“It’s clean.” Zhong Hua turned and went back into the house, the quilt dragging on the floor with a rustling sound. “It’s in the side pocket of my backpack.”
As Ah Yu put the dried film into the scanner, she heard Zhong Hua on the phone. His voice was low, with a hint of coaxing: "Wanqing, we're going back the day after tomorrow... um, take your medicine on time... Ah Yu? He's developing the film, he just said the cookies you sent last time were too sweet..."
The scanner emitted a soft hum, and the fireflies on the screen gradually became clearer. Ah Yu zoomed in on the images and suddenly noticed a blurry figure in the corner of one of them. The person was holding a camera, half of their body submerged in the grass, their back resembling a reed bent by the wind.
He remembered the day Zhong Hua had a fever, when he yelled at him on the phone, "Can't you just stay inside and rest?" The wind was strong on the other end of the line, and Zhong Hua's voice was broken: "I just saw fireflies...didn't you want to see them...?"
The scanner suddenly stopped buzzing. Ah Yu raised her hand and wiped her face. She didn't know when, but her eyes were a little moist.
When Zhong Hua came in after hanging up the phone, he saw that Ah Yu had set the firefly photo as her phone wallpaper. "You still use a photo like that as your wallpaper?" He walked over, holding two packets of cookies, almond flavored ones that Lin Wanqing had sent.
"It looks good." Ah Yu took a bite of the cookie, the crunchy aroma of almonds mixed with sweetness spreading on his tongue. He moved his phone closer to Zhong Hua, "Look at this light, it's even brighter than when you used to shine a reflector for me at Qinghai Lake back then."
Zhong Hua's ears turned red again. He lowered his head and took a bite of the biscuit, the crumbs falling onto the quilt like scattered stars. "Back then you insisted on shooting against the light," he mumbled, "because without a backlight, your face would be too dark."
"So you held up the reflector for half an hour?" Ah Yu raised an eyebrow. She remembered that Lin Wanqing had secretly taken a picture of Zhong Hua holding up a silver reflector, his arm outstretched, his shadow stretched long by the setting sun, like a silent tree.
Zhong Hua didn't say anything, but simply stuffed another bag of biscuits into A Yu's hand. Amidst the rustling of the packaging, A Yu heard him whisper, "The things you photograph can't be bad."
The sunlight outside the window gradually slanted westward, illuminating the suitcases at their feet. Ah Yu touched the film canister in his pocket and suddenly remembered that before they left, Zhong Hua had secretly slipped a pack of hand warmers into his camera bag in a corner of the studio. At the time, he had laughed at Zhong Hua for being old-fashioned, but now he realized that the warmth hidden in those details, like images on film, had slowly developed over time, becoming dazzlingly clear.
"Get up early tomorrow to photograph the sunrise?" Ah Yu shook her phone, and the fireflies in the wallpaper glowed on the screen.
When Zhong Hua looked up, the sunlight fell directly into his eyes, as bright as a starry sky. "Okay," he said, his voice hoarse from just recovering from a fever, but clearer than ever. "This time I'll help you carry the tripod."
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