Siheyuan: Relieve stress and relieve worries

Chapter 423 The aroma of coffee
In the golden autumn of October, just after National Day, Yan Jiekuang's coffee shop opened in a low-key manner. He did not ask for help from anyone else, he was alone. A sign indicating normal business hours was hung outside, and he was at the workbench, washing coffee utensils.

Time passed by, and there was no customer. Yan Jiekuang didn't care. He ordered himself a bowl of noodles and sat at the round table by the window. On the table was a bowl of noodles, a glass of water, an exquisite ashtray, a box of Da Zhonghua cigarettes and a lighter. Yan Jiekuang took off his apron, sat there eating noodles, and watched the people coming and going outside.

Just when Yan Jiekuang was halfway through his noodles, a couple came in. The boy was stunned at first because he saw that there was no one inside. Yan Jiekuang didn't expect anyone to come at this time because this was a cafe, not a restaurant, and no one should come at noon.

Yan Jiekuang swallowed the food in his mouth, stood up and said, "Welcome, sit anywhere."

The young couple realized that the casually dressed man was an employee of the store. They chose a seat by the window and sat down. Yan Jiekuang handed over the menu and asked, "What would you like to order?"

There were two of us, each with a menu, and after looking through them, we finally ordered an Americano, a mocha, and two tiramisu.

Yan Jiekuang returned to the workbench and got busy. In less than ten minutes, he had prepared what the customer wanted and served it to the customer. He also thoughtfully sent a small plate of watermelon, although there were only three slices.

Yan Jiekuang returned to his seat and continued to eat noodles. After finishing the noodles, he lit a cigarette and continued to daydream.

The two young people were chatting animatedly; they liked the quiet environment very much. Afterwards, the girl picked a book from the bookshelf and sat there to read it, while the boy was staring outside in a daze, quietly accompanying the girl.

Yan Jiekuang smoked a cigarette, cleaned up the dishes, and returned to the workbench to get busy. After a while, the boy shouted, "Boss, check out."

Yan Jiekuang walked over and said, "Thirty dollars in total."

The boy took out his wallet, pulled out thirty yuan from it and handed it to Yan Jiekuang, who took it with a smile and said, "I hope you will come back next time."

At this time, Yan Jiekuang saw that the girl took out fifteen yuan from her bag and handed it to the boy, saying, "One thing is one thing. I haven't promised you yet. I can't always spend your money."

The boy was a little flustered, but still took the money. The girl chuckled, turned around and said, "Boss, I've only read one-third of this book. Can I fold the page and read it next time?"

Yan Jiekuang smiled and said, "No need, I have a bookmark here, you can write what you want to write and put it in the book."

After saying that, Yan Jiekuang went to get an exquisite bookmark and a pen and handed them to the girl. The girl was very happy and said, "This is good, this is good. You are not allowed to look at it." She also reminded the boy.

The boy quickly said, "I won't look at it. I won't look at it."

The girl didn't know what she wrote. She then put the bookmark in the book, put the book back on the bookshelf, went back to her seat and said, "Let's go. The coffee here is good. Bye, boss."

Yan Jiekuang stood at the workbench and said with a smile, "Goodbye."

In the afternoon, when the sun shone into the store and shone on the flowers, showing a golden color, Yan Jiekuang saw that no one came, so he turned on the stereo and played Richard Clayderman's "Poem to Adeline". He made himself a cup of cappuccino, took it to the round table by the window, and sat down, listening to music and drinking coffee.

"Ding-ling", the wind chimes at the gate rang, and a white-haired old lady walked in. At first glance, Yan Jiekuang saw that the old lady was wearing a floral cotton jacket, beige trousers, and women's leather shoes. Her hair was gray but combed meticulously. Her bun was as light as a cloud, gracefully hovering on top of her head, with an emerald green jade hairpin inserted in it, making her look even more noble.

Yan Jiekuang stood up and said, "Welcome to our shop. Please sit wherever you like."

Yan Jiekuang turned to the workbench to get the water bill. As he turned around, he saw the old lady sitting at the table where he had just sat. There was another round table next to it. There were only these two round tables under the window over there, and the rest of the area was filled with bookshelves and evergreens. Yan Jiekuang was stunned at first, but then he placed the water bill neatly in front of the old lady.

The old lady didn't bother to look through the list, but asked, "Do you have any 'Piao' here?"

Yan Jiekuang was very knowledgeable about his books and said, "There are two books, one is a translation and the other is the original. Which one do you want to read?"

"You still have the original version here, please help me get it, and give me a cup of American coffee without sugar." The old lady said with a little surprise.

"Okay, please wait a moment." After Yan Jiekuang said this, he went to look for a book. In about a minute, Yan Jiekuang put the book on the old lady's table and went to make coffee himself.

In the sunshine, the old lady took out a pair of gold-rimmed glasses, put them on, and sat there quietly reading. Yan Jiekuang, who was making coffee, saw the old lady by the window. The sunshine, white hair, gold-rimmed glasses, kind face, and colorful flowers blended together into a beautiful art painting.

Yan Jiekuang brought the coffee to the old lady's table, and also served a small plate of watermelon. The old lady looked at Yan Jiekuang suspiciously, and Yan Jiekuang said, "It's a gift on the first day of business."

Then Yan Jiekuang cleaned up the table where he was sitting and returned to his workbench. Time passed by minute by minute. In the meantime, Yan Jiekuang even refilled the old lady's glass. The old lady was reading a book attentively.

At this time, the boy who came at noon walked in. Seeing that he was sweating profusely, Yan Jiekuang knew that this young man came here on the run. He walked to the workbench and said, "Boss, please, can I see what book my companion is reading? Also, can I see the bookmark?"

Yan Jiekuang smiled, knowing that this was the girl he was pursuing, and said, "The fourth book on the right side of the third row, if I remember correctly, it should be Jane Eyre." The boy ran to the bookshelf, found the book, opened the page where the girl had bookmarked it, saw what was written on the bookmark, and then happily put it back intact, turned around and said to Yan Jiekuang, "Thank you, boss, I'll come again next time, bye."

After saying that, she ran out in a hurry, and the old lady said to herself: "Hold my hand, and calm my madness for half a lifetime."

When Yan Jiekuang heard this, he didn't know what it meant at first. But after thinking about it carefully, he suddenly realized that the old lady was describing the boy's current condition.

Yan Jiekuang knew that the old lady was very knowledgeable. Just as he was thinking about it, the old lady said, "Young man, give me a bookmark and a pen, too."

Yan Jiekuang immediately took a bookmark and a pen and handed it over. The old lady wrote the bookmark and put it in the book, then put the book on the bookshelf and said, "Check out."

Yan Jiekuang replied: "Ten dollars, thank you for coming."

The old lady smiled, took out ten dollars from her bag and put it on the table, then stood up and walked out the door.

Yan Jiekuang was very curious about what the old lady wrote, so he went to look for the copy of "Gone with the Wind". After searching for a long time, he finally found it. He opened the book and took out the bookmark. He saw a line of English written on it: "Curiosity kills the cat!"

Yan Jiekuang was stunned. This old lady was quite interesting. The English meaning of this sentence was "curiosity kills the cat". She guessed that Yan Jiekuang would definitely go to see it.

Yan Jiekuang looked at the signature, which read "Wanzhi". Yan Jiekuang had never heard of this person, but he felt that this old lady must be from a prominent family.

It was already evening, Yan Jiekuang cleaned up the store, turned off the water and electricity, closed the door, and went straight home.

Yan Jiekuang walked slowly along the northern edge of Houhai Lake towards Nanluoguxiang. There was an endless stream of people on the road, but Yan Jiekuang was calm. He lit a cigarette and smoked as he walked.

Passing by a meat pie shop, he went in to buy some, and then went straight home. When he got home, Xiaohai and Xixi were already at home. Xixi ran out to open the door, and when he saw it was his father, he took the bag from his father and asked, "Dad, what did you buy?"

"I don't know if this meat pie from Mending is authentic or not," Yan Jiekuang said.

In the evening, there were only three of them eating. Yan Jiekuang made mutton soup, a homemade tofu dish and a stir-fried Chinese cabbage.

While eating, Yan Jiekuang told the two children about the old lady's story, but Xiaohai didn't care.

Xixi was different. Like her father, she was full of curiosity, so she remembered the name and planned to ask the teacher tomorrow if he knew anything about it. An old lady who could understand the original text of "Gone with the Wind" must be extraordinary. Even Xixi herself couldn't understand the book.

Xixi said, "Dad, I'll come to work for you in the winter. You decide how much I'll pay."

Yan Jiekuang thought about it, did not object, and said, "Okay, let's consider it as work-study program."

Xiao Hai had his own plans, so he didn't join in and just ate his meal in silence.

After dinner, the two children went to study. Yan Jiekuang said hello and went to the teahouse. He would go there every night to listen to the storyteller Old Yang's "Three Heroes and Five Gallants".

As soon as he arrived at the teahouse, Yan Bugui grabbed him and pulled him to the west wing, saying, "Third brother, something bad has happened. Someone has found me and wants me to hand over the Tianhuang stone seal. They say it belongs to the palace and I have an obligation to hand it over. What should I do?"

"Why? It should be because there are too many things in the palace, and I didn't see them urging for them. Okay, if you want it, I'll give you 20 million. Just spread the news. They won't dare to come and snatch it from you, so what are you afraid of?" Yan Jiekuang said.

Yan Bugui thought about it and thought, that’s right, if I don’t give it to you, you can still snatch it from me, really, I’ll just do as the third brother says.

Yan Jiekuang said: "But I'm curious, who told this to others?"

Yan Bugui was like a dead pig that was not afraid of boiling water. He pointed at his nose and said, "It was your father who told the truth after drinking a little wine."

"I don't think it could be Uncle Yi. He keeps his mouth shut." Yan Jiekuang said.

Afterwards, the father and son went to the teahouse to drink tea and listen to storytelling.

(End of this chapter)