10

A typhoon is brewing at sea, and WeChat official accounts are sending out push notifications one after another: "The first strong typhoon of the year has taken shape!" "Typhoon 'Jack's' landfall time and location are basically locked!"...

Tourists boarded the boat one after another, preparing to leave the island.

"Xiao Yan, are you really not coming back with us?" her stepfather asked, holding his daughter.

"Sister, when are you coming back?" Zhong Xin asked as well.

Zhong Yan nodded: "I'll be back later."

She touched Zhong Xin's chubby little face and said, "Xin Xin, go back first."

"The mother and daughter had a fight. They didn't say a word to each other last night, and now neither of them likes the other..." Grandma said sarcastically from the side.

"Mom, there are free bottled water bottles up ahead, why don't you take Xinxin there?"

After "chasing away" the gloating old lady, the stepfather sighed and said, "Don't go out when the typhoon comes. The wind is even stronger on the island. Be careful and come home early."

"I know, Uncle, you go ahead and have a safe journey." Zhong Yan waved her hand, making a farewell gesture.

After seeing her family off, Zhong Yan gazed at the sea in a daze.

The clouds these past two days have lost their whiteness, turning into patches of gray-black that press down on the earth.

"On the vast sea, the wind whips up dark clouds."

Between the dark clouds and the vast sea, the petrel, like a black lightning bolt, soars proudly.

The sound of the monsoon suddenly rang out.

Zhong Yan turned her head and saw him leaning against the wrought iron railing, a few strands of hair sticking up defiantly under his hat, only to be blown down by gusts of wind.

“Sometimes her wings touch the waves, sometimes she shoots straight into the dark clouds like an arrow, she shouts, I want to fly higher, to fly into the sky, and then some painful, sad, cruel things will not be able to catch up with me.”

The first half was Gorky's "The Stormy Petrel," but the second half became his impromptu adaptation, leaving Zhong Yan both amused and exasperated.

Gorky said: I didn't say that.

"Looks like you're in a good mood, even joking around?" Ji Feng chuckled and asked, "Aren't you going back with your family?"

Zhong Yan said, "I'll go back when the little petrel can fly back to nature, that's what we agreed on."

Ji Feng bent down, picked up the straw hat beside him, and handed it to Zhong Yan, "It's windy today, do you want to try it on?"

Having not seen the little seagull for a long time, Zhong Yan immediately picked it up, a smile spreading across her face. "What are you trying?"

Ji Feng rubbed the little petrel's head with his fingers: "Let it fly."

“But… a typhoon is coming, and the wind is so strong…” Zhong Yan was really afraid that the little petrel would be blown directly into the sea by a strong gust of wind.

“It’s precisely because of the strong winds that it’s worth a try.” Ji Feng straightened up and turned around. “After getting through the most difficult time, all that’s left is boundless freedom. When eaglets are learning to fly, their parents just throw them off a cliff.”

In the morning, they first went to the pottery studio to paint the aircraft.

To be honest, the aircraft painted with the seagull design has a strange and terrifying feel to it. Fortunately, the little seagull has tiny eyes that can't see the whole thing, and it just curiously pecks at the few bird feathers stuck on it.

These are baby seagull feathers that Zhong Yan specially collected. Although the feathers are not very pretty, they are now very useful. By sticking them on the aircraft, the baby seagulls will mistake them for their companions and become curious about them.

When they were testing the track, Xiao Haiyan ran along with them.

Its tiny feet pattered on the ground, and it spread its wings halfway to maintain its balance.

"Is it too lonely?" Zhong Yan saw that the little seagull was so close to and trusted by such a terrifying "ugly" thing, as if it needed friends so much that it would accept anyone who came.

“It may also want to fly back to its own flock.” Jifeng looked up and said, “Birds are able to keenly detect seasonal winds that are favorable for their migration; this is information etched into their genetic code.”

“I’ve also learned that birds migrate south on the stronger northeast monsoon in autumn,” Zhong Yan said, not to be outdone. “I just feel that the winters here aren’t cold at all.”

When she was little, she listened to a nursery rhyme that all children knew well: "The little swallow wears a flowery dress and comes here every spring." She always thought that the swallow's home was in the south and north of our country.

Later, after studying geography, she learned that these little birds had a bold spirit and flew directly to the Southern Hemisphere.

Although the mother swallow's aircraft was leading the way, the little swallow did not take off with it. It was like a wary child, not easily following a strange bird.

It preferred to call out around Zhong Yan's feet, reluctant to leave.

"Let's try tying the fish together," Zhong Yan said, steeling her resolve.

Although she enjoyed the little petrel's company, she hoped even more that it could successfully fly back to nature and return to a normal bird life.

Little Seagull hadn't eaten all morning and was hungry.

Food was indeed a great attraction for it. The aircraft hummed and took off. The fish under the rope swayed and the little petrel cried out anxiously. It stretched its neck, flapped its wings, and slapped its feet against the ground. Finally, with the help of the strong wind, it took off.

Zhong Yan piloted the aircraft and flew into the sky. The little seagull flapped its wings and flew higher and higher, as if it was about to fly away.

"Be careful." Ji Feng saw that she was having trouble controlling the plane, so he reached out and pressed her fingers down, but only turned the steering wheel slightly before pulling away. "You're turning too sharply. It's easy for you to lose speed and crash."

Zhong Yan was startled, put aside her wild thoughts, and focused on controlling the aircraft to maintain stable flight.

"Mom! There's a bird flying with the airplane!" a child pointed to the sky.

"Really? Is it playing with the airplane?"

"Yes!" the child nodded seriously. "It has a robot friend, how cool!"

The childlike voice made Zhong Yan chuckle.

The little petrel cried out in the wind, circling and chasing after the strange little fish that was flying in the sky.

Perhaps in the distant future, the little petrel will tell its grandchildren that once upon a time, a fish flew in the sky, and it chased after it with great effort, finally catching the magical flying fish after circling it forty-nine times!

Although Zhong Yan wanted to take the little seagull for a few more laps, the little seagull, having finished eating the small fish, deflated like a punctured balloon, plummeting downwards and continuing to circle around Zhong Yan's feet as a loyal knight.

Monsoon loaded the recovered aircraft into the trailer and said solemnly, "Mother Swallow has successfully completed its first mission."

"Now we need to train Little Petrel to be independent; it's a little too clingy."

Monsoon agreed, saying earnestly, "When you weren't here, it cried all night, calling for its mother."

“Why do you always talk nonsense!” Zhong Yan said with a smile.

"Because my nickname is 'Nonsense'."

Ji Feng's ability to lie through his teeth is too impressive; Zhong Yan will no longer believe him easily.

So Monsoon said, "You weren't like this before."

"When you say 'before,' do you mean twenty days ago?" Zhong Yan asked him in return.

That makes sense, though; in just twenty days, she had witnessed so many facets of Ji Feng.

He has so many facets, like an onion that can never be completely peeled, layer upon layer.

Jifeng said, "It's only been twenty days."

"You feel like time is going on a long way?"

“No, it is better in one day than in a year, as if one were still in the heavens.” Ji Feng took a few steps backward.

Zhong Yan asked, "Doesn't this mean 'long'?"

Ji Feng smiled, revealing a row of white teeth. "It means that although we've only known each other for a short time, we feel as familiar as old friends."

His smile was devoid of any malice; with his rosy lips and white teeth, he still looked like a young man.

A handsome young man.

Zhong Yan felt as if she had been struck by something.

My chest pounded wildly a few times as fireworks shot into the sky, illuminating every corner with a dazzling array of colors.

Zhong Yan couldn't help but cover her chest, afraid that if there were any cracks in her body, these lights would be seen by others.

"What's wrong with you?" Ji Feng still noticed the blank look on her face, as if she had suddenly been possessed.

Zhong Yan tried hard to suppress the corners of her lips and said, "Ji Feng, you're like an onion, each layer is a different story."

"Onions?" Ji Feng shook his head. "Onions are bad."

"What's wrong with onions?" Zhong Yan asked, holding the little seagull and following behind Ji Feng.

Jifeng leaned against a cart, which was loaded with various things, including aircraft and flight goggles.

Walking on the red brick road, the sound of bells and jingles echoed all the way.

"Won't you cry when you peel the onion to the very end?"

In high school biology class, there was an experiment to observe the deplasmolysis of plant cells, but what was given to each group were slices of peeled onion.

At home, Zhong Yan has even less opportunity to enter the kitchen.

Zhong Yan said, "I've never peeled an onion before."

Jifeng said, "Here's a piece of advice: don't peel onions, whether they're real onions or human onions."

"Why?"

“I’ve already given you the answer.” Ji Feng turned around.

/

Friday, August 21, 2025

I think I've rediscovered what it means to like someone.

But he didn't teach me how to handle liking someone.

Are we just going to leave it like this, waiting for time to turn it into wine? Or compose a poem about it?

Then it will drift away with the wind.