Chapter 49: You’ve Come of Age?

“Photos?”

Zhang Ke thought for a moment. Wang Zhao didn’t take many photos when she was young. This child was autistic and seemed to dislike anything that left traces, especially cameras, which she strongly rejected.

So there weren’t many photos taken.

However, they did take a few. At that time, he also wanted to keep a memento, so he took Wang Zhao to a photo studio once and took several photos.

Thinking about what happened during that photo session, Zhang Ke couldn’t help but smile. He stood up from the sofa, laughing as he said to Li Zhenguan on the sofa, “The photo album is in my room. I’ll go get it for you to see. Something funny happened when we went to take photos back then.”

Li Zhenguan was curious but didn’t ask, as Zhang Ke’s expression showed he couldn’t hold it in. After the man returned from his room with a slightly yellowed photo album, he sat back down on the sofa and handed the album to Li Zhenguan.

Watching the other person flip through it, he finally spoke with a smile: “That time when Wang Zhao went to take photos, she was only four or five years old, just a tiny thing, but she spoke and acted very clearly. She was about the age to start elementary school.

Her mother and I thought about taking a photo of her before she started school as a memento, and her grandmother was still alive then. The old lady wanted to see what her granddaughter looked like, so I somehow managed to take Wang Zhao to the photo studio.”

At this point, Zhang Ke asked, “Have you been to a photo studio before? The old-style ones, they’re not on the streets anymore now. In the past, ladies used film, not like now where everyone stores photos directly on their phones and doesn’t even print them out. It doesn’t feel as real.”

If you asked Zhang Ke, he still preferred the feel of film cameras.

Li Zhenguan flipped through the album in his hands and shook his head after hearing Zhang Ke’s words. When he was young, if he took photos, they were taken with cameras bought by his family and developed themselves. He had never been to a place like a photo studio. In Li Zhenguan’s memory, photo studios should be places for taking wedding photos or graduation photos.

Just then, he came across a photo. A little girl wearing a T-shirt and white shorts was standing holding a stuffed toy, and next to her was a little boy crouching on the ground, also holding a stuffed toy, sniffling as he looked at the little girl being photographed, seemingly crying.

He looked up: “Who is this?”

He thought it might be a relative of the Wang family, but thinking back, he hadn’t seen such a young man of Wang Zhao’s age at the wedding. The other men he had seen were either already established in their careers, a bit older than Wang Zhao, or still in school like Wang Jing.

Moreover, the Wang family didn’t have many relatives. If he had met such a man of about the same age, he had no reason not to remember.

“We met him during the photo session,” Zhang Ke said. “This is the funny incident that happened then. At that time, the photographer gave our Wang Zhao a stuffed toy. That little boy saw it and wanted it too. He came over trying to snatch it. But you know Wang Zhao’s personality, she certainly didn’t give it to him. The little boy couldn’t get it, so he cried, making both families laugh awkwardly.”

Li Zhenguan looked at the little boy, his expression showing no particular emotion: “Did Wang Zhao end up giving the stuffed toy away?”

“Of course not. At that time, her gender awareness was a bit…” Zhang Ke paused here, but then remembered he had already told Li Zhenguan about Wang Zhao seeing a psychological consultant when she was young, so there was no need to hide anything now.

“At that time, she had some issues with gender awareness. She thought boys were stronger than girls. When a little boy tried to snatch something from her, it was good enough that she didn’t beat him up, let alone give the stuffed toy to that boy.”

Not only did she not give it away, she calmly took photos, letting that little boy crouch nearby watching longingly, not caring that he was constantly sniffling and crying, truly stone-hearted.

The boy’s mother and father didn’t know what to say. It was only when the photographer took back the stuffed toy from Wang Zhao’s hand after the photo session that he felt relieved.

Li Zhenguan smiled: “Was Wang Zhao so stubborn when she was young?”

“Not just stubborn, she was downright bull-headed. Don’t know who she took after,” Zhang Ke said.

Li Zhenguan just smiled. As he flipped through the album, he saw that Wang Zhao was very cute as a child. Her features were like a miniature version of her current self, but you could still see hints of her personality in the photos.

She really didn’t like to smile. While other children made all sorts of funny faces, Wang Zhao always had a quiet expression in the photos.

The two chatted for a while longer, then Zhang Ke said it was almost noon and he would tidy up the young couple’s room before making lunch.

“If there’s anything you don’t want, gather it up. I’ll see what can be donated,” Zhang Ke said to Li Zhenguan. “Don’t touch the heavy stuff, you can’t lift it now. We’ll deal with that when Wang Zhao and the others come back in the evening.”

Li Zhenguan nodded.

In the two months since marrying into the family, Li Zhenguan hadn’t really gone through the room he was living in, like the drawers and cabinets. These had always been used by Wang Zhao, and seemed to contain some documents. He hadn’t asked Wang Zhao about it, so he had never opened them to look.

He first sorted through his clothes. Many of his old clothes couldn’t be worn now. His waist size and overall weight had increased quite a bit. The winter clothes were almost all brand new and several sizes too large, clearly maternity wear. But after giving birth, these clothes would definitely not be needed anymore.

Zhang Ke came in to help midway.

He had quite a lot of clothes, three times as many as Wang Zhao, mostly various coats, jackets, and tops. Several brands would send him new items whenever they came out. Besides what was sent to him, Yang Jin would also send over a few women’s coats. So in just two months, the wardrobe here was already full, mostly with coats. Now that he was pregnant, he couldn’t wear some of the fitted clothes.

To be honest, Zhang Ke didn’t know Li Zhenguan had so many clothes and was quite shocked.

But these clothes were all bought by Li Zhenguan himself, probably not using Wang Zhao’s money, so Zhang Ke wouldn’t say anything. When these two got married, he and Wang Xuechun had already anticipated this issue, but this was a difference that Li Zhenguan and Wang Zhao needed to resolve. The older generation shouldn’t interfere too much.

“Do you wear all these clothes?” After looking through them, Zhang Ke asked Li Zhenguan. “Let’s put away the ones you don’t wear often. The wardrobe here is already full. I’ll hang some of the clothes in a small alcove in the study. You can go get them when you want to wear them.”

Li Zhenguan nodded.