TGSS - Chapter 32

Chapter 32: Photos

Gao Mingchen, his face twisted with anger, glanced at Hu Baofeng with evident disdain. After a few seconds of consideration he half supported and half dragged the boy, whose expression was not quite right, out of the restaurant.

Only after watching Hu Baofeng gradually calm down did he hide the disgust in his eyes. The boy's lips trembling, he pulled out his phone and started to make a call.

"Hello, Mom. Yes, I just ran into my sister." Hu Baofeng bit his finger anxiously, his voice agitated. "...She was with a woman, yeah, they seemed really close. Who is she? I don't know..."

Gao Mingchen reached out, took the phone from him and replied, "Auntie, it's me. The woman Xiao Feng is talking about is the same one who hit me that day. It's not at all like what she said that day. She and Liang Zhouyi are clearly very close!"

Gao Mingchen could only hear rapid breathing on Mother Liang's end of the line. She muttered neurotically, "Close, what kind of close are they..."

After calling out to Mother Liang several times without getting a response, Gao Mingchen put the phone down, feeling baffled. Looking at Hu Baofeng in front of him with his thick glasses, he suddenly felt deeply unlucky. Could Mother Liang be so desperate to push her daughter onto him for some hidden motive?

On the other side, Liang Zhouyi chased after Chu He, who had paid the bill and rushed out without looking back. She felt both helpless and amused. For all her fury, she had still remembered to pay for both of them.

"Chu He! Wait for me." Liang Zhouyi picked up the laptop bag Chu He had left on the stool, tucked the scarf over her arm, and ran after her.

The ancient street was crowded with people. Tourists holding snacks laughed and clustered in front of every shop. The moment Chu He stepped outside she vanished into the crowd. Liang Zhouyi apologized as she bumped into people and pushed through, carrying the things and looking around in bewilderment. She froze in place for a moment, was knocked back a few steps by passersby and still stood there dazed, only anxiously scanning around, not knowing which direction to look for Chu He.

"Over here." Chu He stood behind her with her arms crossed, her voice faint. Her expression was cool and distant, yet awkward with a reluctant concern.

A smile bloomed on Liang Zhouyi's face and she hurried over to her. Although Chu He still ignored her, she at least took the laptop from her hands and slowed her pace to wait for her to catch up.

"I don't even mind, so what are you angry about?" In the noisy street, Liang Zhouyi had eyes only for Chu He.

Chu He instantly felt her temples throb. She stopped and looked at her, her voice rising a little. "That's exactly why I'm angry: I see you doing nothing! So what do you plan to do about your mother and your brother? Don't tell me you've been supporting them all these years?"

Liang Zhouyi did not deny it. Her throat bobbed, and she turned her head toward a snack stall by the street, pressing her lips together to avoid Chu He's gaze.

"Liang Zhouyi." Chu He called her name in disbelief. "What are you thinking?" From the curiosity she had felt at first about Liang Zhouyi's forbearance when they had just met, to the anger and incomprehension she felt now, she could no longer stay out of it as she had once intended.

"Let's talk as we walk." Liang Zhouyi took her arm, her expression soft. Looking at Chu He's sharp and stern appearance, she even felt a secret flicker of delight in her heart.

Chu He's arm tensed a little, but in the end she did not shake her off. She kept a cold face and listened as Liang Zhouyi told her past in a voice as cool and gentle as water.

On the bustling ancient street, the hawkers' cries at the shop fronts and the laughter of the crowd seemed very far away from Chu He. She listened carefully to Liang Zhouyi's voice.

"You've met my mother before, a weak, incompetent, and very paranoid clinging vine." Liang Zhouyi did not stint on critical words for her. "When I was little, the lawyer she met while fighting the divorce case with my biological father was my stepfather. Later they naturally got together and had Hu Baofeng. Although I had little presence at home then, that period could be called one of the few comfortable times I had. It's just... you know what happened later."

Chu He fell slightly silent. Liang Zhouyi was still glossing over a lot, leaving out the heavier parts. A strange tremor passed through Chu He's heart, and she stared at Liang Zhouyi with a gaze that tried to see through her.

Liang Zhouyi tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear somewhat awkwardly, her voice a little hoarse. "After my stepfather died, I lost interest in everything. It didn't matter to me how life was. Supporting my mother seemed to become my only reason to keep living. It looks like a shackle, but in fact it was the motivation that barely kept me alive and earning money."

Chu He's eyes hurt, as if a small stone with jagged edges had gotten into them. She pressed her lips tightly together and could not get a word out. It felt as if something heavy were pressing on her chest, otherwise why would even breathing hurt a little?

Seeing Chu He fall silent, her usually spirited face seeming covered with frost and even a little wilted, Liang Zhouyi's gaze was very calm. "You said before that I have a knot in my heart, and you weren't wrong. I once wanted to go many places, to leave H City where I grew up. But in reality the only time I left the province was when I went to S City for university. I fantasized that when I had money, I would take my camera to see snow mountains, to see waterfalls, to see vast grasslands and the Gobi desert and the endless ocean. I also wanted to share those views with people like me who are trapped in a corner."

"You still can." Chu He licked the corner of her lips, looked up at the blue sky and said this to Liang Zhouyi very seriously.

There was not a trace of light in Liang Zhouyi's dark eyes. She shook her head, her voice low. "But now I feel unworthy. I can't even pick up my camera. You have no idea how sick I felt today when I saw Wen Xiaoying in the camera, so sick I almost threw up. I simply can't find the person I used to be."

Chu He suddenly reached out with both hands and cupped her face. The cool, silky touch made Liang Zhouyi instinctively meet her eyes, which were filmed with mist. Chu He's pale pink lips moved. "If you really don't know what to shoot, then shoot me. Didn't you want to see the sea? It's 2:05 in the afternoon now. Driving from A City to the seaside takes about three hours. If we leave right now we can still catch the sunset."

Hearing that Chu He was not joking, Liang Zhouyi's eyes reddened slightly. A bitter taste rose in her mouth, and she was so stunned by Chu He's decisiveness that she could not speak.

Draping the scarf over Liang Zhouyi's head, Chu He took her hand and started running through the street, weaving through the crowd. Her brown hair was lifted by the wind, revealing the glittering diamond stud on her earlobe, which stung Liang Zhouyi's eyes in the sunlight so sharply she almost burst into tears on the spot.

As soon as they got into Chu He's car, she floored the accelerator and shot forward. With the wind plastered against her face, Liang Zhouyi finally understood why Tan Qing had refused to ride in Chu He's car before. This driving showed no regard for the lives of the people in the car.

After so many years of work, Liang Zhouyi had rarely taken leave even when she was sick and forced herself to keep going. This was the first time she had skipped work without caring about the consequences.

The woman wearing sunglasses rolled all the windows down. Her long hair was blown into a mess. Her fair, cool face now wore a dazzling smile. Liang Zhouyi watched her grip the steering wheel tightly and press the accelerator to the floor. The mountain scenery after leaving the scenic area was still exquisite, but no matter how beautiful the view, it could not compare to the half profile of the woman beside her. Liang Zhouyi's lips parted as if she wanted to say something, but the wind pouring in through the window scattered her words.

"What did you say!" Chu He kept her eyes locked on the road ahead without turning her head, shouting loudly. The sunlight made every strand of her hair seem gilded.

Liang Zhouyi shook her head and said nothing more. The frown she had worn for so long finally eased. She reached up and yanked off the elastic holding her ponytail. Her black hair was instantly blown into disarray. She took a deep breath of the mountain forest air and could not help bursting into loud laughter. The cold wind rushed into her chest in an instant and flowed slowly through her limbs.

The road was clear all the way. When Chu He stopped the car, the sun was slanting westward. Golden red light pierced through the clouds and spilled onto the sea, making it glitter like a magnificent brocade.

Liang Zhouyi's eyes were full of surprise. Seeing that Chu He was still in the car, she hesitated for a moment and then was the first to run down the steps. The pale yellow sand was soft. Liang Zhouyi ran forward over it. The vast sea and the waves rolling up were right before her, giving her a dizzying thrill.

Chu He came down and stood beside Liang Zhouyi. She took off the sunglasses and put on her gold-rimmed glasses instead. With slender, well-defined fingers she held up the camera Liang Zhouyi knew best, smiling as she handed it over. "I had someone check it. It was fixed up a little. It's not badly damaged."

Waves surged up one after another. The palpitation Liang Zhouyi felt reached its peak when she saw the camera, her chest aching almost from the pounding of her heart. Her lashes trembled slightly as she slowly reached out to take the camera, tilting her face up to look at Chu He bathed in sunset light, her throat dry and itchy.

"Liang Zhouyi, take a photo of me." Chu He smoothed her hair with her fingers, bent down to take off her martin boots and socks and threw them far onto the beach. Her fair feet stepped onto the damp, soft sand and were wetted by the cool seawater. From beginning to end Chu He wore that captivating smile. She spread her arms and walked backward, her long, loosely flowing hair lifted high by the salty sea wind.

Liang Zhouyi gripped the camera tightly. The thudding of her heart traveled from her chest to her ears, but her hands were very steady. Holding the camera, she fiddled with it a little clumsily and captured the woman smiling freely with her head tilted and the sea illuminated by the sunset glow.

"Let me see, let me see!" Chu He had her long trench coat slung over her shoulder, the cuffs of her jeans rolled up a little to reveal her delicate ankles. She ran toward Liang Zhouyi without any regard for image, tugging at her.

The photo was very clear, without a hint of blur. Liang Zhouyi and Chu He looked at each other and saw relief in each other's eyes at almost the same time. They could not help laughing.

Chu He laughed so hard she doubled over. In the depths of her consciousness she saw the sand in the hourglass flowing down madly, quickly filling four fifths of it, leaving only a shallow layer at the top. It seemed it was only a matter of time.

It seemed that going home, which she had been working so hard for, was about to come true. She thought she was very happy, otherwise why would she be unable to stop laughing?

She bent over, her long hair hanging by her shoulders and hiding her whole face. Liang Zhouyi could not see her expression, and naturally did not see the drop of water that slid from Chu He's thick lashes and splashed onto the sand, forming a dark little flower.

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