Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
“Grandmother, do you have any more information from when you two were separated?”
Grandmother began to recount. “Back then, when my parents left my elder sister with that family, they gave my sister a small silver comb about this size. I have always remembered how my sister had cried as she ran after the horse carriage that day.”
“Grandmother, what was Grandaunt’s name?”
Grandmother laughed softly and said, “She’s called Xinghua. Our parents called her Xingya. That was because my elder sister was born when the almond flowers were in bloom.”
“Xingya?” Ye Tianxin repeated.
Jing Zhichen thought that the name sounded awfully tacky.
A hint of sadness appeared on Grandmother’s face as she recounted those days with her family. Tears filled her eyes.
So many years have passed and she had never had any news from her sister.
Then again, so many people had died during the famine. She did not even know if her elder sister and her sister’s adoptive parents were still alive.
She hoped that her elder sister was still alive and that her daughter was living well.
“That’s right. My elder sister was called Xingya, and I was called Lianya. But after that…”
Ye Tianxin held her grandmother’s hand and comforted her. “Grandmother, let’s put an advertisement on the papers, looking for Grandaunt. What if we can find her? Even if there’s only one in a million chance, we won’t give up.”
Grandmother thought about it and realized that she could die without regrets if she and her elder sister were reunited, and see Ye Tianxin get married.
“That’s right. Grandmother, perhaps your elder sister misses you as well.”
Jing Zhichen saved the recording he had made on his phone. He had felt that the tune Grandmother had hummed earlier was very familiar. He thought that he might be able to recall something if he were to listen to it a few more times.
“Tianxin, I am already done packing and will leave in the afternoon,” Jing Zichen announced.
Jing Zhichen felt that if he continued to live in this little town, he might find it too comfortable and become someone who would take things too easily.
“Alright. Get your chauffeurs to take turns driving. Don’t try to drive. Be careful on the road. I have to go to school, so I don’t have time to send you off.”
Jing Zhichen replied warmly, “All the best, Tianxin! I will be waiting for you in the capital.”
Jing Zhichen drove off from the town of Jiameng at two that afternoon. Ye Tianxin went to school, carrying her backpack. She saw Ye Youran when she got to the school gates. Ye Youran looked as if she had been beaten by someone. Her face was red and swollen. When she saw Ye Tianxin, she burst into anger.
“Ye Tianxin, do you think that the score you got from cheating is acceptable?”
Ye Tianxin didn’t want to argue with Ye Youran at the school gates. However, when she heard what Ye Youran said, she could not help but say, “Ye Youran, is admitting that I am smarter than you so difficult? Have you forgotten that my grades have always been better than yours from elementary to middle school?”
“So what? Are you trying to use your grades in elementary and middle school to hide the fact that you cheated?”
Ye Youran wanted to shred Ye Tianxin’s face into pieces when she thought of how her mother had scolded her. She did not know what she had done in her past life to become Ye Tianxin’s cousin. They have been compared against each other since they were children.
“Ye Youran, if you don’t know the law, let me remind you that there is a thing called libel. It is article 246 in the criminal law, and it states that libel is the intentional crafting and disseminating of falsehoods that can lead to character defamation and the ruining of one’s reputation, and is a serious act! In serious cases, the accused will be served with three years of imprisonment with parole, detention, confinement, or be stripped of political rights. You don’t want to provoke me.”