Li Xiqing came out of the car, and walked to the backseat to take her laptop bag. He pa.s.sed it to her, "Work is only work, don"t forget to eat, alright?" He caressed her head.
Shao Yan smiled and nodded. She tiptoed and kissed his cheek before she walked to the building lobby.
Li Xiqing waited until he couldn"t see her anymore. He went back in to the car and drove to his office.
On the way, he received a call from his a.s.sistant, notifying him that the meeting scheduled for that morning was cancelled. Li Xiqing all of a sudden had an extra time until noon.
He was going over his to-do list, when he drove past the G district. He remembered that the camera shop, Eternity Frame, was located here.
Li Xiqing made an impulse change in his schedules, swerved his car and took the exit to G district. He decided to buy a new camera for Shao Yan to surprise her.
Li Xiqing found the address easily. He parked the car and then he walked to the shop. It was an old building in a redeveloped neighborhood. All the buildings around were painted in white and had colonial style windows on them.
In front of the buildings, were potted plants that stretched from one end to another end of the street. Tall tress on the roadside provided good shades to the shops area and pedestrians. When Li Xiqing walked in, he felt that the time had turned to 50 years ago.
He saw a plump middle aged man was standing behind the counter. His head was full of grey hair, and he had gla.s.ses on. The old man was cleaning on a camera lens so carefully.
Without looking up to see who just entered his store, the old man exclaimed, "Look around by yourself first. I will be right with you shortly." he said to Li Xiqing.
Li Xiqing took off his sungla.s.ses and started to look around. It was an old camera shop, with gla.s.s counters around the sides of the wall.
He saw arrays of accessories and cameras inside the counters. Li Xiqing suddenly got a headache, he really had no knowledge in this area.
He was secretly glad that he came to the right place; this old man seemed to know what he was doing. He should be able to recommend something for Shao Yan.
The old man was not only selling cameras and accessories. Li Xiqing saw signage that Eternity Frame also had a photo studio at the back of the shop, where he employed some staffs.
From the pictures on the wall, Li Xiqing could see that his shop accept job offer to do any independent photoshoot - either for family events, weddings or graduation.
Li Xiqing was looking around at the pictures, when suddenly, one picture frame grabbed his attention. This frame material was different from the others. If others were hung on a standard simple black picture frame, this one was a silver frame. So it was particularly stood out amongst the crowd.
It was a picture of seven people. Three girls and four boys. University students, he thought, judging by their looks and clothing styles.
He saw the first two girls at the front were making funny faces at the camera. The third girl in the middle with very short hair stood next to a boy and they were holding hands. Three more boys stood behind them with smiles.
Li Xiqing saw the date stamp in the corner, it was around eight years ago.
There were names printed at the bottom part of the picture:
[Front] Xie Liying, Lu Feifei, Shao Yan, Fu Liwei
[Back] Lu Qian, Zhong Yu, Du Guangwei
"Oh!! Young man, do you know them too?"
Without him realizing, all of a sudden, the old man had walked over and stood next to Li Xiqing. Li Xiqing turned to look at him. The old man had a proud face and was smiling at the picture frame.
Li Xiqing turned his gaze back to the picture. "No. Do you know them, Sir?" Li Xiqing asked him.
Old man beamed at him, "Of course! This one right here is my son" Old man was pointing at Zhong Yu, the boy who stood behind Shao Yan.
"This was taken when they graduated from T university in city B." he softly sighed, "Haaa.. Time moves so fast. It was eight years ago."
He was still smiling so proudly, "Ah Yu got a full scholars.h.i.+p from T university, that"s why I allowed him to leave city S to go to city B."
He nodded at himself, "Such a smart kid" and he smiled again "Just like his mother."
Li Xiqing did not say anything and just looked at the picture, particularly at Shao Yan .... and that Fu Liwei.
He looked at the old man again, "Do these people ever come here to your shop?"
Old man propped one hand in front of his chest, while the other hand stroke his chin, he pondered for a while, "Hm.. Let me think... I don"t think so."
"After they graduated, they moved to different places. Ah Yu stay here with me now. He"s a software engineer, he earns good money now."
He pointed at the boy next to Shao Yan, "Liwei was Ah Yu"s dorm mate. Many years ago... I think it was the year they graduated? He brought his wife, this one here" he pointed at Shao Yan, "To visit city S and came to this shop. He bought a camera from me."
Old Zhong paused, and thought for a while, "I think that time was right before they emigrated. The boy got a job in country U and then they moved there for good."
Li Xiqing kept quiet. His hands were clenching tightly by his side. He was not sure if he wanted to know more, or should he stop here.
Old Zhong walked back to the counter, "So young man, what do you need today?"
Li Xiqing snapped back from his wandering thoughts, and then he coughed lightly, "I"m here to buy a camera for my girlfriend. She loves to take pictures of scenery and of people."
He approached the counter and stood in front of Old Zhong "I"m looking for something light, because her shoulder hurts easily. The one that she has right now was a bit heavy....."
He paused and then he realized. That camera that broke yesterday must be the one from that Liwei guy.
His hands unconsciously clenched again and he frowned slightly. His heart felt so sour.
This d.a.m.n thing called jealousy was starting to irritate him!