I still kept Yang Sisi's request in mind, so the next morning I went to Jiulongju and found Cao Xiaobei. He got up quite early too; when I entered his inn, he was already packing his luggage.

Looking at his enormous suitcase, I asked him, "With all this stuff, are you planning to stay in Kunming for a long time?"

After our last conversation, Cao Xiaobei wasn't as sharp-tongued towards me anymore. He replied in a normal tone, "My dad has a project over there, and he asked me to go help out. I might have to stay for two or three months."

"Wow, that's quite a long time, it's like a summer vacation for the students!"

"They're on summer vacation, I'm imprisoned. What's the comparison?"

"That's right, nothing is more comfortable than running an inn here... By the way, what will happen to this inn now that you're leaving?"

"I entrusted it to a cultural tourism company to manage."

I asked again, "How much do they pay you per year?"

"Not much money... 300,000."

"That's too low. When I was running a temporary inn, I earned more than that during the Lunar New Year period!"

"I was in a hurry to leave, there was no other way."

Not wanting him to suffer a loss, I tentatively asked, "Have you signed the contract yet? If not, I'll help you negotiate... You're really losing out. Just these dozen or so shops would cost more than 300,000 yuan to rent out even without any additional fees, let alone the ones that are already renovated and ready to move in. And your renovations aren't bad either."

"It's already signed. The company's CEO is a friend of my dad's. My dad said it was to do him a favor. What could I do?"

He paused briefly, then continued, "He just doesn't want me to stay here. Forget 300,000, he'd be willing to pay me out of his own pocket to that company if he could just force me out!"

As Cao Xiaobei spoke, he sat down in the chair closest to him, lit a cigarette, and then stared blankly at the neon sign by the door with a hint of disappointment... What I saw was a version of him whose edges had been worn down... This couldn't be called Cao Jinbo's tactic, but rather that he had to mature. After all, Cao Jinbo's business was growing bigger and bigger, and he was the only son. There was no one else who could inherit the family fortune.

This is probably fate, just like Ye Zhi's.

...

Just as I was about to ask him for the key, he smiled wryly and said to me, "Honestly, the time when this guesthouse first opened was the happiest and most fulfilling period of my life. I saw her every day; she would help me greet guests and calculate the day's revenue. In the evenings, we would stroll around the old town together. I would treat her to rice noodles or something, and she would be so happy... I was even happier because when she was happy, she would talk to me a lot and share her thoughts on life... For a while, I really thought we would stay at this guesthouse and be together forever... Until you left Dali, I realized how naive that idea was... A week after you left, she went back to Shanghai, leaving nothing behind..."

I didn't know how to respond, so I just said, "Is that so?"

Cao Xiaobei nodded, then took another deep drag on his cigarette, and this time he remained silent for a long time.

The silence made me a little uncomfortable, so I reached into my cigarette case to light a cigarette, only to find that the case was empty.

Cao Xiaobei handed me his cigarette pack, gesturing for me to smoke one of his cigarettes.

As far as I can remember, this was the first time he offered me a cigarette.

After I lit my cigarette, he continued, "Actually, my dad didn't really want me to help him when he asked me to go to Kunming... He found me a girlfriend there. Her mom is an investor, and her dad is a pretty well-known developer in Kunming... She's not really my girlfriend, we've only met once, but her parents want us to be together... So her parents, and my dad, have been telling people in our circle that we're boyfriend and girlfriend..."

“I understand… This is called a powerful alliance, and it’s a good thing for your dad!”

Cao Xiaobei smiled, then took out her phone from her pocket, pulled out a photo, and handed it to me, saying, "This is her picture... Do you think she's prettier than Sisi?"

I glanced at her; the girl was holding the steering wheel, the car logo was Maserati, and she wore a Cartier bracelet on her wrist, clearly the image of a rich second-generation... To be honest, she was quite good-looking, somewhat resembling a popular female celebrity, but I didn't know to what extent the photo had been photoshopped.

I smiled and replied, "It's a different type. If this photo hasn't been photoshopped, it is indeed quite beautiful!"

"It wasn't photoshopped, and I also think she's quite pretty... I just don't know if her personality is as cute and clever as Sisi's."

As Cao Xiaobei repeatedly compared this woman to Yang Sisi, I felt inexplicably uncomfortable... I knew he couldn't let go of Yang Sisi, but he compromised... How could he compromise? He's Cao Xiaobei!

Just as I was about to say something to him, he covered his face with his hands and burst into tears: "I don't want this, but what else can I do?... I've known her for almost three years, and I've been pursuing her for three years... Three years! Even if I were a tanker truck, all the fuel inside would have burned out by now... I'm out of energy, I really can't muster any more strength... That's it..."

Cao Xiaobei's shoulders trembled, his heart breaking. After a while, he took a key out of his pocket and threw it to me.

“Here’s the key to her house, you can take it… She didn’t leave anything with me… I have to go to Kunming.”

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