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After the car show ended, it was exactly twelve noon.
For lunch, they found a place in the alleyways that served hot pot mutton, and Alina spoke in fluent Beijing dialect. Liang Weining couldn't help but smile and asked her how she picked it up so well.
"You know how long I've been in the capital?"
The girl didn't speak, waiting for her to continue.
Alina busied herself with making tea, her motions smooth and practiced, and then she uttered the number, "Eight years."
She was twenty-six that year.
By these calculations, did she head to Beijing right after reaching adulthood?
"I wasn't great at school, and once I turned eighteen, I followed my parents to Beijing. The three of us worked hard to make a living. Logically speaking, we shouldn't have starved to death. Luckily, we just managed to hold on for three years but couldn't make it anymore and were about to pack up and go back home with our tails between our legs.
