I can’t say I like it, but it doesn’t seem appropriate to say I don’t like it.
Zhang Moyan was still weighing it, and Xiao Guotao said: "I already know."
Did he already know? Zhang Moyan was confused, please, how did he know if she didn't even know yet?
"You remind me of someone." Xiao Guotao looked at Zhang Moyan in concentration.
Zhang Moyan felt uncomfortable looking at him and touched his face: "Really...who is it?"
Xiao Guotao's eyes seemed to be flashed by a bright light, and he rubbed his eyelids with his thumb and index finger: "...You are very much like my brother."
Zhang Moyan bit her lower lip.
"It's my brother who passed away twenty-six years ago. His name is Xiao Guoxi." Xiao Guotao's voice was a little sad, and he stared at Zhang Moyan intently.
Zhang Moyan was a little surprised: "Your brother?"
Xiao Guotao's eyes were confused, as if he was caught in some kind of memory: "Yes, he is Xiao Huai's grandfather."
"Xiao Huai's grandfather..." Zhang Moyan nodded, and then asked in confusion: "Is...do I look a lot like him?"
It's impossible. After all, they are both a man and a woman, and she is in her youth in her twenties. Xiao Huai's grandfather must have been fifty years old twenty-six years ago, right? How similar can this be? p>
While Zhang Moyan was thinking wildly, Xiao Guotao put on his reading glasses, opened the drawer and took out an old-looking photo album.
"Let me show you." Xiao Guotao stood up with the photo album, walked around the table to Zhang Moyan, and sat down in the chair on her right.
Zhang Moyan suddenly felt a little nervous.
Opening the photo album, the photos inside, judging from the paper, color, and the characters' clothing, are all products of the 1990s at least.
The first photo on the first page is a photo of two energetic uncles on a similar ferry or cruise ship. The background is green water, which should be a photo taken during a tour of a famous river somewhere.
Of the two uncles, the one on the left is Xiao Guotao. At that time, his hair was still black and there were not many wrinkles on his face, but he was still instantly recognizable from his facial features and figure.
The other person in the photo is younger than Xiao Guotao and looks very similar to him, but a little stronger than him.
"I don't think your brother and I look much alike?" Zhang Moyan said bluntly while looking at the photo.
Xiao Guotao looked at her and smiled kindly: "I didn't say that you and he look alike, I just think you have similar personalities."
"Oh." Zhang Moyan seemed to understand, but in fact she didn't quite understand her personality.
Xiao Guotao fondly caressed Xiao Guoxi in the photo with his fingers, and then slowly turned back several pages.
This photo album features many members of the Xiao family. She saw Xiao Weijiang, Xiao Weidi, her eldest aunt, and her second aunt when she was young, and she even accidentally discovered Xiao Weijiang in several places.
"Guoxi left too early. If he were still alive, he would be very happy to see Xiao Huai so good now." In the silence, Xiao Guotao suddenly said emotionally.
Zhang Moyan turned her head and looked at Xiao Guotao. The old man's cloudy eyes were a little moist behind the square lenses.
"It would have been better if they had not gone on that inspection trip." Xiao Guotao turned another page of the photo album and slowly pulled out a photo from a transparent plastic paper.
Zhang Moyan followed his gaze, and the photo in his hand was a group photo of three people. Xiao Guoxi was in the middle, and two young men in their prime, a man and a woman, were on his left and right. The photo was taken in a small courtyard.
In front of the door, there is a signboard with black characters on a white background hanging at the door of the small courtyard. Most of it is blocked by the young man's body. Only the three words "Institute" can be seen under his arm.
"What happened to them?" Zhang Moyan had a vague foreboding.
Xiao Guotao sighed.
"That was twenty-six years ago," he put down the photo, took off his glasses and wiped the corners of his eyes with his sleeves: "That year, an archaeological project in Luoyang discovered a kiln site and unearthed many exquisitely crafted Song Dynasty artifacts.
Celadon porcelain shards. Some experts pointed out that it might be another Northern Song Dynasty official kiln site. The Luoyang Cultural Relics Bureau took the lead in the inspection and identification of experts from all parties. When Guoxi was invited, he took his two most proud disciples there. Who knew..." "Who knows what happened?" Zhang Moyan asked.
"Unexpectedly, none of the three people came back."
Zhang Moyan opened his eyes wide: "You're not back? Is... something happened?"
"No one knows what happened," Xiao Guotao closed his eyes in pain and looked up into the void: "The three of them were very lively when they went there, but half a month later, we received the bad news and rushed to Luoyang.
All I saw was Guoxi’s cold body.”
Xiao Guotao was choked with sadness when he said this, as if he was not telling an old thing from twenty-six years ago.
"How could this happen?! Actually... what about these two proud disciples?"
Xiao Guotao shook his head helplessly: "They disappeared and their whereabouts were unknown, so we once suspected that these two people murdered Guoxi."
"Murder?!" Zhang Moyan was horrified. It was the first time in her ordinary life that the word murder was so close to her, "Grandpa Guoxi was murdered?"
Xiao Guotao nodded heavily: "But a year later, the murderer of a serial murder case was captured in Luoyang. When the murderer confessed other crimes, he admitted the fact of killing Guoxi."
"Oh..." He wasn't killed by his favorite disciple. It seems that this is something worth breathing a sigh of relief.
"What happened to the murderer in the end?"
"I was sentenced to death and executed that year."
"He's so cheap...So, there's no news or clues about those two young men?" Zhang Moyan couldn't help but ask.
"The woman doesn't know, the man is probably dead." Xiao Guotao said slowly.
Zhang Moyan was puzzled: "Why should it be?"
Xiao Guotao stared at the young man in the photo: "Twenty-five years ago, I received a final letter from him, but I couldn't find the source of the letter, so I'm not sure whether he really passed away." p>
Zhang Moyan wanted to ask about the content of the final letter, but when the words came to his lips, he felt like he was being too gossipy, so he swallowed them again.
"Xiao Zhang," Xiao Guotao suddenly called her and looked at her, "how many years do you think it takes for a person to be reincarnated in the underworld after death?"
"Ah?" Zhang Moyan couldn't react at all. She felt that Xiao Guotao's thinking seemed to be very fast and he always changed the topic unexpectedly. She was stunned by the question, "I don't know this!"
She has never seen this knowledge in books, and even the imaginative online articles she has read do not seem to mention this knowledge point.
"Mr. Xiao, why do you suddenly ask this?"
Xiao Guotao carefully stuffed the photo back into the album, tidied up the corners, and then raised his head: "I'm a little worried that if I go to report one day, I don't know if I can see Guoxi again."
He closed the photo album, slowly stroked the album cover, and sighed deeply: "I really miss him!"
There was a throbbing pain in her heart, and Zhang Moyan burst into tears, with almost no time to brew.
"What a hardship this life is,
Let’s forget the past.
Brother, I am gone first,
I am surrounded by solitary children."
I'm talking about Xiao Guotao's sad life. With a lifetime of nostalgia for his brother, he took care of his wife and children all his life. When he was dying, he still looked forward to meeting him again under the spring.
Xiao Guoxi must be a very good person, Zhang Moyan thought.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Zhang Moyan wiping away tears. Xiao Guotao turned his head and his eyes gradually became kind: "Son, I'm a little tired. You should go back to the house! Since your identity has been exposed, you should leave as soon as possible. I'll tell you,
No one will make things difficult for you! I believe you will do what you say and won’t write anything randomly.”
Zhang Moyan couldn't believe it, she was pardoned just like this.
Xiao Guotao stood up and started to clear away the things on the table: "Let's go before I change my mind."
Zhang Moyan stood up immediately: "Thank you, Mr. Xiao!"