Su Ziceng did not have the habit of casually rifling through others’ belongings, but the drunkard’s words left her with no choice but to make an exception this time.
Logically speaking, Chang Mei’s biological father was a drunkard, barely sober on any of the three hundred sixty-five days of the year, so his words could not be fully trusted. Su Ziceng did not want to wrong someone without cause. If she remembered correctly, when she was a child, some old servants had also mentioned that Chang Mei had taken great care of the deceased Qiao Chu.
Even Su Qingzhang had said that Qiao Chu was "doomed by her." Even if the former Su Ziceng would never have believed it, after going through rebirth, she had come to somewhat believe in the concept of fate.
"The lady passed away from physical frailty and exsanguination after giving birth to the young mistress," even the old doctor who had been with the Su Family for twenty years had said so.
"In vino veritas," Su Ziceng stubbornly believed that Chang Chi’s father wouldn’t have blurted out such words without cause, which is why she decided to look for an opportunity to search Chang Mei’s room.
From the writing desk to the drawers, she had searched everywhere visible to the naked eye. Much to Su Ziceng’s disappointment, she found not a single useful piece of information until she was finally checking under the bed and discovered the photograph.
Tucked beneath the pillow was a damaged photo, in it, a girl who looked very much like Su Ziceng. "Mother," there were no pictures of Qiao Chu in the grand Su estate, as they were kept away lest Su Qingzhang become overwhelmed with memories. Therefore, aside from the barely recognizable photo on Qiao Chu’s gravestone weathered by wind and sun, Su Ziceng’s impression of Qiao Chu had always been confined to the thin silhouette in her dreams.
Unexpectedly, the only photo of Qiao Chu was found under Chang Mei’s pillow. For decades, the photo was without any crease, showing that it had been carefully preserved by someone.
At that time, Qiao Chu’s cheeks still bore the baby fat characteristic of young girls, shining eyes, and when she smiled, two dimples, one deeper than the other, formed at the corners of her mouth. Standing to her left was a young Chang Mei, her face also brimming with the bright smile that Su Ziceng had never seen before; the usual insincere façade was absent from the photo.
And on the right... The girl standing to Qiao Chu’s right had her face obliterated from the photo, her arm intimately linked with Qiao Chu’s. Their bodies close together, even without seeing her face, the silhouette left on the photo showed she was a beautiful and passionate girl.
What surprised Su Ziceng the most in the entire photo was not the joint portrait of Qiao Chu and Chang Mei, nor the excised face, but the school uniforms the three were wearing.
The uniform of Kelly Women’s College, the unmistakable rose emblem, with a cluster of roses, a Kelly Women’s School’s hundred-year-old backdrop, bathing the three girls in boundless warmth from the spring sunshine.
Mother was also a student at Kelly Women’s School, so was Chang Mei... Su Ziceng recalled the peculiar reaction from Chang Mei when she found out she was going to study at Kelly, as well as Chang Chi’s sarcastic taunts. No one had told her that Qiao Chu was also an alumna of Kelly Women’s School. Who was the other person in the photo, and why had Su Qingzhang never told her these things?
From Chang Chi’s room, came the sound of porcelain hitting the ground. Su Ziceng quickly tucked the photo back under the pillow, closed Chang Mei’s room door properly, feeling the thrill of acting like a thief, mixed with the agitation of mounting questions, and returned to the hall once more.
Su Qingzhang was still sitting in his usual spot, in front of Yan Wuxu were a few fruit pits, with a bitten cherry, its juice still lingering on her lips, creating a different kind of beauty.
"Dad," Su Ziceng rarely had the opportunity to sit face to face and chat with Su Qingzhang. Father and daughter would often clash at the slightest disagreement, turning their heads away and ignoring each other—it was as if they were destined to conflict. "I’m thinking of taking advantage of the time before the New Year to visit my maternal grandparents’ graves, it’s been many years since I last paid my respects."
When Qiao Chu was with Su Qingzhang, her parents, who are Su Ziceng’s maternal grandparents, were staunchly opposed. The young Su Qingzhang had no particular skills to speak of and could be said to be a street ruffian. He had once saved Qiao Chu from the harassment of hooligans by chance.
Without the sweet union of a prince and princess, Su Qingzhang faced much disdain from the Qiao Family during the time he was pursuing Qiao Chu. After Qiao Chu’s death, the Qiao Family’s fortunes waned, while Su Qingzhang made his mark and subsequently severed all ties with the Qiao Family.