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

I never imagined that even though I'm already far away in Dali, I would still be tempted by something from 3000 kilometers away. Of course, I know that the company I used to work for had a strict salary system, so a product manager's salary was about twice what I used to earn, but even so, I still couldn't afford a house in Shanghai or marry a woman from Shanghai.

I'm not saying that the meaning of my life in Shanghai must be measured by buying a house, but in a city like that, if you don't own a house, it's hard to find love. And once you fall into such a predicament, the humiliation of living without dignity is the most deadly and torturous thing.

Wang Lei saw through this before I did, which is why she desperately tried to persuade me to leave Shanghai.

While thinking about all this, I lit a cigarette and only replied to Lao Huang's message when I was almost finished: "I don't want to go back to Shanghai. Dali is great."

"The GDP of Shanghai and Dali differs by more than 50 times. Do you know what GDP means? It's real money. Shanghai is the place where gold is everywhere."

Ever since I stood on the land of Dali, I've had a dreamlike, unreal feeling, which is why I particularly resent Lao Huang for laying bare these bloody realities for me to see.

I didn't reply to the message because I know that only a very small number of people can live a truly enjoyable life in Shanghai, a place where gold is everywhere, and some people will eventually have to leave.

……

After ending the call with Lao Huang, I got out of bed and sat in the empty courtyard, looking around blankly. I couldn't even think of sending Yang Sisi a message. I was just thinking about how to open a decent inn here.

Around midnight, Tie Nan finally returned to the inn, followed by a young man carrying a guitar, presumably the instructor with the stinky feet.

Coach Ma was clearly not as talkative as Tie Nan. He silently placed his beer on the table and lit a cigarette in the corner.

Tie Nan then threw a plastic bag of pork head meat onto the table after him, and then, reeking of alcohol, said to me, "Welcome to this decadent, melancholic, lonely, and shameless world... Quickly forget those stinky pains, tonight we don't count if we don't get drunk!"

I smiled, then used a lighter to open the beer bottles and handed one to Tie Nan and another to Coach Ma, who was standing to the side. As Coach Ma took the beer, he pulled out a bag of peanuts from somewhere and threw it on the table as well.

……

After we'd drunk half the wine, Tie Nan asked me, "I see you're planning to stay in Dali long-term. What are you planning to do after that?"

"I'm thinking of opening an inn here."

Tie Nan gulped down his drink, then asked, "Dude, you're not kidding me, are you?"

"I'm not kidding, I really came here to open an inn."

After I finished speaking, Coach Ma, who hadn't said much until now, finally spoke up: "Opening an inn? Are you crazy!"

Tie Nan picked up where Coach Ma left off, saying, "Buddy, I advise you to quickly give up the idea of ​​opening a guesthouse. Since last month, thousands of guesthouses in Dali have been forced to close down, the government says it's to protect Erhai Lake… Before, a guy from Beijing rented a house by Erhai Lake and invested over ten million yuan. He was just about to open when it was forced to shut down. Isn't that guy wronged? I heard he sold his house in Beijing to come to Dali and borrowed a lot of money from relatives and friends. Now it's fair to say he's bankrupt, isn't it?"

With a puzzled look, I asked, "With so many guesthouses closed, where will tourists stay in Dali?"

"There are still some that haven't closed down... And I heard that the government is now encouraging large hotels to set up shop in Dali, but its attitude towards guesthouses is very ambiguous. So opening a guesthouse at this time is tantamount to suicide... You're lucky, after all, you haven't invested any money yet, otherwise you could really lose everything."

I subconsciously looked back at Tie Nan's youth hostel. It had about ten rooms, but they were dark and looked terribly desolate.

I can't comment on this. I just feel that the areas swept away by the policy are practically barren, and this scene is very different from what I imagined before coming here. I subconsciously thought that the nights on the shores of Erhai Lake would be brightly lit by bustling lights...

After a moment of silence, I raised my glass to Coach Ma and Tie Nan to thank them for their reminder, but I was still somewhat disappointed because I felt I had let Wang Lei down. I hadn't been able to live the life she had envisioned after arriving in Dali, to transform myself, and to build the guesthouse business as she had imagined.

Perhaps sensing my disappointment, Tie Nan put his arm around my shoulder again and said, "Brother, I think Dali is a city that doesn't put much pressure on people. Relax. Even if you don't work for a year or two and just drift through life like us, no one will look down on you... Here, as long as you can make a living, you're considered valuable because everyone is the same, and no one is any more noble than anyone else."

I nodded, and then Coach Ma spoke up again: "Those who can make money in Dali are just a bunch of pretentious bastards!"

I was surprised because Coach Ma's words seemed a bit abrupt in this conversation. I had only inquired about opening an inn, but he used that as an excuse to bring up those bastards. I judged that he must have had a grudge against one of those bastards, because he seemed almost unable to control his anger when he said that.

Tie Nan didn't respond to Coach Ma's question, and of course I didn't press him further, because I'm not one to reopen old wounds. I feel that if Coach Ma and I ever become truly close friends, he will definitely talk to me about his life, but right now, our relationship is clearly not there yet.

……

On my first night in Dali, I got drunk and wasted countless hours in a drunken stupor.

Mornings in Dali come later than in Shanghai. I woke up at 6:30 a.m. and it was still just getting light and quite cool. Even though it was the height of summer, the temperature was only around 15 degrees Celsius.

After washing up, I left the inn amidst the snoring of Instructor Ma and Tie Nan. A few hundred meters across from the inn lay Erhai Lake. At that moment, there was no light, only the sound of the tide, which, in conjunction with my mind, conjured up images of what Erhai Lake would look like at dawn.

I sat down on a rock, and in this world yet to recover, there was a subtle, elegant helplessness. I, someone desperately needing happiness, sat by Erhai Lake, wallowing in self-pity, then ignored the cold tide that surged towards me like an incontinent prostate…

Gradually, dawn came, but from beginning to end, I had the same feeling and the same posture. I sat there for a long time until I could see clearly what color and what kind of plants and trees were around me.

Under the sunlight, the water of Erhai Lake is azure blue, but the fishy stench wafting from afar indicates that this is indeed a lake in need of management.

It seems I've come at the wrong time. I can't just recklessly throw the 19 yuan left by Wang Lei into the guesthouse industry, which seems quite turbulent in Dali, at this moment. But I also can't just sit idly by.

As I pondered, a white cruise ship carrying passengers sailed past me, leaving a ripple in its wake. Then I saw the mountains opposite, their reflections serene and beautiful in the sea. Without realizing it, I drifted into a state of emptiness, no longer caring how much of my life I had squandered that morning.

……

"Uncle, have you found a place to stay?"

I picked up my phone and saw that it was a WeChat message from Yang Sisi. It really felt like I was walking into a trap, since Lao Huang had just asked me to make sure I kept her under control in Dali.

I immediately texted her back: "I'm sure I found it, did you find it?"

"you guess."

"I'm not a mind reader, how am I supposed to guess?"

Yang Sisi sent a bunch of smiley faces, then changed the subject, saying, "Uncle, let's play a game... If I can find you before lunch, can you promise me something? I promise it's something you can do."

"Don't joke around, do you even know how big Dali is?"

"Of course I know, so you won't be at a disadvantage in this matter, because I basically have no chance of winning."

"Okay, but what if you can't find me before lunchtime?"

I'll treat you to dinner.

"Then you come and find it."

"Alright, from now on you can only stay where you are and not move. If you deliberately make things difficult for me, you're a dog."

"What if I need to pee?"

"Hold it in."

I chuckled as I read the conversation, then lit another cigarette, waiting for this little lamb to walk right into my trap. But I was puzzled. Where did she get her confidence to be so sure she'd find me? It was like finding a needle in a haystack.

Time ticked by, and to avoid the intense ultraviolet rays, I moved to the shade of a tree. I didn't let myself sit idle afterward; I kept searching on my phone for suitable accommodations to run as a guesthouse.

I believe that since some guesthouses are still standing, there must be places outside of policy restrictions where guesthouses can operate. Furthermore, conversely, it is precisely because the guesthouse industry's prospects are bleak that I have the opportunity to take over a guesthouse for sale at a low price during this period of widespread anxiety.

Over the years, I've saved up about 100,000 yuan on my own. With the 190,000 yuan Wang Lei gave me, I barely managed to scrape together 300,000 yuan. Based on my initial research online, I figured this amount of money would be enough to take over a small inn.

……

After organizing the collected housing information into my phone's notes, it was already late afternoon. Unlike in the morning, the number of tourists along Erhai Lake had noticeably increased. Some rode large tortoise-shaped motorcycles, some drove convertible jeeps, and many more were rented four-wheeled electric vehicles. These colorful vehicles, like beads strung together, circled Erhai Lake, as if adorning it with a flowing, colorful necklace.

A moment later, a group of street musicians appeared at the nearby pier. They set up tents next to the white building, selling beer and singing for tourists...

Tie Nan said that when it gets cold, the seagulls will fly back from the north, and Erhai Lake will be truly beautiful then. But right now, I already feel it's beautiful! I even want to buy some beer from those street singers and sit closer to listen to them sing.

I almost forgot about the bet with Yang Sisi until I saw her Land Cruiser with a Shanghai license plate slowly driving up from a distance...

This is unbelievable! Not to mention the ancient city, just walking around Erhai Lake is more than 100 kilometers. I really don't know how she found it.