Chapter 50: Xie Lin’an’s Sister Came Back

The teller cast an envious glance, not many men would deposit so much money in their wife’s name.

But after depositing the money, Xie Lin’an took the passbook back.

“Xiaozhen, you can’t have this, I have to keep it. When you’re not stupid anymore, you can keep our passbook.”

Okay, okay, it ended up in your hands anyway.

Back then, anyone who had the passbook could withdraw money, there was no password.

Ye Xiaozhen pulled him towards the department store, he had promised to buy wedding clothes, and they would go take pictures later.

When the saleswoman heard that they were buying wedding clothes, she enthusiastically greeted them and recommended a red dress and a suit.

Plus, a pair of leather shoes for each of them.

They spent over six hundred yuan from head to toe, and this was just for summer clothes.

For the salary level at that time, it was ridiculously expensive.

Seeing that they spent so much money, the clerk gave them a flower for their hair and a corsage.

“Xiaozhen, do you think it looks good?”

They immediately put on the clothes and went to the photo studio.

“It looks good.”

Honestly.

He usually wore tank tops, shorts, and flip-flops, he was very rough.

Now that he was wearing a suit, he had a bit of a domineering CEO vibe.

He was also a natural clothes horse, of course he looked good.

“Xiaozhen looks good too.” He whispered in her ear.

“But we have to hurry, you have to cooperate well when we take pictures later, I’m about to die of heat.”

The people at the photo studio were a couple, they knew Xie Lin’an, and they greeted him enthusiastically when they saw him.

“Lin’an, you finally came, I thought you forgot.”

“Such a big event, how could I forget?”

“This is your wife, right?”

“Yes, isn’t she beautiful?”

“Beautiful.” The female boss looked Ye Xiaozhen up and down, then smiled, “She’s well-proportioned, and her skin is clear, I can just put on a little makeup and we can take pictures.”

Her husband said, “Then go ahead, I’ll check the scene again.”

“Girl, come with me.”

While the female boss was putting makeup on Ye Xiaozhen, the two of them started chatting.

Her name was Lin Ling, she and her husband ran this photo studio together after they got married.

“Our photo studio was renovated by Lin’an, did you see the relief mural on the opposite side? He drew it with bricks and cement, can you believe it?”

Ye Xiaozhen was surprised, she looked out the window in front of her, and she could see the painting.

It was an antique-style vase with peonies blooming on it, he drew it?

“Did he study art?”

Lin Ling shook her head, “I don’t know, maybe. He and my husband were classmates before, my husband said it was a pity that he dropped out of school.”

Lin Ling was arranging her hair, “Do you think this hairstyle is okay?”

Ye Xiaozhen smiled, “It’s good.”

“Almost done, let’s go out and take pictures, I’ll take you to choose a wedding dress after we finish this set.”

Xie Lin’an was sitting under the fan, he was already impatient.

But when he saw Ye Xiaozhen come out, transformed, he felt that it was worth the wait.

“Sister-in-law, did you get me a new wife?”

Lin Ling glared at him, “You wish.”

“My wife looks like a movie star in this outfit.”

“That’s right, you’re lucky, kid.”

After taking pictures in this set of clothes, Lin Ling took Ye Xiaozhen back into the room to change into a wedding dress.

“How do you like these?”

They had ten wedding dresses in their store, which was actually a decent size for that time.

In terms of style, there wasn’t much to choose from, it mainly had to fit.

Ye Xiaozhen was thin, she chose a smaller one.

“This one, what do you think?”

Lin Ling smiled gently, “You have good taste, this one isn’t the most luxurious, but it suits you best. Come, I’ll help you put it on.”

“Thank you.”

After helping Ye Xiaozhen put on the dress, Lin Ling also helped her put on a suitable hair accessory, it took half an hour before they went out.

She looked so beautiful in the wedding dress that he couldn’t take his eyes off her, he was completely dazed, and he couldn’t stop smiling the whole time.

Lin Ling and her husband told him several times before they finished taking the wedding photos.

Ye Xiaozhen didn’t talk much, Lin Ling and her husband just thought she was shy, they didn’t notice anything wrong with her.

Xie Lin’an was very attentive to her, they just thought he was pampering his wife, and Lin Ling was envious.

After they left, she said to her husband, “I didn’t realize that Lin’an was so good at taking care of people, he pampers his wife like a child. Look at you, you treat me like an old maid.”

“They’re newlyweds, it’s normal for them to be lovey-dovey. After a few years of marriage, when they have children, you’ll see if he’ll still treat you like an old maid.”

When they returned home, they saw a strange woman and a girl of about ten years old in the yard.

The woman heard the noise and turned her head to look.

“Lin’an.”

Xie Lin’an’s body stiffened, “Sister?”

Ye Xiaozhen also looked at the woman, her appearance was vaguely familiar.

It was Xie Lin’an’s older sister, Xie Li. She was only 28 years old, but she looked like she was 38.

The family sat around the table in the main room, listening to Xie Li’s lament.

“These past few years, Zhang Jianhua has been studying outside, I’ve been at home taking care of his parents and Hongxia. He said that the fare was expensive, so he would only come back for holidays, and he would occasionally write to me. He said that when he settled down in the city, he would bring us all to the city to live a good life.

But since his parents passed away three years ago, not only has he not brought us to the city to live a good life, he hasn’t even come back for holidays, and later he didn’t even write to me, I don’t even know where he is now. Grandpa, Lin’an, tell me, did he… did something happen to him?”

What happened?

Ye Xiaozhen saw her tear-stained face and panicked eyes, she must have guessed why he didn’t bring her and her daughter to the city, and why she couldn’t contact him.

But she wouldn’t give up until the last moment, even though she had guessed, she didn’t want to believe it, she would rather believe that the man had something happen to him outside than believe that he had deceived her.

Xie Lin’an clenched his fist, his face full of anger.

If Zhang Jianhua was in front of him, he would probably beat him to death.

“What did he tell you when he left the last time?”

“He said he would come back to pick me and Hongxia up after he arranged everything.”

“Heh.” Xie Lin’an sneered, “Did he write letters? Did he write to you after he left?”

Xie Li shook her head, she cried and said, “I waited for him for over a month, but he didn’t come, so I wrote him a letter. But… the letter was returned, they said there was no Zhang Jianhua at that address. How could there not be anyone there? Lin’an, do you think something happened to him?”

How could there not be anyone there?

He must have moved.

“Show me the letter.”

Xie Li asked her daughter, Xie Hongxia, to get the package.

She took out the letter and gave it to Xie Lin’an.

“This is it, look at the stamp, it’s a return receipt.”

Xie Lin’an looked at the address, it was an address in an apartment building, this kind of house was probably rented.

“What’s his school address?”

“He graduated a few years ago, he went to school in Haishi, and then he went to work in Shenzhen.”

Xie Lin’an frowned, after a while, he said, “Show me the letters he wrote to you.”

Xie Li took out seven or eight letters, “These are all the letters he wrote to me.”

The mailing addresses ranged from Haishi to Shenzhen, the last letter’s address was close to the one that Xie Li’s letter was returned from.

Xie Lin’an kept those two letters and returned the rest to Xie Li.

He didn’t say anything, he went straight back to his room.

Xie Li covered her face and cried again.

Ye Xiaozhen wanted to say something, but she thought about her current state and ultimately didn’t say anything.

There were empty rooms in the house, but they were usually filled with clutter and no one lived in them.

Now that Xie Li had come back with her daughter, Lin Xinghua asked the two younger ones to help clean up the room Xie Li used to live in.

It had been so long since anyone had lived there, it was covered in dust, it took the three of them over two hours to clean it up.

Her daughter, Hongxia, looked a lot like her, she had big eyes and was a little beauty, but she was too thin.

While Ye Xiaozhen was cooking, she sat next to Ye Xiaozhen with a small stool, she tied a small bundle of firewood and handed it to her.

She was skilled, as if she had done this many times.

Ye Xiaozhen thought that when they were living together on the mountain, they probably lived like this.

The mother made the fire, and the child tied bundles of firewood next to her.

Ye Xiaozhen took a steamed bun and gave it to her, “Hongxia.”

Zhang Hongxia hesitated for a moment before timidly taking it and eating it in big bites.

Ye Xiaozhen asked her softly, “Is it just you and your mother at home?”

Zhang Hongxia nodded while eating.

Ye Xiaozhen thought that the man had been missing for three years, and she hadn’t even brought her child back to her mother’s house.

If it wasn’t for Xie Lin’an asking someone to send her a letter, she probably wouldn’t have brought her child back in her lifetime.

At dinner, the family sat together, and Xie Li said many regretful words.

“I’m so sorry to you all, I left you, and I made Grandpa take care of the second and third brothers by himself at such an old age.”

When she left, the two younger ones were only five years old, they only had a faint impression of her, they wouldn’t even recognize her if she stood in front of them.

So for them, there wasn’t much emotional damage.

Then Xie Li looked at Xie Lin’an, “I’m especially sorry to Lin’an, if I had persisted for another year, I could have sent you to college.”

Xie Lin’an didn’t want to listen to her nagging about these things, he ate his dinner quickly, took his change of clothes, and went out immediately.

Leaving Xie Li very embarrassed.

“Grandpa, I…”

Lin Xinghua frowned and said, “Okay, don’t talk about the past, eat quickly.”

“Lin’an must hate me.”

“No.” Lin Xinghua said, “If he hated you, he wouldn’t have asked someone to send you a letter. He’s just like that, don’t overthink it.”

Xie Li nodded again, then looked at Ye Xiaozhen, “Xiaozhen, I’m bothering you.”

Ye Xiaozhen was stunned, she was thinking about how to respond.

She was slow to respond, which made Xie Li worry, thinking that Ye Xiaozhen didn’t like her.

She said sadly, “Xiaozhen, you don’t have to be embarrassed, I’ll leave after you get married.”