Offside game

"What's up?"

The seemingly casual voice sounded somewhat unfamiliar to An Jing. An Jing took out the paper packet and handed it to Su Yi: "These are seeds I got from my dad. Here you go."

A year ago, this was how she often spoke to him. Back then, Su Yi would always take it with a grin and tease her. She knew Su Yi liked growing flowers; she had visited his home, and the yard was full of beautiful blooms. The first time she gave Su Yi seeds to plant, she brought a packet, but Su Yi only picked out one. "I only plant one at a time," he said, "that way, the flower I nurture with all my care will be the most beautiful." She could never forget those words.

Looking at Su Yi, she suddenly remembered these things, but it felt like they happened a long time ago, really like they were so far away.

Su Yi did not take the paper package; his gaze had already turned elsewhere.

"I haven't planted them in a long time, you can keep them."

Su Yi's voice seemed to come from somewhere else, making An Jing feel unreal. Perhaps thinking she hadn't heard him, Su Yi stood up and said, "I stopped planting a long time ago, I'm sorry."

Seemingly just realizing what was happening, An Jing looked at him with a gaze that made Su Yi uneasy. This gaze seemed to have been reflected in his eyes just now, only the source of that gaze was another girl.

Su Yi couldn't quite describe An Jing's expression at that moment, because the meaning was too complex. But then he heard the girl say resentfully, "Su Yi, look at yourself! You skipped class to play games, you don't care about anything. What would your parents think if they saw this?"

The paper packet was thrown at Su Yi, but he didn't react. The last thing he heard was the girl's desperate cry: "I'm so disappointed in you!" Then she turned and left. Su Yi watched as her figure gradually disappeared…

After a long while, Su Yi bent down to pick up the paper package, slowly opened it, and found a black seed inside, carefully wrapped in a piece of white paper. He sighed, carefully wrapped it up again, and put it in his pocket.

Su Yi was walking home. He had left school at noon and spent the afternoon at ZTE, playing online games with others to vent his frustrations. Although Su Yi was an exceptionally intelligent and gifted young man in many ways, there were still some things that left him somewhat bewildered at his age.

Now, in his view, apart from the two incidents at noon, the rest of today seemed no different from the rest of the past six months. Like a pendulum, it had returned to its original track. But things didn't go as he expected; some unforeseen events still occurred today, and perhaps it is precisely because life is full of surprises that it is so difficult to grasp.

There's a shortcut from ZTE to Su Yi's home, but it involves traversing a somewhat desolate path. It's desolate because it's a long-abandoned factory, now sparsely populated. When Su Yi was little, he often ran there, listening to the rumbling sounds inside, occasionally finding a few screws or other parts to play with. But at some point, the sounds stopped, and weeds began to grow on the path.

Suddenly, several people stepped out and blocked Su Yi's path. Hearing the noise behind him, Su Yi turned around and saw that his retreat was also blocked by three or four people. At this point, he knew what was happening; he was trapped. When he saw Chen Ming, whom he had just beaten up a few days ago, in the crowd, he understood—they had come for revenge.

The people in front of him looked somewhat familiar. The conspicuous bald man was a well-known hoodlum in the area, known as Bald Liu. He was a notorious old hand in the vicinity of No. 3 Middle School. It was unexpected that Chen Ming could bring these people along.

Chen Ming was one of the students in the school who had given up on the college entrance exam and simply decided to give up. Although in the eyes of others, Su Yi seemed to be one of them at this time, he disdained to associate with the others.

This group of guys spent their days hanging out, and they liked to make sarcastic remarks about the pretty girls in school; they were pure scoundrels. Su Yi had overheard him making lewd comments about quiet to another guy, and out of annoyance, he attacked him. Unexpectedly, this guy, who looked tall and strong, was easily defeated; he took down both of them single-handedly. Later, Su Yi thought to himself that this guy, despite his imposing reputation, was actually a coward; he hadn't done anything after Su Yi had threatened him. Turns out, he was waiting for this guy all along.

"Brother Liu, this is the kid." Chen Ming, sporting a black eye, bowed and scraped as he spoke to the bald Liu.

Bald Liu, true to his reputation as a seasoned thug, had a face full of menacing features that made him instantly recognizable as a troublemaker. "Kid, I heard you're pretty arrogant." With a toothpick dangling from his mouth, Bald Liu, perhaps feeling like he was channeling Chow Yun-fat, struck a pose as he began his opening line to Su Yi: "Your grandpa dislikes arrogant kids the most. Xiao Ming has always been with me, and look what you've done to him. Today, grandpa will show you what happens when you mess with someone from my gang."

These guys must have rehearsed before. As Bald Liu spoke, the thugs simultaneously slapped the sticks in their other hands, but they seemed to lack training, and it looked a bit messy.

"Damn it, do you think this is a TV show?" Su Yi knew things weren't going to end well today; a beating was inevitable. His eyes scanned the surroundings; he was blocked in front and behind, making escape virtually impossible. His only option was to break through. Having made up his mind, Su Yi didn't hesitate. He picked up a brick he had previously chosen and charged towards Chen Ming.

The group hadn't expected Su Yi to be so reckless, charging straight at them. Their reaction was a step too slow, allowing Su Yi to reach Chen Ming and deliver a blow to the head with a brick. Chen Ming screamed like a pig being slaughtered. Before the others could react, Su Yi dodged Chen Ming and almost broke free of the encirclement. Unfortunately, the guy next to him was faster, swinging a stick towards Su Yi's chest. Su Yi instinctively blocked with the brick. In that brief moment, the others caught up, kicking him in the backside, causing him to stumble. He was then surrounded, feet and fists raining down on him. All he could do was try to protect his vital organs, curling up like a shrimp and rolling around.

At this moment, Su Yi felt waves of pain washing over him, and he could hear the curses of the crowd. Just as he was about to reach his limit, a flash of white light appeared before his eyes, and he lost consciousness…

The crowd surrounding them collapsed unconscious in the flash of white light that fell from the sky, scattered in twos and threes. Bald Liu's last thought was: "Damn, where did that shooting star come from in broad daylight?!"

When he regained consciousness, Su Yi felt pain and numbness all over his body. It was pitch black all around. Using the moonlight, Su Yi slowly got up and realized he was still next to the factory. He could faintly hear sounds coming from afar, seemingly very distant. There was no one around anymore; those bastards had probably left after teaching him a lesson.

Enduring the pain, Su Yi slowly walked home. He opened the gate to the yard by the moonlight and went inside. He turned on the light, but there was no response. It really was a power outage; no wonder there was so little light in the neighborhood.

The pain throughout his body was unbearable. Sitting on the sofa in the darkness, Su Yi felt a wave of loneliness. Even after a year, he still couldn't fully adjust. As he thought this, Su Yi suddenly noticed the white paper package on the table. He had taken it out and casually placed it there when he was taking out his keys. Looking at the package, An Jing's words seemed to still echo in his ears.

"If my parents could see this," Su Yi murmured, his heart filled with unbearable sorrow. He slowly opened the paper package, picked up the seed from the center of the white paper, and sat there quietly.

After a long while, Su Yi got up and placed the seeds on the table. By the dim moonlight, he painstakingly found the spare candles in the house and lit them with a match.

He held the candle and slowly walked into the master bedroom.

Although the bedroom was usually locked, it was clear that it was regularly cleaned, with almost no dust. By candlelight, Su Yi silently looked at the photos of his parents on the table. The two people in the photos were still smiling so much, and the wrinkles at the corners of their eyes were still so familiar…

His vision gradually blurred, Su Yi put down the candle and sat on the ground, his body trembling slightly.

"Dad, Mom..." With Su Yi's heart-wrenching cry, he began to cry out, sobbing as if he wanted to cry out all the sadness and grievances in his heart. He never thought that a year later, he still couldn't forget. Perhaps he couldn't forget, but was just running away, or burying it under his outward indifference.

A year ago, he was a model student in everyone's eyes, with a happy family he hadn't even realized he had. But a car accident changed everything. His parents were gone, his family was gone, leaving him all alone. In that moment, he suddenly realized his loneliness and helplessness. A boy who only knew how to study, suddenly encountering such a thing, could easily break down mentally. He was lost, and in moments of helplessness, he suddenly wondered what the use of all his years of hard work had been. Before, getting into a prestigious university had always been his dream, but he suddenly realized that even if he got it, what would it mean? He would never see his parents' smiles again. All he had was a two-bedroom apartment and 200,000 yuan in compensation money in his bank account.

Perhaps, his depravity was just a one-sided escape. Besides arming himself with indifference, he didn't know what else to do. Sometimes happiness is too fragile, making it hard to bear the taste of loss.

He didn't know how long he cried, but Su Yi felt he had no strength left to cry. He felt the coldness of the ground travel up his body and into his heart, and then his whole body felt cold.

He looked up and saw his parents still smiling at him in the candlelight, a long-lost warmth. Perhaps, only in this room could he find the courage to face his own heart.

He recalled Anjing's words, and with his parents' smiles, his courage surged again. Perhaps, I shouldn't run away, nor should I be cowardly. He thought to himself.

"Dad, Mom, I will never cry again." The boy said firmly, stroking the photo frame.

Su Yi suddenly noticed the bloodstains on the photo frame, and only then, in the candlelight, did he see the wound on his hand. After washing himself and bandaging his wound, the boy lay down peacefully in his parents' bedroom and fell asleep.

That night, he dreamed that his parents were still smiling.