Twenty minutes before the plane took off, Hanchen was still sitting on a metal chair in the waiting hall, thinking about his fourth girlfriend. He was deeply immersed in memories, unable to extricate himself, desperately trying to piece together in his mind the appearance of this former tablemate, but only remembered the delicate eyebrows and long hair. She is like a silhouette sketched in ink, stretched on the bank of the river he remembers, the water waves flowing, and she has been withered for many years.

Hanchen has probably liked her since high school, but has never told anyone, including herself. Therefore, it is reluctant to call her a girlfriend, and even female friends may not be enough.

Hanchen worked hard in his mind for a while, but he still couldn't remember what she looked like, and he forgot all about what she said to him and what the content was. This kind of inadvertent forgetfulness makes him extremely sad, like a piece of life being torn off and thrown away, and it is difficult to fill it.

This is Hanchen's old problem, face blindness, poor memory, and weak human affection, very few friends, and emotional experience is even more blank.

Hanchen began to regret that if he hadn't watched that movie the night before, he wouldn't have lost sleep all night; If he hadn't lost sleep, he wouldn't have gone to the appointment in despair and drunk; That way, he didn't have to wait for his plane three hours early with his dead phone, and then found that his charging cable had been left in the hotel where he was watching a movie.

In fact, not using a mobile phone is not so difficult for him. He was in his Chinese New Year's Eve, and the longest record for a daze was seven hours, when he rode a tricycle from the village to the provincial capital. The musty smell of the ears of wheat, the bumps of the gravel road, and the fresh smell of cow and sheep manure all made him look at his phone and focus on his daze.

The old mistake has been repeated. Hanchen realized that his attention was starting to drift, so he sighed and began to think back to the culprit who had caused this series of meaningless fantasies. It's not "A Hundred Birds and a Phoenix", it's not the fourth child who diligently persuaded him to drink yesterday, and it's not a dead mobile phone, but the kind-hearted eldest sister who sat opposite him before.

When Hanchen was in a daze, his eyes were not dull, but looking around, his eyes were full of exploration and curiosity, which was the material and inspiration he was looking for in a daze. But in the eyes of others, it has another meaning: it seems that Hanchen wants to talk to someone.

So the eldest sister asked Hanchen if he had a family at such an age.

This sentence was like a translucent lightning, splitting Hanchen into a trance. Starting a family, not getting married, is heavier and more difficult to achieve than the word marriage.

Aren't Hanchen's parents? got the certificate early, maintained a detached husband and wife relationship, no one cared about him since he was a child, and no one cared about his life or death. Hanchen's parents have forty years of marriage experience and have never reached the realm of starting a family.

And Hanchen, who is in his thirties, was speechless for a while in the face of such a heavy topic as "whether to start a family", as well as potential questions such as "why didn't you have a family" and "what should I do if I don't have a family now?"

Hanchen was even a little indignant. Since graduating from university, he has been working as a photographer for magazines and newspapers. It is said that photographers are one of the industries that do not lack women, but he has never talked about a serious relationship.

There have been ambiguous relationships, and there are many more, but they all take what they need. After work, Hanchen became too urban, always recognizing people too clearly. "People" are no longer familiar or unknown people in his eyes, but a bunch of crafts waiting to be found flawed.

Human beings have flaws, and flaws reflect the beauty of human nature, and the two complement each other, and people are the exquisite combination of beauty and flaws. But human flaws will widen the rifts in his life, and make Hanchen remember the pain and helplessness in the past and the future.

So Hanchen began to reminisce, starting from kindergarten, from when his feelings were still too immature to allow calculation. He wants to find beauty in his own flaws, or he just doesn't want to admit that he is full of cracks.

Seeing that he didn't reply, the eldest sister on the other side had already turned her head and accosted the others.

Hanchen lost his sense of time in a daze, and was gradually squeezed to the brink of missing the plane. But he still wouldn't wake up. Life on the other side of the plane is nothing to look forward to, it is still full of trivial matters and constant questions.

"Hanchen! Passengers on flight 27417 bound for S City, please go to Gate A13 as soon as possible after hearing the announcement! The shrill sound of the horn both exploded in the ears and echoed in the empty waiting hall. Hanchen sat and raised the ticket in his hand, signaling to the person shouting at the boarding gate that he was here.

When he walked into the cabin, everyone's eyes looked at him, like countless knives piercing him, trying to peel a little guilt and remorse from his pretended calm appearance.

Hanchen looked at them one by one, and then locked his gaze on a little girl sitting by the window. Hanchen picked her at a glance from so many flaws, not because she was beautiful, but because of her movements and posture. To be more specific, what attracted Hanchen was her expression at this time.

She was half-squinting, her whole body huddled in the cushion of the seat, her hands clutching the phone on her lap tightly, her brows furrowed, the corners of her mouth raised, as if she was in a memory, and seemed to be looking forward to the future, her expression was sweet and painful.

Hanchen went from the cabin door to the tail of the plane, and the figure of the little girl in her pupils gradually enlarged, and there were still the sound of the flight attendant's high heels chasing behind her, the passengers' intentional or unintentional complaints, and the radio voice echoing overhead, "Please settle your luggage and take your seats as soon as possible, the plane is about to take off."

All the voices followed him, the drums beat one after another, and Hanchen walked calmly. His body is a slow-focusing lens, his eyes are the viewfinder, his eyelids are the shutter, and his brain is the film. His whole body was on the move, trying to capture the strange girl.

Hanchen even had time to think about other things, such as his seat number was 51E, which might be near the girl; Another example is if these photos are included in an album, what should be the name of this group of works?

The girl had apparently also heard the sound of the drums following Hanchen and the shutter that Hanchen couldn't hold back in his heart, and her eyes gradually opened, looking at him, and an unnatural flush appeared on her pale face.

The plane had not yet taken off, and she occupied most of Hanchen's frame. Outside the window, the sun is gradually climbing to the highest point in the sky.

The sun shines from top to bottom, casting a spot of light into a pink jellyfish. It swam across the girl's pale face, snorting pink streams, transparent tentacles skimming her bright earrings and eyeshadow, and finally melting into the amber sunlight.

The girl struggled to get up and sat down in row 51 near the aisle, her hands wrapped tightly in her cotton coat, and a shy, stiff smile on her face.

Hanchen had already walked in front of her. When he put the bag in his hand on the luggage rack, a flash of inspiration suddenly flashed in his heart: yes, he could call this set of photos "Jellyfish in Sky City".

Hanchen sat down next to her, thinking to himself, maybe the title "girl" is not appropriate, it should be called "lady", or "a certain miss".

This speculation stems from how she dresses and grooms. She was dressed thickly, and her fluffy tunic almost wrapped her in a cylindrical shape. Coupled with her immature appearance, she lives like a child who is led by her elders to pay New Year's greetings.

But she wore pink nail polish on her hands, light makeup on the corners of her eyes, and star-shaped cheap earrings that swayed slightly with her breath.

This incongruity and disconnection make her look like a rag doll dressed in Tang costumes, with a sense of unreality that transcends reality.

Hanchen suddenly didn't want to look at her anymore, or rather, he didn't want to. He felt that he was too arrogant and picked a model that he couldn't handle.

He thought she was just a child, and the pain and joy of the child were pure. Adults are different, and there are too many cloudy things mixed with emotions, which can neither be seen in the light nor photogenic.

Hanchen closed his eyes and copied the jellyfish he had just seen in his mind.

He thought it would be a good idea. Put the jellyfish in a fish tank and take it to the plane. When the plane is in the air, he throws the jellyfish out again—the jellyfish stretches and shrinks in the air, and finally falls to the clouds, turning into a crumpled mass of jellyfish.

What would that feel like? First, I felt a complete relaxation, and my body and mind fell freely with gravity. Then there is the gradually increasing feeling of suffocation – for both humans and jellyfish, struggling unconsciously and giving up helplessly; Eventually, they will all sink into the white and flawless clouds, get covered in dust, and die.

When did Hanchen start to feel that he had crossed the stretching stage of his life and walked towards irreparable suffocation?

Someone poked him in the shoulder, interrupting his musings.

"Uncle...... Big brother, can you talk to me for a while? I, my first time on a plane, maybe I had a stomach problem, and I was a little uncomfortable. The girl, or the lady, spoke. The voice is a little immature, crisp and ethereal, which is very consistent with her appearance.

Hanchen looked at her hands, which were indeed covered in her stomach, her brows were furrowed, and her entire upper body was almost folded to ninety degrees.

"Do you usually have stomach problems, would I like to borrow you some stomach medicine?" Or you young people are motivated, I am at your age, I take the train to other places, and my family has to accompany me. Hanchen struggled to turn around in his seat, barely turning his face to her side.

"No, I'm just too nervous, I don't usually have stomach problems." She seemed to have thought of something, and the expression on her face darkened sharply, but quickly reverted to a crescent-like smile, "What do you call it, big brother?" My name is Xiao Song. Not to mention my age, sometimes I regret that I have such a face. Big brother, guess how old am I this year? ”

Hanchen looked at the cabin door, which was already closed, and the window seat next to him was still empty. He said to Xiao Song, "Call me brother, you are estimated to be only 17 based on your face, like a student." But you are much more mature in speech and demeanor than the students, 19? ”

Xiao Song sighed and said, "No, it's not right. Don't talk about you, brother, even I don't know how old I am. When I was a child, I grew up eating hundreds of meals in the village, and when I was hungry, I looked forward to the next meal, so I couldn't care about counting the days.

By the time I went to get my ID card, I felt that I had been starving for at least five or six years since I could remember. As a result, the police saw that I was thin and short, and my speech was trembling, and I was registered on my ID card as being two years old. Because of this, when I went to work after junior high school, no factory was willing to ask me, because I was too young and I was too young on my ID card. Hey, you said that I was confused even for my age, can I understand my life? ”

Hanchen was a little unable to answer, and when he heard the flight attendant say that he had put his mobile phone into airplane mode, he threw the dead mobile phone into the storage bag in front of him. After throwing it, he said to Xiao Song: "By the way, there is no one in this position by the window, or you can sit down." Look out the window more, and you won't feel bad when you are fascinated. ”

Xiao Song's eyes widened, and his body sat up straight unconsciously, "Can you really adjust it?" What if they check my ticket in a moment. ”

Hanchen waved his hand, "I haven't checked, you can believe me." I used to travel a lot, and the person by the window definitely didn't catch the plane. ”

Xiao Song unbuckled his seat belt and got up and walked to the window. When she changed, she also asked Hanchen, "Brother, what are you doing?" I see you came up with a small bag, is it a camera? Then you must be a journalist, or a photographer. ”

Hanchen subconsciously replied, "Yes, I'm a photographer." After saying that, he was stunned for a moment, smiled to himself, and then reached out and wiped it on his face. This question seemed to stir up some memories and hidden emotions in him, but Hanchen forced himself not to care, he didn't want to show too much truth in front of strangers.

"Look at my brain, it used to be, and it wasn't now. I'm going to change jobs, go back to my old profession as a programmer, or take the exam for an iron job, but the photography industry is unstable after all. After speaking, Hanchen also stood up and sat down in the aisle.

The plane began to taxi, the wheels rubbing against the ground made a "cluck" sound, Hanchen turned her head to look at Xiao Song, her eyes closed, her hands clutched the armrests, and a fine bead of sweat oozed from her forehead.

"By the way, Xiao Song, are you traveling by plane, or are you going home? If the clothes you wear are too thick, take them off and put them in this empty seat. Now the air conditioner hasn't worked yet, and it will be warm in a while. Hanchen said to her.

Xiao Song opened his eyes and blinked a few times, as if he had not yet recovered from his musings. Then she said: "Take the plane home, my boyfriend is in City C, and he bought me the plane ticket." After speaking, Xiao Song showed a sweet smile.

The sun outside the window fell unbridled on her lips, cheeks, and fluttering eyelashes, and the smile was breathtakingly beautiful.

Hanchen nodded and said it's good, your boyfriend must love you very much. Xiao Song said "ah", saying that he forgot to look at his phone, he must have sent me a lot of messages. Hanchen said, don't worry, you can't turn on the traffic now, and you'll see it when you get off the plane.

Xiao Song began to talk to Hanchen about her boyfriend. He's good at everything, but he doesn't have any money, and he's still a thief, and he always talks about getting ahead. We met in the factory, and he said at the beginning that he recognized me as a sister, and he covered me up for something. Later, when my hair got caught in the machine, he risked his hands being twisted and saved me. Speaking of this, Xiao Song glanced out the window, the plane had already left the ground, the huge building slowly shrunk to the size of a palm, and the rivers and mountains were green in the distance.

Hanchen said that now that he is starting to fly up diagonally, he may feel a little dizzy, and remember to open his mouth if his eardrum is swollen.

Xiao Song said: "Strange, it's not uncomfortable to leave the ground, I feel light and fluttering." Oh, go ahead with him, I threw myself in his arms and cried and cried, and then we were together. Since then, I have only cut my hair short, but he said that I have the best long hair, and he wants me to live a life without having to keep it short.

Brother, don't you think it's funny? He was only seventeen, younger than me, and he actually said such a thing. At that time, I was not as sincere to him as I am now, and I have met a few men who are not things. When I meet someone who just wants to sleep with me, I show them my ID. When the men saw that I was only 15 or 16, they were scared away.

But he was still very kind to me, buying me a boxed lunch with meat and vegetables every day, and sneaking into the cafeteria every once in a while to add food to me. When I'm not working, I go to his dormitory and sit on the edge of his bed and talk to him.

He always said that he would take me out to live and rent a house, and the dormitory was full of smelly feet, fox stench and smoke, and I didn't feel it at all. I told him that the girls were doing the same, and that my aunt's towels were thrown everywhere, and cigarette butts, melon seed shells, and dirty clothes were all over the floor. Besides, isn't it good to have money saved for something else? Why rent a place that won't last long. Xiao Song's eyes were full of smiles as she said this, and the pink jellyfish expanded in the air, covering her entire face.

Hanchen didn't feel too much, just nodded a little mechanically. He had heard countless similar stories and was already a little numb.

Xiao Song said, "As a result, he leaned into my ear and said that he wanted to hug me." When I touched it, his thing was erected. I asked him if he wanted to sleep with me, and he shook his head and said I was still young. Alas, let's not talk about the ridiculous things we did later, presumably brother, you don't like to hear it. ”

Hanchen said, young man, it's good to be a little crooked. But why did you come back and not stay there with him?

Xiao Song sighed lightly: "He doesn't want me to do it over there, saying it's too tired." I happened to come back during the Chinese New Year to pay New Year's greetings to the uncles and aunts in the village. Without them, I wouldn't know where to bury it. He secretly bought the plane ticket, and he asked me to wear this thick dress. He just has a hard mouth, and it's cold in winter over there, so it's not that he's not afraid of the cold. She touched the clothes on her body again, and the cotton was squeezed under the chemical fiber fabric, making a "plop" sound.

"By the way, brother, as soon as you came up, I saw your sad face, and you said that you suddenly stopped being a photographer. Isn't it something that happened lately? Xiao Song asked again, this time pointing directly at Hanchen.

Hanchen spread out his palms and said that he would tell you about it, but just listen to the story when it happens, don't take it seriously. We are engaged in art in this industry, and our temper is uncertain, and we have an idea at a moment.

Hanchen's eyes rolled up, as if he was reminiscing, saying that it was actually just a month ago. At that time, he was collecting wind everywhere in City C, running around with a camera, and pressing the shutter twice when he saw anything.

Later, he felt that Qianmen Street was a good place, so he stood there every day to shoot, and he was more dedicated than the traffic police. After taking it for half a month, he went back to the hotel to sort out the photos, and when he saw that he thought the photos were good, he sent them to a local peer group.

Hanchen's strength is to capture people's expressions, so the photos he takes are often against the background of the surging crowds, but most of the people's faces are blurred, and only a few people are exposed, with distinct facial features and distinct expressions. After about three days, his peers had a good impression of him, and he gradually got acquainted with him, and he made an appointment to eat a few times.

The definition of street photography in China is relatively vague, so if he wants to win an award or participate in a photography exhibition, he may need to obtain the consent of the "model". But in the vast sea of people on Qianmen Street, even if he wanted to fish, he couldn't catch people, so he wanted to ask his peers to help, either find a few of them, or bypass this rule and directly participate in the local exhibition.

On the fifth day of the photo, a friend approached him and asked him for the original version of one of the photos, that is, the photo of the person without the face blurred. Hanchen has a very strong relationship with this friend, but he hasn't seen much in reality, and the friendship between gentlemen is as light as water.

"Supposedly, I shouldn't have given him the photo," Hanchen said to Xiao Song, "There is a characteristic of our industry, it is easy to take pictures or see some things that should not be seen." Some people's photos have been used as evidence in the judicial system, and others have found their long-lost relatives through photos. There are also those abroad who shoot vultures pecking at children, and the expressions of the deceased at the scene of a car accident.

In short, we take pictures by feeling. In order to capture suffering, the photographer must first experience suffering; To capture joy, photographers must first feel joy. Hanchen sighed, "But I'm very familiar with him, and I think he just came to me and wanted to help me change the composition." So I sent him the photo directly. ”

Xiao Song listened intently, his brow furrowed, and his hand had moved to the vicinity of his stomach for some time.

"I was curious after giving it to him," Hanchen continued, "so I stared at the photo to see what I felt when I took it." It's strange that there's a woman in the middle of the picture, and she gives me the feeling that I'm confused. She was wearing an evening dress skirt and holding a young man's arm, but she was confused. ”

Xiao Song said, don't you know that woman? Hanchen shook his head and said, I don't know, I'm afraid I won't have a chance to know each other in the future.

Xiao Song looked out the window, the clouds were stretching, and the sky was clear. She said to Hanchen, I want to go to the toilet, and I will listen to you when I come back, your story is very interesting, but I can't hold it back.

Hanchen said it was okay, just walked to the back of the plane and asked the flight attendant.

After about fifteen minutes, Xiao Song returned, and the clothes on his body were a little wet and a little wrinkled. She said that she had screwed the faucet too hard just now, and no, it had splashed on her clothes. Come on, big brother, go on.

Hanchen said: "I didn't expect that the woman I photographed was actually that friend's wife." He sent my picture to his wife, who got into a car accident on the way back to explain to him and left.

Later, several people came to me for a drink, and when they talked about the photo, they all said that looking at his wife's expression, it was definitely not empathy, there must be other hidden feelings. But when the people are gone, there is no way to decipher everything. That friend later quit the circle, and other colleagues sent my photo album to the photo exhibition, and I heard that the photo that caused trouble won an award.

But none of this has anything to do with me, I don't want to touch the camera again. After Hanchen finished speaking, he leaned back in his chair, physically and mentally exhausted.

There was no word all the way.

Approaching the end of the plane, Hanchen went to the toilet and saw a condom and a pregnancy test stick in the trash can, and the pregnancy test stick seemed to be two bars. He felt more and more that being able to pay attention to these details was a punishment from God.

Hanchen turned his back against the door, his eyes staring at the bottom of the flush toilet, thinking of the poet Gu Cheng who committed suicide. He thinks it's unreasonable, the night gives you black eyes, how can you find the light?

He locked himself in the bathroom until the plane came to a standstill. There was a lot of noise outside, and he didn't want to go out and have a look.

As soon as the plane landed, Xiao Song couldn't wait to open his mobile phone and send the photos taken in the sky to the circle of friends. When the high-definition pictures were uploaded in circles, the second-hand old mobile phone sluggishly pushed the messages that had not been received before to the top of her screen, and the electromagnetic wave signal that lingered on the earth for three or four hours could not wait to drill into her mobile phone and bring the news 1,700 kilometers away.

One line of small print is particularly eye-catching: "Let's break up... Full message check within the app".

Xiao Song opened it tremblingly, and read it with tears in his eyes. The content is not complicated, he feels that he is unproductive, and he is not worthy of Xiao Song, and hopes that Xiao Song will find someone else. If he is famous, Xiao Song is not married, he will take a plane to pick up Xiao Song back.

All kinds of discomfort before the plane took off, all kinds of pain that she threw on the ground, all caught up with her at this time, causing cramps in her stomach, strange sensations in her stomach, and bile surging up her throat.

She threw up in the crowded aisle, causing countless exclamations. Tears and the contents of her stomach fell to the ground, and her eyes were blurred, and all she knew was retching reflexively.

Several aunts patted her on the shoulder, handed out tissues, covered her nose, and shouted, "Whose child?" What about the parents, the parents are not here? Your baby threw up, come and take care of her.

What about your parents? Do you know where? ”

Song shook his head hard, and then couldn't hold back his cry.