That night, we discovered a new continent. Ever since we met, we’ve talked about women, about studying, about work, even about bedroom skills, but we never talked about dreams. Now, more than a decade later, with everyone pushing thirty, it’s the first time we’ve started to ponder this thing called dreams.

Back in those days, we didn’t really care about dreams—or at least, we pretended not to care. Looking back now, actually, everyone had a goal in their heart, and for more than ten years, we’ve all been circling around that goal.

Take Ben, for example. When he was in school, he dreamed of driving a Ben, and sure enough, he ended up driving a Ben. Later on, whether he liked it or not, he had to drive it—the Ben belonged to his boss, and Ben would often have to drive the Ben in the middle of the night to pick up his boss, who was stumbling drunk.

Or Ben. The ten-word motto he lives by is no joke. Back in high school, we thought Ben was especially shameless; for a while, we were even embarrassed to hang out with him. The guy had zero standards—he’d go after any girl, never picky. Later, we realized how strategic Ben really was. While we were all blushing and pretending to be virgins, he’d already slept with over twenty girls, developing a special skill for charming women with just a gesture or a glance. The campus was full of his legends, and after that, the girls he dated just kept getting more impressive, making us jealous for years.

Then there’s Tyler. Back in school, we liked to pick on Tyler because he was slow to react. If others were blockheads, his head was even harder—practically made of iron. Later, we realized Tyler only seemed slow; in reality, he always thought things through before acting, even taking a few seconds to consider before going to the bathroom with us. Tyler wasn’t dumb at all—on the contrary, he was probably the smartest among us. Back then, we all thought Tyler was born to be cunning, and with his square face, it would be a shame if he didn’t become an official. Sure enough, more than a decade later, if being a deputy section chief counts as an official, then he’s made it.

Or Warren. In middle school, every time he saw a boss flirting with his secretary on TV, he’d get super excited, always fantasizing about one day arranging his sexy secretary in all sorts of poses on a big office desk. As Roger once said, Warren is a motivational guy—everything he imagined back then has come true. For years now, he’s been living the happy life of “if there’s work, the secretary does it; if there’s no work, he does the secretary.”

As for me, I always felt like a drifter. Since I was a kid, I fancied myself a natural-born wanderer. Before I knew it, I’d spent years drifting, wandering through many places. If that counts as a dream, then I achieved mine long ago. Maybe because I fulfilled my old dream, in recent years I haven’t known what to do with myself.

As for Luke, he’s a special case.

Among the women we’ve dated, there were always one or two who thought we weren’t mature enough. Whenever we met up with Luke with our wounded pride, we’d all regain our confidence. Luke is the only one among us who never grew up—he still doesn’t know what he wants out of life.

The poor guy is especially unlucky. As the best straight man in a comedy duo, it means he’s basically never the funny one. All that extra energy of his goes to waste—no matter how lively he gets, if the rest of us stay quiet, he can’t get going either.

Six months ago, Luke was in Xiamen; six months later, he turned up in Kunming. We have no idea where he’ll go next.

If one day he finds a clear goal, we’ll genuinely be happy for him.

Our group has plenty of flaws, but our most commendable trait is that when one of us is dead set on doing something, the rest will basically support him. Like when I made a reckless decision to leave, everyone backed me up. Like tonight, when Roger suddenly came out, everyone still showed their support.

That’s the nice way to put it. The less nice way is: spiritual support doesn’t cost anything. So here’s a reminder to all the young people out there—if your friends want to do something meaningful but not widely accepted, at least give them some moral support.

We talked for a long time that night. It had been years since we’d all spoken so freely.

After plenty of buildup, I announced a decision.

I’d been confused for a long time. During my time in Tibet, I vaguely reached a bottleneck, like I was about to break through. It wasn’t until tonight, after what happened with Roger, that I was truly inspired and realized what I wanted to do next.

I have a new dream.

When I told the guys about this dream, they all thought I was daydreaming.

Luckily, they didn’t shoot me down. Each of them just watched, waiting to see what I’d do.

I was happy—and grateful that someone was looking forward to seeing how I’d chase that daydream.

Chapter 016: Do Something

After midnight, we all went to our own rooms to sleep. Ben came knocking on my door.

The scene was just too bromantic. Then again, Ben and I have always had a bromance since our student days.