Prologue

I opened my mouth, wondering how to tell her that I know someone who never carries luggage, makes no plans, and does not bring a camera wherever he goes. Sometimes, he might change his itinerary midway just for a delicious bowl of wontons, going wherever he feels like. Perhaps that is the true meaning of travel

The girl asked me for my address, and not long after, I received a photo she sent. I turned my face to the side, and there was an infinite sense of loneliness in my eyes

I gazed at the expression in my eyes in that photograph, and gradually it overlapped with the glance that Jia Nianlin cast back at me when he was getting into the police car

I am here, while our youth is over there

But she began to chat with me enthusiastically, asking, "Beautiful lady, are you traveling?"

I once met a girl on the train to the countryside

I quietly gazed at the wall, feeling time flowing like a river, slowly passing by my side

I deeply regret that if I had not said to Jianian "I want him dead" in a moment of losing my senses, and if I had managed to pull myself together a bit earlier, Jianian's life would not have been marked by such a heavy stain, and perhaps his life would not have turned out that way

He asked me to take care of grandmother

She wrote a sentence on the back of that photo, for my sorrowful friend

I pasted that photo on the wall, next to it is a picture of Lan Shan wearing a red sweater. At that time, she looked so fierce, like a piece of ice

But I know what he wants to say

There is another note, she said, you are very beautiful, but you really look very unhappy

I smiled at her without saying a word

Mo Bei held me tightly in his arms and said, "Su Wei, you cry, go ahead and cry."

That was a long, long time ago, yet sometimes I feel as if that scene occurred just yesterday

I felt it unnecessary to say too much to someone I met on a journey, so I simply smiled and nodded. After receiving my friendly smile, she asked me, since it is a trip, why I wasn't carrying any luggage at all? Not even a camera?

In the room at dusk, the light is dim and faint, and the air is constricted

But I am like a fish discarded on the beach, with not a drop of moisture in my body

But in the end, I said nothing

Mo Bei supported me, who was still very weak at that time. I looked at Jian Nian's face through the crowd of people pushing and shoving each other. He moved his lips slightly, but no sound came out.

But if it is not like that, then what would it be like

She sat across from me, fiddling with her camera. When I turned my head to gaze at the vast expanse of white reeds beyond the railway tracks, I felt her press the shutter button aimed at me

The police car and ambulance, both sounding their sirens, gradually receded into the distance, and I did not pursue them even a single step. The crowd slowly dispersed, leaving behind a pool of blood of unknown origin on the ground