Coincidentally, the village chief had two daughters and a son. Feeling sorry for the two, lonesome kids, he kept donating hand-me-downs from his children to the songstress. These clothes were never torn or tattered.

The funny thing was, the village head’s son was only five or six years old, while his daughters were already twelve and nine respectively.

Hence, it turned out that the boy’s outfits were far more suitable for Yun Shishi rather than little Gong Jie with her small build. In return, the twin brother could fit better with the girls’ clothing. The sleeves would be too long for his sister but at just the right length for his lanky build.

Their mother thought they looked interesting with these outfits, so she got her daughter to wear the boy’s clothes while her son wore the girls’ dresses. She even got her girl a crop cut and braided the boy’s hair.

Once, the son from a well-to-do household in the village got into an overseas university. The wealthy man decided to reward his son with a camera and pager for his good efforts. At that time, cameras were still a novelty in this rural village.

The village head decided to take a family portrait for the three of them. Besides family portraiture, they also took a few pictures independently.

The boy had lost all the photos of the three of them except for these two. Having kept these inside his pocket at all time, they remained well-preserved even to this day.

After he joined his paternal family, he had the pictures resized to fit into a locket that he could always wear with him for commemorative reasons.

This was probably his final attempt to hold onto the memory of his mother.

The man recomposed himself from his childhood recollection and gave a resigned smile. “At that time, we were poor and had to wear hand-me-downs. The girls’ outfits were rather large and could only fit me with my height. That’s why…”

Youyou smothered a chuckle. “Uncle, I’m sorry for wronging you. I thought you’re into crossdressing.”

Gong Jie: “I’m not sick, alright?”

His twin nephew chipped in as well. “That’s right! Youyou is the sick one here!”

“Mu Yichen, are you with me or against me?” To which his older brother replied with a cheeky smile.

Cocking a brow, the man’s gaze fell on the images inside the locket again and his lips curled into a gentle arc. He used his fingers to caress the glossy picture as his eyes lingered on the image of his mom.

Just then, his phone rang.

He was jolted back to reality as he put the call through. “Hello?”

“Xiao Jie!”

His sister’s panicky voice could be heard from the other side of the line.

The young man immediately sat up from the reclining chair as her flustered and worried tone agitated him, somewhat. “What’s wrong, sis? Did something happen?”

“Where are you?”

“We’re at the hotel.”

“I have to take the first flight out of this place now; what about you? Are you going back with me or—”

“What happened?” The man was starting to feel uneasy by then.

There was a pause before he could hear her harried answer. “Something happened to my father… He’s been rushed to a hospital, so I got to go back!”

“What’s the matter?”

As the twins watched unfathomable expressions play out on their uncle’s face while he spoke over the phone with their mother, they exchanged quizzical looks.

They could not wait to throw their questions at him once he hung up the call.

“What happened?” asked one of them, with the other quickly adding, “Was it from mommy?”

Their uncle nodded with a look. “Something happened to your grandfather. He’s been brought to a hospital, so we need to return home as soon as possible.”

The two lads were stunned.

“Something happened to our grandfather?”

He’s been brought to a hospital?

What could be so serious?!

For some reason, Youyou’s eyelids began to jump with a sense of foreboding.