When Yang Sisi was determined to hide, I didn't have many options, so I put down my phone in a strong sense of powerlessness, and then stared blankly at the night view outside the balcony.

After a long while, I took the car key she had left behind out of my pocket. I just played with it for a moment, and then a heavy feeling came from my chest. I really wanted to open up a hole in my body and cleanse my filthy self.

I feel so awful!

I hated that after making a decision, I suddenly encountered an irreversible situation, so I slammed the car keys on the table and took another deep breath...

I don't know how much time passed before I gradually calmed down, and then I called Chen Jin, who was far away in Shanghai.

After waiting for a short while, he answered the phone and asked me, "Is something wrong?"

"Are you busy these days? If not, come to Dali."

"It's almost Chinese New Year, why do you want me to go to Dali?"

“My driver’s license was revoked, so I need someone to drive me back. I have a Bentley here, which my cousin needs for his wedding. Otherwise, I don’t want to trouble you, so I’ll just fly back myself.”

Chen Jin was taken aback at first, then said, "I don't understand. Didn't you leave with Sisi?...Where is she?"

I replied in a seemingly calm tone, "She had something come up and can't go."

"Oh, she cares about your affairs more than anyone else. If she's not going, something serious must have happened to her, right?"

"Enough of this nonsense, just tell me if you have time."

"I'm too busy, I really don't have time, and I've already booked a flight back to my hometown for New Year's Eve... We're in the same boat, I haven't been home for Chinese New Year for several years either!"

"Alright, I'll think of another way."

Just as I was about to hang up, Chen Jin quickly said to me, "Don't hang up yet... You rarely call me, let's chat for a bit."

"Um."

After a brief silence, Chen Jin asked me, "Did you meet Nicole when you went back to Dali this time?"

"I saw him."

Is she alright?

"You have her contact information, why don't you just ask her directly?"

"You have no idea how unbearable this is. I've been sending her messages, but she hasn't replied to a single one, and she doesn't answer my calls... I wouldn't be surprised if she blocked me one day, but I really don't know why she would do that... I, Chen Jin, have never wronged her, have I?!"

"She doesn't want to get entangled with you anymore; she's already planning to marry Cao Xue."

A deathly silence fell on the other end of the phone, but for some reason, as an observer, I felt absolutely no emotional reaction. Perhaps it's because, in matters of the heart, I'm a far greater failure than Chen Jin; I'm immersed in my own pain every day.

When you're suffering, you become numb and indifferent. How can you empathize with the pain of others?

Chen Jin finally spoke up: "Does she have a future with Cao Xue?... He's just a thug!"

“There’s no need to say such harsh things… I think Nicole is a sensible woman. She’s willing to entrust her life to Cao Xue, so she must have her reasons… She told me that you like to wander and have no fixed abode, maybe because you feel insecure with her.”

"Come on... I came to Shanghai not to live a life of debauchery, I came to work hard... Would she die if she waited for me?... I've already made up my mind, after the New Year I'll go back to Dali and buy a house, location and type of house, she can choose whatever she wants... Why can't she just wait a little longer!?"

Chen Jin was initially furious, then gradually became depressed, finally letting out a long sigh... He didn't know where he had failed, just like me.

At this moment, we are two disheartened men. He is looking at the skyscrapers of Shanghai; I am looking at the Cangshan Mountain and Erhai Lake in Dali... His view is hazy and dreamlike, while mine is dark and gloomy, but our feelings are the same.

I heard Chen Jin lighting a cigarette again. Just when I thought he would complain to me again, he silently hung up the phone, seemingly having accepted the fact.

Ironically, none of us, a group of people so deeply in love, ended up with a happy ending...

It's truly a strange phenomenon. Why can't the free and beautiful Dali nurture love that lasts from beginning to end? So, have we let this land down, or has this land controlled us? Or perhaps, what we're pursuing is just a fleeting, ephemeral pleasure, so we don't care so much about the ending, and that's the essence of this place...

Yes, behind the romantic and frivolous facade, whoever takes things seriously first loses!

...

The next day, I was awakened by a nightmare. I dreamt that I had the ability to fly, and I flew all over the world in order to find Yang Sisi. I finally found her on the top floor of a tall building.

She didn't believe I flew here, saying I was always lying to her, and insisted I show her. So I jumped off the top floor... But halfway there, I suddenly lost the ability to fly, crashed heavily to the ground, and then woke up in extreme fear.

I quickly washed my face with cold water and then checked the time. It was 7:30 in the morning, the time of sunrise in Dali.

I lit a cigarette and sat on the balcony, waiting for the sunrise and also for the outcome...

Whether Cao Jinbo will be brought to justice depends on the changes at the airport. I believe that the police, represented by Wang Xiaoling, have made the most thorough arrangements.

But for some reason, I felt a vague unease, though upon closer examination, I couldn't think of any possible problem. If Cao Jinbo were to hand over such crucial evidence to anyone, An'an would undoubtedly be the first choice.

Under such intense pressure, Cao Jinbo also had the motivation to transfer the evidence abroad. After all, such important information would be much safer abroad than in China.

...

In a state of anxiety, it was 8:15 in the morning. It was at this moment that I received a call from Wang Xiaoling, and a sense of tension, as if everything hinged on this moment, immediately welled up inside me. Of course, I hoped that what I was waiting for would be good news, because it would mean that I could finally let go of my obsession; it would also mean that An'an had performed meritorious service, and regardless of whether she was implicated by Cao Jinbo later, she could basically escape unscathed.

I instinctively held my breath, then asked Wang Xiaoling, "How did it go? Did you get any evidence?"

Wang Xiaoling's silence suffocated me. I suddenly loosened my grip and started breathing heavily, but I still had a sliver of hope that I would hear "everything went well" from her mouth!

(End of this chapter)