PSMD – Chapter 157

Qiu Yang carefully looked at the computer screen for a long time. It displayed the photo of Shen Yuankai she had taken yesterday. The photo filled the screen, and she didn’t miss a single detail.

This was the most satisfying photo she had taken recently. The lighting and the subject were perfectly combined, and it had a strong sense of story. Just one look, and it felt as if you could understand the old man’s thoughts.

Qiu Yang had no desire to edit the photo at all; the picture she captured already felt perfect to her. Even if this photo didn’t win an award later, Qiu Yang would have no regrets.

Her own satisfaction was important too, wasn’t it?

She looked for a while longer before exiting the large image and entering the photography competition website to fill in her information.

Only when the words “Registration Successful” popped up did Qiu Yang finally relax.

Her first photography competition in life had begun. She didn’t know what the outcome would be; everything ahead was unknown, and this unknown was full of allure.

Shen Ningruo’s message arrived two minutes later: 【Did you register? Xiao Yang.】

Qiu Yang typed back with a smile: 【Yes, I did.】

Shen Ningruo had also seen this photo and praised it highly.

Moreover, there was a very important reason: it was a collaboration between Qiu Yang and Shen Yuankai, one her lover and the other her father. Such a collaboration had never been imagined before.

In the photo, Shen Yuankai’s face wasn’t fully visible, just a profile, but he was a man with a story. This profile alone seemed to recount many moments.

His struggles, his dilemmas, his loneliness, his melancholy—they were all expressed.

Shen Ningruo: 【That’s wonderful.】

Qiu Yang also thought it was quite good, but the smile froze when she thought about Shen Yuankai’s illness.

Shen Ningruo and Shen Yuankai’s relationship had finally eased, but it was due to a serious illness. This point was both melodramatic and unavoidable.

Qiu Yang brought up another photo.

Of course, she didn’t just take one picture. The one she brought up was the moment Shen Yuankai turned his head after cooperating, looking over.

A smile was on his lips, as if he had completed a very important task.

Qiu Yang didn’t know how to describe her current feelings; it was mostly a sense of melancholy.

Compared to good health, everything else seemed less important.

She thought for a moment and still lightly edited these few photos, putting them into a separate folder.

Pingzi walked over, wagging its tail, and rubbed its head against Qiu Yang’s calf. She smiled, picked up the cat, and looked into Pingzi’s eyes.

“Hungry? But unfortunately, you’re on a diet.” Qiu Yang had started controlling Pingzi’s cat food portion. Before, she let Pingzi eat freely, but now that she was home, she wouldn’t be so indulgent.

Pingzi: “Meow.”

Qiu Yang glanced at the time and said to it, “Hold on a little longer, Pangpang, otherwise next time you go out, people will ask if you’re a little pig.”

“Did you know? It’s forbidden to dye pigs.”

Pingzi quickly got bored of her lecture and jumped out of her arms, landing with a “thud.”

Qiu Yang: “…”

Qiu Yang watched its retreating back: “You really need to lose weight!”

Before getting off work, Qin Yu went to Shen Ningruo’s office. He mainly came to check on Shen Yuankai’s situation.

As soon as he heard Shen Ningruo describe the details, his brows furrowed.

Shen Ningruo sighed when she finished, her expression sad: “I never thought my dad would get such a disease. He’s only in his early fifties…”

Qin Yu looked at her, opened his mouth, but didn’t know what to say. Finally, he simply echoed, “Yes, Uncle is still very young. He even invited my dad to go hiking before, and my dad couldn’t keep up with him.”

Shen Ningruo covered her face, her voice muffled: “Yes.”

“But now he’s really, so much thinner, his face seems to have no flesh left.”

“I’ll find some time to visit Uncle,” Qin Yu clenched his fist. “My dad doesn’t know yet. I need to find time to tell him too.”

As Qin Yu finished speaking, there was a knock on the door.

“Come in,” Shen Ningruo’s voice sounded.

It was Ke Yezi who came in, holding a document. Seeing Qin Yu, she greeted him as “President Qin,” then walked to Shen Ningruo’s desk and placed the document on it: “Director, this is the information you requested.”

Shen Ningruo nodded: “Okay, put it here. Thank you for your hard work.”

Ke Yezi smiled, didn’t say anything like “it’s no trouble,” and then left.

“Oh, right, I heard from Xiao Yuan that he and Miss Qiu are in contact again,” Qin Yu suddenly remembered and asked.

“Yes, they had dinner together a couple of days ago,” Shen Ningruo said, pausing, then looked at Qin Yu and changed her address, “Brother, do you still like him?”

Qin Yu was startled by the question. He thought for a few seconds and gave his answer.

The answer was a shake of his head in denial: “I don’t think I like him anymore.”

“How so?”

“Specifically, I don’t feel nervous or awkward when I think of him, and I don’t particularly look forward to seeing him,” Qin Yu was surprised himself. “Can you stop liking someone this quickly?”

He said this, picked up the water glass in front of him, and quietly waited for Shen Ningruo’s answer.

Shen Ningruo looked at the document: “Maybe you didn’t like him that much to begin with, or maybe you didn’t like him at all. Perhaps certain events created a misunderstanding that you thought you liked him, a kind of illusion.”

“Now that you’ve calmed down, your rationality has naturally returned.”

Qin Yu rubbed his chin: “It’s really hard. I’ll just stay single. I love being single.”

Shen Ningruo curved her lips into a smile: “That’s good too.”

“However…”

“If I could be like you, meeting a soulmate in despair, that wouldn’t be bad either.”

Shen Ningruo raised an eyebrow: “You can’t envy this.”

Qin Yu: “Tch.”

Qin Yu stood up: “I don’t want to listen to you gloat anymore, I’m leaving.”

“I won’t see you out.”

“You’ve never seen me out.”

Shen Ningruo flipped through the document, her eyes glancing over, and saw her phone light up beside her.

Someone had sent a message.

She picked it up and saw it was from Yao Yao: 【Ruoruo, there’s a high school alumni reunion coming up soon. Do you want to go?】

High school reunion…

Shen Ningruo thought for a moment. She hadn’t attended one in several years, so she directly refused: 【No.】

Yao Yao: 【Oh, I don’t want to go either, but I looked at the list, and guess who’s on it? It’s Yuan Zhi.】

【Who is Yuan Zhi?】

【…My Chuchu’s ‘CP’ back then.】

Shen Ningruo: 【…】

Okay, she remembered now.

After Yue Chu rejected Yao Yao’s half-hearted confession, she started going to and from school every day with a good-looking boy. There were rumors in their grade that they were dating, and Yao Yao secretly kept track of both of them.

But now the truth had surfaced; Yue Chu hadn’t actually dated him back then. However, given Yao Yao’s personality, she definitely wouldn’t want anyone to misunderstand.

If this Yuan Zhi was still there, she would probably bring up the matter on the spot to avoid any misunderstandings.

Yao Yao: 【The date is in the first half of next month. I’ll drag Chuchu along then and have her pretend we’re not close at first.】

Shen Ningruo’s eyelid twitched; she already had a mental image. She immediately replied: 【Okay.】

When she got home in the evening, Shen Ningruo told Qiu Yang about it, laughing as she spoke: “Yao Yao was so frustrated back then. She saw Yue Chu and that boy together every day. She was the school bully back then, and she almost went to challenge Yuan Zhi to a fight, but I held her back.”

Qiu Yang found it amusing listening to her talk about these things: “What happened after that?”

“After that, it was like you know, Yao Yao never looked for Yue Chu again. And also, Yue Chu’s grades were good back then, while hers were just average. From then on, she started studying hard, and after school, she would come to me and ask me to tutor her. She wanted to surpass that Yuan Zhi.”

“Did she succeed?”

“No,” Shen Ningruo recalled.

“Yuan Zhi’s grades were slightly better than mine; it wasn’t that easy to catch up.”

Qiu Yang rested her chin on her hand, acting like a fangirl: “Wow! Ruoruo Jiejie is amazing!”

Shen Ningruo couldn’t help but place her hand on Qiu Yang’s head: “You’re amazing too.”

Shen Ningruo looked at her and added: “If only you had been in the same school as me back then.”

Qiu Yang chuckled: “Based on the timeline, when I was in my first year of high school, you were in your first year of university. It’s impossible for us to have been in the same high school.”

“Maybe I would have repeated a year for you?”

Qiu Yang took her hand: “There’s no maybe, that’s impossible. Are you regretting not meeting me sooner?”

“Yes,” Shen Ningruo pulled her into her arms, resting her chin on top of Qiu Yang’s head. “Today, Qin Yu said I was very lucky to have a soulmate at a time like this, and I thought about it. Actually, I’m very greedy; I wish I had had you earlier, but that person could only be you.”

Qiu Yang listened quietly, then lifted her head slightly and kissed her chin: “Every time I hear you say sweet things, I’m very happy.”

Shen Ningruo lowered her gaze: “How come I don’t hear you say them?” She thought for a moment, “Oh right, Xiao Yang, you say sweet things less often than I do.”

Qiu Yang looked into her eyes and said, “Huh?” “Is that so?”

“Think about it yourself.”

“It’s true.”

Shen Ningruo rubbed her nose against Qiu Yang’s: “Hurry, make it up to me. I want to hear a hundred sweet things a day.”

Qiu Yang immediately put her arms around Shen Ningruo’s neck, tilted her head to the side, and brought her lips close to her ear.

Shen Ningruo held her breath.

Qiu Yang opened her mouth and whispered softly: “It’s a good thing it’s you, Ruoruo.”

Shen Ningruo’s heart trembled, and then she heard Qiu Yang say: “It’s a good thing you appeared, otherwise I think I would still have a long way to go to find happiness.”

Qiu Yang’s sweet talk always seemed to have this style, like a cool breeze appearing in summer, making people feel very comfortable.

Shen Ningruo held her a little tighter: “I think so too.”

Pingzi on the cat tree appropriately “meowed” a couple of times, as if it also wanted to join the conversation.

Shen Ningruo “tsk”ed at it: “Pangpang, you too, it’s a good thing you met me. How nice is the cat tree you’re lying on now, isn’t it?”

Pingzi: “…”

It fell silent because it didn’t understand.

After hugging for a while, Qiu Yang straightened up. She thought for a moment and said, “Oh right, Ruoruo, I plan to start submitting resumes tomorrow. I originally planned to look for a job in July.”

Shen Ningruo was startled, then nodded: “Okay.”

“Have you thought about what you want to do?”