PSMD – Chapter 117

It was like a fire pit had a basin of water poured on it; the atmosphere instantly cooled down, and a wisp of smoke rose.

Qiu Yang was choked by this wisp of smoke. She had never expected Le Yu to say something like that, so she looked at Le Yu in surprise.

Shen Ningruo wasn’t surprised. Even though her interaction with Le Yu was brief, she roughly knew what kind of person Le Yu was.

That is, straightforward, daring to love and daring to hate.

“Miss Le, you’re very sensible,” Shen Ningruo’s lips curled up again, and the hint of aggressiveness disappeared.

An ally.

Le Yu clicked her tongue, glancing sideways at Shen Ningruo. “One moment you say I’m honored, the next you say I’m sensible. In a bit, will you say I have good judgment?”

Shen Ningruo took her words and continued, “Don’t you have good judgment?”

Qiu Yang, standing in the middle, rubbed her forehead. Listening to the conversation between Shen Ningruo and Le Yu, her eyebrow twitched. Before Le Yu could answer Shen Ningruo’s question, she wanted to steer the conversation away, so she spoke, “Senior, is there anything you want to buy?”

After speaking, she wanted to comfort Shen Ningruo again, so she proactively took Shen Ningruo’s hand with her other free hand, thus creating distance from Le Yu.

Shen Ningruo was very satisfied with her performance, raising an eyebrow, and then looked at Le Yu with a smug expression.

Le Yu laughed involuntarily. “I’ll buy two bottles of perfume, to cover up the scent of your love.”

“Okay,” Qiu Yang replied, secretly letting out a sigh of relief.

As for Le Yu, Qiu Yang still understood her. Back in university, some people secretly gave Le Yu the nickname “Red Rose.” She was flamboyant and unrestrained; even though her appearance was cool and aloof, her style of doing things was like a fiery red rose.

Le Yu and Yue Chu were more familiar with each other back then. They were in the same department and both were equally outstanding. Although Yue Chu was one year older than Le Yu, it didn’t affect their relationship. Back when Qiu Yang and Le Yu met, it was all because Yue Chu brought Qiu Yang directly in front of Le Yu and said, “This is my sister, take care of her.”

Recalling these things now, Qiu Yang felt very warm inside.

Shen Ningruo squeezed her hand, pulling her thoughts back. “What are you thinking about?”

“Just now I was recalling when I first met Senior,” Qiu Yang took a sip of milk tea. “It feels like something from many years ago.”

Le Yu lifted her eyelids and said with a smile, “When I met you, you were only eighteen or nineteen. Xiao Qiu Yang, you’re almost 25 now. Doesn’t six or seven years count as many years?”

“It does.”

“Then remove ‘feels like’.”

Only then did Le Yu nod her head in satisfaction. Then she pointed to a perfume shop about ten meters away. “That one will do.”

“Okay.”

Shen Ningruo asked Qiu Yang, “Xiao Yang, is there anything you want to buy?”

“No,” Qiu Yang shook her head.

Le Yu spoke up from the side, smiling to herself. “I’m still here, can you two show off a little less in front of me?”

It was a statement, not a question.

“Whether you’re here or not makes no difference,” Shen Ningruo’s voice trailed up slightly.

Le Yu: “Tch.”

Le Yu: “I’m not leaving. Before, I was busy with my career and didn’t keep in touch with Xiao Qiu Yang much. Today, I’m going to sit in a barbecue restaurant with her until it closes.”

Actually, Qiu Yang knew that Le Yu didn’t reduce contact with her just because she was busy with her career. After Le Yu graduated, there was indeed a period when she was very busy, but she would still make time to contact Qiu Yang. She would even return to school to see Qiu Yang.

After Qiu Yang herself graduated from university, Le Yu even helped her find a place and helped her move things, doing a lot. Qiu Yang had already repaid her as much as she could, but what Le Yu wanted, she couldn’t give.

The real break in their contact started when Qiu Yang began dating Tao Sixian. Le Yu was originally going to ask her out to hang out again. Qiu Yang pursed her lips and thought for a while, then refused, and said that she needed to spend time with her girlfriend.

Qiu Yang still remembered Le Yu’s reaction at the time.

– Do you have a girlfriend now?

– Congratulations, Xiao Qiu Yang.

– I’m quite busy too, I’ll get back to it.

After that, Le Yu distanced herself from Qiu Yang. Three years passed, and Qiu Yang actually didn’t know if Le Yu had moved on. She herself couldn’t quite understand why Le Yu would like her.

Even now, she had no answer.

Today was the first time they had met in three years. Qiu Yang was a bit nervous before coming, but seeing Le Yu’s attitude now, she finally felt completely at ease.

Because Le Yu must have already moved on from her, that’s why she could say those things directly.

After all, Le Yu had done so much before but never confessed to her in the end, even though a big factor was the fear of not even being friends anymore. So now that she said it, wasn’t she afraid?

Of course not afraid anymore, because Le Yu definitely didn’t like her anymore, otherwise, she wouldn’t have said the word “like” so frankly.

Qiu Yang let out a sigh of relief, and the corners of her eyes also showed a smile. She took another sip of milk tea, and only then did she seriously start looking at the perfumes.

This perfume shop was very famous in Yuncheng because it was the brand’s only physical store. The store’s decor exuded a sense of refinement. The display stands held some of the most popular perfumes recently.

Currently, some people in the store were trying out scents. Staff wearing uniform were serving customers, their faces all wearing standard smiles, either introducing perfumes to customers or holding test strips and spraying perfume onto them.

The perfume scent in the store was a bit strong, but because of the high quality, it didn’t feel pungent.

Shen Ningruo and Qiu Yang didn’t know much about perfume, but Le Yu clearly knew a lot more. She didn’t even let the staff follow her and went directly to the perfume area she wanted to buy from.

“There are several ways to classify perfumes,” Le Yu said casually after picking up a bottle, beginning to explain. “Fragrance type, scent, concentration, and grade.”

When she said this, she glanced at Shen Ningruo, then continued with a smile, “Miss Shen is wearing one type of fragrance, with citrus and lemon as the fragrance type. The characteristic is a fresh aroma, making people feel happy.”

Shen Ningruo never had many requirements for perfume. Because her name contains the character “Ning” (lemon), she usually bought lemon-scented perfume. But buying was buying, she didn’t think about learning more. Now that Le Yu said this, she regretted not having learned a bit more.

Putting aside other things, the effect of showing off was excellent.

Shen Ningruo’s eyebrow twitched, then she heard Qiu Yang’s voice supporting Le Yu, “Senior, you know so much about perfume.”

Le Yu waved her hand, her expression looking both humble and proud. “It’s alright, much more than Miss Shen knows.”

Shen Ningruo: “…”

After needling someone, Le Yu picked up a test strip. She sprayed some perfume, then placed the test strip under the mist falling downwards. Her movements were elegant and very professional.

After smelling it twice, she brought the test strip close to Qiu Yang. “Smell it and see if you like it?”

Qiu Yang smelled it and said directly, “It’s not a scent I like.”

“Very normal.”

“Perfume is very personal. What you like, others might not necessarily like. What others like, you might not necessarily like.”

After Le Yu finished speaking, she called a staff member over and asked them to get a new bottle for her.

One bottle was bought just like that, very fast.

The speed for the next three bottles was similar. The staff’s smile was a bit wider. When paying, Le Yu even pulled out her membership card directly from her bag.

By the time they came out of the perfume shop, half an hour had already passed.

Le Yu carried the bag and turned her head to look at Qiu Yang. “Don’t you two want to buy anything?”

Qiu Yang: “No.”

Shen Ningruo: “Yes.”

Qiu Yang was a bit surprised, looking at Shen Ningruo. “What do you want to buy?”

“There’s a digital store ahead, I’ll go look at cameras.”

Qiu Yang was stunned for a moment but didn’t directly ask her question. She just nodded. “Okay.”

How could she spoil the mood at a time like this?

Le Yu smiled. “Does Miss Shen also like photography?”

“What a coincidence, Xiao Qiu Yang and I were both in the photography club back then.”

Shen Ningruo, who originally wanted Qiu Yang to start explaining cameras: “…”

Defeated.

These past few years, she’s been busy working and building her career. She hasn’t researched these things much. Whether it’s perfume, skincare, or makeup, she couldn’t explain the details one by one. She was only interested in business and making money, but this wasn’t a business setting either.

However, it must be said, even though Le Yu was being so deliberate and intentional, Shen Ningruo didn’t feel any hostility at all.

Even though she was put down a bit in the perfume shop.

Qiu Yang didn’t notice the subtle competition between the two of them. She thought about it herself. The DSLR at home could indeed be replaced. She didn’t spend much money when she bought it back then, getting one for beginners. But since she wanted to participate in photography competitions later, then getting a better one was somewhat necessary.

So Shen Ningruo’s originally paused steps continued. The three of them went to a digital store. The store displayed many cameras. Qiu Yang and Le Yu were not novices; they knew a lot about this area and naturally didn’t need the staff to introduce anything, so they started looking.

Shen Ningruo was a bit silent on the side, but she wasn’t disappointed. She watched Qiu Yang shining in her familiar field and couldn’t help but feel happy along with her, and was too lazy to bother with Le Yu about other things.

When it was time to pay, Shen Ningruo stepped forward. “I’ll pay.”

Qiu Yang had her own savings, and buying a camera was quite sufficient. She didn’t expect Shen Ningruo to step forward, but it wasn’t entirely unexpected either. However, this was a different matter.

Qiu Yang smiled. “I’ll buy it myself, Ruoruo.”

“I want my presence in your future to increase more and more.”

“Your future award-winning works from competitions will all be taken with the camera I bought for you. This counts as having a part of me in it.”

“Do you understand what I mean?”

Le Yu snorted softly from the side. “Annoying couple.”

Qiu Yang listened to Shen Ningruo’s words and knew what it meant. She looked at Shen Ningruo’s determined eyes, her eyelashes trembled, and then she hummed in agreement. “Okay.”

Shen Ningruo grinned and raised her chin towards Le Yu.

Just based on the fact that she could pay for Qiu Yang, she had completely won.

Qiu Yang saw her action, reached her hand forward, patted her waist, and quietly complained, “You’re so childish.”

“You’re so childish,” Le Yu also repeated the line.

Shen Ningruo had already paid. She carried the bag and laughed softly. “What’s wrong with being childish?”

“No matter how childish I am, I have my lover doting on me. What about some people?”

She glanced sideways at Le Yu and clicked her tongue.

Le Yu: “Wow!”

Le Yu: “How can you resort to personal attacks?”

Le Yu: “You two just wait, in a few months, come to my relationship celebration banquet.”