Wilderness Vegetation Chapter 42

Chapter 42

---

It had been a long time indeed.

So long that the hysterical sobbing and tears in the dark private room seemed like a thing of the last century. Xu Yan's life in recent years had been so full that he had no time to reflect on a failed relationship, let alone imagine a reunion. He felt something inside him being pried open, that momentary feeling of suspension followed by a rapid fall was hard to describe, but it was neither excitement nor agitation.

Rather than long time no see, never see you again suited them better.

After a brief moment of eye contact, Xu Yan calmly averted his gaze from Shen Zhi's, ignored the greeting, and looked at Tang Yunyan. His smile remained, though it faded a bit, as he joked, "Here to supervise?"

Tang Yunyan chuckled, "I came to see when you might have time to shoot a few styles for me."

"Tomorrow afternoon," Xu Yan turned his head back to roughly review the set of photos, then asked Wang Wen'an, "Are we ready?"

"The platform is set," Wang Wen'an quickly responded. "The lighting is adjusted too."

"Alright, we'll wrap up after this set," Xu Yan said, picking up the camera and speaking to Tang Yunyan again, "I'll go find you tomorrow afternoon. Have you arranged the model?"

"Yes," Tang Yunyan replied calmly, patting Shen Zhi on the shoulder. "Coincidentally, Lawyer Shen is free these two days and will help out."

Xu Yan didn't react immediately, only hearing Wang Wen'an whispering in his ear, "Yes, yes, yes, it's this lawyer. I thought he was a new model for the company when I first saw him!"

Should have said he wasn't available – This was the only thought in Xu Yan's mind at that moment. But he had already publicly agreed to the shoot before knowing the model was Shen Zhi.

In fact, the model himself had just learned this. Shen Zhi turned his head to look at Tang Yunyan, who gave him a faint smile.

"Alright, see you tomorrow," Xu Yan responded briefly, heading back under the lights with his camera before Shen Zhi could look at him.

He quickly immersed himself in the shoot, concentrating meticulously. Tang Yunyan watched for a while before nudging Shen Zhi's arm, "Let's go." Shen Zhi nodded, his gaze still lingering on Xu Yan. After a moment, he walked with her towards the door.

When the automatic door slowly closed, Shen Zhi stood there motionless. Through the transparent glass and the people moving around, he occasionally caught glimpses of Xu Yan's profile or his wrist – In short, there was always someone in the way. But Shen Zhi didn't mind, just as he didn't mind Xu Yan ignoring his presence.

For the past three years, Shen Zhi's life had been filled with various pressures: studying, exams, papers, work, projects, business trips, and more. Only today, facing Xu Yan, did Shen Zhi feel he had briefly escaped reality, his heartbeat slowing down, wanting to stretch those few seconds a bit longer, and then a bit longer.

"Too lazy to pick a model, I thought your style suited well, so just do me a favour, we’ll only shoot below the neck, no face," Tang Yunyan's expression was meaningful. "Tomorrow afternoon at one, it should take about two hours. Can Lawyer Shen arrive on time?"

"Yes," Shen Zhi replied.

"So now you..."

"I'm going back to the law firm," Shen Zhi said, glancing at his watch. "I'll come over tomorrow at noon. I have a flight at five in the afternoon, going on a business trip."

"Looks like you'll have to stay up late again tonight."

"Mhmm." Shen Zhi glanced back into the studio, a brief but earnest look. "I'll leave first."

After working all night in the study, Shen Zhi took off his glasses and looked out the window. It was already dawn, almost five o'clock. His head ached, and his eyes were sore. He pinched the bridge of his nose, closed the computer, and organised his materials. As he stood up, he felt a wave of dizziness, holding onto the desk for a moment before heading to the bedroom.

He fell asleep as soon as he hit the bed, tired, of course, but after becoming the norm, there was no time to complain about it. The workload at a red circle law firm was always extraordinary: twenty-four-hour standby, frequent business trips, constant work tasks, and private time squeezed out forcefully. Spending two hours today as Tang Yunyan's model meant he had to make up for those two hours, perhaps even more.

But Shen Zhi was willing.

Lack of sleep was sometimes more painful than staying up all night. When the alarm went off, Shen Zhi's head felt swollen – Nine thirty. After packing his luggage and having breakfast, he drove to TIDE, arriving there just at noon.

As usual, he checked new emails and replied to WeChat messages. Tang Yunyan's chat box suddenly popped up: Lawyer Shen, you don’t need to come today. Xu Yan just told me he won't be free until three and said he found a model for me. Since you have a business trip this afternoon, let's skip it this time.

His eyes were aching badly. Shen Zhi got up, found a bottle of eye drops, used them, and lay down with his eyes closed for two minutes, then opened them again, picked up his phone, and opened the flight booking app.

Ten minutes later, Shen Zhi replied to Tang Yunyan: I’ll be there at two thirty.

Tang Yunyan: You postponed your business trip?

Shen Zhi: No, I changed to a later flight.

Tang Yunyan: Such a coincidence? There's an evening flight?

Shen Zhi: No, flying to another city, then transferring to the high-speed rail.

Tang Yunyan: ... I don't know what to say.

Shen Zhi also didn't know what to say, unsure whether Xu Yan was genuinely only free at three or just didn't want to see him. But without a valid reason to meet, even though he knew he shouldn't disturb him, if he could find a chance, even a slightly awkward one, he would try.

After sending the updated arrival time to the client, Shen Zhi got up and washed. Holding the electric toothbrush, he reached for the toothpaste with his other hand, noticing how much his hand trembled while squeezing the paste. He couldn't tell if it was due to weakness or soreness – he was used to it. Shen Zhi closed his eyes and shook his head. While washing his face, he heard his phone ringing, quickly wiped his face, and walked out of the bathroom to see Lan Qiuchen calling.

"Hello."

"Just got up?"

"Mhmm."

A sigh came from the other end. "What time did you sleep?"

"Five o'clock."

"You really are something... When will you come over this week?"

"Sunday morning at ten."

"Okay, I'll have the assistant make a note."

After hanging up, Shen Zhi opened his suitcase for the business trip, checked it over, then closed and placed it in the hallway. He then went to the study and turned on the computer again.

In the afternoon, Shen Zhi arrived at TIDE's design department. Before entering, he pressed his hands firmly against his eyelids, then rang the doorbell. Someone quickly came to open the door, it was Xu Yan's assistant, whom he had seen in the studio yesterday.

"Hello, Lawyer Shen! I'm Wang Wen'an, Photographer Xu's assistant."

"Hello."

"Please come in, please come in!"

Tang Yunyan's office was large, more accurately, it was a studio – with a workbench, wardrobe station, makeup station, and a runway... it was all present, spacious, and bright. By the floor-to-ceiling window stood a beautiful wooden perch, where a vividly coloured yellow-necked Amazon parrot was perched. Seeing someone enter, it immediately turned its head, its eyes twinkling, and its beak opened sharply, saying, "Welcome, welcome, a warm welcome!"

Tang Yunyan and Xu Yan were standing at the workbench, looking at design drafts. When Shen Zhi entered, Tang Yunyan looked up, waved, and smiled. Xu Yan leaned against the table, not moving, while looking at the drafts and smiling slightly, "I told you, your parrot is a trained hostess."

"I've told you many times, Toto is male."

"So what if he's male, males can be hosts too."

"You just reminded me," Tang Yunyan said, reaching for a stack of sample clothing designs. "I'm participating in a fashion show next month, when do you have time to help me try on this series and see the effect?"

"With so many models in the company, why do you always fixate on the non-professionals?" Xu Yan flipped through a couple of the designs, a bit surprised, "Qipao?"

"Men's, what's the matter, can't men wear qipao?"

"They can," Xu Yan said, "but you should still book other models."

"It's decided, just try it on to see the effect." Tang Yunyan made the decision, then looked at Shen Zhi, who had come closer, and knowingly asked, "Did Lawyer Shen not sleep well last night? You have dark circles."

Xu Yan kept his head down, looking at the designs. Shen Zhi looked at him and replied to Tang Yunyan, "It's okay."

"I'll have the assistant take you to change clothes, and we'll prepare here." Tang Yunyan called over the assistant, giving her the sequence numbers of several pieces of clothing.

Xu Yan never looked up. After finishing the designs, he started adjusting the camera settings. Shen Zhi followed the assistant to the changing room.

"I think using inexperienced people as models can bring some novelty. I've tried it before, and the effect was good," Tang Yunyan said. "Besides, this style really suits Shen Zhi, you know, minimalist and somewhat aloof."

Over the years, Tang Yunyan and Xu Yan had developed a good rapport and spoke openly. Tang Yunyan liked Xu Yan's photography style, and Xu Yan appreciated Tang Yunyan's design philosophy. They almost always chose each other as their first choice for photographer and designer, having collaborated many times.

"Mhmm," Xu Yan nodded. Although, from past experience, he knew that Shen Zhi had nothing to do with aloofness.

The designer picked the model, and the photographer seriously photographed, regardless of who it was or the reason – this point of professionalism was always necessary. Xu Yan went to the set, where the entire backdrop paper presented a crumpled effect, almost pure white, with a heavy ink splash pattern in the bottom right corner.

Tang Yunyan's samples this time were all black, combining silk and cotton linen, soft and hard, glossy and matte. Shen Zhi came out after changing, wearing black woven shoes with soles thinner than paper. This highlighted his genuinely long legs. When he sat on a transparent round chair, Xu Yan, looking through the viewfinder, was stunned for a moment and pulled the lens back a few centimetres – at the estimated distance, the lens couldn't fit Shen Zhi's legs.

Although Shen Zhi's face wouldn't appear in the final shots, the entire person needed to be photographed for convenient post-production cropping. Xu Yan focused while Tang Yunyan helped adjust Shen Zhi's clothes, and the assistants adjusted the lighting. Xu Yan used a black-and-white viewfinder, which produced a good composition. Once Tang Yunyan and the assistants stepped back, the frame was completely occupied by the white backdrop and black clothes, silent like a silent film.

Xu Yan took multiple shots of the same pose, capturing different parts of the outfit. When he moved the camera up to the collar, the lens zoomed in, making Shen Zhi's face clear and close. Xu Yan knelt on one knee, his gaze fixed on the viewfinder. Through the lens, he met Shen Zhi's eyes in the black-and-white frame.

In reality, as long as the pose was right, Shen Zhi's expression didn't matter. He could look anywhere or even close his eyes, as his face would be cropped out later – yet Shen Zhi kept his eyes focused on the camera, almost staring.

Those eyes appeared darker and deeper in the monochrome, and tired, obviously tired. Xu Yan remembered the first time he and Shen Zhi looked at each other through a viewfinder – it was during a university basketball game, the widely circulated photo of Shen Zhi glancing back while dribbling. Roughly counting, it had been nearly ten years since then.

Xu Yan put down the camera and quickly reviewed the photos on the display screen. After confirming there were no issues, he looked up, "Please extend your left leg a bit, place your right hand on the edge of the chair, and relax your posture."

This was the first sentence he had said to Shen Zhi in over three years – professional and detached. Compared to "long time no see," this tone and attitude better suited their relationship.

Shen Zhi paused and changed his pose according to Xu Yan's instructions.

Wang Wen'an, standing beside Tang Yunyan, watched for a while and asked softly, "Chloe, do they know each other?"

Tang Yunyan folded her arms and smiled slightly, "What do you think?"

"They probably... don't know each other, they don't seem familiar," Wang Wen'an frowned, thinking for a moment, then added, "But it feels weird."

Tang Yunyan's assistant nodded in agreement, "I feel the same."

Shen Zhi was a competent novice model, with a good physique, straight posture, stable poses, and strong comprehension. Xu Yan only needed to give simple instructions, and Shen Zhi could strike the right pose, saving time and effort.

The best part was that he was free, which made Tang Yunyan very satisfied.

It took over two hours to photograph six outfits. Tang Yunyan looked at the unedited photos on the computer and asked, "Lawyer Shen, have you ever thought about changing careers again? Becoming a model?"

Shen Zhi, who had just changed back into his clothes, walked over. He looked at Xu Yan, who was packing up his camera, and found himself seriously considering Tang Yunyan's suggestion – if the photographer were always Xu Yan.

"I probably won't have time to edit the photos for you today," Xu Yan said to Tang Yunyan while buttoning his shirt. "Do you need the final photos urgently?"

"It's fine, I can edit them myself. Thanks for your hard work."

With a snap, Xu Yan's phone was knocked to the floor. Shen Zhi took a step forward, picked it up, and checked the screen, it was intact. He handed the phone back, and Xu Yan quickly took it, "Thanks."

"It's already past five," Shen Zhi said softly, feeling his heart race, his voice trembling slightly, "Want to have dinner together?"

As he said this, Tang Yunyan and the two assistants subtly paused what they were doing, almost straining to eavesdrop. Xu Yan zipped up his camera bag without looking up, "No need, I have plans."

Just as he finished speaking, the phone that had just fallen to the floor rang loudly. Xu Yan glanced at the caller ID, a smile forming on his lips, and answered, "Hello?"

The other end was a bit noisy, but a sweet, soft female voice came through clearly, "Hu~bby!"

Wang Wen'an's eyes widened in shock, and Tang Yunyan instinctively looked at Shen Zhi, who stood there in a daze, seemingly not processing what had happened.

Xu Yan seemed unfazed by the term, as if he had heard it countless times. His smile deepened, and his expression showed a hint of helplessness, "It's so early, how are you already drunk?"

He picked up his camera bag, waved goodbye to Tang Yunyan while still on the phone, and headed towards the door. Toto, the parrot, flapped its wings and screeched, "Hubby! Hubby!" watching Xu Yan's retreating figure, "Take care, come often when you have time!"

———

The author has something to say:

Shen Zhi: My wife has become someone else's husband. Dead.

Long time no see, but this chapter is over four thousand words (awkward laugh).

‿︵‿︵ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ・❉・ ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ‿︵‿︵

Previous Chapter | TOC | Next Chapter

Translator Notes

Please feel free to comment any mistakes I made so I can improve and do better as I go through the book.

Translated: July 1, 2024 by Angel

Edited: September 22, 2024 by Angel