Blue Island

Around the time of Grain Full, precipitation in Hangzhou and Hong Kong increased dramatically. Thunder rumbled at dusk, and heavy monsoon rains lashed the streets, soaking the neon lights.

Dinner was steamed buns with thin sauce. Bai Luo had to admit that his cooking skills were excellent.

The steamed bun had a thin skin and rich fillings. The heat made her eyelashes moist. After taking a bite, warmth spread from her stomach to her whole body.

There are a wide variety of options, including corn and shrimp buns, three-shredded vegetable buns, vegetarian three-fresh buns, and purple sweet potato crystal buns.

After dinner, Bo Yu washed some fruits, cut them into pieces and placed them on a fruit plate. When he handed them to Bai Luo with a silver fork, she was sitting cross-legged on the damp sofa, flipping through the channels on the remote control in her hand.

The screen flashed with blue and white snowflakes, and when the picture stabilized a little, mottled color blocks and distortion appeared.

The view is a blur of night blue.

Bai Luo glanced sideways, and his eyes met a pair of clear eyes under the dim moonlight.

"fruit."

Bo Xi raised his chin, the coolness of the night wind condensed between his brows and eyelashes.

"Thanks."

Bai Luo looked at the neatly cut fruit on the plate and took it hesitantly. He felt it was too much trouble for him to not have to cook for himself, and even cut the fruit and handed it to him.

There was no light in the living room, the sound of rain could be heard outside the window, and the entire rental house was immersed in mint gray-blue.

The two of them sat on each side of the narrow sofa. Bai Luo hugged the plush pillow, eating fruit while watching TV.

Suisui, the cat, lay in Bo Xi's arms, looking bored with his head tilted back and eyes closed to rest.

I don’t know which building, which household, or which couple was quarreling again. The crackling sound penetrated the layers of rain and reached the ears of every household in the residential building.

The sunset glow over Hangzhou and Hong Kong is changing and dispersing.

When the wind blows, the green waves of potted plants in the residential buildings surge, and the layers of green almost fill the entire patio.

Since when, this dilapidated rental house has shown signs of another person's life.

A pot of green radish was added to the open-air balcony, grape-flavored yogurt appeared in the refrigerator, a black umbrella was hung in the entrance hall, jasmine-scented shampoo was in the bathroom, and half a bottle of osmanthus honey was placed on the kitchen stove.

No matter whether it is dawn or dusk, rain or shine, thunder or lightning, cold or hot, there is always an indescribable atmosphere floating in Nanfeng Lane.

The mottled cracks between the bricks, the misty smoke from cooking, and the swaying shadows of the trees allow visitors to live a life of drunkenness and dreams, making it difficult to escape.

Bai Luo was chewing some fruit, immersed in the plot of a TV series, when suddenly a crisp ring rang from the bedroom.

The person sleeping with his eyes closed on the sofa frowned, and Sui Sui in his arms meowed softly.

Bai Luo belatedly realized that he had a video conference at 7:30, and glanced at the old-fashioned clock hanging high on the peeling wall.

Seven thirty-one.

Startled, he instinctively put down the fruit plate in his hand and hurriedly ran to the bedroom.

The long and narrow corridor could not accommodate too much tossing and turning. Bo Yu slept lazily, with one of his long legs lying diagonally in the shadows, almost across the middle of the narrow corridor.

Bai Luo's gaze was glued to the front, oblivious to her feet. By the time her calf collided with his sleek shin, her ankle had already been caught, and inertia pulled her forward, her scream choking in her throat.

In a matter of seconds, Bo Xi suddenly reached out and grabbed her waist accurately.

She fell into a warm embrace, her back pressed against the outline of his chest, and the faint bitter smell of cigarettes drifted across her nose.

Sui Sui was frightened in his arms, and with a meow, he escaped from his arms, circling around the two of them, his tail sweeping the edge of the coffee table.

"What's the rush?"

There was a hint of drowsiness in Bo's voice. His palms were loosely wrapped around her slender waist, his knuckles holding it loosely.

The dusk line spread, cloud shadows hung from the ceiling, and gray rolled everywhere like waves.

Layers of moisture hung in the air. Bai Luo, still startled, looked up, only to meet a pair of playful, cold eyes.

The tips of her ears burned, and she realized she was practically being embraced by him. She took a half step back, feeling bewildered, and her ankle rubbed against his calf.

Bo Xi gave a wicked smile, and as he bent his knees and pulled his legs back, he took advantage of the situation to support her trembling arms.

Her cheeks flushed with embarrassment and she responded casually.

"I'm late for the meeting."

She fled to the bedroom incoherently, and Sui Sui meowed after her shadow.

The floor-to-ceiling curtains were hanging lightly, and the rain fell from south to north, wetting the entire hazy twilight.

When Bai Luo sat down again with his laptop, the warmth left on the sofa by his sleep had disappeared.

All I could hear was the sound of running water in the moldy and damp bathroom.

Bo Yi went to take a shower.

Calming down, she casually tied her long hair into a high ponytail with a clip, tapped her fingertips on the keyboard, and opened the video conference interface of the charity society.

The meeting topic revolved around the implementation details of the "Warm a Corner of the City" public welfare flash mob action, and each member was required to share their own creative highlights.

When Bai Luo took over, the sound of water dripping from the bathroom suddenly stopped.

With a creak, a dim light leaked through the crack in the door, and the smell of mold and damp mixed with a faint scent of jasmine spread everywhere.

The person who had just finished showering had no time to get a change of clothes because Bai Luo was in the bedroom.

There was only a bath towel tied loosely around her waist, the edges hanging casually to her mid-thigh.

The wet gray hair was dripping with water, sliding down the well-defined chest and extending all the way to the mermaid line.

He wiped his hair slowly and walked back to the bedroom on the wet floor.

In the video conference, everyone was waiting for Bai Luo to speak.

In the camera, her profile is clear and clean, her eyelashes are long and curly, and her cheeks are tinged with a hint of crimson.

"Lolo, what's wrong?"

Wu Kai was the first to notice that her expression was different, and he asked in a gentle tone.

Thunder rumbled in the sky, breaking the darkness, and the lights were shrouded in mist.

"fine."

Bai Luo blinked, exhaled, and cleared his throat.

Spreading out the design drawing with slender fingers, on the A4 paper, the blind box matrix made of sticky notes is neatly arranged, each module is marked with the questionnaire theme, and the hand-painted stray cat icon in the corner is low-key and eye-catching.

"My highlight is the 'interactive blind box wall'. Passersby can draw small gifts by completing a public welfare questionnaire. The prizes are donated by sponsors and members. It not only collects data but also increases participation."

Wu Kaishi from the Samsara Logistics Team was reviewing a form, his voice carrying the rigor of a veteran cadre.

"I've already secured four sponsors, and the banners, portable speakers, and volunteer vests are all in place. I can also save 15% of my budget."

He pushed up his glasses, the reflection from the lenses making it difficult to catch his gaze.

"There's only one thing we need to discuss. The sponsor wants to add a brand logo to the gifts. What are your opinions?"

Bai Luo was concentrating on recording, and he didn't know when the warm breath beside him became airtight.

As I glanced sideways, the cold wind from the southwest blew into the living room.

The person on the sofa had changed into a sleeveless black T-shirt. He was scratching his hair randomly, with a few drops of water splashing at the ends of his hair. He had a smile on his lips, revealing a sharp fang.

"Can I make a sound?"

Silently lip-synced.

Intentional.

Bai Luo shook her head slightly, which was caught by Wu Kai in the meeting room, who mistakenly thought that she had objections to the proposal.

"Lolo, do you object to the sponsor adding the product logo to the blind box gifts?"

"No, I agree. My neck is a little uncomfortable, so I shook my head to move it around."

She forced a smile and pretended to rub her neck, but the obvious ridicule from the side fell into her ears.

Wu Kai's eyes suddenly showed concern and his brows slightly furrowed.

"Did the meeting last too long today and I didn't adjust my posture properly?"

"I'm fine, just need to move around a bit. Let's continue our discussion, time is precious."

Before he finished speaking, the figure on the sofa suddenly stood up, and the hem of his black T-shirt passed by the camera, leaving the picture half-bright and half-dark.

Bai Luo frowned, watching his little movements, only to see him reach out with his long arm and pick up the matte black mug on the corner of the coffee table.

Next to her computer was a frosted white mug of the same design. The mug he handed her had been a warm welcome since their first night.

She hadn't noticed it before, but now, after looking at it carefully, she found that they were a couple's pair.

Her cup had an L glazed on it, and his had a Y glazed on it.

Could it be the first letter of the last word of each name?

She seemed to have forgotten that she was still in a meeting, and her cold palm suddenly grabbed the wrist that was holding the mug.

"That night, did you guess that I wouldn't refuse?"

The charcoal fire in the frost is like a heart that refuses to go out.

No one would refuse, including her.

It was freezing and snowy on New Year's Eve, and his palm was her only spring.

The world is cold and gray, and warmth is the only color.

Bo Xi glanced lazily at his wrist, which was being held in a circle, and then casually glanced at the meeting video on his laptop.

He curled his lips in a sarcastic arc.

"no."

He is confident of success in everything he does, but she has to rely on fate.

He disdained to bet on a game where he had no chance of winning, but he made an exception for her.

He only had half the chips in his hand, betting that she would go with him.

For the remaining half, she still looked at him with cold eyes, watching him struggling and festering in the mud like a mad dog.

He plays chess, she makes her move, and everyone in the game is trapped by external circumstances.

Finally, the dice stopped rolling and he won.

She went back to the rental house with him.

During the video conference, everyone was focused on speaking and listening, and no one noticed their little disturbance.

The night air was heavy, the streetlights from above sweeping down the dark alley. Inside the damp, low-visibility rental house, two figures loomed in the dim, cold light lingering by the window.

"What if I refuse?"

Bai Luo seemed unwilling to give up and continued to ask questions aggressively.

If she really rejected him, would they become strangers and never have any contact with each other again?

But his "Happy Birthday" on New Year's Eve made Bing Tian Xue's heart beat again.

The cold wave is surging, and he is the light moored in the harbor.

"That's God's will."

God didn't allow them to meet, so he accepted his fate.

If she rejected him, he would remain hopelessly decadent and rotten.

The young man who never bowed his head back then eventually broke his bones, and half a lifetime of mountains and rivers separated him.

Six years are like a cloud of fog. It is hard to see when you are close to it, and even more hazy when you are far away from it.

He didn't believe in fate, and thought it was just an excuse for cowards to meet each other.

In the high school corridors, they passed each other thousands of times but never stopped once.

On the university steps, they met thousands of times but never once did their paths cross.

The so-called fate is deep in the frequency of encounters and shallow in the gaps in intersection.

"Lolo, Lolo?"

Wu Kai, who was in the meeting, noticed that Bai Luo was distracted and kept calling her name.

After blinking, Bai Luofang felt a layer of sad mist covering his eyes.

I quickly turned my face away, my eyelids covered with the stickiness of summer rain.

Can we really just leave it to fate?

But it all depends on her words.

If she had not been desperate that night, perhaps she would never have had any contact with him in her life.

But fate played a trick on him. After they met, he realized that he was not the bad boy that the aunties in the residential building said he was.

Clearly so patient, so kind.

He is clearly a very good person, like the spring breeze, warm and radiant.

Before New Year's Eve, they were like flowers and snow in the wrong season, one blooming brightly under the scorching sun, the other withering quietly in the frosty wind.

After New Year's Eve, they were like fallen leaves, scattered all over the world, but were blown back to the same branch of the tree by fate.

But what after tonight?

She will not stop for anyone and will become a true war correspondent, pressing the shutter in the darkness to let the world see the light.

What about him? Isn't he a music major?

The performances are always sold out and tickets are hard to come by.

I always sing until the streets are empty and crowded.

They should always live for themselves.

At the end of the meeting, Bai Luo's eyes fell on the criss-crossing markings on the whiteboard.

Suddenly I felt that the cold fog outside the window was so thick tonight that it blurred my vision.

The hand that had been tightly clasping Bo's wrist bone suddenly loosened its grip.

"Bo Yi, we have to live for ourselves."

She heard the sound of her own sobbing voice, like the flickering light of a lamp in the fog.

They cannot see through the days and nights of the future, but it seems that only the present is the most real.

The hazy mist that permeates this night is enough to blur the boundaries of a lifetime.