Chapter 121: Dare Not Open My Eyes, Hoping It's My Illusion~
Once everyone was gathered, the bus slowly started moving, but instead of heading to the base, it went towards the restaurant where they'd eat today.
First, Lin Li shared the perfect success of the day with Bai Bufan and Zhou Baowei in the back, and after showing off his warrior medal, he settled into his seat.
Turning his head, he found Chen Yu Ying and Ding Sihan had become members of the "bowed head tribe," engrossed in their phones.
Lin Li looked carefully and noticed both of them were flipping through their photo albums, deleting most of the similar photos and keeping the one they liked best.
Noticing Lin Li's gaze, Chen Yu Ying spoke up, "Lin Li, there are photos with you in them, do you need them?"
"Sure, I could use them." Lin Li thought for a moment and nodded.
"Then I'll start a group chat for the four of us, so the photos can be sent there. This way, they won't get mixed up with the photos Xiao Yu and the others took in the dorm chat."
Chen Yu Ying nodded, and then set up a group chat on WeChat for the four of them, sending a "1."
"Lin Li: 2"
Chen Yu Ying turned helplessly and amusedly glanced at Lin Li.
"Ding Sihan: sb"
"Qu Wanqiu: sb"
"Lin Li: ?"
"Ding Sihan: sb"
"Qu Wanqiu: sb"
All he did was send a 2 and a question mark, yet there was so much hostility. Frustrated, shivering, and cold, Lin Li wondered why the world was being so cruel to him.
No more playing abstract games; no one understands his humor, and they really think he's stupid.
Before Lin Li could retaliate, the group chat got flooded with one picture after another.
"Today's data usage has exceeded the set limit, your data service has been automatically shut down."
This notification made Lin Li cringe.
He reactivated his mobile data. Lin Li had a student plan with a 38-month rental allowing 40G of data, which was more than enough since he had Wi-Fi at home and rarely used his phone. Every month, he couldn't even use up the carry-over data from the previous month.
The daily limit of 3G was automatically set on his phone, and he had never bothered to switch it off.
Lin Li also sent some of the photos he'd taken to the group chat.
"What are you guys up to now?" Seeing Chen Yu Ying still fiddling with her photo album, Lin Li leaned over curiously.
"Photo editing," Chen Yu Ying had pulled out her tablet, deftly using her fingers to manipulate the screen.
Lin Li nodded in understanding.
He didn't say anything about just posting the original photos, since girls always feel they can be even more perfect. He just mentioned, "Then make sure to edit mine nicely too."
Lin Li then squinted in curiosity, "Class rep, what are you editing now?"
Since Chen Yu Ying was using a tablet, Lin Li could clearly see the content on the screen; none of the faces belonged to any of the four of them.
"I'm editing out the passersby and trying to make the sunlight a bit warmer," Chen Yu Ying explained with focused attention, looking up as she spoke.
"You can make sunlight warmer through editing?" Lin Li almost couldn't understand the language.
"Yes, it's simple. You just need to apply a shadow here, increase the intensity on this part, add some special light effects, and blur the texture a bit. See?" Chen Yu Ying taught him as she demonstrated.
When Chen Yu Ying showed the before and after comparison, Lin Li's eyes widened in surprise.
The sunlight indeed became warmer.
"No wonder it's one of Asia's four great sorceries; truly magical!" Lin Li marveled with genuine admiration.
Let's reinforce the knowledge: the four great sorceries: Thailand's gender transformation, Korea's plastic surgery, China's Photoshop, Japan's makeup.
Seeing Lin Li's eagerness to learn, Chen Yu Ying beamed, speaking softly, "It's actually quite simple. The software now is getting more sophisticated, easy to learn and use..."
Then, Chen Yu Ying launched into a whole lecture on photo editing knowledge.
At that moment, Lin Li felt like his head was about to overflow with all the information.
"I've grasped it, class rep. I'll start practicing right away." With useful new knowledge gained, Lin Li decided to apply it immediately.
"Okay, I'm really looking forward to it." Chen Yu Ying smiled and nodded.
So, all three of them in the row focused intently on editing their photos.
One by one, the meticulously edited photos were sent to the group chat, and from time to time, someone would @ the others in the photos, asking if the edited versions could be posted on social media.
Finally, Lin Li let out a long breath.
He had finally completed his creation, so Lin Li followed suit.
"Lin Li: \\"Image\\". @Ding Sihan, is it okay if I post it in my Moments?"
Still editing photos, Ding Sihan looked at Lin Li with a puzzled expression before opening the picture.
It was supposed to be a group photo of four people taken by a passerby, with the Ferris wheel at Pingjiang Amusement Park in the background.
It was supposed to be like that.
Ding Sihan took a deep breath.
In the picture, she saw a Ferris wheel growing out of her neck, and her head had become the background Ferris wheel, yes, with quite a radiant smile.
A circle of small heads sprouted beside her big head, making it look more like a human-brain Ferris wheel.
So this is the editing style, huh.
"Does anyone have a knife? I've got something urgent." Ding Sihan leaned towards the aisle, looking expectantly at each classmate.
Unfortunately, it seemed no one had a knife.
But that's okay, you can kill without a knife.
"Calm down! Let's talk it out, no fighting! No fighting! If you lose, you end up in the hospital; if you win, you end up in jail!" Seeing Ding Sihan suddenly on the verge of exploding, Lin Li, feeling pitiful, weak, and helpless, pressed tightly against the window, holding onto Chen Yu Ying's shoulders to make her his shield.
Chen Yu Ying, who was being swayed back and forth, helplessly hugged her tablet, then glanced at the picture Lin Li posted on it and chuckled secretly.
"Lin Li! I'm going to kill you! Why do you always target me! If you dare to post this photo on your Moments, you're dead meat!" Ding Sihan, holding a pen, was ready to stab the little villain Lin Li.
But Lin Li had something to say.
"Wait a minute! There's a misunderstanding!" Lin Li made a pause gesture, then released Chen Yu Ying's shoulder and took out his phone.
Ding Sihan didn't sit down; she wanted to see what other excuse Lin Li could come up with.
"Lin Li: 'Picture', 'Picture', 'Picture'."
"Ding Sihan, look at the group. I edited everyone, including myself." Lin Li looked at Ding Sihan sincerely and gave a thumbs up, "So don't worry, I wasn't targeting you."
Ding Sihan looked at her phone.
The four heads took turns being Ferris wheels, including Lin Li himself.
Ding Sihan: "..."
Is this supposed to be reassuring?
But,
You know what, it actually balanced things for Ding Sihan.
Unfortunately, someone else was unbalanced.
"Lin Li!" From the front of the front of the front row, someone suddenly called out his name through gritted teeth. No one knew who it was.
Chen Yu Ying, who was just secretly laughing, stopped giggling immediately and, realizing she was also involved, turned her head to glare angrily at Lin Li.
She started to regret teaching Lin Li how to edit photos.
Who knew what boys would do with photo editing skills!
"Looks like everyone is dissatisfied with these pictures, so I can only try harder. I have a lot more ideas!" Lin Li sighed but then perked up again.
Lin Li clicked into the group chat, ready to select some more pictures to work on.
"You have been removed from this group chat."
"You cannot send messages in a group chat you've left."
Lin Li: "?"
"Class president! That damned Ding Sihan actually stole your phone and kicked me out! Pull me back!" Lin Li turned to complain.
"I kicked you out myself." Chen Yu Ying was still angry.
"Oh." Lin Li nodded, thought for a moment, and continued to complain: "Class president! That damned Ding Sihan actually bewitched you to kick me out! Wake up!"
"No matter what, I'm the one to blame, right! Ying Bao, kicking him out was the smartest decision you've made recently!" gritted Ding Sihan from the side.
...
Lin Li eventually managed to rejoin the group.
The price was sealing his talent in photo editing, preventing him from becoming the GOAT of the editing world and banning those human Ferris wheel photos from any public venues.
Lin Li, who hardly posts Moments, could only accept this unequal treaty.
Lin Li drew a conclusion from this incident.
Firstly, the world is always too envious of talented people; secondly, the weak have no diplomacy, so it's better to form your own group.
The pictures of Chen Yu Ying and the others weren't fully edited when the bus already arrived at the restaurant for dinner.
Everyone got off the bus and headed to the restaurant.
Guided by a waiter to one of the halls on the first floor, the seats were already arranged, and plates of cold dishes covered with cling film were on the table.
However, there weren't many, and the assortment of cold dishes was quite limited.
As the saying goes, with a budget of 340 bucks for two days and two nights, even boxed meals would be normal, so Lin Li thought having such a meal was a big win.
It's not like Lin Li would sit with Chen Yu Ying and her group, adding a guy would just make the girls uneasy, so no hard-to-eat and image-damaging things like crabs would be eaten.
— Though, there were no crabs in tonight's meal anyway.
"Xue Jian will also join us later, and he'll surely sit with the guys, hurry up, let's find a table and occupy all the seats, leaving the hassle to others."
There were places where Lin Li's brain turned especially fast, and he immediately spotted the potential danger at this dinner, and sternly told Bai Bufan.
Bai Bufan widened his eyes upon hearing that.
It makes sense!
After giving a thumbs up, he immediately called people over to find a spot inside the hall and sat down.
OK, the table was now full.
Xue Jian negotiated with the restaurant staff for a while, then they started serving the dishes.
Just as Lin Li had expected, Xue Jian indeed was going to eat here.
Xue Jian went to another table with the guys and found a vacant seat.
Lin Li crossed his hands under his nose and tossled his head handsomely.
And the buddies nearby all gave a thumbs up and exchanged smiles.
Lin Li maintained his cool until he saw Xue Jian carrying his chair towards them.
"Bufan, Lin Li, shift over a bit, give the teacher a seat."
Lin Li dared not open his eyes, hoping it was a hallucination.
He finally understood why Ding Sihan was so angry on the bus.
Turns out being targeted doesn't feel good at all...
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