The male student was caught off guard by Jiang Shining’s sudden words, his hand trembling involuntarily.
The phone he had been holding slipped right out of his grasp.
Male student: !!
Just as his phone was about to hit the floor, a hand swiftly caught it.
Jiang Shining breathed a sigh of relief as she looked at the Huawei phone in her hand.
Huawei’s dual-foldable phone wasn’t cheap. If it had broken, she would have been partly responsible.
Jiang Shining carefully placed the phone back on the table and turned to the nervous student.
“Good thing, the phone’s fine.”
She had caught it.
The male student hurriedly checked his phone, and after a few seconds, he finally relaxed. “Thanks!”
After saying that, he looked up.
As soon as he raised his head, he saw Jiang Shining standing beside him. Almost instantly, he connected her with the beautiful waitress he had seen online earlier.
“You’re… the coffee shop waitress from online?”
Jiang Shining thought of the self-media account and the Xiaohongshu post Song Ya had mentioned that morning.
This customer had probably come after seeing it.
She nodded. “Yes, that’s right.”
Instantly, the male student’s eyes lit up. “You look even better in person than in the photos online.”
“I’m Zhou Qiang, a freshman at Z City Media College. Would you be interested in getting to know each other?”
Looking at the hand the male student extended, Jiang Shining felt awkward.
She could already sense the gaze coming from the counter.
Jiang Shining: “Let’s skip the introductions. Could you not post what you just took online?”
She was just slacking off.
It wouldn’t be good if the coffee shop owner saw it.
Zhou Qiang was taken aback but quickly realized what Jiang Shining meant.
“O-of course.”
He hadn’t expected to be caught red-handed just as he was about to post a negative review. Zhou Qiang was extremely embarrassed.
He promptly deleted the photos and his review of the coffee shop right in front of Jiang Shining.
Seeing the empty content, Jiang Shining sighed in relief and gave the male student a faint smile. “Actually, our coffee shop’s coffee is quite good.”
Zhou Qiang nodded perfunctorily.
He wasn’t really interested in coffee and instead looked at Jiang Shining curiously, trying to strike up a conversation. “Are you a student nearby too?”
A student.
Jiang Shining shook her head. “Sorry, I’m not.”
As early as her first year of university, the original owner had been expelled for skipping classes.
“I see.”
Disappointment flickered in Zhou Qiang’s eyes but was quickly concealed.
“Well, if you have time, you should visit the Media College. Our campus has many cherry blossoms blooming recently, and they’re really beautiful…”
Jiang Shining nodded blankly. “Okay.”
Now that she had confirmed the other person had deleted the photos, she just wanted to find an excuse to leave.
Zhou Qiang: “Is it convenient to exchange WeChat or contact information?”
Jiang Shining: “Not really.”
Zhou Qiang frowned, puzzled. “Why?”
Why so many questions!
Jiang Shining glanced out of the corner of her eye at the empty counter and the footsteps growing closer.
She knew it was Qin Wang approaching.
Jiang Shining said decisively, “Because I have a boyfriend. Sorry.”
If this continued, her boyfriend would rush over and start a fight.
Zhou Qiang looked skeptical. “Really? You’re not just making that up to reject me, are you?”
Before Jiang Shining could explain this time.
A glass was slammed heavily onto the table.
Qin Wang’s sinister voice rang out. “Coffee.”
Coffee splashed out of the glass cup, most of it spilling, with some even landing on Zhou Qiang.
Zhou Qiang quickly stood up, grabbing tissues from the side to wipe his school uniform while glaring discontentedly at Qin Wang.
“What are you—”
His words cut off abruptly.
Zhou Qiang realized the person standing before him was the server who had looked fierce when he entered.
Jiang Shining sighed.
The next moment, her waist was pulled, and she was drawn into the arms of the person beside her.
“Flirting with my girlfriend right in front of me—do you think I’m dead?”
The few remaining customers in the café all turned their attention to them.
Zhou Qiang, still just a student, shivered as he met the coldness in Qin Wang’s eyes.
“S-sorry!”
Zhou Qiang stammered out an apology before turning and rushing out of the café without looking back, not even stopping to drink the coffee on the table.
Ding-dong.
The café door opened and quickly closed again.
Looking at the coffee on the table, Jiang Shining sighed. “This cup was brewed for nothing.”
“Put it on your tab.”
She had already drunk two iced Americanos today.
Resigned, Jiang Shining wiped the spilled coffee from the floor with a tissue and tossed it into the nearby trash can.
Just a cup of coffee.
Qin Wang, standing nearby, showed no reaction. He was more concerned about Jiang Shining.
Qin Wang: “Too many people are noticing you—”
He had just started speaking when Jiang Shining looked up and gestured for him to be quiet.
Jiang Shining pressed her phone to her ear. “Boss, what’s up?”
On the other end of the line, the café owner’s voice came through. “How’s business at the café?”
Jiang Shining glanced around at the sparse number of customers and replied guiltily, “It’s… it’s okay!”
This was bad.
She had only let Qin Wang cover her shift for a little over an hour, and business had already dropped this much.
Café Owner: “Things have been pretty busy these past couple of days. Jiang Shining, if you’re too tired, you can take a break. Also, what was the hourly rate for part-timers again?”
Jiang Shining always remembered her wages clearly, even keeping a small notebook to track them.
“Twenty-five an hour, eight hours a day. Why, boss?”
Was she about to get fired?
Jiang Shining’s heart instantly grew uneasy.
Even though she had an extra fifty thousand, if she didn’t return to the wealthy family, that money would eventually run out. A steady part-time job was what she needed to support herself and her mother.
Café Owner: “Nothing much. I just felt like the part-time wage hasn’t been adjusted in a while. It was twenty-five an hour before, right? Let’s raise it!”
Raise it?
Jiang Shining perked up immediately.
Glancing at Qin Wang’s stern face, she pressed the phone closer to her ear and swallowed.
“How much?”
Café Owner: “Fifty an hour, and an extra ten for overtime.”
Fifty an hour meant four hundred a day!
Jiang Shining’s heart raced with excitement, not to mention the overtime pay on top of that.
“Great! What about Lin Momo?”
She hadn’t forgotten her good friend who worked alongside her.
The café owner fell silent for a moment before replying a few seconds later, “Let’s raise hers too.”
Oh-ho.
Jiang Shining looked toward the counter.
She and Lin Momo locked eyes, both seeing the barely contained excitement and joy in each other’s expressions.
Jiang Shining: “Got it, boss. Thank you, boss!”
Facing the café owner over the phone, Jiang Shining bowed deeply in real life.
After all, this time was different from modeling; she had even managed to get her best friend a raise along with herself.
Coffee Shop Owner: “I’m not often in the shop, so I’ll still need your help regularly. If we’re short-handed, we can take it slow, or I’ll hire more people, understood?”
Jiang Shining: “Yes.”
Coffee Shop Owner: “Alright, that’s settled then.”
With that, he hung up the phone.