Chapter 72: Childhood Memories

Zhao Hongxia sat on the balcony, holding a yellowed photograph in her hand, gazing out at the sea.

The sea at Binhai and the sea at Ci'en belong to the same stretch of water, with no difference at all, yet in her eyes, she could see a difference.

Although Binhai and Ci'en were adjacent, she had not been to Binhai for nearly forty years.

Forty years ago, she was not yet called Zhao Hongxia, but Lu Hongxia.

That was the happiest period of her childhood; her father was a sailor and would often bring back all sorts of rare gifts for her, making her the object of envy among her friends.

But later, her father insisted on divorcing her mother, and she followed her mother through a life of upheaval; the pampered little girl who had once been sheltered in her parents' arms learned to grow up in just a few short months.

A blast of a ship's horn sounded over the sea, pulling Zhao Hongxia, who had been lost in thought, back to herself.

She drew her gaze back from the sea and looked down at the yellowed photograph in her hand.

In the photograph, a man held a little girl in his arms, with a woman with her hair pinned up nestled beside them.

Clearly, this was a family of three, all three smiling happily.

The man and woman in the photograph were dressed rather plainly; only the little girl in his arms was dressed in bright, colorful clothes, and seemed to have makeup on her face, but because the photograph was so old and somewhat faded, it was hard to make out clearly.

"Actually, I didn't want to come. It's been so long," Zhao Hongxia said softly.

At that moment, a somewhat gaunt middle-aged man walked out from inside the house.

He said, "But didn't you still come? Since you've made the decision, don't regret it anymore."

He was Zhao Hongxia's husband, Sun Mahayana, and also Lu Guanchang's son-in-law.

Zhao Hongxia didn't continue, but said, "You say, that letter—who exactly wrote it?"

"It should be your dad who wrote it, right?" Sun Mahayana said.

"But why arrange for us to meet at a hotel?" Zhao Hongxia said, both puzzled and a little angry.

After all these years, was she still not allowed to set foot in the family home?

Sun Mahayana reached out and patted her shoulder, then sat down beside her; he didn't know how to comfort her either.

"If by two o'clock tomorrow afternoon he still hasn't shown up, we'll check out and head back to Ci'en," Zhao Hongxia said.

Sun Mahayana nodded and said, "But about this matter, didn't you tell our mom?"

"Tell her what? She's living a perfectly good life now; there's no need to cause her trouble."

"You think, has our mom still not forgotten your dad?" Sun Mahayana asked quietly.

"What nonsense are you talking about? My mom has been married to my second dad for so many years now, the two of them are very close—how could she possibly still have... still have him in her heart?"

"I'm not talking nonsense. If our mom really hated your dad, after all these years, how could this photograph still be preserved so well?"

Sun Mahayana reached out and took the photograph from Zhao Hongxia's hand.

Apart from being faded and yellowed with age, the photograph had not a single crease or tear at its edges.

Zhao Hongxia fell silent at his words.

In fact, whether in Binhai or Ci'en, because they were close to the sea, the air was quite humid.

The quilts and pillows at home always gave one a damp feeling, as if they had never been properly dry; many friends from the north found this very hard to adjust to.

For this reason as well, many old photographs were hard to preserve.

And yet the photograph in her hand now was so well preserved—it was clearly kept with great care.

"Tell me, how did he know our address, and why did he suddenly contact us?" Sun Mahayana asked.

"Who knows, but I suppose he's old now and wants someone to look after him," Zhao Hongxia said with a note of sarcasm.

Sun Mahayana actually thought the same in his heart, and he also did not approve of this trip to Binhai.

But at home, Zhao Hongxia had always had a rather strong personality; everything was decided by her word alone. Since she wanted to come, Sun Mahayana didn't even dare try to dissuade her, and could only take things one step at a time.

Although Sun Mahayana didn't say it, Zhao Hongxia seemed to understand what he was thinking.

She glanced at him and said, "Don't worry, I just want to meet him once and ask him why he was so heartless back then, abandoning us mother and daughter. Wanting me to see him through his old age and bury him—that is absolutely out of the question."

Hearing the decisive tone in which Zhao Hongxia spoke, Sun Mahayana still didn't believe she would truly turn her back without a second thought.

After so many years of marriage, he knew his wife all too well—the classic sharp tongue but soft heart.

After saying all this, Zhao Hongxia took the photograph back from Sun Mahayana's hand, placed it on her thigh, and used her finger to smooth out the corners where there were no creases at all.

After all these years, everyone else had let go—only Zhao Hongxia had not.

Some say that the wounds of childhood take a lifetime to heal, and that is no lie.

If Zhao Hongxia's parents had not divorced and she had grown up happy, she would instead not remember much of her childhood.

But the upheaval of the family and the pain brought by her father made her childhood memories extraordinarily vivid; even after so many years, many things seemed as clear as if they had happened yesterday.

Sun Mahayana suddenly said something from the side.

"The children are all grown up now."

Zhao Hongxia's movements paused for a moment.

The couple had a son and a daughter, both already married; the elder daughter even had a child, while the younger son had only recently married and did not yet have children.

"How about we head back this afternoon?"

It seemed Sun Mahayana's words had struck a deep chord in Zhao Hongxia.

Thinking of her own mother and her own children, she suddenly felt her behavior was a little ridiculous.

But at this point Sun Mahayana shook his head, no longer agreeing with Zhao Hongxia's approach.

"Even if we don't get to meet him, let's stay a few more days in Binhai, wander around and take a look. Binhai is much prettier than our Ci'en."

Both were coastal cities, but as a tourist destination, Binhai's infrastructure was certainly far better than Ci'en's, and far more prosperous.

Zhao Hongxia wanted to say more, but was cut off by Sun Mahayana: "If you truly didn't care, there'd be nothing to fear."

Zhao Hongxia nodded, feeling her husband had a point.

After all these years, she was already a grandmother—what was the point of caring so much.

Just then, a gust of wind blew in from outside onto the balcony, swirling around and bringing a touch of coolness.

Sun Mahayana stood up and looked out at the distant sea, where thick clouds had piled up in the sky above the water.

"Is it going to rain?"

In August on the coast, rain was especially frequent, but it came quickly and left just as fast—so much so that often the sun shone on one side while rain fell on the other.

"A bit of rain would be nice too. When it rains, the weather cools down. It's way too hot right now."

Zhao Hongxia said this with her mouth, but she too stood up, preparing to head back inside.

Although there was a sea breeze on the balcony, it still wasn't as cool as the air-conditioned room indoors.

Sun Mahayana turned around as well, ready to head back inside, but just at that moment, a figure slowly appeared before the two of them.

This person hadn't appeared all at once; rather, they materialized gradually, from faint to solid.

Zhao Hongxia was so startled she took a step back, but Sun Mahayana stepped forward quickly and grabbed her hand.

The moment Zhao Hongxia's hand met his warmth, she seemed to come to her senses. She immediately shifted one step to the right, and her plumper frame just happened to shield the leaner Sun Mahayana behind her.

"Xiaoxia, don't be scared…"