The friends I meet in Beijing are all from Xinhua, the Ministry of Public Security, the Central Bank, and PhD students currently studying. To meet friends outside the system who are involved in market-oriented activities, except for my girlfriend's Bain friends in Beijing who have all gone out of the city to pursue love.

Whenever I arrive in a new city, I open the dating app to check the market situation. In Beijing, I often see an extra 10+ peacock men around 35 years old sending superlikes and leaving messages asking: Are you a Tsinghua undergraduate or graduate student? (I have written it out).

In Beijing, the atmosphere still feels too heavy.