The sky of Dunhuang is dark at night.

  At 7 o'clock in the evening, the scenic spot management side began to prompt tourists to exit the cave. By half past seven, staff began to drive people out. But when you walk out of Mogao Caves and take a look, you'll find that the sun is still high up!

  Li Qian held his sketchbook and followed the crowd out.

  He drove here, so he didn't have to squeeze onto the bus like everyone else. When he arrived at the parking lot and found his car, he started the engine and was about to leave when he turned around and unexpectedly saw the girl wearing sunglasses again.

  She was indeed very thin, and the wide hemp clothes on her body looked a bit empty. At this time, many art students holding easels and painting boards rushed to squeeze onto the bus, she didn't know if she was afraid of not being able to squeeze in or simply didn't bother to squeeze, anyway, she just stood outside the crowd, so coldly and quietly watching.

  Li Qian suddenly became very curious and wondered if she would take the crowded bus next, anyway he had a car and wasn't in a hurry to return to Dunhuang City, so he leaned against the window, looking at the not-so-distant tourist bus stop, watching that thin and weak girl.

  To be honest, this is somewhat disgusting.

  Although they only met briefly, and with sunglasses covering half of her face, the two of them together were just acquaintances. Yet, for some reason, this girl clearly conveyed her personality: strong-willed, sharp, proud, innocent and unworldly...

  This world, although it's only 1996 and compared to people who have gone through the information explosion of the internet era twenty years later, is still quite different and much simpler. However, even now, people living in big cities have already learned how to hide themselves in various ways, whether it's their temper, personality, or past, all hidden behind a mask. In short, no matter how long you've known someone, you may not dare say that you really understand them.

  But this girl wasn't, she didn't know if it was because of her naivety, overconfidence or stubbornness, in short, for everything about herself. She simply didn't bother to conceal anything, just revealing everything with pride and self-importance, letting people with some experience almost see through her at a glance.

  The two of them added up to no more than ten sentences. Well, Li Qian also took a look at two of her paintings, but for some reason, Li Qian felt that he already knew her very well.

  This left Li Qian himself somewhat stunned and hard to believe.

  One car was soon filled up and another one came over.

  It doesn't seem like there are many tourists, but several buses can't be filled. So when the bus arrives, many tourists who have been waiting in a scattered manner rush over and squeeze onto the bus.

  Li Qian noticed that her body didn't move at all.

  After a moment, she reached into the pocket of her clothes and fumbled around for a bit, pulling out a pack of cigarettes and a cheap lighter. Hmm, from the way she lit up, Li Qian knew that she didn't have much experience smoking.

  Then the second bus left. However, the number of tourists waiting at the platform to return to Dunhuang did not decrease at all. As soon as the third bus arrived, everyone rushed on again and quickly filled up a car.

  She stood outside the crowd, smoking a cigarette, motionless, calmly watching everything in front of her that was bustling and crowded.

  Seeing her smoking, Li Qian inexplicably wanted to light a cigarette, but when he took out the pack of cigarettes from his glove compartment, he hesitated for a moment. He put it back again - having been in this time and space for over a year now, except for the first two or three months, there were some habitual situations that couldn't be changed, he had probably smoked two or three packs of cigarettes. But in the past year or so, he had basically stopped touching the stuff.

  The wind comes late, gently from the desert side.

  The dry and hot weather has brought some coolness without realizing it.

  She continued smoking, slowly exhaling the smoke, which was then effortlessly dispersed by the evening breeze.

  The wind began to gently swing her linen skirt. A glimpse of her thin legs and ankles, which were exposed for a brief moment, was frighteningly skinny.

  It was past eight o'clock, the sky was still bright, and the sunset began to slowly set in the west. The people waiting for the bus on the platform finally saw a decrease after seven or eight buses had passed.

  Li Qian didn't leave either, he just quietly looked at her like that.

  At 8:30, when there were only a dozen or so people left on the platform, another large bus came over and she finally got on the bus behind everyone.

  Li Qian slowly shook his head, smiled and sighed.

  Not until the bus had driven away and the parking lot was empty except for his car did he start the engine, and with a few presses of the accelerator, he had already overtaken the bus.

  Is she her?

  Li Qian did not dare to confirm.

  The voice is invincible, the nose, mouth and chin are a bit similar, but compared to those cassette tape covers, they are thinner. However, if the rumors are true, this personality is indeed very similar!

  …………

  Returned to the inn to rest for over ten minutes, Li Qian washed his face and went downstairs to find something to eat.

  It was a coincidence that he met the girl in the staircase.

  She seemed to have just gotten off the bus and also lived in this Donglai Inn, wearing large sunglasses. She raised her chin slightly and glanced at Li Qian.

  Two strangers, once had a brief encounter, she nodded her head, he also nodded his head.

  In the fleeting moment when they passed each other, Li Qian caught a whiff of an indescribable fragrance - faint to the point of almost being nonexistent.

  Li Qian went downstairs, and she went upstairs.

  But as she walked to the corner of the stairs, she stopped and said, "Ah..." She called Li Qian, and when Li Qian turned around and looked up at her, she said lightly, "Why did you wait there so late? Want to see if I would squeeze with them?"

  She speaks, really is both direct and incisive.

  Suddenly being poked through, Li Qian almost felt embarrassed.

  At this time, he could certainly find various reasons to explain that he didn't want to wait and watch the other person's joke, but Li Qian thought for a moment and actually smiled and nodded, "You're too thin, I'm afraid you can't squeeze past others, so I'll wait and think about picking you up."

  Li Qian used a "pick up" word, with some teasing meaning. But after she heard it, she thought for a moment and nodded her head, saying seriously: "Then thank you! I really might not be able to come back!"

  Such Q&A is really boring.

  Li Qian nodded at her and turned to go downstairs.

  …………

  According to Li Qian's previously set plan, they were supposed to stay around Dunhuang for about three days.

  In these few days, going to see murals is the only important thing. Sometimes, he would even stand in front of a mural for tens of minutes at a time.

  The next day, Li Qian met the girl again. They met in the corridor, nodded to each other and then passed by. However, on the third day, they unexpectedly met again on the stairs of the inn.

  Li Qian nodded and was about to go upstairs, but she suddenly asked: "How many more days are you going to stay here?"

  "After some thought, Li Qian replied to her: 'Probably the day after tomorrow, I will be leaving.'"

  The other party nodded and asked again: "Where are you going next?"

  Li Qian replied to her: "Thinking of going to Qinghai Lake for a look. How about you? Will you continue to stay here?"

  The other party thought seriously and said: "I don't know either, let's see and talk about it later. Maybe one day I'll be annoyed and just leave."

  Both of them smiled and passed each other by.

  But that night, she actually came knocking on Li Qian's door.

  Li Qian had just finished taking a bath and heard the knock on the door, so he opened it slightly while wearing his bathrobe. He was surprised to see her and asked, "How did you know I lived in this room?"

  She still wore sunglasses, smiled and said: "Ask the waiter, this is the advantage of being a girl."

  Li Qian smiled and let her into the house.

  If he went to ask a girl which room she lived in, the service staff would probably look at him with a strange gaze and wouldn't say anything. But if a girl or woman asked a man which room he lived in, the service staff would likely answer straightforwardly.

  She waited until she entered the room. Li Qian asked her to sit down, and he himself went to the bathroom to change into a clean set of clothes and came out with a bottle of mineral water for her, only then asking: "What brings you here?"

  "But you've already guessed who I am, haven't you?"

  Li Qian smiled and nodded, getting used to her direct way of speaking. "Your voice... is very special, but I didn't expect you to become so thin."

  She smiled. Her smile was pure, she twisted open the mineral water bottle and took a small sip of water, saying: "I thought you could tell by my face, but it turned out to be my voice... What do you do for a living? Are you a fan of mine?"

  Li Qian nodded, "I just graduated from high school and haven't had a career yet, but yes, I'm your fan."

  She looked at Li Qian with some surprise, and nodded after a moment, saying: "You didn't say it, I wouldn't have known you're actually so young, you don't look like it."

  Li Qian smiled and didn't say anything.

  She seemed to have something to say, but she was always organizing her thoughts, so the two sat silently for several minutes, and she was always playing with the mineral water bottle in her hand.

  After a while, she suddenly stood up, as if her worries had disappeared in an instant, and her smile returned to its usual brightness. "I've disturbed you, well... um, I'll leave now, goodnight."

  Li Qian nodded and stood up, saying: "Good night."

  Then she opened the door and walked out, Li Qian standing at the door, watching her lonely figure walk towards the other end of the corridor, just about to reach the stairs. Li Qian finally couldn't help but call out to her: "Hey, I'll treat you to a drink?"

  His voice wasn't loud, but the other party still stopped in their tracks at the first moment.

  Then she turned around, stood with her legs together like a primary school student, and showed a somewhat childish smile, saying: "Well, I'm inviting you then!"

  "She came over just to find a drinking buddy!" Li Qian thought.

  …………

  They said they were drinking together, but in fact neither of them wanted to get drunk.

  They casually found a small restaurant on the street, and the two of them went in. They ordered a plate of peanuts, a plate of local stir-fried mutton, and then sat down across from each other. Li Qian had originally wanted to order two bottles of beer, but she instead ordered a bottle of locally produced baijiu.

  She skillfully opened the bottle, poured half a cup for Li Qian, and then poured half a cup for herself. She said to herself in a muttering tone: "I've started liking drinking wine over the past two years. I used to hear my dad say that wine is very fragrant, but I never believed it. Wine is pungent and some are even bitter, where's the fragrance? But later when I started drinking myself, I found out that wine is indeed very fragrant."

  Li Qian smiled and looked at her, suddenly saying: "Do you wear such big sunglasses every day? Are you tired? Will it press on the bridge of your nose uncomfortably?"

  She lifted her head, smiled and took off her sunglasses, smoothed her hair and said: "It's quite heavy." As she spoke, she flashed Li Qian another smile, with a hint of childishness.

  She is indeed Zhou Mei.

  The local people made a delicious stir-fried mutton dish, and Li Qian only had a bowl of noodles for dinner. At this time, his stomach was still empty, so he accompanied Zhou Fen to raise her glass and sip the spicy white wine while constantly picking up mutton to eat.

  Zhou Dun just drinks wine and doesn't move his chopsticks.

  It's strange to say, the two of them met by chance, and after a few encounters, Zhou Fen didn't even know the name of this big boy sitting across from her, but somehow, they sat facing each other, yet both felt at ease and unrestrained, with a very relaxed feeling.

  After drinking a few sips, Zhou Fen said: "This wine is spicy enough, but the aroma is not enough. It's inferior to the wines from Shuntianfu, and even more so compared to Zhu Ye Qing, Fen Wine, and Xi Feng Wine."

  Li Qian smiled and said seriously: "There is still a box of Xifeng wine in my car, if you want to drink it, I'll invite you next time."

  Zhou Fen smiled, propping up her arm, resting one end on the dinner table and the other against her cheek, smiling at Li Qian, "You driving out is okay, not too unusual, why do you still need to bring a box of wine in the car?"

  Li Qian just smiled and said, "You can consider it as a gift from me."

  Zhou Fen smiled and suddenly looked a bit despondent, raised her wrist, and downed half a cup of wine in one gulp.

  To be honest, it was fine at first, but when Zhou Fen drank like that, Li Qian was startled and quickly found a topic to talk about: "You knocked on my door earlier to invite me for a drink?"

  Zhou Fen was so drunk that she didn't come back to her senses for a long time, but when she did, she had a very lively expression and smiled, saying: "No, I just wanted to find someone to drink with."

  At first glance, it seems similar in meaning, but after careful consideration, hmm, okay, this is indeed her personality.

  He paused for a moment, and Li Qian smiled wryly and shook his head, saying: "You're all alone outside, isn't it not very safe? Your family and your agent, are they that easy-going?"

  Zhou Wen looked at him and said, "Wow... you're quite knowledgeable, you even know what a broker is?"

  As she gazed at Li Qian for a moment, she herself picked up the wine bottle and poured another half cup for herself. Then, she pulled out a cigarette, lit one up, and in what seemed like the blink of an eye, she was no longer that girl with a pure smile and a bit of childishness, nor was she that woman who spoke incisively and directly. In this moment, it was as if she had suddenly died half of herself.

  Desolate, lonely, bewildered.

  Not angry at all.

  But soon, she turned her head to look at Li Qian, suddenly playfully smiled, and in the blink of an eye, she changed back into that innocent little girl, laughing and saying: "I'm also tired of staying here, if you're going to Qinghai Lake, can I hitch a ride with you?"

  Li Qian smiled and raised his cup, clinking it against hers, saying with a smile: "I get it, so this is the fare, huh?"

  Zhou Fen heard this and glanced at Li Qian, then raised her hand again and poured half a cup of spicy wine down her throat.

  ***

  Every time after the outbreak at the beginning of the month, what I get is extreme physical weakness. Although I had last month's experience and was very careful, but accidentally, well, I got caught again.

  Catch a cold, headache, fever...