The market only operated at night. When Lin Zhexia pulled Chi Yao off the bus, they could already see the crowded market from a distance. Each vendor’s stall had two lamps lit, with lights extending down.
They sold all sorts of things here—handicrafts, food, and many strange little trinkets.
The group browsed as they walked.
Lin Zhexia bought a squid skewer, finished it, and bought a cup of milk tea. And halfway through drinking it, I saw a cotton candy machine and enthusiastically bought a huge stick of cotton candy.
The colorful candy was as big as a balloon in her hand.
She had to walk especially carefully, or else she might brush against passersby.
Chen Lin and Tang Shuxuan saw something interesting and turned back to call Lin Zhexia to come look, but instead saw that as Lin Zhexia received the cotton candy from the vendor, Chi Yao naturally reached out to take the half cup of milk tea she had been holding.
Lin Zhexia and Chi Yao often had these subtle yet tacit small gestures between them.
They might not easily notice it themselves, but onlookers would realize that there was always an invisible wall separating them from these two.
Lin Zhexia, holding the cotton candy, heard someone calling her and shouted to them: “Were you calling me just now?”
Chen Lin said, “Yes, come look, there’s a photo studio here. Shuxuan wants to take photos. Should we take a photo together?”
Where Chen Lin and Tang Shuxuan were standing was a small stall called “Creative Photo Studio.”
Many small-sized photos were posted at the entrance of the photo studio, all taken by previous customers at the small stall.
Lin Zhexia didn’t think much and agreed.
However, when Tang Shuxuan eagerly asked the stall owner, “How much for one photo?” the owner glanced at her: “Just you alone taking the photo?”
Tang Shuxuan turned back to point at Chen Lin and Lin Zhexia: “And my friends too.”
The stall owner pointed at his shop name. In front of the words “Creative Photo Studio,” there were two small characters that were easy to overlook: “Young lady, you might not have seen clearly. This is a ‘Couples’ Creative Photo Studio.”
Tang Shuxuan: “…”
Chen Lin: “…”
Lin Zhexia: “…”
Your shop name.
If you could highlight the two most important characters and not make them so small, it might be better.
Lin Zhexia was about to say Forget it, when she saw Tang Shuxuan suddenly pull Xu Ting to her side, then demonstrate her exceptional social skills to everyone: “Boss, I can take a photo—this is my boyfriend!”
“…”
“He’s quite shy, so he was standing farther away from me just now.”
Xu Ting, suddenly pulled over, was completely stunned: “???”
By the time he came to his senses, the stall owner had already “snapped” several photos of him and Tang Shuxuan.
Stall owner: “Twenty-eight, scan the code, anyone else want to take photos?”
After scanning the code, Tang Shuxuan nudged Lin Zhexia with her arm: “Are you going to take one?”
Lin Zhexia: “…How would I take one?”
Lin Zhexia added, “Publicly announce my relationship with Chen Lin?”
Tang Shuxuan pointed at Chi Yao: “No, isn’t there another person here?”
Lin Zhexia opened her mouth, but before she could speak.
Tang Shuxuan continued: “It’s not real anyway. It’s rare to come out and play. It’s just taking a photo as a memento, nothing more. Just grab Chi Yao over as a tool person.”
Tang Shuxuan spoke quite loudly, and Chi Yao might have heard.
Lin Zhexia’s face suddenly became very hot.
In the brief few seconds, she thought about many things.
She didn’t know what reaction she should show to appear “normal.”
If she seemed too resistant, it would be quite obvious.
Just like Tang Shuxuan, because she had no feelings for Xu Ting at all, she could so openly shout at the stall owner.
But given her personality, accepting would also seem very strange.
…
Finally, Lin Zhexia used a tone only she knew was unnatural to say: “Who wants to take photos with him…”
Her voice got lower as she spoke, and she still didn’t finish the sentence.
Because she did want to take photos.
She didn’t even know how she ended up standing in front of Chi Yao asking if he could accompany her for photos: “Tang Shuxuan, well, wanted to ask you…”
“Of course I’m not meaning anything by it,” she spoke for a long time without making herself clear, “just if you could, you know, never mind. Just pretend I was never here.”
Lin Zhexia was about to give up when she saw Chi Yao holding that cup of milk tea, speaking in a flat tone: “What, don’t need a tool person anymore?”
He had! Heard it!
Lin Zhexia’s face was almost smoking.
When she and Chi Yao walked over, the stall owner looked at them: “You two as well?”
Lin Zhexia’s attitude was ambiguous: “Ah.”
The stall owner pointed to the QR code nearby: “Scan first, the price is the same, twenty-eight.”
Chi Yao scanned the code before she prepared to do so.
Lin Zhexia felt a bit regretful at this moment. Thinking back on this day later, she felt as if her brain had frozen at that time, stiffly holding a huge colorful cotton candy, her face rigid. The stall owner seemed to say “that girl shouldn’t stand so far away” when taking the photo, but she didn’t hear.
So the person beside her reminded her: “Lin Zhexia.”
Lin Zhexia raised her head following the voice.
She saw the young man’s Adam’s apple moving up and down as he spoke, saw his lowered eyes, and that earring that happened to face her right ear.
“Come closer.”