Zuo Qiumei sat on her bed, looking at Lin Shuying's family, chewing on the multi-grain steamed buns she bought from outside, and always felt weird in her heart.
She is from a rural area in the west and doesn't understand the southern dialect. Listening to the tone of this family's speech, it feels similar to the locals I met in the past two days, so... is this Lin Shuying a native of Shanghai?
Right? Otherwise, how many train tickets would it cost for so many people to come together? Even if they weren't locals, they must be city people, and wealthy city people at that.
Her father was wearing a watch, her mother was wearing a dress, her brothers and sisters had no patches on their clothes, and her little sister had a new-looking red headband on her head. It looked pretty and not cheap.
The two boys also wore sneakers casually, unlike the boy in her high school class who bought a pair of white sneakers and had to polish them seventeen or eighteen times a day.
Just now she said that she had eaten breakfast because she slept in. This father did not educate her like her own father, telling her to work hard and be diligent, and that the family worked hard to support her studies and not let her sleep in.
It was the first time she heard that young people were sleep deprived. This father was really open-minded.
And there was that grandma. She rarely saw such a cheerful grandma. The old people in their village had bitter faces every day, complaining about the poor harvest this year and that they were not good enough because they had too many daughters-in-law at home.
Anything delicious has to be hidden away and not eaten. I have to wait until it goes bad before I can eat the spoiled food carefully and cry with heartache.
Unlike this grandma, who just stood by the bed and ate a bag of biscuits, and asked her if she wanted a biscuit... After eating dry biscuits, she would ask her son for Coke?
There are actually elderly people who would think about drinking a bottle of Coke that costs 35 cents. If it were her grandmother, she would probably wave her hand and say that she doesn’t like it from the beginning, and tell her that 35 cents can do a lot of things...
But who doesn’t like cookies and cola?
This family is really strange. Zuo Qiumei thought while eating, is this the sense of happiness that children in the city have?
She touched her white shirt, which had been washed very thinly, and then looked at the red plaid skirt Lin Shuying was wearing. The bright color made her feel a little dazzling.
It looked like the family was leaving.
There was nothing left to sort out, so Lin Guoqing walked around and took out the camera from Chen Chunhua's bag.
"Want to take another photo?"
This is a university dormitory! Shouldn't we keep it as a souvenir?
Although I bought a camera these two days, I have never been able to take a full-body photo, either alone, in pairs, or in groups of four. The most I can take is a group photo of six people, because someone has to take the photo. There are no more family photos of them except for the two slightly flawed ones on the Bund.
And now, there happened to be an outsider present.
Chen Chunhua smiled politely, "Classmate, can you take a photo for us?"
Zuo Qiumei froze, the steamed bun in her mouth for a long time before she swallowed it. "I... I... don't know how to use a camera."
"It's okay, I'll teach you!" Chen Chunhua walked towards her, holding the camera. "It's very simple. We didn't know how to do it before. We just learned it in the past two days!"
A family of seven stood in the dormitory, with Lin Shuying's bed diagonally behind them. After three days of experience, their expressions were very natural when taking photos. Lin Shuchao and Lin Shumei even learned how to pose.
One of them puts her hands on her hips, and the other holds her face with her hands. Even if I stand aside, I am still the center of attention!
Zuo Qiumei's hands were stiffer than her face as she recalled the steps that Chen Chunhua had just told her. In fact, this thing was not simple at all.
The camera was very small, yet felt heavy and metallic in her hand. Zuo Qiumei was afraid it would scratch her calloused hands.
Just now, Chen Chunhua told her about 1/30. The aperture ring in the middle had no scale lines and was slippery, making it very difficult to control. It was not positioned yet and was very slippery. She tried hard to control the aperture ring with her left hand, and then pressed down with her right hand.
In just one photo, her back was sweating.
She didn't know whether the photos were good or not, but Lin Shuying's family didn't seem to care much about it. They seemed to be just looking for fun. The family happily sent their children to study, happily took photos as souvenirs, and happily prepared to leave.
"Qiumei, take this bottle of Coke and drink it."
Just now, Liang Shengdi was complaining that she was thirsty and wanted to drink Coke, so Lin Shu rushed out to buy her. As the more reliable one among the siblings, he was considerate enough to buy an extra bottle for his sister's roommate.
But she didn't have the courage to hand it over. Now Chen Chunhua saw it and placed it on Zuo Qiumei's desk.
"Ah, Auntie... I don't need it, really... You can leave it for my brothers and sisters!" Zuo Qiumei waved her hands quickly. She had only been back for less than half an hour, and there were bananas and Coke. Wouldn't she have to work hard for Lin Shuying in the future?
"It's okay! They just drank it. This is for you." Chen Chunhua smiled and pushed the Coke in front of her again.
"I see you're not from here, and neither is my Shuying. You're both studying in different places and living in the same dormitory, so it's only natural that you take care of each other."
"Besides, didn't you just take a picture for us? We should be the ones thanking you!"
"Then we'll be leaving first. Take care of yourself! Bye!"
The whole family went out in a hurry again, and Lin Shuying also went out to see her family off. The noisy dormitory suddenly became quiet.
Zuo Qiumei touched the Coke bottle on the table and looked at the banana she hadn't eaten yet. She felt melancholy about the future and said...
"Is it possible that the young lady will have to do her laundry in the future? Or should I find a chance to buy her something in return?"
While I don't owe much, it's only 50 cents...
Fifty cents... I've been really a little bit carried away lately...
Lin Shuying accompanied Chen Chunhua and the others to the school gate, and the family took several photos at the school gate before leaving.
Chen Chunhua pulled Shuying aside and rambled on, repeating the same advice she'd given before: study hard and eat well, drink well, don't get into conflicts with roommates, and just tell her if she doesn't have enough money...
Lin Guoqing took out the film from his camera and handed it to Shuying. "Take this camera. There's nothing good to take pictures of when you go back. Your Uncle Ye said there are a lot of activities at the university. If you have a camera, people will look at you with respect."
Lin Shuying didn't expect that she would be given the camera in the end. After calculating the money her parents had spent on her in the past two days, she wanted to slap herself if she didn't study hard.
It wasn't just the parents. Before they parted, Liang Shengdi pulled Lin Shuying to stand under a big tree, looked around, and then started to search her pockets, looking very stealthy.
"Your grandma isn't as rich as your mom, so take this fifty yuan. It's too expensive to buy food in the city."
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