Previously, Song Mianfeng felt that getting to know a new friend and starting a new relationship were both very troublesome processes. Introducing oneself and talking about the past was exhausting, and the process of getting along was also tiring. Every word and action between two unfamiliar people felt like playing a game of Minesweeper, where nobody knew if they would step into each other’s minefield the next second… But after meeting Lu Yin Zhen, Song Mianfeng felt that even if it was tiring, he was willing to share every detail of his past with him.

He took him around his alma mater, talking about things from when he was in school; he showed him the piece of art in the art gallery that belonged to him and told him the stories behind the photos; he talked about the cities he had visited for inspiration and the landscapes he had seen…

He patiently spoke, and Lu Yin Zhen listened patiently, as if accompanying him through those memories again, filling in the missing past one by one.

After leaving the art gallery, the rain had stopped at some point. Lu Yin Zhen put away the umbrella and followed Song Mianfeng to continue touring the campus.

Both sides of Wuyalou Road were planted with magnolia flowers, which were in full bloom this season. Just after the rain, the flower petals were adorned with raindrops, looking charming and lovely.

Seeing this scene, Song Mianfeng wanted to take some photos.

Thinking about it, he glanced at Lu Yin Zhen.

Lu Yin Zhen had his hands behind his back, holding two umbrellas in his left hand, and his right hand holding the wrist of his left hand. He walked slowly, resembling an elderly gentleman taking a stroll after dinner.

Although he was a very handsome elderly gentleman.

Song Mianfeng loosened his grip on the camera, letting it hang around his neck, swaying with his movements.

He didn’t feel like taking photos anymore.

It would ruin the mood.

Not far away, some people were taking photos, presumably for a club or something. Some were holding small flashlights and reflectors, cutting out different shapes from foam boards, which looked quite professional.

The model was a young girl in Hanfu attire, looking quite young, holding a plain-colored oiled paper umbrella and standing under the roses. She was more delicate than the flowers, making for a beautiful scene.

Song Mianfeng stood and watched for a while, and a sharp-eyed student recognized him. “Senior Song?”

The student photographer turned to look at them, pleasantly surprised, as if meeting an idol. “Senior Song!”

After graduating, Song Mianfeng had been invited back to the school to give a photography lecture once, so it wasn’t strange that his face was recognized. He didn’t try to conceal it and walked over generously, asking, “What are you shooting, for a competition or a club activity?”

“It’s a club activity.” The male student photographer, who seemed quite shrewd, smiled and handed the camera to Song Mianfeng. “Senior, could you take a look and give some advice?”

Song Mianfeng flipped through the photos and said, “Not bad.”

“But the model’s expression is a bit stiff.”

The boy grinned, “Maybe the young lady can’t smile when looking at my face.”

Hearing this, the model giggled and raised her hand to cover her mouth.

With wide sleeves and half-hidden posture, the light fell just right on her face. Song Mianfeng adjusted the camera lens and quickly pressed the shutter button.

“There, she’s smiling now.”

“…I think I wasted my shots earlier.” The boy looked at the photo Song Mianfeng took with a disappointed tone, “What the hell did I take?”

Song Mianfeng chuckled, “You need to guide your model, tell her how to pose and smile, capture candid shots during communication, take more shots, and then you’ll capture the feeling. Just staging it deliberately won’t give your photos soul.”

The spot they chose was really good, with roses climbing all over the fence, magnolias, and lush bamboo leaves forming a beautiful foreground.

Song Mianfeng felt a bit tempted again and handed the camera back to him, discussing, “Can I take a few shots?”

“Sure, go ahead, take as many as you like.” The boy generously gave up his position as a photographer and handed the camera to Song Mianfeng, “Do you have a model? Who do you want to shoot?”

Song Mianfeng was amused by his words, “I have a camera.” He glanced back at Lu Yin Zhen, his eyes filled with even more amusement, “And I have a model.”

Song Mianfeng’s smile was too dazzling, and before Lu Yin Zhen could react, he obediently walked to the designated spot and stood there, then began to look confused, still holding the umbrella and unsure what to do with it.

The girl was attentive, jogging over to take the umbrella from him. Song Mianfeng watched Lu Yin Zhen standing there at a loss and chuckled softly, “Stand sideways, look at that flower next to you.”

Lu Yin Zhen obediently stood sideways and looked at the magnolia flower beside him.

Being tall, the magnolia seemed to bloom from his chest. The roses in the background blurred into spots of light, illuminating his figure. The light softened the paleness on his face, outlining his handsome features. Even through the lens, Song Mianfeng felt his heart race.

“Smile.” Song Mianfeng pressed the shutter button while saying, “Imagine it’s me and smile.”

Lu Yin Zhen smiled, and the coldness in his eyes melted into warmth. It was unclear whether he was amused by Song Mianfeng or truly saw the flower as him, but he smiled.

Some students were amused by his smile. Song Mianfeng smiled too, took a few steps forward, pulled closer with the lens, and took a close-up shot of Lu Yin Zhen’s hand.

“Look at me.”

Lu Yin Zhen turned his head to look over, still smiling, then quickly lowered his head, seemingly a bit embarrassed, before slowly raising it again, now with a neutral expression.

“Okay.”

Lu Yin Zhen felt relieved, and his posture relaxed a lot. He reached out to brush away the branches and leaves and walked out.

After a few more shutter clicks, Song Mianfeng stopped shooting.

The whole process took less than ten minutes. The students watching on the side were impressed by Song Mianfeng’s skills. “Senior Song is amazing.”

Song Mianfeng smiled as he took the umbrella from the girl’s hand and said, “Thank you,” waving his hand, “Let’s go.”

“Senior, take care, come back to visit us when you have time!”

Lu Yin Zhen glanced back at them, chuckled, and said, “The students at your school are lively.”

Song Mianfeng waved to the students, smiling, then handed the camera to Lu Yin Zhen, saying, “Take a look.”

Looking at the photos of the man smiling with his head down, Lu Yin Zhen felt a bit unfamiliar and curious. Apart from ID photos and graduation photos, Lu Yin Zhen had hardly ever taken such serious and cooperative photos before. Song Mianfeng took good pictures, and they didn’t look like him.

Did he look so happy when he smiled?

After flipping through the photos from beginning to end, Lu Yin Zhen suddenly spoke up, “Could you help me print these out?”

“Sure, how many inches do you want?”

“Just the usual size of photos.” Lu Yin Zhen explained, “I want to send them back home.”

“Send them home?”

“My grandmother is old and doesn’t use communication tools much.” Lu Yin Zhen said, “She loves writing letters, so I send home letters every month. I rarely take photos… so I want to send these to her.”

Song Mianfeng smiled, “I’ll print them out for you when I get back, and I’ll give them to you next time we meet.”

“Great, thank you.”

“I don’t like it when you thank me so much,” Song Mianfeng raised an eyebrow, “It’s too polite.”

Lu Yin Zhen looked at him seriously, “If I were really polite to you, I wouldn’t have asked you to help me print the photos.”

Lu Yin Zhen always had a bunch of reasons. Song Mianfeng couldn’t argue with him, glanced at the time, and said, “Are you hungry? Let’s go eat.”

“Yeah.”

Near the university city, there was no shortage of food. Song Mianfeng chose a cat-themed restaurant near the school where they used to go often.

Lu Yin Zhen seemed to be very popular with small animals. As soon as he entered, a cat came over to let him pet it. Song Mianfeng wasn’t jealous at all; he just handed the menu to Lu Yin Zhen and held the cat in his arms.

The cat also gave him face, lying obediently on his lap, not running away.

“Do you like cats?”

Lu Yin Zhen ordered two dishes and handed the menu to Song Mianfeng. Song Mianfeng didn’t look at the menu either, casually ordering two home-cooked dishes, one meat dish, one soup, and two servings of double skin milk for dessert.

With one hand holding the cat and the other hand flipping the camera switch, Song Mianfeng took two photos of the cat being petted. “I like them, just don’t have time to keep one.”

Lu Yin Zhen smiled and opened his phone gallery, handing over a few photos for him to see.

“Are these yours? Persian cats?” A pure white, long-haired chubby cat with beautiful almond-shaped eyes. Song Mianfeng liked it at first sight. “How did this little guy get so fat?”

“It’s my grandmother’s.” Lu Yin Zhen said, “She spoils it.”

That’s why it’s so fat.

Song Mianfeng didn’t flip through more photos, just looked at the cat in the picture, still petting one in his hand, smiling with relaxed brows and eyes, “Your grandmother must be a very lovely person.”

“Yeah, she is lovely.” Lu Yin Zhen paused for a moment, smiled lightly, “You are also lovely.”

Caught off guard by the flirtation, Song Mianfeng coughed lightly in embarrassment and changed the subject, “What’s the little guy’s name?”

“…It’s called Baisui.”

“Wishing you long life.” Song Mianfeng thought of Lu Yin Zhen’s WeChat name and couldn’t help but laugh, “Is Longevity your nickname?”

Lu Yin Zhen “mm”ed without elaborating on the name, just said, “I’ll take you to see him next time.”

Seeing a cat, roughly speaking, was meeting the parents.

Lu Yin Zhen said it very seriously, not like joking, making Song Mianfeng inexplicably nervous and expectant.

He picked up the tea and took a sip, suppressing the unnecessary thoughts. Then he replied casually, “Sure.”

After dinner, Song Mianfeng took Lu Yin Zhen around the school, then went to S Theater on the way, had dinner together, and bid farewell before heading home.

Once home, Song Mianfeng opened his computer and exported the photos taken today, creating two folders. He was too lazy to edit the school scenery photos for now, so he first picked out the photos of Lu Yin Zhen and edited them.

After editing, he backed up the photos, saved a copy on a USB drive, then opened WeChat and sent them to Lu Yin Zhen.

While waiting for a reply, Song Mianfeng selected a few photos and transferred them to his phone. He casually added a filter, stitched them into a long picture, arranged them in a grid of nine, and prepared to post it on Moments.

After some thought, he replaced the center photo with one of Lu Yin Zhen’s, but then felt that each photo was equally good-looking and couldn’t pick out the best one… So he opened the photo editing app again, stitched the photos together, and contentedly placed it in the center, with the caption “Spring.”

Of course, this time he didn’t forget to block his own parents.

Soon, someone commented. Opening it up, it was Wang Letian, one of his teasing friends, saying, “I want the contact information of this model within three minutes.”

Song Mianfeng sneered and replied.

“You dare to think about someone who’s mine?”