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Pei Xingyan shook his head.
“Don’t worry about it; I know you didn’t mean to.”
Su Shanshan nodded vigorously, but her hands kept rubbing together in front of her stomach.
Despite her verbal apology, she appeared almost uncontrollably excited.
Or perhaps, it was extreme sexual repression.
Her rapid breaths made it seem as though she might just devour the young man standing in front of her.
‘That’s too repressed…’
Pei Xingyan had pondered this question countless times, yet he still couldn’t grasp how such a beautiful, wealthy, and remarkably talented girl would resort to paying for a partner, only to fall so readily in love with him at first sight.
Her excessive kindness towards him verged on the absurd.
He had a lingering feeling that something was amiss, but he couldn’t quite place his finger on it.
‘Shall we begin?’ Matters he couldn’t comprehend were best relegated to the back of his mind, and with that, he stood, inviting Su Shanshan to start.
“Mhm, okay~ This is my camera,” she chirped.
From her backpack, she pulled out a heap of items, then thrust them all into Pei Xingyan’s hands.
However, the sheer abundance of tangled cables led to a careless fumble, and her most valuable camera slipped from the heap.
It was a rather large DSLR camera, its size alone indicating a hefty price tag.
She cried out in alarm, reaching to catch it, but it was already too late.
A hand, unerringly precise, found its mark, firmly grasping the camera.
It was Pei Xingyan’s, for he had harbored a premonition of trouble the moment Su Shanshan pulled out such a tangled mass of cables, and had prepared himself in advance.
“Woo~” Su Shanshan let out an excited, strange cry, but she didn’t bother checking if her camera was intact.
Instead, her first priority was to scrutinize Pei Xingyan from head to toe.
“You’re so good~” she gushed, clasping her hands to her chest like an infatuated fan.
“How can there possibly be such a perfect man in this world?”
In that instant, Pei Xingyan felt a sudden, profound empathy for Lin Xiaoyu; he, too, now found himself unable to suppress a burgeoning smile.
Being praised in such a manner was undeniably pleasant, prompting him to awkwardly scratch the back of his head and let out a couple of sheepish, foolish laughs.
Yet, he wasn’t the one burdened by psychological hang-ups, so he quickly recovered, giving a stiff cough and feigning seriousness.
“Let’s get started first,” he suggested, “the lighting won’t be as good if we delay.”
“Okay~” Su Shanshan’s eyes sparkled like stars as she nodded obediently, then pulled out a thick notebook.
It contained various settings and concepts, clearly outlining the content for her current project.
Pei Xingyan glanced at it briefly, then subtly eyed her attire; the two were almost identical.
Only then did he feel certain that the girl had indeed dressed this way for work.
This realization significantly lightened the burden on his mind; any girl who wasn’t constantly making a fuss about life and death was, in his book, a good girl.
“How would you like to shoot this?” he asked gently.
“Hmm, well… let’s just take a few random shots for now,” she mused.
“I usually find inspiration as I go…”
“How about we try my idea then?” he suggested.
“I have a thought.”
“Yes, yes~” she readily agreed.
With that, Pei Xingyan picked up the camera, moving around the empty classroom as he searched for the optimal compositional angle.
He had never received formal art training; primarily, art, unlike music or dance, couldn’t be instantly flaunted in front of others, thus his parents hadn’t arranged specialized courses for him.
However, the core essence of art was ultimately interconnected: if one understood one form, the others wouldn’t be far off.
At the very least, his aesthetic sense was not lacking.
Moreover, he was a veteran of the ‘two-dimensional’ world (TL Note: A term referring to anime/manga culture), having immersed himself in it for years.
Even if he couldn’t draw, he certainly knew how to appreciate it.
He understood perfectly what kind of feeling the ‘two-dimensional’ world (TL Note: A term referring to anime/manga culture) required.
He directed Su Shanshan to change positions and strike various poses.
The beautiful girl was obedient and compliant, sometimes covering her face with her hand, and other times playfully sticking out her tongue and flashing a peace sign at the camera.
After nearly two hours of shooting, both were utterly exhausted, yet they huddled together, eagerly reviewing their results.
The girl captured in the camera appeared fragile and broken, her eyes brimming with a volatile, explosive anger.
A profound sense of world-weariness practically spilled from the frame.
In stark contrast, the real Su Shanshan, even with her smoky eye makeup, still seemed like a positive, sunny girl.
“How are you so amazing at photography?” she exclaimed, holding the camera as if reluctant to ever put it down, her words still lavishing praise on Pei Xingyan.
“I’ve never been able to achieve such effects! Drawing and photography are completely different; sometimes I even feel like this extra step is redundant for me.
You’re truly incredible!”
“Just average, really,” he demurred.
“Don’t be so modest!” she insisted, sparing no words of praise, her eyes sparkling like a fangirl’s.
“You’re truly amazing! No, no, not just amazing—you’re utterly perfect!”
As she spoke, tears even welled up in her eyes.
“I’m so incredibly lucky to have met you; I thought I’d never encounter someone so perfect in my lifetime.”
“It’s not that serious…” Pei Xingyan murmured, feeling her praise was a tad overly dramatic.
He himself wasn’t even aware he possessed such perfection.
“It is exactly like that!” she insisted, unusually persistent.
“Heh heh…” Pei Xingyan chuckled helplessly.
The classroom door suddenly rattled, as someone urgently pounded on it.
Pei Xingyan rose and opened the door, revealing a petite girl.
“Hello?” he inquired.
“Eh? Why is it a guy…” the girl mumbled, shaking her head as she explained her purpose.
“Um… I came to pick up something, ah! That, that easel.”
The girl pointed towards the easel nestled in the corner.
Pei Xingyan nodded, helped her move it, and handed it to her.
“Thank you!” the girl exclaimed with fervent gratitude.
“No problem~” Pei Xingyan replied, waving his hand with a smile.
It was merely a minor interlude.
He watched the girl leave, then casually closed the door before returning to his previous spot.
But the atmosphere in the room had abruptly shifted.
The earlier sweetness had vanished completely, and Su Shanshan, who had been gazing at him so sweetly, now subtly emanated an almost palpable killing intent.
“How could you do that?!” she shrieked, her eyes bloodshot, appearing incredibly wronged.
‘Do what?’ Pei Xingyan thought to himself.
‘I didn’t do anything! Why has she suddenly turned into a completely different person?’
“You, you, you! How could you smile at her?!” she shrieked, pointing at Pei Xingyan, her chest heaving uncontrollably with anger, unable to utter another word for a moment.
Pei Xingyan’s heart pounded like a drum; he truly had no idea what wrong he had committed.
‘Smile?’
‘All I did was hand that girl an easel just now…’
‘She couldn’t possibly be this angry over such a minor thing, could she?’
But Su Shanshan was indeed furious; she practically roared her words.
“I never want to see you again!!!”
With that, she slung her backpack over her shoulder and fled, not once glancing back.
Yet, her shoe soles were too thick, and her balance was difficult to maintain; she stumbled heavily twice in the hallway, but still, she continued to run out with her head stubbornly down.
The elapsed time was too brief for Pei Xingyan to even react.
He sat dumbfounded, rooted to his spot, utterly unsure of what to do.
Yet, in that very moment, he surprisingly felt a subtle sense of relief.
This, at least, indicated that his ‘spiritual solace’ client truly needed this service.
Otherwise, if the money was earned too easily, he would always feel uneasy.