"Thank you, Old Mike! All of this is because of you. I’m merely returning it to you. Thank you!!" I slowly retreated from his office. <br>"Farewell, Yichuan!" Old Mike said to me. <br>I arrived at the front desk of the "Sky Loft Inn," which was built with several large railroad ties forming a wall. The raw, rugged wood was framed with metallic edges, on which hung numerous cards. Each card bore handwritten words: "Mr. Zhou, A River Guarded (persist), maintaining this virtue regardless of the circumstances in life. Mr. Yang, A River Guarded (incredible), maintaining this virtue regardless of the circumstances in life..." Incredible virtue? I chuckled at this peculiar idea, wondering how that person was doing now. Silently, I kept observing, lost in thought. <br>This was my inn, providing free accommodation of up to one week for those chasing their dreams in Shenzhen. The hotel had seven triple rooms prepared for them. Guests need not pay a penny but must write down their core virtue and sign an agreement with us. They would then be granted their week-long stay. Eventually, those who signed the agreement would come to realize how vital their declared virtues were. Unexpectedly, this quirky or, one might say, nonsensical rule kept the inn bustling with guests. Once, someone who stayed in one of these rooms achieved success and later donated a hefty sum to retrieve the very paper they had signed back then. <br>I found my card: "A River Guarded (restraint, trust), maintaining this virtue regardless of the circumstances in life." I took it down, gave it a look, and then placed it back up on the wooden wall. What is etched into your blood doesn't require daily worship. At this moment, I should simply continue to trust—trust in Jin zhao and trust in myself. <br>Over the course of one month, after dealing with all these assets, I gathered my few belongings, took the money, and drove my Guangdong B car, heading back to Chongqing with Jin zhao. <br>It was dusk. I took one final look at my home—everything I had accumulated in my 16 years here. The most beautiful thing about the house was the view outside its windows: the convention center, over 20 Manhattan-style office buildings, the central park, the golf course, and Shenzhen’s tallest building, the Ping An Tower. I had watched all of this grow from nothing into what it was now. The incredible prosperity outside my window was the product of three decades of sweat, ambition, and the entanglement of love and hatred here in Shenzhen. But everything I had once taken pride in… it was no more than someone else’s desires, irrelevant to me. <br>In this boundless world, I, too, want to be a free-spirited lunatic. Would that be so wrong? Breaking free from the chains of others, of institutions, of desires—perhaps that is what true freedom looks like. <br>I left everything behind except for my clothes. The rest of the house’s contents went to the buyer, a man from Hong Kong. When I handed over the keys, he remarked, "Such a prime location, such a great neighborhood. I see 150,000 per square meter here!" I smiled but said nothing. Then he asked, "Miss Yichuan, what kind of business are you in? For a young woman to own such a luxurious house, it truly piques my curiosity." <br>Looking at the man whose face resembled a wrinkled Shar-Pei, I replied, "I rely on Dumb Luck Business." <br>Startled, he exclaimed, "Haha, making money through that? You must be joking!" <br>I smirked and said, "Yes, precisely. If I weren’t 'dumb,' I wouldn’t have bought this place back when the housing market was in the dumps and there was nothing here but fish ponds. If I weren’t 'dumb,' I wouldn’t be selling it to you now. You should feel lucky I’m 'dumb.' Isn’t that so?" <br>I took one last look at the house, the house I had gained through my so-called dumb luck. A foolish person should do foolish things. Jin zhao is already so smart, so why should I bother analyzing with my eyes or brain? I’ll just follow my heart. My heart tells me to say: willing. <br>It tells me to go back with him, because he said to me: He needs me! And what could be more irresistible than to hear such words from the one person you hold as your everything? <br>Or perhaps, I’m still choosing to “believe.” <br>I carefully closed all the doors and windows, taking one final glance at the bustling city center. Then, I shut the door. Night had fallen. We had to travel under the cover of darkness to avoid the congestion of leaving the city. I opened the car door and got in. The headlights came on automatically. Jin zhao’s car was ahead of mine, his hazard lights blinking. He said, "Just follow me." <br>Yes, I’ll follow you. Father, I’ve always followed you. <br>At that moment, the music in the car began to play: "South Mountain, North Sea, and the Graveyard Beyond.")
