Chapter 5: First Encounter Have you ever heard of the mummy complex? ...
"Generally speaking, these are good wishes from the elders, you know?" After listening to Chang Xile's introduction of the origin of the purse, Fang Xinai said that she was familiar with it!
"Like my grandma, she even gave her children water soaked in burnt paper ashes, saying it could cure all kinds of illnesses. How is that possible? It's pure feudal superstition! But do you think she has any bad intentions? Actually, not at all." Fang Xinai patted Chang Xile's shoulder and said earnestly, "It's okay to appreciate the kindness, but don't take it too seriously. If this thing really could bring good fortune, wouldn't your aunt have become a billionaire herself?"
That makes sense.
Chang Xile lowered his head heavily, and decided to treat the purse filled with his aunt's blessings as a spiritual mascot, and carefully placed it in the desk drawer.
After she packed her luggage in the dormitory, she remembered what Fang Xinai and the others had said in the hospital.
They said that it was Anping who carried her to the hospital.
But why didn't he show up again?
Chang Xile glanced at his phone, said something to Fang Xinai and Ren Qing, and went out.
It may sound ridiculous, but Chang Xile and Anping are boyfriend and girlfriend, but apart from contacting him on the phone, she doesn't know where else to find him.
If Fang Xinai, who is experienced in relationships, were to see this, she would definitely conclude that Chang Xile had met a scumbag. However, Chang Xile always felt that the situation seemed different.
It was the weekend, so the campus streets were sparsely populated. By the time Chang Xile regained consciousness, he had unknowingly followed a path through the woods to a lake on the westernmost edge of the campus. This lake, called Linhuan Lake, was located near the main library of Yamashiro University, surrounded by trees and not far from the Peacock Garden. In summer, the lake was blanketed in lotus leaves, dotted with beautiful blossoms that swayed gently in the breeze. It was said that many people came here specifically to sketch.
This is where she and Anping met.
When Chang Xile first arrived in the mountain city to attend university, she struggled with the local climate. She couldn't sleep, but she didn't want to just lie around in her dorm room. So one morning, after waking up with a start, she decided to go out and collect materials with her camera.
Shancheng University is a large campus with well-connected roads. Chang Xile took photos as she walked, and when she looked up again after strolling through her photos, she was already in a forest.
She walked slowly along the forest path, and after a while she saw the lake lying quietly in the corner of the mountain city.
The morning mist had not yet dispersed, drifting on the lake surface with the wind. Lotus leaves shaded the lotus flowers, and white ducklings were playing in the water.
Sitting on a few steps along the lakeside was a young man in white, with a drawing board beside him, absorbed in sketching.
The painting is almost finished. The lotus flowers and lotus leaves he painted, including the red webbed feet of the duck that put its head into the lake, are all vivid and lifelike, as if they will walk out of the paper in the next second.
Chang Xile stared blankly at the scenery before him, feeling that this person's presence seemed to blend into the scenery, so perfectly. If there were one more person, it would seem crowded, but if there was one less person, it would seem lonely.
She subconsciously raised her camera, wanting to capture the scene.
The next second, the sunrise's rays filtered through the treetops, illuminating the lake, and the morning mist dissipated. The ripples on the water shimmered like golden light, reflecting off his body. Golden lines flowed across his fair face, like the mark left by a god.
Chang Xile happened to capture this moment.
It was the sound of the camera clicking that finally made the man notice the uninvited guest behind him.
He stopped writing, tilted his head slightly towards Chang Xile, but said nothing.
Chang Xile opened the camera's gallery, found the photo she had just taken, and smiled with satisfaction. She approached the man with the camera, somewhat embarrassed, and stopped just a step away from him.
"Hello, I'm sorry to bother you! I just thought this scene was beautiful, so I took this picture." Chang Xile was holding up the camera to explain, but after seeing his appearance clearly, she felt speechless for a moment.
The man was wearing white clothes, and his skin was even whiter, as if he hadn't been exposed to the sun for years. He had short white hair, a straight nose, and thin lips. The most beautiful thing about him was his lake blue eyes, so beautiful that you couldn't take your eyes off him.
Is he a mixed-race child? Chang Xile felt as if his breath was choking. Those blue eyes were like the lake in front of them, endless and boundless. Chang Xile couldn't tell the emotion in them.
The man's reaction was as cold as his expression. Chang Xile waited for a while before realizing that he had shifted his gaze to the camera in his hand.
Seeing this, she simply took another step forward and handed him the camera so that he could take a closer look.
He didn't care about himself in the picture at all. He just reached out and gently stroked the lotus flowers on the screen and the ducklings playing in the water under the lotus leaves with his fingertips.
His eyes moved back and forth between his painting and the photo several times. When Chang Xile began to worry that he might not like being casually photographed, he finally said something with a sigh.
“Like the real thing.”
The man's voice sounded very cold at first, but he spoke clearly, each word pronounced clearly. Because his tone was neither fast nor slow, he seemed to have a gentleness to him.
"Huh?" Chang Xile didn't react for a moment, but couldn't help but sigh in his heart: Ah, it turns out he can talk.
"No matter how hard I try, it's never quite like it." He simply put down his brush, his eyes still fixed on the black machine in Chang Xile's hand, as if he had never seen it before. "How did you do that?"
This seems to be asking about the principle of the camera.
But Chang Xile is just an amateur with a little bit of talent. He knows at most that the principles of how a camera takes photos are based on that.
However, she noticed the key word in his words, "not similar enough."
His paintings are realistic, each stroke striving to replicate the scene before him. In fact, in Chang Xile's opinion, his paintings are already quite realistic. Comparing a human painting with a camera-generated photograph is unfair.
Unexpectedly, the next second, he actually peeled off the painting in front of him and pretended to tear it up. Chang Xile almost couldn't hold his camera. He covered the man's right hand with one hand, pressed down the innocent painting, and asked him with wide eyes: "Why?"
The man lowered his head, looking rather unhappy. He was silent for a moment before saying, "It's not like the real thing. I should redraw it."
What's the logic behind this? Chang Xile frowned.
Even though they didn't know each other, and what happened to the painting was completely beyond Chang Xile's control, it was a good painting, and she didn't want it to be ruined.
"Have you ever heard of the mummy complex?"
He shifted his attention away from the painting in his hand, stared at Chang Xile, and shook his head.
"The ancient Egyptians believed that as long as the body remained intact, the soul could achieve eternal life. So they mummified human corpses," Chang Xile said, trying to formulate his words. "Preserving and extending life is an instinct. Later, people wanted to try to preserve beautiful things, so painting developed. And to strive for authenticity, photography gradually developed."
"Time passes by without stopping, and so does life. You painted this lotus pond because you hope to always remember what it looks like, right?" Chang Xile asked, staring into his eyes.
He nodded slowly.
"But the lotus's life is important, and yours is important too!" Chang Xile glanced at the painting again and said sincerely, "You spent precious time and effort on this painting, stroke by stroke. You should preserve it well. Besides, you really did paint it like it!"
The hand holding the drawing paper slowly loosened, as if he understood the emotion in Chang Xile's eyes. He nodded and asked her, "Do you like this painting?"
Chang Xile nodded vigorously.
The man in front of him finally showed his emotion. He smiled slightly and said, "I like your...photos, too."
"Really? That's great!" Chang Xile curled her eyes and asked him, "If you want this photo, we can add each other's contact information and I'll export it and send it to you later."
She took out her cell phone familiarly and was about to ask "Should I add you or should you add me" when she saw confusion in the man's eyes again.
He lowered his head to avoid Chang Xile's gaze and simply said, "I don't have a cell phone."
Is this a form of rejection?
What college student doesn't have a cell phone these days? Since the start of the semester, reporting to school, choosing classes, shopping, and getting academic information—it's practically impossible to do anything without one.
But perhaps we can't say it so absolutely. Maybe this student has his own difficulties.
Chang Xile thought for a moment and then asked, "Can I print out the photos for you?"
He nodded seriously.
"But if I don't have any contact information, how can I find you?" Chang Xile scratched his hair, suddenly remembering that he hadn't asked his name yet. "Oh, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Chang Xile, what should I call you?"
The boy in front of me seemed very embarrassed by such a simple question.
Perhaps this is a very private person.
After all, he wouldn't tell her, "I don't have a name," right? Chang Xile raised his eyebrows.
"Anping." Fortunately, this time he didn't refuse. He was silent for a moment before saying, "My name is Anping."
"You can come find me by this lake, I'll be waiting for you here."
"Okay, see you next time." Chang Xile nodded and yawned - after all, she didn't sleep well and she was a little sleepy.
After walking a few steps, she turned back a little embarrassedly: "Um... I seem to be lost. Maybe you know the way to Dongyuan?"
"I'll take you there." Anping simply stood up, put away the drawing board and everything else, and walked out of the woods with Chang Xile.
Anping was so familiar with this school that he knew where to turn without even looking at a map. He took the shortest route to take Chang Xile to the Dongyuan dormitory.
"What time will we meet tomorrow?" When Chang Xile was about to part, he suddenly remembered this key question as he stepped onto the stairs, and turned back to ask Anping.
"If you come, I will be here."
Anping's voice was still ringing in my ears, but his figure was no longer in front of me, as if he had disappeared out of thin air.
"...They're walking really fast." Chang Xile muttered, then turned around and went back to the dormitory building.
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