Walking on the streets of Osaka.
Qi Wei took photos seriously, capturing anything interesting he saw, even a roadside house that he found interesting would be carefully photographed.
Da Dong was a little hungry and impatient, shouting: "Stop taking photos, the houses on this street all look the same, you've taken plenty already. Besides, there haven't been many likes on the photos you've posted."
Shen Hao was rather patient. He didn't have many friends in the UK, so going out with a few buddies was quite intimate to him. He was dressed the most gentlemanly among them, in suit pants, looking very British, extremely handsome. Walking down the street, some young girls even came up assuming Shen Hao was a celebrity.
Of course, Qi Wei was also very handsome, just dressed more casually like a youth.
Da Dong was dressed more hip hop style, very outgoing. He was the one communicating with all the Japanese girls they met, chatting vibrantly despite not knowing Japanese, gesturing animatedly.
Linzi was obsessed with his game, walking while gaming, he'd definitely get lost if they weren't dragging him along.
"The restaurant is not far, just ahead. Xiaoqi has been quite busy recently which is why she hasn't replied to my messages." Qi Wei said with a smile, not annoyed at all.
Da Dong shook his head and started lecturing again.
Acting like an expert with experience dating at least 25 girls, he said: "Let me tell you, she's just stringing you along. We were wrong about her initially, her level is too high for an inexperienced youth like you to handle."
Qi Wei ignored him and continued walking ahead without saying anything. His mood seemed a little low.
At this initial crush stage, he did think too much about her - what others said, her smiles, even a comma in her messages - he would ponder over everything.
Seeing this, Shen Hao was quite envious of Qi Wei. He had always been rather calm, couldn't imagine what it would be like to have a crush on a girl, feeling he could never be so silly.
"Da Dong, stop talking nonsense."
Shen Hao had the highest status among them. When he spoke, even Da Dong kept quiet.
They soon arrived at the restaurant. Shen Hao ordered food. No one knew how he had learnt Japanese in the UK, though not very fluent, it was enough for ordering food in Japan. His English would be useful too as some places had English menus.
Qi Wei picked out the photos he just took, planning to edit them into a TikTok video.
Although Xiaoqi had asked him to send what he saw in Japan to her, he didn't feel right sending them one by one on WeChat. He took the effort to compile the scenery into a series or video before editing a TikTok and sending it to her. This way, it seemed like he made the TikTok for posting and happened to send it to her, pretending it was to promote his TikTok account. That would give him the justification to send them.
However, when he finished editing the Osaka Buildings Corner video and sent it to her, he suddenly saw Xiaoqi had posted on Moments!
Seeing her Moments post, he was silent for a long time, dazed, then excited. She really was busy, not deliberately ignoring him!
He immediately forwarded Xiaoqi's Moments photo to their group of four.
"Look at the group. Xiaoqi was just busy, she didn't deliberately ignore me." Qi Wei said excitedly after sending the photo.
Linzi had to switch out from his game interface to take a look. He saw a podium, swimming trophies, an awards ceremony...
"Swimming champion? Bro, you've got good taste! She's hot stuff!" Linzi looked several times, giving a big thumbs up. Then he switched back to his game.
Da Dong scrutinized the photos, trying to spot something wrong...
Shen Hao only glanced at it briefly. He thought the girl's smile was really sweet, no wonder Little Wei was obsessed with her. She must look even better in person. The photo probably had no beauty filters or anything. The two girls beside her were pretty but his eyes were immediately drawn to the one in the middle.
Halfway through their meal, Da Dong suddenly slapped his thigh and said: "I'll call you Bro Wei from now on too. You've got awesome taste, sister-in-law has a rocking figure and she's the swimming champion, d*mn!"
Qi Wei knew Da Dong's character so he didn't get angry at first. But being called "sister-in-law" immediately made his face flush red.
"No way, stop spouting nonsense. I just wanted to tell you guys she really was busy the past two days with the competition. It must have been tiring."
Then Qi Wei had a big smile checking domestic news reports, there would definitely be lots of relevant content from Lvshan City.
Sure enough, there were not only photos but also videos. He didn't know she could swim, let alone so impressively. He had assumed she just had good English and studies.
The Moments post Xiaoqi shared quickly notified some classmates who followed her, including their class monitor.
The class monitor forwarded Xiaoqi's Moments into their class group, and found related articles from public accounts to share as well, shouting in the group: "Lvshan TV Channel 5 live streamed it this morning, should have replays in the afternoon!"
There were excited celebrations that Senior Year Class 5's Su Xiaoqi won the women's 200m freestyle provincial championship.
Li Changhai, nicknamed Seven Boy in class, was even faster finding all sorts of photos and videos to spam the group with.
He shocked the previously quiet group awake.
Everyone reacted in disbelief.
She's our classmate?
The sunny beauty smiling confidently in a swimsuit without glasses is our bespectacled class bookworm Su Xiaoqi? Her change is too drastic, so gorgeous!
Lost opportunities worth billions...
Girls really are hidden treasures! Plain looking in school uniforms and glasses every day, who knew she's so good looking!
I already loved hearing her sing in class. Now, my love has gone numb...
The class group exploded with all kinds of shock and awe.
Xia Zhen, who had acted closest to Xiaoqi in class, remained silent. She was online but stunned into speechlessness, scrutinizing the photos and videos in disbelief over and over. This is Su Xiaoqi? That rural country girl who helped her aunt push garbage carts?
The news report wrote: From Gumu Village, graduated from Lvshan No.1 High School, excellent morals and academics...
She was unhappy with the phrase "excellent morals and academics". It was just some third-rate private university, Enhua University. Even their university, the legitimate second-rate Lvshan Agricultural and Forestry University had higher score requirements!
Despite her indignance, she still felt awful and vexed.
Liu Shaowei also didn't say anything.
He had seen Su Xiaoqi near his home last time. Her change was rather drastic but at the time, he was meeting friends Xie Ruan and Rao Chen to play tennis. Seeing Xiaoqi happily chatting with her country bumpkin relatives, he felt too awkward to even greet her. It reinforced his feeling that she and him were people of two different worlds, no possibility of intersecting.
But now, watching the video of her confidently diving into the water, swimming ahead gracefully...
That girl confidently standing at the podium accepting her award...
The woman calmly answering reporters' questions...
The flashing light boards and huge banners in the stadium...
Her confident smiles...
It was as if telling him they really were people of two different worlds, but it wasn't him looking down on her - she was the one looking down on him!
