I sat in the yard for a while, then went to the room to get a trash bag and put all the balloons that Zhou San had destroyed into it. The yard was clean now, but it lacked that warm feeling.
I suddenly felt a little afraid to face Wednesday, so before he came back, I went to the old city again. I went to the bar that I co-own with Chen Jin and ia, and asked the waiter for a cup of hot milk that can help me sleep.
Looking around the entire bar, I, Michael, am the one living the healthiest life.
...
The next day, I got up before sunrise. I had a lingering attachment to Dali, especially Erhai Lake, so after breakfast, I took a car to the shore of Erhai Lake. I knew that Ye Zhi must be staying at the hotel in Longkan, so in order to avoid her, I went to "Majiuyi".
"Majiuyi" is no longer the "Majiuyi" of the past. The inns that were once built along the coast have been demolished by the "government" due to environmental protection plans, so the whole area is full of ruins. Tourists can no longer see the beautiful scenery of the past, so they are no longer willing to come. The red-billed gulls that flew here to spend the winter have also abandoned this area because there are no tourists to feed them, and have all flown to the east side of the sea. All these desolations together make the whole of Majiuyi look exceptionally desolate.
I remember when I first came to Dali, Majiuyi was truly beautiful! What impressed me most were the makeshift open-air bars, which provided great convenience for tourists. They could sit by Erhai Lake, drink beer, and listen to long-haired bar singers expressing their feelings and freedom through their songs...
There's really no way around it, because things are bound to change, so there's no such thing as an unchanging "Ma Jiuyi," nor is there such a thing as an unchanging person.
...
I found a rock to sit on, then took out my phone and used the panoramic mode to capture the magnificent Erhai Lake before me.
It's strange, I've never had such patience before. I've been sitting here from morning until noon. I don't even want to eat lunch, I just want to sit here and wait for the sunset.
I'm about to leave Dali. Everyone says Phuket has even better scenery, but I'll never experience the romance and beauty of Dali again, nor will I meet the people I met there.
...
Surprisingly, Cao Bei called me. He said there was something he hadn't finished talking about yesterday and wanted to continue the conversation. He said I could choose any bar or teahouse in the ancient city, but I insisted that he come to "Majiuyi" and asked him to bring me a boxed lunch.
Half an hour later, Cao Bei arrived. He wasn't driving his girlfriend's Maserati, nor was he riding his beloved motorcycle. He was just driving a very ordinary Volkswagen Magotan, which seemed completely out of character for him.
Cars are a favorite topic among men, so as soon as we met, I looked at his Volkswagen Passat and asked, "Is this your car?"
“Someone else left it with my dad, so I took it and opened it.”
As he spoke, he lit a cigarette and then said, "Low-key people like to drive Volkswagens, which is great."
I glanced at the car again and realized I'd misjudged it. It turned out to be a 6-cylinder Volkswagen Phideon, not a Magotan. Just considering the price, it could buy a Mercedes-Benz or a BMW 5 Series. I knew Cao Bei's fondness for Volkswagens mostly stemmed from Yang Sisi, because Yang Sisi very discreetly drove a Volkswagen Scirocco.
He still hadn't truly let go of Yang Sisi, and the woman driving the Maserati was his only second choice.
...
Cao Bei handed me the lunchbox he had brought, then sat down next to me. As I opened the lunchbox, I asked him, "Where's your girlfriend?"
"She went back to Kunming because a friend of hers got married."
After a brief pause, he said to me with a touch of wistfulness, "You might not be the best friend, but you're great for chatting..."
"Why?"
Cao Bei smiled and replied, "I can't really explain why... Maybe it's because we're not the same kind of people, so you can see my strengths and weaknesses from a more objective perspective... I really feel like I've been a failure in my life!"
I chuckled and said, "Your dad is Cao Jinbo. If you say you've failed, how many people from poor families would be choked to death!"
"Hehe... You all think Cao Jinbo is a big shot, but I think the root of my failures in this life is because I have a father like Cao Jinbo... He deprived me of my freedom. I don't love Maserati, I just want a Volkswagen of my own."
Cao Bei took a deep drag on his cigarette and said, "I'm a pretty unreliable person. I like to give up halfway through everything I do, so I only finished half of my university studies before dropping out... I even only smoke half a cigarette. But there are two things I'm willing to risk my life for... Do you know what those two things are?"
"have no idea."
Cao Bei threw the half-smoked cigarette into Erhai Lake, then replied to me, "Before I met Yang Sisi, my greatest love was motorcycles. I saved up all the money I could to buy them. I had a Ninja and a Great Demon. I bought countless modification parts, all to take this hobby to the extreme. I thought I could ride motorcycles forever, but since meeting my current girlfriend, I had to give it up... because she thought riding motorcycles was too dangerous. She mentioned it to my dad at the dinner table, and my dad confiscated all my motorcycles..."
"If she didn't care about you, she wouldn't care whether you lived or died... I think she's a pretty good girl."
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