27. You shoot
Xiao Yu nodded, told her about the topic they had discussed, and continued chatting and laughing with her old classmates. Yao Ling remained silent, only responding briefly when someone brought it up.
Class A stayed until 3 or 4 p.m., chatting until they were done and strolling around. Everyone asked Yao Ling to take their picture. She brought the disposable film camera Liang Litang had given her, and took commemorative photos. Class E was in the building across the street, making a very high profile, the lights bright, and cheers erupting from afar.
Yao Ling looked out the window. The cheers were coming from the class. Deng Shilang and Lin Zhe were leaning over the railing, chatting, seemingly unconcerned. Soon, they turned around, waited for Yizi and Pili to emerge from class, and then went downstairs together.
Class A was going to have a dinner party. Yao Ling was not very interested in eating in a group, so she left after blessing and saying goodbye. Xiao Yu also seemed a little apologetic because she had a date with her boyfriend in the evening.
Xiaoyu knew that Class A and Class E were having separate dinners. She contacted Pili on her phone, exchanged messages, and then said to Yao Ling, "Class E is getting together too. It has nothing to do with us. Let's go first." She and Yao Ling walked down the playground together and toward the school gate. She said, "I'll take you to the hotel and then I'll leave."
"Okay, it's okay if you don't send me off." Yao Ling didn't want to hinder her from going on a date.
"Then I have to give it to you." Xiao Yu smiled happily. She was quite happy today.
After Yao Ling was driven to the hotel by Xiao Yu, she hugged her goodbye in the car. After returning to her room to rest for a few hours, she told Chen Yu that she was back at the hotel. Chen Yu sent her the address of a restaurant where she had booked dinner.
The restaurant was located in a high-end shopping mall in the city center. Yao Ling was still dressed the same. When she sat down, there were fish and shrimp on the table, bubbling tofu, and rich and fragrant soup.
Shen Yu thought she would have dinner with her classmates, but she ended so early. She asked, "Wouldn't you like to stay longer with your former classmates?"
Yao Ling shook her head, "You're not a child anymore."
"Then we come back to meet our old classmates, just like big kids." Shen Yu laughed gently.
"Yes, you are big kids." Yao Ling followed up with this and praised their youth.
Chen Yu laughed even harder, leaning forward and backward, pulling out a tissue to wipe the tears from her eyes. Yao Shenhe, who had just taken a sip of water, choked at the sound. After catching his breath, a bowl suddenly appeared before him. He poured a spoonful of dace with soy sauce over rice for his wife, chopped the fish and rice, and placed the bowl in front of her before picking up his chopsticks and picking up some food for himself.
Chen Yu was very satisfied with her husband's understanding. After calming down, she suddenly said to Yao Ling seriously, "You don't seem to be nostalgic at all."
Yao Ling heard this and noticed the serious atmosphere. She held her forehead with her hand and said, "Mommy, I don't like the feeling of emptiness after reminiscing about the past. It's weird."
"I understand. You came with us when you were eighteen. You're still young, and your thinking and metabolism are adjusting quickly." Shen Yu took a bite of the food and asked with concern: "How is Xiaoyu? Is everything going well?"
"She has always been very lively." Yao Ling took a sip of orange juice.
Yao Shenhe paid more attention to his daughter. "Didn't your classmates say anything about you?"
Yao Ling nodded, put down her cup, and briefly summarized the day's conversation. "They say that doing fashion photography abroad is like being in two different worlds."
The two of them understood and thought it was a normal view, so they chatted about it while eating.
Fish and shrimp were popular. Chen Yu had a small appetite, so she stopped when she felt 70% full. She rested her spoon on the porcelain plate, supporting her perfectly white face with one hand, the ring on her finger gleaming. She watched Yao Ling eat and said, "The last time we visited your Aunt Qiuping in Hong Kong was when you were a senior in high school. You were too busy studying to come along. When we asked you for a gift, you said a card reader. Nothing else mattered."
Yao Ling raised her head, looked at her, and smiled: "Isn't it avant-garde?"
"Avant-garde," Shen Yu realized belatedly, "I accidentally paved the way for you now."
Yao Ling picked up the last shrimp and said, "That card camera is still in Milan. I've kept it. In a few years, it will be vintage."
"It's pretty good." Chen Yu originally planned to buy her clothes or shoes, but finally bought her a small and exquisite card camera.
It was past seven o'clock, still early, and the family had already finished dinner and were ready to go shopping. Chen Yu and Yao Shenhe told her to go back to the hotel if she was tired, so she thought they should have some time together, so she left the mall alone.
The first-floor entrance was illuminated by a bright white light. A few meters away, a car slowed down and stopped in front of a roadside flowerbed.
Yao Ling spotted Deng Shilang, standing in front of the car, his leather jacket draped over his arm. He gestured to the people inside, two fingers raised to his temples in a cheerful greeting. Lin Zhe responded by flicking on the car lights, while Pili leaned out and waved. There was also a boy named Yizi in the back seat, who had taken off his glasses and draped them around his neck through the car window.
"It's about to break." Deng Shilang patted Yizai's hand as he came around.
Yizi laughed and let go, "Get in the car."
"Wait, it's Yao Ling." Pili was leaning against the car window and was the first to notice her.
Deng Shilang turned around and found her there.
"Isn't Class A having a dinner party in the east?" asked Pili.
"Xiao Yu and I didn't go." Yao Ling was carrying her bag, and the orange filaments illuminated her windbreaker.
Yizi put on his glasses and invited, "We just finished our get-together and were planning to go to Pili and Linzhe's house. Why don't we join us?"
Bili opened the car door and walked to Yao Ling, "Come on." She took Yao Ling into the car.
Seeing this, Yizai moved to the innermost seat to make room. Deng Shilang sat in the middle seat, and Yao Ling sat by the window next to him.
A fifteen-minute drive brought them to Pili and Linzhe's home. Pili and Linzhe had been living together since they started working and kept the house well-maintained. Upon arriving, they took off their shoes and washed their hands before settling into the living room and sitting on the cushions on the floor.
Pili showed Yao Ling her dressing room, then her study. She opened a drawer and pulled out an album of their photos, sharing them with Yao Ling alone.
Pili flipped through the photos of herself and Lin Zhe and said beside her, "Many of them were taken by you."
"I see." Yao Ling stroked the photo.
"You might be thinking this and that aren't right now." Pili watched her flip through a few pages, seeing the familiar white borders and exposure. He said, "I used to take pictures of you all with a Fuji Polaroid camera."
"I remember Xiaoyu sent me a photo of us in the corridor before."
"She also sent it to DC."
Yao Ling nodded, flipped through the photo album, and handed it to Pili.
When they returned to the living room, Deng Shilang had already mixed a few drinks for them to try. Yao Ling sat on the carpet, listening to their conversation, which mostly focused on Pili and Lin Zhe's future plans, as well as Yizai's research plans for his PhD.
By ten o'clock, some people were already tipsy. Beer Li lay between Lin Zhe's legs, clutching a handful of cornflakes. He looked up and offered one to Lin Zhe. Yi Zi sat next to him, a lightbulb expression on his face. He took off his glasses and covered them with his hands. Behind him were the cozy decorations they had put up: little stars and a little moon.
Yao Ling was lucid. She'd always thought Pili looked photogenic, so she pulled out her disposable film camera and began adjusting the dial, flipping open the flashlight's cover. Soon, she held the camera in one hand, brought it to her eyes, and snapped the shutter, capturing the scene of Pili, Lin Zhe, and Yizi.
Deng Shilang followed the light and recognized that this was the camera Liang Litang had given her. It had a glossy green case with 1986 written on the lower right corner. It was very small and light, and it seemed as if it were fragile when held in her slender fingers.
Pili felt familiar with Yao Ling's candid photos. She smiled without showing her teeth and didn't mind at all, because when they were in school, they believed that this kind of photo was the most natural and beautiful.
Yao Ling took a few more photos of them and said, "I'll develop them and give them to you when we get back to Milan."
"Okay, I'll wait for you." Pear looked forward to it.
After the photoshoot, they started flirting again, half asleep. Yizai was a PhD, lying on the sofa, scratching his head.
Yao Ling and Deng Shilang were the most sober. She looked at him and asked, "Do you want to play with the camera? This is non-professional, it can take pictures in low-light and high-light conditions, and it has a built-in flash."
Deng Shilang, hearing her say this, thought it wouldn't be difficult to use. He took it from her, raised the camera, and locked his eyes with the viewfinder. She was in the frame, with a cool expression and a thin shirt. He clicked the flash, capturing her in the frame.
Yao Ling was photographed. She lowered her head, examining the camera he was holding, her hair sliding down to his wrist. She calculated, "There should be two more films."
Deng Shilang hummed, moved around her hair and returned the camera to her.
Everyone else fell down, leaving only the two of them.
Yao Ling took back the camera, changed her position, and suddenly sat on him with her legs apart, lifting his face and fixing it. "Look at me," she ordered, operating the camera with one hand.
The frame contained his face and her legs. His face was very clear because of the overhead shot, while her legs, sandwiched between him, were a shadowy figure, partially obscured by his long-sleeved shirt. His chin was aimed at her short skirt, which was tucked under her shirt. When the lights came on, everything was captured in the shot.
"What angle?" Deng Shilang finally reacted.
Yao Ling left him and said, "There are many angles for cultural studies."
He felt that her words still revealed her thoughts, "Why study photography?"
"Because I like being able to visualize my ideas," she said succinctly, stroking the camera. "This last picture, do you want to take it or do I?"
Deng Shilang didn't want to waste her film, so he took the wine glass and prepared to drink the last few drops of wine, "You shoot."
Yao Ling looked at him and felt inspired. She stopped him, saying, "Don't drink." She took his glass and said, "Believe it or not, this next photo will have a long explanation in the art gallery, studying the angle, the props, and the parts of our bodies that are in the photo."
"You have to explain it to me." Deng Shilang smiled, not knowing what she was doing.
"No, I like Susan Sontag."
"I see. Her against interpretation."
"Aren't you studying finance?" Yao Ling asked.
Deng Shilang nodded and said, "Gigi has a copy at home. She said it's very famous."
Yao Ling said, "Oh," and understood, "He is indeed very famous."
She held the camera steady, stood up, and rubbed his genitals with her feet, adjusting the distance to take a close-up of him, excluding her feet and genitals.
Deng Shilang frowned at her action and said suddenly, "You want to take a picture of my expression."
"To be precise, it's my hand and the wine, and your mouth and Adam's apple." Yao Ling said calmly, picking up the wine glass with one hand and preparing to pour it on his face, "Open your mouth."
He couldn't open his mouth, but he tilted his head up because of her rubbing, his lips almost pursed, his Adam's apple sliding. Her hand entered the frame, pouring the last few drops of wine into the corner of his mouth. At the moment it slid down, she fixed the focus and captured it, using the flash to capture her thoughts.
Deng Shilang was blinded by the light and asked, "Are you done filming?"
"Alright." Yao Ling was very satisfied with her work and put the thoroughly used film camera back into her bag. She smiled and assured him, "Don't worry, I'll just develop it in Milan. No one will know it was you."
"Come here." Deng Shilang put his arms around her waist, locked her, and put the wine stains on his face against the corner of her lips, letting her eat him in disguise.
Yao Ling tasted the wine and sucked it gently, eating it clean from her face to her chin.
Suddenly, Yizi stood up from the sofa, rubbing his glasses on his face in a daze, put them on, and muttered, "I have to go."
They heard the noise and left at the right time, and nothing happened.
Deng Shilang went to the coffee table, took a tissue, wiped the wine stains off his body, and stood up. "Let's go together."
Yizai woke up Pili and Linzhe, said goodbye to the half-awake couple, and went downstairs to get a taxi. Yizai took a taxi alone, while Deng Shilang and Yao Ling, going in the same direction, also got in one right under his nose.
Inside the carriage, they each had a corner.
Deng Shilang opened the window, took another look at the street, and said, "I'm going back to Hong Kong tomorrow."
"Don't tell me." Yao Ling looked towards the other side of the street. "I have nothing to do with you."
The driver heard their conversation and couldn't help but glance at the rearview mirror a few times, driving quietly.
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