Cloudside Café

The Sixteenth Cup of Coffee Part 2

Jiang Ying thought for a while and replied, “I changed my name when I was a child. It was originally called Jiang Mucheng, because my father said that I was born in the evening. The sunset on that day was orange and very beautiful.”

Yun Xian nodded. “That’s a nice name. Why did you change it?”

“When I was six or seven years old, I went swimming in a lake once and swam far away from my father when he wasn’t paying attention. I almost drowned. If my father didn’t turn around to rescue me, I don’t know where I would have drowned.” Jiang Ying put a hand on her left shoulder. “There is a long scar here. It was from that. Now it is covered by my tattoo.”

After hearing this, Yun Xian frowned and had to lecture Jiang Ying, “How could you be so dumb when you were young? Do you know how dangerous that was?”

Jiang Ying pursed her lips. “Don’t scold me. I was reprimanded by the whole family. Later, my grandmother found a fortune teller in the village and said my name was conflicting and would cause misfortune. She was so frightened that she quickly changed it for me.”

“Well, if you survived a disaster, then you would be blessed.”

Jiang Ying said with some regret, “But, I still like the name Mucheng. Later, I used Orange Sunset as my screen name for everything.”

After saying this, Jiang Ying finally sensed something was wrong. “How do you know that all my IDs are Orange Sunset? Aren’t you only on Wechat?”

Yun Xian didn’t know what to say and could only honestly explain, “I read your Weibo.”

Jiang Ying suddenly covered her mouth to prevent her curses from spewing out.

“What did you see?”

“Your drawings. It’s very good.”

“You didn’t follow me, right? You didn’t open it, right?”

Yun Xian was silent towards her.

Jiang Ying’s mind was in ashes.

Yun Xian glanced at Jiang Ying. “Sorry, I shouldn’t look at your Weibo?”

Jiang Ying shook her head. Since it was an open platform, everyone could see it. There was no reason to stop her boyfriend from seeing it.

She whispered, “I’m just afraid you’ll think I…”

Yun Xian added fuel to the fire. “You really don’t need to care about your image in front of me. It has already crumbled.”

Jiang Ying frowned and gave a cry. She turned sideways and leaned her head on the head rest. “Don’t talk anymore, I need to recover.”

She was quite adept at running away.

Yun Xian took a jacket from the back seat of the car and put it on her. He adjusted the AC and patted her on the head. “Go to sleep. I’ll call you when we get there.”

The road from Shanghai to Xi City was still the same, but something was different.

When Jiang Ying got home, they waved goodbye. Jiang Ying took a few steps before turning back. She stood on her tiptoes and kissed Yun Xian on the cheek. She said, “See you tomorrow.”

Yun Xian pulled her closer and hugged her. “See you tomorrow.”

Finally, before the end of spring, they have entered a new stage of love.

——

Summer was coming. Yun Xian was planning on changing the plants to a new batch of green ones at the café. The flower shop sends several pots. Su Cheng was responsible for moving the flowers, while Zhao Xinrou was directing.

They were discussing whether to put a monstera plant at the door or at the counter. Yun Xian saw how they were fighting endlessly and said, “Put it at the door.”

“See, you should have listened to me.” Zhao Xinrou took apart the roses to trim the leaves, and put them in a vase.

Su Cheng had never been able to win a fight against her. He watched as she carefully tried to cut the leaves with the scissors, and took it from her. “I’ll do it.”

Yun Xian  was holding an Americano and looked at how they went from being annoying to being sweet. He chuckled and joked: “Su Cheng really knows how to take care of someone. Who knows which lucky girl will be blessed in the future.”

Su Cheng looked at Zhao Xinrou and said nothing. Zhao Xinrou cleaned up the bags on the table and pretended not to hear him.

After a while, Zhao Xinrou remembered something and asked Yun Xian, “By the way, boss, has sister Jiang Ying been here the last few days?”

""

Su Cheng still remembered the last time Yun Xian called him out of the kitchen with a cold face. After talking with Jiang Ying, he didn’t look good either.

It’s not over, is it?

Yun Xian saw the worry in their eyes. He put down his cup and got up and walked to the front counter. “She’s been busy working these past few days. She’s probably going to get off work now.”

There was only one pink flower left. Yun Xian took a piece of tissue paper that was usually used for the cakes, and wrapped it around the flower. He took a ribbon to wrap it and tied a beautiful bow.

“Xiao Zhao, help me pack a slice of red velvet cake.”

“Oh, okay.” Zhao Xinrou quickly took out a piece of red velvet cake from the glass cover. It was a new flavor made by Su Cheng today. It sold well. Now there was only one left.

Yun Xian took the packaged cake and said to them, “This one is on me. If there are no customers tonight, go home early today.”

Su Cheng saw that he was leaving and asked, “Hey, boss, where are you going?”

Yun Xian held up the rose and cake in his hands. “I’m picking up my girlfriend from work.”

The timing was just right. He saw Jiang Ying come out as soon as she came down.

Today, he didn’t drive. He was standing under the streetlamp that had already lit up with a dim yellow light.

Jiang Ying saw him from far away. She waved and ran over with a smile.