Lin Chen and Wen Moshen were nowhere to be seen in the photo alb.u.m. There were photos of Lin Nuan at different ages, and most of them were individual shots. There were also photos of her with other people, such as cla.s.smates and friends.
Fu Huai"an"s mood became better. Seeing Lin Nuan"s adorable manner when she was young, he couldn"t resist smiling.
Lin Nuan was the kind of girl who was very pretty since she was young. In a cla.s.s photo, she easily grabbed other"s attention. It wasn"t the case of "beauty is in the eye of the beholder" for Fu Huai"an. She truly was beautiful and fair when she was young. With a red scarf before her chest, two plaits, red lips, and white teeth… she was so pretty it"d be hard not to notice her.
Lin Nuan came out of the bathroom after was.h.i.+ng up and saw Fu Huai"an seated before her desk, his broad shoulders blocking out the light from the table lamp…
Lin Nuan looked towards the bed. Seeing Tuan Tuan soundly asleep, she walked up behind Fu Huai"an with light-footed steps and stuck out her neck. "What are you looking at?"
What entered her view was the only naked photo of Lin Nuan when she was young. Lin Nuan"s ears turned red in an instant. She quickly took the photo alb.u.m from Fu Huai"an"s hands and closed it up, then stuffed it into the drawer. "What is there to look at!"
That was a photo taken of Lin Nuan when she first learned to walk. She was just given a bath, and the nanny was about to help her put on clothes. But, upon seeing Liang Mulan… the naked little Lin Nuan had toddled towards Liang Mulan, and thus such a photo was born.
"Very cute…" Fu Huai"an smiled lightly. He reached out to grab Lin Nuan"s wrist, pulling her into his arms and making her sit on his lap.
Lin Nuan struggled a little. "Tuan Tuan is still here!"
"It"s okay, he"s asleep!" Fu Huai"an placed a large hand on Lin Nuan"s lap, his voice incredibly tender. "My Mrs. Fu was born a beauty. From the time she was young, you can tell she was a striking beauty!"
Lin Nuan"s ears turned hot at the compliment. "Are you sleeping or not!"
"Sleeping!"
Fu Huai"an was in a great mood. After was.h.i.+ng up, he saw Lin Nuan hugging Tuan Tuan with her eyes closed. He gently lifted up the sheets and laid down next to Lin Nuan…
Lin Nuan"s arm was being hugged by Tuan Tuan, and now her entire body was being hugged in Fu Huai"an"s arms. It was so warm, yet she couldn"t get to sleep.
Previously, she had Fu Huai"an and Tuan Tuan chatting with her, so Lin Nuan didn"t feel so sad.
But in the quietness of the night, Lin Nuan couldn"t suppress her own emotions. With Ji Yun departing from this world, Lin Nuan felt that the last kin on this earth who was biologically related to her had left her!
And that blood-related older brother of hers. It was such a huge world… She probably wouldn"t find him in this lifetime!
Lin Nuan didn"t share too many memories with Ji Yun for her to reminisce upon.
She wasn"t like Lin Ran. Be it painful memories or not, at least she had many memories of interacting with Ji Yun.
Tears slipped past Lin Nuan"s nose and into her other eye, wetting the pillow.
Fu Huai"an didn"t sleep either. He had lost his mother, his grandmother, Jiang Ming"an, and Lu Xiangsi, so he could empathize with Lin Nuan"s feelings!
He tightened his hold around Lin Nuan"s waist, then heard her sobbing. The heavily m.u.f.fled tone made one sense just how upset Lin Nuan was.
Everyone would go through the pain of losing one"s kin…
Time had always been an effective healing medicine!
When it came to such matters, other than time, perhaps nothing else would help.
Any comforting words were temporary, unable to permanently make one forget about such pain.
Lin Nuan cried for a long time. It was only when she could no longer breath through her nose that she sat up. In a sweet gesture, Fu Huai"an handed her a tissue. She wiped her snot and tears with it, and while she wanted to say something, her nose was so blocked that she couldn"t breathe, making her unable to say a word.
She leaned against Fu Huai"an"s chest, and as her emotions calmed down, her breathing became calmer as well. "Sorry to have affected you…"
"Not at all. I sleep very little to begin with, don"t you know?" Fu Huai"an and Lin Nuan leaned against the head of the bed. Next to them was Tuan Tuan, who had already switched into a different sleeping position with his little b.u.t.t stuck up, occupying half the bed.
"If you can"t get to sleep, look at your photo alb.u.ms with me. There are plenty of them…" There was a smile in Fu Huai"an"s tone.
Lin Nuan wiped her snot with a tissue and nodded. "When I was in junior high, my Lin mother was obsessed with taking photos. Hence, there are several alb.u.ms of photos of me from that period of time."
Fu Huai"an held Lin Nuan"s hand as she got out of bed. He let her sit on his lap, then turned on a small table lamp. The two of them looked at Lin Nuan"s photos from when she was young. As he listened while Lin Nuan told him about the story behind each photo, Fu Huai"an felt as if he too had experienced Lin Nuan"s childhood.
"You look at it first. I"ll go downstairs and get us two cups of water…" Lin Nuan lowered her voice.
It was already 2:40 am. She couldn"t very well wake up the asleep servants for two gla.s.ses of water. Lin Nuan found a sweater that she used to wear in her high school days in the wardrobe. It was a light-pink sweater that Liang Mulan bought her, a particularly tender color.
When Lin Nuan walked past Lin Ran"s room, she heard a suppressed sobbing sound…
Lin Ran was alone in her room, so when she cried, she could do it in a lowered voice without care.
Compared to Lin Nuan, Lin Ran had deeper feelings for Ji Yun. After all, she grew up beside Ji Yun.
Lin Nuan went downstairs. She originally wanted to get warm water, but after some thought, she changed her mind and made three warm cups of milk.
Lin Nuan didn"t go back for a while, so Fu Huai"an went down to look for her. When he got downstairs, he saw Lin Nuan holding a tray with three gla.s.ses of milk and heading back upstairs.
He asked, "For Lin Ran?"
Clearly, when Fu Huai"an walked past Lin Ran"s room, he also heard her crying.
Lin Nuan nodded.
Fu Huai"an took two gla.s.ses from Lin Nuan"s tray and said, "I"ll wait for you in the room…"
Fu Huai"an was always so considerate. He knew what Lin Nuan was going to do, but even if he didn"t… he would indulge her and even help her.
Bringing the gla.s.s of milk to Lin Ran"s door, Lin Nuan knocked on the door. The sobbing stopped. She knocked on the door again in uncertainty.
Lin Ran had been crying so hard that a "weng" sound was constantly going off in her head.
Lin Nuan knocked on the door again. Lin Ran"s m.u.f.fled voice was then heard. "Who is it?"
"Me…"
It was unexpected, yet it was also within reason. Even she was so upset that she couldn"t get to sleep, so how would Lin Nuan be able to sleep? Lin Ran got up and opened the door.
Under the faint lighting of the corridor stood Lin Nuan, who had reddened eyes. Inside the pitch-black room where lights weren"t turned on, Lin Ran"s eyes were like walnuts.
Seeing Lin Nuan with a gla.s.s of milk in her hands, Lin Ran sniffled and said, "I don"t wanna drink!"
"Milk helps you sleep!"
Lin Nuan placed the gla.s.s of milk in Lin Ran"s hands without waiting for her to object further. "It"s warm, perfect for drinking now!"
Liang Mulan had a sleepless night too. She had wanted to go downstairs for a drink of water, but she had just opened her door very slightly when she heard Lin Nuan and Lin Ran"s voices. She didn"t go out, merely hiding behind the door and watching the two girls from the door crack, unable to resist smiling…
Ji Yun"s departure had bound the girls together from now on. If Ji Yun were watching from above, she would perhaps be heartened to see that.