Jellyfish Shot

Bo Xi was bored in the backstage. The cold light on the WeChat page flickered, reflecting his impatient eyes.

He raised his hand to press down the brim of his hat, and the shadow covered his entire overly eye-catching face.

Walking out of the backstage, I wanted to confirm whether Bai Luo was concentrating on watching the performance or was daydreaming.

The streetlights were dim, and when his eyes swept over the empty seat on the left side of the second row, his brows instantly furrowed.

A friend happened to see him and took a thin cigarette from the box and handed it to him.

"Brother, have a cigarette. Who are you looking for? Ah Si is over there."

As he spoke, he raised his chin towards Shen Cisi, who was hugging Concubine Lu in the first row.

Bo Yi took the cigarette and lighter handed to him by his friend, lowered his eyes and lit it.

The scarlet flames ignited the cigarette that was impatiently dangling from the corner of his lips like a damp flame.

The wind blew away his sleeves, revealing the cold white bones of his wrist. The gleam of his black hairband pierced his friend's eyes.

My pupils suddenly widened. I rubbed my eyes in disbelief, but before I could take a closer look, the person beside me walked away with his hands in his trouser pockets.

Chen Cisi had spotted Bo Qi's figure early on, and loosened his hands around Concubine Lu's waist, wanting to move forward and put his arm around her shoulders.

But the latter was disgusted and dodged.

Chen Ci Si awkwardly retracted his suspended hand and scratched his wet hair. Suddenly, he recalled an old story and lowered his voice mysteriously.

"Yang, in the second semester of my senior year, there was a little thug from the vocational high school who was chasing after a girl from our school. Do you remember this?"

The fragmented moonlight fell on the thin eyes, and the mist on the lips on the rainy night spread faintly, blurring the obscure expression.

"Is that true?"

Chen Cisi had an expression that said, "I knew you didn't remember," and slowly talked about the past events.

"The girl later rejected the idea, but the hooligans from the vocational high school refused to give up and kept pestering her and making up rumors about her.

Later, for some unknown reason, this little gangster had his legs broken by some ruffians in society.

I heard today that girl returned to school and called a few people to gamble on her outside the school."

Thunder rumbled, and a chilling look, as if a storm was about to come, settled between Bo's brows.

He once again glanced at the empty seats in the second row, suddenly put out his cigarette, and then quickly walked towards the school gate.

Shen Cisi was completely confused and hurriedly grabbed his sleeve.

"Where are you going?"

"Someone."

Bo Xi left without even looking back.

Shen Cisi's already confused thoughts became even more chaotic. He clearly remembered that Bo Qi had initially declined the school's invitation, but then unexpectedly returned.

The moment he saw him on the stage, his heart was also excited along with a group of younger classmates.

Who in Nanhuai No. 1 Middle School doesn’t know Bo Xi?

Rebellious in the bones, burning in the soul.

He was so arrogant and crazy that everyone remembered him.

＿＿

One Monday, the school held the flag-raising ceremony as scheduled.

The school takes differentiated measures against students who violate discipline:

Male students who violated the rules were required to read their self-criticisms publicly on the podium, while female students were required to read their self-criticisms in the broadcasting room.

Bo Xi was caught smoking in the corner of the rooftop by the security guard and was severely criticized by the class teacher.

"Bo Xi, don't think you can do whatever you want just because you have good grades. Write a 500-word self-criticism and present it at the flag-raising ceremony on Monday."

It just so happened that the monthly exam results were announced recently, and he, who always ranked first, took the stage to give a speech every time.

"Also, prepare another speech, which will also be delivered at the flag-raising ceremony on Monday."

As a result, the self-criticism letter and the speech manuscript collided with each other.

On a Nanhuai morning, a thin layer of fog blanketed the entire campus. Students from three grades stood in a line, all listless.

The head teacher spoke a few words as usual, and then suddenly changed his tone.

"Next, please invite Bo Qi from Class 8 of Senior 3 to come to the stage and review his work."

As soon as the words fell, whispers echoed from the audience.

"Brother Yang was caught smoking again."

"I heard it was for a girl."

"Is this true?"

The young man leaned against the railing, tilting his head back comfortably to enjoy the breeze.

Hearing the voice, he straightened his back lazily and took the microphone nonchalantly.

He stood in the center of the rostrum without any seriousness, and the hem of his blue and white school uniform was filled with wind.

His words were full of the recklessness and arrogance typical of a teenager.

"Hello everyone, I'm Bo Xi from Class 8 of Senior 3."

"I was wrong. I shouldn't smoke. Don't follow my example..."

After reading the self-criticism, he handed the microphone to the head teacher and leaned over the railing like a boneless person.

The round-bellied director who took the microphone cleared his throat and made a concluding statement in response to Bo Xi's self-criticism.

"You are not allowed to imitate him in smoking..."

The next second, he read out the procedure of the flag-raising ceremony with righteous words.

"Now please invite the top student in the grade to come to the stage and share their learning experience."

Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, Bo Qi slowly straightened his school uniform and took the microphone back from the director, whose face was green.

"Hello everyone, nice to see you again. I'm Bo Xi from Class 8, Grade 3.

As the top student, I will share my learning experience with you."

The young man standing above the huge crowd of people did not know how to write the word "fear", nor did he understand where the boundaries of the word "limit" were.

"Youth is a mighty train. No matter what lies ahead, we must move forward courageously..."

“The world is too rule-bound, so I choose to live unruly.”

For those who look forward, there is no end in sight, only the next stop.

All the students were whispering to each other in the audience, and no one did not admire him.

He is rebellious and refuses to kneel before the secular altar.

Not obedient, but passionate. Not tame, but sober.

After finishing his speech, he returned the microphone to the director, whose brows were gradually relaxed, and jumped down from the podium nimbly in the morning breeze.

The next second, I heard the director's serious words.

"You should all learn a lot from him."

There was a sudden uproar from the audience.

That speech really made Bo Xi feel refreshed.

He is arrogant to the core and proud to the sky.

He is not afraid of being laughed at by others, but he is afraid of bending himself.

A life of recklessness, youth is all the proof, passionate and blazing.

＿＿

Chen Cisi looked at the blurry figure blending into the rainy night and laughed to himself.

As time goes by, Bo Xi is still the boy at the beginning of the story. Even if the world changes drastically, he still stays true to his original self.

Everyone around him is changing, including Chen Cisi himself and Bai Luo.

Only Bo Xi lived his eighteen years as if it were eternal.

It turns out that some people can really make their youth a lifelong experience.

*

The trees in front of the gate of Nanhuai No. 1 Middle School were swirling with darkness, and the wind was blowing the rain into the dark sky.

When Bai Luo returned to the playground, the blue and white figures had already dispersed, leaving only a mess of ruins.

The celebration is over.

The person under the black umbrella can hear the sound of heavy rain.

I called Bo Xi again and again, but the receiver only echoed a cold, mechanical tone.

"Hello, the number you dialed is turned off."

Bai Luo frowned.

Why does my phone suddenly shut down?

Coming out of Nanhuai No. 1 Middle School, the street lights illuminate the moist alleys, and the night is filled with moisture.

She wandered aimlessly through the crisscrossing alleys, unable to discern her footprints in the rain, just as she could not discern the traces of her past.

Inadvertently, fragments of lyrics intermittently cut into the ears.

"Near, far, wherever you are."

"I believe that the heart does go on."

Confusion blurred the pupils, and a dim blue tint seeped through the haze.

The ripples of water on the stone road reflected the street lights, and the lights in the rainy alley flickered across the mottled shadows of the walls.

The night was intoxicating.

In the cold night rain, the surprise in Bai Luo's pupils had nowhere to escape. His pair of calm eyes under the mist fell anxiously on the dark corner under the street light.

A man dressed in black leaned against a stone wall covered with vines in a desperate situation. The cold smoke between his fingers flickered, illuminating the scars and destruction all over his body.

The desolate shadow under the streetlight is always dimmer than the moonlight at the age of eighteen.

In a trance, she saw the same dim lights, the same shabby figures, and the same doomed ending from many years ago.

A burning, sour mist filled my eyes.

He stumbled closer, one foot deep and one foot shallow.

As if it was a thousand-foot cliff, she leaped over and ran towards him.

A hazy, damp shadow extended to the thin ankles.

The streetlight flickered, and the light and shadow moved around his well-defined jaw, but his half-lowered face could not be seen clearly.

Bai Luo ran so fast that the umbrella ribs held above his head tilted sideways, and the rain kept flowing along the edge of the umbrella and falling into his cold white neck.

The rain shone through, and she could see bloody red marks on his forehead, the wings of his nose, and the corners of his lips.

There was a fight.

The night was soaked by the cold rain, as gloomy as winter. Bai Luo's questioning voice choked in his throat.

"you……"

A man in lewd clothes took a puff of cigarette, his throat bones rolled, but he was reluctant to swallow, letting the spicy smoke linger between his teeth.

The shadow on the shoulder was stained gray by water stains, and there was a hint of mocking hostility around him.

"Me what?"

The languid aura could not hide the strange look in his eyes, and the temperature on the surface was terribly fake.

＿＿

The dusk dyed the brick wall at the entrance of the alley dark blue. Bo Xi leaned lazily in the dim shadow, holding an unlit cigarette in his mouth, and glanced at the familiar gangster who was wandering towards him.

Back then, he secretly planned to have his brothers on the underworld cripple the legs of the young gangster from the vocational high school.

Sure enough, the group of people by the wall gathered together in an instant, and the gangster in the lead was holding a toothpick in his mouth, tilting his neck and sneering.

"Hey, isn't this Young Master Bo?"

The other party snorted and snorted, and saliva splashed on the wet ground.

"What's the wind blowing today that you have to come to my door in person?"

Bo Xi moved the cigarette away from his mouth, flicked the cigarette butt with his fingertips, and confessed slowly.

"I was the one who did that. If you want to settle the score, come to me."

He grinned, his eyes and eyebrows full of provocation.

The young man rushed around recklessly, and he took his own life.

He made the fearlessness of eighteen years old the foundation of his life.

The gangsters were instantly furious. They couldn't stand his arrogant behavior in high school.

He immediately started punching and kicking, cursing.

"Why are you acting so high and mighty? I'm going to tear you apart today!"

Time is like the wind, which cannot blow away the outline of an eighteen-year-old boy.

Bo Xi always had the upper hand in fights, but his two fists could not break through the crowd.

After several heavy punches, he spotted a flaw and suddenly clenched the collar of the gang leader with his five fingers, pushing him against the mottled wall.

"I heard you've got your eyes on the girl in the white wedding dress? If she loses even a hair, there's no hope of peace on this street."

The gang leader's throat was strangled, his face flushed, and his intermittent gasps were filled with hoarse words.

“Before we even made a move on her, we saw her getting into a very luxurious black car.

The car windows were pitch black, and the brand... I can't remember the brand, but there was a letter B or something on the back of the car!

I was wondering why she suddenly got picked up by a luxury car! "

Bo Xi's pupils shrank, and his memory suddenly fell back to the gorgeous sunset in Nanfeng Lane.

His "brother" was carrying a bag full of luxury goods and leaning against the alleyway drenched in dusk. A black commercial vehicle was parked at the curb.

He loosened his grip and sneered.

"Okay, you losers couldn't even stop anyone."

The moment he turned around to leave, he suddenly turned back and kicked the opponent's leader hard in the abdomen.

"If you dare to mess with her again, I'll break your legs again."

The thugs crawled up cursing, but no one dared to chase them.

Bo Xi rubbed his injured shoulder, blood oozing from the corner of his mouth, but he smiled wickedly.

"Damn, it's slow again."

Compared with his "brother", it seemed as if it was destined that he was born a step later than him, and he would always be half a step behind even in seeing her.

Half-Life, it fucking sucks.

＿＿

"Are you cold?"

Does the wound hurt?

Bai Luo's voice was trembling, and he didn't even notice the lump in his throat.

"Is it important?"

Bo Xi broke into a playful smile, with hostility and a sense of danger flowing at the corners of his lips, but Bai Luo could see the undercurrent in his eyes.

Is he important in her heart?

She couldn't hear the silence of the rain, nor could she hear the answer in her heart.

All I know is that she won't stop for anyone.

It was he who taught her to live for herself.

"Wait me a moment."

Suddenly, she pressed the umbrella handle firmly into his palm, turned around, and walked against the wind and rain into the night fog that dyed the streets pale and powerless.

The warmth of the umbrella handle held by Bo Yi behind him gradually faded away in the wind along with the cold rain.

The pair of eyes, clearly black and white, under the umbrella stared at the direction where the girl disappeared, silently and unblinkingly.

Is it important?

Is she important in his heart?

He could not see the haziness of the mist and rain, nor could he see the warmth of true love.

A damp, cold pain coursed through the blood.

The palm holding the umbrella handle felt like it was covered with a piece of ice that wouldn't melt no matter what I did.

The thin eyelashes drooped, and the dark blue shadows were cast on the pale area around the eyes.

It’s extremely cold tonight, but it’s not as cold as the loneliness deep in my heart.

Important or not, what does it matter?

Under the dim light of the street lamps, he could clearly see the girl in the rain: she was soaked, her long hair stuck to her cheeks, but she was holding something tightly in her arms.

The cold white rain layers and flows over the eaves, and the desolate and cold eyes become clearer and clearer.

The silver-gray hair brushed past the eyelids, and the originally calm heart was filled with ripples.

How can you be so stupid?

Going in the rain to buy medicine for him.

"Take this and warm it up first."

I bought a cup of coffee from somewhere, the scalding temperature covered my cold palms, and the warmth seeped into my blood.

Outside the black umbrella, the rain was pouring down, and the foggy wind made the sky look like a barren wilderness.

But you can really embrace body temperature on a cold night.

The drenched man carefully touched the glaring red wound with a cotton swab dipped in iodine.

Before she could ask if the force was too strong, the dim night was shattered by a voice of grievance.

"pain."

Bai Luo softened his eyes and looked at the person who was pretending to cry out in pain, his warm breath slowly falling.

"What are you fighting about again?"

"The phone you called is turned off."

"You called me?"

Bo Xi frowned, his eyes were cold and glaring, and unfathomable.

In the dim light, his shadow swallowed her outline even deeper.

"Well, I went back home for something, and when I got back to school, the celebration was over. I sent you a message but you didn't reply, and then I called you but your phone was turned off."

Bai Luo's profile was hidden in the hazy water, and Bo Xi's heart slowly began to recover blood.

My phone had been dropped and damaged during the fight, the screen completely dark. I wondered if she would message me or call me.

Thought she would never come back.

"Is it because you went out to meet someone?"

"Your little uncle."

Bai Luo paused while applying the ointment, and the ointment on his fingertips left a white mark.

I didn't expect him to be able to guess it.

Although her WeChat page was projected onto the big screen, she covered the notes with her palm.

Could it be that his eyes are as sharp as fire?

Before she could open her mouth to ask, the man who never beat around the bush had already thrown a more pointed question.

"He likes you, do you like him?"

The question penetrated the silence rapidly and directly, and Bai Luo's mind suddenly became stagnant.

The next second, he was punished.

The rain was falling ridiculously. Bo Yi's hand, clutching the warm coffee, suddenly tumbled into the trash can across the street.

The hand, still warm from the last breath, suddenly grasped Bai Luo's slippery neck and pulled him tightly into his arms.

The hot breath touched her ears inch by inch, mixed with his extremely evil whispers.

"Be good and stay away from that old man."

Like an order, like a threat.