Tailor | Old Songs·Time·Love

December 1, 2024

I recalled a series of interesting events from ten years ago. " Crossing the Ocean to See You " is one of my life songs. A long time ago, when I went to KTV with my familiar friends, they would order it for me first. After a few years, it became Xiaochun'er's must-order song "Ring" by Wu Bai.

In 2014, I had been in Dali for more than a year. At that time, I was helping out in A Tai's underground billiard room. After working there for a few months, I felt a little lost and came up with the idea of hitting the road to Tibet. I immediately put it into action, borrowed a hiking backpack from A Tai, a SLR camera, and the more than 1,000 yuan salary I had just received, and prepared to set off.

It happened to be the May Day holiday, so Jia Jia came to Dali to play and took back the beads she had left with her ex-boyfriend. Unexpectedly, her ex-boyfriend said that he had already sold them and only wanted 800 yuan back. At that time, we agreed to meet at a cold noodle shop on Renmin Road that I used to go to. Knowing that I was going to Tibet and didn’t have much money, she found a strange excuse that we both knew, and gave me the 800 yuan that was just coming back, and asked me to pick up a few stones that I thought were special on the way to Tibet for her. One of us dared to say it, and the other dared to accept it. After returning, she didn’t bring back the stones.

It had been 16 years since we met again. I had just broken up with the previous work "The Ring" and Xiao Chun was still immersed in it.

She was working at the Guangzhou branch of the company headquartered in Dali at the time, and she came to the headquarters on a business trip for a few months to plan an event. During that time, we were often together. When I was free, I would ride a motorcycle to take her back and forth between her residence and the company's event preparation place. She was busy with her own things, and I smoked and relaxed in the "Cloud Sea and Grass". Sometimes she would stay at my place. The place arranged by the company was noisy at night. At that time, I was still working in the late-night canteen and came back at five or six in the morning. It would be quieter and no one would disturb her thinking about work. After that period of time, we naturally became boyfriend and girlfriend. This is also the reason why I was later called a philanderer, a scumbag, and had three girlfriends in half a year.

Back to "Come Across the Ocean to See You", after returning from Tibet, I still had to find a job to support myself. At first, I found a job as a waiter on Douban! Xiaolongxia. I was supposed to go to work the next day. It was the rainy season in Dali at that time. Unfortunately, it rained heavily the next day. I lay on the sofa in the "rogue shelter" of the youth hostel converted from an old residential building in the Xiaocai Market on Renmin Road and sighed, "Forget it, it's raining too hard, I won't go." It rained for several days, and after the weather cleared up, I found another job on Douban - a late-night canteen. The person who applied for me at the time was Xiaochuner. I was very puzzled at the time, why a restaurant was only open at night, and the main door was not open, and you had to go in through the small door on the side. When I lifted the Japanese-style curtain at the side door, the first thing I saw was "The Ring". I asked, "Are you hiring?" "The Ring" looked at me with a silly smile and turned to the back kitchen, "Xiao Chun'er, someone's here to apply for the job..." Now that I think about it, my life probably started to change dramatically from here. I met a lot of people and a lot of stories happened. I'll tell them later when I have the chance.

Let's go back to "Come Across the Ocean to See You". I had only worked in the Late Night Diner for a few months. During this time, "Ring" resigned from the Late Night Diner and went to travel to Nepal with her then boyfriend. Xiaochuner and I were left to work together. At that time, the Monday rest day was cancelled, so Jason would come to take over two days a week so that Xiaochuner and I could take turns to rest.

At that time, Xiaochuner asked for leave to go to Nanjing or somewhere else to watch a concert of Li Zhi. Jason and I were in the same class. During the breaks, we would talk about and complain about Xiaochuner, saying that he was "really an artistic youth..." After returning from the concert, Xiaochuner was much more excited. His artistic heart began to get agitated. He wanted to start a motorcycle trip. The process of Xiaochuner's motorcycle trip has also become one of his legendary experiences. In those years, we would always talk about this matter when we were free. We never got tired of it. Every time we finished talking, there would be new content. I also had a relatively complete understanding of the whole story from the chats (Jason has an article that seems to have a relatively complete account).

If I remember correctly, Jason was also going to Tibet by motorcycle at that time. Who doesn’t have an artistic heart? So, the late night canteen was forced to close for a while, and I lost my job. It happened that my parents kept asking me to help out at the construction site canteen in Jiangsu during that time. In fact, they didn’t want me to stay in Dali doing nothing, so far away from home.

After I arrived at the construction site, I didn't help much. I pulled an internet cable and spent most of my time playing games. I ate and slept on time, which was very regular. My parents didn't say anything to me, but I felt very uncomfortable living like this. After more than a month, I told my parents that I should go back to Dali to work. It happened that Xiaochuner was released from the detention center and had returned to Dali to open a shop normally.

I was probably influenced by the movie "Come Across the Ocean to See You". I wanted to move myself. Before returning to Dali, I wanted to make a complete break with my past relationship. I calculated the travel expenses and the accommodation and living expenses after returning to Dali, but they were not enough. I called Li Shan to borrow about 1,000 yuan and bought a plane ticket to Shenyang. According to the address she gave me before, I arrived at the gate of her community, called her, and after a few words, I told her that I was downstairs. My heart was beating hard at that time, and she was also very scared, thinking that I was lying to her. She came downstairs and we met. After a silence for a while, she finally spoke, "I already have a boyfriend." "I guessed it, I just want to see you one last time." It was still a bit awkward. It was probably September or October at that time. The weather in Shenyang was still quite cold. I don't know if it was because of the smog or the weather, the visibility was very low, and I could only see half of the tall buildings. My first impression of Shenyang was not good. Before I went there, I had already found a hotel near her house, and planned to stay for one day and then return to Dali.

She wanted to go back to the hotel with me to chat and catch up, but the hotel there was quite strict. Men and women who were not married were not allowed to enter the room together. It was cold outside, so we had to chat in the hotel lobby. Finally, I said I would go back to Dali tomorrow, and she said I would make some dumplings for her. I said yes, they were delicious.

Because I had a limited budget, I saved as much as possible. I bought a green train ticket from Shenyang to Kunming, which seemed to take more than 50 hours. When I arrived at the train station, there were still two or three hours before departure. I found an Internet cafe nearby to kill the remaining time. During the time I was playing games, she went out to buy a lot of food. I was playing a team battle at the time, and I didn't say hello to her. I just said okay, you can leave it here, you can go back if you have nothing to do, you don't have to wait with me. Because my attention was focused on the team battle, I didn't look at her expression.

After returning to Dali, she called me a few times to chat about random things, or I would make excuses that I was busy, buying groceries for the store, etc. After that, I simply stopped answering the phone. I had already let it go in my heart and didn't want to be involved anymore.

I didn't know I would write so much. I wrote it leisurely without leaving out many details. Maybe it's because I've been a little emotional recently. While writing this, my phone has been playing Zhang Yusheng's "Still Friends" on repeat. Next time I go to KTV, my friends, please order this song for me without me telling you.

(2015?) Midnight Diner (before a hot spring trip)