A thick stack of newly printed photos lay spread out on the table, gleaming under the lamp.
The family of three sat down together again, carefully looking at each photo before adding them to the album.
Zhou Qiqi specially asked the experienced photographer to print several more family photos. She picked out the one where Shen Huaichuan was smiling the most heartily and naturally, examined it for a long time, and with a smile, handed it to him:
"This one is good. Put it in that big picture frame and put it on the living room cabinet."
Zhouzhou volunteered, carrying the heavy photo frame. She ran to the living room, tiptoed, and carefully placed it in the most conspicuous position on the cabinet. She even took two steps back, tilted her head to look at it, and nodded her little head in satisfaction.
Several other heartwarming solo and couple photos were also selected and placed in a small photo frame near the entrance.
Looking at the arranged photos, Zhou Qiqi was still feeling a bit unsatisfied. Remembering the height markings she had drawn in Zhouzhou's room, a brilliant idea flashed into her mind:
"Hey, how about we put up a photo wall on the wall across from the restaurant? Just for our family's pictures!"
Upon hearing this, Shen Huaichuan and Zhouzhou's eyes lit up, and they nodded in unison.
The three of them immediately huddled together, gesturing and comparing the various empty walls in the house, and finally unanimously chose the widest wall opposite the dining table.
Zhou Qiqi brought over several empty picture frames of different sizes and first roughly sketched a heart shape on the wall. Shen Huaichuan, being tall, was responsible for lightly outlining and positioning the frame with a pencil, while Zhouzhou was busy handing over the picture frames and getting nails.
The next step is to select photos and put them in frames.
A thick stack of photos was spread on the table. Zhou Qiqi picked up the photo of the three of them dressed in mascot costumes, and Zhouzhou's little mushroom was emitting a ghostly green light. The more she looked at it, the more she loved it, and she held it up as if she wanted to place it in the reserved center position.
"This is so cute! I'll put it here, I'll put it here!"
Shen Huaichuan felt a chill run down his spine upon seeing this, and instinctively wanted to stop him:
"Uh...is this...a bit too outrageous? What if someone comes over and sees me dressed like that..."
Zhou Qiqi glanced at him, a smile playing on her lips:
"Aren't there enough people who saw it? Didn't all your soldiers see it at the photo studio last time? They even took a group photo! I reckon that photo has already spread throughout your entire military region, right? Commander Shen, isn't it a bit too late to feel ashamed now?"
Her words made Shen Huaichuan's dark face flush slightly.
Indeed, the photo had probably already spread throughout several camps. Although no one dared to tease him to his face, he could occasionally guess what was going on from the way his subordinates tried to suppress their laughter while looking at him with admiration.
I've already lost face, so there's no need to keep a straight face at home.
He touched his nose and retorted somewhat sheepishly, "...I don't feel ashamed."
If he really felt ashamed, he wouldn't have worn that uniform to take a photo with the soldiers.
It's just that old-fashioned thinking is getting in the way; I always feel that such photos are a bit... improper.
But thinking about it, there have been many indecent moments since I started dating Zhou Qiqi.
Besides, these photos hanging at home are mostly seen by family members, so there's no need to worry about what guests might think.
Thinking this way, he stopped worrying and picked up a photo of Zhouzhou wearing a little mushroom costume, with fluorescent stars lighting up inside the cap, while he was looking down at her with tender eyes.
That's the most heartwarming and natural one in the whole series.
"I think this one is the best looking."
As he spoke, he picked up the photo frame, placed the photo inside, and resignedly nailed it to the most conspicuous position in the very center of the heart.
Zhou Qiqi looked at his awkward, tsundere appearance and chuckled to herself.
After the photo frames were nailed on, the remaining photos were carefully put into that thick photo album.
As the family tidied up, they reminisced about the scene when the photo was taken.
Shen Huaichuan's stiff military posture, his unexpected laughter when tickled, Zhouzhou's surprised expression when he discovered his mushroom hat glowed, and the young officers' expressions of surprise, delight, and suppressed laughter...
As the photo album gradually filled up, and looking at the warm "heart" on the wall, the family's hearts were filled with a silent sense of satisfaction.
When only a small portion of the tidying was left, Zhou Qiqi noticed it was getting late and quickly asked Shen Huaichuan to boil water for a bath.
It was already late autumn, and the nights were quite chilly.
Fortunately, when the house was being built, I listened to Zhou Qiqi's advice and connected the bathroom to the house; otherwise, I would have had to go outside and freeze in this freezing weather.
As always, Shen Huaichuan was the last one to finish washing and come out.
He dried his hair and walked into the bedroom. It was already past nine o'clock. The main light in the room was off, and Zhou Qiqi didn't turn on the small light either. Only the dim moonlight shone in through the gaps in the curtains.
She lay quietly on the inside of the bed, holding a few photos in her hand and looking at them intently, but the expression on her profile was wrinkled, as if she was a little unhappy.
Shen Huaichuan gently lay down, pulled the blanket over himself, and asked in a low voice, "Why are you still looking at photos? Why don't you put these in the album too?"
Zhou Qiqi turned around and handed him the photo, her voice sounding a little muffled in the darkness:
"These... are what I picked out, to give to your parents when they come."
By the dim moonlight, Shen Huaichuan looked at the photos and saw that there was a solo photo of him standing straight in a Zhongshan suit, cute portraits of Zhouzhou with various expressions, and even a photo of him and Zhouzhou in mascot costumes, but there was no photo of Zhou Qiqi herself, not even a family photo of the three of them.
His brows furrowed immediately. "Why isn't yours?"
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