“Senior Brother?”
Liu Yifei deliberately drew out the end of her words, her voice as clear as the first bird song of spring, carrying a hint of playfulness.
Her large, lake-clear eyes narrowed slightly, two lines of laughter rippling at their corners, and a mischievous curve played on her lips.
At this moment, Pu Songri was frozen in place, a 'dumbfounded' expression on his plump face, having forgotten to lower the microphone stand in his hand, standing there like a statue.
“I knew I shouldn’t have been greedy for those few minutes of being 'Senior Brother'!”
Amidst his inner wail, Pu Songri didn't forget to sneak a glance at Wu Chen beside him.
Wu Chen, meanwhile, remained expressionless, meticulously packing up the Manfrotto 055 tripod. “Oh, give me that bag!”
“Oh!” Pu Songri snapped back to reality, fumbling to grab it, but Wu Chen smacked his hand away, then turned to look at Liu Yifei and Zhou Yang, calmly stating, “Hmm, I need help!”
“Ah!” Zhou Yang couldn't help but be stunned at his words.
It was Liu Yifei who reacted quickly, taking a few quick steps forward, picking up the equipment bag from the ground, and then returning. “Here!”
“Thanks! We won’t treat you to a meal; we need to put the equipment away first!”
Wu Chen quickly bagged the equipment, ready to make his escape.
“It has to be Chen Ge; even this works?” Pu Songri exclaimed, his hands moving quickly, afraid that he would be three minutes too slow to slip away.
Watching the two finish packing their Photography Department equipment and prepare to leave, Zhou Yang was momentarily confused, muttering softly, “Yifei, did we forget something?”
Liu Yifei paused at her words, then burst into laughter, clear as shattered jade falling onto a plate.
“Senior Brother, I just heard Teacher Wang say that you’ve only been first-years for a few months?”
“Cough!” Pu Songri choked suddenly, almost losing his balance.
“That’s right, Senior Sister, what’s wrong?” Wu Chen replied with a faint smile, turning his head. “We can call each other what we want. You call me Senior Brother, I call you Senior Sister, no problem!”
“What?” Not only was Pu Songri dumbfounded, but even Liu Yifei and Zhou Yang exchanged bewildered glances.
“No, let me get this straight.” Zhou Yang was the first to step forward, pointing to herself. “You call me Senior Sister!”
“I call you?”
“Senior Brother!” Wu Chen finished smoothly.
“But I’m a sophomore, and you’re a freshman…” Zhou Yang still asked incredulously.
“That’s right!” Wu Chen nodded, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
Liu Yifei tilted her head, her long hair sliding from her shoulder, shimmering like silk in the sunlight. “Then shouldn’t we call you Junior Brother?”
“If you want to call me that, that’s fine too!”
Wu Chen’s reluctant expression truly left Pu Songri dumbfounded.
“Chen Ge’s acting, it’s a shame he’s not in the Performance Department.”
“……”
“No, no, I feel like you’re tricking us.” Liu Yifei shook her head, hands on her hips. “Let’s go back to the beginning.”
“Did you trick us into calling you Senior Brother?”
“Did that happen? Songri, did you trick them?” Wu Chen turned to Pu Songri.
“Ah, I didn’t!” Pu Songri shook his head vigorously.
“Well, there you have it. You see, we didn’t trick you.” Wu Chen spread his hands. “You must have remembered it wrong!”
“No, I remember clearly, you ‘hmm-ed’ at the time, acting like it was true!” Liu Yifei rubbed her head. Why did this conversation feel so convoluted?
“Did that happen?”
Wu Chen looked shocked, turning to Pu Songri for confirmation.
This expression made Liu Yifei and Zhou Yang both feel a little unsure of themselves for a moment.
“Chen Ge, yes, it did!” Pu Songri nodded quickly, then suddenly realized and shook his head. “No, it didn’t!”
“See, see, I knew you were tricking me!”
Liu Yifei, hearing this, immediately looked at Wu Chen with a puffed-up expression, her small face flushed like a steamed bun.
Wu Chen gave Pu Songri a “regretful” look, fearing not a god-like opponent but a pig-like teammate. The latter shrank back awkwardly, staring at the floor, not daring to make a sound.
“But, Junior Brother, how did you practice that technique? Can you give me some tips? I also want to improve my acting.” Liu Yifei changed the subject, asking eagerly.
“Yes, yes!” Zhou Yang also joined in, her eyes wide with curiosity, her face full of it. “I thought you were at least juniors or seniors.
That shot just now looked like something out of a movie; it made me feel a bit inferior. But then you’re only freshmen? That’s too much of a blow!”
On the way to put away the equipment, Wu Chen truly understood what a sixteen-year-old girl was like—chattering non-stop the whole way.
Wu Chen lost count of how many times the words “Junior Brother” appeared on this journey.
Wu Chen also understood that this was probably the novelty for a young girl; after all, she was the youngest in her class, usually an elder wherever she went, and it was rare to have two people she could call Junior Brother, so she had to take full advantage.
“It’s a bit different from the Liu Yifei in my impression from my previous life.” Wu Chen secretly smiled to himself as his peripheral vision caught sight of the girl, fresh as a spring pear blossom.
After all, later on, Liu Yifei had already distanced herself from social media, hardly ever going online, spending her days either cooped up at home reading, raising a bunch of cats and dogs, or tending to flowers and plants.
At a fork in the road, Wu Chen suddenly stopped and pointed to his right. “Senior Sister, the canteen is over there. You two go eat first. Songri and I still need to put away the equipment.”
“No rush, let’s go together.” Before Zhou Yang could speak, Liu Yifei’s light voice had already responded.
“Alright then!”
Seeing her curious expression, Wu Chen didn't refuse and directly led the group to the equipment room.
The grand procession of four naturally attracted many eyes.
“Yawen, those are Yifei and Zhou Yang, right? How do you think those two Photography Department Junior Brothers learned so much, especially Wu Chen? How is he so amazing?” Luo Jin exclaimed.
Zhu Yawen looked into the distance, remaining silent.
Meanwhile, Jiang Yiyan’s gaze was fixed, lost in thought for a moment, not knowing what she was pondering.
......
“Phew, finally I can put it down. I’m exhausted. Let’s finish this quickly and go eat.” Pu Songri was much more relaxed now, without the initial tension.
“So this is the equipment room? It feels quite… simple!” Liu Yifei stood at the doorway, curiously examining the small room filled with dusty equipment.
Several old tripods were piled in the corner, shelves were covered with lens caps and film canisters, and the air was thick with a faint smell of machine oil.
“Do you need our help?” Liu Yifei asked when she saw Wu Chen stuffing a tripod into a cabinet.
Wu Chen was about to say no, but his cell phone rang. Wu Chen opened it and quickly pressed the answer button.
“Dad!”
“Xiao Chen, I found someone to ask about your matter. There’s a women’s shoe stall at Zhanxi Road Shoe City that’s interested. The boss is named Zhang Zemin.
I gave him your number. He wants to chat with you first, but the deal will ultimately have to be finalized in person in the capital…”
