1430 Auntie Taozi
Qiao Mei did not intend to hide this matter from Liang Lan. Even if the Liang family did not find out about it now, they would still learn about it when Qiao Mei sent someone to investigate the matter. It would be much easier to get the Liang family to tell her who the people in the photo were. In that way, she would not have to pay Yao Nian to do the investigation.
Although Qiao Mei was not short of money, she could not spend it too recklessly. She should still save whenever she could.
"Then can you return the photo to us? That photo is very important to my mother," Liang Lan asked tentatively.
Ever since Qiao Mei took the photo away, Liang Shu had been cursing every day. No matter what Liang Lan gave her, she would throw it on the floor forcefully. She had never been concerned about this photo before, but she became very anxious the moment it was taken away.
Liang Lan did not understand why Liang Shu was doing this. She just wanted to bring the photo back quickly so that Liang Shu would stop this behavior and stop torturing her. She was not getting any quality sleep nowadays because Liang Shu was being so unreasonable.
Liang Lan was taking care of Liang Shu out of the kindness of her heart, but Liang Shu despised her for it instead. In that case, Liang Lan might as well just rest at home for a few days and let Liang Shu fend for herself!
"To be honest, the photo fell out when I was showing my grandfather his photo. When my grandfather realized that one of the people in that photo was your mother, he was so angry that he almost had a heart attack. In a fit of anger, my grandfather threw the photo into the stove pit and burned it. There weren't even any ashes left. There was nothing I could do about it," Qiao Mei said with a sigh.
The corners of Liang Lan's mouth twitch a few times involuntarily. She did not imagine that it had ended up like this. It seemed that Qiao Qiang's hatred for Liang Shu was at a maximum. She wondered how she should tell Liang Lan about this when she reached home.
"Then… then forget it…" Liang Lan said.
"Who are those people in the photo? I thought your mother only has one brother? Is that her younger sister?" Qiao Mei asked curiously.
Liang Lan quickly denied it, saying, "Of course that's not my mother's younger sister! She's a friend of my mother's cousin. I heard that her name is Gao Tao and everyone calls her Taozi."
In that era, it was a dishonorable thing for a person to have illegitimate children. If word got out, one would live in disgrace for the rest of one's life and one's family would also be humiliated because of this. She could not let Qiao Mei have any misunderstandings about their family.
Both Liang Lan and Liang Guo were facing big trouble in their careers now. They could not allow the spread of any rumors that could be detrimental to their careers.
"Gao Tao? Then why is the photo very important to your mother? Since it's not even your aunt in the photo," Qiao Mei asked.
Liang Shu had known Gao Tao from when she was still in school. Liang Shu's older cousin, Liang Jin, had wanted to have more participants in an outing to go boating. Coincidentally, Liang Shu and Gao Tao were among the people invited, which was how the two of them got to know each other.
Gao Tao was a very cheerful person and was very good at socializing. Liang Shu hit it off with her at first sight. After that outing, they would arrange to go out together. Later on, Liang Shu and Gao Tao realized that they were actually studying in the same school. They never had the chance to meet because they were not the same age and therefore attended different classes.
"What happened after that?" Qiao Mei asked.
"I heard that Auntie Taozi was the daughter of the richest family in the capital at that time. They were super rich and half of the farmland in the capital belonged to her father. When the war broke out, their family was also the most plundered, so Grandpa Gao fled and hid in many places with Auntie Taozi in tow. All their assets were taken away," Liang Lan said regretfully.
"Do you know where they ended up?" Qiao Mei said.
Liang Lan suddenly leaned over and whispered, "I heard it from someone else. It seems that Grandpa Gao's entire family has gone overseas. Perhaps Auntie Taozi is among them."
Qiao Mei nodded slightly. Perhaps the Wen Ran whom Qiao Qiang met was actually Gao Tao. It was just that Gao Tao had hidden her identity and did not tell anyone the truth. Perhaps she was also afraid that people would investigate her background and then she would implicate her entire family.
"Oh right! That brooch was Auntie Taozi's gift to my mother. My mother cherishes this treasure very much," Liang Lan said as if she was taking credit for something.
Liang Lan told Qiao Mei everything she knew. She just wanted to curry favor with Qiao Mei so that it would be much easier for her to come back and talk to Qiao Mei in the future. If the medicine she received this time was still not enough, then she could still come and beg Qiao Mei!
"I'll go to the Liang family's house with you to take a look. The medicine I'm giving you today is different from the one I gave you the last time. The effect is stronger than that one. I want to see the effects it has on your mother and whether I should give you the previous medicine instead," Qiao Mei said, coming up with a random excuse.
