Jiang Cheng couldn’t even bear to look too closely at how the selfie turned out before he sent it to Gu Fei.
- hope you appreciate this photo, i went through a lot to get it
Then he reached into Gu Fei’s desk drawer, took out a piece of chocolate, and tossed it onto Zhou Jing’s desk.
- Cheng-ge, your skills are only fit for taking photos of yourself. No one else’s face could survive this treatment
- you’re such a suck-up
A few minutes later, Gu Fei sent him another photo. Jiang Cheng took one quick look before saving the picture into the folder on his phone titled “Gu Feifei.”
It was a backlit silhouette of Gu Fei’s profile. Jiang Cheng couldn’t see his expression, but he could see the bright background, Gu Fei’s straight nose, slightly parted mouth, elegant jaw, and the tiny burst of exposure between his lips…
The difference between his own selfie and Gu Fei’s was as dramatic as comparing buyers’ photos to sellers’ photos.
Although of course, Gu Fei was using a DSLR.
✦ ✦ ✦
Gu Fei was still out taking photos at lunchtime, but he sent a message to report on his progress. Looking at this itinerary, Jiang Cheng figured he would be lucky to finish by dinnertime.
Not that he could have eaten lunch with Gu Fei anyway. As soon as the bell rang, Wang Xu was at his side, urging, “Come on, let’s go! I sat here bored out of my mind for a whole morning just to get two hours of practice in with you at lunch.”
“I thought you came to stare at Yi Jing,” Jiang Cheng remarked, stacking his textbooks together and standing up.
He remembered Pan Zhi had recently posted a set of pictures to his Moments lamenting his tragic senior year of high school spent chained to his desk, studying. Every desk in that classroom was stacked high with enough books to bury a person. It made Jiang Cheng feel a surge of panic.
In Class Eight’s classroom, on the other hand, his own desk stood out. A stranger peeking in would think all the books in the room had been piled onto his desk alone. There were so many study materials and textbooks that they overflowed onto Gu Fei’s side. There were probably fewer than twenty students with a stacked desk like this in their entire grade, let alone this one classroom.
Wang Xu looked at him. “This is my last chance to make my mark,” he said. “A handsome overachiever like you wouldn’t understand how I feel.”
“Let’s go,” said Jiang Cheng. “Don’t waste time. I still have to study in the afternoon.”
“Okay, but Jiang Cheng…” Wang Xu followed him out of the classroom. “Are you planning to toil away like this right up until the big exams? That’s months away. If I were you, I’d burn out for sure.”
“Which is why you’re not me,” Jiang Cheng retorted.
There wasn’t much else to work on for their performance. Wang Xu had dug up a whole lifetime’s worth of concentration and brainpower for this one chance to show off. He was now able to accurately accompany Jiang Cheng, and he even inserted a guitar solo in the middle in addition to the chords Jiang Cheng had given him.
“Don’t be nervous tomorrow,” Wang Xu told him. “Mistakes happen when you get nervous. If you can’t find the right spot to come in when I’m playing this part, just watch for my signal.”
“That’s okay,” Jiang Cheng sighed. “I know where to come in without even listening.”
“Pfft, sure you do,” Wang Xu scoffed.
“No need to fight me.” Jiang Cheng glanced at him. “You just have to accept defeat.”
“Shit.” Wang Xu didn’t know what else to say, so he plucked his guitar strings a few times to express his displeasure. A moment later, he looked up and said excitedly, “Hey, let’s get Gu Fei to take some photos of us tomorrow with his fancy camera.”
Jiang Cheng blinked. “Hm?” If Wang Xu hadn’t brought it up, he never would’ve thought about it. But was it really a good idea to join an event Gu Fei didn’t want to participate in, collaborate with someone else, and then get Gu Fei to take pictures?
It was true that Gu Fei was the one who didn’t want to join in the first place, but he still couldn’t bring himself to ask him to take pictures of them…
“The school probably have their own photographer, right?” Jiang Cheng said. “And look how excited Lao-Xu is. He’ll probably take some pictures too.”
“How can the school’s camera compare to Gu Fei’s?!” Wang Xu exclaimed. “Anyway, he only bought that camera to look cool. He’s never had anything to show for it. It’s a great opportunity for him to put that camera to work.”
“…We’ll see.” Jiang Cheng thought about it, then added, “For a performance like this, movement is more interesting than still photos. You have to combine the music and the performance to convey the full experience. When it comes to showing off, your main focus shouldn’t be on the photos, it should be the live performance.”
“Ah, really?” Wang Xu seemed a little dazed.
“Yi Jing will be sitting right there in front of the stage,” Jiang Cheng said. “Do you think she’ll be interested in photos of your performance after the fact? She won’t be able to hear anything just looking at a photo. Isn’t it more important to have her attention when she’s watching you in that moment?”
“Ah, right! She’s gonna be sitting right there watching!” Wang Xu slapped his own thigh. “Fuck me! She’ll be sitting right there!”
“…Don’t tell me you never realized that before.” Jiang Cheng got the feeling that if he knocked on Wang Xu’s head right now, he’d probably hear an echo.
“I knew it this whole time, but when you put it like that…” Wang Xu rubbed his leg. “I’m a little nervous—no, excited.”
Jiang Cheng sighed. “Let’s play it through one more time. Then I have to go study.”