SWG Chapter 62

Chapter 62

The temperature on her ear instantly dropped a few degrees. Ruan Shengyi tried to sit up but was held down.

“Listen to me,” Xiao Wenyu said with a slightly stern tone. “Listen to me first, then you can ask.”

Ruan Shengyi: “Okay, I’m listening.”

Xiao Wenyu: “Under the guise of sending her a set of photos, I looked inside and out at the store’s decorations. Her place doesn’t have an attic, right?”

“Right, because it just happens to be the space under the roof.”

“Yeah, the second floor is mainly for storage. The back half of the first floor is the kitchen, and the front is the store. If you take it over… the front can stay as it is, but the kitchen definitely needs some simple renovations. The second floor can be divided like mine, half for storage, and the other half renovated into a small restaurant, you understand?”

“It’s winter now, business is slow. We can spend the whole winter doing this, and officially start promoting it next spring. The students will be back too, not just from around here, but also those kids who go to university in Beishi.”

Ruan Shengyi gently rubbed her fingers, and said softly, “Do you think we should close for the winter?”

“Closing the kitchen will definitely require a half-month break, but not the second floor. She has a back door there, believe it or not.”

Ruan Shengyi was stunned. “I really didn’t know that.”

She sat up, looked at Xiao Wenyu, her eyes soft, “It’s so good to have you. You’ve already found out almost everything for me. If I had to do it myself, I wouldn’t know where to start.”

Xiao Wenyu pinched her ear. “Don’t talk nonsense. If you came by yourself, you would definitely have thought of all this.”

“How could I?” Ruan Shengyi leaned closer silently, pressing her forehead against the other’s. “I’m used to doing things roughly, it’s difficult for me.”

She gently cupped Xiao Wenyu’s face, touching her lips, “It’s good to have you.”

“…I also asked about their approximate revenue. As long as we can maintain 80%, we should be able to break even in a year.”

“…? How did you ask that?”

“With smiles and guidance, of course.” Xiao, the owner, took the initiative, and instead held Ruan Shengyi’s face. “Like now, I won’t let you kiss me.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

The distance was pulled apart, and the woman smiled gently. “It’s called… playing hard to get.”

“I won’t let you go.”

Her wrist was grabbed, and the other leaned closer slowly and gently, pressing her shoulders, and pecking at the corner of her lips. “I won’t let you go.”

“Xiao, the owner, always says she needs to study, when will she finish learning?”

Xiao Wenyu turned around, holding the back of her head, her red lips close together, she whispered in a low and hoarse voice, “Although I’m sorry to make you wait again, but… you might have to bear with it for a couple of days, Ruan, the owner.”

After speaking, she looked up slightly, sealing the last bit of space between their lips.

The remaining words were all swallowed back. In the face of such joy, caring about those unpleasant disturbances would only spoil the beauty of the moment.

A piece of sweet and sour orange was suddenly stuffed into her mouth. Before Xiao Wenyu could react, the other leaned down again and whispered, “I learned this recently. It’s said that kissing like this feels different.”

Xiao Wenyu couldn’t speak, but her amusement didn’t go away. She pinched the back of Ruan Shengyi’s neck, intending to ask where she had learned that.

But the orange was hooked away, leaving only the sour juice, Xiao Wenyu only felt a bitterness at the root of her tongue, subconsciously trying to avoid the entanglement, but was caught up again, forcing her to tease this poor orange together.

Until all the juice inside was squeezed out, leaving only dry pulp, Ruan Shengyi rolled it over and swallowed it, letting go of her red lips, a pair of wet eyes staring straight at Xiao Wenyu, “Why, why will it take so long?”

With a light pant, with a low and hoarse voice, with a hint of irresistible doubt.

Xiao Wenyu stroked her forehead, her eyes softened, “The first time will be a little uncomfortable, especially since Ruan, the owner, hasn’t explored herself at all, hmm?”

“I promise you, on the day the first snow falls, okay?”

Ruan Shengyi smiled, “Why make promises about this kind of thing? Why not compensate me one more time tonight.”

She added another piece of orange to her mouth, biting into the flesh, letting the juice run down the corners of her lips.

Xiao Wenyu stared at her, her eyes flickering dimly, and she raised the corner of her lips. “Okay.”

*

After seeing off the last customers at the studio, Li Wan stood at the door and looked around before wandering back, wondering, “Teacher, I feel like our studio has been empty and deserted lately. It’s so strange.”

Xiao Wenyu looked at her, amused, and after putting away the collection book, she slowly opened her mouth, “Ruan, the owner, has been very busy recently, and doesn’t have time to come over.”

“What about you? Have you taken any new photos recently? I saw that the photography competition in Beishi is still accepting photos, so hurry up and submit some.”

Li Wan sighed helplessly, “The theme I chose is the four seasons, and I’m waiting for it to snow. It’s already November, why hasn’t it snowed yet?”

“Winter doesn’t necessarily have to wait for snow, does it?” Xiao, the owner, said, and pulled out one of her albums from many years ago, “Look at this one, it’s my favorite winter scene, and it doesn’t have any snow.”

Li Wan hugged the small toy in her arms and leaned over, resting her head on Xiao Wenyu’s shoulder to look at the album in her hand, and was so amazed that she couldn’t help but softly gasp, her expression dimming, “Teacher, this is you! Even if you gave me the same composition and scenery, the photos I took wouldn’t be the same as yours.”

This was a portrait, more like a candid shot from many years ago. The photo showed the backs of an old person and a young child. The child was wrapped up like a red lantern, waving a candied hawthorn stick in her hand. The old person next to her leaned to one side, seemingly listening to the child speaking.

Even if it was just a back view, you could see the happiness of the two people, outlining a perfect and lovely winter.

Li Wan sighed deeply, “Photography is the best way to see a person’s mood. Teacher, this photo must have been taken when you were very happy, right? It’s so beautiful.”

Xiao Wenyu was slightly stunned, her eyes falling on the time stamp under the photo.

That day was the day she and… her university friend went home together for winter break. She seemed to be very happy that day, why was that? It seemed to be because…

The phone interrupted her thoughts. Her tongue lightly pressed against her upper palate, but when she saw the number on the screen, her eyes darkened and her breathing became a little erratic.

Lin Simu, this is the countless harassing phone calls you’ve made during this time. What exactly do you want?

She struggled for a moment, but in the end, she answered the phone, “Hello—”

“Xiao Wenyu, you’re finally willing to answer my call, I…”

“I’m notifying you, if you call again, I don’t mind suing you for harassment. Goodbye!”

A sinister “Too late” was drowned in the beeping sound of the phone. Xiao Wenyu was even more stunned, and the hand holding the phone trembled slightly.

What does “Too late” mean?

What exactly does she want to do?

She shouldn’t have answered this call!

Li Wan slowly turned around and asked anxiously, “Is it, is it that person?”

“It’s nothing.” Xiao Wenyu forced a smile, touching her head. “You were right just now, photos can indeed reflect the mood when they were taken, but these can be adjusted. Don’t let it trip up your ideas.”

Li Wan stuck out her tongue, “But, I’ve really been feeling inexplicably down lately.”

“Well, I just feel like… never mind, Teacher, I’ll see if I can take some photos in the next two days. If I can, I’ll submit them. I saw that there are still three days left.”

Xiao Wenyu smiled, “Just do what you want. Photography should always be a relaxing thing, and shouldn’t become a burden on you.”

She fiddled with the thickened frame of the album, gently stroking it for a moment, and smiled softly. The day she took this photo, she was very happy, because her mother bought her a camera that she had been longing for for a long time, and Lin Simu…

Was just the icing on the cake.

That person who added the icing on the cake now only adds chaos and busyness to her life. How can the melancholy brought by time not make people sigh?

To this day, she finally wanted to say, it turns out that from the very beginning, everything was wrong. The day she was happiest was not because of that person, but she mistakenly attributed it to her, and then paid so much, so much for it.

Her stomach suddenly cramped.

The sixteen-week-old child could feel her emotions and convey some feelings and movements, like now, clumsily blowing bubbles in her belly, trying to make her happier.

But that phrase that she didn’t know if she had imagined or not, was bothering her so much that even the album in her hand no longer made her happy.

She supported her waist and slowly exhaled.

This is really…

Xiao Wenyu gritted her teeth, pulled out her phone, first blacklisted the last harassing phone call, and then found Zhuge Jing’s contact information. Her finger was already on the dial button, but almost at the same time, someone came to the studio.

It was someone who had bought a group purchase a few days ago, and was here to take a set of growth record photos of their child. They bought the most expensive package, giving all their love to this child who couldn’t even walk yet.

Xiao Wenyu watched with a smile as they settled the child. The woman next to her skillfully raised her hand to cover the little girl’s mouth, gently patting her, and the cry immediately turned into “aba aba.” The little girl’s eyes, filled with tears, gradually changed color, turning into full of confusion and a little bit of belated surprise at discovering that this was actually quite fun.

The little girl clapped her hands, and the woman rubbed her head again, stepped aside, and signaled that Xiao Wenyu could take pictures.

Xiao Wenyu came over, teased the child for a moment, and then raised the camera, taking a photo before she was scared to cry by the dark lens.

She took many pictures like that.

Another woman came over to choose the final photos, flipping through many of them, hesitatingly said, “Well, I have a question that I don’t know if I should ask…”

Xiao Wenyu rubbed her aching temples and gave a smile, “Of course you can ask, please speak.”

“I always feel like these photos… are missing something.” The woman held her chin.

Xiao Wenyu sighed faintly.

Just like she said to Li Wan, photography is a profession that requires a lot of emotional creation. Her mind is full of things right now, and the photos she takes are missing something in the eyes of outsiders, but in the eyes of insiders like them, it’s not just missing something, but has lost the most crucial energy and spirit.

This is also the reason why Li Wan has been unable to take the photos she wants.

Li Wan secretly came over, looked at the photos, and secretly took a breath – even she could see that there was something wrong with the photos, but she still stubbornly said, “Maybe there’s something wrong with our screen recently, but don’t worry, there’s definitely no problem!”