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

At this moment, my heart was like the sea being battered by a hurricane, with wave after wave crashing against the surface. I thought it really was a message from Lu Jia, but when I opened it, I instantly felt sullen again.

No one in this world understands Lu Jia better than me. She is not someone who likes to drag things out. Since she has decided to break up, she will not give me a chance to keep in touch. So how could she be moved by my few words and reply to my message?

I'm so pathetic. We've come this far, and I'm still clinging to the illusion that she'll change!

I lit a cigarette, looked around blankly, and then looked down at the message from that familiar number: "Are you an idiot? Sending me these random messages every other day, what did I do to offend you?"

Although Lu Jia is realistic, she is very well-mannered, so she would not swear like that. The only explanation is that the mobile company sold the canceled number to someone else.

Disappointed and furious, I yelled at him/her in the infinitely constructed virtual world, "You're the fucking idiot! Can't you just pretend to be dead and shut up?"

"Can't you just act like a pushover and not post it?"

"I'm unhappy, so what's wrong with sending a message to my ex-girlfriend?"

"You're such a stupid idiot! She's your ex-girlfriend, and you're still coming here to gain sympathy!"

Even now, I haven't fully recovered from the breakup. I'm not clear-headed enough, so I felt severely insulted and yelled again, "You son of a bitch, wanna fight?"

After sending the message, I was amused by my own anger... I had actually vented my anger on a complete stranger, and every word I said was so irrational and low-class. I acted as impulsively as a greenhorn who hadn't even started navigating the world yet!

Perhaps this is the virtual world of the internet, where you can do anything and say anything without paying any price, which is why people can so recklessly reveal the worst aspects of human nature, especially since he (or she) started the insults.

The other party quickly replied: "Please make sure you know the other person's gender before you arrange a fight, okay?... I seriously suspect you have bipolar disorder and a congenitally toxic personality!"

I was taken aback because I hadn't expected the other person to be a woman, which further diminished my desire to continue the argument. In the end, I simply replied, "You insulted me first."

"So you really don't like to suffer losses! ... But don't you think your behavior is really stupid? ... She's your ex-girlfriend, what does she have to do with you anymore? ... Heh, if I were your ex-girlfriend, seeing these things you posted, I would only despise you even more, and I wouldn't have a single bit of sympathy for you."

"Just fucking block me already, stop provoking me, I'm getting really angry..."

"You idiot, why didn't you block me? I wanted to curse you out a few more times!"

I took a deep drag on my cigarette, my mind a jumble of emotions, and after a long while, I replied, "Leave something to hold onto, in case I can't get through the rest of the day."

She didn't reply to my messages, and I don't know if she'd blocked me. I didn't bother her anymore. I just felt completely drained, so I went to the fridge, grabbed a bottle of Lao Cun Zhang liquor, and since I didn't have anything to go with it, I just diluted it with water and drank it all…

……

The next morning, Lao Huang called me and said they had already set off back to Shanghai. This time, they didn't fly, but instead drove Yang Sisi's Land Cruiser. Xiao Bao, on the other hand, flew directly from Kunming to study abroad...

It seems they're serious this time, determined to leave Yang Sisi destitute. I, however, breathed a sigh of relief, because this matter is finally over. At least Yang Sisi can stay in Dali for a year without much worry. I just don't know how she'll manage to survive here.

Is he going to continue making a living by selling ethnic clothing in the old town, just like before?

If she can really stick to this for a year, I'll have to really admire her.

……

Around noon, Tie Nan called me and invited me to lunch at Bai Lu's bar, mainly to discuss taking over Zhao Jing's Inn. He said he had already raised 20 yuan, and now all that was left was for Bai Lu to invest.

I rushed to Bailu's bar without wasting a moment. At that moment, not only Tie Nan was there, but even the ever-unpredictable Coach Ma was there, but Bailu was not at the bar.

Before I could even sit down, I asked Tie Nan, "Weren't you here to talk to Bai Lu about investing? Where is she?"

"She went to a meeting at the tourism bureau; she should be back soon."

"Does she work for the tourism bureau?"

Coach Ma replied, "She just held a sinecure."

I nodded, and I roughly understood what was going on. After all, her uncle was a leader in the tourism bureau, so finding her a sinecure shouldn't be too difficult.

After I sat down, I continued chatting with them about the inn. I said to Tie Nan, "We've already started this, there's no turning back now. Let's talk about our roles and responsibilities."

Tie Nan nodded and asked, "What did you do for a living before you came to Dali?"

"I work in product development... In short, I'm responsible for product research and development, marketing, and operations... My previous company made women's cosmetics; it was a second-tier brand in China." After a brief pause, I added, "If you trust me, I can handle the inn's operations, which aligns well with my previous work."

"No problem. Our principle for working together is to each do what we do best... I'm a chatty person, so I'll be in charge of chatting with the guests."

I stared at Tie Nan in disbelief: "Is this even considered a job?"

Tie Nan laughed and replied, "You really have no experience running an inn. Inns are different from hotels. Inns especially need interaction between the owner and guests, so higher-end inns will have a common area where you can drink tea and chat. Only by chatting well with guests can you improve the positive reviews on those booking websites. If they treat you as a friend, they will also introduce other friends to stay here. You may not see the importance of chatting during peak season, but during the off-season, everyone is really competing on popularity and reputation."

"I've learned something new... This should be considered customer maintenance work."

While wiping the violin, Coach Ma chimed in, "That's the difference between being cultured and uncultured. Look how sophisticated Michael's words are!"

Tie Nan clasped his hands in a fist and said to me, "Please accept my utmost respect. If you hadn't told me, I would have genuinely thought this job was just chatting."

The three of us chuckled, and then Coach Ma offered us cigarettes. After lighting them, we continued our conversation. We planned and did the math, and then we got inexplicably excited. We were already discussing the feasibility of opening branches in other cities, as if we had already made millions from this inn. But that's the downside of a makeshift team; we lacked proper planning and management, and just thought that enthusiasm was all it took to run an inn well.

At this point, Coach Ma poured cold water on the situation, saying, "You two should get the inn open for business first, then you can start complaining!"

Tie Nan and I suddenly woke up, took a deep drag on our cigarettes, and then fell silent... We almost forgot that we had taken over a seaside inn that had been closed for a long time, and when it could reopen depended on the results of the Erhai Lake protection efforts.

……

After a moment of silence, Bailu finally returned. She put down her handbag and said to Tie Nan and me, who were still feeling pessimistic, "I have some amazing news, do you want to hear it?"

We looked up at the White Dew in the same posture...

Bai Lu pointed at Tie Nan and said, "Go quickly and pour me a glass of water. I'll sit down and we can talk slowly."

"Stop keeping us in suspense, drink my freshly brewed premium Pu'er tea."

Bai Lu didn't mind. She took it from Tie Nan, took a sip, and said to us, "I just came back from a meeting at the Tourism Bureau. There's finally some news from there. They said that after discussing with the expert group, they're preparing to gradually select several batches of seaside inns with complete permits to resume operations... The earliest batch could be before November, but there aren't many spots available, only about 30."

I didn't feel it too deeply yet, but Tie Nan, who had already endured almost half a year of the cold winter, was incredibly excited. After giving me a big punch, he exclaimed excitedly, "Your buddy is a real lucky charm!"

"You have good judgment; you chose a fully licensed inn to take over."