Chapter 20: Did Not Like Taking Photos, But Liked Taking Photos

When Lu Xiaoxi was speaking, Li Mu had already finished taking the photos.

“I’ll take a look.”

Lu Xiaoxi immediately sat down next to him and leaned in to look at his phone.

“You took such ugly photos…”

“Could it be that it’s a problem with the person?”

“You mean I’m ugly, right?”

“I didn’t say that; you said it yourself.”

“Go to hell, you stinky Li Mu!” Lu Xiaoxi clenched her small fists and hit Li Mu, gritting her teeth.

“Come on, let’s take another one.”

“Delete these few photos, and use my phone to take the picture; my phone is clearer.”

“Okay.”

Lu Xiaoxi unlocked her phone, opened the camera, and handed it to Li Mu, then skipped back to the edge of the pool, scooping up a bit of water, with a little yellow duck floating on her palm.

Li Mu was momentarily stunned.

He had never believed in the saying that girls change a lot as they grow up.

But now,

Lu Xiaoxi had already transformed from the bookish girl who only knew how to study into a graceful young lady.

“Done.”

“I’ll take a look.” Lu Xiaoxi leaned in again next to Li Mu, gesturing with her fingers.

Li Mu understood immediately, opened the album, and swiped through the photos one by one.

The clarity of Lu Xiaoxi’s phone was indeed higher than Li Mu’s, capturing more details; the splashes from the hot spring were crystal clear, serving as a unique backdrop for the young girl.

Perhaps due to the deliberate poses, these photos looked very good.

They were the kind that would be used as profile pictures online, in short, they were very beautiful.

There were still two or three blurry photos at the back.

Further back were Li Mu’s three selfies, each with a different expression—one making a funny face, one showing off his little tiger teeth, and another with a crying face…

So, it seemed that Li Mu had changed angles several times in the latter part just to take selfies with her phone, right?

“Li Mu, I think you should explain these photos to me.”

Lu Xiaoxi was amused by Li Mu’s silly expression, trying hard to suppress her laughter, putting on an angry face, her eyebrows furrowing and relaxing, looking like a painted egg with expressions, comical and unaware.

“…Give me back my phone; it’s so ugly, delete them all.”

“Don’t! I think you’re not that ugly; why not keep them?”

“I was talking about your photos being ugly!”

” Little Pig Lu, one shouldn’t speak nonsense with their eyes open; no matter from which angle you look, I’m a handsome guy, okay?”

“Li Mu, there should be a limit to narcissism; just because a few girls asked for your WeChat, you got all carried away?”

“That’s better than you not having any boys asking for your WeChat, right?”

Lu Xiaoxi had never been able to win against Li Mu; whenever she argued with him, she was always the one at a disadvantage.

She pinched Li Mu’s soft waist hard, huffed, and turned her head away, ignoring him.

Her hands were wet, leaving watermarks on Li Mu’s clothes; the fountain water was not clean, and when it dried, it would leave a light yellow mark.

But Li Mu didn’t care much; that mark was the same as the one on his shoes, and if he didn’t pay attention, it was hardly noticeable.

One day, he would also leave marks on Lu Xiaoxi’s shoes and clothes.

The two were playing near the square.

During this time, they had three bowls of noodles, Li Mu had one bowl, and Lu Xiaoxi had two bowls. It seemed she had developed a psychological shadow; even after confirming it wasn’t garlic, she didn’t dare to eat the restaurant’s chili.

In the evening.

The sky was dyed a golden yellow, the dusk was desolate, like an orange sea, spreading for miles.

“Poets always love to lament the sadness of late autumn dusk, but dusk is clearly very gentle…”

Lu Xiaoxi’s gaze was soft, a cool breeze blew by, dispersing the summer heat, the warmth of the day, and the young girl’s hair.

“Are you having a literary fit?” Li Mu scratched his face.

He didn’t understand what dusk or sadness meant; he only saw the soft light of the evening shining on the young girl’s face, her hair, her body—so beautiful, so beautiful.

He had to admit that Lu Xiaoxi was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen in his nineteen years of life.

“Can you not talk? You’re ruining the atmosphere!” Lu Xiaoxi was both shy and angry; the feeling she had finally cultivated was shattered by Li Mu’s one sentence.

She and Li Mu really didn’t get along.

Stupid, big fool Li Mu!

“Okay, okay, I won’t talk.” Li Mu spread his hands, showing helplessness.

“That’s more like it. Do you want to take a photo?” Lu Xiaoxi’s eyes turned, narrowing into little crescents.

“Weren’t you saying my photos were ugly?”

“Are you stupid? How can you take a bad photo of this sky? Even a pig would look good in it.” Lu Xiaoxi pointed around; many people were stopping to take photos.

They didn’t have professional equipment, just using their phones to capture beautiful things.

“Then I’ll take one too.” Li Mu took out his phone and leaned back a bit.

He took a photo of Lu Xiaoxi holding her phone high to take a picture, and then took four pictures of the sky.

“Look at what I took.” Lu Xiaoxi had also finished taking her photos, admired them, nodded repeatedly, and showed them to Li Mu.

“Not as good as mine.”

“Then let me see yours.”

“Here.”

“The pig’s photos look better than yours.”

“My photos really aren’t as good as yours…”

……

On the way back to school, neither of them spoke, silently playing on their phones.

When they returned to school, the streetlights had already turned on.

It was already autumn, and the daytime was getting shorter.

Li Mu was so angry he wanted to curse; he had circled around twice according to the navigation before finding the meeting room.

Many people were sitting in the front row of the lecture hall, chatting and laughing, completely unlike new classmates who had just met.

College students were more open in social situations.

The class meeting process was very brief; the counselor introduced himself simply, then it was the students’ turn to introduce themselves, followed by some notices, and it was over.

He met a few classmates he played games with, and Lu Xiaoxi also met a few girls she could chat with…

Their dinner was solved with takeout.

After a day of fun, Lu Xiaoxi had long wanted to take a bath; holding her change of clothes, she dashed into the bathroom to wash up.

“The hot water is gone; wait for the water to heat up before you wash.” Lu Xiaoxi took longer to shower than usual today.

“Did you use my shampoo?” Li Mu keenly caught a familiar scent.

It was the French royal shampoo he had bought for ten yuan for two bottles with free shipping.

Since using Lu Xiaoxi’s things, he hadn’t touched his own at all.

“Only you can use mine; and I can’t use yours?” Lu Xiaoxi retorted.

She had indeed secretly… openly used Li Mu’s shampoo.

After all, Li Mu had been using her stuff all along, so she wanted to use his back.

But it was really hard to use; she wouldn’t use it again next time.

Li Mu’s shampoo had a plain smell; compared to Lu Xiaoxi’s fragrant shampoo, it was simply unbearable.

“Sure, if you don’t mind, you can use the soap too, so it doesn’t go to waste; that’s sulfur soap, good for mites.”

“I mind! Who wants to use your soap? It must be full of bacteria, disgusting—”

Suddenly, she felt an impulse to punch Li Mu; what was going on…

———-
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