After arriving at the market, at Yang Sisi's insistence, I bought a piece of Dali Nuodeng ham, which is very famous, and then bought some green peppers, tofu, eggs, and other vegetables. I felt that it was enough for four people before I prepared to leave.
Unexpectedly, Yang Sisi stopped at a barbecue ingredients stall and said to me, "We've been in Dali for a while now and haven't had any barbecue yet. How about we have barbecue tonight... and drink some 'Wind, Flower, Snow, and Moon' beer? How wonderful!"
I've always enjoyed the atmosphere of barbecue, so when Yang Sisi suggested it, I agreed. I said to her, "You choose, I'll go to the supermarket over there and buy some beer."
"Okay... By the way, could you contact Sister Ye Zhi and ask her to come over for dinner tonight? Also, tell her that I've found a place to stay."
Why don't you contact her yourself?
“I’m angry with her right now, so I’m not going to contact her first.”
I smiled helplessly, then took out my phone from my pocket. After finding Ye Zhi's contact list on WeChat, I sent her a voice message request.
She answered after a while, and then, sounding a little sleepy, asked me, "Is something wrong?"
In my memory, she shouldn't be the kind of woman who likes to sleep in late, so I was a little surprised. But I didn't want to seem too concerned about her private life, so I put aside my doubts and said to her, "Are you free tonight? Come to our inn for barbecue."
I'm in Shanghai.
I was slightly surprised and replied, "I saw you yesterday morning. When did you get back?"
"My flight was yesterday afternoon... There's a rather urgent contract that I need to go back and sign in person."
I was a little disappointed, but there was nothing I could do to force it, so I replied, "Oh... then let's make it up another time."
"Um."
"Then I won't disturb your rest... You can continue sleeping."
"etc……"
"What's wrong?"
My interruption seemed to have banished Ye Zhi's sleepiness, and she asked me, "Has Sisi found a place to stay?"
I was immediately launched into a long-winded reply: "Don't even mention it. She came to work as a receptionist at our inn. I just felt that this was really inappropriate. She should find something to do on her own. Now she's working at my inn. What are her parents going to think? But my partners are extremely happy about it. They're determined to keep her here no matter what. I really had no choice but to accept it passively."
Ye Zhi paused for a moment, then said, "She's just earning her own living there too. As long as you don't give her any extra treatment, the effect will be the same."
That's what they say...
I was just about to tell Ye Zhi about my troubles when I heard her other phone ring. After apologizing to me, she ended the call. I stood there for a while before I came to my senses and started to complain about Yang Sisi.
I'm not afraid of anything else, except that Lao Huang might turn against me because of this... I suddenly felt like I'd had enough, because it seemed like I was going to have to find another way to deceive Lao Huang. But I can't keep living in this cycle of deception and being deceived. I came to Dali seeking a simple and free life, but the current situation seems to have deviated from my original intentions.
...
Back at the guesthouse, Tie Nan and I cooked lunch together. After we finished eating, we weeded the yard. That evening, we set up a barbecue grill in the yard and brought out everything we wanted to grill and some beer. The atmosphere really got lively when Tie Nan put the charcoal into the grill…
We sat around the barbecue grill, drinking beer and eating meat skewers, enjoying the breeze blowing from Erhai Lake... Not only that, the ambient lighting that was already installed in the guesthouse also created a dreamlike atmosphere throughout the courtyard...
Tie Nan said that this is the life that should be lived in Dali. If you come to Dali and are still held back by the troubles of the mundane world, then your trip to Dali will have been meaningless.
I'm conflicted, yet undeniably, in this moment filled only with eating, drinking, and having fun, I truly found the feeling Wang Lei described. My circle of friends is now devoid of realists like Lao Huang and Lu Jia; only Yang Sisi, Tie Nan, Bai Lu, and Coach Ma remain—friends who seem to exist only in a dream.
Before we knew it, we'd already downed two cases of "Wind, Flower, Snow, and Moon" beer, and we'd become quite talkative. Tie Nan said to me, "Our inn is all set now, just waiting for the right opportunity. I bet if we can make it into the first batch of inns to reopen, we can recoup half our investment in just three months before the Lunar New Year..."
Coach Ma replied, "Do you even need to tell me? There are only 30 seaside inns that have reopened, which clearly means market demand exceeds supply. We won't need to do any advertising; customers who want seaside rooms will come to us on their own."
Tie Nan smiled and said, "Believe it or not, if we can really make this happen, and we offer a transfer fee of 2 million, there will definitely be a bunch of people fighting over it."
Before I could react, Coach Ma replied, "Don't get any ideas about making quick money. It's not easy for us to find a decent place to live here... Just work hard and treat this place as your own home."
I then realized what was happening and said, "Instructor Ma is right. If we're thinking about making a fortune from the transfer fee right now, we're essentially selling off Bai Lu's social resources and connections. What contribution would we make then? ... Let's focus on making the inn a success and expanding it. We absolutely cannot let it become a one-off deal."
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