in a conversation between Uncle An and Grandpa Liao."

He quickly surmised what happened.

"Oh my God! This is…" she touched her chin, "I don't know what to say. We had an Aunt and Grandpa never told us! Neither did Mom or Dad!"

"That's what we are trying to find out. It seems like this was Han- Aunt's room that Grandpa kept locked up."

"Ah yes. This is the same dress I just saw in the cupboard too! This is definitely her room."

Zizi stared at the picture, and her heart ached thinking of her Aunt. "She was such a beautiful woman. I feel sad that she died so early…"

There was silence for a moment.

"But I don't understand why Uncle An would be the cause of Aunt's death?"

"I think I know…" Xinyi mumbled as she glanced at another picture. "Look at this picture. It is torn from the right."

Zhiyuan squinted his gaze. "Seems like Aunt was leaning on someone's shoulder."

Throughout the photo album, they observed that some photos were kept neat and undamaged where Han Zongying had clicked it alone or with her friends. But a few pictures were torn apart from the sides. Han Zongying was still there, but the unknown stranger who was with her was always cut off.

"Do you think he must be...Uncle An? Because this is definitely strange."

Xinyi slightly widened her eyes. "You mean that they went to the same college?"

Zhiyuan said, "Indeed. You can feel it, right? These pictures are torn with so much hatred as if Grandpa really couldn't bear the sight of that person with Aunt. In today's date, it's only Uncle An who he hates so much. He didn't want to destroy it completely because his daughter is also present."

That seemed to be the only plausible reason.

Zizi took the photo album in her hand and stared at those torn photos. She tilted her head and wondered about something.

Then she looked as if lightning struck her. "Hey, hey! I...got this incredible thought in my head! It is so incredible that I am afraid to share."

Her forehead broke out into a cold sweat.

"What is it?"

"Do you think that Uncle An and Aunt were…" she coughed, "in a relationship?"

Zhiyuan and Xinyi stared at her, stunned. "What!?"

Xinyi stammered. "D-Dating?"

"Yeah. I mean they went to the same college. So, that means they knew each other and were friends. Maybe they fell in love with each other too. Look at these pictures. That person, most probably, Uncle An is cut off, but look at Aunt. She is staring at that man with such...Um, how do I explain...with a loving gaze? Her expression seems different compared to when she is with her other friends. But only with this particular person, she is looking as if she is standing with her lover."

When Xinyi and Zhiyuan observed it a bit more, they had to agree with Zizi. The whole feel of the damaged pictures was different from the rest.

Xinyi smiled. "I missed it. You are incredible, Zizi. How did you understand it?"

Zizi sheepishly grinned. "Well, firstly that look is all too familiar to me because that's how you two always stare at each other like idiots."

"..."

"..."

Xinyi choked. However, Zhiyuan beamed. "Is it, Zizi? Xinyi looks at me like that? Even now?"

He wanted to say 'especially now' after how Xinyi had started her cold war.

Xinyi's mouth twitched. 

You…

"Yes, she does. Do you have any doubts that she has fallen out of love?" Zizi frowned.

"Of course not!" He hurriedly exclaimed. Then he cleared his throat. "I was just asking."

He glanced at Xinyi and shot a sneaky smile. She secretly pinched his arm and signaled not to ask useless questions.

Zizi blushed and shyly smiled. "But well, I am nobody to call you idiots because I am one myself. I must be totally looking at Yunru like that, right?"

"Yup."

"Yup."

Xinyi and Zhiyuan nodded and unanimously answered without any hesitation.

Xinyi whispered a moment later. "Aunt and Uncle An. It seems without a doubt now, but it still feels shocking. Their relationship…I still wonder if we are mistaking it."

"You are not."

The trio froze upon hearing a voice from the door. They slowly lifted their heads and saw Han Tian and Xia Liqin at the entrance.

There was heavy silence that settled in the air. Nobody spoke for a good few minutes.

Han Tian said, "You should be really lucky that it's us. Otherwise your Grandpa would have thrown you three out of this house."

It was the first time that Xia Liqin agreed with him.

The elders shut the door and stepped inside. Han Tian looked at the photo album. Her eyelashes trembled seeing his sister's pictures. The memories with his sister came flooding in his mind, and his eyes turned misty.

Xia Liqin's gaze dimmed, and she looked away, clenching her fists.

Zhiyuan slowly said, "We are sorry for breaking the rule, but you left us with no choice. We want to know what happened in the past."

Silence.

"It's Uncle An in the pictures, right? Where they are torn."

Han Tian said nothing.

"Is our assumption correct? Was Aunt really in a relationship with Uncle An?"

Han Tian parted his lips after a long time. "...Yes."