"Let's have dinner together tonight, it's on me, Baolong. It's Chinese New Year now, so the shop isn't too busy. The staff went home for the holidays and haven't come back yet. I usually live at the shop." Jiang Xiaomei's voice carried a hint of anticipation.
Li Baolong quickly waved his hand and said, "Let me treat you, Sister Mei. It's not easy for a woman like you to run a shop, and you also have to earn money to take care of your parents." Upon hearing this, Jiang Xiaomei felt a warm current slowly flowing through her heart. She looked at Li Baolong with seductive eyes, her gaze filled with a different kind of emotion.
The two went to a nearby small restaurant together and ordered a steaming pot of mutton soup. The restaurant was warm and cozy, with steam filling the air. They ate and chatted, their conversation intertwining memories of the past with their current lives.
After finishing their meal, they returned to the shop and found a customer waiting at the door. Jiang Xiaomei immediately put on a professional smile and greeted him warmly, "Massage, Brother Xu?" The man was in his forties, and he replied, "It's the New Year, so today I'm going to give you, my beautiful lady, a good massage, a real 'big sword' massage." Jiang Xiaomei laughed, "A 'big sword' massage is a hundred yuan." After saying that, the two went inside.
Li Baolong sat down leisurely on the sofa in the outer room. He listened quietly to Jiang Xiaomei's charming laughter coming from the small private room, and a thought couldn't help but arise in his mind. Jiang Xiaomei had indeed changed in the past two years. While she once possessed a unique charm, now that charm seemed to be mixed with the vicissitudes and helplessness of life. Was she changing for the sake of life? He pictured Jiang Xiaomei navigating among all sorts of customers; perhaps she too had many things beyond her control. In this seemingly prosperous and bustling Jianzhou City, everyone was striving for their own lives, even if it meant changing themselves, even if it meant hiding certain parts of their inner selves.
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