Meng Yan's Transformation

Chapter 625 Encountering a Donkey Cart

"Sis, where are you riding off to? Aren't we going back to the photo studio? Didn't you say you left something there?"

Zhan Mengyan's tone was filled with doubt as she spoke.

“We left something at the photo studio, but we can’t get it back—it’s our footprints and images.”

As Zhan Yingying spoke, she turned to look at Zhan Mengyan with a teasing expression.

"Sis, are you kidding me!?"

As Zhan Mengyan spoke, she gently patted Zhan Yingying's back.

"Don't move, or I'll crash my bicycle into a tree."

As Zhan Yingying spoke, she deliberately jerked the handlebars, causing the bicycle to spin in circles. Startled, Zhan Mengyan quickly grabbed Zhan Yingying's waist.

"What's wrong with that young photographer? He seems so awkward, always acting like he wants to say something but is too shy, like a little girl afraid of strangers. He meets so many strangers every day! He shouldn't be acting like a child..."

When Zhan Mengyan spoke, she was full of doubts and didn't understand why the photographer was hesitant to speak. She just found it strange.

"Why do you care what he looks like? There's nothing strange about it. Maybe he thinks we're photogenic and wants us to take more pictures so he can patronize his photo studio. But he's too embarrassed to say it out loud, which is why you find him a bit awkward. He wants to say something but doesn't dare to because he's afraid of being rejected."

As Zhan Yingying spoke, the image of the young photographer flashed before her eyes. His hair was slightly curly, and his face still held a touch of youthful innocence. When he was taking their photos inside the museum, his eyes held a hint of unspoken longing. He stood behind the viewfinder, his fingers gently adjusting the focus, yet he would occasionally steal glances at her, a barely perceptible smile playing on his lips. She was the first to notice; her cheeks flushed under his gaze. She glanced down at Zhan Mengyan, who was intently focused on the camera, completely unaware. Unconsciously, her fingers tightened around her sister's sleeve, a ripple of emotion stirring within her—that young gaze, like the first rays of spring sunlight piercing through the clouds, warm and hazy. Her sister later caught that look too. She pretended to fix her hair, but secretly glanced back. The photographer's cheeks flushed slightly, his Adam's apple bobbed, and he finally just whispered, "Very good," before quickly retreating behind the equipment. She and her sister exchanged a smile, while her sister remained silent, both understanding the unspoken words, like a frozen moment in a photograph, both clear and distant.

Now, when Zhan Mengyan mentions the young photographer again, that unspoken, hesitant excitement, like an undeveloped negative, quietly settles in Zhan Yingying's heart.

Zhan Yingying rode her old bicycle, the bell long since silent, the springs under the seat worn thin. Each bump sent her thoughts drifting further away. Lost in thought, the handlebars wobbled slightly, the wheels crunching over the pebbles on the road with a soft sound. Zhan Yingying pedaled absentmindedly, her gaze vacant, as if her soul had already departed for another, invisible vehicle. Ahead, a donkey cart moved slowly, the donkey chewing its fodder at a leisurely pace, its tail swishing gently. Zhan Yingying's bicycle wheels rolled swiftly, gradually approaching the slow-moving donkey cart. The old man on the cart hummed a tune, oblivious to the danger behind him. Zhan Yingying's attention was absorbed in her thoughts until the handlebars almost grazed the donkey cart's tail, at which point she slammed on the brakes, the bicycle lurching violently.

"Sis! Sis! Watch out! Stop right now!"

Zhan Mengyan exclaimed in surprise. Like a nimble deer, she leaped down before Zhan Yingying could react, her toes touching the ground as she firmly gripped the frame.