Faced with Nicole's question, I did not choose to avoid it. I answered truthfully, "Yes, we did make such an agreement before she went abroad to study... She should be back in two months."

Is there any possibility of things changing between you two?

"There will be no changes, and I will keep this promise."

"I understand now... Let's not talk about that for now. Actually, I called you for something else."

"you say."

"Let me make it clear beforehand that I'm not trying to put pressure on you, I'm just telling you the truth. After you left Dali, Chen Jin struggled alone in Jiulongju for another two months, or rather, he was handling the aftermath... After all, he had negotiated many of the shops, and he had to give the owners an explanation... Many owners felt that he hadn't fulfilled his previous promises, which caused quite a few disputes... After that, Chen Jin used his own money to settle everything."

I was a little surprised, so it took me a while to reply: "I remember that when I left, it was almost all taken care of."

"No, many of the homeowners are from out of town, and the news didn't reach them in time. We thought they wouldn't pursue the matter, but it did cause quite a dispute later on... Chen Jin just compensated them, which cost over a million yuan."

Nicole couldn't have lied to me. I immediately felt guilty. Back then, I just left without a care in the world, and I never thought I would leave Chen Jin with such a huge mess... He could have told me about this through Lu Jia, but he didn't... He really considered me a brother.

In my silence, Nicole said to me again, "If you're not in a particularly difficult position, you should go back to Dali with Chen Jin... He's really having a tough time lately. He and Tina opened a bar together, but the positioning was inaccurate, which resulted in the bar doing very poorly... He's already lost over a million yuan just on rent and renovations, not to mention labor costs. He's completely overwhelmed."

I realized the seriousness of the situation, finally suppressing the sharp edge in my personality, and replied to Nicole, "Don't worry, now that this has reached my ears, I can't just ignore it."

Will you go back to Dali?

This time, without much deliberation, I replied, "Yes, I'll go back with him tomorrow."

Nicole smiled and said, "I knew it. You're still the same loyal and kind-hearted Michael..."

"Is that so... I think I've changed."

"It's not that easy to completely change someone!"

After a brief pause, Nicole spoke to me in a low voice, "So, you really need to be careful about marriage... You've already waited for over a year, why not give yourself a little more time?... I think what you need to do now is to wait and see, rather than make a rash decision."

“Nicole, I think you’ve really changed… At least the you I know isn’t someone who likes to leave himself a way out, but in that brief conversation just now, you left me so many ways out.”

Nicole laughed: "Maybe it's easier to see things clearly in other people's affairs!"

...

After ending my call with Nicole, I booked a flight from Shanghai to Dali, and then repeated what I had just done: staring blankly at the ceiling until my head started to spin...

I quickly closed my eyes, but some people and images rushed into my mind again, causing me pain. It was in this pain that I fell asleep.

In my dream, I didn't go back to Dali, but stayed in Jimo and opened a seafood wholesale store. I didn't have a girlfriend, but I was quite happy spending my days with the sea. I don't know if this dream had any self-suggestion involved; I only know that after being away for almost a year, it's time for me to go back to Dali...

I was caught off guard because I wasn't mentally prepared to face the "romantic and romantic" aspects of that place.

...

The next day, I got up before Chen Jin, and carrying my luggage, I went to knock on his door.

I simply told him that I wanted to go back to Dali, but I didn't explain why.

I'm particularly afraid to talk about owing favors to others. As for the "Jiulongju" incident, I do owe Chen Jin a debt, but I don't want to talk about it. I just want to take action and make it up to him little by little.

This is good for him too, because once the debts are brought to light, it will be impossible for everyone to get along equally. If we cannot be equal to each other, how can there be a basis for cooperation?

Besides that, I also need to think of a way to return some of the money that was previously involved in compensation to him.

We'll talk about this when we get back to Dali.

...

After checking out, Chen Jin and I walked out of the hotel together, his joy evident. Like Nie Dangdang, he had a special trust and admiration for me, believing I could solve all his current difficulties... However, I wasn't very confident in myself. If my focus remained solely on Jiulongju, it would be difficult to make money.

As I said before, once trust is overdrawn, it is extremely difficult to rebuild.

But if I don't do business at "Jiulongju", what other business can satisfy my current appetite?

That's how people are. If you have the ability to earn 2 million, then looking at a 1 million business won't feel so satisfying.

...

While waiting for a taxi, Yang Sisi drove her Scirocco to the hotel again. As soon as she parked, she hurriedly got out of the car. She stood facing me and asked, "Can you tell me, are you going back to Jimo or to Dali?"

"Going to Dali... I probably won't be going back to Jimo after that."

Yang Sisi lowered her head, then smiled with a hint of disappointment, "I knew it. No matter what you say, you still want to go back to Dali... because you know she will go too."

I don't know what you're talking about?

“I’m talking about Ye Zhi… Don’t pretend… If you still have real estate agents in Dali in your WeChat Moments, you’ll definitely know that the Cangshan Yishu project is about to open for sale… Ye Zhi will definitely be there when it opens… She was in charge of this project… Cao Xiaobei already told me that Ye Zhi will attend the opening ceremony, and her father Cao Jinbo will also attend, so this is absolutely true.”

I stared blankly at Yang Sisi for a while before replying, "I don't know. I do have real estate agents from Dali in my WeChat Moments, but I haven't used WeChat for more than half a year. I don't even have the WeChat app on my phone."

"I don't believe you, show me."

I felt completely at ease, so I took my phone out of my pocket, but just as I was about to show it to Yang Sisi, I suddenly pulled it back...

When I booked my flight last night, I re-downloaded WeChat and booked the flight through WeChat.

Yang Sisi laughed: "Why are you such a hypocrite? ... Before, when I asked you to come to Shanghai to see her, you were evasive, but now you're creating opportunities for yourself... I really overestimated you!"

Ah