I never imagined that even though I'm far away in Dali, there would still be temptations 3,000 kilometers away. A product manager's salary is about twice what I used to earn, but even so, I still can't afford a house in Shanghai. If you don't own a house, it's hard to find love, and once you're in that predicament, the humiliation of living without dignity is the most deadly and tormenting thing.
While thinking about all this, I lit a cigarette and almost finished it before replying to Lao Huang's message: "I don't want to go back to Shanghai. Dali is great."
"The GDP of Shanghai and Dali is more than 50 times different. What does GDP mean? It means money. Shanghai is a place where gold is everywhere."
Standing on the land of Dali, I felt a sense of unreality, a feeling that was half real and half dreaming. That's why I particularly resented Lao Huang for laying bare these bloody realities for me. I didn't reply to this message because I knew that only a very small percentage of people could live comfortably in Shanghai, a place overflowing with wealth, while most people would eventually have to leave.
...
I went outside and sat in the empty courtyard, looking around blankly. I didn't even want to text Yang Sisi. I was just thinking about how to open a decent inn here.
It was past midnight when Tie Nan returned to the inn, followed by a young man carrying a guitar, presumably the instructor Ma with the notoriously smelly feet. Instructor Ma was clearly not as talkative as Tie Nan; he silently placed his beer on the table and lit a cigarette in the corner.
Tie Nan then threw a plastic bag of pig's head meat onto the table, reeking of alcohol, and said to me, "Welcome to this decadent, melancholic, lonely, and shameless world. Quickly forget those 'slutty' pains. Tonight, if we don't get drunk, it doesn't count!"
I smiled, then used a lighter to open the beer bottles and handed one to Tie Nan and another to Coach Ma, who was standing to the side. As Coach Ma took the beer, he pulled out a bag of peanuts from somewhere and threw it on the table as well.
...
After we'd drunk half the wine, Tie Nan asked me, "You're planning to stay in Dali long-term, what kind of things do you want to do?"
"I'm thinking of opening an inn here."
Tie Nan gulped down his drink and then asked, "Dude, you're not kidding me, are you?"
"I'm not kidding, I really came here to open an inn."
After I finished speaking, Coach Ma, who hadn't said much until now, finally spoke up: "Opening an inn? You're crazy!"
Tie Nan picked up where Coach Ma left off, saying, "Buddy, I advise you to quickly give up the idea of opening a guesthouse. To protect Erhai Lake, several thousand guesthouses in Dali have been forced to close since last month. The 'government' says it's because they don't meet environmental standards. Before, a guy from Beijing rented a house by Erhai Lake and invested nearly ten million yuan. He was just about to open when it was forced to shut down. Isn't that guy wronged? I heard he sold his house in Beijing to come to Dali and borrowed a lot of money from relatives and friends. Now it's not an exaggeration to say he's bankrupt, is it?"
For a while, many seaside guesthouses in Dali closed down. The most famous one was probably the one owned by Yang Liping, the peacock dancer. It was very stylish. You can check it out on the WeChat official account "Tank's Book Stall" by replying "seaside". There were also many other beautiful guesthouses that closed down, and we can only look at the photos to remember them.
With a sense of doubt, I asked, "If so many guesthouses are closed, where will tourists stay in Dali?"
"There are still some that haven't closed down yet. I heard that the 'government' is encouraging large hotels to set up shop in Dali, but its attitude towards guesthouses is very ambiguous. So opening a guesthouse at this time is tantamount to suicide. You're lucky, after all, you haven't invested any money yet, otherwise you could really lose everything."
I subconsciously looked back at Tie Nan's youth hostel. It had about ten rooms, but they were dark and looked terribly desolate.
I can't comment on this. I just feel that the areas swept away by the policy are practically barren, and this scene is very different from what I imagined before coming here. I subconsciously thought that the nights on the shores of Erhai Lake would be brightly lit by bustling lights...
After a moment of silence, I raised my glass to them to thank them for their reminder, but I was still somewhat disappointed, feeling that I had let Wang Lei down. I hadn't been able to live the life she had imagined after coming to Dali, to change myself, and to build the guesthouse business as she had envisioned.
Perhaps sensing my disappointment, Tie Nan put his arm around my shoulder again and said, "Brother, Dali is a place that doesn't put much pressure on people. Relax. Even if you don't work for a year or two and just drift through life like us, no one will look down on you. Everyone's just like this, no one is any more noble than anyone else."
I nodded, and then Coach Ma spoke up again: "Those who can make money in Dali are just a bunch of pretentious bastards!"
I was surprised. Coach Ma's words were a bit abrupt. I had only inquired about opening an inn, but he brought up those bastards. I felt that he must have had a grudge against one of those bastards, because he seemed almost unable to control his anger when he said that.
Tie Nan didn't respond, and I didn't press the matter further; I'm not one to reopen old wounds. Everyone seemed to have lost their spirits and started drinking in silence. On my first night in Dali, I got quite drunk.
...
Mornings in Dali come later than in Shanghai. I woke up around 6 a.m., and it was just getting light. Even though it was the height of summer, it was still quite cool.
After washing up, I left the guesthouse amidst the snoring of Instructor Ma and Tie Nan. Erhai Lake was just a few hundred meters away. I sat down on a rock; the light was dim, and only the sound of the tide mingled with my thoughts, conjuring up an image of what Erhai Lake should look like. A faint, fishy stench wafting from afar confirmed that this was indeed a lake in need of restoration.
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