Brother Ping didn't take me seriously. He pondered for a long time before replying, "Well, Dali is like a mirror. The longer you stay in that environment, the clearer you'll understand what you really want to pursue... I also wanted to open a guesthouse by Erhai Lake, make the courtyard look nice, raise a dog, and take the dog and my girlfriend for drives along the lakeside road whenever we wanted... But in the end..."

"You all saw it, weren't all those guesthouses built along Erhai Lake wiped out in one fell swoop? ...I'm already this old, why the hell am I spouting some unrealistic ideals? Making money is the only thing that matters...I don't want to grow old, with all my freedom, only to end up without even enough money to buy a burial plot!"

I glanced at Brother Ping, but didn't say anything more.

Ping Ge then asked me, "Michael, how do you understand Dali?"

"Under the beauty of nature, a group of broken souls..."

After a brief pause, I said in a low voice, "If you have the ability to live well, who would pin their dreams on a place where there are no roots and no leaves?"

Ping Ge pointed at me, shook his head and smiled bitterly. I knew he really hoped I would agree with what he said, but Dali was Wang Lei's last dream before she died. Whether it was good or bad, I didn't like others saying it like that.

...

After a quick lunch, Ping took me to Karon Beach to see the villa that was urgently for sale. After inspecting it in person and referring to the market price, I felt that the villa was worth investing in, but funding became the biggest problem we faced.

(End of this chapter) (https:)

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