Ye Zhi had already left by car, leaving me alone to return to Ma Jiuyi, where we had just met. I sat on the same rock and stared blankly at the car keys Ye Zhi had left behind. It seemed to be a night full of choices. Besides the Audi Q7 that Ye Zhi had borrowed, I also had a Ninja motorcycle that I needed to get back, but I hadn't decided which one to go first.

In my solitude, I took my phone out of my pocket again. Looking at the time, it was past midnight, and tomorrow would be the last day of the year…

I lay down on the rocks, feeling a little exhausted, and stared blankly at the star-studded sky. At that moment, I did calm down, but time seemed to stretch on endlessly. With each breath, I almost forgot what I was thinking a second ago and what I should be thinking about the next.

Suddenly, another wave of heart-wrenching pain washed over me. I felt as if I had lost Ye Zhi, even though I still had a choice.

...

I finally sent Coach Ma a WeChat message: "If only you were in Dali, I'd love to drink with you until we drop."

"Did you get boiled again?"

"It got struck by lightning, and it's crispy on the outside and tender on the inside!"

"Tell me, what's the matter?"

"I think women are all too sensitive, no matter what kind of woman."

"Oh, so it's about relationships... Go on."

"My ex-girlfriend came to Dali, and I feel like she wants to get back together with me."

Do you think this is a good thing or a bad thing?

"It can't be judged as good or bad... but it's troublesome... I heard some things from Peach. She seemed to have her reasons for breaking up with him."

"What's your predicament?"

"I said it seems so, so I'm sure I haven't figured it out yet!"

"If you ask me, there's really no need to figure it out. You just need to know whether you still have feelings for her or not."

"This is the first time I've encountered something like this, and I'm a little confused!"

"If you ever encounter something like this a second time in your life, you're awesome!"

"Give me some advice, buddy."

"A choice between a new love and an old flame?"

I replied vaguely, "More or less."

"You're really unlucky, running into such a situation where you're caught in the middle."

"What do you mean by that?"

"If you choose a new love, people will definitely say you're fickle; if you choose an old love, people will say you're ungrateful... So no matter what you choose, people will criticize you."

“I don’t care what others think of me, I just don’t want any of them to be sad… I don’t consider myself a Casanova, I just think they are all good women.”

"You can't hurt a good woman."

"Sigh... the way you're saying it, it just makes it even harder for me to get over this! Can't you say something useful?"

"Choose your old flame."

"Why?"

"A broken mirror mended, what a beautiful phrase!"

"I shouldn't have asked you about this."

"If you're not satisfied with the answer I gave you, then you've already made your choice, haven't you?"

I paused for a moment, and then I thought about the scene of returning to the small mountain town with Ye Zhi. This time was different from before. Before, Ye Zhi and I were just pretending to be a couple, but this time we really became a couple. What could be more beautiful than this legitimate relationship?

Regarding returning to the small mountain town, I put in a lot of effort and considered another possibility: what if I brought Lu Jia back with me?

In an instant, I lost the ability to imagine. In my memory, my parents still liked Lu Jia quite a bit, but now that things have changed, can they still maintain that liking? I was a little at a loss.

After a long while, I replied to Coach Ma's message: "It feels like you shot me!"

"Think it over carefully yourself, who is more suitable to marry you?"

This message made me try hard to imagine two scenarios. Ignoring emotional choices, Lu Jia is definitely more suitable to marry me, while Ye Zhi, even if she is my girlfriend or wife, will always feel unattainable.

In an instant, I felt Coach Ma had fired another shot at me, riddling me with holes, but achieving nothing.

I tossed my phone aside and finally realized that this was something no one else could participate in, and that trying to approach love with a calculating perspective was already a mistake.

...

Around 1 a.m., I called Xiao Song from the car rental company and asked him to drive the Audi Q7 that Ye Zhi had left behind back to a parking lot near Jiulongju. I then rode my little ninja back to Jiulongju.

I parked the little ninja under a relatively bright street lamp, then took a roll of transparent tape from inside the house and glued the broken protective panels back together. I didn't want the motorcycle to be missing anything, but parts for this rare type of motorcycle are quite hard to find, so I had no choice but to leave it like this until I could find a source.

...

In the dead of night, unable to sleep, I sat on the second-floor balcony and lit a cigarette. After some thought, I finally took out my phone and sent a message to the woman who had taken Lu Jia's number and was now in Lijiang.

Are you asleep?

"I wasn't asleep. I knew you'd text... but isn't your reaction time a bit too long!"

My mind is in turmoil.

"I'm just afraid you won't 'mess around'... I don't know what you're thinking. In the beginning, your messages to Lu Jia seemed so sincere, but now, only half a year later, you've found someone new. What kind of man are you?"

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!