CHAPTER 78: CHAPTER 79: ASSEMBLING THE CAMERA

Fingertips gently touched the shell, sadness overflowing like water.

Since childhood, whenever she was unhappy, only one thing could comfort her—the camera.

Her mind was somewhat in a trance, and through the blurred metal shell reflection, she seemed to see her younger self again, cherished by her parents like a princess. And then? Liu Meizhi entered the house, and everything collapsed with a crash; she realized that the happiness she once had was nothing but a mirage, shattered and vanished, gone forever.

The cold of the metal seeped gradually into her heart.

A pain, as if stained with blood.

Lu Shifeng was right, she never truly had a home, so how could she lose one?

What did he do when he was sad?

Unconsciously, she held the camera in one hand, unscrewed the lens cap, removed the lens, battery, flash... In the corner of the small lounge, there was a toolbox, perhaps because the Lu Family dealt with precision electronics, such small things were always around in the villa. She took it and began disassembling the camera, sitting cross-legged on the oak floor, part by part dismantling the internal components.

Screws...

Sensors...

As she dismantled them, her mood gradually calmed down, and it seemed that those bad emotions were also disassembled and dissipated along with the parts. She recalled the days when sunlight poured into the room, Lu Shifeng’s figure, handsome as if sculpted among the massive metal ruins, teaching her hand in hand to assemble those parts whose names she couldn’t even pronounce...

Home, what is home?

Perhaps this is her home.

A place where she can place her restless heart.

The sunset dyed the oak floor red, bending and extending her shadow as if floating on a sea of parts.

She came back to her senses from silence, realizing that she had already taken the camera apart until it was scattered into pieces beyond repair. She couldn’t help but let out a small cry. It was her only camera! She scrambled to pick up the pieces, attempting to put them back together, but disassembling was easiest, assembling was hard, try as she might, she couldn’t restore the camera.

Su Xingyu was devastated, blaming herself for foolishly dismantling her only camera without the skills to reassemble it. What would she do for the competition? "Ahhhh..." She painfully grabbed her hair, rolled half a turn on the floor, and finally, seeming to have made some decision, stood up resolutely.

"Lu Shifeng..." she called out obediently, finding him in the living room.

The man had already taken off his suit jacket and was wearing a white shirt while reading a magazine on the sofa, his long legs casually crossed, looking elegant and distinguished. Upon hearing her call, he lightly raised an eyebrow: "What is it?"

So cold, compared to when he sent her roses earlier.

Su Xingyu gave herself a mental pep talk, then put on a fake smile: "Well, it was my bad attitude earlier, don’t mind it. Actually, I really like the roses you gave me, they’re so beautiful, truly."

Lu Shifeng put down his tech magazine.

Su Xingyu saw there might be hope, and persisted, her smile turning even more ingratiating: "Lu Shifeng, you’re so nice, you are the kindest, most considerate husband in the world, marrying you is my greatest fortune..." She kept spinning the tale until even she couldn’t go on, the flattery making her skin crawl.

Lu Shifeng interlocked his fingers, calm and composed, patiently waiting for more.

Su Xingyu thought the man must be made of ice, nothing could touch him. Gazing into those inscrutable eyes, she simply closed her eyes, gritted her teeth, and got straight to the point: "My camera is broken, can you help me fix it?"

Lu Shifeng wasn’t particularly surprised; he had already anticipated that she wouldn’t come to him without reason. But cameras from Blade Group weren’t prone to breaking, so he asked, "How did it break?"

Su Xingyu felt guilty, looked down at her toes: "Well... I took it apart and couldn’t put it back together."

A small voice.

She waited anxiously, counting the patterns on the carpet, waiting for a long time without hearing Lu Shifeng speak. She couldn’t help looking up and found he was still in his original position, watching her without expression, the soft evening light casting a mysterious and somewhat disconcerting glow on the side of his face. Her voice grew even smaller: "I—I really didn’t mean to, that day you made assembling parts look so easy, so I tried, I didn’t know it was this hard."

"Watching me assemble parts?" he finally spoke.

"Yes," Su Xingyu said, a bit aggrieved, "Didn’t you say dismantling and assembling things when you’re in a bad mood would help? I just dismantled one camera."

"Blame me?"

"Who else to blame if not you?" Su Xingyu whispered, not daring to meet his eyes.

Such a far-fetched fault, yet in the man’s eyes on the sofa, a barely noticeable hint of amusement flashed. She lived under his wing, influenced by his every move. In time, she would make a good wife. But he wasn’t going to let her off so easily, his voice slightly cold: "Who was it that said they wanted to be alone just now, unwilling to accept even a bouquet of roses from me?"

She dared not look at him, thinking he was angry: "I’m sorry."

"A simple apology and all is absolved?"

"Then what do you want?"

"It’s not about what I want, it’s what you want," Lu Shifeng articulated each word clearly, "Think about how disrespectful your attitude towards your husband is, think about how you should act in the future."

She had just wanted to ask him to help fix the camera, but instead, she received a long scolding.

Su Xingyu bit her lip, suddenly feeling ridiculous. She relented to him, yet he pressed onward, unyielding. "Forget it," she said disheartedly, "Lu Shifeng, pretend I never said anything. I won’t disturb you anymore; I’ll figure out the camera myself." With that, she turned away and went upstairs.

Back in the small lounge, she looked at the scattered pieces and slowly crouched down.

She really didn’t know how to fix it, holding pieces in her hands, lost and bewildered.

But she told herself, Su Xingyu, don’t be afraid, you’ve pulled through all those years alone, what’s a small hurdle now? Even if the whole world won’t help you, you can still help yourself!

She gritted her teeth, trying to piece together the fragments.

After working at it for a long time but making no progress at all, a "snap" sound indicated that some component had broken again.

She stared at the broken pieces in her hands, burying her head deeply.

Why...

Why was she so dumb? Unable to handle even such a small task?