Chapter 596 - 242: Go Home? Which One?
Chapter 596: Chapter 242: Go Home? Which One?
Eldest Female Cousin’s fingertips slid across the screen, the flickering light and shadow on her brow a picture of pure Concentration as she carefully transformed the real, captured moments of love into even sweeter fragments of memory.
"Done!"
Yang Yishui shot her head up, a smug, mischievous smile on her face, as if she’d just completed a magnificent work of art.
She walked right up to Shen Yuan and shoved the phone into his chest. "Here! Get your pics! With my skills, you have enough here for ten collages!"
The light from the screen illuminated Shen Yuan’s eyes.
He tapped open the photos Yang Yishui had taken, and they filled the screen one by one.
The lighting had been meticulously adjusted, making the colors warmer and more saturated, and the light from the fireworks even more brilliant.
The way the two of them were snuggled together looked especially intimate and natural under the soft light. She had even mischievously added cute sticker borders to the corners of one or two, creating a pink, bubbly atmosphere that was practically overflowing from the screen.
"Tsk..." Shen Yuan let out a low chuckle, the light in his eyes brighter than the fireworks in the sky. "Not bad. I guess they’ll do."
"Stop acting like you’re not thrilled!"
Yang Yishui rolled her eyes at him without hesitation. Her gaze swept over his lit-up screen and then to Li Zhi, who was leaning in curiously, and she was instantly re-energized.
She pointed at the phone screen, her finger tapping rapidly. "Look at this! The composition! The atmosphere! The smoldering looks! Hurry up, get it on your Moments! With such perfect material for showing off your love, how could you let my hard work go to waste?"
As she spoke, she excitedly pulled out her own phone, her fingers already hovering restlessly over her Moments feed icon, her eyes filled with the mischievous anticipation of someone waiting for a good show.
"Don’t dawdle! Hurry up! I’m waiting to be the first to like it!"
The chilly night air seemed to warm up from Eldest Female Cousin’s eager urging.
"Stop messing around."
Shen Yuan finally looked up from the photos, his voice tinged with a helpless laugh, though the corners of his mouth were turned up in an irrepressible smile.
"I haven’t even thought of a caption yet. It’s not that fast."
His fingertips slid across the screen, his gaze moving back and forth over the pictures, as if he were deliberating over the perfect words to accompany them.
He was so serious, you’d think he was writing his college entrance exam essay.
The moment he finished speaking, Li Zhi, who was beside him, tilted her head and peeked over from around Shen Yuan’s arm.
A cunning glint shone in the young woman’s clear eyes as she grabbed Shen Yuan’s sleeve.
"Hey—send them to me!"
Li Zhi’s voice was crisp, tinged with a playful bossiness that left no room for argument.
"Send all the pictures to me! I’ll pick them out! I’ll think of the caption! I’ll definitely come up with something a hundred times better than you!"
In the darkness of the night, the tips of the young woman’s ears were still a little red, but her eyes were now filled with confidence and an eager excitement.
"I guarantee it’ll make you cry!"
Shen Yuan froze. "Who cried?!"
The words were barely out of his mouth when Yang Yishui, who had been admiring her "artistic masterpieces," abruptly caught the word "cry." Her ears perked up instantly, and her eyes shot toward Shen Yuan like searchlights.
"Wait a minute!"
She darted back between the two of them, her gaze sweeping back and forth across Shen Yuan’s face with the excitement of someone discovering a new continent.
"Cry? Who cried? Shen Yuan, you cried?!"
She sounded like she’d uncovered some earth-shattering secret, her volume rising a few notches with unabashed, exaggerated curiosity.
"When did you cry? Why’d you cry? Spill it, spill it!"
Yang Yishui excitedly nudged Shen Yuan with her elbow, the flames of her gossip-loving heart burning brightly.
"Were you emotional when you made it official? Or did you two do something behind our backs that made my Li Bao move you to tears? Oh, my God! How could I be finding out about such a huge... *cough*... such a huge thing only now!"
Zhao Yueyang, standing nearby, had his interest piqued as well. He immediately leaned in closer, his eyes shining with a "spill the tea" gleam.
"Yeah, bro! What did you cry about? Let me in on it too!"
Shen Yuan’s handsome face fell instantly, his good mood from admiring the photos immediately swamped by embarrassment.
He shot a quick glance at Li Zhi. Her cheeks were slightly flushed, and she was looking at him with a mischievous smile in her eyes, clearly remembering the day he’d shed tears in the classroom.
"Tsk!" Shen Yuan grumpily reached out and flicked Yang Yishui on the forehead, not too hard and not too soft.
"Stop making a scene! It was nothing!"
Then he shoved away Zhao Yueyang, who was practically pressing his face against his.
"You’re just a kid, what are you snooping around for!"
Shen Yuan’s tone carried a barely perceptible hint of anger born from embarrassment.
"OW!"
Yang Yishui rubbed her flicked forehead and grumbled in dissatisfaction, "What’s wrong with talking about it? Just share your ’journey of growth,’ kid! Your big sis here can help you analyze your emotional fluctuations..."
"Go on, get out of here!"
Shen Yuan waved his hand dismissively, trying to shoo them away and disperse the headache-inducing scene.
"You two, go do whatever! It’s so cold out, go home to the air conditioning!"
It seemed he was trying to physically separate himself from these two third wheels.
Yang Yishui agilely took a step back, dodging Shen Yuan’s attempt to shoo her away. She pursed her lips and drew out her words.
"Hah—Stingy! So stingy!"
She shook her head, looking at Shen Yuan with an "I’ve seen plenty of your type" kind of gaze.
"So you cried, so what? What’s there to be afraid to admit? It’s not like I’d laugh at you... At most, I’ll just share it with your mom at the next parent-teacher conference. Tsk, so protective of it. Shen Yuan, you stingy little devil!"
Although Yang Yishui was still complaining, watching this young couple—one covering her mouth to hide a giggle, the other pretending to be fierce as he shooed them away—she couldn’t help but break into a smile herself.
She grabbed Zhao Yueyang, who still wanted to "struggle" a bit more, and started walking toward a car not far away. As she walked, she called out to Shen Yuan’s back.
"Alright, alright, we won’t be an eyesore anymore! Go enjoy your world for two! Treat me to milk tea later to make up for it! Zhao Yueyang, let’s go! Time to go home and tell Auntie that Shen Yuan cried!"