The night before her return visit to her parents' home, Su Xingran and Gu Moli were unpacking the books Su Xingran had brought. Su Xingran thought of the newspapers and that photograph in the cabinet under the bookshelf.
Su Xingran asked Gu Moli, "Moli, did you collect all those newspapers in the cabinet? And is that photo of you and your teacher's wife?"
Gu Moli remembered those newspapers; they must have been put in the cabinet by her mother when she was tidying up the room after the cabinet came back. "Those newspapers were collected when I was a child, and that photo was taken with my aunt holding me."
A figure flashed through Su Xingran's mind, and she asked, "Mo Li, are there still any photos of your master's wife at home?"
Gu Moli thought Su Xingran wanted to see her teacher's wife, so he said to Su Xingran, "Yes, there is a photo of your aunt in the study. Ranran, wait here for a while, I will go to the study to find the photo and show it to you."
Gu Moli went to the study to look for it, and returned to the room after a while. Gu Moli handed a photo album to Su Xingran and said, "Ranran, this photo album contains pictures of Aunt. Father asked Mother to organize them."
Su Xingran took the photo album and flipped through it. The first picture should be a family photo of the Gu family. Gu Moli looked at the photo and pointed to the people in it, saying, "The two people, a man and a woman, are the grandparents. The two boys are the father on the left and the eldest uncle on the right. The eldest uncle sacrificed his life during the War of Resistance against Japan. The little girl is the aunt."
Su Xingran continued flipping through the photos. Among them were pictures of her teacher's wife as a young girl, photos of her teacher and his wife when they were young, photos of their wedding, and photos of her in military uniform during the War of Resistance against Japan.
There were also several photos cut from newspapers, too blurry to be clearly seen. But one photo made Su Xingran's heart tremble. It was a photo of several people in military uniforms, only their backs visible. Su Xingran stared at that back, and for a moment, it overlapped with the back of the person in her dream.
Su Xingran asked Gu Moli emotionally, "Moli, do you still have a photo of my aunt's back at home? If so, could you find it and let me see it?"
Gu Moli didn't understand why Su Xingran suddenly became emotional. He comforted her, saying, "Ranran, did something happen? There are photos of your aunt at home. If you really want to find them, you can only go to your uncle's house. I remember your uncle has many photos of your aunt. Ranran, we're going back to your parents' home tomorrow. If you want to see the photos, we can ask your uncle."
Su Xingran nodded without speaking, her eyes still fixed on the photo of the woman's back. Gu Moli was also seeing Su Xingran's emotional state for the first time. It seemed to be related to her aunt's back, but Gu Moli couldn't understand the connection.
That night, Su Xingran couldn't fall asleep, her mind constantly replaying that figure. Gu Moli wanted to ask her several times, but ultimately remained silent. He figured Su Xingran probably didn't understand what was wrong with her either. Gu Moli held Su Xingran in his arms, gently patting her back to lull her to sleep.
On the third day after Su Xingran's return visit to her parents' home, her parents and maternal grandparents were still in Beijing. They waited for Su Xingran to return home before going back themselves. During their stay in Beijing, Su Xingran's parents and maternal grandparents lived in the house that Su Xingran had received as a reward.
Around nine o'clock in the morning, Gu Moli and Su Xingran returned to the Huang family home with their belongings. Su Guomin and his wife hadn't seen their daughter for several days, and were overjoyed to see them return.
Today, Gu Moli was wearing a white shirt and black trousers. Su Xingran's maternal grandfather's family, seeing Gu Moli not in his military uniform, felt that he seemed more approachable.
Everyone was chatting in the living room, but Su Xingran was preoccupied. After lunch, Su Xingran said to Huang Zhenhua, "Master, I have something to tell you."
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