BXBX NOVEL Chapter 428: Petals
Chapter 428: Chapter 428: Petals
Lin Ruoxi walked into the room, her hand brushing over the old-fashioned TV cabinet. To her left was a large bed, over two meters wide. Wang Ma had already replaced the bed linens, and the three white wooden wardrobes were filled with Lin Ruoxi\'s expensive clothes.
In the right corner of the room was a small passage leading to a closet and a bathroom. Many of Lin Ruoxi\'s belongings were stored there, untouched by Wang Ma for fear of disturbing them.
Above the bed hung a Western-style landscape painting, depicting a field of yellow flowers that seemed to fill the room with a fragrant breeze. In reality, the room did carry a faint, pleasant scent, which Yang Chen could tell did not come from Lin Ruoxi\'s original room but was left by the previous owner.
Of course, describing it that way might seem a bit eerie. However, many of Xue Zijing\'s belongings, Lin Ruoxi\'s mother, were still in the room, including some crafts, her favorite books, and various stationery items.
The dressing table was also from that era, and the mirror had been polished until it gleamed like new. On the bedside table was an old photo frame.
Lin Ruoxi walked over, picked up the frame, and sat down on the soft bed, her fingers gently caressing the picture inside, lost in thought.
Yang Chen stepped closer and, upon closer inspection, recognized the two women in the photo as the deceased former president and Xue Zijing, with Xue Zijing holding a baby wrapped in a white, fluffy blanket. It had to be Lin Ruoxi as an infant.
Back then, Xue Zijing looked very much like Lin Ruoxi does now, though with a softer expression and a faint smile, compared to Lin Ruoxi\'s cool beauty.
Lin Ruoxi murmured a few words too softly to hear clearly, then put the frame down and opened the bedside drawer.
Wang Ma hadn\'t touched much in the drawer, having only moved in yesterday and not had time to tidy everything. As Lin Ruoxi opened the drawer, a small cloud of dust rose. She waved it away to see clearly and found a thick photo album and some dried rose petals.
Yang Chen, standing beside her, mused that his unseen mother-in-law must have been a sentimental and poetic woman. Why else would she keep rose petals in the drawer? Perhaps it was to decorate the drawer?
Lin Ruoxi\'s attention was drawn to the photo album. The old photo on the bedside table had already stirred many memories in her, so she eagerly took out the album.
Suddenly aware of Yang Chen\'s presence beside her, Lin Ruoxi frowned slightly. She carefully considered whether there were any embarrassing childhood photos she could recall. Satisfied that there weren\'t, she opened the album.
Yang Chen, curious about the old album, sat down beside Lin Ruoxi.
Feeling the bed bounce slightly, Lin Ruoxi\'s brows knitted, "Be gentle. What if you break the bed?"
"Come on, we\'re not that heavy. This bed can handle a bit of movement," Yang Chen replied.
"So rough," Lin Ruoxi muttered. "Move a little. You\'re too close, and it\'s uncomfortable."
"It\'s no fun if we\'re apart. This way is more comfortable for me," Yang Chen said with a smile, then suddenly realized how suggestive their conversation sounded and couldn\'t help but burst into laughter.
Lin Ruoxi was about to look at the photos when Yang Chen suddenly burst into laughter. Curious, she asked, "What\'s so funny?"
Yang Chen leaned close to her ear, his breath warm against her skin, and said playfully, "If someone overheard our conversation just now, what do you think they would imagine?"
Lin Ruoxi thought about it seriously for a moment, then quickly understood, given Yang Chen\'s mischievous mind. Her face turned bright pink as she glared at him angrily and ignored him, turning her attention back to the photo album. To their surprise, the first page of the album didn\'t contain family photos as they had expected, but personal photos of Xue Zijing.
In the photos, Xue Zijing wore a blue-and-white sailor-style school uniform, standing at the entrance of a middle school with a sweet smile. The photos had yellowed over time, but it was still clear that the school was a certain middle school in Yanjing.
"Was your mother always from Yanjing?" Yang Chen asked.
Lin Ruoxi thought for a moment and shook her head, "I don\'t know. My mother\'s family emigrated overseas, and we didn\'t hear much about them when I was a child. Grandma and my mother didn\'t talk about it. Maybe she was, Aunt Guo did mention they knew each other since childhood."
As they flipped through the album, they found more photos documenting Xue Zijing\'s growth. Though it wasn\'t what they initially expected, Lin Ruoxi was clearly interested in learning about her mother\'s life.
It\'s a sad irony that a daughter only gets to see these memories of her mother\'s life after her death.
After flipping through a dozen pages, they found several group photos. In these photos, another girl appeared alongside Xue Zijing, looking somewhat familiar to both Lin Ruoxi and Yang Chen. Upon closer inspection, they realized it was Guo Xuehua!
Lin Ruoxi and Yang Chen exchanged a glance, recalling Guo Xuehua\'s stories about her deep friendship with Xue Zijing, which was now further confirmed by these photos.
The two young women, each with their own unique charm, left many memories in these high school and college photos. By the time they reached their university years, they had truly grown into beautiful young women.
"You really look like your mother," Yang Chen couldn\'t help but marvel, having noticed this before at the tombstone and now even more so in these photos.
Lin Ruoxi gave him a dissatisfied look, "Is that how you compare? I look like my mother."
There was a hint of pride in Lin Ruoxi\'s voice as she spoke. Deep down, she felt a sense of pride in having a beautiful mother, which perhaps made her especially respectful and even a bit intimidated by her mother during her lifetime.
Yang Chen gave an awkward laugh, sensing that his comment had come out wrong.
As they continued flipping through the album, they suddenly came across a photo that left both Lin Ruoxi and Yang Chen stunned. In the photo, by a lakeside, Xue Zijing and Guo Xuehua stood beside a tall, handsome man who appeared much older and very mature.
This wouldn\'t have been remarkable except for one key detail: the man in the photo was someone both Yang Chen and Lin Ruoxi recognized—Ning Guangyao, the Prime Minister!
Although younger and more dashing than he was now, Ning Guangyao\'s features were unmistakable.
Yang Chen\'s mind raced with thoughts. The first time they met, Ning Guangyao had stared at Lin Ruoxi, but it wasn\'t a look of a man towards a woman. Later, when they encountered Ning Guangyao at the Ministry, he had adamantly insisted that Yang Pojun treat Guo Xuehua well and not keep her under house arrest. Then, when they visited Lin Ruoxi\'s mother and grandmother\'s grave, they saw a black Audi at the foot of the mountain, and the bouquet of bauhinia flowers that Lin Ruoxi mentioned had been regularly placed there for years.
An idea that had been forming in Yang Chen\'s mind now felt almost certain, causing his scalp to tingle. Looking at Lin Ruoxi beside him, her expression a mix of confusion and shock, Yang Chen\'s brow furrowed deeply, his face growing serious.
Lin Ruoxi didn\'t notice the surge of emotions in Yang Chen beside her. She was simply puzzled by how her mother knew Ning Guangyao.
"Wife, stop looking at that. Let\'s go down for lunch," Yang Chen reached out and held down the page of the photo album, smiling at Lin Ruoxi.
Lin Ruoxi came back to her senses and frowned, "All you think about is eating. What\'s the rush? Wang Ma will call us."
"I want to eat the food you cook," Yang Chen said seriously.
Lin Ruoxi rolled her eyes at him, "Stop messing around. Wang Ma and Mom are in the kitchen, and Zhenxiu is helping too. I can\'t get involved. Move your hand, I haven\'t finished looking yet."
Yang Chen thought to himself, if you keep looking, something bad might really happen!
But he couldn\'t just tear up the album or knock Lin Ruoxi out. With her intelligence, she would definitely notice something unusual and start investigating hidden things.
Helpless, Yang Chen let go of his hand, just hoping that nothing shocking would appear on the following pages.
However, bad things always happen at the most unwanted times.
Lin Ruoxi had only turned one more page when a photo appeared that made Yang Chen so frustrated he wanted to punch through the bedboard.
It was a large group photo, but Guo Xuehua was not in it. Only Xue Zijing and Ning Guangyao were present!
What was even more striking was that Xue Zijing was leaning against Ning Guangyao like a little bird, and Ning Guangyao\'s eyes were filled with deep affection.
This photo seemed to have been taken at a photo studio. In those days, who would go to a photo studio to take such photos unless they were lovers?
On the white border of the photo, someone had written a few elegant lines with a pen, still clearly visible today.
"I live at the head of the Yangtze River, you live at the tail of the Yangtze. Day by day, I think of you but cannot see you, we drink the same river water. When will this water end, when will this regret cease? I only wish your heart is like mine, never to betray the longing."
As Lin Ruoxi read these lines in her gentle voice, her originally pink and delicate face turned pale, her lips trembled lightly, and her hands holding the album stiffened, fingers slightly bent.
The room was so silent that you could hear a pin drop.
Yang Chen could hear Lin Ruoxi\'s trembling heartbeat, so lost, shocked, and uneasy.
"Uh, Ruoxi darling, what do these lines of poetry mean?" Yang Chen tried to divert Lin Ruoxi\'s attention to help her relax.
Lin Ruoxi was dazed for a long time, not answering, and turned to the next page of the album.
This time, there were several smaller photos, but without exception, all were of Xue Zijing and Ning Guangyao laughing together. In many of them, it was obvious they had taken the photos themselves, their deep affection evident at a glance.
Finally, there was a photo that was different, or rather, incomplete.
It was a photo that had been torn in half, with only Xue Zijing left in it, wearing a white floral dress that matched her temperament, smiling like a flower.
Beside her, there was originally another person, but they had been torn away.
The photo was just stuffed into the album, not clipped in, so when Lin Ruoxi picked it up, she saw two famous lines carelessly written on the back: "Even if there are a thousand feelings, who can I tell them to?"