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

When we arrived at the riverside park, I shared my location with Yang Sisi, and she accepted immediately. I checked the route, and it was only about two or three hundred meters away. I must say, she's really brave, because there was no one around at this time, and the trees and paths in the park created a rather eerie atmosphere.

After going around a bend, I finally saw Yang Sisi lying on the railing, looking half-dead.

I stood beside her and said, "I thought you went to stay at a friend's house."

"I don't want to hear your explanation. Apologize first."

"Where did I go wrong?"

"We're all in the same car. You betrayed your teammates on the very first day. That's unethical and immoral."

"I was just hitchhiking."

"Shanghai is so big, why don't you hitch a ride with someone else? ... Since you were able to get into my car and go so far away, it proves that we are destined to be together. So you are not only unkind and unjust, but you are also wasting our destiny. You have committed a terrible sin."

I smiled and replied, "I'll find you a place to stay first, as an apology. Is that alright?"

"That's more like it. I'll ask you one more time: are you going to take me to Dali or not? I don't have any documents right now. Let alone whether I can drive, finding a hotel is a huge hassle."

"I can't bring it. I've already booked a flight to Kunming for tomorrow morning."

Yang Sisi looked at me, trembling with anger, and then cursed, "You beast, did you have to go this far?"

I laughed and said, "It's not that I'm being ruthless, it's that you're using me... Let's assume that if you had all the necessary documents now, would you still contact me after we've fallen out? So the apology you're asking for now is just a pretext."

"...So tell me, what can I do now? I just want to go to Dali. I originally thought my parents would give in to my tantrums. Honestly, I was so happy the whole way, but they used such a nasty trick. If I go back now, I guess I'll never be able to live my own life in front of them again!"

"So Dali isn't really where you want to go; it's just your way of rebelling against your parents... But is it worth it?"

"It's worth it. Everyone should have a different self... Also, Dali is a place I want to go. I traveled there a few years ago, so I know what kind of place it is. I just love Cangshan Mountain, Erhai Lake, and chatting, singing, and drinking with a group of genuine people in a bar."

Yang Sisi became more and more agitated as she spoke, but I simply replied calmly, "All you're thinking about is how to have fun, but you haven't considered that even in Dali, food, clothing, accommodation, and transportation all cost money... It's fine for someone your age to live a dreamy life, but you no longer have the means to do so because your parents don't support you at all. So where will you get the financial resources to realize the self you want?"

"I……"

I lit a cigarette and calmly watched Yang Sisi, who treated everything as a joke but couldn't refute me at this moment.

Finally, she spoke to me, saying, "You don't need to say so much to me. I'll just go back to Shanghai, okay?"

"Okay, I'll book you a room now, is the Jiangwan International Hotel with the river view the same one as before?"

I'll live wherever you live.

"That was a budget hotel; the facilities were very basic."

"I didn't intend to categorize you into different classes; it's you who's been deliberately excluding me."

……

That night, Yang Sisi stayed in the room next to mine, which allowed me to get to know her in a new light. She was indeed different from those city girls who wore a bourgeois facade and insisted on emphasizing their quality of life. But that didn't mean she could still enjoy life in Dali without a source of income.

Night fell, a strong wind picked up outside the window, thunder rumbled incessantly, and then a torrential rain washed over the unfamiliar city of Wuhan. Amidst the commotion, I too fell asleep. I had heard of Dali before; I'd heard that every outsider who decided to stay there had a story to tell.

I don't know if I count as a man with a story, but I must have gone there with the loneliness left over from the big city. I will miss Wang Lei there, and I will also think of Lu Jia who abandoned me to pursue a better life.

I unlocked my phone and looked through all the photos. My anticipation for Dali grew even stronger, because behind those photos lay my weariness of big cities.

At that moment, I didn't know where Lu Jia was, but I still wanted to talk to her, so I sent her a text message to her now-cancelled number: "After you left Shanghai, I kept thinking about what you took with you and what you left for me. Actually, I know that such thinking is meaningless because the answers are all with you... By the way, after you left, I also left Shanghai. I hope the new city will bring me a different life, and I hope everything goes well for you."

After sending this message, the rain outside the window stopped, and I finally felt sleepy. After a while, I fell asleep, but the quality of my sleep was not good. I had many dreams about the past.

……

The next day, I got up at 5:30 a.m. to check out. Yang Sisi was already sitting on the sofa in the lobby, but she didn't greet me. She walked up to me angrily and handed me her room key.

I asked, "Why didn't you sleep a little longer?"

"I'll take you to the airport. You've been unkind, so I can't be unjust."

"I can take a car myself; it's not far from the airport."

"Stop talking nonsense and check out now."

As Yang Sisi spoke, she handed both room cards from my hand to the waiter. After swiping the cards, the waiter frowned and said, "These two rooms were opened with the same ID card, and one of them did not transmit the registration information to the public security system."

I quickly explained, "My friend forgot to bring his ID card. I already explained the situation to your supervisor last night."

"Now everything is connected to the Public Security Bureau. If we are caught like you, our hotel will be severely punished. Although the regulations have been more relaxed recently, you'd better take your friend to the police station to get a household registration certificate. It will be more convenient for you to stay at other hotels later."

"Thanks."

Then I said to Yang Sisi, "See? Even though I have an ID card, it's not your shield. These days, you even have to go to the police station to get a certificate to check into a hotel. Don't you find that troublesome?"

"No trouble at all, I love this feeling of being on the run... But don't worry, I won't bother you anymore. I'll go back to Shanghai after I drop you off at the airport."

……

At six o'clock in the morning, Yang Sisi drove her Land Cruiser through the streets and alleys under the scorching sun. But as time went by, I felt more and more uneasy, so I quickly took out my phone and set up navigation to the airport, only to find that I was already more than 30 kilometers away from the airport.

With a triumphant smile, Yang Sisi said to me, "Look up at the sign ahead."

I put down my phone and looked out the car window. The sign clearly stated that we were still 500 meters from the entrance to the Hangrui Expressway.

In a panic, I blurted out "Holy shit!" How could I have so easily trusted Yang Sisi, this reckless rich kid? I wasted not only time, but also a plane ticket worth over a thousand yuan.

"Uncle, don't you feel like life is full of surprises? I told you before, I'm a woman who's so persistent that it's outrageous to me. This Land Cruiser is the car you can't get out of. I'm definitely going to Dali... You can drive it when we get on the highway later. I didn't sleep well last night because I was keeping an eye on you."

"Damn it, what is it about me that attracts you?... I must have had the worst luck in the world!"

"Don't flatter yourself. I just need a driver and an ATM to get to Dali. Once we get to Dali, we can immediately stop seeing each other."

I was speechless after her retort, and the car arrived at the tollbooth entrance in the next moment. Yang Sisi quickly took the card and parked the car in the temporary parking area of ​​the highway. She waved the toll card in her hand with a smug look on her face and said to me, "Hmph... As long as you don't give up, there are always more solutions than problems. Your aloof attitude has only strengthened my determination to go to Dali. I won't give up halfway and make a fool of myself in front of you guys... Haha, no wonder people say that travel is the best teacher in life. Now I know how to get a certificate from the police station, so I can stay in a hotel even without an ID card."

……

The sun was getting increasingly blinding. Yang Sisi, seemingly very considerate, handed me my sunglasses and then opened the driver's side door, gesturing for me to enter. I checked the time; it was almost seven o'clock. Even if I rode on wheels, I wouldn't make my flight. Damn it, not only was I tricked by Lao Huang, but I was also tricked by this little brat, Yang Sisi. In that respect, they really are a good family.

Reluctantly, I took the sunglasses from her. She then said to me, "Uncle, I checked the navigation. We should arrive in Fenghuang around dusk. I'd like to stay there for the night and also go to the police station to get a certificate that allows me to stay in a hotel."

After thinking for a moment, she said to me with a mocking look, "It seems there are no trains or planes from Fenghuang to Kunming."

……

Yang Sisi slept the whole way from Hubei to Hunan, only being woken up once by her phone ringing. She glanced at it impatiently and then hung up. Around five o'clock, we arrived at a place called Luxi in Hunan.

Having lived in Shanghai for so long, seeing such a beautiful place was truly refreshing. Yang Sisi was especially excited and insisted that I stop the car on the highway viewing platform so I could take pictures of her.

After finishing my perfunctory task, I leaned on the railing of the observation deck and gazed at the county town surrounded by mountains and rivers. I thought: the housing prices here must be very cheap. If I can maintain the same salary as in Shanghai, then buying a house and surviving here shouldn't be too difficult.

But would there be a woman in this world willing to live with me in such a small county town? There are no Hermes, no LV, no Prada here…

Lost in thought, Yang Sisi nudged me and said, "Uncle, look! There's a car with a Shanghai license plate parked next to ours."

I looked in the direction Yang Sisi pointed and sure enough, a Shanghai-plated Mercedes-Benz G-Class was parked next to the Land Cruiser. A woman wearing sunglasses got out of the car. Just one glance, and her aloof demeanor was unforgettable. Although she was beautiful, beauty or not seemed less important in the face of her unique aura.

I glanced at her again, in the sunset by the lake. I knew this kind of chance encounter might only happen once in a lifetime. Although we were standing here admiring the same scenery for a moment, the next moment we would be worlds apart, never to cross paths again. The reason I looked at her again was because people have an instinctive longing for beautiful things or their own kind, but this longing is different from fantasy. This subtle difference can probably only be understood by those who have experienced it firsthand.