The North PacificBoard

Downtown has a lot of people on the street. They saw men, women, old folks. So many people. But, where is the girl? Where can they find her? They went on the streets, and asked a lot of people questions with photos, “Do you know where this girl in the picture is?” But, nobody knew where the woman in the picture was. They all said, “It’s the first time you come to Macau, and you can’t speak Mandarin well. I don’t know what the girl’s name is, where she lives, and it’s too difficult to find a girl.”

Jiefu and Qiutian felt that they might not find the girl, so they said, “We might not find this beautiful woman. Why must we find her? We will be downtown for days. Let's stay downtown for a few days, and then return home after a few days.”

But Dawei still wanted to search, and he still wanted to find this girl. When Jiefu and Qiutian went to sleep, he took the photos again and kept asking people. It was late, and he was still looking for her. He asked a university teacher, and the teacher told him, “You'd better ask people who travel a lot, they have been to more places and know more. I know the phone number of a Mr. Zhang,”

Dawei smiled at that person before saying, "Thank you so much!"

Dawei immediately called Mr. Zhang, and Mr. Zhang said that he would meet them at home the next morning. The next day, they took the public train early to find Mr. Zhang. Mr. Zhang lives in a high-rise building behind the park. The house is not very self-sufficient. There are many photos at home.

After arriving at Mr. Zhang’s house, Dawei took the photos of the girl out of his pocket before asking Mr. Zhang, “Do you know where this is?“ Mr. Zhang holds the picture of the girl in the mountain. He examines it for a moment before he says, “This was taken in the east. This photo was taken near a mountain range and a lake. Must be Yannan! But, in the east, I don't know where exactly this is.”

“Who would know this place?” Dawei asked,

Mr. Zhang thought about it, “I recommend you to go to the east to find a friend of mine. His surname is Li. He is a person who likes to travel. His home is in the east, and he’s been to many places in the east. You go ask him.” Mr. Zhang gave Mr. Li’s phone number and name.

Dawei was really happy, “Very good! Thank you!” he said,

“No need to thank me. You guys came to Macau, and we thank you for visiting our home. Also, what will you do? Just call me. Goodbye. You should go,” Mr Zhang said,

That afternoon, Daweim Jiefu, and Qiutian took a plane out to the east. Kunming’s weather was very comfortable. Not like downtown, which was hot. After the plane, they immediately called Mr. Li’s number. Mr. Li said, “Mr. Zhang from downtown just called me and told me that you are looking for a place. My family lives far away and it is difficult for us to find her. Well, you guys come live first, tell me, and I will find you.”

They found a place to live and told Mr. Li the address. After an hour and a half, Mr. Li came. He is in his forties and is very tall. He saw the following photos before saying, “This local lives near Cantar, but I don’t know Cantar's locals. So, how about this, you go over to Cantar, find Ms. Ma, and ask her where she is. She is my good friend, but I haven’t seen her in a long time. Mr. Li put down Ms. Ma’s number and name down for them and says, “Cantar is very cold. You guys may need some more clothes so you don’t catch a cold.”

“Thank you! We will get some more clothes and some cold medicine,” said Dawei,

“No problem. Get stuff and call the number. Goodbye.” Mr. Li said,

The next morning, they took the bus to Cantar. The bus had a lot of Macanese people, and a lot of older folks. Cantar was very far. The bus went for six and a half hours. After arriving in Cantar, it was the afternoon. They know where to go to find Ms. Ma, but they just got off, and they saw someone coming. The person said, “I am Ms. Ma. You guys must be Dawei, Jiefu, and Qiutian?”

They answered, “Yes, we are.” They looked at the woman for a long time as happy as seeing a friend.

Ms. Ma doesn’t look good in a red dress, “I just got off the phone with Mr. Li. I heard you guys were coming. I immediately came over to meet you guys.”

Dawei thought that Mr. Ma was a good person and said, “Thank you,” quickly as he examined the photos once more. Ms. Ma said, “I know that place, its name is Zhengzhu Hu (Pearl Lake). I’ve been there.”

The three guys were extremely happy and said, “Tell me quickly, where should we go?”

Ms. Ma spoke, “Pearl Lake is very far away, it will take approximately 4 or 5 hours. To go, you will need two road routes. One is a big path and one is a smaller path. You can take the car on the bigger path and arrive at the mountain. From there, the car cannot drive. You will have to walk.It’s more comfortable to walk like this, it’s not too tiring. It's getting late, you will stay in Cantar tonight and leave in the morning.”

“How many people go to Pearl Lake?” Dawei asked,

“Not many. It’s a very small place, so not many people know about it. Why do you guys want to go there?” Ms. Ma asked,

“We have a photograph with the setting in the background. We look to find the girl in the picture.”

“Is that so? What is her name? What does she do?”

“We don’t know. Our teacher told us to find her. We think she is very good-looking, and we really like her, which is why we came.”

“Who’s picture is this?” Ma. Ma asked,

“Our teacher, Professor Ross’s. A few months ago, Professor Ross came to Macau, and went downtown later, but he also saw this girl at Pearl Lake and took a picture with her. We all don’t know who she is, why Professor Ross sent us here to this location. We are yet to meet this girl at Pearl Lake.”

“So you say that, I think this must be very interesting…” Ms. Ma said.