Although I myself feel that this hope is slim and I am deceiving myself.

  I knew exactly what to do next. I packed my simple luggage, bid farewell to the boss and resigned. The boss was a friend of a friend and had known me for a long time, so he had always been very kind to me. He just said: "If you're busy and have nowhere to go, come back anytime. Your skills are good, wherever you go, they'll be in demand." I said: "Okay". I didn't ask the boss to settle my wages, nor did I have time to say goodbye to Xiaohua and the others. I took a bus to the train station and boarded the first train to Suzhou.

  I stayed in Suzhou for over ten days.

  I once again searched the street where Wu Miao disappeared, and every corner where that person had been. I went to find Old Ding, the head of the criminal police team who was in charge of the case at the time. They were still filled with guilt and helplessness: "Sorry, Wu Yu, we never gave up searching for her. But it's as if that person vanished into thin air. Don't worry, we won't stop working until your sister is found."

  I wander in the deserted streets at midnight, sometimes looking up at the moon of Suzhou, as clear and bright as Yunnan. When I stand in the corner smoking, I occasionally recall that voice, she said: The word "Tan" beside speech, the bright moon's brightness.

  She may not know, the girl I fell in love with at first sight. She doesn't know what I became after Wu Miao and my mother left. I gave up on the graduation ceremony, I simply couldn't go back to that enviable workplace and work peacefully. I started smoking, started drinking. The top graduate of the entire school would silently cry into his pillow at midnight.

  The day Wu Miao had an accident, she called me and asked if I could accompany her to buy some suitable clothes for a job interview. That day, I was preparing an important paper, which would make my resume shine brighter in the future if done well. So I refused Wu Miao, sent her money, and told her to find another girl to go with her. Anyway, I wouldn't be able to choose clothes.

  She went shopping alone.

  Later, I often thought of the strange girl on the boat who told me: You may be poor, hardworking, self-disciplined, intelligent and ambitious. But people can't live too purposefully, too selfishly. Otherwise, you will definitely lose more in the future. And what you lose will be the things you cherish most, and by then it will be too late to regret.

  Later on, these words, this girl, became a certain kind of significance in my life.

  A kind of warning and adage meaning.

  ……

  A few days after I left Dali, Xiaohua gave me a call and said: "Ge (brother), yesterday you just left, then there was a girl came to look for you."

  "Who?"

  Xiao Hua smiled and said: "A very pretty and pure girl lives near our store, driving a bright orange Audi. Do you know her?"

  I thought he was intentionally teasing me, and it turned out to be Tan Jiao.

  "What did she... say?"

  Xiao Hua said: "She asked you where you went and when you'll be back. Also asked how long you've been working here. Brother, to be honest, how far have you progressed with this beauty?"

  I didn't bother with his gossip and hung up the phone. In my mind, Tan Jiao's appearance emerged. Her delicate face was like a moonlit portrait, her eyes slightly moist with tears. I closed my eyes and sketched her outline in my mind.

  She hasn't called or sent a message in these days.

  My heart is at peace, this is what I wanted.