My Dreamy Old Husband novel Chapter 309

Sophia went back to university to attend the lectures recently, but the places she could visit had decreased even further. She either studied at the university, stayed at home, or went to Stanley’s company to have a look.

After Stanley’s company had acquired enough capital and workforce, they started working on starting it aggressively. As one of the investors, Sophia put quite a lot of effort in it. She walked around the company every day to check up on them.

This day, right after Sophia had finished looking around and was prepared to go home, she received a message from Xyla on Messenger. ‘Sophia, Faye found some of your mom’s stuff back home. When you are free, remember to come over to retrieve them. The address is xxxxx.’

She even sent a few pictures over. One of them was a picture of a simple box with some clothes that had turned yellow. It was obvious that they were outdated, and the fashion was popular back then. Apart from that, there was a picture of a hardcover notebook that was popular decades ago. There were a few stickers of popular rock stars of that era on the cover of the notebook, and on the first page, a few words were written in pen with strong strokes—‘Anna’s Notebook’.

War

The moon shone brightly at midnight,

but the man who had gone to war had yet to return.

If the generals of the city were present,

the barbarians’ horses would never have crossed the mountains.

Sophia snorted as she did not feel like entertaining her. From the style of the notebook and the pages that had turned yellow, it seemed to be dated back 20 years. However, Xyla and Faye seemed to have forgotten that Annabel’s education level only reached primary level as she had quit school when she was in primary 5. During her teenage years, she was already sent into the city to work so that she could provide for her brothers to study. How could she have known ‘If the generals of the city were present, the barbarians’ horses would never have crossed the mountains’?

On top of that, the handwriting was graceful yet full of power. It was obvious that it was not written by Sophia’s mother, who only studied until primary school level. However, the last picture sent by Xyla caught her attention. It was an old photograph, but it was well-kept. The girl in the photograph was quite pretty. Even though she didn’t have any makeup on, her small face was clean and clear. Her wide eyes seemed to be hiding something, making others unable to see through her.

The girl seemed to be around 17 or 18, so she still had the naivety and innocence of a young girl, and she looked exactly like Sophia. On the back of the photograph that Xyla sent, some words were written using a ball-point pen—‘Annabel, age 17, taken in July 199x’.

Annabel died when she was 19 due to amniotic fluid embolism. The time she died was around the same time Sophia was born. Back then, because of the limited resources, girls weren’t regarded as important by the family, so there were no photographs of Annabel left behind. Sophia had only seen a few official photographs of her mother, and this was the first time she saw a colored photograph of Annabel.

It was probably taken after she started working in the city, as it was a fashion shoot on the streets, to Sophia’s surprise. In the photograph, Annabel wore a long dress that was in fashion back then. Walking on the streets of Bayside City, her pose revealed half of her slender legs. From the picture composition and the color settings, it was a great photo even in the modern era. Her mother’s attire was fashionable indeed.

Is this my mom? After looking at the picture for a long time, Sophia ordered Hale, who was driving, “Go to the Edwards’ ancestral home.”

After driving for around an hour, they finally reached there. When Sophia got out of the car, she saw an exquisite three-storey mansion in front of her that looked ancient. So this was where my mom used to stay…

Sophia did not have much feelings for Annabel as she had never experienced any love from her mother before. Hence, her impression of her mother only comprised the derogatory, hateful insults her relatives and neighbors hurled at her.

“Your mom is a b*tch who did that sort of thing in the city!”

“How did the Johnson Family raise such a disgraceful daughter like your mom? She came back to our village pregnant with a baby! On top of that, she didn’t even know who the father was! Such a disgrace! She brought shame upon the family!”

Back then, in the traditional village, an 18-year-old unmarried pregnant girl who returned to the village without knowing who the father was was regarded as a prostitute to the villagers. No matter what she had done, they would accuse her of prostitution.