Sima Xinyi Won't Run Away Anymore

Thirty-five years old, director of an investment bank, with an annual salary of 3 million, Sima Xinyi sent a WeChat message to her mother with bare feet in the bathroom on the 58th floor of the China World Trade Center: "I won't be coming back this year." Then she disappeared. There is no handover. No goodbye. Not a single explanation. She uninstalled her corporate WeChat account, removed her work SIM card, and got on the plane to Chengdu alone. Everyone thought she was crazy - after twelve years of hard work, thirty-five was the best age to leave just now? But only she knew that she hadn't cried properly in ten years. From Beijing to Qingcheng Mountain, from Jiezi Ancient Town to her mother's twice-cooked pork, she has walked a long road back. It's not about returning to a "hometown" in a certain geographical sense, but - finally daring to stop and admit that I'm tired. "I was born without a hometown, and peace of mind is my home." When she sat in front of the window on the sixth floor of her old community in Chengdu, looking at the old people sunbathing and children running downstairs, she finally understood: what she had been chasing for half her life had never been what she really wanted. And what she really wanted - was always there.