Chapter Text
Swish
Swish
Swish
Each stroke of the paintbrush left a new paint stain on the wood of the 'Time Photo Studio'. Cheng Xiaoshi and Lu Guang standing outside in the sweltering sun and renewing the worn out paint of the Time Photo Studio, with Cheng Xiaoshi complaining every now and then about how they were stuck in the afternoon heat painting parts of the shop exterior while Qiao Ling got to clean the interior.
"Aghhhh I hate this... why are we the ones stuck painting in the heat while Qiao Ling is cleaning inside?", Cheng Xiaoshi complained.
"You should be grateful Qiao Ling is helping at all, considering she's our landlady," Lu Guang stated. Cheng Xiaoshi groaned and continued painting. Lu Guang noted that he was going a little faster to get the job over with as soon as possible and get back inside. Cheng Xiaoshi and Lu Guang talked while painting to try to pass the time a little faster, and soon they were done, quickly packing up and heading back inside. They saw Qiao Ling finishing up her last bit of cleaning, who gave them a smile when she saw them come inside.
"You're done painting already? That was quite fast!" Qiao Ling commented. Cheng Xiaoshi only nodded lazily while he and Lu Guang put the supplies away.
"It's quite hot, shall we get some ice-cream once we're done here?" Lu Guang suggested, and Cheng Xiaoshi immediately brightened up.
"Yes! That's a great idea!" Cheng Xiaoshi exclaimed happily, working with a noticeable spring in his step. Qiao Ling burst out laughing at Cheng Xiaoshi's instant mood change at which Cheng Xiaoshi threw her a glare. After putting everything away, the trio locked up the studio and headed out to grab some ice-cream.
The bright screen of a laptop shone in a dark warehouse, the person behind it scrolling the website of Time Photo Studio. Seemed like a normal photo studio website, yet the person had heard rumors that two people there can see the past and travel into it respectively through photos. Whether that was true or not... well they might have to find out themselves.
"Hey, Liu Fang, how much longer are you going to keep searching? You've been at it for half a day! These are just rumors! There's no proof that there are actually people who can go to the past!" someone with messy dark brown hair said. He was wearing a loose fitting shirt and jeans and was of average height.
The person behind the laptop, now known as Liu Fang, turned around, his features being more visible. He was wearing a dark suit with black slicked back hair, his sharp red eyes cold and calculating.
"Xu Jianheng, I appreciate your concern that I may be wasting time, but I assure you I'm not. I have found people who have indeed gone to that photo studio and brought photos for the staff there to travel into the past with. There are multiple clients, in fact. Someone who wanted to know the secret ingredient of a delicious noodle recipe her friend made, someone else who wanted to say somethings to loved ones before they died in an earthquake, someone who wanted to find out the whereabouts of their kidnapped child, and many more. The rumors do not seem like rumors anymore, but I still wish to check for myself," Liu Fang explained calmly.
"I see, well if you want to check, why don't I go? You know my girlfriend died in a fire after we had a really bad argument during a date, and I deeply regret that. I still have photos from the date so we could use them to see if the rumors are true," Xu Jianheng suggested.
Liu Fang nodded and said, "That works. Go and get your photos and head to Time Photo Studio immediately. Fill me in once you get back." Xu Jianheng nodded and headed off to find his photographs.
"Finally! I thought I was going to melt in this heat!" Cheng Xiaoshi complained on the couch while taking a bite out of his popsicle, unable to hold back a smile of satisfaction from the cold of the sweet treat.
Cheng Xiaoshi, Lu Guang and Qiao Ling talked and laughed while enjoying their ice-creams. The three of them had just barely finished their popsicles when the door to the studio opened and the usual "A guest has arrived," sounded, getting the three of them on their feet and scrambling down to greet the customer. There they saw a man of average height wearing a loose fitting shirt and jeans, with messy dark brown hair, holding a white envelope.
Lu Guang immediately felt something was wrong... except he couldn't tell what.
Qiao Ling spoke first, "Hello, I'm Qiao Ling, how can we help you?"
The man looked at her and said, "My name is Xu Jianheng. I heard rumors that someone here can enter the past? Is that true?"
Qiao Ling glanced at Cheng Xiaoshi and Lu Guang and said, "That is true, however we need to hear what you would like us to do before we choose to accept your job."
Xu Jianheng nodded and spoke, "Recently, my girlfriend and I went out on a date... but we got into a really bad argument and she stormed to the toilet... I ran after her and waited outside for her to come out when the kitchen caught fire... I tried yelling to her to get out of the toilet and run but she thought I was lying... the restaurant manager forced me to go outside and I could only watch as the fire took her from me. I wanted to make things right at least and not have been... so damned stubborn and cause her to lock herself in the toilet... would you be able to help me?"
This time Lu Guang exchanged a look with Cheng Xiaoshi and asked, "Before we decide, may we look at the photos you've brought with you?"
Xu Jianheng immediately handed Lu Guang the envelope he'd brought with him, and watched as Lu Guang opened it and looked through each individual photo. Xu Jianheng watched carefully, trying to look for signs that Lu Guang could look into the past. While scrutinizing him, he noticed that Lu Guang's eyes turned from a steel grey to an icy blue when he was looking at the photos. Xu Jianheng played it cool and asked, "Oh, also do you think you can just tell her she's beautiful and that I'm really lucky to have met her? And maybe avoid the topic of flowers... cuz that's what made her angry..."
"Alright we can do that," Cheng Xiaoshi said before looking at Lu Guang to see if they would be accepting the task. When Lu Guang nodded at him, Cheng Xiaoshi continued, "We'll be glad to take up this job for you. May we have your contact information so that we can contact you when you can come back and collect the photos?"
Xu Jianheng nodded and immediately gave Cheng Xiaoshi his contact information before thanking him and leaving as he thought to himself 'So it is true...'
Back at the warehouse, Xu Jianheng called out, "Hey, Liu Fang! I'm back!"
Xu Jianheng watched at Liu Fang emerged from the shadows of his room. "How did it go? What did you find out?"
"The rumors are true probably. Before you yell at me for not being sure, they didn't travel back in time in front of me. Nobody in their right mind would do that actually. But I did notice something. Can you pull up their website for me?" Xu Jianheng explained.
Liu Fang turned on his laptop and visited Time Photo Studio's website before handing the laptop to Xu Jianheng. Liu Fang watched as Xu Jianheng scrolled through the website before stopping at a picture of a pale boy with fluffy white hair and steel-grey eyes. Xu Jianheng showed the picture to Liu Fang before explaining, "I suspect this boy can see into the past of photos because when he was looking at the photos I brought with me, I noticed that his eyes turned from grey to an icy blue and there's no way that's normal."
Liu Fang nodded in understanding and said, "That's interesting. Well, I got in contact with someone who knows about the people at Time Photo Studio, he was a past client who learnt about their powers. He said," Liu Fang pointed at the picture of Lu Guang, "this boy's name is Lu Guang, and he can see into 12 hours after a photo was taken, while the other one," Liu Fang scrolled to a photo of Cheng Xiaoshi, "his name is Cheng Xiaoshi and he's the one who can enter the photos."
Xu Jianheng nodded in understanding before scrolling back to the picture of Lu Guang and confirming, "So he's the one we need if we want to find out how to perform that curse... he can see everything that happened... but I doubt he's going to look at the photo willingly, considering it's cursed...we might need to resort to force but I don't think the two of us are enough..."
Liu Fang simply smirked and said, "Not to worry, the other two will be here soon." and right on cue the warehouse doors opened as two shady figures entered. Liu Fang's smirk grew even wider as he said, "Welcome back Chen Hao, Wang Shun. You're just in time for us to discuss the big plan..."