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

I followed Yang Sisi to her room. She wasn't packing her luggage; instead, she was sitting on the edge of the bed crying. Perhaps because of her age, she was the woman I knew who most liked to use crying to vent her emotions.

I just stood there leaning against the wall next to her bed, without saying a word.

After wiping away her tears with the back of her hand, she lost her usual arrogance and simply asked me, choking back tears, "What are you doing here? I don't need anyone to comfort me."

"I'm here to help you pack, not to comfort you."

Yang Sisi was trembling with anger. She then dragged her suitcase out of the locker, threw it at my feet, and said, "Pack it up, pack it cleanly... I want to take everything I can."

I bent down and laid her suitcase flat, then threw all her toiletries that she had placed on the bedside table into the suitcase. Then, I took her clothes out of the closet. Since one suitcase couldn't hold them all, I went to the storage room and found a woven bag that was originally used to store disposable slippers, and put all her remaining clothes and personal items into it.

Throughout the entire process, Yang Sisi neither participated nor stopped it, but when I looked back at her, her lips were already bluish-purple, which was clearly caused by a huge emotional fluctuation.

I felt bad too, but I still looked at the suitcase and woven bag at her feet and said to her, "Your things are all packed. Get some rest. I'll take you to the airport tomorrow morning."

"it is good."

I avoided her gaze, then took 3000 yuan in cash from my wallet and placed it on her bedside table. I said to her, "This is your salary. Send me your ID number on WeChat later, and I'll buy you a plane ticket back to Shanghai."

Yang Sisi only counted 2000 yuan, then threw the extra 1000 yuan on the ground and coldly replied to me, "I want what's mine, and I don't want a single penny of what's not mine."

"Do you still need me to buy your plane ticket?"

"Yes, this is what you owe me... because you're the one who most wants me to go back to Shanghai, and you owe me a plane ticket."

I nodded, picked up the 1000 yuan from the ground, and turned to leave Yang Sisi's room.

……

Back at the small bar, everyone asked me with concern, "How is Sisi?"

I lit a cigarette and replied, "She's fine. She's already agreed to go back to Shanghai tomorrow. I'll book her a plane ticket once she sends me her ID number later."

Everyone fell silent.

I then said to Taozi, "These next few days you'll have to work a little harder and take over her front desk duties as well. Tomorrow morning I'll call Sun Jiwei and ask him to come over to discuss the transfer..."

Peach nodded.

When are you planning to go to Chongqing?

Taozi paused for a moment before looking at me and replying, "We'll leave once the inn has finished handing things over with Sun Jiwei."

"I'll handle the handover; you can leave once you've received the money."

After I finished speaking, I pressed my temples hard with my hands, but my mind kept replaying every subtle expression on Yang Sisi's face. Then I would think of the journey we took together from Shanghai to Dali, and how I had personally sent her back to Shanghai... But I couldn't understand how all of this had happened, and that caused me pain.

Tie Nan also took out a cigarette from his pack and lit it. He wanted to say something to me, but ultimately chose to remain silent. I know that this choice was difficult for each of us present, but sometimes people have to make choices in order to look to the future. After all, we don't live for the past, and this inn has become a part of our past from the moment we decided to transfer ownership.

……

Back in the farmhouse I later rented, I lay in bed again, gazing at the stars hanging in the sky through the skylight. I didn't fall asleep as quickly as usual because I was troubled by some indescribable emotion.

Late at night, I received another message from the woman who was using Lu Jia's number. She asked me, "Have you decided to transfer ownership of your inn?"

"Yes, people's hearts are scattered. Forcing it to continue might not be a good thing."

"Ultimately, it's because the price they offered met your expectations... This is equivalent to making hundreds of thousands for nothing, so you're both in a good position!"

"Maybe."

What's your take on this?

I sat up in bed amidst the barking of dogs, stared blankly at the persimmon tree in the yard for a long time before replying to the message: "They are all people I can treat as friends, I don't want to comment."

"Oh... so what are your plans for the future?"

"I might stay in Dali, or I might go back to my hometown... it's about 50/50."

"You just don't want to go back to Shanghai?"

"Why go back to that place? All I see are painful memories of the past."

She didn't reply, and I wondered if she was still in Lijiang, so I sent her another message asking, "Are you still in Lijiang?"

"No, I've already arrived in Shangri-La. I'm leaving for Daocheng Yading tomorrow, and then I'll return to Shanghai."

"You must have had a great time, right?"

"At first, it was quite exciting, but later, seeing all the couples showing off their love along the way made me feel quite lonely... Traveling alone is truly a bittersweet experience."

"The novelty and loneliness aren't important; what matters is that you can emerge from the shadows of the past—that's the purpose of traveling."

"Then I've achieved my goal... By the way, could you send me a picture of yourself?"

"I'm not even curious about what you look like, why are you curious about me?... If you want to know how handsome I am, send me a picture of yourself first."

Our chat ended here again. I'm used to it by now. I put my phone back on my pillow and closed my eyes... I hope I'll wake up to a nice day tomorrow, because I don't like parting with people on a rainy day.

Just an hour earlier, Yang Sisi sent me her ID number, and I had already booked her a flight from Dali to Shanghai for 2 PM tomorrow online.

……

The next day, after I got up, I called Sun Jiwei. Upon hearing the news, he immediately drove from Xiaguan to our guesthouse. We invited him to a small bar and then discussed some details of the transfer with him. His friend was on a business trip in Shenzhen and wouldn't be able to come to Dali to meet us for two days.

Sun Jiwei said that as long as we agree on the transfer price of 200 million, he can make the decision for his friend on some details.

After chatting for a while, we reached an agreement on the details. Then, Sun Jiwei took out 20,000 yuan in cash from his bag and placed it in front of us, saying, "This money is a deposit from my friend. Please accept it first. Then I will have a lawyer draft a transfer contract. When he comes to Dali, you can meet again to sign the contract. Once the contract is signed, the transfer fee will be directly transferred to your account."

I nodded to indicate that there was no problem.

Sun Jiwei didn't stay long after the deal was settled. After he left, the rest of us looked at the 20,000 yuan deposit he left behind, but none of us reached out to take it. It was as if the money was a knife that would kill the inn, and none of us wanted to be the executioner who picked up the knife.

……

Around noon, I called Xiao Song from the car rental company we work with and borrowed his BMW 525. I'll drive that car to take Yang Sisi to the airport later.

As Xiao Song took out his car keys, he asked me with a worried look, "Brother, are you really transferring ownership of this inn?"

"Um."

"What about our collaboration? I took out a loan to buy that Mercedes. If you guys back out, I'll be crushed by the loan!"

I patted him on the shoulder and laughed, "Don't worry, we invited the next supplier over today to talk about your business. They've agreed to continue working with your dealership under the same conditions, so don't feel guilty. Just do your job well."

Xiao Song smiled and replied, "Alright, I'm relieved to hear that from you, brother... Brother, drive carefully on the road later. I have to go to the ancient city to talk to someone about some things, so I'll be going now."

After he finished speaking, he handed me the car keys. I took them from him and said, "Go ahead, come pick up the car around four o'clock this afternoon. It won't take me long."

Xiao Song responded and got into the car that had come with him, then disappeared from my sight. I subconsciously looked back and felt a sense of loss again... It seemed that all I could see and do now was say goodbye to this inn.

I know that this feeling will only intensify after Yang Sisi leaves!

……

I leaned against the car door and lit a cigarette in the midday sun. Not long after, I saw Yang Sisi dragging her suitcase out of the inn, while Taozi helped her carry another woven bag containing clothes.

And this cruel thing called separation is gradually approaching us.