Chapter 03. Okay, little helper
After hanging up the phone, the cabin was strangely quiet. The only sound was the sound of the ship breaking through the sea water as it sailed, making a low and rhythmic roar.
Until Old Xie suddenly seemed to remember something, and turned to Ke Fan excitedly: "Is this your and Ji Hang's first time in Jinshi? Before you go back to Haishi, I will take you to visit some scenic spots and eat some seafood? Jinshi's seafood is very famous."
Ke Fan was startled, and replied a second later: "Actually, it's not the first time."
"Not the first time?"
"Well... I went to college in Tsu City and stayed here for four years."
"Isn't this a coincidence? Coming back this time is just the right time to catch up with some old classmates?" Old Xie said, patting his head with his right hand and laughing, "I almost forgot, isn't there an old classmate, Mr. Yi, right here on the ship?"
Ke Fan tilted his head slightly, his eyes met the man's deep eyes for half a second, then he lowered his eyes and smiled gently:
"It's a coincidence."
Seeing the atmosphere in the cabin become more relaxed, Li Jing clasped his hands together and couldn't help but say, "I'm really looking forward to our class reunion this year."
He had just graduated and was still nostalgic for campus life: "Yesterday, our league secretary and class monitor were still counting everyone's desired get-together times in the group chat. Alas, it's so hard to get together after graduation. Fortunately, the class committee was actively organizing it."
He asked Ke Fan and the others with great interest: "By the way, who were the class committee members in your class at that time? Wasn't there any organization?"
Yi Lingjia had been sitting in silence since just now and didn't seem to want to respond at this moment.
Just as Ke Fan was about to speak, she felt dizzy again and her face turned pale.
She suppressed the feeling of discomfort in her stomach and just wanted to end the topic as soon as possible, so she said softly:
"...I can't quite remember."
Yi Lingjia's body stiffened.
*
"League Secretary - Ke Fan, Class Monitor - Yi Lingjia, Study Committee Member - Yao Ze, Propaganda Committee Member - Nie Fei..."
There were bursts of applause in the classroom, and the man behind the podium smiled like a kind old father.
After reading out all the final voting results, class teacher Zhou Jianfeng pushed his glasses and said with satisfaction:
"Okay, this class committee election has concluded successfully. Class is dismissed!"
"League Secretary, Class Leader, please stay for a moment."
The classmates all left in a hurry, and the empty classroom was left with only the three of them.
Yi Lingjia looked at the girl opposite who was cleaning up the voting papers.
On the first day of school, Yi Lingjia heard about Ke Fan.
"Hey, you know what? It seems like there's only one girl in our class."
Finally, they settled into the dormitory and several boys sat on the lower bunk beds and chatted.
Nie Fei squeezed the yogurt bag with both hands and inhaled it violently, nudging Yi Lingjia with his elbow:
"I heard she's very, very beautiful."
Before he could finish his words, he used too much force and the yogurt splashed out of the bag and went everywhere.
Yi Lingjia dodged swiftly and quickly handed him a tissue, saying speechlessly, "Why do you always leak when you eat?"
The boy next to him joked: "Nie Fei, are you too excited just thinking about the beautiful woman?"
Everyone laughed.
Yi Lingjia carefully wiped the yogurt that had spilled on the ground and said, "You haven't even seen it, how do you know if it's pretty or not?"
The boy who had just spoken immediately raised his head to defend himself, as if he had done something extraordinary: "Of course I saw it with my own eyes! But it wasn't a real person, it was a photo. I had a problem with my materials, so I just went to the homeroom teacher's office. There was a pile of files and photos on his desk, and I saw it at a glance..."
The boy excitedly raised his voice and emphasized: "It's an ID photo, a photo without makeup, you are as beautiful as a fairy."
A group of people instantly reverted to their roots and started to make noises.
It’s wonderful to think about being classmates with such a beautiful girl for four years.
Yi Lingjia swept all the dirty paper crumbs on the table and the floor into a dustpan and poured them into the trash can.
Nie Fei rolled the yogurt bag into a small ball and threw it towards him like a basketball. "Yeah! It went in!"
Seeing Yi Lingjia still looking calm, he said, "Beautiful lady, why aren't you interested at all?"
Yi Lingjia pushed his black-framed glasses with his fingers and said nonchalantly:
“No matter how beautiful a woman is, she is not as beautiful as the scenery captured in my camera.”
"Ah--" A burst of disgusted boos sounded.
Yi Lingjia touched his nose, stopped participating in the discussion, and fiddled with his camera.
The Yi family was a wealthy family in Jinshi. His parents had imposed strict discipline on him since childhood, hoping he would become a top-notch student. But who would truly want to endure such hardship in such a family? Furthermore, he wasn't a competitive person by nature.
In the end, both sides compromised. Yi Lingjia used his three years of hard work to get into the best university in Jinshi in exchange for four years of freedom in the university dormitory with his parents.
After the college entrance examination, he was like a loach in the sea. Without his parents by his side to give him instructions every day, he could freely explore the beautiful rivers and mountains of his motherland, and gradually became fascinated with photography.
It is a pure pleasure, sharing every beautiful moment of life with the camera in your hand. Every press of the shutter is a magic that turns the instant into eternity. This is a moment that belongs only to you, and it is also the eternity you leave in this world.
Photography was such a passion for him that he had no time to think about anything else. During his first semester at university, apart from classes and exams, he was almost never in school, running around with his camera, taking photos everywhere.
With his colorful life and generous personality, Yi Lingjia quickly became one of the most popular people in the class.
Another person who is most popular in the class and even the whole grade is Ke Fan.
Although she was rarely in school, Yi Lingjia had always heard of Ke Fan. She knew that she spent almost every day in the library, that many of her classmates had confessed their love to her and even secretly visited her in the library, and that her GPA was almost perfect by the end of the first semester of her freshman year.
But other than attending class together, he had only met her once.
That was the only time he went to the library the entire semester to cram for the final exam.
From a distance, I could see her sitting by the window, reading quietly.
She wore a simple white T-shirt and jeans with a gray cardigan, with a fresh look without makeup and long black hair.
A strand of hair fell on her forehead and was gently tucked behind her ear by slender fingers. As she raised her hand, the soft cardigan outlined her slender and beautiful figure.
Other people who are studying in the library always can't help but get distracted and play with their phones.
She was different. She seemed to be immersed in the book. Her calm and focused look made the floating dust in the air around her seem to slow down.
It was difficult not to notice her.
Just like now.
The blackboard is densely packed with the correct characters written down when counting votes during the class committee election.
The league secretary is Ke Fan and the squad leader is Yi Lingjia.
When the two names were written side by side, Yi Lingjia suddenly felt a little embarrassed.
"I have something to tell you." Zhou Jianfeng took a sip of water from the thermos and cleared his throat.
The two men walked forward and backward, and Ke Fan stood still calmly, his posture like a tall pine tree.
"Starting from the new semester, we're supposed to have a group day every quarter. The college wants to have a freshman get-together for the entire college for the first time, so that all the classes can get to know each other better."
"Xiao Ke, as the League Secretary, you will be responsible for organizing this event and communicating with the League Secretaries of other classes."
"Okay." The girl in front of him nodded, and her ponytail swayed slightly.
"Xiao Yi, I heard you're quite good at taking photos. On the day of the event, bring your camera and help take more photos, especially group photos. We can then post them on the hospital's official account."
"No problem, Mr. Zhou."
Zhou Jianfeng nodded with satisfaction, looking at the pair of extremely well-behaved and pleasing students in front of him, his smile grew even wider:
"This is the first time your class committee has organized an activity. Xiaoyi, you should also be Xiaoke's little helper. As the saying goes, a man and a woman working together makes work less tiring. You two are a perfect match, hahaha."
At the age of eighteen or nineteen, the girl's face flushed slightly when she was suddenly teased like this.
A playful strand of hair fell to the side, and she tucked it behind her ear with her fingers. So close, her slender, white fingers, their nails neatly trimmed and rounded, were visible. The early spring sun shone down, and the hair, reflecting a honey-gold hue, brushed against her fingertips...
Yi Lingjia suddenly felt a vague emotion in his heart, like when he licked the malt sugar stuck on his gums when he was a child, his heart felt sweet and itchy.
"I heard from Dean Zhang that it's most likely to be in mid-March. I'll let you know once the specific date is confirmed. You two should plan it well. We have enough budget anyway, so we can give all the students a good time."
Zhou Jianfeng picked up the thermos and took another sip. He then said a few more words, waved his hand, and walked away.
They were the only ones left in the empty classroom, and Yi Lingjia's face slowly began to feel hot again.
Seeing Ke Fan packing his bag and leaving, he was upset, but he didn't know what to say, so he just repeated: "If you need any help, just tell me."
Ke Fan stood there, looking at the red tips of the boy's ears.
After experiencing the moment of being teased together and realizing that the other person was also uncomfortable, she actually felt a sense of revolutionary friendship in her heart.
"Okay, little helper." She smiled.
In the cold February, the branches outside the window are hung with quietly blooming flower buds.
She looks cool and aloof, but her bright smile is like ice and snow melting, and the spring breeze blowing by, making the flower buds outside the window seem brighter.
Yi Lingjia's heart skipped a beat, and everything around her seemed to slow down, leaving only the flowers and her in the sun.
He suddenly had an absurd idea. He wanted to transform himself into the clearest camera in the world and engrave this moment forever in his mind.
Little did he know that in the many years that followed, in countless tearful nights, he would wake up from every dream in which she appeared, and when he opened his eyes, he would find himself surrounded by nobody, and the world would be desolate like a huge black hole.
At that time, he only hated himself for remembering it too clearly.
I shouldn't remember the way her eyebrows lit up when she laughed, nor should I remember the way her lips were tightly pursed when she resolutely broke up with me.
I shouldn't have looked at her. Her face was calm and her voice was soft as she said to others, "I don't remember it very clearly."
Yi Lingjia sneered, "Indeed, Dr. Ke hasn't been back to Jinshi for six years, so it's normal that he can't remember clearly."
Looking at his gloomy brows, Li Jing couldn't help feeling a little strange.
Ke Fan had no time to care. The dizziness came more and more frequently, and the pain in his stomach became more and more obvious.
The atmosphere suddenly became tense.
Yi Lingjia frowned and glanced at Ke Fan's profile again.
At this moment, she was leaning slightly against the porthole, as if she was just taking a nap with her eyes closed.
But he soon realized something was wrong.
Looking closely, she looked very bad, her delicate eyebrows were slightly furrowed, and she was biting her lower lip.
It was her usual expression of forbearance.
Within arm's reach, he could even see the sweat oozing from her forehead and was about to ask.
The waves bumped the boat, and the ship shook violently. The girl's face turned pale as paper, and her slender body swayed, and she fell to the side and back, unable to support herself.
There was a storage cabinet to the side and behind her, and her head was about to hit the sharp corner of the cabinet.
"Ke Fan!"
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