Chapter 6 Dali

He held out a hand under the table, palm up. He smiled at me. I gently put my hand over his. I can finally hold my hand. Three of us celebrated my birthday in Dali.I don't know if Jie has seen my relationship with Mingji, but the atmosphere between the three of them is indeed a bit delicate. The day after his birthday, Jie had to go back to Beijing for work.I walk him to the station with Mingji.On the way back, we both looked at each other and smiled, our fingers intertwined. The life belonging to the two of us has only officially begun. If life can be repeated, I am willing to choose a few fragments to live repeatedly.

The seven days spent in Dali are undoubtedly within my choice.It was really a peaceful and beautiful life, like a fairy couple. The beautiful town is full of bright and bright sunshine everywhere.It has pretty much the most beautiful thing you can imagine - blue sky, picturesque scenery, friendly people, delicious food. We stayed in a hotel called "Yu'an Garden". At the entrance of the hotel were two wooden lions wearing bamboo hats and looking funny. Every day I sleep until the afternoon before getting up, and then go to the "sea boat house" for dinner. "Sea Boat House" is a small restaurant opened by a painter, and the tables and chairs inside are all made by the owner himself.Even small things like ashtrays and pottery vases with flowers are full of thought.Although the place is small, it is full of strong artistic atmosphere and has a unique style.The dishes are delicately prepared by the proprietress, light and delicious.When you don’t have to greet guests, you can see the boss with a crew cut painting or carving in a corner of the restaurant.

The boss looks like a modern hermit who has escaped from the big city to this small town. He is clothed in rough clothes, but he can't hide his arrogance.The proprietress is an authentic Dali local woman, gentle and virtuous without makeup.They didn't seem to talk much, but when their eyes met, there was infinite tenderness in their eyes. How rare it is to love each other in the vastness of the world. Only people with stories can understand the song in their hearts. During the few days we were in Dali, we went to "Sea Boat House" for lunch almost every day.Later, I got acquainted with the boss, and would even borrow a vase from him to arrange flowers on a whim, and he happily lent it to us without hesitation.And every time we bought flowers and passed by, we would go in and give them a few lilies.

Every night, Mingji and I will definitely find a place to have a drink and talk about our past.There seems to be endless talk between each other. For the first time, I discovered that Mingji can also be so talkative. In my previous life, most of the boys I met were ambitious in life and career. From the perspective of mainstream society, they may be representatives of good young people who are "motivated" and "ambitious".But I have always disliked such people, thinking that their words are exaggerated and their behavior is relatively naive.But Mingji gave me a huge surprise.As we get to know each other better, I find more and more that he is a kind-hearted and indifferent person, who will silently appreciate beautiful things when he sees them, and likes to observe the small details in life just like me.He has no big ambitions, nor is he cynical. He is very clear-headed, but he looks at things with a childlike freshness.He kept a small world of his own in his heart, in which he had his true temperament, and let it be full of wind and rain outside.

Being with him feels more comfortable and unrestrained than ever before.I like his silent look and his warm and bright eyes.When I was walking on the road, I looked at the profile of his profile and thought more than once: I finally found the boy who came out of Haruki Murakami's novel. Those were the days when you would take a few steps on a walk and stop for a kiss.We who are passionately in love have no time to think about the future, we only know how to cherish every minute of the present. Until the short seven days passed in a flash, Mingji's "holiday" was over and he had to return to Hong Kong.

But I decided to stay and wait for the unblocking of Lijiang and other places. On the day Mingji left, Dali, which had always been sunny, was rarely seen torrentially raining.After seeing him off at the station, I walked slowly back to the hotel along the bluestone road in the ancient city alone with an umbrella. The seven black characters "Welcome to Dali Ancient City" on the white wall beside the road looked so shocking.The short road seems to have been walked for a century, and my face is wet, and I can't tell whether it is rain or tears. It rained for several days in a row, and I lived in a daze for several days.The foreigner's street, the boat houses, the Tang Dynasty bar, the old lady selling lilies, everything is still the same, but that person is missing.Sometimes I simply wonder if the past seven days were just a wishful dream on my part.

I don't really want to go out, so I simply bought a lot of books from the bookstore and read them in the hotel.In the past, reading was the best medicine for my depressed mood.But this time, when I read all the books in just a few days, I looked up from the books in a daze, and found that the huge black hole in my heart was not only not filled, but sank deeper and deeper. I know that is the feeling of missing.I have never missed a person so strongly, that sour feeling surges like a tide, goes deep into the bone marrow, and fills every gap in my life. Without you, Dali becomes an empty city in my eyes.

I decided to abandon the city and flee. May 12th is the real birthday.Because Jie is still there, we didn't expose our feelings.We really don't want to do any more emotional damage to him.It makes me so sad to be so close to her now, yet feel so far away.So, despite being so close, I kept texting her to tell her how much I missed her.However, two boys plus one girl is indeed a very embarrassing combination.Really spent my birthday in such an embarrassing atmosphere. We went boating on the Erhai Lake during the day, and went to a Korean restaurant called Seoul for dinner and celebration at night.

The next morning, Jay was going back, and it was at that moment that the real world between me and Zhen began. Dali is the place where I set foot again, but this time it feels completely different to me.Because of the "SARS", there is no noise of tourists here, only the blue sky and fresh air.Of course, the world is more beautiful and everything is cuter when your favorite people are around. We moved to a hotel called "Yu'an Garden".The hotel has its own corner in the city, with a small garden, and the environment is very quiet. In this way, we lived our "honeymoon period".Walking in the city holding hands every day, taking pictures on the road, buying lilies back to the room and putting them in a borrowed vase, going to the "Sea Boat House" for dinner when hungry, reading books at the "Lazy Book Bar" when tired, and going to the Tang Dynasty" took shelter from the rain, drank coffee, and wrote postcards to each other.While flipping through the photo album, we revisited and relived the experience of getting to know and love each other in Tibet.

Of course, it was inevitable that every morning I would call back to work for "sick leave". It can be said that the real understanding of the truth began in Dali.In Tibet, I always thought she was a cool person, very individual and independent.But I gradually discovered that she also has a side that is cute, naughty, clumsy, and needs care.She seems to be doing nothing, but she turns out to be a top student in a prestigious school.Her love and knowledge of literature and art is the best among people I know.The sum of the books she has read is probably about the same number as the ones I have not read.Every time I get to know her better, it's like opening a can of joy, and there are new surprises every day.

I often wonder how such an ordinary me can be loved by her. On May 18, my long vacation is finally coming to an end.Because I really want to go to Lijiang, I will wait in Dali alone until the lockdown is lifted. Sitting in the car back to Kunming, I kept recalling what happened this week.I suddenly remembered that one day she told me: "When you meet me, your life will change forever." Will my life really change from now on? When I arrived in Kunming, the person who brought the ticket was already waiting for me and took me to the airport.Sitting on the back of his motorbike and heading to Kunming Airport, he felt a strange feeling.