Tailor | Old Songs, Time, Love

Tailor

I remembered a small string of amusing anecdotes from ten years ago. "Sailing Across the Ocean to See You" counts as one of the theme songs of my life. In the early days, when I went to KTV with close friends, they would order it for me first. A few years later, it became the must-order song for Xiaochun, Wu Bai's "Ring".

In 2014, I had been in Dali for over a year. At that time, I was helping out at Atai's underground billiard room, keeping an eye on the place. After a few months, I felt somewhat lost and had the idea of hitchhiking and trekking into Tibet. I soon put it into action. I borrowed a hiking backpack, a DSLR camera, and just over a thousand yuan from my salary from Atai, and was ready to set off.

It happened to be the May Day holiday. Jiajia came to Dali to hang out and also to retrieve some bead bracelets she had left at her ex-boyfriend's place. Unexpectedly, her ex-boyfriend said he had already sold them and only returned 800 yuan to her. At that time, we met at a cold noodle shop on Renmin Road that we used to frequent. Knowing that I was about to enter Tibet and didn't have much money on me, she found a strange excuse that we both tacitly understood, gave me the 800 yuan she had just gotten back, and asked me to pick up some stones that I thought were special on the road to Tibet for her. One dared to say, the other dared to accept. When I came back, I didn't even bring her any stones.

The next time we met was in 2016. I had just broken up with the one from the earlier "Ring" story, and Xiaochun was still immersed in it and couldn't extricate himself.

At that time, she worked at the Guangzhou branch of a company headquartered in Dali. She came to the headquarters for a few months on business to plan an event. During that period, we were often together. Whenever I was free, I would ride my motorcycle to take her back and forth between her lodging and the place where she was preparing the event. She was busy with her work, while I would smoke and take a breather in 'Yunhai Fangcao'. Sometimes she would stay at my place because the accommodation arranged by the company was noisy at night. At that time, I was still working at Midnight Diner, and I would come back at five or six in the morning, so it would be quiet, and no one would disturb her thinking about work. Through that period of getting along, naturally we became boyfriend and girlfriend. This is also the origin of my later being called a player, a scumbag, and having three girlfriends in half a year.

Back to "Sailing Across the Ocean to See You": After returning from Tibet, I still had to find a job to support myself. Initially, I found a job on Douban as a waiter at 'Oh! Crayfish'. It was agreed that I would start the next day. It happened to be the rainy season in Dali, and unfortunately it rained heavily the next day. I lay on the sofa in the youth hostel 'Rogue Shelter', which was an old residential building converted in the small vegetable market on Renmin Road, and sighed, "Forget it, the rain is too heavy, I won't go." It rained for several days. After it cleared up, I found another job on Douban: Midnight Diner. The person who interviewed me was Xiaochun. I was puzzled why a restaurant only opened at night, and the front door wasn't open, you had to enter through a small side door. When I lifted the Japanese curtain at the side door, the first thing I saw was "Ring". I asked, "Are you hiring here?" "Ring" gave me a silly smile, glanced back toward the kitchen, and said, "Xiaochun, someone's here to apply..." Now thinking about it, it was probably from this point that my life slowly began to undergo tremendous changes. I met many people and experienced many stories. If there's a chance in the future, I'll tell them.

I still have to come back to "Sailing Across the Ocean to See You": After working at Midnight Diner for a few months, during that time "Ring" resigned from Midnight Diner and went on a trip to Nepal with her boyfriend at the time, leaving me and Xiaochun to work together. We had canceled the Monday rest day, and Jason would come each week to cover two days so that Xiaochun and I could take alternate days off.

At that time, Xiaochun took leave to go see a Li Zhi concert in Nanjing or somewhere. I was working with Jason, and during breaks we would talk about it and tease Xiaochun, saying things like "He really is an artistic youth..." After he returned from the concert, Xiaochun was in a very excited state. That artistic heart of his began to stir, and he wanted to go on a motorcycle trip. The process of Xiaochun's motorcycle trip also became one of his legendary experiences. In those years, when we were free, we would always talk about it, endlessly. Each time we finished talking, there would be new content. It was through repeated conversations that I gained a fairly complete understanding of the whole story (Jason seems to have a relatively complete account in an article).

If I remember correctly, Jason was also planning to ride his motorcycle into Tibet at that time. After all, who doesn't have an artistic heart? In this way, Midnight Diner had no choice but to close for a while, and I lost my job. Just then, my parents kept asking me to go help at the construction site cafeteria in Jiangsu. Actually, they just didn't want me to stay idle in Dali, so far away from home.

After I got to the construction site, I didn't help much. I just connected a network cable and spent most of my time playing games. I ate and slept on schedule, quite routinely. My parents didn't say anything, but this kind of life made me feel terrible. After a little more than a month, I told my parents that I would rather go back to Dali and work. It happened that Xiaochun had just come out of the detention center and had returned to Dali to reopen the restaurant normally.

It should be because of the influence of "Sailing Across the Ocean to See You", I wanted to move myself. Before returning to Dali, I wanted to make a complete break with the past. I calculated my travel expenses and the cost of living in Dali after returning, and found I was a bit short. I called Li Shan and borrowed about a thousand yuan, then bought a plane ticket to Shenyang. Following the address she had given me before, I arrived at the gate of her residential complex. I called her, chatted a bit, and then told her, "I'm downstairs at your building." My heart was pounding at that moment. She was also shocked, thinking I was joking with her. She came downstairs, we met, and after a silence, she spoke: "I already have a boyfriend." "I guessed as much; I just wanted to see you one last time." It was still a bit awkward. It was probably around September or October then. The weather in Shenyang was quite cold. Whether it was smog or the weather, visibility was very low, and the tall buildings could only be seen halfway up. My first impression of Shenyang was very negative. Before going, I had already found a hotel near her home, planning to stay one day and then return to Dali.

Originally, she wanted to go back to the hotel with me to sit and catch up. Unexpectedly, the hotel there was quite strict; a man and a woman who weren't husband and wife weren't allowed into the same room. It was very cold outside, so we could only chat in the hotel lobby. Finally, I said I would return to Dali tomorrow. She said, "Let me make you some dumplings." I said yes. The dumplings she made were quite delicious.

Because my budget was limited and I had to save wherever I could, I bought a green train ticket from Shenyang to Kunming, which seemed to take over fifty hours. When I got to the train station, there were still two or three hours before departure, so I found an internet cafe nearby to kill time. While I was gaming, she went out and bought a lot of food. I was in the middle of a team fight and didn't chat much with her. I just said, "Okay, just leave it there. It's fine, you can go back. No need to wait with me." Since my attention was on the team fight, I didn't see her expression.

After returning to Dali, she called me a few times, chatting about this and that, or I would make excuses that I was busy, like buying groceries for the restaurant. Eventually, I stopped answering altogether. I had already settled things in my heart and didn't want any more entanglements.

I don't know why I've written so much. This is still a restrained account, skipping many details. Maybe it's because my emotions have been a bit overflowing lately. When writing this, my phone has been playing Zhang Yusheng's "Still Friends" on repeat. Next time I go to KTV, no need to say, friends, please order this song for me.

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

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Young tailor traveling on the road

The busy Midnight Diner

Tailor and Xiaochun, who never abandoned him

Tailor and Liangzi (Liangzi gave him the 'Shimei Fried Egg' named after him)

Tailor and Huahua

Photos