The housekeeper had changed all the bedsheets and covers, and the room was cleaned. The clock’s hour hand sluggishly pointed to 12 o’clock, the phone vibrated, and a reply popped up.

[Longevity: Good afternoon.]

Suddenly, Song Mianfeng’s mood improved. He sent a voice message asking, “Are you busy?”

“Have you eaten?” Lu Yin Zhen asked.

“Just finished being busy, about to eat,” Lu Yin Zhen replied.

Then he asked, “How about you?”

Before, Song Mianfeng felt that these daily trivial matters of eating or not were just idle talk, but now he found himself engaging in such conversation, realizing that chatting was more about the person than the topic. If it was someone he liked, they could chat for half a day about just punctuation marks.

“Not yet,” Song Mianfeng paused and said, “Don’t know what to eat and too lazy to cook.”

“You didn’t go to the studio today?”

“No, no work scheduled for today, resting.”

Lu Yin Zhen sent a picture, capturing his lunch: a black lunchbox containing egg fried rice, accompanied by braised pork, tofu, and a bowl of soup.

It looked delicious.

Suddenly, Song Mianfeng felt a bit hungry.

[Leisurely listening to the wind sleep: I also want to eat tofu.]

[Longevity: Wait.]

[Leisurely listening to the wind sleep: Hm?]

After a while, Lu Yin Zhen sent a voice message.

“It’ll probably take about half an hour.”

Song Mianfeng was puzzled for a moment and felt like laughing. “Did you order takeout for me?”

Lu Yin Zhen replied with a “Mm.”

Song Mianfeng chuckled lightly as he held his phone. For a moment, he wasn’t sure what to reply with, but in the end, he sent a face-palm emoji.

Half an hour later, someone knocked on the door. Song Mianfeng opened it and saw a middle-aged man holding a thermal lunchbox, looking somewhat surprised.

Do deliverymen wear formal attire now?

“Mr. Song?” The middle-aged man handed him the lunchbox with a polite smile. “Sorry for the wait.”

Song Mianfeng took the lunchbox, feeling that what he was holding didn’t look like takeaway at all. But it was probably some high-end homemade meal, he thought, the lunchbox did look quite nice.

“Is this lunchbox… not disposable? Do you need it back?” he asked.

“No need, our store recently opened, so we launched a meal delivery with lunchboxes.”

“I see.” Song Mianfeng casually asked, “Hmm, no receipt?”

The middle-aged man hesitated for a moment, his apology deepening, “I’m terribly sorry, I accidentally lost the receipt on the way here. Mr. Song, you won’t file a complaint against me, will you?”

“It’s okay.” Song Mianfeng smiled, “I just wanted to see the name of your store, so I can visit next time or order takeaway conveniently.”

“Mengji,” the middle-aged man paused with a meaningful tone, “You’re welcome to visit with Mr. Lu next time.”

Hearing such an invitation, Song Mianfeng felt extremely delighted and said, “Please wait a moment.” He turned around, entered the room, and took a small bag of candies from the wedding candy box, “Friend’s candy, for good luck.”

Older people always liked auspicious things. Hearing him say this, the smile on the middle-aged man’s face became more sincere. “Thank you.”

“Wish you a pleasant meal.”

He opened the lunchbox, arranged the dishes, went to wash his hands, then sat down at the table, and took out his phone to take a picture.

He sent it to Lu Yin Zhen.

The dishes were the same as Lu Yin Zhen’s, with an additional dish of shredded pork with bean sauce and red bean cake.

[Leisurely listening to the wind sleep: You overestimate my stomach.]

[Leisurely listening to the wind sleep: How can I finish all this?]

[Longevity: Is it delicious?]

Song Mianfeng picked up a piece of tofu, typed with a smile on his face.

[Leisurely listening to the wind sleep: Delicious.]

[Longevity: As long as you like it.]

[Leisurely listening to the wind sleep: I owe you a meal again.]

[Leisurely listening to the wind sleep: So, do you want to make plans for the weekend?]

[Longevity: This weekend?]

[Longevity: Not sure if I’m available, where do you want to go?]

Song Mianfeng ate slowly, typing with one hand.

[Leisurely listening to the wind sleep: Haven’t decided on the place yet, but there’s someone I really want to invite.]

Just after arranging the afternoon meeting, Lu Yin Zhen glanced at the message and then called his assistant.

“Cancel the weekend work schedule, I have some personal matters to attend to.”

“Hmm?” The assistant was momentarily stunned but quickly adjusted his expression. He nodded, “Alright.”

After closing the office door, Lu Yin Zhen smiled softly, holding his phone and typing a reply.

[Longevity: Okay.]

…

It rained on the weekend, a weather not particularly suitable for outings. However, Song Mianfeng had made plans to meet Lu Yin Zhen and had no intention of canceling the trip.

S City Art College was located on Wangnan Road in Jibei District, facing S City Drama University across the street.

Song Mianfeng arranged to meet Lu Yin Zhen at ten o’clock at the entrance of the university. He arrived early, sent a message to Lu Yin Zhen saying he was waiting at the milk tea shop at the school gate, then ordered a cup of milk tea and found a seat, idly playing with his camera while waiting for him.

Inadvertently, he looked up and happened to see a man in a white shirt holding a black umbrella, strolling leisurely through the rain, like a painting slowly unfolding. Song Mianfeng automatically adjusted the aperture and exposure settings in his mind, lifted the camera, and pressed the shutter button. Lu Yin Zhen also cooperated, smiling towards the camera.

Or rather, he smiled towards him.

As Lu Yin Zhen approached, he closed the umbrella and placed it next to his seat, standing behind Song Mianfeng to look at the photos frozen in the camera.

“Are the photos better than the real person?” he asked.

Song Mianfeng’s usually steady hand trembled slightly because Lu Yin Zhen was too close, and the warm breath fell on his ear and neck, feeling a bit itchy.

“They are all good,” Song Mianfeng put away the camera, picked up his milk tea, and took a sip, “What would you like to drink?”

“Do you have any recommendations?”

“How about Tieguanyin pearl milk tea, with barley and less ice? You like tea, so you should enjoy it.”

“Okay.”

Lu Yin Zhen ordered a cup of Tieguanyin pearl milk tea, sat down next to him, and glanced at the wall covered with colorful sticky notes filled with words. “Do you have any notes here?”

“I think so, but I don’t remember.” Song Mianfeng glanced at the wish wall and shook his head. “Even if there are, I probably can’t find them.”

Song Mianfeng casually asked, “Do you want to write one?”

Lu Yin Zhen smiled, “No need.”

The taste of Tieguanyin pearl milk tea was somewhat like oolong tea, not bitter, not overly sweet, with a strong tea flavor and a refreshing taste, indeed the flavor he liked.

“It’s delicious,” Lu Yin Zhen sipped his milk tea and chatted with him, “Did you used to come here often?”

“Mm,” Song Mianfeng nodded, “with Fu Qingshan.”

“You met him yesterday.”

“I also often see him on TV,” Lu Yin Zhen said, “You two have a good relationship.”

Song Mianfeng smiled, “I needed a model for a competition back then, so I took my camera to S Drama to find a model. The moment I saw him, I felt that his image and temperament were particularly suitable for the theme I wanted to shoot, so I asked him if he would like to be my model.”

“At that time, Fu Qingshan was just an unknown freshman in his first year, very cheap to hire. A cup of milk tea was enough to hire him as a model.”

“We became familiar later.”

Lu Yin Zhen was curious, “But you don’t often take portraits, do you?”

“I used to take everything, no taboos,” Song Mianfeng’s lips still carried a smile, but he lowered his eyes, concealing the emotions in his eyes, and said half-truthfully, “Later I found that it’s more interesting to take natural scenery, so I don’t take portraits much anymore.”

Suddenly, Lu Yin Zhen remembered something. “You helped me take ID photos before.”

“It’s not that I don’t take them. There are always exceptions.”

“Such as for work.” Song Mianfeng glanced at him, the corners of his eyebrows raised slightly, and he smiled lightly, “and you.”

Lu Yin Zhen looked at him, smiled slowly, “It’s my honor.”

After finishing their milk tea, Song Mianfeng took Lu Yin Zhen to tour the school.

It was still raining, and Song Mianfeng wanted to take photos, so the two of them shared an umbrella. Lu Yin Zhen held an umbrella, and he held Song Mianfeng’s umbrella. They walked slowly, pausing from time to time, from the library to the art gallery. They wandered around for more than half an hour.

The art gallery of the art academy was very large, seven floors in total, with works from students, teachers, and others of various majors.

Song Mianfeng guided Lu Yin Zhen through the tour, explaining to him. When they were in the photography exhibition area on the third floor, he even specifically found his own works to show him.

There were award-winning works from his student days, as well as some of his works collected by the school later, occupying a corner of the photography exhibition area.

“Look, over there, that one, Fu Qingshan.” Song Mianfeng pointed to him. “The theme is Ferry. It’s the first award-winning work of mine.”

“Actually, looking at it now, it’s not very mature. I think the reason it’s still hanging here is largely because Fu Qingshan is popular now.”

The young man in the photo was casually sitting at the bow of the boat, an old wooden boat, the night painted like thick ink. The moon was cold and the mountains were bleak. A lamp was placed at the bow of the boat, becoming the only warm tone in the entire picture.

The youth’s brows and eyes carried the unique sharpness of youth, but they were also set off by the candlelight and moonlight, giving his face a calm and gentle appearance. His gaze fell into the distance, revealing a bit of detachment from the world, neither sad nor happy.

Lu Yin Zhen looked at it for a long time before speaking, “It’s because you took it well.”

“You always praise me.” Who doesn’t like to hear compliments? Song Mianfeng liked them too. A smile climbed to the corners of his lips, and he felt a bit embarrassed. “It’s not that good.”

Lu Yin Zhen looked at the photo next to it, “That one, Peony Pavilion, doesn’t look like Fu Qingshan.”

Next to Ferry hung a photo with extremely contrasting tones, named Peony Pavilion. Under the gradient red halo, an actress holding a folding fan turned her back, as if the melodious and sorrowful tones of the opera were breaking out of the picture, her appearance was glamorous yet elegant, and her brows and eyes were full of spirituality.

Song Mianfeng didn’t expect this photo to still be hanging here. He paused for a moment before speaking, “That’s Fu Qingshan’s roommate. Fu Qingshan isn’t suitable for playing female roles.”

Lu Yin Zhen looked at other photos, “That photo of Star-picking Lake looks a lot like the place you took me to see the stars.”

“That place is called Star-picking Lake.”

“Did you name it?”

“No, it was named by my teacher.” Song Mianfeng pointed to another photo on the other side, “There, that one, is my teacher’s work.”

Lu Yin Zhen took out his phone and took a photo. His eyes were full of admiration and praise.

Song Mianfeng smiled, secretly taking a photo of Lu Yin Zhen admiring his work.