Tao Xinrou first went to the reception room to pick up the package, then carried the small cardboard box to the admin department door.
She knocked. The door was ajar. Only Li Lu was inside.
It was Saturday, so the admin department should have been off, but Li Lu had been temporarily assigned to work on materials.
She walked in and saw Li Lu busy at the scanner, surrounded by piles of folders and scattered papers. When Li Lu saw her, her eyes lit up.
"Xinrou jie, you're here! Great!" Li Lu ran over and took the package. "Thanks, I'm so swamped. Director Lin said these materials have to be scanned today—she'll come check later."
Tao Xinrou peeked inside. The desk was piled high with materials like a small mountain.
"That much?"
"Yep, and they're all old materials—yellowed or crumbling. I'm almost choked by the musty smell. Worst of all, Director Lin says all of them need to be digitized, and the damaged ones have to be restored. The company hired a restoration expert to come. Keep me company while I wait for him, okay?"
Li Lu pushed her into a chair. Tao Xinrou's eyes swept over the folders, and her heart leaped.
"Are you doing all this alone?"
"Mm. Director Lin says newcomers need to get familiar with the group's history. These are archives from the early subsidiaries, low priority but still need to be scanned on time, so she gave them to me for practice."
Tao Xinrou sat nearby, watching her operate the scanner.
Curiously, she walked over. "What kind of materials are these?"
"All sorts: project briefs, meeting minutes, personnel lists, and old photos." Li Lu pointed to a stack nearby. "Those are the photos—hardest to scan. Some are stuck together."
Tao Xinrou stood up and went to the stack. "Can I take a look?"
Li Lu hesitated. "Okay, but don't take them. Director Lin will scold me if she finds out."
Tao Xinrou nodded. "Don't worry, I'll organize them nicely."
She flipped through the photos one by one.
Most were from construction sites, plus group photos and staff pictures.
She examined each closely.
Halfway through, her hand stopped.
It was a group photo.
A group of people in work clothes stood in front of a construction site, with a building under construction behind them. To their left was a sign that read: Southwest Region Construction Project.
Her eyes scanned the faces, finally stopping at someone in the middle-left.
That face. That smile.
Tao Xinrou's breath caught.
It was her father.
He wore a faded white work uniform, sleeves rolled up to his forearms, a smile on his face, eyes slightly squinted as if dazzled by the sun.
It was the smile she knew.
Growing up, whenever her father came home, he would look at her with that same smile.
Her fingers trembled slightly as she clutched the photo.
"Xinrou jie, what's wrong?" Li Lu's voice came from beside her.
She snapped back and quickly adjusted her expression.
"Nothing. I just think it's amazing these old photos have been preserved." She turned the photo over. On the back, a small line in ballpoint pen read: March 2009, Group Southwest Region Project Construction Site.
March 2009—three months before the incident. Her father had still been working on the site.
Her heart pounded.
"Do you need to scan photos like this?" she asked.
"Yeah, all of them." Li Lu leaned in for a look. "This one's clear—much better than the blurry ones."
Tao Xinrou nodded, her eyes returning to the photo.
Her father stood there, smiling.
As if smiling at her: Xiaorou, you're finally here.
Her eyes quickly welled up.
While Li Lu's attention was elsewhere, Tao Xinrou swiftly pulled out her phone and took a picture of the photo.
"Li Lu, are these photos arranged by year?"
"More or less. But they don't separate by subsidiary anymore—headquarters sent them all mixed up. Just don't mess up the order."
"Okay. I'll see if I can separate the stuck ones."
Li Lu turned back, grateful. "Great, thanks."
So headquarters probably didn't know that these materials contained photos of her father. Maybe these odds and ends could reveal clues that had been overlooked.
She flipped through a few more photos but found nothing more about her father.
Suppressing her trembling, Tao Xinrou dared not look too long, afraid her emotions would get the better of her. "I'll help you organize a few stuck ones. I have to get back to my reports soon."