An Impossible to Reject Confession

Qiao Mu followed his grandmother’s orders and brought Xu Youyou some snacks. When he arrived, Xu Youyou was in the middle of taking photos for Shen Lili and the girls. The girls all wore pretty hanfu and held various ancient props in their hands. As they head to the pottery studio, they attracted a lot of tourists’ attention. 

Xu Youyou was in the middle of adjusting the camera, Shen Lili and a few of the girls went to find a suitable place to take photos. They even held some of the pottery studio’s products as they planned to give Xu Youyou’s family pottery studio some promotional photos. 

“Qiao Mu?” Shen Lili was watching the door when she saw Qiao Mu and called out in surprise. 

Xu Youyou turned to look and her eyes caught Qiao Mu’s. Qiao Mu was carrying a wooden food container similar to the once Grandmother Qiao carried when Xu Youyou met her for the first time. Qiao Mu had changed his clothes. He was clean and calm as if he was a totally different person from the youth she had seen in the alley a few hours earlier. 

But it was good that he was conscious again. 

“Grandmother had you bring snacks?” Xu Youyou walked over with a smile as she asked. 

“Yes.” Qiao Mu held out the food container, “The snacks should be eaten soon. There are no preservatives so they only last three days.” 

“I’m helping Shen Lili and the girls take photos,  you can put the snacks on the table. The one that you played chess at.” Xu Youyou turned around and continued adjusting the lens. 

Qiao Mu was dumbfounded. He saw that the shop was full of people and took the initiative to walk inside and place the food container on the table. 

Outside the window was a peaceful river and it reflected the ancient town’s lights. The shore was full of foot travelers each carrying a smile on their face. Every year the ancient town would be very lively for the Mid-Autumn Festival, but it didn’t seem to have much to do with him. 

“Qiao Mu.” Xu Youyou called to him from outside. 

Qiao Mu turned around and saw Xu Youyou stand not too far away beckoning him with her hand. 

Qiao Mu quickly walked over, as he got closer he lifted his arms to receive Xu Youyou’s backpack which she handed over: “We are going to take pictures of the street scenery, Help me carry my bag.”

“You want me to go with you guys?” Qiao Mu’s brows furrowed. 

“Of course. Didn’t Grandmother tell you to take me to see the lanterns? We happen to be going to take pictures with the lanterns. After I finished taking photos, you can take me around.” Xu Youyou said. 

“You guys can look at the lanterns together.” The lanterns were where the most people in the ancient town gathered. If he could, he would not go. 

Xu Youyou shot a glance at her female classmates by the door fixing their clothes. After confirming they weren’t paying attention to them, she turned and got close to Qiao Mu’s ear and whispered: “They are crazy with pictures. If I join to to see the lanterns, they will make me take pictures the entire time.”

Qiao Mu knew Shen Lili and the girls better than Xu Youyou, they were quite crazy with taking photos. Often times during their noon break, they wouldn’t sleep but instead use their phone to take selfies. Looking at the prayer in Xu Youyou’s eyes, Qiao Mu unconsciously nodded. 

“Thanks.” Xu Youyou excited turned around, her long hair swooshed and brought a faint shampoo smell. 

Qiao Mu stared. 

“Qiao Mu, come on.”  Xu Youyou walked to the door and saw that Qiao Mu hadn’t taken a step so she urged him again. 

Qiao Mu hurried to catch up and entered the ancient town’s lively scene with the girls. 

Xu Youyou didn’t like that Shen Lili and the girls’ poses were stiff so she had them just casually walk around the ancient town. She would just follow and take a few photos. At first Shen Lili and the girls were worried but after seeing Xu Youyou take a few photos, they immediately were rest assured. Not only did they look natural in the photos, but the composition was amazing and every photo had its own beauty. 

They followed the main road in the direction of the lantern festival, waiting for the lanterns to appear. Xu Youyou checked the scenery and planning to swap her lens so she turned to ask Qiao Mu: “Hand me the lens in the bag.”

As she said it, Xu Youyou was also taking off the lens of the camera. 

Qiao Mu listen and opened the bag. Just as he took out the lens, a flow of people came through. Xu Youyou whose head was down taking off the lens was bumped into. Surprised, Qiao Mu moved without letting go as he used his body to steady Xu Youyou: “Be careful.”

When Xu Youyou came to her senses, she had already fallen into a soft chest. Her nose smelled a faint fragrance of soap. In the lively lantern festival, it had a mind calming effect. 

“Are you all right?” Qiao Mu waited until Xu Youyou was standing steady, before taking a step back and creating a distance between them.

Xu Youyou looked at the worried youth and then looked at the camera in her hand. She smiled and said: “Thanks, you just saved me 50,000.”

  “50,000?” Qiao Mu was stunned. 

“Change the lens, 50,000.” Xu Youyou held the lens she just removed and waved it in front of Qiao Mu. 

Qiao Mu was surprised at how expensive a lens was and then began to think about what to do. He hurried to look down at his own right hand and realized the lens in his right hand hadn’t dropped. He finally then let out a breath of relief. 

“This is so expensive, how come you didn’t warn me?” During their entire walk, he was very casual with the back. If it had accidentally hit something, just thinking about it, Qiao Mu felt scared. 

“Youyou, Qiao Mu. Are you guys okay?” Shen Lili and a few girls ran back over. 

“We’re okay. Earlier there were too many people and it was crowded.” Xu Youyou smiled and said. “The light here is too bright, so I’m swapping my lens.” 

Xu Youyou swapped the lens and said: “This is the last spot right? After I finish taking the photos, I want to see the lantern festival.”

“This is the last spot. Xu Youyou, can you make us look a bit prettier?” After Shen Lili finished speaking, a few other girls echoed the words. 

“Don’t worry. Good looking people won’t look ugly no matter how you take their picture.” If a high resolution camera took an unflattering photo of a sixteen-seventeen year old girl’s face with makeup of the average age, it would still have a youthful energy to it. 

As the girls listen, their smiles became flowers: “Youyou, if you were a boy, I would be your girlfriend.”

“No thanks, I want to be someone’s girlfriend.” Xu Youyou laughed. 

“What type of boy do you like?” The girls gossiped. 

“Handsome ones.”

“We are both shallow, hahaha” 

In their light hearted conversation, Xu Youyou finished swapping out the lens and adjusted it for a bit. The photoshoot then began again. The grounds of the lantern festival weren’t big and he didn’t have to follow them around the entire time so Qiao Mu used his advantage of being a local to find a higher spot with a good field of vision as he waited for Xu Youyou to finish.