◎ Portrait Rights ◎
After returning from the island, aside from their romance, Chun Zao also began searching for law textbooks and courses in advance, preparing to adapt to the intensity of coursework as early as possible.
Higher education institutions were filled with talented people – she wasn’t willing to fall behind once she got there.
Less than a month slipped away quickly. At the end of August, Chun Zao packed her luggage and officially bid temporary farewell to her longtime hometown, heading to the red heart of this nation.
Her parents would accompany her.
Yuan Ye had booked plane tickets for everyone in advance. Hearing that after sending their daughter to school, Father Chun would use his annual leave to stay in Beijing for a seven-day tour with his wife, he had also reserved a nice hotel for them.
When Chun Chuzhen learned this, she immediately said it wasn’t necessary and told Chun Zao to transfer the money back to Yuan Ye.
However, the other party firmly refused to accept it.
On the day of departure, the Chun family of three sat on one side of the plane, with Yuan Ye across the aisle from them. Chun Chuzhen deliberately switched to the outermost seat, found her WeChat QR code, and called his name.
The youth reading a book turned his face over: “Mm?”
Chun Chuzhen said, “Little Yuan, let’s add each other on WeChat. Auntie will transfer you the money for plane tickets and hotel.”
Yuan Ye smiled: “Adding WeChat is fine, but you don’t need to give me the money.”
Chun Chuzhen sighed: “You’re so young – how can we adults feel comfortable letting you spend money?”
Yuan Ye said lightly, “It’s not much money. Even if you transfer it to me, I won’t accept it.”
He continued reading his book.
She hadn’t yet enjoyed her daughter’s good fortune, but was already enjoying her… son-in-law’s… fortune first? Hm? Chun Chuzhen was shocked by this sudden thought, quickly shook her head, and turned to disturb her daughter who was holding a mirrorless camera and constantly clicking photos of the blue sky and clouds outside the porthole.
“You think of something too…” she said softly: “Your boyfriend is so stubborn.”
Chun Zao carefully closed the lens cap: “If he doesn’t want it, then he doesn’t want it.”
Chun Chuzhen glanced again at Yuan Ye reading quietly, then rapidly typed messages to Chun Zao on WeChat: You two haven’t even settled anything yet, and I’m already using his money – what does that look like? You gave him my and your dad’s ID numbers, didn’t you?
Chun Zao stared at these two messages for a few seconds, then closed her eyes: He insisted, and I had no choice. He said there happened to be a discount. At worst, when we get to school, I’ll buy him more gifts and treat him to more meals.
Chun Chuzhen thought about it and gave up: That works too. It’s good for you two to look after each other.
Then she sent a WeChat default [angry] emoji, repeatedly emphasizing what she had pulled her aside to their bedroom last night to warn her about thousands of times: When you’re studying away from home in the future, I can’t control you. You need to have some sense of propriety yourself – don’t make it so I just sent out one child and now have to take care of another child!
That exclamation mark was deafening.
Chun Zao fell into silence.
She turned to look out the window, put on an eye mask, and pretended to sleep, to avoid her mother noticing her suddenly burning cheeks.
During the last two days at Meizhou Bay, except for renting small electric scooters to wander around looking for food or going to see the ocean after sunset, she and Yuan Ye were practically glued together in their hotel room.
Like two small beasts who had been eating grass for a long time and accidentally tasted a bright berry, they became addicted to this unprecedented sweet and fishy taste, wanting to confirm its flavor and texture once, again, countless times.
Indeed, it was richly layered, but without exception colorful, fragrant, and juicy.
Once, half-covered in the pitch-black bedding and looking at each other, Chun Zao asked: “Why do I feel like you know quite a lot?”
Yuan Ye pretended to be serious, then broke character laughing: “Should be… good at using search engines.”
—
Whenever these scenes flashed through her mind, Chun Zao felt somewhat restless, her heartbeat accelerating.
She half-lifted one side of her eye mask, peering past her mother, who was resting with closed eyes, to steal glances at Yuan Ye.
The boy wore a loose short-sleeved striped shirt in a very Japanese-style gray-blue tone, with a white T-shirt underneath. His hair was no longer constrained by high school grooming standards, so he hadn’t cut it for nearly a month. Now it was long enough to almost cover his eyelashes, but didn’t look sloppy, like carelessly drawn charcoal strokes.
This complemented his clean, sharp facial profile.
Due to backlighting, his body was half bright, half shadowed. Behind him was the transparent blue sky outside the porthole.
If she took a photo now and cropped it to a 1:1 ratio to post online, it would become a standout in the “studious atmosphere boy avatar” series.
So she decisively raised her camera.
The other party seemed to notice her movement. At the same time she pressed the shutter, he lifted his eyelids and tilted his head slightly toward her.
The image was slightly blurred because he was moving.
Yuan Ye frowned with questioning eyes.
Chun Zao silently tucked the mirrorless camera away.
After getting off the plane, they could feel the “enthusiasm” of the capital – like entering a steamer on a stove, even the ground was scorching hot.
Waiting for checked luggage at the carousel, Yuan Ye helped Chun Zao with her bags, caught up to her side, and held her hand.
“I’m here to catch the paparazzi,” he said, tightening his grip slightly.
Chun Zao couldn’t help but smile, glancing at her parents who were chatting and fanning themselves in front, with no time to pay attention here: “Don’t falsely accuse people. I didn’t take that photo well and already deleted it.”
“Really?” Yuan Ye didn’t believe her.
Chun Zao pressed her lips together: “Fake.” Though not very clear, it was more aesthetically pleasing – she couldn’t bear to delete it.
Yuan Ye chuckled: “I knew it.”
Chun Zao said, “But I didn’t violate your portrait rights.”
She even had reasoning, reciting legal provisions she had read in advance during vacation: “I didn’t improperly use, maliciously insult, or create unauthorized works of your portrait.”
Yuan Ye used her hand to clap twice, then put his other hand to his forehead, acting like he had a headache: “It’s over. What will I do when I can’t out-argue you in the future?”
Chun Zao also used their joined hand to lightly poke his ribs: “Isn’t that an obvious thing?”
“It’s not completely hopeless.” Yuan Ye quickly glanced at the backs of Chun Zao’s parents, leaned over to block her briefly – quite heavy.
Chun Zao gritted her teeth and continued reciting, continuing to torment: “‘Using violence, coercion and other methods to forcibly molest others constitutes the crime of forced molestation, including kissing, groping others…'”
Yuan Ye looked to the sky: “Ah—spare me.”
—
After registration, organizing the dormitory, wandering and taking photos around Yan Garden, the time quickly came to evening.
The four had dinner at a restaurant outside school, then Yuan Ye called a taxi to send Chun Zao’s parents to their hotel.
Turning back, seeing his girlfriend’s eyes shimmering in the sunset, he quickly took out tissues from his pocket: “What’s wrong?”
Chun Zao pressed her nose, admitting her reluctance and vulnerability: “I miss my mom.” Even though she had left just one minute ago, she was already starting to feel unaccustomed. This was indeed the distant journey she had long anticipated, but family’s importance was always incomparable.
Yuan Ye raised his hand to the back of her head, pressed her to his chest, saying softly: “You still have me.”
The two strolled for a long time in the garden-like vast campus, everywhere filled with grass, trees, flower shadows, golden walls and red tiles, and the mirror-like Weiming Lake.
After a long while, they finally returned to Chun Zao’s still-unfamiliar dormitory building.
Before parting, she curiously asked Yuan Ye: “Where is your Building 35?”
Yuan Ye raised his hand and pointed in a direction: “I’ll pick you up to see it tomorrow.”
Chun Zao said, “Tomorrow I should attend our class welcome meeting. Doesn’t your college have one?”
Yuan Ye seemed to just remember: “Yes, then after you’re done, I’ll invite you to visit.”
Chun Zao curved her eyes: “No, after we’re done.”
Yuan Ye corrected along: “Right, after we’re done.”
Saying goodbye downstairs, Chun Zao went upstairs, repeatedly rehearsing the self-introduction she would give to her roommates later.
But after actually entering, all these deliberate preparations seemed unimportant – where were the rules for making friends?
The other three girls of the same age in the dormitory, though from all corners of the country, were without exception friendly and excellent.
After simple introductions, everyone enthusiastically added each other on WeChat and created a group chat.
After Chun Zao showered, she opened her laptop, imported the high-altitude scenery photos saved from the plane into her phone and computer, and also set that slightly blurred but elegant “Handsome Youth Reading” as her WeChat Moments background.
She sat waiting for Yuan Ye to discover and accuse her.
However, before the secretly photographed person could speak up, a roommate from the mountain city in the dormitory noticed this photo first.
The girl was named Cheng Guo, with the characteristic fiery straightforwardness of Sichuan-Chongqing people.
She was just casually browsing through her new roommates’ WeChat Moments, lightly analyzing their MBTI for better future coexistence, but got stuck on Chun Zao’s Moments right from the start.
She curiously asked: “Chun Zao, do you follow celebrities?”
Chun Zao blinked: “Follow what celebrities?”
Cheng Guo showed her phone: “Which idol is in your Moments background?”
Chun Zao paused for a few seconds, not hiding it: “…That’s my boyfriend.”
The other two, who had been uninterested, immediately gathered around her upon hearing this, wanting to see for themselves.
Several girls immediately became noisy and gossipy, repeatedly questioning Chun Zao about various aspects of her romance with the person in the photo.
Chun Zao blushed and briefly answered a few questions, then felt too embarrassed to be so high-profile and quickly changed back to the previous shimmering sea image.
After the pre-sleep dormitory chat session ended, Cheng Guo was about to continue her interrupted “roommate research” but found Chun Zao’s background image had vanished without a trace, so she spoke up: “Chun Zao, why did you change your Moments background! You already have a boyfriend, why be so shy~”
Chun Zao also felt like she was trying to cover up, and could only stiffly and coldly explain: “Uh… no, it violated his portrait rights.”
The dormitory erupted in collective laughter.
Chun Zao lay there slightly embarrassed, sending the image to Yuan Ye’s chat: Returning it to you.
Yuan Ye:?
He seemed magnanimous: He gave it to you, free of charge.
Chun Zao: Don’t need it.
Yuan Ye: Portrait rights also belong to you.
Chun Zao: Then I’m going to do secondary creation.
She opened the drawing pen in the photo app, deliberately drew a pink pig nose, completely covering the boy’s handsome nose bridge, and sent it back: Cute?
The other party quickly gave feedback.
In just the blink of an eye, he set it as his new avatar.
Chun Zao covered her lips and secretly laughed: Student Yuan, do you want to become your roommates’ laughingstock on the first day of school?
But Yuan Ye said: Just following my wife’s lead.
Chun Zao paused, belatedly realizing: You saw it?
Yuan Ye: Mm.
Chun Zao: Then why didn’t you tell me?
Yuan Ye: Please, any guy whose girlfriend sets him as background would only secretly feel pleased.
Chun Zao: Why?
Yuan Ye: A kind of affirmation?
Chun Zao rolled her eyes: Stop adding drama for yourself.
Yuan Ye: Who started adding drama first? If you have the guts to use it, don’t change it back.
Chun Zao: “…”
This person was so scheming, so cunning, so crafty.
He had taken in all her little movements and deduced the whole process, yet remained completely still throughout.
Chun Zao retorted: Then, do you have the guts to keep using this new avatar?
Yuan Ye: Yes.
Chun Zao: I’ll be watching you.
Yuan Ye: You watch.
He seemed truly determined. Chun Zao enlarged his avatar and laughed to herself.
Laughing and laughing, she felt a bit sorry: Forget it, you should change back to the previous one.
Yuan Ye: NO. Using this one.
Chun Zao: Are you sure? It’s really funny and affects others’ impression of you.
Yuan Ye: Mm. This way, everyone who adds me in the future will know that I’ve been marked by a real little pig.
Author’s Note: I’ll update extras casually. Everyone read casually