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Psst! We're moving!
Later that day, Shen Yihuan continued to work overtime on photo processing. She went home in between to grab some clean clothes and daily necessities, then returned to Lu Zhou’s apartment.
They’d been living together these past few days.
Shen Yihuan realized how foolish her previous thought of Lu Zhou practicing celibacy like a meditating monk was.
Lu Zhou’s energy was simply incredible...
She wasn’t sure if her stamina had decreased or if Lu Zhou was even more vigorous than he was in college, but after living with him for a few days, she was already exhausted.
Shen Yihuan packaged the processed photos and sent them to the editorial department, along with the previous records converted into documents.
“Boss Zhou,” she knocked on Zhou Yishu’s office door.
“Ah, you’re here. Come, sit down,” Zhou Yishu waved her over.
Shen Yihuan smiled: “My leg’s long healed. I’m fine standing.”
“Just sit. I have something to tell you.” Zhou Yishu took off her wire-rimmed glasses. “As I said before, our studio is going to select the ‘Photographer of the Year’ and hold a solo exhibition for them.”
Shen Yihuan was startled: “Photographer of the Year is me?”
“Mm.”
“Didn’t you say it would be by vote?”
“Vote my ass,” Zhou Yishu rolled her eyes. “You practically shed blood and sweat for our studio. It has to be you.”
“...”
Zhou Yishu: “Speaking of voting, those people are like conniving geniuses, forming cliques. I don’t even need a vote to know who it would be. Plus, based on workload, completion, and awards, it should definitely be you.”
Shen Yihuan hesitated for a moment: “If there’s a photo exhibition, does that mean I’ll have to prepare the exhibition content myself for a period?”
“Yes, you’ll have two months. You won’t have to take on any studio assignments; just shoot whatever you want to shoot.”
Shen Yihuan’s eyes lit up.
Zhou Yishu saw her expression and smiled: “Willing?”
“Willing,” Shen Yihuan didn’t hesitate.
“Why are you willing this time?”
Zhou Yishu was a bit surprised. In situations like this before, Shen Yihuan was always rather passive. Zhou Yishu had never met anyone so laid-back about work, yet capable of completing tasks so well.
“Do you have something specific you want to shoot?”
“Yes,” Shen Yihuan nodded, “I want to go to Xinjiang again.”
“...” Zhou Yishu glared at her, wishing she could poke her head and scold her, “Are you crazy?”
Shen Yihuan leaned back in her chair and smiled at her: “It was quite interesting, and getting injured was truly an accident. I want to photograph the border guards there.”
“Follow-up?”
“Mm.”
“Then you’ll need to apply for approval, right?”
“Probably.”
Zhou Yishu looked at her for a moment, then finally patted her shoulder: “Alright, shoot whatever you want. I’ll take care of the final exhibition for you.”
When she left Zhou Yishu’s office, it was almost quitting time.
Shen Yihuan tidied her belongings and sent Lu Zhou a text message asking where he was.
Lu Zhou replied: I’m almost done. I’ll come pick you up.
________________________________________
These past few days, he had been gathering information on the internal workings of the Gu Corporation. Many conditions were restricted, so he requested assistance from the city’s criminal investigation team.
“Captain Lu, the Gu Corporation is truly deeply rooted and widespread. It will take some time to dig into them, and our current investigations are all being conducted discreetly.”
Lu Zhou said, “No need to proceed discreetly.”
The criminal detective in charge of economic investigations across from him paused, then hesitated: “You mean, let the Gu Corporation know we’re investigating?”
Lu Zhou nodded: “Release some information.”
Currently, all investigations are based on Gu Minghui’s alleged connection to Xinjiang arms trafficking.
However, it was unknown whether Gu Minghui acted solely on his own behalf, or if the entire Gu Corporation was involved.
As long as the news was released, whether Gu Minghui became more restrained out of apprehension or accelerated his efforts to drive Li Wu out of Xinjiang’s area of activity, it would benefit Lu Zhou.
If he became restrained, Gu Minghui and Li Wu’s influence in Xinjiang would become unbalanced. Li Wu was no pushover and would surely seize this opportunity to utterly eliminate him.
If he became more reckless, it would be a case of the mantis stalking the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind. Lu Zhou could wait until both sides were exhausted, collect evidence, and then capture them all in one fell swoop.
After leaving the police station, Lu Zhou walked to Shen Yihuan’s studio, which was nearby.
On the way, he passed a crab roe bun shop.
It was an old brand; there used to be one near the apartment. Shen Yihuan often bought two crab roe buns for breakfast on her way to school.
Lu Zhou stopped, sent Shen Yihuan a message, and stood at the back of the line.
Lu Zhou: I’m buying you crab roe buns downstairs at your company. Wait for me for a bit.
Cherry: There are still some at this hour?! They’re always sold out by the time I get off work and want some.
Lu Zhou smiled and replied: There are, I’m queuing.
Cherry: I’ll come down to find you.
Lu Zhou: Okay, be careful crossing the road.
Two women at the front of the queue were taking selfies with their front-facing camera, secretly filming Lu Zhou behind them.
Lu Zhou put his phone away and looked up.
The crab roe bun vendor called out that the last bun had been sold.
Lu Zhou frowned, took out his phone again to tell Shen Yihuan, when the two women in front of him turned around.
They had just snatched the last two crab roe buns.
One of the women, holding a crab roe bun, reached out: “Handsome, you can have this one.”
Lu Zhou raised an eyebrow calmly, recalling Shen Yihuan’s cheerful tone earlier, and said, “Then I’ll give you the money.”
The woman didn’t refuse, immediately took out her phone, and said a WeChat transfer would be fine.
She took Lu Zhou’s phone, scanned a QR code and did other things, finally returning it to him on the password input page.
Lu Zhou pressed his fingerprint, thanked the woman, and took the crab roe bun from her hand.
After the two women left, he lowered his head to close the payment page and realized that it wasn’t a direct transfer; she had added him as a friend.
He didn’t pay it any mind and put his phone away.
“Lu Zhou!”
Shen Yihuan’s voice sounded from behind him.
“Slow down,” Lu Zhou caught her arm and handed her the crab roe bun.
“Why is there only one? Aren’t you eating?”
“It was the last one.”
The owner on the side smiled and said, “He just bought it from the two beautiful ladies in front.”
Shen Yihuan raised an eyebrow: “You even asked others for it?”
“Mm, saw you really wanted to eat it.”
Shen Yihuan smiled: “Did you drive or something?”
“Didn’t drive, I’ll take a taxi.”
“The subway’s fine,” Shen Yihuan said.
The two walked towards the subway station together. Shen Yihuan divided the crab roe bun in half. The golden soup overflowed, looking very appetizing.
She shared half with Lu Zhou.
“Were the girls who gave you the crab roe bun pretty?” she asked, her gaze lowered, eating seriously with both hands clutching half a crab roe bun.
Lu Zhou thought for a moment: “I don’t remember.”
“The shop owner said they were beauties.”
Lu Zhou finished his half of the crab roe bun, took a packet of tissues from his pocket, took Shen Yihuan’s hand, and wiped the soup and oil stains clean from her hands.
“I didn’t look closely,” Lu Zhou said.
...
They had dinner at the small stir-fry restaurant downstairs from the apartment, then went to the supermarket to buy some snacks and fruits before heading home.
Lu Zhou held Shen Yihuan’s hand with one hand, carrying large and small bags with the other, his head slightly bowed, listening to the young girl excitedly talk about something.
They entered the apartment building and took the elevator up.
Walking home at night with snacks and fruit like this gave Shen Yihuan the illusion that they were already married and living together.
The hallway light was not very bright.
Lu Zhou unlocked the door and entered.
Shen Yihuan was smarter this time; she didn’t go shower first. The consequence of her entering the bathroom first was Lu Zhou squeezing in too, followed by a lot of roughhousing.
“I’ll wash the fruit, you go shower quickly,” Shen Yihuan urged him.
Lu Zhou ruffled the young girl’s hair and asked seriously, “Not showering together?”
Shen Yihuan stared at him just as seriously: “Lu Zhou, you still need to have some dignity.”
Lu Zhou laughed, put down what he was holding, and went to shower.
Shen Yihuan washed the fruit, cut it into small slices, and even arranged it beautifully on a plate, feeling quite pleased.
She placed the fruit plate by the bedside, kicked off her slippers and stepped onto the bed, turned on the TV, turned off the room lights, leaving only a bedside lamp illuminated, its warm, delicate light spreading out.
The sound of water from the bathroom was evocative.
Shen Yihuan crossed her legs and chewed on a piece of fruit.
She felt that life had indeed been comfortable recently.
Then her phone rang.
She looked down.
—Mom.
“...”
She picked it up, opened it, and said hello.
...
At the Shi family home.
After Shen’s mother finished her call with Shen Yihuan, she went downstairs and saw Shi Jin and Shi Zhenping sitting together on the sofa.
Shi Zhenping: “What about your old boyfriend? How come you haven’t mentioned him recently?”
Shi Jin rolled her eyes: “We broke up ages ago, but I’m getting a new boyfriend soon.” She took out her phone, scrolled through her photo album, and showed Shi Zhenping a picture.
“The young man’s quite handsome, and he looks spirited. What kind of work does he do?”
“Don’t know yet.”
“You don’t know that?”
Shi Jin smiled: “Love at first sight, Dad, you understand? Anyway, I’ll find out sooner or later, and I’ll tell you then.”
Shen’s mother stood on the stairs for a while, then walked down: “Jin Jin has a boy she likes now.”
Shi Jin looked up at her, giving a faint “Mm.”
Shi Zhenping asked: “What about Yihuan? Does she have a boyfriend?”
“Not yet,” Shen’s mother smiled, “But it should be soon. She knew the eldest son of the He family when she was in school, and he seems to quite like her.”
________________________________________
Shen Yihuan sat on the edge of the bed, gripping her phone tightly, tears silently streaming down her face. She sniffled, pressing the heel of her hand hard against her eyes.
Tears trickled down between her fingers.
A faint sound came from behind her. She turned, and saw Lu Zhou standing there.
She didn’t know how long he had been standing there.
Shen Yihuan looked at him, rubbing her eyes.
Lu Zhou’s heart constricted sharply.
He cherished Shen Yihuan so much. In his eyes, Shen Yihuan was that unattainable star in the sky, a treasure so precious that even holding her in his hand felt unreal. She was all his obsession and desire.
He couldn’t even begin to imagine why someone would treat Shen Yihuan like that.
Just thinking about it made his heart ache.
The young girl had just spoken with a barely suppressed sob, her palm pressed tightly against her eyelids, enunciating each word with repressed restraint: “Mom, from childhood until now, you’ve never loved me. Why do you still force me to be with someone who can’t possibly love me?”
Lu Zhou walked over and knelt in front of Shen Yihuan.
He took her hands, which were resting on her knees, damp and still stained with tears.
He raised his hand to wipe away her tears.
“Don’t cry.”
Shen Yihuan clenched her hands, her head bowed, her voice very soft: “Lu Zhou, after Grandma died, I had no home.”
“I’ll give it to you.”
Shen Yihuan looked up.
Lu Zhou said, “I’ll give you a home.”
He said, “I’ll give you anything you want.”
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