Atlas Studios

  Atlas Studios

  The man pressed the shutter with his long slender finger. He had captured a shot of her charm and beauty as she turned back to look over her shoulder.

  A beautiful smile tenderly bloomed at the corners of his mouth.

  “Su Yan!” Wen Xuxu looked at the man behind the camera and her eyes widened in shock.

  Her mouth was hung open, and there was a candied hawthorn fruit in her mouth.

  Su Yan put down his camera and smiled as he waved at the woman opposite him. “Hey Xuxu, what a coincidence.”


  Xuxu knitted her eyebrows. “What are you doing here?”


  She couldn’t believe her eyes. China is so huge, yet they still ran into each other in such a remote and desolate place.

  Su Yan beamed at her. “We have telepathy.”


  As he was always full of nonsense, Xuxu decided to brush him off and continued walking ahead.

  The stinky tofu seller immediately shouted for her. “Hey young lady, your stinky tofu.”


  Xuxu suddenly remembered that she had bought a set of stinky tofu. She turned back and smiled at the peddler, slightly embarrassed. “Oh, I had forgotten.”


  She rummaged through her bag for money as she spoke.

  Before she could fish out her money, a fine-looking hand handed a 10 yuan note to the stall owner. “You can stop looking for it.”


  Su Yan’s charming voice sounded.

  Curling her lips, Xuxu zipped up her bag.

  She asked, “It’s the New Year. Why are you here?”


  Su Yan stretched out his hand to receive the stinky tofu from the stall owner. As Xuxu’s hands were full, he continued to hold it for her.

  Both of them chatted as they walked. “I purposely came here, hoping to bump into you.”


  “Nonsense.” Xuxu shot him a condescending look before finishing the last candied hawthorn on the stick.

  Su Yan looked at her. “Do you intend to remain in this place?”


  As he still wasn’t comfortable speaking in Mandarin, he broke into English again.

  Xuxu rolled her eyes at him. “None of your business.”


  She had no idea how Su Yan managed to track her down.

  Since this was her hometown, it wasn’t surprising if he had thought of coming here to look for her.

  Su Yan knitted his eyebrows. “I really want to be your friend and show concern to you. Can you not behave so defensively towards me all the time?”


  Xuxu glared at him being so annoying. “Tch, who says I’m defensive?”


  Su Yan smiled.

  Both of them silently walked for a while before Su Yan spoke again. “Yueyue misses you.”


  An image of Su Yue’s tiny face flashed across her mind. It made her heart ache when she thought of the words she said at the police station.

  She said to Su Yan, “You have to take good care of her as she’s not as cheerful as you.”


  Su Yan raised his head and looked at the cerulean sky. There was a gleam of melancholy in his deep-set eyes. “She stayed at the orphanage until she was 10 years old.”


  Xuxu pursed her lips and remained silent.

  She already had a hunch that Su Yue went through a tough childhood.

  Su Yan took a deep breath and retracted his melancholic thoughts. Looking at Xuxu, he broke into a smile again. “I heard that it’s very special to watch the sunrise and sunset in Donghai during this season.”


  Xuxu nodded her head. “You’re right. It’s very special because your mucus will flow non-stop and you’ll be frozen.”


  Su Yan broke into a burst of laughter, and his attractive dimples made an appearance. He raised his eyebrows at Xuxu. “Do you want to give it a try?”


  “You hit the demon’s path while I cross the log bridge.” Xuxu strode forward in huge steps.

  Su Yan trailed behind her and curiously asked, “Where can I find the log bridge? Is the demon’s path a road? Where can I find this road?”


  Xuxu covered her mouth and couldn’t help but burst out laughing.

  Although this fellow had problems conversing in Mandarin, he couldn’t be so bad to that extent. He must be putting on a pretense.