She pushed past the crowd, stumbling out of the banquet hall.
Outside the banquet hall, it had started raining at some point. She dashed into the rain, dazed and directionless.
She didn't know how far she'd run; when she finally came to her senses, she found herself standing in front of a massive glass curtain wall. Behind the sparkling transparent wall was a large camera shop with shelves displaying cameras worth a fortune. The cold, sleek mechanical lines radiated a beauty unique to modern industry, drawing her gaze as if she were under a spell.
Pale, delicate fingers lightly touched the glass curtain wall.
Through the curtain wall, she unconsciously traced the shapes of the cameras on the display rack.
She still remembered when she was little, before the Mu Family went bankrupt, they made cameras. Her mother, Mu Yun, was an internationally acclaimed photographer who often held her in her arms, teaching her hands-on how to manipulate the lens and press the shutter. She could never forget the faint scent of her mother at that time, and the gentle touch of her long hair brushing against her small face.
Later, after the Mu Family went bankrupt, her mother died in an accident, and her stepmother Liu Meizhi joined the family, wanting to throw away all the photography equipment. She cried and tried to stop her but was powerless, watching helplessly as servants threw her mother's treasured fixed-focus lens and flash into the trash, dumping them along with a pile of smelly leftovers and vegetable leaves into the garbage truck. At six years old, she chased after that garbage truck for a long, long time before finally falling heavily by the roadside. It was the truck worker who couldn't bear it anymore, stopped, dug out a still relatively intact camera from the pile of trash, and stuffed it into her arms.
That camera became her most cherished possession.
She carefully hid away the camera, only taking it out secretly when her stepmother and family couldn't see, fumbling her way through taking pictures. Whenever she felt sad or wronged, simply picking up the camera and pressing the shutter made her feel as though her deceased mother was still by her side, smiling and saying, "Xingyu dear, Mommy is here."
It had become her reliance.
"Mom..." She looked at the cameras behind the vast curtain wall, her voice filled with sobs.
If only her mother were still alive, would she not be bullied so miserably? The pouring rain fell on her, and her face turned pale. She felt dizzy, her body alternating between hot and cold. Earlier today, when she left the hospital, the inflammation in her body hadn't fully healed, and now soaked by the rain, she was feeling even worse.
"Miss, Miss, are you okay?" Suddenly, she heard a voice.
She turned around and saw the door of the store had somehow opened, and a male store clerk in uniform was standing before her, looking concerned: "Miss, the rain is heavy here. Are you here to buy a camera? Please come into our store."
She was ushered into the camera shop by the clerk, surrounded by a display of finely crafted cameras. These cameras looked high-end, whether from the design, the casing material, or the specs listed on the labels; they far surpassed the camera her mother had left behind.
Only then did she realize all these cameras were from the same brand — Blade, the best camera brand in the world.
The male clerk was evidently well-trained, brewing a cup of hot tea and handing her a large dry towel: "Miss, dry yourself off, don't catch a cold. Are you a photographer or a hobbyist? Blade has cameras specifically tailored to different demographics. This is the flagship store with a full range of models. If you like any, just let me know."
She glanced around in confusion. Which model to choose?
To be honest, she didn't want any; she just wanted the camera her mother had left behind.
But unfortunately, that camera was lost two years ago.
She hadn't touched a camera in these two years. Instead of a camera, it was Qin Mu who comforted her whenever she felt sad. But now, Qin Mu, whom she had trusted and relied on so much, had hurt her deeply. Her heart felt like it was being cut by knives, as if falling into an abyss of hell… longing to hold onto something.
"How much can I buy with this amount?" She took out all the money in her bag, including her only bank card, and handed it to the clerk, asking.
The amount wasn't much; it fell short of the store's cheapest camera by 459 yuan. But the clerk smiled and said, "You're in luck, Miss. I'll use my own internal membership card to give you a discount, just enough to buy one of our entry-level cameras."
The girl before him looked so lost and forlorn. He guessed she must have encountered some trouble. Providing quality service to customers was a training rule at Blade Group. In such circumstances, he would care for her as much as possible within his authority.
Su Xingyu didn't know his thoughts, thanked him, and took the camera, heading out of the store.
Her steps were somewhat unsteady, the rain exacerbating the inflammation within her body. Her head grew dizzy as she staggered into the rain, shielding the camera with her thin hands, bending her back to protect it from the rain.
Quickly...
She had to move quickly...
She needed to quickly find the bus stop to return to the hospital.
The camera in her arms brought her comfort, as if she had something to protect, giving her renewed courage to face the world. She quickly identified her direction and ran toward the bus stop across the street. But before she'd taken a few steps, a black Bentley suddenly sped through the torrential rain, charging directly at her!
She didn't have time to react, only feeling a pain in her calf before her entire body was sent flying.
The camera slipped from her grasp, the packaging box scattering mid-air, breaking apart. Like a slow-motion shot, she watched helplessly as the camera shattered on the ground, the lens cracking, forming spiderweb-like fissures.
It seemed like an eternity passed, yet it might have only been two or three seconds.
She heard a voice in her ear, a man shouting at her: "Miss, are you okay?! Miss?!"
She turned her head blankly, looking at the man in the black suit, instinctively shaking her head.
"The camera..." she said.
"At a time like this, you're worrying about a camera?!" The man seemed somewhat exasperated, shouting through the rain, "Your leg is bleeding! Can you still walk? Come now, hold onto me, I'll help you to safety!"
Before she could respond, he bent down, helping her up and trying to support her to the roadside.
She endured the pain, cooperating with the man's movements. Casually turning her head, she saw the black Bentley parked in the rain not far away, with the door on the roadside side open. Evidently, this man had gotten out of the car.
She merely glanced at it briefly, not expecting the man to notice her small action even in such a chaotic situation. His voice suddenly deepened: "Don't look. The BOSS has urgent business and can't take you to the hospital. Miss, the light was red. It was you jaywalking that caused the accident. We're already being very kind in helping you. I will find another car to take you and give you sufficient compensation. You'd better be smart and not cause trouble. The person in the car is not someone you can provoke."
Of course, she knew she couldn't afford to provoke him.
The Bentley looked exceptionally noble; even her father couldn't afford one. She would have to be crazy to start trouble.
The pain in her calf grew worse, the pouring rain soaking her, making it difficult even to stand firmly. At that moment, the rear window of the black Bentley nearby rolled down unexpectedly, and she met a pair of eyes.
They were a man's eyes.
Cold, deep, unfathomable — eyes that had haunted her countless nightmares, eyes akin to the devil's.
Su Xingyu felt her mind explode with a "boom," as those unbearable scenes from two years ago burst forth in her vision. It was him… it was him! The man who took her first night!