NOVEL NEXT “So your parents are war correspondents. That’s tough. Considering the bad international situation in those years, those volunteer war correspondents are truly heroes.” Mr. Jia was surprised upon learning his parents’ professions. Then he asked out of concern, “So where are your parents working now? There should be corresponding allowance for war correspondents after returning from the frontline.”
The smile on He Bai’s receded upon hearing this question, and then he replied, “Unfortunately, my parents died in a terrorist attack… It’s been many years.”
They went there alive but came back in urns. People only managed to salvage a phone that his parents once used. Nothing more.
Mr. Jia was struck dumb for a while. Then with a long sigh, he raised his hand up and patted him on his shoulder, “So, all the more reasons to take good care of yourself.”
The tapping was very slight, but He Bai still could feel the genuine concern from the old man, so he nodded with a smile, “Of course.”
The time went by quickly when they were talking. It was already 6:50. When Jia Zhang went up to the stage together with the senior host, they attracted everyone’s attention.
Noticing that, He Bai stopped talking and together with Mr. Jia, they looked towards the stage.
After the host finished his festive opening remarks, the birthday party began. The first part was to play the video of Jia Beilei’s growth. The childhood photos of her appeared on the big screen one after another, while Jia Zhang talked a lot about her childhood as the host requested. Together with the guests, he watched how a little girl grew to be that beautiful woman in the video.
Then the screen suddenly darkened. The host excitedly pictured how she would live an exciting and meaningful life after she grew up and then after the host expressed his best wishes to Ms. Jia, a new photo was shown on the screen with back ground music.
The moment the photo appeared, it caught everyone’s attention. The deep green reminded everyone of the Mother Nature and those people in fine outfits were immediately drawn to this ineffable beauty.
The girl in green tulle dress was wearing a wreath and was sitting on the branch of a low tree. The bare feet were swaying, and her hands were stretching upward as if she was plucking something. However, her face is directed at the camera with confused eyes, looking very innocent, like a beautiful fairy who accidentally spotted a stranger barging in her territory.
There was a moment of silence on the scene, and it was soon followed by the muffled exclaims of the women.
“She is gorgeous!” Wu Meng was so excited that her face flushed, and her hands unconsciously tighten her skirt, “I, I… It’s pretty! I want to look that good!”
Ouyang Linlin was calmer than her, but her eyes were also glued to the photos. The focus was not on people, but on the elegant dress that perfectly brought out the girl’s body line. It was really good-looking. Every woman would kill to look that pretty.
After sneaking a look at the male guests, she found it quite hypocritical that those otherwise high and mighty gentlemen who looked down on newbies should have their eyes tightly fixed on the girl in the photo. They were so full of shit! They only care if you were pretty. Only if you were pretty. They were no more than a bunch of lecherous creatures.
Before the audience were able to snap out their trance, the next photo appeared on the screen.
It was the same forest setting, but this time the girl didn’t wear the previous long dress, and was instead wearing a short slip dress with irregular hem. The girl was stepping into a stream with a basket and her delicate ankles had immerged into the water. With slender vines around her arms and right leg and with unfastened curly hair, she stooped down to pick up the petals drifting from the upper stream.
People looked at the flock of birds flying over above her head and in a trance, they felt like they could almost hear the chirping sound of birds among the gurgling sound of water.
The green was manifested in various shades. It was truly a beautiful sight to behold.
It was getting quieter and quieter in the hall. All eyes were glued to the photo. As they enjoyed the beauty of the current photo, they were also savoring the memory of the last one, all the while looking forward to the next photo.
Excellent. These photos were amazing works, either from a professional perspective or from a personal view. They were simply flawless. In those pictures, Jia Beilei looked like a beautiful creature between an innocent girl and a sexy woman that, instead of provoking erotic desires, stimulated people’s innermost yearning for beautiful things. Even if for a second you were to have that impulse to embrace this beauty, you would immediately dismiss this idea out of shame.
“So beautiful.” Yang Fu exclaimed with hands cupping her cheeks. “I would like to be photographed by photographer He one more time.”
Jia Zehang covered her eyes and unpleasantly swept a look at the male guests around. With a frown, he said, “This set of photos should not have been played at all. My grandpa has already planned to cancel this part. But…”
“But photographer He saved the day!” Yang Fu pulled down his hands and continued to hold her cheeks. “Zehang, don’t be jealous. I think Lei is very happy to have those photos for her birthday party. Look at her. She was laughing like crazy.”
Hearing those words, he looked towards his sister who was being surrounded by her friends. Apparently, she was enjoying this. He let out a sigh and poked at her forehead, “You smart ass. If you like, we could ask him to take wedding photos for us when we get married.”
Yang Fu grunted, “How long would that be!”
“We can do this anytime if you want.” Jia Zehang held her hand and gave it a kiss, “Let’s get married soon?”
With a flushed face, Yang Fu gave him a stare in a flirtatious manner and ignored his question.
Jia Zehang laughed, but deep down he wrote down He Bai’s name. Since this person could make his fiancée and sister happy, he was willing to promote the young photographer as a way to thank him.
After the photo was played, the host reappeared on the stage, only to find that the guests were not as enthusiastic as they had been minutes ago when they looked at him. Instead, they were now looking at him with a tad of disappointment.
The host felt upset. The audience’s love really was as flimsy as people said.
The birthday party continued, and the photos were played on loop in random order. The attention of the guests slowly shifted.
Finally, it was the time for the birthday girl to make her speech. Jia Beilei walked to the stage under the escort of his brother and graciously greeted everyone present and extended her thanks them. After that, she suddenly changed the topic and started talking about the previous set of photos.
“Today I want to take a few seconds to thank a person who made those pictures possible. His name is He Bai. If it weren’t for him, I wouldn’t have looked so good in the pictures.” She smiled slyly, and the guests applauded.
“Now, let’s welcome Mr. He to come on to the stage and give us a few words.” Jia Yulei made an invitation gesture to He Bai who was sitting under the stage, and a beam of light immediately followed and illuminated where he sat.
He Bai, who was in the process of pouring tea for Mr. Jia, was struck dumb by this sudden attention.
“Go.” Mr. Jia took away the teapot in his hand and smiled at him. “Lei likes you very much.”
“…” He was not sure that he could handle such affection.
The guests looked at Jia Beilei’s eyes and were surprised to find that her beloved photographer was surprisingly the strange young man who was once seen with the Jias before! They were also stunned by the fact that this man, who looked no more than 20 years old, was to be credited for those fascinating pictures. They were wondering why they haven’t heard of such a genius before. Standing up under everyone’s gaze, He Bai felt like his hands were sweating.
He had always been a man of low profile and right now he simply didn’t know what to do.