From a business perspective, Sun Jiwei's suggestion was brilliant, but I felt a slight unease, a thorn in my side. After a long silence, I said to him, "I saved people purely out of instinct. If this is to be used as a bargaining chip for commercial promotion, I find it quite strange, and it's not something I can understand in terms of my values. I feel that this is disrespectful to humanity, as if one must receive a reward before saving someone!"

Sun Jiwei was stunned; he certainly hadn't expected me to refuse.

I said to him again, "We always talk about positive energy, but what exactly is positive energy? ... If I really cooperate with this kind of propaganda so that the inn can reopen, wouldn't that be a distorted form of positive energy? Because it's based on an equal exchange... That's not good!"

Sun Jiwei looked at me for a long while before replying, "Brother, this society is so realistic. You have no idea what tricks some innkeepers have played to get back to business as soon as possible... You risked your life to get this opportunity, it's such a pity to give it up like this... It's such a pity!"

I shook my head, still indicating that I was unwilling to do so.

Sun Jiwei looked somewhat helpless, then gave me a thumbs-up and said, "Alright, since you're unwilling, I won't force you... but I've decided to consider you my brother. I'll try to think of other ways to see if I can secure a spot."

"Thanks, brother."

...

After Sun Jiwei left, I lit a cigarette. I felt a little bitter. I felt it was a pity to give up such a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, but I was unwilling to cross the line of my humanity and didn't want to belittle myself.

I think being a person can be really tiring sometimes. It seems like you have to exchange something else for something else to get something, and whether you are working hard or not is not the most important thing.

Coach Ma came to my side, and I thought he was going to call me an idiot, but instead he gave me a thumbs up and sincerely said, "You did nothing wrong, bro, I support you!"

Looking at him, some of the bitterness in my heart dissipated, because I had a fellow human being living beside me. His support made me believe that there are always some people in this world who are willing to stand up and live, so I am not alone when faced with choices between humanity and self-interest.

I know that Coach Ma is also eager for the inn to reopen as soon as possible. He has been working himself to the bone lately on the small bar, but he still supports me.

After feeling a bit better, I finally smiled and replied, "It's good that you don't blame me."

Coach Ma nodded, then changed the subject, asking, "What kind of person do you think Sun Jiwei is?"

I took a deep drag of my cigarette and replied, "He genuinely wants to help me, but he also probably wants to use it to boost his own political achievements."

"That's pretty much what I was thinking. If he can really use this incident to boost Dali's tourism image, he'll definitely reap a lot of political rewards... I'm really annoyed by people like that. You saved his wife and son!"

"Is there black and white in this world... Although I don't agree with him, I can understand him quite well. We ordinary people need to survive, and he, as a civil servant, also needs to survive."

Coach Ma remained silent, lost in thought, and I, too, felt a deep sense of reflection. In truth, we are not fools; we can see the selfish and utilitarian side of human nature. We simply choose to remain oblivious because we are unwilling to conform, yet the mainstream perceives us as genuinely foolish!