In this life or in the next (1)

After an unknown amount of time, she came to her senses. From a distant place, her soul returned to her body as if it had travelled over a mountain and was tired. What happened to her, she did not know, but she felt weak, as if she had been stabbed hard. There was no wound, but she felt only pain, and this pain came and went, as if it were a hallucination.

Bai Yun's mind went blank and she stood there for a long time, dazed. She suddenly remembered a song she had heard during a singer's competition at school, from a poem written by Bai Juyi in the Tang Dynasty, called "Flowers are not flowers".

"Flowers are not flowers, fogs are not fogs.

The flowers are not flowers, the fog is not fog, they come at midnight and go at dawn.

They come like a dream in spring, and go like the clouds in the morning.

Like clouds in the morning with no place to find.

Unconsciously, Baiyun sang the poem slowly. Bai Yun didn't know how she got back to the villa, she packed her bags, locked the door and left the key where Richard had told her. With her luggage and all the paintings she had created since she arrived in Provence, Bai Yun looked at the villa behind her, the place where she had found love and where her heart had lost its longing for love.

Bai Yun didn't know where she was going, she didn't know what she was going to do. She wandered around in a confused manner. She didn't want to go home, and she didn't have a home. She couldn't concentrate on anything, and she didn't know what the point of her staying in Provence was. She wandered around alone, as if she were a ghost. Yes, perhaps she was an abandoned ghost at the moment.

Yes, why not wander to the sea? It's so hot, so I can take a bath and let the sea wash away all my worries.

After wandering for some time, Bai Yun saw the turquoise coast in front of her. Under the deep blue sky, the waves whispered. Singing along with the frolicking crowd.

A couple walked past her, the man holding the woman's waist as they whispered. The woman is smiling happily.

A group of children, innocently playing with the waves crashing over the sea, as the tide rises and falls, accompanied by the sound of woo-woo screams. For them, it is a joyful, exciting world, the waves are their companions, and what a life they have.

With so many people, she needed a quiet beach, a place where there was no one, she needed to feel abandoned by the crowd now, she needed it.

Bai Yun found a less crowded beach, left her luggage on the beach and jumped into the azure water, ready to have some fun, the water was cold and it felt good on this hot summer day. It was the first time Baiyun had ever bathed in the sea, and the waves lapped at her body as she swam further and further away. After swimming for a while, Bai Yun felt very tired.

He was about to swim back to the shore when he suddenly felt a painful cramp in his calf. Bai Yun glanced towards the shore. It wasn't far, but it was far enough for her to get a cramp. As she thought about it, Bai Yun moved in the water to try to relax her cramped foot, but the more she moved, the more painful it became and Bai Yun panicked. She struggled and struggled until she seemed to lose all feeling ...