In the photo, it was a young Aunt Ying. At this moment, she was holding another girl's hand, smiling brightly in the spring sunshine. Song Langqing lowered his eyes and glanced at Lin Jinran, then casually ruffled his own hair into a mess.
"This photo has been around since I was born. It seems to be a photo of my mom when she was young with another aunt. I've never seen this aunt, so I don't know who she is."
"Over the years, my mom has always kept it here and wiped it clean all the time. It's strange. Judging from the relationship, she was very close to my mom, but I've never seen her."
Lin Jinran picked up the photo frame with both hands. The frame was new, but the photo was old. It was obvious that the owner of the photo cherished it very much.
Under the light, the photo paper had turned yellow, recording the cruelty of time.
Beside Aunt Ying was Xiang Yanhua.
Her mother, her mother when she was young.
Maybe at this time, her mother hadn't met Lin Cheng yet. She still looked like an innocent girl, wearing her favorite long dress and the makeup that was popular many years ago, looking carefree and innocent.
Her eyes instantly turned red. As if that wasn't enough, slowly, her eyes became moist, and something was about to well up.
"Sis... do you... know this aunt..."
Not hearing Lin Jinran say anything for a long time, Song Langqing shifted his gaze from the photo to Lin Jinran's profile.
Unexpectedly, he saw that her eyes were red and asked carefully.
"Yes." Lin Jinran casually wiped her eyes and said calmly, "The person next to Aunt Ying is my mother, Xiang Yanhua."
"Xiang Yanhua? Aunt Xiang?" Song Langqing repeated the name. Suddenly, a flash of inspiration came to him, and he blurted out, "Auntie and my mom actually have the same surname. What a coincidence!"
Lin Jinran gently stroked the face of the person in the photo frame. It felt cold, just like her mother who had been lying in the cold hospital bed for years without any warmth.
Hearing Song Langqing's words, Lin Jinran's eyes flickered, and she said casually, "Yes, they have the same surname. There are many people with the surname Xiang in the world. It's really a coincidence."
It was only now that she knew that Aunt Ying's surname was Xiang.
But when they first met, Aunt Ying introduced herself like this: "I'm your mother's friend. You can call me Aunt Ying."
It was Aunt Ying, not Aunt Xiang.
Lin Jinran hooked her lips and gave a faint smile, but the smile didn't reach her eyes.
"Indeed. With so many people with the surname Xiang, I thought your mom and my mom were relatives." Song Langqing didn't think much and smiled cheerfully.
"It would be great if they were really relatives. You're my goddess, after all. Then I'd have something to show off."
"You're not bad either. Isn't it good to show off yourself?" Lin Jinran glanced at him and only replied to the second half of his question.
"Yes, yes, yes. Oh, right. Then why haven't I seen Aunt Xiang all these years? Aunt Xiang and my mom seem to have a good relationship, and I've never even seen you. My mom has never even mentioned you." Song Langqing wondered.
Lin Jinran was silent for a while and chose to hide part of the truth: "We used to live in the imperial capital, in the north, far away from Wannan City. So we haven't met. You just don't know that my mom has mentioned you."
Song Langqing nodded half - understanding.
"Langqing, Ranran, get ready for dinner. You can come over now." Aunt Ying called from the kitchen.
Song Langqing replied loudly, then said to Lin Jinran, "Sis, it's time for dinner. Let's go."
Lin Jinran caressed the photo for one last second reluctantly, then let go of her hand and left the cold photo frame. The warmth from before left with it.
At the dinner table, Uncle Song had already set out the dishes and bowls. There were four dishes and one soup, emitting wisps of warmth on the last day of December.
Aunt Ying took off her apron, washed her hands, and walked over. She smiled and asked, "Ranran, can you drink? Just a little red wine."
"Yes, I can." Lin Jinran nodded.
Song Langqing took out a bottle of red wine from the cabinet next to him, then went to get four goblets. He washed them and poured the wine into them, explaining, "On a day like this, it feels like something is missing if we don't drink. Of course, this red wine has a very low alcohol content, in the single digits."
After pouring, he distributed the wine to everyone.
Taking this opportunity, Lin Jinran asked, "Auntie, do you have a photo with my mom? I saw it in the photo - storage area. I'd like a copy too."
In fact, she didn't have any photos of her mother.
At that time, she was still young, and her mother didn't give her a phone, so there were naturally no photos.
"So you saw it." Aunt Ying sighed, "I'll look for it after dinner. I have it saved on my phone. I'll send them all to you later."
"Thank you, Auntie~" Lin Jinran said sweetly.
The wine was distributed. The four of them raised their glasses, clinked them, said some words of blessing, and then started to eat.
As usual, Lin Jinran's bowl was filled with the dishes that Aunt Ying and Uncle Song had picked for her, as if they were filling her heart bit by bit, making it extremely full and rich.
Lin Jinran buried her head in eating, not wasting any food.
At the dinner table, everyone was chatting and laughing. There was no such rule as "don't talk during meals and don't speak during sleep". They were all talking about each other's recent situations.
For example, whether Song Langqing had made progress in the last monthly exam.
After dinner, Lin Jinran felt embarrassed and rushed to do the dishes.
Aunt Ying tapped her on the head. Lin Jinran covered her head and looked at Aunt Ying in confusion.
Aunt Ying said slowly, "Leave the dish - washing to Langqing. He loves doing the dishes the most."
Song Langqing, who heard the sound in the kitchen: "..."
Lin Jinran couldn't help laughing. She looked at the school uniform she was wearing: "By the way, Auntie, I may not be able to stay here for long. I have a gathering with my friends tonight. I have to go back to change clothes and put on makeup."
After all, Xie Wanyu had strongly requested it.
But she couldn't wear a dress. It was already the end of December, and the temperature was around zero. If she wore a dress, wouldn't she freeze to death?
"That's easy to handle, easy to handle." Aunt Ying had always hoped to have a daughter so that she could buy her all kinds of beautiful clothes and dress her up like a doll.
A son would do too if he was willing to be dressed up by her. But since childhood, Song Langqing had been unwilling, so Aunt Ying gave up the idea.
Well, now the opportunity had come to her.
It would be a waste not to use it.
"Come on, Ranran, let's go buy clothes now. I must dress you up beautifully and let you shine on the stage! Auntie's makeup skills are not bad either. You have to trust me and hand yourself over to me!"
Aunt Ying rubbed her hands together, her eyes shining.
It seemed that she could already imagine how beautiful Lin Jinran would look after being dressed up by her.
Lin Jinran let out an "ah" and looked up at the excited Aunt Ying.
Why was there suddenly a need to go buy clothes?
Song Langqing slowly walked out of the kitchen and gave Lin Jinran a sympathetic look.
Lin Jinran: "?"