The Healing Sunshine (一厘米的阳光)

Chapter 16.3 - Life's Tender Dependence (3)

People from military families are not accustomed to using the telephone to communicate, so as soon as they finished talking about the matter, they hung up the call.

The second telephone call brought what could be considered good news. Some progress had been made on the matter of him going to Iraq. Jì Chengyang tossed the foodstuffs that he had bought into the trunk of the car and then drove directly to the television station, where he by chance ran into some political journalists of several major newspapers. They were all old acquaintances from when they had been stationed abroad and were familiar with one another, so they ended up chatting a little bit more.

Due to the impact of SARS, these people's travel plans had also been held up. With nothing to do while they remained here in China, they were helping their colleagues cover some stories on SARS. The topic being covered by one of these people was "Scenes from Barred Schools" at the various major institutions of higher learning, and he had photographed many scenes of young couples pouring out their hearts to one another through an iron fence that separated them.

All of these were young love, couples who, amidst this type of fatal epidemic disease and highlighted against the fear all around, even more so could hardly wait to express the desire to hold on together and stay by one another's side.

"You say, these young couples really aren't afraid of death." A male journalist looked through the photographs in his camera and showed them to Jì Chengyang. "I was watching. There were some who brought bag after huge bag of snacks for the other person, and there were also some who would kiss each other through the fence."

These people were all political journalists, the same type as Jì Chengyang.

To put it simply, when these political journalists of China stepped foot into a combat zone, they would automatically switch their traits and become war correspondents, while during normal times, they would follow up and report on the political situations of various countries. They had all seen great, significant scenes and witnessed partings in life and separations by death. To them, what truly conquered people's hearts would forever be the genuine love that manifested in what appeared to be bleak, desperate straits.

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Photograph after photograph. Unfamiliar faces that brimmed with youthfulness continuously flashed by inside the camera.

"Wait." Jì Chengyang suddenly spoke. "Let me see the previous picture."

The photograph shifted back. What he saw was not the embracing young couple in the photo but rather, the young girl in the corner who was looking on from the side. The side profile of the girl's face was the foreground of the photograph...

"The foreground of this one is pretty good. This young girl just happened to turn her head to look at that young couple, so I snapped a picture."

"Email this one to me." Jì Chengyang gave a gentle tap with his fingertip to the side of that girl's face. "Forget it. Come to my office and sit for a bit, and while you're at it, give me a copy of the photo."

That male journalist let out a laugh. "What's up with this? You're so rushed about it. How did the photo touch you?"

Jì Chengyang's eyes were somewhat enigmatic, and his smile was reserved and poised. "You not only have to give that photo to me, you also need to delete your file of it."

"Huh?"

"You photographed my girlfriend." He was very upfront.

.......