Chapter 35

Chapter 35

The afternoon defense went unexpectedly smoothly.

It was probably because the advisor was lenient, posing questions within his thesis scope, none overly complex. Fortunately, he was prepared and managed to stutteringly answer each one.

At 3:30 PM, Chi Ya packed up, clutching his backpack strap as he left the defense room, feeling a huge sense of relief.

He had indeed managed to secure his diploma for his original self.

The afternoon sun was brilliant, streaming through the bars, slicing the long skywalk into countless segments, as if the ground was covered with large pieces of gold foil.

With no one on the skywalk, Chi Ya felt elated and couldn’t help but run a few steps, lightly touching the railing with one hand and stretching the other arm high, rising on his toes, striking a simple ballet pose.

He had previously composed music for ballets, with "La Traviata" being his favorite, its violin renditions so poignant and moving, earning applause from all who heard.

Just before entering the book, after a performance, an elderly gentleman approached him backstage, handed him a card, and said his talent was wasted in a small orchestra. He could introduce him to his former orchestra.

Overjoyed, he finally decided to spend some savings to replace his violin's strings with better ones.

Then, then...

A moment of sadness flickered in Chi Ya's eyes, but he shook his head, not dwelling on it further.

Life brings its own destiny; he had no power to resist, only to go with the flow, accepting things as they came.

What else could he do? He was already here, unable to return.

The sun warmed his face as Chi Ya, standing on tiptoe, gracefully spun in the light.

"Click."

Suddenly, Chi Ya caught the faint sound of a shutter clicking. He paused and turned around to see a tall, thin boy under the skywalk, wearing a black T-shirt and ripped jeans, with a simple white line-drawn cat head on his chest, fluffy and eye-catching.

That cat head... The boy, with distinctively knobby hands, held a camera, a cigarette dangling from his lips, his lens trained on Chi Ya, clicking again.

Chi Ya paused, noticing the hands lower the camera, revealing a pair of exceptionally defiant, bright eyes.

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Holding the railing, Chi Ya looked down at the person under the skywalk, wanting to ask why he was photographed without permission, but opened his mouth and found himself at a loss for words.

The boy, biting on his cigarette, spoke first, accurately calling out his name: "Chi Ya—"

His voice was cool and raspy, probably muffled by the cigarette in his mouth. He looked up at him, beckoning with a gesture, "Come down, see the photos I took of you."

Chi Ya: O_O??

Chi Ya felt a bit panicked.

Who are you, big brother?

Hesitating, he slowly responded with an 'oh', turning and descending the skywalk, clutching his backpack strap.

The boy acted as if they were familiar, casually looking at his camera in one hand, while the other reached out to drape over Chi Ya's shoulder. Chi Ya instinctively sidestepped, causing the boy to glance at him, then, as if remembering something, withdrew his hand and removed the cigarette from his mouth, saying, "I forgot, you don't like being touched."

Chi Ya clenched his backpack strap, remaining silent.

"Step closer," the boy said, tilting his face slightly towards him while his eyes stayed fixed on his camera, his long, slender fingers deftly navigating its buttons, cigarette in hand.

Chi Ya hesitated, then slowly moved closer to look.

"Look at this one," the boy flipped to the photo of Chi Ya in a ballet pose against the sunlight, looked down at it for a while, then asked him, "Can I post it on my Weibo?"

Chi Ya saw himself on that small screen.

The bright golden sunlight splashed broadly across the skywalk, with him stretching in the light, a strand of hair lightly lifted by the motion, his white shirt half-transparent in the illumination, faintly revealing a hazy waistline.

His face was indistinct, likely due to the photographer's intentional angle, his profile enshrouded in light, leaving only a vague silhouette.

The boy held up the camera for him to see, saying, "Just adjust a few settings, add a filter, and this photo will be beautiful."

Chi Ya hummed softly, gazing at the photo, "I’d like a copy too."

"Sure, I'll edit it on the computer and send it to you."

Chi Ya naturally pulled out his phone, "I lost my old phone, let's add each other again."

The boy didn't hesitate, promptly scanning the QR code.

With a "ding-dong" sound, Chi Ya looked down at the friend request, the nickname read "Mo," with a name in the remarks section.

Mo Shi.

Chi Ya immediately recalled the phrase "Never lose, never forget, for eternal life," inscribed on Jia Bao Yu's magical jade in the classic novel.

If this boy also wore some kind of jade pendant, that would be interesting.

He glanced at Mo Shi's neck and indeed saw something—a bright red cord encircling his pale neck and disappearing into his T-shirt collar.

As Mo Shi was intently focused on the photo, not noticing his gaze, Chi Ya glanced between him and the camera in his hand, forming a suspicion in his mind.

The phone in his hand suddenly rang; it was Zhang Yao calling.

Chi Ya answered and heard the girl's somewhat helpless voice: "I just asked my cousin to wait for me at the library entrance, but he disappeared, probably off taking photos somewhere... Where are you? I'll come find you, and we can wait for my brother together."

"…" As expected.

Chi Ya diverted his gaze from the nearby library, looked at the engrossed boy with the camera, and couldn't help but smile, saying, "I've already, well, found him."

·

The three of them went to the cafeteria to buy iced drinks and sat talking by the window.

Mo Shi seemed like a straightforward person, starting with, "I saw the trending topic."

His second sentence was, "Are you alright?"

Chi Ya paused, then remembered the trending topics about the Chi family he had seen when he first arrived.

Over the past half month, he had been recuperating peacefully at Nan Lake, intentionally or unintentionally staying away from his phone, almost forgetting that he too had been a hot topic.

He wondered what the current online buzz was like.

After all, it was the era of information overload, especially in the entertainment industry, with fresh gossip every day, and top celebrities constantly making waves.

They say the internet has no memory; his name might have already been forgotten.

Seeing him lost in thought, the other two misunderstood, thinking he was reminded of something sad. Zhang Yao quickly spoke for her cousin: "You suddenly became unreachable and never returned to school, my brother was worried about you..."

"No, no problem," Chi Ya returned to the moment, smiled lightly, and casually explained, "There was an accident, I broke my leg, and I've been, well, staying at a friend's place, recovering."

He added sincerely, "Sorry to have worried you."

"A fracture?" Zhang Yao's eyes widened in surprise. Yesterday, when they met, Chi Ya hadn't mentioned his injury at all, and he even fought with some sports college students!

"It's already, healed," Chi Ya reassured her with a smile, holding his cold drink.

Mo Shi, who had been silent all this while, suddenly spoke, "You didn't use to smile this much before."

The reason he couldn't forget Chi Ya, the "model", was because of a unique aura Chi Ya possessed - gloomy and silent, like a slowly dying pond covered in green algae.

Nobody else had this kind of aura.

But from the moment he saw the young man on the overpass, that aura seemed to have changed.

The gloominess, the deep coldness, appeared to have completely vanished from him, replaced by a vitality never seen before in the youth. It merged into his slightly round eyes, gathering a sparkling brightness that irresistibly drew one's gaze.

The young man in the camera lens no longer had that old aura, but was still uniquely captivating.

Even more strikingly beautiful.

Author's Note:

Thanks to the angels who cast their mighty votes or nourished me with their nutrient solutions from 2023-07-22 20:58:15 to 2023-07-23 20:55:58~

Thanks to the angel who nourished me with nutrient solution: Cong Jiang Suan (Onions, Ginger, Garlic) - 3 bottles;

Thank you very much for your support, I will continue to work hard!

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