“Chen Zui, Chen Zui, Chen Zui, Chen Zui, Chen Zui…”
Barely managing to drag things out until five o’clock, Chen Zui timed it precisely to finish making the final cup of coffee, took off her apron, and waited by the entrance.
When she finally watched Jiang Feiwan’s figure step out of a white Volkswagen Passat right on time, Chen Zui finally lightened her steps and jogged out toward the door.
“We meet again,” Chen Zui handed over the drink she had just made, “Thanks for making the trip to pick me up. Jasmine passion fruit tea to beat the heat.”
Jiang Feiwan lowered her gaze slightly and accepted it with a smile, “The coffee shop has this?”
Chen Zui waved her hand, pulled the door open to get into the car with her, and laughed, “Conjured it like magic.”
Of course the coffee shop didn’t have fruit tea, but she was the boss; she could turn something they didn’t have into something they did. Asking the milk tea shop next door to trade a cup of coffee for a base-tea-making favor was no big deal.
A bit of awkwardness lingered.
For some reason, Chen Zui felt that she usually interacted quite generously with people, yet whenever she sat together with Jiang Feiwan, she somehow appeared a bit petty.
After the car started and had driven a fair distance, Chen Zui finally couldn’t sit still anymore. Catching a glimpse of that cup of jasmine passion fruit tea resting quietly in the center cup holder, she asked, “Should I help you open it so you can drink some?”
Jiang Feiwan was slightly startled, her rosy lips parting as she was about to answer, only to be interrupted by the person beside her: “Never mind, you focus on driving first; we’ll be there in a moment anyway.”
Alright then.
Jiang Feiwan pressed her lips together, helpless yet amused: “I am a bit thirsty, though. I might have to trouble you to help me poke the straw in.”
“You got it, no trouble at all,” Chen Zui said immediately.
She picked up the cup, carefully used a non-contact method to pierce the straw through, and then thoughtfully handed it toward Jiang Feiwan, “Worried you might not be used to drinking iced drinks, I only used cool water that had ice cubes floating in it beforehand. The temperature should be just right right now, give it a try.”
Women had a particularly troublesome relative who visited monthly, whose arrival depended entirely on her mood. You might be eating and drinking lavishly the day before, only for her to launch a retaliatory strike the next morning—first silently occupying your bedsheets, and then unreasonably hijacking your dietary freedom for nearly a week.
Of course, Chen Zui knew nothing about Jiang Feiwan’s menstrual cycle, but exercising a little extra caution was never a bad thing.
Jiang Feiwan pulled the car over to the side, slowed her speed down, and only then accepted the cup. She took a gentle sip, then another, and praised how good it tasted.
Since Jiang Feiwan was hosting, the dining venue was naturally chosen by her. Chen Zui was already unfamiliar with this area, and after entering, she lost all sense of north, south, east, and west, so she simply followed closely behind her companion’s steps like a little puppy that loved to step in its owner’s footprints……
Bah!
What owner, what puppy!
Chen Zui quickly discarded this analogy. In the middle of her thoughts, she forgot to keep “one-click following,” and suddenly found a person missing from her peripheral vision, prompting her to hurriedly stop in her tracks to look for her.
Before Chen Zui could even tilt her head, a gentle call came from the right: “Chen Zui, over here.”
Something exploded in her brain.
Perhaps you know Interlaken, where the gentleness of a glance is freedom enough to make someone want to die of sheer comfort right there.
Chen Zui had heard many people call her name: at the orphanage, the director who sent her away; her adoptive parents after she got a new home; classmates back in school; roll calls announcing her as the outstanding student representative by the principal; her close friend Li Li……
And now, Jiang Feiwan.
So gentle it makes you want to die, so comfortable it makes you want to die, wanting to die immersed in such a call.
She suddenly wondered if Jiang Feiwan could just keep calling her name forever.
Chen Zui, Chen Zui, Chen Zui, Chen Zui, Chen Zui, Chen Zui……..
“Chen Zui?”
Well, what do you know—wish granted.
Chen Zui answered immediately: “Coming, coming!”
Seeing her dazed in place, Jiang Feiwan thought something had happened and asked softly, “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing, suddenly lost sight of you.” Chen Zui only spoke half the truth.
“I saw you trailing along behind, who knew you’d ‘disappear’ the moment we turned a corner.” Jiang Feiwan also wanted to say why she had suddenly vanished from sight.
Chen Zui didn’t speak, because they had entered the private dining room and taken their seats.
It was a four-person private room, quite spacious, complete with a sofa and a projector on the side.
“Uh-oh.” Chen Zui looked around with curiosity and muttered, “We’re in trouble.”
Confused, Jiang Feiwan picked up the fruit tea in her hand and took a sip, “What’s in trouble?”
Chen Zui spoke candidly: “My fruit tea doesn’t really seem worthy of this private room. We’re going to need a few more cups of fruit tea plus coffee to make up for it.”
Jiang Feiwan immediately understood, nodding with a smile: “Alright then, next time you can treat me to your shop’s signature coffee.”
“Our shop?” Chen Zui squinted, pressing further: “You knew ‘A Cup of Coffee’ was my shop?”
Jiang Feiwan shook her head: “I didn’t.”
Soon after, she nodded: “I know now.”
Somebody help, someone’s playing dirty here.
Chen Zui shut her mouth and stopped talking.
Amused by her reaction, Jiang Feiwan curved her brows, her eyes shimmering as she explained: “Mad? I originally thought you were just working there. It was you who let the secret slip yourself.”
“Teacher Jiang is quite good at interrogating information out of people.”
“I didn’t mean to interrogate you.”
“Well, you did anyway.” Propping up half her head, Chen Zui declared with feigned viciousness: “I’m going to order the most expensive dish here later.”
A smile hung on the corners of Jiang Feiwan’s lips, “You’re allowed to order the two most expensive dishes.”
Oh my, oh my.
Can you stop talking like that, please?
Even a solitary star fated for loneliness wouldn’t be able to stay composed.
Caught completely off guard by her pampering tone, and thinking of the man who kept calling her “Ms. Jiang” every single second last night, Chen Zui probed: “That man yesterday was your……. boyfriend?”
Although she had accidentally overheard some of yesterday’s conversation and knew that yesterday was a blind date, after all, she hadn’t listened in openly.
The answer matched what she thought; Jiang Feiwan denied it, “It was just a meal eaten out of obligation.”
“Then treating me to dinner—is that also out of obligation?” Chen Zui joked.
At these words, Jiang Feiwan cradled the fruit tea in her hands and squeezed it slightly: “With Boss Chen’s craftsmanship being so good, if it really were out of obligation, I’m afraid it would be rather difficult, oh.”
Hearing that, Chen Zui felt a tiny surge of secret delight. She didn’t know where it came from, but for the entire rest of the meal, she only felt that her face was stiff, and the corners of her mouth were stiff too.
Strange, eating this meal today gave her actual strength; after finishing it, she felt like she could go inject some insulin to calm down.
Unusually, she was a bit over-full—eating with Jiang Feiwan really made the food go down easy.
Chen Zui truly felt embarrassed to have her drive her back again: “I’ll just hail a cab back tonight.”
Instead of answering, Jiang Feiwan asked a question in return: “Where do you live?”
Chen Zui recited an address: “Moved there today, we even ran into each other in the elevator this morning.”
Jiang Feiwan was slightly startled, pausing mid-motion as she was about to tap her navigation app, then chuckled softly: “Perhaps the ride-hailing app might not get a chance to take your order.”
“Huh?” Chen Zui was dumbfounded from being too full, looking with utter bewilderment at Jiang Feiwan’s increasingly smiling facial features.
Even more dumbfounded now.
Jiang Feiwan explained patiently: “Barring any accidents, I should live right above you.”
“Ah…..” Chen Zui was carb-drunk.
Why must Jiang Feiwan’s face be this pretty, she wondered.
After a long while, she snapped back to her senses and finally processed that sentence just now.
“Ah???”