Yingxiu was smooth sailing at work, and his ability became more prominent, and as expected, he was promoted and raised, and began to be in charge of all the store management in a district of that city, and my friends and I were very happy for him. And he, as usual, felt that it was no big deal.

"It's just a promotion and a raise. He said, "It's not like being an emperor." ”

Since I left for a new company, we rarely see each other and rarely talk on the phone. One day, when I remembered that we hadn't been in touch for a long time, I counted the time, and it turned out that it had been half a year since we last met. The last time we met, there were fluffy poplar catkins flying all over the city, and I remembered the moment when I hadn't seen each other for a long time, and the fragrance of osmanthus wafted all over the city. I called him to ask how he was doing, but he didn't answer, but texted back: "It's been a long time, I'll have a treat at 19 o'clock on Saturday night." He then sent me a reissue of the address and told me to come over at a later time, and said that he was very busy right now.

He's always been so thin. He began to wear a suit and leather shoes, and with his flat hair, he looked full of energy, like a standard business elite. But occasionally it shows a tired temperament, as if it has just been freed from infinite pressure. As soon as we sat down, he threw his briefcase onto a nearby stool, propped himself up on his elbows, and half-lay on the long seat.

"This is half a year. He said, "You've changed a lot." ”

"Yes. I said, "After all, half a year, a long time." ”

He began to tell me all about what had changed, that I was a little fatter than before, that I was more dignified and well-behaved in my speech and actions, and that it was due to my new job. He said, "The biggest change for me is that I no longer have a particularly obvious bias towards the temperament of a scholar or a painter. In the past, when I had long hair, anyone knew I was an artist, and when I had short hair, anyone knew I was a scholar. But now, no matter what, at first glance, I look like a worker, and that day, my hair that I used to have a bald head has grown a lot, it is medium length, and there is no obvious characteristic. He didn't realize that I had experienced an important thing during that time, which was to mature in that dark room. In fact, on the third day after I came out of that dark room, that is, on the second day of the interview at the new company, I met Yingxiu once, and I didn't think more about it that time. But this time when he told me all the changes, I thought he was precise and vicious, and I thought he would find out the secret, and I think that in his experience of so many dewy relationships, he must have found even the slightest change in men after going through these things, but he didn't say a word.

After eating, we walked to the base of the city wall, and then walked along the moat for most of the circle, until we reached the north gate, and the two piers in the city gate hole still show the eternal vicissitudes of life. I stopped, looking at the two piers in a daze. That night more than a year ago, when Yingxiu encouraged me to go to the Black Dance Hall for the third time, it was these two piers that made me change my mind. And in the year after that night, a lot of things happened that changed me a lot. The girl I met in the Black Ballroom that resembled Helen was a reminder of the past that I had always wanted to forget, but tried to make it real after that night. I've always tried to find the real Hai Linlin feeling in her, and after I came out of that dark room and saw Hai Linlin again, this anticipation became even more irrepressible. Many times I tried to possess her in an almost coercive way—to think of her as the real Helen, but each time her sharp nails cut through the back of my hand, diluting all my imagination and impulses.

If it weren't for these two piers, I might never have seen the dancing girl who resembled Hai Linlin, and my thoughts and feelings for Hai Linlin would be very different from now. Even, I can't work in the same company as her right now - although the two may not seem to have much to do with each other, I believe that everything in life has a certain cause and effect and logical relationship from front to back. What's more, I'll probably keep my virgin body until I don't know when. And the teachings on sex and love that I heard from people who resemble Hai Linlin—I always thought were teachings, and in the end, I felt that it was to help me to have a chance to re-enter another life path, and not be abandoned by the mistakes I made.

All the changes make me grateful for those two piers, I feel that they are the pestle that has gone through all the vicissitudes of life to change me, waiting for a person who has lost his way in life to rely on it hundreds of years later, and through silent persuasion, let him change his life again. I walked to the pier of the door where I had leaned that night, turned my back, and leaned back against it again. Yingxiu didn't feel surprised by my behavior, and he walked over without a word, leaning against the doorway on the other side. We were facing out of town, and North Gate Street stretched straight north to the end we couldn't see, bustling with traffic and dappled lights, exactly like the night I first went to the Black Ballroom.

"We're almost thirty. Yingxiu said: "It's no longer suitable to lean here." ”

"It is the age that should be forced to live. I said, "Instead of immersing yourself in the unreal." ”

Looking at the lights on Beimen Street, I also thought that I hadn't seen a dancer who looked like Hai Linlin for a long time, and I really wanted to meet her and let her see my changes. But just like when I first met her, Yingxiu was beside me, and I didn't want Yingxiu to find anything.