Yu Xiaonan stepped through the door and called out to a tattooed long-haired woman, "Sister La, I’m here. I’ve recently switched jobs and need a hard copy photo for promotion. This is my friend, who’s come along with me."
While still holding a half-smoked cigarette butt in her mouth, the long-haired woman took a deep drag, then squinted at Xia You.
"Hard copy photo, right? Okay. But it’s the old rule—I’ll shoot three styles for you to choose from, two thousand for one style," Sister La said, with smoke lingering in her mouth, quoting the price with clarity.
"Come on, it was only a thousand just a few years ago. How did it suddenly jump to two thousand? Don’t you rip me off," Yu Xiaonan didn’t take in her price, and giving her a bear hug with his long arms, he nuzzled Sister La, wailing about being broke.
"Don’t talk to me about being poor; the money you earned before must not have been squandered by now. Times have changed; even the rent for this rundown studio of mine has gone up by several thousand. Plus, you were a big star chased by magazines and fans back then; now you’re just publicly funded. I can’t even leak your photos, and I have to include the lack of publicity. Shouldn’t I factor these all in?" Sister La swatted at his arms as if dealing with an annoying plaster.
"Alright, alright, two thousand it is," Yu Xiaonan, seemingly afraid she’d bring up the past again, quickly fished out his wallet and pulled out the cash to shut her up. Today, if it were anyone else, he wouldn’t dare bring them here, but since he was with the eccentric Xia You, it shouldn’t be too much of a problem. Yu Xiaonan looked over to Xia You and saw her not paying attention to their conversation, instead looking at other photos hung in the studio.
So he really was a big star. In the studio walls, Xia You found several photos of Yu Xiaonan from a few years back. He looked very different then.
It wasn’t the features, but the aura that was different. The young man in the posters on the wall had a dazzling starlight in his eyes, such a person could captivate attention even beneath dust. A diamond refined by light, less rough around the edges, now bore a worldly sheen. Yu Xiaonan, still shiny today, no longer drew attention as before.
It was as if something had been pulled up from him, root and all. Who could pluck the light that was so deeply rooted in the soul?
"Stop looking around, try posing with a few movements I show you," Yu Xiaonan, preparing for Xia You’s country bumpkin look, assumed she couldn’t pose. It was his face on the line if she did a poor job, after bringing her here.
Some naturally have the air of a hero, even with a cleaver in hand they possess the elegance of Chu Liuxiang. Some are naturally flirts, and Yu Xiaonan was such, easily slipping fingers into his hair and tilting his half-jaw down sixty degrees, switching from his cheeky grin to a subdued smile.
Sister La, still clinching the cigarette butt, reluctantly grabbed a DSLR camera and pressed the shutter. Instantly, Yu Xiaonan swiftly switched to another pose, undoing two buttons on his shirt, revealing half his shoulder.
His movements were smooth and quick, nailing three shots in one go. But not stopping there, he struck two more poses, and with this five-shot burst, ten thousand was gone.
"Not bad, it seems your skills are still sharp. You could get back in the game for a few more years, charm some young models and stars," Sister La reviewed the first few pictures. Yu Xiaonan was photogenic, and with a professional photographer, the outcome was simply praiseworthy.
"Of course, that’s not a problem for me. The focus is on her. Sister La, now is the time to test your skills, how to remodel bargain bin material into hot property without resorting to Photoshop," Yu Xiaonan’s words were clearly directed at Xia You.
Based on Xia You’s looks before, they fit the delicate girl-next-door type. Dropped in a colorful scene, she could be likened to a plain butterfly amongst vibrant ones, not overshadowed by the myriad of dazzling butterflies and dragonflies.
The issue was, just a month ago she looked fine, but not seen for a month, she had her hair cut into a mess. Now, she looked neither male nor female, categorized under the "Young Master" group. Downgraded from a butterfly to a moth, indistinct, even Yu Xiaonan found it hard to look at.
One could only imagine the difficulty of the photo shoot—turning her into a woman was definitely out of the question. Making her look like a man lacked the necessary heroic air.
"Don’t say I didn’t look out for you. Try posing like I did, and if something looks good, use it first, I’ll pick something else," Yu Xiaonan discussed the matter matter-of-factly; for most, taking photos in poses can indeed be a difficult task. It requires not only a great sense of camera focus but also experience.
Otherwise, the moment the studio lights hit you, you’re photographed white as a ghost.
"I can’t do it; I can’t strike those poses," Xia You steadily refused.
The butt of Sister La’s cigarette was nearly scorched to her lips. The ash dangled like a grey caterpillar.
Snapping the caterpillar in half, Sister La stamped it on the floor, "Look here, girl, look at me and picture me as your lover."
In Sister La’s eyes, Xia You was a youth of indeterminate gender. Like a boy and yet like a girl, an unformed sense about her.
She had a small face, suited for the camera. A newcomer in a shabby studio, meeting strangers without any awkwardness, on the contrary, in her nonchalant glances around, a natural sharpness occasionally peered through. Sharpness she was born with. (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to come to Qidian (qidian.com) to cast your recommendation votes and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation.)