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

As the setting sun gradually hid shyly behind the Cangshan Mountains, Erhai Lake, however, became wild under the evening breeze, and the grass beneath our feet was already soaked by the surging tide...

Taozi had already smoked several cigarettes, while I remained silent. In that silence, I thought of Wang Lei many times, and then at one moment, I felt that it would be nice to live a secluded life with her in Dali for the rest of my life, setting aside worldly opinions.

But the thought of having to face my parents and the public opinion of society shattered that illusion immediately. I had a headache because of it. It seemed that I could be best friends with Wang Lei, like family, but we just couldn't be lovers... At the same time, I also understood that this was not just my inner demon. Everyone would have such an inner demon when faced with this situation, because we are not noble and we are unwilling to be corrupt!

Peach spoke again, her voice sincere yet sorrowful: "Actually, I really want to stay in Dali, but I know I won't meet someone who doesn't mind my past at all. You and Wang Lei are already so close, but you still mind her past. So who else can I expect to accept me so readily?... I might as well wallow in decadence and make enough money!"

"No, your thinking is absolutely wrong... If you still crave love, you should immediately leave this profession and get a proper job or career. First, you need to forget this shameful past so that others won't bring it up or pursue it... Your body may not be completely clean, but your soul can be purified. You can become a normal person again!"

After I finished speaking, I unconsciously clenched my fist, because these were the words I had wanted to say to Wang Lei, but had never been able to say.

"Um……"

After a moment of silence, Peach whispered to me, "Michael, you should go back first. I want to be alone here for a while."

"No problem, but please don't think of this in a negative way..."

"I know... I want to be a normal woman again, but I don't have confidence in myself... Haha, do you believe me? Even though it was only for a day, I really like Tie Nan. I think he's a very interesting man, and quite handsome too... But I'm worried that Dali is making me sentimental, which is why I have this illusion, because he doesn't seem like a very reliable man."

I smiled and replied, "When you become sentimental, it's probably because you've fallen in love... If you don't trust your first instinct, you can go back to Shanghai first. If you calm down and still have these feelings, then you can go back to Dali."

"Do I really have a choice?"

"I can't give you the answer, but you now have the time and space to figure it out yourself."

Peach nodded, and the next moment, I left her and Erhai Lake as night quietly fell...

……

On the way back to the inn, Tie Nan called me and said he wanted to take Tao Zi to a friend's bar tonight. I didn't want to deliberately stop him, so I told him Tao Zi's whereabouts and asked him to pick her up himself.

I don't know what kind of beginning this is, but I do know that if they really fall in love, they will suffer a lot of pain beyond love. This will be a big test for Tie Nan. If he can withstand the pressure and stay with Tao Zi until the end, then he will have done what I couldn't do.

……

Back at the inn, it was unusually quiet. The huge courtyard, ten guest rooms, and a storage room were all occupied by me alone. I knew Coach Ma had gone to Bailu's bar to sing, but I had no idea where that rascal Yang Sisi had gone.

I ate a simple dinner and then lay down on the bed. This was probably the first time since I came to Dali that I had the intention to go to bed early before 10 o'clock. But as soon as I turned off the light and closed my eyes, I felt dizzy all over again, and then all that little bit of sleepiness disappeared.

Suddenly, I felt an overwhelming urge to confide in someone. But there were things I couldn't tell those around me, so I thought of my enemy: the strange woman who had taken Lu Jia's number. She'd already insulted me badly enough, so I didn't mind dissecting my most vulnerable self in front of her. I instinctively felt that we'd never meet, so I didn't care what image she had of me.

This time, I took the initiative to send her a message: "I have a female friend, but I can't figure out what my feelings are for her."

"There is no such thing as pure friendship between opposite sexes in this world."

"so what?"

"So you're a complete scumbag... Do you remember the messages you sent me before? You said you missed your ex-girlfriend, but now you suddenly have this ambiguous female friend. Do you really think you're so popular with the opposite sex?!"

"My ex-girlfriend dumped me, so why am I the scumbag?"

"Then go and get together with that female friend you're having an ambiguous relationship with."

"She's gone...died in an accident!"

The other person was probably a little surprised, so it took them a long time to reply: "If she's doing well, would you be with her?"

"This is what's keeping me up at night... She's the most sincere woman in the world to me, but my ex-girlfriend left me because I was poor."

"Heh, then why don't you choose someone who's sincere to you, instead of clinging to a woman who looks down on you for being poor?"

I turned on the bedside lamp and lit a cigarette in the dim light, but it didn't sober me up. So, it wasn't until I was almost finished with the cigarette that I replied, "She works in a nightclub..."

"Hahahahaha..."

"Why are you laughing like a 100-pound idiot?"

The other person inexplicably stopped replying, but I felt a little better. I'm sharing this not to get advice or anything like that; I don't need it. Wang Lei is gone. All those things that bothered me were just nonexistent, false questions. All I wanted was to vent. I didn't want to be a heartless man in front of Wang Lei, and her sincerity truly touched my heart. Otherwise, I wouldn't have given up Shanghai and traveled all the way to Dali.

……

It was already midnight, but I was finding it increasingly difficult to fall asleep. So I put on my coat and went to the platform where I often used to meditate. I hadn't been sitting there for long when Yang Sisi returned. She quietly opened the courtyard gate and tiptoed inside, but I saw her all of this...

I yelled at her, "What are you doing, coming home so late?!"

Startled, Yang Sisi pounded her chest repeatedly, then picked up a pebble from the flowerbed and hurled it at me, yelling, "You scoundrel, are you trying to scare me to death?"

I dodged him and retorted, "If you weren't guilty, who could scare you... You better tell me honestly, what exactly did you do?... Do you really not respect my military-style management system? What the hell is that time?!"

"Military my foot! I came back so late because of the task you assigned me."

"Then why were you acting so suspiciously?"

"I was just worried about disturbing your rest, okay?"

"There's no one else in the entire inn except me."

Yang Sisi immediately straightened up and laughed contemptuously, "So you're the only single dog here."

"You talk as if you're not single."

"But I have friends... unlike you, holed up in the inn all by yourself, living a life worse than death!" Yang Sisi said as she came up the stairs to my side, and I then noticed that she was holding a folder in her hand.

She tossed the folder in front of me and said, "Today, I visited about ten photography studios. This is their client information for the next week. Please screen it and see which clients you'd like them to bring to our inn for a photoshoot... I told them that these photos are for promotional purposes, so we can't bring clients who aren't good-looking. They asked us to screen them first, and then we'll confirm with them."

"Are you always this assertive when negotiating with others?"

"Of course, I'm so beautiful, all those photographers are so charming, which one of them wouldn't want to date me? So of course they have to lower their standards in front of me."

I was speechless, but then she picked up the folder and slapped me hard across the face, saying, "How could you do this to me? I'm selling my body here!"

"I just told you to make normal contact, who told you to sell your body?"

"But they only agreed to this because I'm pretty... and several of them have asked me out to dinner, saying that if I don't agree, they won't either."

"You agreed to everything?"

"They all agreed... but I'm not stupid. I've decided to bring you along when I have dinner with them, so they won't try anything with me, and they'll understand that this is all a honey trap."

I assumed she was joking, so I didn't say anything more, but I took the folder from her. The moment I opened it, I felt a mix of amusement and exasperation, because she had made special notes on the information of every photography studio owner who had ill intentions towards her.

In that instant, I felt I had truly wronged her, and then a surge of urge to be kinder to her welled up within me…