"So where are we going?"
Ansheng, sprawled over Momo's shoulder, looked a bit puzzled at Momo, who had specially dragged her out.
"We're obviously going to pick up the bike, but the main thing right now is to go home and tidy up the place."
Dragging her suitcase out of the dorm, Momo said with a big goofy grin on her face, "You know how it's been these days—because of the theory exams and the practicals, everyone's been so busy their heels barely touch the ground, like some female ghost....."
"My place looks like it just went through a war."
Even though Momo usually hires a cleaning lady, during this end-of-term stretch everyone was buried in exams, plus group project check-ins and reports.
With Momo not at home, the cleaner wouldn't come either, so her place hadn't been cleaned for almost half a month.
"Really?"
Ansheng eyed Momo with a face full of suspicion, feeling like there was something shady hidden in that smile.
"For real!"
After getting on the electric scooter in the bike shed, Momo kept that same bright smile on her face.
It wasn't until the scooter slowly rolled off the campus internal road and onto the city streets that Momo finally said:
"It's just that, while we're cleaning up the house, there's a tiny little favor I wanted to ask you."
"........" Sitting in front of the scooter seat, paws resting on the dashboard, Ansheng had metaphorical black lines all over her forehead as she side-eyed Momo: "So you tricked me out here to kill me, huh?"
"Let me be clear first, I, An, have my three 'no's: no unpaid overtime, no pure labor gigs, and I'm not going out if it's raining."
They were now less than two li away from Phoenix City District, while heading back to the dorm would be three or four li at least.
"It's just helping me press the shutter." Momo grinned from ear to ear. "You press the shutter for me, I'll help you build your PC, buy your games, and pull skins for you."
"I'm not taking advantage of you. Plus, in the future when you're playing games with Tang You and run into some show-off, you can totally say with full confidence: 'Tch, my PC, games, and skins were all gifted by a campus belle.'"
"See? Instant prestige, maxed out. I guarantee everyone will be calling you big bro in-game."
Momo's tone was full of temptation as she painted glorious scenes right by the little fox's ear.
Among guys, there are always some Sigma types whose hearts are empty of women and whose game stats are naturally godlike.
But ninety-nine percent of guys cannot resist a pretty girl who comes bearing a PC and games.
Faced with that kind of offensive, even a gay guy might have to consider acting the part a little in his heart.
If no one else has it but you do, that's peak flex right there.
"You've changed....." Ansheng gave her a weird look and complained at Momo: "You weren't like this before. I still remember you used to grab my hand, drag me into your room, and just go, 'Wow! Huhu, you wanna take photos with me!'"
"Back then you couldn't talk, could you? Now that you can, of course we have to negotiate!" Momo said matter-of-factly.
"Mainly because... you know me. My hobbies are just those few—eating, drinking, having fun, and documenting my own beauty every day."
"But shooting from the same few angles over and over, and if I want a long shot I have to run back and forth all the time."
As Momo spoke, she couldn't help feeling a bit regretful over all the green youthful days she'd missed out on.
Momo could afford to hire a photographer, but she was extremely resistant to videographers, and that wasn't even about trust.
Just the thought of any male or female videographer staring at her body while filming her made Momo feel a surge of jealousy in herself.
Self-portraits and lifestyle shots are way too private; Momo absolutely didn't want to share that with anyone.
But like this time, she bought a cycling outfit and made sure to keep her abs in shape specifically so she could shoot a set of delinquent-girl-style photos.
In the end, after running around by herself back and forth, she still couldn't get any photos she was happy with.
Sometimes, with no one around to help, it really was impossible for her to finish a shoot on her own—she had to set up the camera and then run back to pose; she was practically exhausted to death.
"Oh, so you're trying to develop me into a downline!" Listening to Momo's gripes, Ansheng suddenly put on a look of enlightenment and teased, "I'm gonna go tell Ah Qing you're planning to feed Fire Fox delinquent videos through the window!"
"Bullshit!"
Momo rolled her eyes and didn't keep bickering with Huhu on that topic. Time was tight and the task was heavy; after the shoot they still had to pick up Ah Qing and the others.
Momo tossed the camera to Huhu so he could get familiar with the controls.
Momo took off her jacket and headed for the bathroom, sitting down in front of the vanity to start on her makeup and styling.
After a dozen minutes or so.
Momo walked out of the bathroom and gave Ansheng, who was sitting on the couch, a good scare.
"What happened to you... fall into a mud pit or something?" Ansheng, who had been scrolling through videos, almost sprayed her mouthful of Coke all over the place when she saw Momo's new look.
"What's wrong with me?"
Momo looked completely puzzled as she turned to the little fox, whose reaction was so dramatic she was about to sputter.
Momo's new look was super simple: black jeans with a crop top, and a biker jacket on the outside.
But on her originally fair skin, she brushed on a layer of light wheat-colored paint, her makeup leaned heavy, and her long hair was tied into a high ponytail at the back, falling down naturally.
"I was originally thinking of shooting a set with leather, but let's leave it for now today! That set needs me to put on a bit of weight, a slightly chubby vibe looks more sexy..."
Momo picked up Huhu, went into the dance studio, and squatted next to Ansheng to adjust the camera settings.
"In a bit, when it finishes focusing, you just help me press the shutter, that's it."
Momo straddled the bike, loosened her hair tie, raised her arms to do a "tying hair" pose; because her arms were lifted, the hem of the riding jacket was pulled up, revealing the wheat-colored side lines of her waist.
Because of the dark tones, the lines of Momo's body looked a lot clearer than before.
After one shot, Momo took off the jacket and tied it around her waist, then hunched over, lying on the fuel tank, facing Huhu's direction and holding the pose, signaling him to take another shot.
"Mm... I feel like white would look better."
After helping Momo finish the photos, Ansheng glanced at the image in the viewfinder, then handed the camera back to Momo as he spoke.
"Yo! You know about styling too?" Momo looked at herself in the camera, eyes squinting with a grin, and said, "White with blonde hair to balance out the skin tone is definitely more sexy, but I picked black mainly because of the bike's color..."
Momo's original bike was red; now it was still mainly red, but with a lot of black carbon fiber panels and golden lines added.
A sexy white leather outfit really did match her current skin tone like Huhu said.
But that would make the color palette too busy, instead becoming a bit messy and unable to highlight the main subject.
"Where are your hands....."
Sitting on Momo's legs, critiquing the contents of the viewfinder with her, Ansheng suddenly felt a small hand touch his belly, ruffling his fur.
He rolled his eyes in annoyance, slapped Momo's hand away, and complained.
"Ahaha..... muscle memory gesture." Momo chuckled awkwardly and pulled her hand back, then put Huhu down and said, "You call Ah Qing and the girls, just say we're taking one more turn and we'll be at school to pick them up."
"I'll go wash this paint off, won't take long..."
Momo actually wanted to keep admiring the photos, but it had already been almost half an hour; Ah Qing and the others had definitely finished packing by now, and they needed to go pick them up.
"....As expected of a Lingnan People, this 'turn' of yours sounds more like a big-bend district type of turn."
Ansheng's face was full of black lines as he griped, then picked up Momo's phone and called Ah Qing.
Of course.
The excuse was naturally not the "taking a turn" that Momo said, but that a certain lazybones was doing housework, and her boxers were hanging over the door; they almost fell down and killed him.
If he'd walked one step faster, his head would've been blown open.
Ah Qing on the other end expressed understanding; they were still in the dorm, and told Momo to call them after she finished tidying up.
Momo showered super fast, washed off all the paint, scooped Huhu up and headed out to pick up Ah Qing.
After dropping the luggage off at Phoenix City District, the group went straight to the Chang'an Airport airline building.
"We..."
"Got it, you'd like to process a refund, and then have the plane towed out of the hangar, right?"
Familiarity breeds efficiency; the moment the airline staff saw Ah Qing coming over at the terminal, they didn't even need her to say anything. They were already skillfully calling the cabin crew and entering Ah Qing's ID number, helping her process the ticket refund.
"Remember to leave us a good review～" The staff walked ahead leading the way, greeting Ah Qing as they entered the VIP lounge.
"......" Hearing that, Ah Qing's cheeks puffed up slightly; she glared at the staff's back with a thoroughly unconvinced look.
"Heh..."
Seeing Ah Qing's unwilling expression, Ansheng and Momo all had weird smiles on their faces.
For someone as stubborn as Ah Qing, there was no way she could out-argue Xi'an Airlines on this matter.
After all... the one paying is the real boss. Compared to that, even lifelong platinum members can't match the sheer swagger of a tycoon who directly deposits two planes with them.
As usual, they boarded through the special channel, and after a flight of over an hour, they arrived at the airport in the Imperial Capital.
"Eh? So many crows!"
Just as she walked out of the airport, about to call her second uncle to say she'd arrived in the Imperial Capital, Ah Qing was distracted by the sight before her: a huge flock of crows of all sizes circling at low altitude, flying over the area in front of the airport gates.
"Holy crap! Run! Air raid! It's an air raid!" While Ah Qing was still watching the crows circling overhead, some locals' faces had already changed; their faces went pale, and they bolted back into the airline building like their lives depended on it.
A lump of white bird poop fell from the sky.
Right after that, dense white blobs rained down onto the ground like it was raining.
"Hiss..."
Ah Qing instantly sucked in a sharp breath, swallowed, and stared at the flock of crows circling low over the entrance.