Xu Nianhua followed Pei Yining in developing photos, a variety of images dazzling her eyes; it turned out that, without realizing it, they had taken so many photos already.
Thankfully, she had disregarded Pei Yining’s advice at the store earlier and bought a lot of developer fluid, otherwise, it would have been quite costly to develop so many photos.
Xu Nianhua did less of the work, and the few photos she developed were slow in coming; most were developed by Pei Yining, while Xu Nianhua washed the prints and admired the beautiful photos at the same time.
As Pei Yining developed the final photo, she beamed with pride. Most of these beautiful photos had come from her hands; although Pei Yicheng had taken the performance photos from a distance, they still turned out quite nicely.
It had indeed been the right decision to spend more on the camera.
"Why do I feel like there is a photo missing?" Xu Nianhua started to carefully check each of the neatly arranged photos.
"With so many photos, you can still remember that one is missing?" Pei Yining took the last photo out, hesitating in her movements, feeling inexplicably guilty. Pei Yicheng had taken quite some negatives with him when he got his hands on them, saying he wanted to develop the photos himself.
How could Nianhua possibly remember how many photos were taken?
Pei Yining’s heart sank; she always felt a bit anxious.
"There’s one missing."
Xu Nianhua confirmed after another review, "I clearly saw Yicheng brother take a profile picture of me. Why is it gone now?"
That particular photo, she had seen it and thought it was indeed beautiful. At that time, she had thought about keeping it as a keepsake once it was developed.
"Really?" Pei Yining’s voice carried a tinge of guilt, wondering why her brother took away the photo that Nianhua knew about.
"Maybe he did; my brother took quite a few negatives with him," explained Pei Yining, who couldn’t say at that moment that the negative was lost.
"Maybe it got mixed up," Xu Nianhua didn’t think much of it.
Pei Yining smiled and agreed, "Probably so, I’ll ask my brother next time."
After finishing the development of the photos, Xu Nianhua selectively kept a few for Xu An and sent the rest back to her mother’s home.
Xu Nianhua was thinking that Zhou He’s due date was in a few days, so she made a special call to the factory.
It just so happened that Ji Ying, who had returned to pass instructions to Xiong Xihua, answered the call. Hearing Xu Nianhua’s voice, she happily said, "Nianhua, how is everything at school? Are you used to the food? Are you getting along with your classmates? Has your second brother visited you yet? Do you still have money to use?"
"Mom, everything is fine here, and I have money, so don’t worry," Xu Nianhua elaborated, telling Ji Ying about Xu Nian’an visiting her the previous week to set her mind at ease.
"By the way, is Zhou He’s due date here? Has she given birth?" Xu Nianhua asked with concern.
Hearing this, Ji Ying’s mouth broke into a wide smile, "She has, she has! She gave birth to a seven-pound boy, who is fair-skinned and chubby, looking quite sturdy."
"That’s great; is Zhou He okay?" Xu Nianhua asked again.
"She’s doing well. The delivery was particularly easy for her; the baby was born in a little over an hour. The doctors said it was because Zhou He exercised regularly, which made the delivery especially quick." Ji Ying, thinking of her daughter-in-law’s smooth childbirth and of her fair and plump grandson, felt exceptionally at ease.