As the sun set, I stubbed out my cigarette and headed towards the exit. I then saw a group of foreigners dressed in red Tang suits walking out of the airport. This made me feel even more like it was Chinese New Year. I knew these foreigners were in Dali for vacation and wanted to participate in this traditional Chinese festival.
I watched them; most of them were carrying backpacks, laughing and joking, and then they were awestruck by the blue sky and white clouds... This is not a bad thing, because the world is developing, and Dali will increasingly have the aura of an international tourist city.
But, will Dali, several years from now, still be able to fulfill my original intention of coming here as an outsider?
I have no answer. What I hear is that a high-speed rail line will open between Dali and Kunming next year, several more highways will be built, and housing prices have increased several times over. It seems that no one can preserve the original Dali of today. Under such circumstances, it seems even more difficult for outsiders like me to figure out my place.
However, I have no intention of leaving Dali for the time being. I want to give myself more time to witness the changes in this city.
...
Twenty minutes later, I finally saw Ye Zhi dragging her suitcase, but she was slightly different from what I had imagined. She wasn't wearing pure white clothes, but a black and white checkered coat, which seemed to convey a sense of purity while also retaining a sense of mystery... This was quite in line with the image I had always had of her; many times, I really couldn't see through her heart, or rather, she hadn't fully opened up to me... I could accept her secrets, because sometimes being completely transparent isn't necessarily a good thing.
When she was facing me, I smiled and took the suitcase from her... The suitcase wasn't big; it just fit on the footrest of the motorcycle.
I asked her, "Would you like to sit for a while, or leave now?"
"Sit down for a while."
...
Just like last time, Ye Zhi and I sat casually on the flower bed by the roadside. Ye Zhi seemed a little tired, and she subconsciously patted her legs. I didn't say anything or smoke, but I patiently stayed with her, occasionally turning my head to look at her. I felt inexplicably comfortable, like drinking a cup of hot milk on a cold day, which not only warmed my body but also made me feel at ease.
This time, Ye Zhi broke the silence before I did, which was rare for her. She asked, "Do you remember how many times you've come to pick me up from the airport?"
"This is the third time, isn't it?"
"How come I remember this being the fourth time?"
"You have a bad memory."
After saying that, I pulled a cigarette out of my pocket and lit it. Ye Zhi smiled at me, while I racked my brain trying to recall whether it was the third or the fourth time... If we were just friends, of course it wouldn't be worth worrying about; but if one day we developed a closer relationship and I made a mistake, I would definitely be beaten to death... because women are generally very particular, and this is not only related to the number of times, but also evidence of how much they value something.
Ye Zhi suddenly said to me, "Put out the cigarette."
I looked at her with some surprise. In my memory, this seemed to be the first time she had asked me to put out the cigarette I hadn't finished smoking.
Ye Zhi kept staring at me, so I quickly threw the cigarette into the trash can next to me and then awkwardly laughed, "Smoking in public doesn't seem very good!"
How many cigarettes do you smoke a day?
"Not necessarily, around one pack normally."
"Are you out of your mind?"
"Don't lecture me during the New Year... I'll be more restrained in the future, okay!"
"It would be best to quit."
I asked with a laugh, "Is this considered interfering in my life?"
Ye Zhi understood what I meant, so she shifted her gaze from mine and replied softly, "You don't have many people around you who can care for you, so you need to take better care of yourself. I really hope you can develop healthy lifestyle habits."
"Actually, I wanted to tell you this more... You never give yourself time to rest, and now you have gray hair, you know that?"
Women care about their appearance, and Ye Zhi is no exception. She asked somewhat nervously, "Where are the gray hairs?"
"Just kidding... haha... but if you keep going like this and don't pay attention to rest and skincare, you might get wrinkles next year, and those are killers for women!"
Ye Zhi gave me a disdainful look, then fell silent again. She seemed to be lost in thought, or perhaps absent-minded.
After a while, she took out her phone from her coat pocket and pointed the camera at herself and me, but she didn't ask me to get closer so that the camera could capture the image better. So, although we were in the same photo, I only had a blurry profile.
"You seem to really enjoy taking selfies these days!"
"I don't particularly like it, but I think you're right. Sometimes people need to use a camera to remember certain scenes... If I see this photo years later, instead of just recalling it from memory, I might be more likely to remember how I felt at that moment."
I then asked, "So how are you feeling right now?"
Ye Zhi thought for a moment, then replied, "It's like drinking a cup of hot tea when it's cold... I don't care how much time has passed, I just want to remember this warm and thirst-quenching feeling."
I nodded in agreement.
...
After staying there for twenty minutes, Ye Zhi and I left the airport. Just as I expected, she didn't care what kind of motorcycle I was riding, so even though it was a scooter, she didn't ask any questions and readily sat behind me.
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