"Wait, she's already in Kunming, why didn't she come back with you?"

I looked at Coach Ma, who was not talkative but had the most delicate mind, and after a long while, I replied, "Maybe she prefers to ride the train and doesn't like to ride the car."

Could you fucking give an even more perfunctory answer?

...

Back in the farmhouse I was staying at, I lay down on the bed and fell asleep. When I woke up, it was already dark. I sat on the bed for a while, thinking I was still in Luxi, but then I thought it was Kunming. After a moment, I realized that I was in Dali.

I slept too much during the day and got a headache. I drank a large glass of cool boiled water and left the courtyard after it eased up a bit.

Passing by Erhai Lake, I had the urge to jump in and swim around it again...

I actually did it. After stripping down to just my boxer shorts, I plunged into the water. Although it was already the dead of winter, the chill was only intense for the first moment. Before long, I got used to the water temperature.

I surfaced, took a deep breath, and then submerged again… It turns out that water pressure can cause hallucinations… To be precise, not hallucinations, but rather a series of images pieced together in my mind, sometimes real, sometimes unreal…

It felt like I was seeing my first day in Shanghai all over again...

That day, carrying a heavy backpack, I walked through the crowded streets under the flashing neon lights. I encountered many people who brushed past me. We didn't talk, and they didn't talk to each other either. The light shining from the car headlights was like a series of virtual walls, isolating the world into pieces. But we could still see each other, yet we remained indifferent to each other... I thought to myself: What a tragic loneliness this is!

But what kind of force makes us walk on the same path, yet never truly be on the same path?

To this day, I still don't fully understand it! All I know is that I have a fear of Shanghai, like being submerged in deep water, unable to surface!

...

I finally surfaced, and a gust of cold wind blew across the water, making me unusually clear-headed. I then heard my phone ringing again and again on the rocks by the shore...

I got ashore, put my coat on, and then answered the call from Dai Qiang.

He said to me on the phone, "Brother, I've arrived in Shanghai. I just got off the plane."

"Okay, you should find a place to stay first."

"Shanghai is too big. I don't know where I should stay so that it will be convenient for me to go to my sister-in-law's hotel for the interview."

Then I realized that I hadn't asked Ye Zhi for the hotel's specific address. What puzzled me was that it was normal for me to make such a mistake, so why didn't Ye Zhi, who was usually very meticulous, tell me the address on her own initiative?

I said to Dai Qiang, "Wait a moment, I'll ask her and then send you the address. You can find a hotel near their hotel to stay in."

"Okay, hurry up."

After hanging up the phone, I sent Ye Zhi a WeChat message. A moment later, she sent me a business card, saying that Dai Qiang should contact the person on the card directly, without saying anything else.

I forwarded the business card to Dai Qiang, and not long after, Dai Qiang told me that he had contacted the hotel's HR manager and was now on his way to the hotel by subway...

I encouraged him a little, then looked up and gazed into the distance; it was unusually desolate…

Shanghai is definitely not like that.

I think: Dai Qiang may not be walking the same path I did back then, but he already carries the weight of inheritance. I hope that in that vast city, he won't feel as lonely and lost as I did back then... I hope even more that he will do better than me and truly have his own little world there... That's what true inheritance is! My escape was a betrayal!

...

In a daze, I seemed to see Yang Sisi and hear her talking to Taozi. It seemed they were going to a nearby shop to buy a bag of salt. I still couldn't face her with a normal mindset, so I plunged back into Erhai Lake and swam away into the distance...

Unexpectedly, Yang Sisi was startled by the commotion. She came over with Taozi, and after recognizing it for a moment, she said to Taozi, "It's Michael's clothes... Take it away, take it away!"

Peach then asked her, "Where is he?"

“He has this condition and likes to swim in this area... Just leave him alone and take all his clothes away.”

"That's not a good idea!"

Yang Sisi didn't distinguish between good and bad at all; she simply picked up my clothes and ran back the way she came...