As night fell, I sat shirtless on the flat rock. Yang Sisi looked down at me, the atmosphere unsettling. After a moment, she finally spoke, saying, "You have no idea how spectacular the splash you made just now was!"
"Would you believe me if I said I wanted to kill you right now?"
"Xin, your murderous gaze has made me afraid to look you in the eye..."
"Then hurry up and buy me some food to bribe me, I'm afraid I won't be able to control my emotions."
"I have no money, so don't even think about food... If you really want to argue with a woman like me, then just throw me into Erhai Lake too."
I wrung out the water from my clothes, put them on, and stood up from the rocks. I glared at Yang Sisi…
She suddenly became considerate. She took out a men's garment from the pile of clothes she was selling and handed it to me, saying, "It's quite cold in Dali at night, you should wear this."
"Wearing your clothes makes me feel like I have no dignity. I'm not someone who can be easily appeased by a beating followed by a treat... My heart is incredibly cold!"
Yang Sisi sniffed and replied with a wronged expression, "How can you blame me?... I spent the whole day selling clothes in the ancient city today, and not only did I not sell a single item, but I also got chased by the city management officers and fell hard... I was in excruciating pain and felt extremely humiliated. Who knew I would run into you and then kick you when you were down... You say it's normal for me to lose control of my emotions!"
I sniffed and said, "That's quite a tragic story... Don't you live with Ye Zhi? Doesn't she keep an eye on you at all in your daily life?"
"Don't even mention it, she's such a weirdo... Before, she gave me a handbag worth over ten thousand yuan without batting an eye. But this morning, when I asked her to lend me a few hundred yuan for an emergency, she refused... She wanted me to play by the rules and even wanted me to move out of her place... Haha, you said you were ruthless, but I think you're not even a tenth as ruthless as her. You're just a smart aleck, but she's really heartless enough to push me to the brink!"
Yang Sisi's accusations gave me a deeper understanding of Ye Zhi. She seems to be a very principled person, although her coldness can be off-putting. I still replied to Yang Sisi, "You've driven yourself to this dead end... If you feel you can't survive in Dali, go back to Shanghai... There's a bunch of people there eagerly waiting for you to return."
"I would never do something so shameful. If all else fails, I'll just work as a waiter at a bar."
I teased, "Why don't you become a bar hostess? That pays way more than being a waiter!"
“I won’t do anything to harm others… I want to live with dignity in Dali, otherwise I might as well go back to Shanghai and eke out a living.”
I smiled but didn't say anything.
She patted my arm with the back of her hand and said, "I haven't eaten much all day, so could you cook me a little something extra?"
What would you like to eat?
"The more lavish the better, ideally with both wine and meat!"
"Okay, but I can't eat for free..."
Yang Sisi looked at me suspiciously and asked, "What do you mean by this?"
“Eating my food comes with interest… so eat as much as you want later, and pay me back double every penny next week.”
Yang Sisi laughed in exasperation: "This is really something. This is the first time I've ever heard of paying interest on a meal... Should I stand next to you and take a breath of air, and then give you an IOU?"
"You're such a passive person, yet you dare to act tough with me?"
“I’m not being unreasonable, you’re the one bullying me… You make me feel like I’m living under someone else’s roof.”
"Heh, you chose this path yourself. Didn't you consider the consequences before you made that choice?"
Yang Sisi replied with a particularly righteous tone, "How could I not have considered it..." She paused slightly, then her momentum weakened, and her voice became a few decibels lower, "That day, we went to the ancient city together to sell clothes, and the results were pretty good, right? I thought I could make a living in Dali with this business... But who would have thought that before the peak season was even over, business would suddenly go downhill!"
"This is a business that depends on luck; are you really planning to make a living from it?"
Yang Sisi looked at me with a confused expression, and after a long while said, "Let's just take it one step at a time... Anyway, I won't leave Dali."
I shook my head, unsure whether to admire her persistence or pity her plight...
She then said to me, "Are you still going to treat me to dinner? If not, I'm going back to sleep."
I sighed inwardly, then took out my phone from my pocket, intending to transfer 100 yuan to her via WeChat, only to find that the phone was unusable due to water damage. So, I "pulled" out 100 yuan in cash from my pocket and handed it to her, saying, "Spend it sparingly, there won't be a next time."
"oh."
"Then I'm leaving..."
"Um."
I glanced at her again, then turned to leave. Still a little worried, I turned back to her and said, "Go back and buy some disinfectant to clean your wound. It's best not to shower tonight, or the wound might get infected."
"Then give me another hundred yuan."
I was amused by her and asked, "Don't you feel humiliated by cheating me out of money?"
"I cheated with my own skills, why should I feel humiliated?... Besides, I'm in this situation half because of you, don't you bear any responsibility for me?"
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