TCOR CH65

Chapter 65： Zhong Ai’s World（end）

The day Shen Wunian left, I didn’t go to see him off because he had a flight at one o’clock in the afternoon, and I, being tossed and turned by him, didn’t go to sleep until six in the morning.

I woke up at seven o’clock in the evening, the whole thing like a demon sucked out the essence of the same, under the eyes of the black, walking, floating.

Shen Wunian left me three things: the first was the clam, sea cucumber, and yam porridge he had cooked once; the second was a travel notebook he had written by hand; and the third was a key.

I flipped through the travel notebook while eating the clam and sea cucumber yam porridge, and when I finished, I felt that my yang qi had been slightly replenished, and the notebook was almost at the end of the page.

The memo had a complete itinerary, a summary of attractions, travel essentials, and even what transportation to take wherever I went, what apps to use, and what few must-eat foods were marked for me.

“Awesome.” It felt like he must have been good at taking notes in school.

I put the note together and set it aside, picking up the key on the table and taking a closer look at it. It’s a strange key, with a small head and a long body, and it’s also folded.

After looking at it for half a day and not being able to see where it was, I checked my phone to see if Shen Wunian had left me a message, and found that he had sent me a message just five minutes ago.

[I miss you so much.]

I looked at the time on the top right corner speechlessly. It’s only been 20 hours since we broke up, what the hell is that person thinking?

Thinking like that, the corner of my mouth couldn’t help but smile as I typed.

[Are you late or is there internet on the plane?]

I only sent one second, the other side showed “in the process of inputting”, as if Shen Wunian was waiting for my reply, did not put the phone down.

[There is Internet on the plane.]

[Eating congee, memo also read, the key is where the key?]

[The key to the electronic lock of the villa on the hill, you can go there anytime you want, I hired someone to clean it regularly, and there will always be food in the refrigerator].

[Hired someone to clean? What about the chains on the ceiling and the investigative wall?]

[Oh, I took care of those. The chains have been removed and that little room is locked.]

I was really relieved to hear his answer. If anyone else saw those things, I’m afraid I wouldn’t even have the face to go back there.

[I missed you so much.]

As if he was unhappy that I had deliberately ignored that sentence, he repeated it again, not stopping until he had received my reply in general.

I sighed and could only reply back.

[I miss you too.]

Although Shen Wunian left, he left the studio with Xu Meicheng and Ni Shan, leaving them to be my manager and assistant.

Originally, I thought he was exaggerating, because when I won the mobile phone photography contest before, my life was as it should be, and nothing much had changed.

As it turned out, somehow the news of my winning the award went viral on the Internet and got a lot of retweets from marketing numbers. There were a lot of media coming to me for interviews and asking for permission, and I didn’t know how to deal with them, so I could only hand them all over to Xu Meiqing to deal with.

“Permission is fine, interviews are even fine, if they ask, just say that I went out to catch the wind.” I instructed her.

“Okay, no problem.” After not seeing her for a long time, Xu Meicheng was still as capable and professional as in the past, she didn’t ask anything that shouldn’t be asked, and I couldn’t even see any curiosity about the relationship between Shen Wunian and me on her face.

Compared to her, Ni Shan was much more curious.

“Little Ai, tell me honestly, are you and the boss …… this?” She extended the index fingers of her left and right hands, moved a little closer, and then pecked at each other desperately.

I looked at her for a while with my head full of question marks, and then suddenly read it, and my face turned red. How can I explain this? You’ve done everything you should and shouldn’t, but you’re still not a couple?

“I ……”

was embarrassed and didn’t know where to start when Xu Meiqing suddenly appeared, twisting Ni Shan’s ear and pulling the person away, “Come to work, there’s so much nonsense, I think you’re too lazy! “

“Aigoooooo my ear, take it easy!”

Before going out to pick up the wind, I specially went to Xu Ao’s studio.

It was the first time I had gone there after entering my fingerprints, and I had always felt that since I had won the prize and become the new Kana Master, I was qualified to use it.

I took some equipment that I might use for my own picking, checked all parts of the studio, and confirmed that the humidity and temperature were correct before closing the door and leaving.

Thanks to Shen Wunian’s note, I didn’t take any detours along the way, and the trip went exceptionally smoothly. Everywhere I went, I took the initiative to send him my location and tell him what I had seen and heard during the day.

He responded to me every day in a timely manner, completely oblivious to the ten-hour time difference between us, which puzzled me greatly.

[Shouldn’t it be after six in the morning on your side? Have you just woken up or haven’t you slept?]

He sent a five-second voice directly.

I didn’t dare turn on the loudspeaker after ten o’clock that night, on the green train that snored loudly, so I could only plug in my headphones and click on his voice again.

“I haven’t slept, I’m waiting for you to make love.”

The headphones sound excellent, with stereo surround, it’s almost like he’s talking in my ear.

Knowing that no one would hear me, I slipped under the covers like a thief and clicked on the voice again.

“I haven’t slept, I’m waiting for you to make love.”

[Then I’ll sleep, you sleep too.] Listening to his voice, I replied.

The picking trip was very fruitful, I filled a 3TB memory card, and thanks to the new equipment, there was a significant improvement in picture quality and color.

Meanwhile, although she had only been on the job for a month, Xu Meiqing had already fulfilled her role as an agent perfectly and had received a number of magazine interiors and even cover offers for me. I was able to find the right places to send them from 3TB, and in one month I made money that I wouldn’t have been able to make in the past few years.

It was only at this point that I really felt that I was a professional photographer in every sense of the word.

I returned to Jiang City on the eve of the start of the school year, and Xie Yunze had just returned from the capital, so Peng Dai and two others came to pick me up at the train station. As soon as she saw me, Peng Dai let out a scream that startled both Xie Yunze and me.

“God ah ah ah ah ah ah, where has my white, clean, cute and lovable little boy gone?” Pang Dai cupped her heart and looked like she was going to faint, “I prepared sunscreen for you, did you not apply it? Do you know how powerful UV rays are?”

“Isn’t that good? Darker is more masculine.” Saying this, Xie Yunze squeezed me with his elbow, “Isn’t it Little Ai?”

“I applied sunscreen, maybe I didn’t apply enough ……,” I was too vain to look at Pang Dai.

Actually, I didn’t put it on at all, this thing is sticky, it’s not comfortable to put on at all, when I sweat, my eyes get hot, it’s really uncomfortable.

“Forget it, lift it up, it should still be white.” Pang Dai held my hand in pain and kept looking at it.

After school started, two things happened that I didn’t expect.

One was about Pei Huanchen.

He came back to class and didn’t follow the bodyguards this time. But I think he should be hidden in the shadows, just like the people Liang Zai sent to protect me.

That’s right, I know that there are people following me. Even though they did it carefully, every time I went to one of those out-of-the-way places to take pictures, I’d run into the same two people in disguise, and unless I was an idiot, I wouldn’t be able to tell that they were the ones sent to protect me.

Another was about flowers.

From the first week of school, every Sunday I received a bouquet of black roses, the same kind of black bucks I had once spent a fortune on to give to Shen Wunian. The bouquet of roses always came with a card that said, “Love You, My Cure,” so I knew without thinking who it was from.

I thought about asking Shen Wunian not to waste the money, but he said he had already paid for a whole year and couldn’t give it back. So I could only buy two more glass vases to hold those flowers.

The first semester of my junior year of college was spent in heavy academics, full work, and daily chats and videos with Shen Wunian. Up to that point, the thoughts were only a vague outline.

This year’s winter vacation was the first time in all those years that I didn’t go back to my sister-in-law’s house, and I decided to stay in Jiang City alone for the New Year.

“I’ll buy the ticket, I’ll arrange the visa, you just take yourself to the airport, why don’t you want to?” On New Year’s Eve, Shen Wunian called me on the video and found me alone in the rented house eating chili noodles, my face was not pretty.

“You don’t want to see me?”

I sucked in my noodles and didn’t bother to look him in the eye, so I didn’t fall for his foxy trick this time.

“It’s a lot of money for a round trip, and I haven’t been on a plane in a long time, so I’m a little scared…” So far, I hadn’t gotten over my fear of dimly lit, small spaces, “I made this hot sauce myself, and the noodles are also my own I made this hot sauce myself, and I rolled the noodles myself, it’s not that kind of garbage takeout, it’s very healthy and has a great New Year’s Eve atmosphere!”

Hearing this, Shen Wunian’s expression got even better.

“I missed you so much.” He stretched out his fingertips and touched me on the screen.

The cold streets, the busy restaurant, the lonely dinner, none of it made me feel bad, but his mere sentence of missing me made me stop my nose from flaring up.

Not daring to let him see, I buried my face in the bowl, making a low “hmm” sound.

From that moment on, thoughts are like wine in an oak barrel, fermenting day by day, each day becoming denser and softer than the day before.

Shen Wunian is not big to tell me about his side of the matter, I asked, he said everything is going well, do not worry, but how can I really not worry?

Every once in a while I will secretly look for news about him, I don’t know if it is the Liang family control, not much attention, but foreign countries are able to look for some.

It was pointed out in these news reports that both Shen Wunian and Philia’s lawyers were well-known heavyweights in the legal field, and in the courtroom, the defense team presented a series of detailed psychological evaluation reports and expert testimony, trying to prove that the two had lived in a high-pressure family environment since they were young, and had been subjected to mental and emotional manipulation over a long period of time. This family atmosphere had a direct impact on their decision making and behavioral judgment, thus explaining some of their behavior in the incidents in question.

If you read the comments at the end of the story, they all say that the defense team is apparently trying to get the two siblings a lighter sentence or acquittal by playing up the mental health issues.

[I knew it, how can rich people actually go to jail.]

[Even if they go to jail, they’ll go to one of those fancy prisons and still live their lives as human beings].

[The rumor that Ashmakine fell into the sea is a lie. He fled to Africa.]

[Didn’t they say that only one arm was found? Maybe he really faked his death to escape.]

[The two easiest places to die without proof – the sea and the sky. Ashmakine also fell into the sea in another country, so who knows].

[I suddenly think it’s a big conspiracy. The Parkway labor abuse case was dropped with the deaths of Liang Weiren and Ashmakine, and Shen and Philia were held as persons of interest in Ashmakine’s disappearance, but they were extradited back to their home country without any investigation. The U.S. doesn’t actively investigate cases that take place in another country, and they were only returned because they were suspected of helping Ashmakine launder money. And now their lawyers are claiming that they are both mentally ill and that helping Ashmakine was nothing more than motivated by long-term mind control. Man, Ashmakine can’t really be alive, can he?!!!]

[It is rumored that the prosecution was able to indict her because they received some anonymous evidence, but why this time? I now suspect that all this evidence is just part of a ruse, but it’s just a way to get the two siblings extradited without any problems.”]

[The more you talk, the more you get. How could this happen? No one could have calculated it so accurately! There are still shark teeth marks on this arm. There’s no way Ashmakine could have survived. He’s been pronounced dead]

Yes, how could that happen? I thought to myself after reading most of the comments. No one can do the math as accurately as …… claims to.

During the second half of my junior year, while juggling my studies, I entered an international competition and won a gold medal. As a result, my workload suddenly became much heavier, and Xu Meiqing even received offers from some official organizations to provide works for their joint art exhibitions.

I wanted to ask her to refuse them all. For my first exhibition, I wanted Shen Wunian to curate it anyway. But she said that one of the exhibitions was run by the Jiang City government, so it wasn’t too good to refuse, and told me not to offend if I could.

“…… That’s okay.” Thinking about anyway is not a personal exhibition, several photographers together group exhibition, participate in it, I finally compromise down.

After agreeing, I didn’t care much about it, only knew that there had been a push for this project, and it seemed to be quite complicated, Xu Meicheng and Ni Shan were quite busy in those months, which made it seem like I wasn’t doing my job.

It was also during that semester that Pang Dai started her graduation season. On the day of her graduation, the one who cried the most was not her or me, but Xie Yunze.

He hugged Peng Dai a howl, so that the other party did not graduate that is broken up, but also said that Peng Dai let him wait for him, wait for him to 22 years old legal age, they will get married.

Pang Dai, amused and helpless, used her bachelor’s degree to wipe Xie Yunze’s tears, while not really bothering to agree to his childish proposal.

Pei Huanchen took it all in and quietly asked me, “Is marriage the ultimate goal of any relationship?

I thought about it and said, “It shouldn’t be, falling in love can be just falling in love, forever, and getting married can be just getting married, getting married without falling in love.

“Getting married without falling in love?”

“Well, many people will get married because it’s ‘right.'”

Pei Huan Chen nodded his head as if he understood, and after a while asked me, “Then can a man and a man get married?”

I thought for a moment and said, “In some countries they can.

When he heard that answer, he was thoughtful and stopped asking me questions.

“Is it still not over for you?”

July summer vacation is coming, it is about to reach the one-year period, but Shen Wunian is late to return, the thought of him has accumulated to the point that the thought of him will cause a hidden pain in my heart, I finally could not help but ask out in the video on that day.

“It may take another month or two.” Shen Wunian on the other end of the cell phone said, “I’m sorry I didn’t keep my promise.”

“…… It’s only a month or two, it’s okay.” I spoke against my will.

“I miss you so much.”

“I also ……”

“Please get married soon! It’s so annoying!”

Tears were already welling up in my eyes, only to have my emotions directly interrupted by a female voice that suddenly entered the picture.

It was night on my side, and it happened to be early morning on Shen Wunian’s side. Before Philia’s voice, I thought Shen Wunian was eating breakfast alone in the street, and because the people around me didn’t understand Chinese, I could chat and flirt with him with impunity, but now that I found out that there was also a Philia in the room, I felt deeply humiliated and hurriedly hung up the video.

[Why didn’t you tell me? You didn’t tell me! Philia was on the side! Ahhhhhhh!!!] I typed several exclamation points in excitement.

[She’s not important.]

[How is she not important?]

[I’m the important one.]

I choked and was speechless.

On the opening day of the joint art exhibition, Xu Meicheng urged me to dress formally and beautifully.

I didn’t know what “handsome” meant, but I just put on the suit that Shen Wunian had made for me and put a black buck on my chest.

Before listening to Xu Meiqing mentioned a mouth, art exhibition in Jiang City South Bank Museum of Art exhibition, the name of what what the world, I did not put much on the heart to see the scene, surprisingly, is “Zhong Ai’s world”.

And the strange thing is, in addition to me and Xu Meicheng, the door is not a person.

Could it be a mistake that today wasn’t the opening day?

I entered the exhibition hall with a little doubt, and the first thing that caught my eye was the “Foreword”, which was lit up with white dots and took up an entire wall.

Preface: Welcome to Zhong Ai’s world.

This is not only Zhong Ai’s first solo photography exhibition, but also an invitation to the heart, a journey to explore and express love through light and shadow.

As the curator of this exhibition, I have witnessed how this young photographer has transformed simple moments into timeless occasions with boundless passion and keen perception. Each work is a reflection of his love for life, his appreciation of good times, and his cherishing of encounters and destinies.

This exhibition aims to ……

“Wait …… this?” Halfway through seeing it, I turned to Xu Meicheng in confusion.

She smiled and elegantly made a “please” gesture, signaling me to go inside.

I was stunned when I went in, and as far as I could see, all the works in the exhibition hall were mine. It was obviously a collaborative exhibition, but how did it become my solo exhibition? Who is the “I” in the introduction? Am I the curator of this show? It is ……

With my heart pounding uncontrollably, I turned a display wall, and a familiar tall back appeared in front of my eyes. The other party had his hands behind his back, admiring the “Rebirth” on the wall, this was the beginning of everything, and the beginning of my new life.

“Shen ……鹜 year?” I looked at the figure in the background, somewhat incredulous.

Hearing the voice, the man turned around, revealing a handsome and incomparable face.

He smiled at me and asked, “Do you still like it? My 22nd birthday present to you.

More than three hundred days and nights, tens of thousands of kilometers of distance, all vanished at that moment, and the thoughts that had swelled and fermented to the extreme finally had a place to rest.

“You ……” Before my brain could turn the corner, my body ran a step ahead of me and jumped into his arms, “Why didn’t you tell me you were back?”

He caught me and hugged me all over.

“I wanted to surprise you.”

Surprise and joy indeed.

I hugged him tighter, not knowing for a moment what to do with the joy in my heart.

“I have something else for you.” After hugging me for a while, he patted me gently on the back.

I froze and stepped back, “What is it?”

He pulled a black velvet box from his arms and opened it for me, inside were two simple rings forged from red metal.

He took out one of the rings with the smaller band, his voice was soft and precious, “There was a time when I hated the Red Line, hated its bestowal, its bondage, every bit of pain it caused me. Until you came along and made nothing the same. Now I am grateful for its guidance, its thirst, the only antidote it has given me.”

“Little Ai, will you be my eternal companion? No matter the thorns or the sea of flowers ahead, your love will be my only salvation, and I will give you everything I have.”

I was a little taken aback, “So …… so suddenly ah?”

Shen Wunian’s expression changed slightly, a “you this person how to speak, do not count words” look: “You said yourself that the examination period qualified, we will be together, is not I did not qualify?”

This year is said to be a period of investigation, in fact, there is no difference with the long-distance relationship, I know in my own heart, my feelings for him, in fact, has never changed.

“Qualified qualified.” I stretched out my own left hand and hurriedly replied, “I am ready.

As if afraid that I would back out, before I had even uttered my last word, the red ring was put on from the tip of my finger to the root of my finger, and at first glance it looked as if a thin red line had grown on my ring finger.

In order for me to put on the ring, Shen Wunian extended his left hand in front of me: “Now it’s your turn.”

“I can’t remember the words before you.” I took out the rest of the ring, stopped at the tip of his finger, and asked, “Are you willing to become my eternal companion ……?”

“?” Before I finished, Shen Wunian’s finger drilled into the ring.

“I am willing.” He cupped my face and kissed it all at once, saying viscously, “Of course I’m willing.

……

This exhibition aims to take you on a journey through Zhong Ai’s lens to experience the world he loves – a world of hopes, dreams, and infinite possibilities. We hope that each visitor will find resonance here and feel the comfort and enlightenment that art brings.

Let’s enter Zhong Ai’s world together, feel the deepest and purest love together, let art and emotion intertwine, dance together in light and shadow, and dialogue in silence.

Please enjoy this special journey.

—end