I'll wait for you amidst the romance of nature.

It was a fruitful night. My judgment was correct; Yang Sisi had indeed been taken in by Ye Zhi. The reason she hadn't heard my knocking was because she was hiding under the covers, watching a horror movie with headphones on. She had vaguely heard the knocking, but in that eerie atmosphere, she assumed it was a ghost. She never imagined that someone would suddenly appear in a closed inn, especially since the door was locked. Therefore, Ye Zhi, sharing the same thought, wasn't on guard. Actually, her semi-enclosed balcony was covered by curtains!

After Ye Zhi put on her pajamas, Yang Sisi called me into their room. I don't know if it was intentional, but she had a gloomy face and said to me, "You look like a very proper person, but you're actually quite promiscuous... So, tell me, do you want us to call the police, or do you want to surrender yourself?"

"I choose to surrender!"

"Sit down in the chair."

As Yang Sisi spoke, she picked up an office chair from beside the table. I smiled and said to her, "Is this to treat prisoners well?... If you bring some late-night snacks, I'll really like this place."

"How could you not be thrilled!?... Sit down right now."

I sat down in the chair, but before I was even settled, Yang Sisi found a large roll of transparent tape from somewhere, placed my hands behind the chair, and began wrapping the tape around my body.

"What are you trying to do?...Using vigilante justice is illegal."

"When you do such a lewd thing, are you afraid of breaking the law?... "

I argued logically: "There was a layer of foam floating on top of the bathtub, I didn't see anything, how is that vulgar?"

"If you saw this, you wouldn't be able to..." she said, quickly securing me to the office chair with transparent tape. Then she continued, "Michael, Michael, you've truly reached new heights of scum... You not only like to deceive, but you also hit women, and now you're spying. Tell me, what else wouldn't a heartless beast like you do? Don't you know that even rabbits don't eat the grass near their burrows, yet you repeatedly extend your evil claws to those around you who used to have feelings for you... If I could be any more ruthless, really, even the Ten Great Tortures of the Qing Dynasty wouldn't be too much for you!"

Before I met you, I was named one of the company's top ten employees every year. After I met you, I haven't had a single good thing happen to me...

"You're a completely crooked person from head to toe, and you still have the nerve to blame me? Did I ask you to spy on Sister Ye Zhi?"

"I wasn't spying."

"You've attempted to peep... You'd better behave yourself and let me tie you up, or I'll really call the police and have them deal with you."

When I tried to struggle, I found it was too late, and I could only smile bitterly to myself. This time, I truly kept my word in front of Yang Sisi; I chose to surrender. My choice wasn't because I was cowardly, but because I felt that resolving the resentment between Yang Sisi and me in this way might be the best option.

She's the kind of person who always seeks revenge. But I don't think she'd really dare to do anything to me. At most, it's just a prank with a bit of punishment involved. I'll have to obediently untie me later and let me go. Because even if she agrees, Ye Zhi won't allow me to stay here overnight.

Thinking about it, I glanced at Ye Zhi, who had been standing silently in the corner, and said to her, "I know I acted very rashly today, but I really had no choice. I knocked on the door, but you didn't respond. I was worried something might happen to you alone, so I thought I'd go check on the balcony next door..."

"Tell me first what you're here for?"

I looked at Yang Sisi and replied, "It's all because of her! Her uncle, who is also my former boss, called me again, telling me I absolutely had to find her... I figured she might be staying here, so I came over to check. But after knocking on the door for ages, no one answered, so I climbed over the wall myself, and lo and behold, she was actually here!"

"It's quite lonely living here all by myself, so I let her move in too."

"Can we let this go? I really didn't mean to."

Just as Ye Zhi was about to speak, Yang Sisi interrupted, "Don't listen to him. This guy is rotten to the core. Have you ever seen someone come looking for someone dressed like this? He's just here to molest them."

Ye Zhi glanced at my trousers, which were almost torn to the crotch, then quickly looked away and said to Yang Sisi, "Teach him a lesson."

"Alright, I've disliked him for a long time."

As Yang Sisi spoke, she took out the air conditioner remote from the storage box, turned on the cold air, and pushed me to a spot where the air vent was directly in front of me. Then she said to Ye Zhi, "I heard there's a late-night diner in the ancient city that makes particularly delicious braised pork rice. I'll treat you to it... Let this bastard eat air conditioning, so he won't lose his temper and do all these outrageous things."

Ye Zhi nodded and replied, "Let's go, after we finish eating, let's find a bar to sit in for a while."

"Hey, hey, hey, Your Majesties, can you please stop playing around like this? People could really die."

"The more scourges like you die, the more peaceful society will be."

After Yang Sisi finished speaking, she took her handbag. Ye Zhi didn't hesitate either; she even left the room before Yang Sisi, showing she was quite a formidable character. I was freezing cold, and I shouted at their retreating backs, "Please take me to the police station... I'm willing to accept legal punishment!"

Nobody paid any attention to me. My voice echoed in the empty room. I was really starting to feel scared. I was afraid I wouldn't make it until they came back because the air conditioning was so damn cold!

……

After they left, I kept trying to move around. Even though I was away from the air vent, the temperature in the room dropped, and I was still shivering from the cold. At that moment, I really wanted to strangle Yang Sisi. How could she come up with such a vicious idea? It seems she's done a lot of harm to people before.

I endured it all, persevering until I felt I couldn't take it anymore and wanted to call for help. Then I heard footsteps outside the door, followed by the voices of Yang Sisi and Ye Zhi. It felt like an eternity had passed.

They opened the door, and Yang Sisi came in first. Shivering, she smiled and said to me, who was almost frozen, "When I went out just now, I was worried that if I took the electricity card, the air conditioner would turn off, but I didn't expect that the air conditioner has its own power supply... See, even God couldn't stand it anymore and wanted to punish you, right?"

"Let go of me right now... then go get me a glass of hot water. I might be able to talk to you calmly later, otherwise..."

"What else should we do?"

I sneezed loudly and replied, "Or... let's all die here together, none of us should die!"

"Oh, you still have the energy to take us all down with you? Looks like you haven't been tied up enough... I was going to untie you now, but I've changed my mind. I've decided to go eat another popsicle. I love the feeling of watching the villain get their just desserts while eating a popsicle—it's so refreshing!"

After Yang Sisi finished speaking, she went to the refrigerator and took out two popsicles. She handed one of them to Ye Zhi, and then the two of them wrapped themselves in blankets, sat on the sofa, and ate and chatted, talking about Harbin, Siberia, and other place names that sounded very cold.

I was furious, but I didn't have the power to transform. In the end, I had no choice but to recognize the situation and plead, "Your Majesties, I have elderly parents and young children to support. Please have mercy on me. I promise I will keep a low profile in front of you from now on and never dare to go against you again."

Yang Sisi was filled with hatred and didn't want to let me off the hook. Ye Zhi, however, was more sensible than her. She said to Yang Sisi, "Don't let him get too cold. You should talk to him about serious matters. After all, those who oppose you are your closest family members. Your issues need to be resolved. Wouldn't it be better if there was a peaceful solution that everyone could accept?"

Yang Sisi's momentum immediately deflated, and she seemed troubled by the family relationship that had not improved for so long. She said to me, "You had better bring good news, otherwise you'll suffer more."

"In times of war, envoys are not to be killed. Why are you targeting me like this? Aren't I being unfairly treated?"

"You call yourself an envoy? You're nothing but a lackey. Who knows how much you've skimmed off of them?"

I felt inexplicably annoyed and replied, "Stop looking down on me. Do you think I'm the kind of person who can be bought off? The reason I did this is because I felt there were better ways for you two to communicate. After all, we're family, and there's no need to resort to violence."

"Then tell me, why did they send you to see me? Are they still hoping I can study abroad?"

This time, I answered truthfully: "They didn't give me a clear answer, they just said they wanted to talk to you again... but their attitude wasn't as firm as before."

"So do you think there's any point in discussing this?"

"I think... Anyway, since you absolutely refuse to go back, they can't do anything about it! The reason they still want to talk to you is probably because they hope you can give them an answer and convince them that your choice to stay in Dali is no worse than studying abroad."

Yang Sisi frowned at me, and after a long pause, replied, "I didn't want things to turn out like this either... You started this whole thing, so you're the one who has to come up with the reason... If you can resolve our family conflict this time, I'll choose to forgive the awful things you did before."

"If I had that kind of eloquence and ability, would I be being tied up and humiliated like this by you?"

My words seemed to remind Yang Sisi of something. She actually took out her phone from her pocket and started taking pictures of me while saying, "It's good that you feel ashamed. I'll take a few pictures of you now to blackmail you later. Just imagine, if your friends in Dali knew that you were tied up by two women for spying late at night, they'd laugh their heads off!"

"You might as well just kill me."

"It's not too late to kill you after we've used you to your fullest extent."

……