LRAPTC Chapter 16

“Why do you ask?” Shen Jue inquired after a few seconds.

Yu Zhuo smiled, his eyes crinkling, and said tactfully, “From our previous two encounters, I could clearly sense that he cares about you a lot.” Seeing Shen Jue’s expression gradually become puzzled, he smiled again and continued, “Jue, I didn’t expect you to be so surprisingly oblivious in some areas.”

Shen Jue remained silent. Yu Zhuo was already used to this, so he didn’t say anything more, seemingly just making a casual remark before quickly immersing himself back in his painting.

Shen Jue gazed at the shifting light and shadows on the sea. This sea was so quiet, so tranquil, possessing a magical quality that could calm people down. After a while, Shen Jue slowly said, “I think you might have misunderstood the relationship between Ji Yuanan and me.”

Hearing this, the lines under Yu Zhuo’s brush strayed from their intended path. He erased them with a rubber and responded to Shen Jue’s words, “Misunderstood? Then what kind of relationship do you think I believe you have?”

“I haven’t said or thought anything out of line, okay?” Yu Zhuo said, looking at the drawing paper, not forgetting to defend himself.

Shen Jue finally belatedly realized that he seemed to have been teased by Yu Zhuo, so he unilaterally decided to ignore him.

Without any other distractions, Yu Zhuo finished his painting in no time. He took a photo of the entire painting with his phone. After taking the photo, he tore off the paper, waved his hand, and handed it to Shen Jue, saying, “Here, this one’s for you.”

Shen Jue looked at the lower left corner of the painting, which bore Yu Zhuo’s signature. “You’re just giving it to me like that? Aren’t you afraid I’ll secretly take it online and sell it?”

“Wouldn’t you, by any chance, be so poor now that you have to rely on selling paintings to live?” After being shocked, Yu Zhuo pretended to be very troubled, as if he were genuinely worried about Shen Jue. He continued, “Then what should we do? Do you need me to sponsor you a little?”

In the end, Shen Jue rolled up the signed painting and took it back, unfurling it again and placing it in a corner of his desk. The entire paper surface was filled by Yu Zhuo with layers upon layers of overlapping waves. The seawater rose and fell, looking as if it would surge up in the next second.

That night, perhaps it was the conversation he had with Yu Zhuo by the sea that had an effect. Ji Yuanan and that sea area both intruded into his dream. The sea on the paper spilled over, surrounding him, and then submerging him. When he woke up, Shen Jue almost couldn’t distinguish between dream and reality, once again forced to experience the suffocating sensation of drowning. His mind went blank for a moment, and he just instinctively grabbed onto the object beside him. The quilt was crumpled by Shen Jue’s grasp in his sleep.

Shen Jue hastily ate breakfast and took the subway to the city center. Subway Line 1 passed over a very long sea-crossing bridge. The weather was very good today, and outside the car window, the entire expanse of blue sky and seawater completely merged together. Shen Jue was almost unable to distinguish the dividing line between the two.

Stepping out of the subway station, Shen Jue skillfully crossed the intersection, walked along a long pedestrian path, and stopped in front of an inconspicuous building.

Zhao Youming received Shen Jue’s message and asked his assistant to open the door for Shen Jue. He was scheduled to shoot a set of photos for a clothing line today. Except for the model, who had not yet arrived, all the set decorations for the shoot were ready.

When Shen Jue walked into the hall, Zhao Youming was in a corner, looking down and patiently checking his camera. He heard the sound, looked up, greeted Shen Jue, and then lowered his head again.

Shen Jue found himself a seat and sat down. After checking the camera, Zhao Youming began to call out to his assistant, “Xiao Li, can you check how much time is left until the appointment?”

“Brother Zhao, ten minutes left,” the assistant replied loudly.

Zhao Youming nodded, put down the camera, and sat next to Shen Jue.

“Do you want something to drink?” he asked Shen Jue.

“I’ll get some hot water myself later.” Shen Jue looked at the pure white backdrop and felt that his arrival was very ill-timed, so he asked, “Am I interrupting your work by coming over now?”

Zhao Youming glanced at the clock on the wall. The minute hand had just turned a full circle, leaving nine minutes. Zhao Youming said, “No.”

“But,” he smiled slyly, joking, “If you’re willing to be my model for free, I certainly wouldn’t mind at all.”

Shen Jue retorted righteously, “You’re exploiting labor.”

Zhao Youming laughed heartily.

Chatting away, time flew by in the blink of an eye. With less than five minutes left until the appointment time, the model hadn’t even appeared. Zhao Youming frowned, completely unable to smile, and stared intently at the clock, his fingers unconsciously tapping on the table.

The next second, the assistant quickly walked to his side and whispered a few words in his ear.

Zhao Youming’s expression worsened after hearing those words. He snorted lightly and said coldly, “It’s the first time I’ve seen someone make being a no-show sound so refined and detached. His time is important, but mine isn’t?”

The assistant stood awkwardly to the side, cautiously asking him, “Then, Brother Zhao… are we still shooting?”

“Shoot, of course,” Zhao Youming replied without hesitation. He turned his head to look at Shen Jue, hooked his lips into a smile, and said, word by word, “Why wouldn’t we shoot? Don’t we still have a very perfect candidate here?”

Before Shen Jue could completely digest the deeper meaning in Zhao Youming’s words, he was stuffed with two pieces of clothing by the assistant and pushed into the changing room.

Shen Jue held the clothes, wanting to refuse. The assistant looked at him expectantly, “Teacher Shen, look at how angry Brother Zhao is right now. Only you can make him feel better.”

The assistant assured him, “You just need to wear the clothes and take a few photos, it’s very, very simple. You can change slowly, I’ll be waiting outside the door. Feel free to call me if you need anything.”

“Thank you so much. You’re simply our savior,” the assistant said, as if not wanting to give Shen Jue any chance to refuse, and quickly closed the door.

Shen Jue looked at the clothes in his hand, sighed silently, and resigned himself to fate, taking off his top and changing into the clothes for the shoot.

The changing room contained a huge full-length mirror. After Shen Jue changed his clothes, he saw ribbons all over the back of the outfit through the mirror, and he was a little troubled for a moment. He thought that today’s arrival was truly very ill-timed.

Just as he was hesitating, the phone next to him suddenly rang. He reached out to grab it and accidentally touched the answer button. The call connected.

Seeing that Shen Jue’s screen was black, Ji Yuanan asked curiously, “Shen Jue, have you gotten up yet?”

Shen Jue picked up the phone and replied, “Got up.” He continued, “Also ate breakfast.”

At this time, the assistant outside the door suddenly spoke, “Teacher Shen, I just heard some movement inside. Are you alright? Is there anything wrong?”

Shen Jue loudly replied “No,” and Ji Yuanan, who was on the phone with Shen Jue, finally realized something was amiss and asked, “Shen Jue, where are you right now?”

Outside the door, the assistant was still saying, “Okay. Teacher Shen, take your time. Remember to call me if you need anything.”

Shen Jue raised his eyes and looked at himself in the mirror. From the front, his upper body looked like he was only wearing an ordinary pure white top. After a few seconds, he slowly replied, “At my friend’s place. Something came up with him temporarily, and I went to help him out.” He thought of the ribbons on his back and tried to seek help from Ji Yuanan, so he turned his phone camera towards the mirror so that Ji Yuanan could see the structure of the back of the clothes.

“I’m not very good at doing up the back of this outfit. Do you have any better ideas?” he asked Ji Yuanan.