There were always several minutes, each second of which you would like to swap a whole year for;

There were always several tears, each of which you would like to wipe off her face with your sincere commitments;

There were always several scenes, each picture of which you would love to remember with all your heart;

There were always several sentences, each word of which you would love to review at every night.

Darling, if everything could be started over, I wanted to be with you forever…

Part One-

In 2004, I was so frustrated that I wanted to do nothing but play cards on my computer for a dozen hours each day. My skills were not good, and I played the game without planning. But I typed fast, which was my sole advantage. Under those circ.u.mstances, I created my own tactic called playing nonsense.

As soon as it began, I started talking to the other players in the chat box.

"Flaming Angel, how is your uncle going recently?"

"Angle, huh? But why do you use 'flaming' to describe yourself? You'll be braised, so please be careful."

"Well, long time no see, Desolate Heart. Why did you change your online nickname?"

"Nice to meet you, Fuzzy. Could you do me a favor to heal my swollen knees..."

As a result, many players couldn't stand my nonsense anymore, played cards in disorder, and withdrew from the game with a curse "go to h.e.l.l". Thus, I won the games by typing with a winning rate of 75%. As time ticked away, this tactic didn't work anymore, and I doped out another one-telling story in the dialogue box.

When the system dealt cards, I started typing: once upon a time, there was a priest, and the most beautiful girl in his village was Xiaofang. All of a sudden, she was pregnant one day and would rather die than give away the father of her child. The villagers beat her hard and threatened to drown her. Then, she said in tears that the priest was the child's father. All the villagers rushed into the church where the priest didn't deny it and they broke his legs. Unexpectedly, a miracle took place after 20 years.

Subsequently, I started to play cards, but the dialog box was full of screams presented by words.

"I'll bury you. What's the miracle? Go to h.e.l.l. I'm done playing. Can you finish the story?"

By doing so, I had my winning rate increased to 80%.

My tactic won popularity in this game, and many players wanted to learn from me. However, when I saw that their winning rate was under 50% and they were at the level of "Barefoot", I turned them down with a sneer.

Just right at the moment when I felt very proud of myself, Mao s.h.i.+ba who shared the same rented house with me suddenly learned this all by himself.

Mao s.h.i.+ba was too shameless. What he created could be counted as a branch of playing nonsense-playing curse. For example: when a group of people played cards as usual, he typed a line of words in the chat box, "Avalokitesvara is very kind and sympathetic with her holy dew illuminating the secular world and her bright eyes summoning safety. If you want your parents to be healthy, please reiterate the words. You have to reiterate them. Otherwise, you'll be run over by a car."

Screw you!

Since compulsory retransmission wasn't popular at that time, the other players all were in a flurry and not in the mood to think through. He had mentioned Father of Taoism, G.o.d, Jehovah, the Virgin Mary, Fortune Boy, Emperor Zuanzong of Tang Dynasty, Xie Xun, the Golden Lion King, and the Little Mermaid… before the end of the game... I yielded.

As a quite quiet person in daily life, Mao s.h.i.+ba only said "h.e.l.lo, eh, and bye" when he was on a phone. Thus, I was transfixed that he became the master of playing nonsense.

Part Two-

The friends.h.i.+p between Mao s.h.i.+ba and me had lasted. We even drove to Daocheng Daocheng in 2009. We, together with his girlfriend, drove to Chonggu Temple, a picturesque place with layer upon layer of mountains unfolding before us.

I knew his plan. He felt very nervous with his body trembling.

He got down on one knee and said, "Litchi, will you marry me?"

He was chocked with sobs before finis.h.i.+ng asking, almost turning this interrogative sentence into an imperative one.

Litchi said, "You still speak less even when you're proposing to me."

He asked again while sobbing, "Litchi, will you marry me?"

"Yes, I do," replied Litchi.

When he put the ring on her finger, his hands trembled so severely that he could barely put it on.

Two other friends and I cheered, shouted, and rolled on the ground, pretending there were thousands of people celebrating for them.

He gave a navigator to Litchi as a birthday present in 2010, which startled all of us. Since it was too unusual, we wondered if there was any special meaning.

He said shyly that he had spent over a month replacing all of its audio files. I became very thrilled and forced Litchi to drive to experience his experimental result, which totally reminded me that he was once the master of playing nonsense.

The navigator keeping talking nonsense in the process of her driving. "d.a.m.n it! There is a camera ahead. I can't handle it. I can't find the place you want to go. Pal, are you awake? Is the address wrong?"

We were all overwhelmed with joy. The most hilarious part was when we stopped upon a red traffic light. The navigator said seriously in Mao's voice, "Has the hand brake been pulled? What if the car slides backward? Don't toot your horn. Why did you toot your horn? If the driver of the car in front of you is grumpy, he'll come to beat you. Besides, you're not a matched rival to him, so why not sit tight tamely? Oh, you didn't toot your horn? Then neglect what I said above..."

We laughed with tears welling up in our eyes, so did Litchi. She asked, "You usually speak less, but why are your recordings so wordy?"

Mao s.h.i.+ba said, "You said your navigator was too rigid and inhumane when we came to Daocheng, so I remodeled it. Now you won't find it boring anymore."

Litchi picked up the navigator and causally pressed a b.u.t.ton. Then, it screamed, "You want to turn me off, do you? I didn't break any law! If you turn me off, I won't be your navigator anymore. I'll be a radio by changing a diode. Got a problem with me? Bite me!"

All of us gasped in admiration.

Part Three-

Mao s.h.i.+ba broke up with Litchi in 2011.

Litchi put all items he gave to her into a box and sent it to my bar.

I asked, "Mao is on his way back. Do you want to wait for him?"

She said while shaking her head, "No. You give it to him for me."

I said, "He has something to say to you."

She said, "It doesn't matter anymore. He always talks less."

I asked, "Litchi, does it really end?"

She walked towards the door and said without looking back, "We are not suitable for each other."

I said, "Take care."

She replied, "Take care."

Mao s.h.i.+ba didn't show up at my bar and didn't answer my call that day. I went to the counter of the Electronic City to look for him, but the owner of a counter next to his counter told me that he hadn't been in business for a couple of days.

I ran into him in a small pub in the end. Having drunk too much, he had his face and ears blushed and asked with his half-opened eyes, "Zhang Jiajia, have you ever been Sand City?"

After thinking for a while, I asked, "You mean Dunhuang?"

He said while shaking his head, "No. I mean a city full of sand."

I said, "You've drunk too much."

He fell into a sleep on the table.

Part Four-

Litchi's box was left in my bar, and Mao s.h.i.+ba wasn't brave enough to take it back.

One day, I gave my barkeeper a ride home, and she played with a navigator which I looked quite familiar. She curled her lip and said, "I found it accidentally."

The moment she turned it on, it said in Mao's voice, "I'm running out of power. How can you still play instead of charging me?"

She was scared by that and held her head in her arms while shouting she encountered a ghost.

I phoned Mao s.h.i.+ba and asked, "Do you still want that navigator?"

He said after keeping silent for a while, "No. I'll go back to my hometown, Taizhou City, tomorrow."

I asked, "Why do you go back?"

He replied, "My family has rented a shop for me in the New Town Commercial Street, so I will go back to sell cellphones."

All of a sudden, I felt somewhat sad and spoke nothing. When I was about to hang up, he continued, "Selling cellphones isn't bad. It'll be amazing if I luckily marry a young and pretty girl."

I said, "Good luck with that."

He said, "Take care."

I said, "Take care."

Part Five-

In August 2012, I was in a very bad mood and drove westwards. After I drank a lot in Chengdu, I suddenly wanted to go to Daocheng the next day.

Although I was alone, I wasn't lonely at all by listening to the navigator talking nonsense in the voice of Mao s.h.i.+ba.

"If you don't want to die, please drive slowly; if you drive into a ditch, I can't help you with that."

"Turn left after 100 meters; d.a.m.n it, drive slowly."

In my eyes, Mao s.h.i.+ba was a genius. I forgot to charge it, and it crazily shouted after a red light of it was on, "I'm running out of power... Charge me right now!"

I almost burst into laughter and charged it as soon as possible.

I had pa.s.sed by Zheduo Mountain, Riding Mountain, Haizi Mountain, and Erlang Mountain. If I wanted to see the Milk Sea and Five-colored Sea, I had to climb up in person. I was very tired, so I stopped at Chonggu Temple. I was in a daze on looking at the fairy tale-like autumn scenery unfolding before me: green gra.s.s, blue water, red leaves, and white mountain.

Subsequently, the navigator suddenly beeped.

It was Mao s.h.i.+ba's voice.

"Litchi, are you in Daocheng again? This is Chonggu Temple where I proposed to you. I'll tell you after we get here: you're an angel under the bluest sky. The moment you enter my world, the four seasons of my world are replaced by your emotions. You smile, and then I'm at daytime; you cry, and I'm in the darkness."

"I prefer being alone. But since you enter my heart, I always want to be with you. I hate being alone thereafter."

"I want to share everything of you. I want to embrace everything from you. I want to be with you for the rest of life, which I can't resist, for I just love you."

"Litchi, I'm wondering when you hear this, have we married for one year or do we drive here with our baby?"

"I tell you 'Litchi, I love you' under the same sky but on two different days."

Tears welled up in my eyes when I heard Mao's voice.

On that day, Mao s.h.i.+ba got down on one knee before a girl on the glittering hillside where the gra.s.s was so soft and said, "Litchi, I love you."

Today, Mao s.h.i.+ba's shadow got down on one knee before the girl's shadow on the glittering hillside where the gra.s.s was so soft and said, "Litchi, I love you."

No matter how beautiful here was, it was a Sandy City to Mao s.h.i.+ba and Litchi.

A person's memory was a city where time was corroding every building, turning all the high-rises and roads into the sand. If you stood still, you would be buried by the sand.

Sand City was a person's memory.

When you came back to this Sand City occasionally in your dream, you saw those clear streetlights and footprints, but you couldn't touch them. The moment you touch them, the entire Sand City fell apart, burying all your happiness, dreams, and the relations.h.i.+p between us.

If you stood still, you would be buried by the sand. Hence, we had to move on even if we looked back in tears step by step.

Even if it meant I would brush past you, we still had to move forward.

I pa.s.sed through your worlds, while you just pa.s.sed through each other's world, too.

Although we were lonely and silent, we played nonsense like always. Having finished the story, we were still old friends of silence.