Meng Yan's Transformation

Chapter 622 The Photographer's Peep

As the photographer adjusted the lights, the flash went off, and Zhan Mengyan instinctively grabbed Zhan Yingying's wrist, her knuckles turning white. Zhan Yingying gripped her wrist tightly in return, the calluses on her palms causing Zhan Mengyan pain—the marks of her life working on the farm.

The photographer captured this moment by pressing the shutter: the older sister's eyes held reluctance, and Zhan Mengyan's eyes were glistening with tears. The two young faces intertwined in the light and shadow, telling the story of parting and anticipation for the future.

After the two sisters took a group photo, Zhan Yingying took a work ID photo, and Zhan Mengyan also took a solo photo.

Under the dim yellow light of the photo studio, the air was filled with the faint scent of film and photographic paper. The two sisters had just finished their photoshoot. Zhan Yingying was checking the photo slip, while Zhan Mengyan curiously examined the photo frames on the wall and the photos inside. Suddenly, Zhan Yingying remembered something and pulled a crumpled piece of paper from her bag. On it, written in crooked handwriting, was the message: "Urgent: Work ID photo, must be picked up today." Zhan Yingying's tone was light but firm: "This one is urgent; the other two can be developed normally." Zhan Mengyan nodded, her eyes sparkling, as if she could already see her sister's brand-new ID photo. Zhan Yingying smiled slightly and tapped Zhan Mengyan's forehead with her finger: "Remember to come pick up the photos in a week. Come on, let's go wait on the bench outside for a while while the urgent photos come out." Before she finished speaking, she had already turned and walked towards the door, her back straight, exuding an air of unyielding competence. Zhan Mengyan remained alone, her fingertips lightly brushing the edge of the photo frame, her gaze following the direction her sister had left, and the corners of her mouth unconsciously turning up.

The young photographer crouched at the darkroom doorway, clutching a freshly developed negative, his gaze, seemingly drawn by a magnet, repeatedly drifting towards the spot where the two sisters had just stood. He feigned concentration on adjusting the darkroom lights, but his peripheral vision secretly swept over Zhan Mengyan—she was stroking the photo frame, admiring the beautiful smile captured within. Zhan Mengyan's unintentional focus and beauty held the photographer's breath in his eye—her long eyelashes cast delicate shadows in the light, fluttering like butterfly wings, each blink tugging at the photographer's heartstrings, as if his heartbeat were about to burst from his chest, composing a silent melody with the soft click of the shutter. The photographer's fingertips trembled, yet the image in the lens was crystal clear—she had become the most beautiful scenery, this pure beauty quietly frozen on the film of time. Then, the photographer's gaze shifted to Zhan Yingying, who leaned against the doorframe, her profile sharply defined, her eyes gazing into the distance, as if imagining her work at the cannery. The photographer's Adam's apple bobbed involuntarily, and the film in his hand was pinched into tiny creases. He quickly lowered his head, pretending to check the equipment, but the tips of his ears were tinged with a suspicious blush. The red light in the darkroom flickered, reflecting on his young and confused face, as if silently recording the ripples of this brief encounter.

The two sisters were chatting casually on the bench outside the door.

"Sis, I really hate to see you go to work so far away. Can you come back when I have summer vacation?"

Zhan Mengyan finally revealed her deepest thoughts.

“Silly girl, how can I go home right after starting work? But when your summer vacation is almost over and before school starts, I’ll try to take leave to go home and give Zixun his tuition fees, buy you a new dress, and buy medicine for Mom…”

As Zhan Yingying spoke, she looked into the distance, dreaming about the day she would receive her salary.