After the breakup, I was taken in by a group of trendy young women.

The air conditioning in the buffet restaurant was very strong.

The central air conditioning vents overhead were emitting white steam, effectively blocking the stifling heat of over thirty degrees Celsius outside the glass door.

The steaming seafood pot in the food pick-up area was bubbling away, the fumes from the teppanyaki grill were being swept up by the exhaust fan, and the aroma of charcoal from the barbecue area mingled with the spicy and numbing flavor of the hot pot broth, creating a mouthwatering fragrance in the cold air.

Bai Xiaojing was the first to rush in. The hem of her Lolita dress was lifted by the wind from the curtain, and she quickly pressed it down, then turned back to shout to Lin Ye, "Brother, come in quickly! This air conditioning is like it's free!"

The tattooed man followed closely behind, immediately taking off his sunglasses and hanging them on his collar as he entered. He stood with his arms outstretched in front of the air vent for three seconds, then tilted his head back and let out a long, satisfied sigh: "I'm alive! I'm back to life! This is what life is all about!"

Zhang Jingjing squeezed in from behind her, her canvas shoes making a soft creaking sound on the non-slip floor tiles.

She turned her head and glanced around. There were four-person booths by the window, several large round tables in the middle, and a row of soft seats against the wall at the very back, which could just fit seven or eight people.

She pointed over there: "Over there! That big table against the wall!"

Eight seats, just right.

Green Hair and Pink Hair had already rushed over first, each occupying a corner, and before they even sat down properly, they reached out to flip through the menu on the table.

Qi Liuhai followed behind, carrying Wangcai. The cat poked its head out of the backpack, its ears flipping back from the cold air, and meowed to indicate that it was satisfied with the temperature.

Shen Qing walked at the very back, still clutching the straps of her backpack in her hand, her steps much lighter than when she was under the sun.

Just as Lin Ye was about to sit down in the seat at the very edge, Bai Xiaojing pressed down on the back of the chair.

"Brother, you sit in the middle."

Why?

"It'll be easier for us to get you something to eat if you sit in the middle."

She asserted herself, pulled the chair out from under the table, patted the cushion, and said, "You're the hero today, and heroes deserve to sit in the center."

The tattooed man had already brought back a plate of roasted pork belly. He put the plate on the table, pulled out his chopsticks, and aligned them on the table: "That's right, that's right. You sit still. Today you are the emperor, and we are the concubines."

"You're the fucking eunuch."

Bai Xiaojing laughed and scolded, then pulled out the chair next to Lin Ye and sat down. "I am the official wife."

"When did you become the official wife?"

Zhang Jingjing brought over a plate of thinly sliced ​​beef rolls. The slices were so thin they were translucent, and they were neatly arranged on the plate. "Last night you were saying you were just someone who was sleeping in for free."

"From the moment you rescued me, I became your official girlfriend."

Bai Xiaojing slammed her chopsticks on the table, chin held high, "Do you admit defeat?"

"Fine, fine, fine, you're the empress, we're all just concubines, okay?"

Zhang Jingjing scooped half of the beef slices into the hot pot. The red oil broth bubbled up a few times, and the slices of meat changed color after turning over in the boiling broth.

Shen Qing pulled out a chair on the other side of Lin Ye and sat down, placing her backpack beside her feet. The zipper was open, revealing a bag of boat socks she had bought at a two-dollar store inside.

She had just sat down when she stood up again: "I'm going to get some food."

"Hey hey hey!"

Bai Xiaojing reached out and grabbed her arm, pressing her back into the chair. "You're the victim today, just like me, someone who's being served."

"Sit down, we'll get it."

She darted out as soon as she finished speaking, the hem of her Lolita dress brushing against Shen Qing's knees.

The tattooed man shouted from behind, "Hold that grilled oyster for me!" Zhang Jingjing took two steps and then turned back to ask Qi Liuhai what he wanted to eat. Qi Liuhai said anything was fine. Zhang Jingjing said anything was the hardest thing to get, so you wait.

Green Hair and Pink Hair had brought back two plates of sushi and a large bowl of fruit salad. Green Hair had half a sushi in his mouth, his cheeks bulging like a hamster, and he mumbled, "This salmon one is pretty good."

Pink-haired girl next to her exposed her weakness: "You just said on the way here that salmon that costs 9.9 yuan must be fake."

"Even fake ones taste good."

Lin Ye leaned back in his chair, watching the group of girls pile ingredients onto the table like ants carrying food.

Grilled pork belly, sliced ​​beef, oysters, scallops, shrimp paste, crab sticks, potato slices, lotus root slices, enoki mushrooms, wide rice noodles, tofu skin... Plates stacked on top of plates, bowls clinking together, filling the entire table.

Bai Xiaojing returned carrying a plate of freshly grilled garlic oysters. The garlic on the oyster shells was still sizzling, and the aroma of garlic hit her right in the face.

She pushed the plate towards Lin Ye: "Brother, eat this while it's hot, it'll taste fishy when it's cold."

The hot pot was bubbling away in a red broth, the pork belly on the hot plate was sizzling and dripping with oil, and the aroma of garlic oysters mingled with the spiciness of the hot pot broth.

After a few free beers, the atmosphere warmed up.

The beer was from the self-service area. The cans had foreign words I didn't recognize printed on them. The taste was as bland as dishwater, but the advantage was that it was unlimited; you could pour as much as you wanted.

A tattooed man stood up, holding a full glass of beer, and tapped the rim of his glass with his chopsticks. "Come on, let's toast our brother! If it weren't for him, Shen Qing would have been taken away by that old man!"

"Brother Jing!"

Green Hair and Pink Hair raised their glasses at the same time, and the glasses collided, spilling half a glass of beer on the table.

"Dry."

Zhang Jingjing tilted her head back and downed half a glass. When she put the glass down, her face was already a little red. "I'm serious, bro, what you did just now, taking your hand out of your pocket, picking your fingers, and bending them upwards, was so damn cool."

"I was standing so close and I still couldn't see how you moved."

"Exactly!"

Green Hair took the chopsticks out of his mouth, almost spitting out half a fish ball. "That old Deng is so strong, bro, you bent him with one hand! Have you trained before?"

"I haven't practiced it."

Lin Ye picked up his cup and took a sip. "It's the strength I developed from sleeping on the sofa and being pressured by you guys."

The tattooed man almost choked on his beer. Zhang Jingjing laughed so hard she slapped the table. The green-haired and pink-haired men hugged each other and laughed so hard they couldn't stand up straight.

Shen Qing sat next to Lin Ye, quietly peeling shrimp shells and arranging the peeled shrimp meat one by one on the plate in front of Lin Ye. She stopped after arranging seven or eight shrimp.

When she heard Lin Ye say "the strength that you guys put in," the corners of her mouth curved slightly, but she quickly lowered her head and continued peeling shrimp.

The tattooed man slammed his beer mug on the table, wiped the foam from his mouth, and said, "Shen Qing, don't just peel shrimp, you should drink too."

"You're the main character in today's story."

Shen Qing stopped what she was doing.

She picked up the beer glass in front of her; a layer of water droplets had formed on the glass, and the ice cubes swirled inside.

She looked down at the glass of beer, remained silent for a moment, then picked it up and took a small sip. Her lips, moistened with the beer, shimmered under the light.

"actually."

She spoke, her voice a little louder than usual, but still soft, "This isn't the first time for him today."

Everyone at the table fell silent.

Shen Qing put the beer glass back on the table and ran her finger along the rim of the glass.

Her eyelashes drooped, and her cheekbones were flushed with a very faint pink from the alcohol.

"When I worked at a bubble tea shop, the manager always found excuses to touch me."

"At first, it was touching my hand when handing me the cup. Later, it was brushing against my shoulder from behind when teaching me the ingredients. And then it was blocking me at the locker room door."

The tattooed man slammed his chopsticks on the table.

"I resigned."

"Then I went to work at a clothing store. After less than a month, the boss told me to stay behind alone for the inventory check that night."

I didn't stay.

Zhang Jingjing gripped the beer glass tightly.

"Last month, I helped pack food at a takeout restaurant for twelve days. The boss's son would wait for me at the back door every day, saying he would treat me to dinner. I said I wouldn't go, so he changed the work schedule and made me work the latest shift every day."

As Shen Qing finished speaking, she picked up her glass and took another sip, this time drinking more than before, the beer sliding down her throat.

Her eyes were slightly red, but there were no tears.

"I can't stay at any job for long."

"It's not that I don't want to do it, it's just that every time..."

Her voice trailed off, and she didn't continue.

"What the hell kind of world is this?!"

The tattooed man slammed his beer mug onto the table, spilling the beer all over the table.

She ignored it, looked at Shen Qing, and her tongue flashed between her lips.

Bai Xiaojing took Shen Qing's cup, refilled it, and pushed it back in front of her: "Alright, let's not talk about those troublesome things today."

"It's okay if you don't work now, we'll support you."

"right."

Zhang Jingjing nodded in agreement, picked up two slices of fatty beef and put them into Shen Qing's bowl, "Although we are poor, it's just a matter of having one more person and one more pair of chopsticks, we can still manage."

"Exactly!"

The green-haired and pink-haired people spoke in unison.

Qi Liuhai held Wangcai without saying a word, but simply took a skewer of freshly grilled chicken wings off the skewer and pushed the plate and the chicken wings in front of Shen Qing.

Shen Qing looked down at the mountain of dishes piled up in front of her: beef slices, shrimp paste, chicken wings, enoki mushrooms, potato slices, and an oyster that Lin Ye had secretly picked up earlier.

The garlic on the oyster shells had cooled down, but the garlic flavor was still there.

She looked up, her eyes finally reddening, but her lips curved into a smile as she looked at Bai Xiaojing.

Bai Xiaojing was chewing on a roasted leek when Shen Qing glanced at her. She subconsciously looked down at herself. Her Lolita dress was wrinkled, her fishnet stockings had a hole in them, and she was wearing dirty canvas shoes. There was also a piece of skin that had been peeled off by the sun stuck in her collarbone.

Why are you looking at me like that?

"You have a great figure."

Shen Qing said in a sincere tone, as if she were praising a work of art, "Her legs are long and straight, her skin is fair, and she looks good even with dyed blonde hair."

Bai Xiaojing almost choked on the chives.

She pulled the chives out of her mouth, glared at Shen Qing, and a rare blush rose to her cheeks: "What the hell did you say?"

"Someone with your figure complimented me on my body? Are you trying to comfort me or provoke me?"

Everyone at the table laughed.

The tattooed man laughed so hard he slapped the table, knocking over a beer can. Zhang Jingjing quickly helped him up, laughing and scolding him, "Tattooed man, be gentle!"

The green-haired and pink-haired girls were already laughing and hugging each other.

With bangs, he buried his face in Wangcai's cat fur, his shoulders swaying.

Wangcai meowed, jumped out of her arms, and squatted on the chair, watching the group of crazy women.

Bai Xiaojing, in a affected, high-pitched voice, repeated Shen Qing's words, "Long, straight legs, fair skin, even dyed blonde hair would look good on you, Shen Qing, are you mocking me?"

"Look down at yourself. You call this having assets? What do I have? This is what they call the pain of comparison!"

She slammed her hand on the table, feigning anger, but couldn't suppress the smile playing on her lips.

"Hey, stop showing off, okay?!"

Bai Xiaojing slammed her chopsticks on the table, stood up with her hands on her hips, and deliberately pulled the neckline of her Lolita dress up, then pulled it up again, above her collarbone. She then patted her chest and said, "If you keep showing off, I'll get mad at you!"

Shen Qing laughed out loud.

Her eyes curved into crescent moons, revealing a row of neat, white teeth.

This girl, who had been kicked out by her landlord, harassed at work, and stood with red eyes at the entrance of a barbecue stand saying she hadn't eaten for two days, was now smiling as if she had shed all her burdens.

She suddenly stood up, picked up the glass of beer that Bai Xiaojing had just poured for her, and grabbed Lin Ye's arm.

She wrapped both arms around Lin Ye's left arm, pressed her whole body against it, and pressed tightly against Lin Ye's arm.

Lin Ye felt as if his left arm was sinking into a soft sponge.

That soft, full weight, transmitted through two thin layers of fabric, was so clear that he could feel the frequency of Shen Qing's heartbeat.

The scent of shampoo, like a sun-dried quilt, wafted into my nostrils from Shen Qing. She raised her face, her eyes crinkling, the alcohol tinging her fair cheeks pink.

"Brother, let's drink a toast together and make that yellow-haired guy furious."