Atlas Studios

  Atlas Studios

  Amid their chatter and laughter, the two best friends slowly flipped through each page until they reached the last page.

  Pei Ge and Tang Xiaoyu smiled knowingly when they saw the last photo. It was their middle school graduation picture.

  “Look; we were even wearing matching attire back then! It’s a pity that I disliked having long hair in the past. If it were not for that, we would definitely look like twins!” Tang Xiaoyu pointed at the two teenage girls in red pinafore standing right smack in the middle of the second row.

  There were clearly others in the picture, but anyone who saw it would definitely spot the two girls first.

  Although red was a striking color by itself, the two girls’ looks were more striking.

  The two young girls were so beautiful people would find it hard to shift their gazes away from them. In the picture, both girls had megawatt smiles. Their smiles resembled the bright sun – dazzling and brilliant.

  The long-haired girl, in particular, was like a light-emitting body; she was so stunning that everyone else around her paled in comparison.

  “Tsk, tsk, tsk! You used to be so tender and pretty that it was unbelievable! If it hadn’t been for the not-so-advanced technology and the boys in our school being so united, you would have been more popular at that time than that milk-tea sister right now,” Tang Xiaoyu commented with exasperation as she alternated between looking at the smiling, young Pei Ge in the graduation picture and the present Pei Ge beside her.

  “What nonsense are you saying……” Pei Ge shook her head, feeling amused. Those were all too far in the past for her.

  It was so far in the past she already forgot how dazzling and eye-catching she had once been.

  “Hmph. I am only speaking the truth here. Many talent scouts even wanted to sign you on to their companies when we walked on the streets.” Tang Xiaoyu lightly harrumphed and pouted.

  “You also received many.” She grinned and then gave her a look that said, “We are the same.”


  “The boss of that camera booth didn’t accept your payment when you took a photo sticker but gave you money, instead, to take more from them.” Her best friend harrumphed for the umpteenth time as she glared at her.

  “You were the same, too.” She shook her head with amusement and looked at the Tang Xiaoyu, who liked to argue with her over the smallest things, in resignation.

  “Your photo sticker was sold for 5 yuan more than mine, yet your sales were still better than mine!” Tang Xiaoyu glared at her, already at the end of her tolerance, as she complained indignantly.

  Pei Ge gawked at her.

  While she was shocked by this revelation, she was still curious about it, so she asked, “How did you know about this?”


  “Er……” Tang Xiaoyu coughed, slightly raised her chin, and then murmured, “I heard it in passing from our gossiping classmates.”


  Of course, the truth was never that coincidental.

  The truth was that the teenage Tang Xiaoyu had sneaked back to the shop to check, and when she found out that her photo sticker did not beat Pei Ge’s in sales despite being sold for 5 yuan cheaper, she swore never to take photo stickers again in her rage.

  She was also secretly upset and depressed over this for a few days and only recovered under the teenage Pei Ge’s loving care.

  Of course, from then on, Pei Ge’s photo stickers became out of print, causing many middle-school boys and girls much woe.

  If those teenagers knew that their then-goddess had sworn off taking photo stickers because of her, she would probably have many enemies.

  “Oh, I never knew about that. No wonder that boss wanted to give me money, instead, when I went to take a photo sticker,” Pei Ge commented, feeling exasperated. The young and gullible her had completely thought that the shop owner was a great and generous person.

  Tang Xiaoyu rolled her eyes at that and softly muttered, “Stupid.”


  “What did you say?” she asked in a threatening voice and with narrowed eyes.

  “He he…… Nothing. I just want to ask if you still remember that little fatty from back then.” Tang Xiaoyu pointed to a fat boy, who was wearing thick glasses and standing at the corner of the last row, in the picture.

  She promptly smiled when she saw that plump, little boy.

  “Of course, I remember him; that’s my tablemate, Shen Rui.”


  “Tsk, tsk, tsk. I really didn’t expect for you to still remember that little fatty.” Her best friend showed shock when she accurately called the plump boy’s name.

  “How can I not remember him? He was sitting beside me for a year.” She smiled. “You remember him as well.”


  Tang Xiaoyu snorted coldly at that and then eyed the fat boy in the picture.

  “Hmph! I remember him because, one, he stole my position as your tablemate and, two, he was the main character of that huge school protest. Who would remember that useless scaredy cat if it were not for that?”


  “Don’t speak about him like that. He is just more reserved and shy than most people. He is actually a nice person.” She had a gentle smile when she looked at the fat boy, who had his head lowered, in the picture.

  “Tsk. Who is not a nice person to you? Everyone else tries to find fault in others, yet, since young, you have only ever seen the goodness in others.” She looked at Pei Ge’s face that, although different from her young face, still had the exact same pair of eyes.

  It was an ever kind and optimistic pair of eyes.

  Even today, she still remembered that huge incident, which had happened right after Pei Ge became the student council president, in school.

  That incident had made all the students in their school unite and caused people to notice Pei Ge for something other than her good looks and personality.

  She became a role model to all the students after that incident.

  She still remembered how this petite, young girl had stood solemnly on the school stage and, without a trace of her sweet smile, quarreled with the scariest discipline master whom all students nicknamed ‘demon’.

  She was so suave and stunning that one would willingly succumb to her and grovel at her feet.

  “Do you know? You were so suave when you argued with that demon at the school stage because of that little fatty.” Tang Xiaoyu sighed. She was clearly just a petite and weak-looking young girl, with an extremely sweet smile, so who would expect for her to be that scary, dazzling, and capable of moving others’ hearts when she got mad?

  One short line of words was all she said to make the entire student body willingly protest against the teachers.

  Perhaps, even today, none of those students and teachers back then had forgotten the name ‘Pei Ge’ and that huge school protest.