When she was about to finish eating, she began to inadvertently remember another thing: did she want Ekra to get out of the car and meet her old classmate Sahe for a while? The train passes right there, and it stops, so if you go down, sign a ticket, it's very simple. Sa He was a classmate of her in college, and they lived in a dormitory for four years, so they had a good relationship. After graduating from college, Sa He returned to her hometown to become a middle school teacher, and they haven't seen each other since. There is still contact, she called herself, and told her to come to her to have fun when she is free. Of course, she wouldn't go to her place to play, even if she passed by her this time, and Yu Zipei had her phone number with her before leaving home, but in general, I was still not very inclined to go to her. She doesn't like to reminisce very much, so what's the point of sighing and sighing at each other? Past events don't become more valuable because of memories, only useless people like to immerse themselves in memories.

However, when the train arrived and the conductor called the station, she got off at the last minute. Maybe it was in Chiang Rai for nearly two months, she worked too hard, and now she wants to find a random excuse to play. It may be a good choice to meet old classmates, talk nonsense, and see how she is doing. It was afternoon, she made a phone call to Sahe's school at the station, she was surprised by Yu Zipei's sudden arrival on the phone, and kept saying oops, oops, oops, after a series of oops, she told Yu Zipei not to leave the station, and she would come and pick me up immediately.

About twenty minutes later, Sawa came. Her hair was combed back, she was not as white as she used to be, and she was also fat, and she couldn't see it on her face, but her lower abdomen was slightly fat, and what surprised Yu Zipei was that she was wearing a wide school uniform, which had not been worn by anyone for many years. Seeing Yu Zipei, she looked her up and down with a smile, and patted her on the shoulder, saying that she had almost no change, and she was still like a little girl. Yu Zipei said that you are too, and you haven't changed too much. She said no, no, no, how can I compare with you. Then she snatched Yu Zipei's travel bag and said let's go, my house is not far from here.

As soon as they left the station, some pedalers on rickshaws came to pick up passengers, but they refused and walked along a dirty road. The roads were in disrepair, potholes in places, and a car drove by, kicking up a cloud of dust. The streets are mostly old and low-rise buildings, ugly and dark, with some old bungalows of blue bricks and gray tiles mixed with corrugated grass growing on the roofs. There are farmers selling vegetables on the sidewalk with their burdens on their faces, and there are iron stoves in front of the small restaurants, and round cakes the size of pot lids are spread out in large cauldrons on top of them. Looking at the scene on the street, Yu Zipei wanted to make a film that reflected the past era, and this was a good location for location. She and Sa He talked while walking, and she asked Yu Zipei why she came suddenly, and Yu Zipei said a few words briefly. Then she introduced Yu Zipei to the situation of this small city, and introduced the past, present and future of this city. Her introduction obviously had a taste of pretended pride, as if she was afraid that Yu Zipei would look down on her hometown. According to her introduction, it is not difficult to speculate that it will not be long before the county will become a thriving international metropolis on the lower Mekong plain in three to five hundred years at most. They crossed a crossroads in the futuristic cosmopolitan metropolis and went a short distance into an alley.

Sahe's home is in a large courtyard, which may have been an ancestral hall or some large family living in the past, with a tall and large gatehouse, two wooden doors with peeling paint, and a large iron ring on one side. Some bungalows were built in the courtyard later, and some families made their own small huts made of simple materials such as linoleum, which completely changed the original layout. Walk in and turn around here, take a detour there, look at the road in some places, and find that there is a small aisle next to it when you get closer. Sawa's home is a long house with a sloping and high roof and a skylight on it. In the middle of the room, a wall more than one person high is separated by three plywood (not separated to the top, the upper side is connected), and the room is divided into two, the outer side is used as the living room, and the inner side is the bedroom. The room was a mess, with clothes thrown on the couch, unwashed dishes and chopsticks on the square table, and books, newspapers, tea cans, ashtrays, cups, pens, scissors, and other miscellaneous things piled up on the upper and lower floors of the coffee table. Yu Zipei walked to the door of the bedroom and peeked in, the curtains inside opened a corner, half-light and half-dark, the old and bulky large wardrobe and chest of drawers were placed along the wall, a double bed was placed in the center of the bedroom next to the wall, and the quilt on the bed was not folded.

Sahe picked up the clothes on the couch aside, beckoned Yu Zipei to sit down, sorted out the things on the coffee table, vacated a space, and put a cup of tea for her. She sat down next to Yu Zipei, and they drank tea and chatted. I don't know if she was very excited to see Yu Zipei, she talked a lot, and seemed to be eager to give herself a general understanding of her situation.

She told Yu Zipei that because of the small size of her family, her children lived with their grandparents, at the other end of the county, and did not come over often. Her husband Li Wenlong works in the county economic office, and his work is very leisurely, and she asked a powerful friend to get him in. And her middle school is the best middle school in the county, in this best middle school, she is the backbone of teaching, she was going to be promoted to the leader of the mathematics group last year, and then probably because she was plain and arrogant, coupled with the deep contradiction between the vice principal and the principal, and she was closer to the vice principal, others mistakenly thought that she was the person on the side of the vice principal, so she was not the leader of the mathematics group, but the position of the team leader was still vacant, and it was obviously reserved for her. At the beginning of this year, she had already started to work hard, and her relationship with the principal became much closer, because she secretly supported the principal's field and helped the principal in several things, and she did not offend the vice principal in charge. She estimated that she would soon become the team leader, as long as she became the team leader, it would be much easier to solve the senior title, and with the senior title, there would be no need to worry about money, houses, or anything. But now she had to be careful to maintain a balance between the vice principal in charge and the principal, and then she took the trouble to tell Yu Zipei about the ins and outs of the conflict between the vice principal in charge and the principal. Yu Zipei listened to her, and felt extremely tired in her heart, after so many years, how much they have changed, and the things they care about are so different. These things she talked about were simply worthless in Yu Zipei's eyes. Another thing that made her wonder was how Sa He had become so self-centered, how could she have concluded that Yu Zipei would be interested in her trivial matters, otherwise how could she be so engaged in talking about it for so long regardless of her own feelings? Even when Yu Zipei deliberately pulled the topic to other old classmates in between her words, she only said a few perfunctory words, and stubbornly pulled the topic back to herself.

The door rang and opened, and Li Wenlong walked in. He wore an old red T-shirt with a pair of black khaki pants underneath, and his hair was cut short, as if he had just been cut. Although he is in his early thirties, it can be seen that he is very inattentive to dressing up, which is quite a match for Sa He. Sa He was relatively plump, her breasts were tall and her thighs were round, and in my memory, there seemed to be some faint freckles on her face in the past, but now they are gone. Li Wenlong is also a college classmate of Yu Zipei and Sahe, but he is not in the same department as them, he is from the acting department. She and Li Wenlong began to fall in love the year they graduated, Yu Zipei saw him a few times at that time, and he was not too familiar with him, and he gave Yu Zipei the impression that he didn't seem to be very talkative. When he graduated, Li Wenlong could have stayed in the city, and a newspaper where he had gone to intern was willing to ask him, but for the sake of love, he returned to her hometown with Sahe without hesitation.

Look who's coming, Sahe shouted at him. Who is coming, he glanced at Yu Zipei indifferently, obviously not recognizing Yu Zipei at once. Why don't you cook yet, he reprimanded Sa He loudly, don't you know that I have something to do at night.

It's me, Wenlong, don't you know, Yu Zipei said. He turned his head to look at Yu Zipei again, and soon, a look of excitement appeared on his face. Ah, it's you, how did you get here? I'm so sorry, I'm sorry, I didn't recognize you, I didn't expect you to come, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. He sat down on the couch and eagerly asked Yu Zipei why he hadn't even said hello beforehand, otherwise they would have been ready to prepare. Before Yu Zipei could answer, he apologized for the mess at home, and reprimanded Sa He again, and didn't clean up the house, and since Yu Zipei came, why didn't she call him at his unit so that he could come back early. After he calmed down a little, Yu Zipei told him that he was writing a script in Chiang Rai this time, and the time was very tight, so he didn't have time to come, but he wanted to meet his old classmates...... He was very interested in what Yu Zipei said, and asked her what kind of script she wrote, what kind of characters were in it, when the filming would start, which station would play it, and so on. Since Li Wenlong came in, Sa He didn't talk much, she listened to us on the side, and occasionally handed Yu Zipei tea and water. After a while, she said, you talk, I'll cook. Li Wenlong said don't do it, wait until you go to the restaurant to eat. Sahe said that it is better to eat at home, the dishes are ready-made, and it takes nothing to do. Yu Zipei also said, let's eat at home, she is tired of eating restaurants in Chiang Rai during this time, and she really wants to eat some home-cooked food.

After Sa He got up and went out to cook, Li Wenlong asked Yu Zipei in detail about her living situation and writing, and repeatedly asked her to send her works to see when she returned. He chatted with Yu Zipei for a while, and went out in a hurry to buy a few braised vegetables and two bottles of liquor, and when he came back, he cleaned up the house while talking to Yu Zipei. He also made a phone call in the bedroom, and Yu Zipei heard him say that if he doesn't go, he won't go, an old classmate has come, and he must accompany him. He came out of the bedroom, and Yu Zipei said to him, if you have something to do, go there, you don't have to accompany me. He said that there was nothing to do, it was dancing, he went to the dance hall every night to dance, anyway, he was idle at home and had nothing to do, so he wouldn't dance tonight.

After Sahe finished frying the dishes, he came in from the kitchen on a plate, the three of them sat down at the square table, Li Wenlong poured wine for everyone, he raised the wine cup and said, come, cheers.

By this time it was already dark. An incandescent lamp is hung over a triple splint separating the rooms in order to illuminate both rooms at the same time. Because of the high ceiling, the light appears dim and dim, covering the house with a layer of hazy light and shadow. The dishes were not fried at the same time, some were already cold, some were slightly steaming, and the sound of running water came from the courtyard outside, and a woman was talking to someone...... In this strange small county, in this old-style house, sitting with two old classmates who had not seen her for many years, Yu Zipei's heart suddenly felt a sense of desolation and loneliness, which made her mood a little low.

Sa He still didn't speak much, it seemed that before Li Wenlong came back, he had already told me everything he had to say, and at the moment he seemed to be an inconsequential companion at the dinner table. In contrast, Li Wenlong seemed to be extraordinarily active, and he was still a good drinker, toasting with Yu Zipei one cup at a time. He and Yu Zipei talked about the situation of some old classmates they knew together, talked about literature, and lamented the youth that was gone forever. Sa He silently sipped wine and ate food on the side, the expression on his face was a little wooden, and occasionally he simply said a word or two to Yu Zipei, and then there was no follow-up. Looking at Sa He's wilted look, Yu Zipei somehow remembered an incident from the past.

When they were in college, one night, a few girls in their dorm were idle and pooled their money to buy some beer. As they were happy, they talked about the boys—a topic they never got tired of, and they talked about how everyone was going to spend their wedding night. At that time, they were all virgins, so they were full of yearning for the things of men and women. The so-called wedding night, for them, means to say goodbye to virginity. Some say that he was going to come six times that night. Some say to come nine times. Some people also say that if you want to set the alarm clock to half an hour, you will have to come once when the clock rings. When it was Sahe's turn to speak, she said that you guys are too useless, let me tell you straight, that night, I asked him to put it in and there was no way to take it out at all. They burst into laughter, and oh my God, he was so good. What a happy college time!

Sa He used to drink a limited amount of alcohol, and now it still hasn't grown, the three of us, she drank the least, but her face was already pale, and when she stood up and was ready to go to the toilet, her body was still a little shaky. Yu Zipei stood up and accompanied her to the toilet. The toilet is in the corner of the yard, it is a public toilet, there is no light in it, it is dark, and it stinks. Sa He squatted down to pee in the cement urinal, Yu Zipei asked her in a low voice, Sa He, how is your relationship with Li Wenlong? She turned her head, her eyes flashing in the darkness. Very good, she said. Yu Zipei didn't say anything more.

At ten o'clock, they finished their dinner, and at this time something happened that made Yu Zipei quite embarrassed, Sa He and Li Wenlong actually argued over where Yu Zipei slept. Sa He meant to send Yu Zipei to the county education committee guest house, where the conditions were good, the accommodation was more comfortable, and it was not far away. Li Wenlong wanted her to live in their house, sleeping on the couch in the room outside, and the Changsha hair was a bed, his reason was that Yu Zipei, an old classmate, had finally come here, and she could chat more if she lived at home, and besides, she was not an outsider, so why go out to live in a guest house so late. The two had a very fierce argument, and Sahe, who had not been humming since the meal, didn't know if it was because of the wine at this time, and he also raised his voice in the face of Li Wenlong, who was fierce. This sudden dispute made Yu Zipei at a loss, and he didn't know what to say, so he had to persuade weakly. Don't fight, don't fight, a little thing, a little thing, don't fight, it doesn't matter where I sleep, you don't have to fight. But Yu Zipei's persuasion was to no avail, and the two continued to argue, and Li Wenlong began to be angered by Sahe's attitude, and scolded her for being unkind. Seeing that the scene was about to get out of control, in desperation, Yu Zipei picked up his travel bag and said that you should stop fighting and go to the guest house. She was the first to walk towards the door. Now neither of them spoke, and followed her to the door.

They went out of the courtyard and into the street, and Sa and the leader, and everyone didn't speak all the way. The street was deserted, there were few people, and although it was only ten o'clock, the shops along the street were closed, and it seemed to be the middle of the night. They walked for about ten minutes, and when they came to a two-story building, Sahe knocked on a door and said a few words to a middle-aged woman, who led them in, went up to the second floor, opened a door, and turned on the light. There were two single beds, a wooden table and a chair in the room, and the middle-aged woman left for a while, and when she came back with a plastic water bottle with a red shell in her hand, she put the bottle on the table and left. Sa He said to Yu Zipei, it's okay to live here, she hurriedly said It's good, it's good, you can go back. Li Wenlong opened the lid of the water bottle, stretched out his hand and tried it at the mouth of the bottle, he said to Sa He in a vicious voice, the water is not hot, and Sa He did not make a sound. Yu Zipei said it was okay, she didn't drink water, and asked them to go back. Li Wenlong said, "Wait a minute, I'll bring you a bottle of water from home." I don't want to send it, I don't need it. He said you leave it alone.

They were gone quickly. Yu Zipei closed the door and sat on the bed, feeling a little frustrated in her heart, regretting that she came to see Sahe this time, how could she do this more, otherwise she would be home now. She had decided to leave early tomorrow morning, and she couldn't stay any longer. She thought about how to say goodbye to Sa and Li Wenlong before leaving, whether to make a phone call to their house, or leave a note in the guest house, which seemed a little rude. Anyway, she didn't want to go to their house anymore.

Someone knocked on the door, and Li Wenlong walked in with an iron-shelled water bottle. Yu Zipei said that you really sent it, thank you. Li Wenlong put the water bottle on the table and sat on the single bed opposite Yu Zipei, as if he had something to say.

I'm sorry for you today, he said, sorry. He was apparently referring to his quarrel with Sahe over where he slept.

It doesn't matter, Yu Zipei said, an old classmate, and not a guest.

I'm really sorry for you, he said it again.

Say no more, it's fine.

He was silent, and Yu Zipei saw that she had no intention of leaving, so he said, it's not too early, you go back, or Sahe will not be at ease. The mention of Sahe seemed to arouse the anger in his heart again, and he said that the woman had drunk too much, and when she went back, she went to bed, and snored like a pig. Yu Zipei said that Sa He didn't drink much, and he did drink a little more today, so don't worry about her. He ignored Yu Zipei's words, turned his head to look to the side, as if thinking about something, and then turned his head to look at Yu Zipei and said, you are not sleepy, I want to talk to you, is it okay? Yu Zipei said of course it can.

He talked. He probably suppressed it for a long time, and finally found someone to talk to, and the conversation went on and on. To be honest, Yu Zipei has heard many people talk about her mediocre and boring and suffocating married life on TV, and she is basically numb to this, and her heart is like water. She pretended to listen to him and give him some comfort, wondering when he would be able to finish talking and leave so that he could put himself to sleep. Yu Zipei was a little tired, he didn't have a good rest on the train, and he drank too much wine for dinner, and he was dizzy, but Li Wenlong didn't seem tired at all, and he was still talking vigorously there.

Once, Li Wenlong said that Sa He followed him to the dance hall and made a big noise in the dance hall, insisting on pulling him home, and they got into a fight in the dance hall. He was so angry that he stabbed her ass with a fruit knife. Since then, she has never dared to interfere with her own dancing in the ballroom.

What a brave man, Yu Zipei thought. A brave man like this, if it was in the past feudal era, might have become a thief-killing general. Yu Zipei sighed and asked him, why don't you get a divorce?

She refused to leave, Li Wenlong said, I have mentioned it to her several times, but she just refused to leave, kneeling on the ground and begging me not to divorce.

Yu Zipei didn't know what Sa He thought, how could she still live this kind of life.

If you don't leave, you won't leave, and he said, anyway, I have a lover outside.

Do you have a lover?

Yes, I met in a ballroom.

Does Sawa know?

I don't care if she knows it or not.

What does your lover do, and do you have feelings for her?

He's a nurse. The feelings are indescribable, maybe a little.

So what are you going to do in the future?

I don't know what to do, it's a day at a time.

It was late at night, it was quiet, and it was a little chilly in the house. Yu Zipei and Li Wenlong drank a lot of wine at night, and they were a little cold at this time, and they both felt the coolness of this late autumn night. She shifted her body and leaned against the quilt, which warmed her up a little. Li Wenlong first sat there with his arms crossed, then stood up, walked around the house, walked and walked, and somehow walked to Yu Zipei's side and sat down next to Yu Zipei. Yu Zipei screamed, and then she saw Li Wenlong disappear without a trace in an instant like a frightened rabbit.

Soon after returning, Yu Zipei received a letter from Li Wenlong. In the letter, he said that Sa He was mentally ill and no longer went to work, and she didn't do anything at home all day, just pacing around, muttering to herself that she didn't want to be the head of mathematics, that she didn't want to be the head of mathematics, and that it was not appropriate for anyone to let him be him. Sometimes she would run out and smash the windows of the principal and vice principal's house, so that he didn't dare to go to work, so he took leave from the unit and stayed at home to watch her. He took her to the hospital and took a lot of medicine, but it didn't work. He had no choice but to do so, so he wrote to Yu Zipei, hoping that she could contact a hospital in Bangkok, where the medical conditions in the big city were better and might cure Sa Hoa's illness. At the end of the letter, he wrote, help us, old classmate, Sahe is really pitiful.