Starting from the deputy company commander of the Soldier Assault Team

Yuan Lang's wife smiled and nodded, "Okay, okay, go ahead, I'll go buy groceries in a bit, and we'll have a nice lunch to celebrate."

"Okay, sister-in-law, then I'll wait to eat," Zhang Anbang readily agreed, completely ignoring Yuan Lang's bewildered expression.

"Okay, okay, just wait to eat. If you want to take photos, just go out from the east gate, turn north onto Taiping Road, and walk a few steps to Jinri Xicui Photo Studio at No. 24 Taiping Road."

His family takes the best photos in our area. Most of the people in our compound who take political background checks and marriage certificate photos go to his house. They can also take artistic photos.

The nurses in our ward told me that they not only have film cameras, but also digital cameras. You can print the photos right away, which is much faster than developing film, though it costs a few dollars more.

"Thank goodness you told us, otherwise we might have had to visit several other places."

……

After saying goodbye to Yuan Lang and his wife, Zhang Anbang and Gu Xiaonan quickly tidied up and headed downstairs.

Soon, the two found the Jinri Xicui Photo Studio that Yuan Lang's wife had mentioned, which was indeed very close to the residential area.

A string of bells hung above the door, making a pleasant, clear tinkling sound when the door was opened. Listening to the customers' conversation inside, Zhang Anbang quickly determined that it was a husband-and-wife shop.

The male boss is in charge of the technical aspects, including taking, developing, and retouching photos, while the female boss is responsible for talking to clients, handling cashier duties, and doing a bunch of miscellaneous tasks.

Seeing the two walk in, the female boss smiled kindly and said, "Hello, gentlemen. What kind of photos would you like to take, ID photos or artistic photos?"

"It's a passport photo, for registration," Gu Xiaonan replied with a smile.

"Take them all, boss lady, both ID photos and artistic photos," Zhang Anbang added, then continued, "Express, how long will it take to get the photos?"

The proprietress was a shrewd woman; she could tell from their builds and walking postures that they were soldiers, especially Zhang Anbang, whose hairstyle was very distinctive.

In addition, this area is near the 301 compound, and many people coming and going are soldiers or their families.

Hearing Zhang Anbang's words, the proprietress smiled and said, "Comrade, if you need it urgently, use digital photography. Use this to take the picture, and you can see it on the spot. If you don't think it's good, you can retake it."

After all, these are your wedding photos. If you blink or the angle is wrong when you take them, they won't look good. They're digitally taken and connected to a computer. If there are any flaws, my partner can use Photoshop to fix them.

It's not just the people in the photos that can be edited; you can also adjust the background, lighting, and many other things. I don't know much about this, but my partner does.

Furthermore, film negatives become unusable after being stored for a long time, while digital negatives can be stored on a computer or copied directly to a floppy disk. When you need them later, you can simply print them out without having to take new photos.

The most important thing is that once the digital photos are taken and edited, they can be printed directly, which takes at most ten minutes, and you can take them with you.

The only downside is that digital photos are more expensive. A set of four 2-inch marriage registration photos costs 20 yuan, and a 6-inch personal portrait costs 10 yuan, which is half the price of film photos…”

The proprietress was about to introduce the prices for film photography when Zhang Anbang interrupted her, saying, "Proprietress, you've explained it perfectly. We'll just take digital photos, a set of two-inch ID photos. For artistic photos, we'll take a few for my wife."

"Okay, comrade, the digital photos are good. Your wife is fair-skinned and beautiful, so the photos will definitely look good. As for yours, I'll have my partner edit them on the computer after we're done, so they'll look better."

As soon as she finished speaking, Gu Xiaonan chuckled softly.

"Uh," Zhang Anbang scratched the back of his head, "Boss lady, what you mean is that I'm not good-looking."

The proprietress waved her hands repeatedly, "No, no, comrade, you are quite good-looking, just like they say on TV, with handsome features, extraordinary bearing, upright posture, and a very talented person."

"Yeah, your face looks a bit dark, no, no, it doesn't look very fair."

"Haha," Gu Xiaonan couldn't help but burst out laughing.

"Okay, okay, boss lady, stop explaining. Your explanations are worse than no explanation at all. Just tell me when we can start filming."

Zhang Anbang was speechless at the overly enthusiastic proprietress. When she was introducing her business earlier, she was all very knowledgeable and shrewd, a true businesswoman.

But the last sentence, well, it's just one sentence, it's better not to say it at all, or rather, it's a waste of a mouth.

"Hehe," the proprietress grinned, "you two, why don't you sit down and rest for a while? You can choose the style of your artistic photos first. My boyfriend is taking pictures inside, he'll come out and take yours in a bit."

Zhang Anbang and his companion sat down at the seats indicated by the proprietress and took the sample album she handed them. It was a thick album of glossy paper, filled with finished 5-inch, 6-inch, and 7-inch artistic photos.

There are single-person and double-person styles, campus style, Hong Kong style, Republic of China style, home style, and so on. It's pretty comprehensive.

"Honey, this one looks good, the one in the white dress. Take a picture of her in a bit. This one in the black suit looks good too. Oh, and there's another one in a cheongsam, she looks good too. Take a picture of her in a bit."

"Alright, alright, I'll take pictures of everything you say. You've only been criticizing me. What about you? Take a picture of yourself in this suit too."

"Okay, I'll listen to my wife."

……

As the two were talking, a deep male voice rang out, "Comrades, are you the ones my wife was talking about taking ID photos and artistic photos? Come on, let's go inside and take them for you."

Zhang Anbang looked up at a burly man approaching and immediately recognized him as a retired soldier. Although the scar on his forehead was no longer obvious, it was still visible.

Watching his practiced handling of the camera, I couldn't help but ask, "Old squad leader, where did you go before? The propaganda section, the political department, or the regimental club?"

The burly man smiled broadly. "Haha, comrade-in-arms, Wang Chenggang, the news reporter of the propaganda section of the 33rd Regiment of the X Division, carried a camera to the grassroots level, developed films in the darkroom, archived negatives, took archival photos, and documented activities. He did this for eight or nine years."

After retiring, I received 16,000 yuan in demobilization compensation and started a small shop here with my wife. More than three years have passed in the blink of an eye. Dealing with us soldiers is still the easiest.

"Haha, that's right, then I'll have to trouble you today, old squad leader."

"No problem at all. I'll definitely use all my skills to take some beautiful photos for you today."

The two followed Wang Chenggang into the inner room specially set up for the photoshoot. It must be said that Wang Chenggang was really skilled. He first directed the two to take several artistic photos, both solo and couple photos.

After taking the artistic photos, Wang Cheng walked to the wall, pulled a rope next to him, and a red curtain suddenly fell down.