Under the cool moonlight, I held my phone in one hand, intently reading the short message Yang Sisi had sent: "I picked up the shoes you gave me this afternoon."
Do they have your size in those shoes?
Yes, I wear size 39.
"Your feet are huge!"
"What nonsense are you talking about? I'm 1.7 meters tall, so size 39 is perfectly normal."
"Yes, as long as they have your size."
Why did you give me shoes?
"When you left last time, didn't you give me a pair too? I'm just returning the favor."
About ten minutes later, Yang Sisi replied: "When I went to pick up the shoes today, the sales assistant said... that couples shouldn't give each other shoes as gifts. It's ridiculous, we're not a couple... But I'm still quite unhappy because after hearing what she said, I also feel that shoes have a bad connotation... So, I don't like the gift you gave me."
"Stop talking nonsense!"
"No matter what, I still have a problem with it."
"Then go return the goods... Use the money to treat your friends to a meal. Judging from your appearance, you've troubled your friends quite a bit. You're about to go abroad, so you should hurry up and bribe them to leave a good impression."
"I've never had the habit of returning things since I was a child. If I don't like something, I just throw it away."
If she had actually done that, I would definitely have been unhappy, but I didn't express it; I simply chose not to reply to her messages.
A moment later, Yang Sisi sent another message: "Are you angry?"
"I wouldn't get angry with you over a pair of shoes. What I gave you is yours, so it's your freedom to do with it however you want."
"Haha... If you say that, it proves you're angry... Do you really not know how well I know you?... But, just now when I was throwing the shoe, I had a new idea... Think about it, shoes always come in pairs, neither shoe can live without the other, and they can walk together for a long time, some of these roads are at the foot of mountains, some are by the sea... Isn't that a wonderful feeling?"
"Why does this sound so familiar?"
"Haha... because that's what you said... that sales assistant also told me... Michael, why don't you go and start a pyramid scheme? I really think you're really good at talking. Even the sales assistant has been brainwashed by you. She said that next time anyone says it's inappropriate for couples to give each other shoes, just use your words to refute them."
"This might be talent... but I could never do pyramid schemes, it feels like a waste of my talent."
"Come on, those who run pyramid schemes are living much better lives than you."
"That won't do either; I want to save face for myself."
"Stop joking, have you arrived in Dali yet?"
We arrived in the evening.
"Hmm... I probably won't be in touch much anymore. Take care of yourself over there."
"You too... Remember to study hard and make progress every day."
"Just wait for the day I wear my doctoral cap."
I smiled and then typed back, "I will try my best to live to 90, and I hope to see it in my lifetime."
"You can go die right now... When I'm talking to you seriously, you still insult me like this, is that really meaningful?"
"If I really live to be 90, who knows who will die first between us."
"If I also live to 90, you will definitely be the first to die."
I thought about what it would be like if I were lucky enough to live to 90, and then I felt a sense of weariness with life. I really don't like living to that age alone, with the people I love passing away before me. I can't bear that kind of loneliness, nor do I want to slowly wait to die in that loneliness.
...
Because of insomnia, I felt very listless when I woke up the next day. But because of the time pressure, I forced myself to do a lot of things. First, I bought some bedding on a shopping website, and then I went to a furniture store and bought ten double beds and ten single beds. In order to save costs, I bought all the kind that needed to be assembled by myself. Then I spent the whole morning and noon assembling these odds and ends.
At 12:30, Taozi called me and asked if I had eaten. She said she had made braised pork ribs at home and wanted to bring them over to me.
Around 1 a.m., I temporarily put down what I was doing and sat at the stone table outside the shop, eating the home-cooked meal that Taozi had brought while chatting with her. I said to her with deep feeling, "It's a good thing I still have you in Dali... otherwise I would really be eating takeout every day."
Peach smiled and replied, "I'm free during the day, so I'll take care of your lunch from now on."
"Then I need to pay for my meals."
"Don't try to be all formalities. With our relationship, if you're comfortable giving it to me, I'd be embarrassed to accept it." After a slight pause, Peach asked me again, "Did you go back to Shanghai the day before yesterday?"
How did you know?
"Sisi told me that we've always been in contact."
"Um."
"Where did you go?"
I looked up at Taozi, a little speechless, and then replied after a pause, "Ye Zhi is in the hospital, let's go see her."
Peach smiled and said, "Oh, I see. If you hadn't told me, I really wouldn't have dared to imagine what could have happened, or who could have made you return to Shanghai."
"I really don't want to go back to Shanghai."
"So she must have been very touched, right?"
"What's there to be moved about? We didn't even get to see them!"
"No way?"
I replied truthfully: "Recently, her mental state has been particularly poor. The doctor told her to rest well, so her assistant took away her phone. By the time she got her phone back the next day, I was already on my way to the airport."
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