Volume 1 Beginning of Summer Chapter 18 Rejection
Let’s start by taking a photo.
Just after twelve o'clock, there were already quite a few people standing in front of the photo area.
Jiang You glanced at Tang Butian who was standing next to him. She stood straight with an indifferent expression.
"No sweet, you are here!"
A girl cosplaying as Harley Quinn rushed to Tang Butian's side.
She is Li Sheng, Tang Butian's classmate. She has a petite figure, and her cosplay of Harley Quinn is sweet but not evil enough.
"Are you queuing up for a photo?" Li Sheng said in surprise, "My friend wanted to buy one too, but they were sold out in half an hour. How come you got one?"
"His." Tang Butian pointed at Jiang You.
Li Sheng glanced at Jiang You and smiled to hide her surprise. She introduced herself, "I'm Tang Butian's classmate, Li Sheng."
"Jiang You."
"You..." Li Sheng asked tentatively, "How did you know each other?"
"She and I are in the same group." Jiang You glanced at Tang Butian, whose expression remained unchanged. He continued, "I saw the group chat while waiting in line, and she said she was there too, so we went to get together."
Li Sheng showed an understanding expression. Then, she took out a poster from her handbag, "Look, I got Mrs. Ruolan's autograph! Mrs. Ruolan is really so so so so gentle..."
Li Sheng was chattering beside Tang Butian, and Tang Butian nodded from time to time.
After talking for about ten minutes, Li Sheng clapped his hands and said, "By the way, I have to go queue up for the special offer. See you later!"
Without waiting for Tang Butian to answer, Li Sheng disappeared into the crowd like the wind.
"What a lively and beautiful girl." Jiang You commented.
Seeing that Tang Butian was not in the mood to chat, Jiang You took out his mobile phone, opened Weibo, searched for Xia Xia among the people he followed, and clicked on her homepage.
The pinned Weibo post is the set of pictures of Nine-tailed Daji that made her famous.
Jiang You flipped down.
The latest Weibo post was a selfie posted two months ago. She was wearing heavy makeup, a wig, and a thick filter, but she still looked weak and tired.
There are very few reposts and comments, which is completely incomparable to when she was popular.
She did not reveal her illness on Weibo.
Her followers, those who like her and those who hate her, don’t know that she is no longer in this world.
Tang Butian glanced at Jiang You's phone screen and said, "She used to be very energetic."
"You have a good relationship with her?"
Tang Butian shook her head. "When I enrolled, she danced at the welcome party."
"And you remembered her?"
"I had just come down the mountain at that time," Tang Butian pursed her lips and changed the subject, "Rouwan Wanzi, she danced very well."
Jiang You emphasized: "Meatballs are the best."
As we were talking, it was time for the photo.
Rouwanwanzi walked into the photo area, a photographer stood in front with a camera, and the staff opened the passage.
Soon it was Jiang You’s turn.
Jiang You showed the transaction code, and the staff scanned it with their mobile phone and said, "Two."
Jiang You walked over to Meatball.
Tang Butian walked to the front of the photo area, took out her mobile phone and turned on the camera.
Meatball raised her hands to her chest and made a meowing gesture. She asked, "Master, what posture do you want me to take?"
"For the first one, I want you to make a surprised expression." Jiang You took out a jewelry box from his bag, opened it, and there was a ring inside. He knelt down on one knee.
Rouwan immediately understood what he meant. She opened her eyes wide in surprise, covered her mouth with her right hand, opened her left hand to the outside of her body, took a step back with her right foot, stood on tiptoe, and leaned her upper body slightly forward.
In this posture, the T-shirt was pulled up a little, revealing the tattoo.
Click, click, the photographer took pictures.
After standing up, Jiang You put the jewelry box back into his bag. He took out two red books with marriage certificates printed on the cover and handed one to Rouwan.
They stood side by side, holding the red book in both hands and raising it in front of their chests.
Smile.
After taking two group photos, Jiang You and Rouwan Wanzi shook hands and said, "You danced very well today. Thank you for your hard work."
Rouwan Wanzi smiled and said, "Thank you for your support."
She made a heart gesture to Jiang You.
After walking out of the photo area and waiting for a while, Jiang You received the group photo from the staff and the electronic version was also sent to his mobile phone.
Jiang You flipped through the photos.
The Rouwan in the photo looks very youthful, but Jiang You looks dull and wooden.
"I'm not photogenic. You took the photo. Please send me the original photo on WeChat."
“It has been sent.”
Jiang You opened WeChat and said, "You are using the camera that comes with your phone."
"What's wrong?"
Jiang You looked at her small and delicate nose from the side of her face and changed the subject. "When I looked closely, she had dark circles under her eyes. Her makeup was very thick today and her eye sockets were a little red. This might be because she was wearing cosmetic contact lenses. There were tiny red particles floating where the tattoo was."
“Well done.”
"What's next?"
They walked to the side door of the exhibition hall.
More and more cosplayers and photographers gathered in the open space outside the door.
Jiang You's eyes narrowed slightly. He heard Tang Butian ask, "Can you get into their circle?"
"It's a bit difficult. In the cosplay circle, I'm considered an old grandfather. I don't look photogenic, and I can't make clothes or equipment. I'm also poor. In the photography circle, I'm poor for three generations because of my camera lenses." Jiang You took out a Coke from his bag, opened it, and drank half a bottle in one breath. "I'm ready to go. What about you?"
"Just to see Meatballs?"
"It's mainly to see her. I got up too early this morning and I'm still dizzy now. I can't compare to you young people..." He screwed the cap on the Coke and put the bottle back into his bag. "In fact, the things are almost the same every year. The exhibition is permanent, but the cosplayers are changing. When I was lining up in the first two years, I liked to look at the action figures and try out the new games. Now, I have to go to bed quickly."
"You agreed to join." Tang Butian emphasized.
"Joining doesn't mean I have to do private work for you, not sweet girl."
Tang Butian lowered her voice, "Where's Rouwan Wanzi? Don't you like her? Aren't you worried that she will be like Xia Xia..."
Jiang You looked around, then he moved closer to Tang Butian and lowered his head.
The breath sprayed on Tang Butian's ear.
"There must be a large organization behind that tattoo. They are very cautious and good at exploiting loopholes in the rules. So even if you have evidence, you can't do anything to them, right?"
Tang Butian pursed her lips and did not answer.
"I want to join the system for safety. I'm past the age of having a second-year syndrome. As for taking risks, I think my adventurous spirit has been completely consumed by playing Candy Crush Saga."
"I just want to live a peaceful life for a few days," Jiang You took a step back, putting some distance between him and Tang Butian, "I've almost finished the yard. Come in and sit with me next time you pass by."