“It was particularly cold the day of the shoot,” Ah Yu continued, her voice gradually becoming steady. “The mountain wind made the light flicker, and he kept adjusting the angle of the reflector, even… even lying in the snow, just so that the light would fall precisely on the child’s face.”
He remembered Zhong Hua's lips, frozen purple, and his breath falling onto the reflector, instantly turning into frost. At the time, he was only focused on framing the shot, and it wasn't until he looked back at the photos that he noticed, in the corner of each picture, a figure crouching in the snow, like a stubborn blade of grass.
“Many people ask me why the light in these photos is so warm,” Ah Yu smiled, her eyes a little hot. “Maybe it’s because the person who seeks the light has a fire in their heart.”
As she stepped off the stage, the applause was still ringing out. Ah Yu walked straight up to Zhong Hua and shoved the trophy into his arms: "This is for you."
Zhong Hua didn't take it; the trophy slipped onto his lap, the warmth of its base seeping through his thin trousers like a small flame. "You took this picture," he said, looking up at Ah Yu, his eyes shining brighter than a spotlight.
“Without your light, the camera can’t capture anything.” Ah Yu squatted down, her eyes level with his. “Do you remember? When I was shooting my graduation exhibition in college, you were in the darkroom helping me develop the photos. The chemicals splashed on your hands, and you got several blisters.”
Zhong Hua's fingertips twitched, as if he wanted to object, but Ah Yu pressed his hand down. His hand was very hot, probably because he had been clutching his glasses all the way here.
“And that time, I stayed up all night on the roof to take pictures of the starry sky,” Ah Yu’s voice was very soft, as if she was afraid of disturbing something. “You brought over a cot, saying you were afraid I would fall off if I fell asleep, but you sat next to me all night. At five o’clock in the morning, you woke me up to look at Orion.”
He recalled the starry sky that day, the countless stars like scattered diamonds on black velvet. Zhong Hua pointed to the brightest one and said, "That's Sirius. The ancients said it could guide the way." Looking back now, perhaps from that moment on, Zhong Hua became his Sirius, silently standing by his side during those days when he was engrossed in scouting locations, illuminating his path.
Zhong Hua finally accepted the trophy, his fingers tracing the inscription on it. "Do you know?" he suddenly said, "The first time I saw you taking photos was on the ginkgo path at the university. You were holding an old camera, taking pictures of the fallen leaves for half an hour. The sunlight filtered through the leaves and fell on your back, like it was plated with gold."
Ah Yu was stunned. He didn't remember the incident, only that the wind was strong that day, blowing ginkgo leaves all over the ground. He chased after the fallen leaves and almost bumped into someone. Now that he thought about it, the boy he bumped into was wearing faded jeans and holding a math notebook—it was Zhong Hua.
“At that time, I thought,” Zhong Hua said in a low voice, with a hint of embarrassment, “that someone who can take such careful photos of fallen leaves must have a lot of tenderness in their heart.”
Lin Wanqing walked over unnoticed, carrying two cups of hot cocoa. "The awards ceremony is over, and you two are still putting on a mime show here?" She handed them the hot cocoa and said with a smile, "A judge just came over and asked if we could give an award to the reflectors too, saying he'd never seen any set of photos with light so warm it made him want to cry."
Ah Yu took the hot cocoa, her fingertips touching the warmth of the cup. Suddenly, she remembered that Zhong Hua always kept hot cocoa powder in the snack cabinet in the studio, on his desk. She recalled that he would always pack a packet in his suitcase whenever he went on a business trip, saying that it was cold in the mountains and a cup of hot cocoa would warm his hands.
As they left the art museum, the rain had stopped sometime earlier. The setting sun peeked through the clouds, casting a golden glow on the museum's glass facade. Ah Yu noticed that Zhong Hua was still clutching his glasses, the lenses slightly blurred from the warmth of his body.
"The lenses are dirty." Ah Yu reached out to take them, but Zhong Hua dodged her.
"I'll wipe it." Zhong Hua took out a glasses cloth from his pocket. It was a gift from Ah Yu for his birthday last year, with a crooked camera pattern printed on it. He wiped it very carefully, his fingertips brushing against the lenses, his movements as gentle as if he were caressing some precious treasure.
When the cleaned glasses were handed to him, Ah Yu put them on, and the world instantly became clear. He saw the trophy in Zhong Hua's arms, gleaming in the sunset, saw the wisps of hair at his temples fluttering in the wind, and saw his own reflection in Zhong Hua's eyes.
“Let’s go back,” Ah Yu tugged at Zhong Hua’s arm. “Lin Wanqing said she wants to cook hot pot to celebrate.”
"What are we celebrating?" Zhong Hua followed in his footsteps, the trophy held carefully in his arms as if it were a fragile piece of glass.
"Celebrate our Mr. Reflector! He's finally been seen!" Ah Yu laughed and ran off. The setting sun cast a long shadow of him, with Zhong Hua's shadow following closely behind, like two trees growing side by side, their roots quietly intertwined in the soil.
As they passed the flower shop on the street corner, Ah Yu stopped. The sunflowers in the window were in full bloom, their petals still glistening with raindrops. "Buy a bunch," he said, pointing to the largest pot, "It'll be brighter than a desk lamp in the studio."
As Zhong Hua went to pay, Ah Yu watched his retreating figure, then suddenly raised the camera around her neck and pressed the shutter. In the viewfinder, Zhong Hua was turning around, holding sunflowers in his hands. The setting sun fell on his shoulders, and the light in his eyes was as warm as the golden stamens in the flowerpot, making one want to squint.
Later, the photo was developed and pasted next to "Mountain Lights". When Lin Wanqing saw it, she smiled and wrote a line below: The best light and shadow are always around us.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
