A Peach Wood Comb

I know little about the old man standing in front of me. The relationship between Lai Hui and her father was extremely distant; she rarely mentioned him. All I knew was that this old man had divorced Auntie Yun a long time ago and had started another family. The anti-theft door opened, and the old man invited me into his house to sit down. Xie Jiayi surveyed the entire living room; most of the furniture had been replaced, leaving only an old table. On this table, there used to be two photo frames: one was a photo of him with Lai Hui, and the other was of Auntie Yun with Lai Hui. Now, only one remained. Thinking that the photo of him and Lai Hui had long been thrown into the trash, he felt a pang of sadness. Lai Hui’s father, slightly hunched, handed him a cup of tea, sat down, and said, “Lai Hui’s mother is ill, and Lai Hui took her to a big city. I don’t even know where Lai Hui and her mother are!” Xie Jiayi thought he was deliberately hiding it from him, and said with some irritation, “I know they’re in City A!” The old man’s eyes lit up, and he became much more polite. “Ah, good, good. It’s good that someone knows where they are. I’ve always wanted to visit them, both mother and daughter. Can you tell me their specific address?” Xie Jiayi was taken aback, then silently cursed himself for being overly suspicious. The old man really didn’t know. He then thought that Lai Hui didn’t keep in touch with her father because she didn’t want to see him; if he told him the address, Lai Hui would surely blame him. However, seeing the hopeful look on the old man’s face, he felt pity. After pondering for a while, he wrote down Lai Hui’s mobile number for the old man, saying, “I don’t know the address, but here’s her mobile number. If you want to see her, just call her. Oh, and don’t tell her I’ve been here!” The old man joyfully accepted the phone number, chatting casually with Xie Jiayi while sizing him up. Noticing that although Xie was handsome, his clothes were shabby, the old man didn’t insist on him staying longer when he was about to leave.