Ye Zhi's message was like a hand playing a zither, plucking the deepest string in my heart. Loneliness, melancholy, and the will to live—these were the melodies in my hands, but how they were performed was not up to me, but only up to Ye Zhi's touch, whether it was light or heavy.

As I was thinking this, another gust of wind blew through the trees and into my face. What I saw was a sluggish version of myself.

I finally replied to Ye Zhi's message and asked her, "Should I pick you up at the airport, or wait for you where I am?"

"Wait for me where you are."

I asked, "How long will it take?"

"If you're in Dali, it'll take two hours... If you're not in Dali, I'll wait for you."

I didn't try to figure out why Ye Zhi would say that; I simply replied truthfully, "I'm in Dali, waiting for you."

"Then send me your location."

Although the inn has been demolished, the map still retains its precise location... I sent this to Ye Zhi. I know that if I wait for her here, she won't even need navigation to easily find it, because it's both a continuation and a subversion. Her hotel will soon be built on the ruins of the inn.

...

Leaning against a protruding rock, I lit a cigarette and began what felt both short and long a wait. Before long, the moonlight replaced the afterglow of the sunset, becoming the only source of light illuminating Erhai Lake.

I just stared blankly at the brightest spot in the middle of Erhai Lake...

I vaguely thought: I'm currently experiencing this world through sight and hearing. If I had a sixth or seventh sense besides my five senses, would mountains be concave? Seawater is both salty and sweet, wind can quench thirst, water can be boiled, boats can sail in fire, and humans had thought before they had bodies…

The five senses may be a lock created by the Creator for humankind, rather than a key to truly unlock this world. Therefore, for human beings, crying when sad and laughing when happy is based on instinct, and there is no cure for it.

Because we can only use our five senses to experience the world, which is already a limitation... So we can't see the air, and we don't know why kind people are kind or why bad people are bad!

...

I thought about all this in the time it took for a gust of wind to pass. After the wind stopped, I called Coach Ma, not for any other reason than simply wanting to chat with him for a while.

After a short wait, Coach Ma answered the call. His voice was still deep and he was still not good with words, so he just said "hello" and didn't ask me why I suddenly called him.

I asked him, "Where is it?"

"On my way to sing at a bar."

"I mean, in which city did you settle down?"

"It's located in a small county near Lhasa."

"how are things?"

"Living just to eat three meals a day feels pretty empty!"

After a brief pause, Coach Ma asked me again, "How about you? Is everything going smoothly?"

His question proves that Taozi and Tienan didn't tell him about the trouble I encountered. They definitely didn't. If they had known, they would have called to ask me, because he is my closest friend in Dali.

I replied with a smile, "Things have been going quite smoothly for me... That day, I was talking to Taozi about you and Bai Lu. We agreed to make a good profit during the Chinese New Year and then open a seaside inn together, waiting for you and Bai Lu to come back."

Coach Ma smiled but didn't speak. His silence was a clear indication that he had something on his mind, but he wasn't good at expressing it. Then I heard him light a cigarette.

I remained silent for a moment before saying to him, "Sing a song for your buddy... something inspirational."

"The vastness of the sea and the boundless sky?"

"This one."

As soon as I finished speaking, Coach Ma hung up the phone. While I was still wondering what was going on, he sent me a video call request. After I accepted, he had already arrived at the bar. He had probably fixed his phone on a stand and then appeared in the frame with his guitar.

He had a cigarette dangling from his lips, looked at a young man sitting next to him at the drum set, and said to me, "I've formed a band with some new friends. This is the drummer, Lao Liu, and the guy sitting over there picking his toes is the bassist, Huji..."

As he spoke, he pointed the camera at another blue-haired young man with tattoos covering his arms. He was picking his toes, and when Coach Ma pointed the camera at him, he grabbed a drumstick and threw it at Coach Ma… He said he had an image to maintain, so Coach Ma couldn't criticize him while he was picking his toes.

Coach Ma smiled and then began tuning his guitar...

In this brief moment, I lit another cigarette. Although the sea breeze never stopped, it felt like I was sitting in that little bar with Inori Ma. There were only a few customers in the bar, but the fireplace was burning brightly, warming these people who had traveled all over the country, and also warming their passionate youth.

After Hu Ji and Lao Liu were in place, Coach Ma finally said, "The first song of today's show is 'Boundless Oceans, Vast Skies' by Beyond. It's for you all, and also for my friends far away... I hope tomorrow will be even better!"

"Watching the snow fall in the cold night, my heart, now cold, drifts far away; chasing after it in the wind and rain, unable to distinguish its shadow in the fog, the sky and sea are vast, but will you and I change...? How many times have I faced cold stares and ridicule, yet never given up on the ideals in my heart..."

Familiar songs, familiar friends, an unfamiliar tavern, a steaming fireplace...

I nodded, my heart pounding with excitement... Although I haven't experienced any glorious years in my life, I yearn even more to stand up tenaciously after falling down... Perhaps I live like a cockroach, but behind my humility lies a strong desire to survive!

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