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

I stood there watching Ye Zhi in the gradually strengthening sunlight, when I heard Coach Ma say on the phone again: "Don't you have a suitable candidate right beside you? Go find Ye Zhi, such an ethereal woman, she's more precious than a diamond ring... You're not a blockhead, do you really need me to tell you this?!"

I hurriedly hung up the phone, feeling embarrassed, and said to Ye Zhi, "Why are you back again?"

"There's road construction ahead... You haven't answered my question yet."

"I didn't know you had a penchant for eavesdropping on phone calls!"

"You're speaking too loudly."

I then got off the motorcycle and stared at her for a long time...

I tried to comfort myself, thinking that her return and the fact that she brought up the matter was fate. Given the urgency of the situation, I steeled myself and said to her, "Since you're asking, there is something I really need your help with."

"Um?"

I looked around and then said in a cryptic tone, "It hurts to talk standing up, let's find somewhere to sit down."

……

Ye Zhi and I went to the shore where we had met before. After she sat down, I said to her, "I spent several years in Shanghai... You know, for outsiders like us with no connections or special talents, it's basically impossible to establish ourselves there. Over time, many problems become magnified, so my ex-girlfriend, seeing no hope in me, chose to break up with me. After the breakup, she went abroad..."

At this point, I lit a cigarette. After calming down a bit, I continued, "People, after experiencing some pain, always re-examine themselves, so I chose to leave Shanghai. But only I can see my helplessness and difficulties; my parents might not understand. So, to put their minds at ease, I lied to them. I said I was doing quite well in Shanghai, and my relationship with my girlfriend was stable… At first, they didn't suspect anything. But yesterday, all the lies I painstakingly told were exposed. They rushed to Dali, their goal being to bring me back to Shanghai… Tell me, having come this far, is it even possible to go back to Shanghai?"

"Do they even want you to get back together with your ex-girlfriend?"

"clever!"

"So, do you want to get back together?"

I subconsciously looked up at the distant sea. It shimmered with life, but it couldn't hold my meager hope. So, I smiled bitterly and replied to Ye Zhi, "She just left and cut off all contact. Do you think a woman who can be so ruthless would even consider getting back together?...If not, why should I force it?"

"This is a form of escapism."

"What?"

"She's forcing herself to let go of you. Otherwise, what difference does it make whether she keeps in touch? She doesn't love you anymore anyway."

"You mean...she hasn't let me go?"

"At least before going abroad, I hadn't let go..."

I felt a sense of relief, and then I realized that Ye Zhi was right. If she really had no feelings or attachment to me, why would she dress up so beautifully before the breakup, go to my apartment, and make our breakup so ceremonial?

I took a drag of my cigarette, and a sudden wave of disappointment washed over me. I replied to Ye Zhi, "She'll eventually let it go... In her value system, love is definitely not the most important thing. She'll find someone new."

"You know her very well?"

"Hmm... I understand her very well... so when she left, I didn't try to stop her... I think if we're both more decisive, maybe we can preserve some of the good memories from the beginning."

"Maybe."

After a brief pause, Ye Zhi fixed her gaze on me and asked, "So, what do you need me to do?"

"I……"

I stammered, unable to utter a word. Ye Zhi, however, waited patiently…

I decided to make Coach Ma take the blame, and finally gritted my teeth and said, "Coach Ma said that if my ex-girlfriend is a gold ring in my parents' hearts, then after she is lost, they will find another one with diamonds... With this kind of compensation, my parents will feel at peace, and then they will stop nagging me to go back to Shanghai."

"Another lie after the lie has been exposed."

"I have no choice. I don't want to go back to Shanghai even if it kills me, and I don't want to disappoint them... Actually, I really admire Coach Ma, because this is the best solution right now... Would you be willing to help me?"

"First, answer me, why are you so obsessed with Dali? ... I don't think it's anything special, just an ordinary place."

Ye Zhi is truly an extremely intelligent woman, so I didn't need to spell out my thoughts; she understood everything and knew exactly how to help me. But how should I answer her question?

I took a deep drag of my cigarette and finally replied, "The reason you think that way is because you're so wealthy. You can go to any corner of the world and of course you'll find many places better than Dali; you might even think Dali is a flawed city because you can't buy Hermes or Prada... But what about us? We're different from you; our financial situation has already dictated that Dali is the most ideal home we can find, we can't go any further..."

Ye Zhi glanced at me, then turned her gaze to the distant shore of the sea. In the end, she simply shook her head without explaining why she disagreed with my statement.

……

I had almost finished my cigarette when she said to me, "You want me to be the woman you compared to a diamond ring, right?"

"Yes, it's just acting."

"I know it's all acting... but I also feel that Shanghai is the best choice for you... You need to understand, when more people like you start yearning for Dali, Dali has already become another Shanghai... Last year, the price of villas in several areas of Dali was around 8,000 yuan per square meter, but this year it has been driven up to 20,000 yuan by outsiders; I want to ask you, is Dali your paradise, or a paradise for the rich?"

"It's different. We come to Dali for different reasons than the rich people... They come to make money, we come to enjoy life."

"How can someone who doesn't even have a home here talk about enjoying life?"

"The inn is my home... Coach Ma and Tie Nan are my family... You're used to being indifferent, so you can't understand this kind of feeling."

I don't know if this counts as an argument between us, but this conversation made me feel once again the insurmountable class gap. Like I said, because she's rich, she has countless choices in life, which leads to her cold and indifferent way of thinking about Dali…

……

Ye Zhi seemed unwilling to argue with me any further, so she changed the subject and asked, "When are your family members arriving in Dali?"

"They said they would arrive at the train station around 6 p.m. today."

Ye Zhi took out her car keys from her pocket, handed them to me, and said, "Let's have breakfast together first, then take me to the municipal government... Pick me up at the Land and Resources Bureau at five o'clock this afternoon, and we'll go to the train station together."

I could hardly believe what I was hearing, and asked again, "You...you mean you're agreeing to help me?"

"I can help you, because you helped me without expecting anything in return, but you need to think carefully... After you get away with it this time, how long can you keep it a secret? Your method is only treating the symptoms, not the root cause, and I can only help you this once."

"Helping them once is enough. What I need most right now is time. Once they leave, I can focus on running the inn. When the inn is bigger, many problems will be solved."

Ye Zhi remained silent.

I smiled and said to her, "Actually, I really need your help, not just because I have to deal with my parents... You know, my former boss always wanted Sisi to marry his son. He always felt that my staying in Dali was a problem, so he called my dad and exposed my lie... If he knew that I had a girlfriend like you, he would be at ease."

After I finished speaking, I took a deep drag on my cigarette.

Ye Zhi looked at me with a strange gaze, as if asking me: Aren't you tired of doing this?

I'm exhausted, more exhausted than anyone else, but what can I do when I'm caught in this vortex? I can only try to buy myself as much time as possible and then accomplish something that will impress everyone.

……

After a quick breakfast, I drove Ye Zhi's car to the municipal government.

As she unbuckled her seatbelt, I asked her again, "Is it 5 PM when I pick you up from the Land and Resources Bureau?"

"What, you can't find the time?"

I quickly replied, "No, no, it just feels like a dream; I've never done anything so fantastic in my life!"

"This is my first time too... but I really don't have time to talk to you right now."

As Ye Zhi spoke, she opened the car door, then got out with her handbag. I watched her walk into the government building, her figure becoming increasingly blurry in my sight…

In a daze, I gradually got into the role, and I felt like I really had such a girlfriend, and we lived in Dali. Every day, I would drive her to where she needed to go for work, just like right now...

Suddenly, a series of urgent honks sounded from behind. I glanced at my rearview mirror and realized that my car was blocking someone's way. I quickly moved my car. However, when I calmed down again, I couldn't get back into the same state of mind I had been in…

I smiled sheepishly, then reminded myself that this was just another lie brewing after the previous one had been exposed. But does such a beautiful lie truly exist in this world?

Like a group of colorful bubbles shimmering in the sunlight, then drifting away and bursting...