Chapter 4 (1/2)
Chapter 4 – The Affairs of the Shen Family
Shen Yu furrowed her brows. The tight expression on her face betrayed the fact that she had reached the end of her patience. She watched resentfully as Tang Can poured out the lukewarm tea from the cups but did not say anything.
The emptied cups were brought back to the table. Shen Yu reached out a hand to block Tang Can from pouring more tea.
He chuckled gently, “You don’t want to drink any more tea?”
She shook her head and glared at him. “We’re not at a tea shop and I’m not a tea procurer! Stop making me drink tea!” Her voice was sharp with impatience. “If you have something to say, just say it directly! I’m just a lowly commoner and need to work to make a living. I don’t have the time to waste spittle on you!”
Tang Can smiled awkwardly at her outburst. Just as he was about to reply, someone knocked on the door and he went to answer it.
Shen Yu couldn’t see who he was talking to but Tang Can spent a significant amount of time with this person. Unfortunately, they were chatting at a volume too low for her to overhear. Her butt was getting sore from sitting for too long. She fidgeted around before noticing the stack of photos on top of the coffee table and picked them up. The top photo showed Uncle Li and some other men all sporting bowl haircuts. Despite knowing that it was fashionable at the time, she couldn’t help but laugh at the picture.
As a journalist, Shen Yu was well versed in analyzing the composition of photos. She noticed immediately that the photo had been deliberately posed. The image showed Uncle Li holding a magnifying glass as if he was inspecting something but the positioning of his eyes showed that he was looking at the photographer. The pictures also all included an unknown young woman. Shen Yu idly wondered if that woman was Uncle Li’s girlfriend at the time. Based on the positioning of the lady’s body and hands, it seemed like she did not want her picture taken.
One particular photo showed Uncle Li holding onto that young woman. He was smiling brilliantly but the young woman had her hand covering up half of her face. Shen Yu noticed that the woman had on a silver bracelet with a little bell on it. She immediately lifted her left wrist to look at her bracelet. It was given to her by her mother and it looked very similar to the one in the picture.
Other than the staged work photos, there were a couple of team pictures. A bunch of people managed to squeeze themselves into a small area. There were so many people that all of their faces were about the size of an ant and it was difficult to pick out individual features.
Shen Yu focused on one of the group photos. She noticed that there seemed to be a familiar figure at the edge of that photo, even though the face was half covered up by a hat. The person’s large, toothy grin was very similar to her father’s, and the shape of his mouth and teeth seemed to match perfectly.
After inspecting the photo carefully, Shen Yu concluded that the man in the photo had to be her father in his youth. But that didn’t make sense! From her understanding, Uncle Li was the only one in the family who had a college education. Her father had been a farmer his whole life with his feet planted firmly in the mud. Even though he lived in the city for a couple of years, he had never left the province. Her father had accompanied her to college once and she remembered very clearly the awe he had when they sat on the train. He found it inconceivable that the engine could pull something so big. Shen Yu quickly rationalized that the person in the photo had to be a look-alike. When Tang Can came back, she put down the photos and stood up.
His face was full of regret when he faced Shen Yu. “I had originally wanted you to see someone today but I just got some news that the person had a relapse of an old illness and can no longer see visitors. It looks like it’ll be a few days before that person is well enough again. I’ll have some people send you home right now. I’ll also talk to your newspaper office and have them give you a long vacation.”