Chapter 2848

Hearing Lin Wan'er's words, Ye Chen subconsciously looked at the black photo album in her hands.

At first glance, one could tell that this album was already very old.

In the last ten years or so, with the rapid development of smartphones, the general public had long since subconsciously digitized all their image materials, and few people still bought photo albums of different sizes and thicknesses like they did twenty years ago to classify and organize all their photos.

Ye Chen didn't know what was inside the album, so he took it from Lin Wan'er and carefully opened the first page.

The first thing that caught his eye on the first page were individual photos of two young people left in front of the Statue of Liberty in the United States.

The man in the photo looked very similar to Ye Chen, only his attire was relatively retro, wearing a knit sweater and faded jeans typical of that era; this was Ye Chen's father, Ye Brother Changying.

The woman in the photo looked to be about twenty-two or twenty-three years old. She had a slender figure, was wearing a light beige trench coat, and had a perm that was very fashionable at the time—a style that didn't look inferior even when viewed today. Her coat hem and hair were blowing in the wind, making her look both beautiful and dashing.

Lin Wan'er couldn't help but sigh, "The Young Master's mother is really beautiful..."

Ye Chen nodded gently and then asked jokingly, "Haven't you seen my mother before? She seemed quite well-known in that era."

Lin Wan'er shook her head and said, "I have searched for the life of the Young Master's mother. She was indeed remarkable, and she had unparalleled fame in the fields of technology, finance, and venture capital twenty or thirty years ago..."

As she spoke, Lin Wan'er sighed softly and said, "Actually, my life trajectory is the exact opposite of the Young Master's mother. The Young Master's mother seized the opportunity after Silicon Valley and the internet shone brightly and became a trendsetter in people's mouths. But I, after the rise of the internet, worried about Wu Feiyan's information-gathering capabilities using this trend to improve rapidly, so I almost stopped having any contact with the outside world, so we just happened to miss each other."

Ye Chen nodded in understanding and then opened the second page of the album.

The second page of the album contained photos of his parents together.

Still with the Statue of Liberty as the background, Ye Brother Changying stood tall and straight, while An Chengxi leaned against him like a little bird, stretching out her hands to embrace him, and Ye Brother Changying also stretched out an arm to hold An Chengxi.

The four photos on this page were all of the two of them together. The four photos were sometimes serious, sometimes playful, or sometimes silly, but it was clear that in every photo, the two of them only had eyes for each other and were very much in love.

Lin Wan'er looked at them and couldn't help but sigh, "The Young Master's parents must have had a very good relationship. It's truly enviable."

Ye Chen nodded and said, "These must be photos from when they were dating. Actually, even after I could remember things, they were just as loving. They never argued, and even when there were disagreements, one side would quickly concede before the situation got out of control."

Lin Wan'er asked curiously, "Then who usually made the concession first?"

Ye Chen thought for a moment and said, "It seems there wasn't a clear rule on who would concede first. The two of them always had a tacit understanding in life and were always able to judge well how much the other person insisted on a certain matter. If they felt the other person was more insistent on that matter than themselves, one side would appropriately concede."

Lin Wan'er couldn't help but sigh, "For two people to be able to balance each other at all times, this kind of relationship is truly rare."

Ye Chen nodded slightly and opened the third page of the album.

After this page was opened, the photo in the upper left corner was of a small antique shop with a small storefront. This antique shop was somewhat retro, the shape of the door head had some British style, and in the middle of the round sign, there was a "Gu" character written in Chinese characters.

Lin Wan'er, who was on the side, pointed to a number plate next to the shop door and said, "Young Master, this shop is in Queens, New York."

"Is that so?" Ye Chen asked curiously, "How can you tell? I see that the resolution is so low that I can't see the words on it at all."

Lin Wan'er said, "I have lived in Queens. The size, color scheme, and hanging position of this kind of number plate were the early style of Queens. I'm not sure if it's still in use now."

"New York..." Ye Chen nodded, suddenly remembering what his eldest uncle had told him a few days ago: his parents had bought a set of antique books at an antique shop in New York back then, and that set of books was the "Nine Mysteries Sutra Preface."

Combining this with the antique shop in the photo, Ye Chen suddenly remembered something and said to Lin Wan'er, "This is very likely the antique shop where my father bought the 'Nine Mysteries Sutra Preface'!"

Lin Wan'er was also surprised and said quickly, "The 'Nine Mysteries Sutra Preface' and the 'Nine Mysteries Heavenly Sutra' must have an inevitable connection. The Young Master obtained the 'Nine Mysteries Heavenly Sutra' by chance in an antique shop in Jin Ling, and your father obtained the 'Nine Mysteries Sutra Preface' in an antique shop in New York back then. There must be more than just a coincidence between the two!"

Ye Chen nodded and said, "The world is so big, it's impossible that two incredibly mysterious scriptures would fall into the hands of a father and son separately, and there's a twenty-year gap and half a globe between them..."

After saying this, Ye Chen hurriedly looked down.

The second photo in the lower left corner was a photo of Ye Chen's father, Ye Brother Changying, and a young man younger than him, taken in front of this antique shop.

In the photo, the two were patting each other's backs, and their other hands were both giving a thumbs-up to the camera.

Lin Wan'er pointed to the person next to Ye Chen's father and asked Ye Chen, "Does the Young Master know this person?"

Ye Chen shook his head: "I don't know him."

Lin Wan'er said, "It looks like he had a very good relationship with the Young Master's father. Didn't the Young Master see him when you were young?"

"No." Ye Chen said firmly: "I really don't have any impression of having seen this person."

As he spoke, Ye Chen looked at the man's appearance and suddenly frowned, saying: "Strange... I really haven't seen this person in the photo when I was young, at least before my parents and I left Yan Jing, I absolutely had never seen such a person, but... but this person looks a little familiar, but I can't think of where I've seen him for a moment."

Lin Wan'er thought for a moment and said seriously: "Familiarity doesn't come without a reason. It's possible that the Young Master hasn't seen him, but has seen his relatives, so you feel his appearance is familiar. It's also possible that the Young Master has indeed seen him, but when you saw him, his appearance had already undergone relatively large changes compared to the one in the photo, for example, he might have become fatter, balder, more mature, or even older."

Ye Chen agreed and said: "What you said is indeed possible, but I really can't think of any clear clues for a moment."

Lin Wan'er pursed her lower lip and asked Ye Chen: "Young Master, may I take the photo out to see? Perhaps something will be written on the back of the photo. People in the past had the habit of writing words on the back of photos to commemorate them."

Ye Chen nodded and said: "Okay, you take it out."

Lin Wan'er carefully pulled out this photo, then took a look at its back, and said with pleasant surprise: "Young Master, there is indeed writing on the back of this photo paper!"

Ye Chen took it and looked. On the back of the white photo paper with the Kodak logo, a line of words was written with a fountain pen: "In Queens with Chou, 12.11"