Pats Little Shrike's Tail - Chapter 107

Chapter 107

Hearing this, Shen Qingyi glared at Nuonuo and stopped her, saying, “Don’t say any more. That matter is in the past. It’s enough that Xiaoling is safe.”

“No way,” Nuonuo looked at Shen Qingyi, displeased. “Boss, do you remember what I said before? Cherish the person in front of you.”

Shen Qingyi was stunned by the remark, and in that moment of distraction, Nuonuo spilled everything like turning over a bamboo tube.

“Xiaoling, you have no idea how fast the boss reacted. She just threw the box and ran. I didn’t even realize what was happening. Later, when she heard you might be inside, the boss rushed in without a second thought. If she hadn’t paused at the door and the firefighters hadn’t pulled her out, who knows what accident might have happened.”

Nuonuo looked at Shan Ling with a serious expression and said to her, “Xiaoling, the boss has feelings for you. You must remember that.”

Shan Ling stared blankly at Shen Qingyi, suddenly unsure of what to say.

A heavy feeling settled in her chest, as if something was lodged there, and only speaking could relieve it, but she didn’t know if she should speak.

If it were before, if Shan Ling were reminded like this, she would definitely think the other person was joking. How could Shen Qingyi possibly like her? She would think they were just teasing her.

But Shan Ling knew that the big fire had truly panicked Shen Qingyi, and it had also exposed her true nature.

The barrier between the two seemed to have been partially burned away by the fire, only for another layer of wall to be erected.

The hospital room suddenly became very quiet. Shan Ling’s eyes flickered slightly. She lowered her head, unsure of what to say, her brows slightly furrowed, her lips tightly sealed, unable to articulate anything.

Shen Qingyi likes me.

Shan Ling clearly recognized this fact, and she was very happy.

Yes, she was genuinely happy.

She wasn’t bothered by their genders. Shan Ling felt that Shen Qingyi liking her made her happier than anything else.

But on the other hand, Shan Ling was very troubled.

Shen Qingyi likes me.

But she was a bird. Shen Qingyi didn’t know she was a bird before she started liking her.

Now that Nuonuo had said all this, she clearly wanted to push them together, but Shan Ling still cautiously glanced at Shen Qingyi.

Now, let alone gender, their species are different. Can they truly be together?

Nuonuo looked at the two silent people and suddenly felt at a loss.

D*mn it, did I say the wrong thing?

But Nuonuo genuinely felt it was necessary for Shan Ling to know this, regardless of what her feelings for Shen Qingyi were; at least in this regard, she should be aware.

The awkward atmosphere made Nuonuo feel a bit guilty. She looked at Shen Qingyi, then at Shan Ling, not understanding what was going on.

“Alright,” Shen Qingyi broke the strange silence and said to Nuonuo, “Shan Ling hasn’t recovered yet. The doctor said she needs to stay in the hospital for a while. The shop is temporarily closed. I wanted to discuss the specifics with you today.”

Nuonuo watched Shen Qingyi change the subject and lowered her head dejectedly.

She felt like she had done something wrong.

Should she not have said anything?

Looking at her two employees with lowered heads, Shen Qingyi sighed softly and said to Nuonuo, “Take a break for half a month. I’ll pay you your basic salary. The matter should be settled in about half a month, and then we’ll discuss how to rebuild the coffee shop.”

At the mention of this, Nuonuo immediately looked up, saying to Shen Qingyi, “Our shop suffered such serious damage, what should we do now?”

Nuonuo was honestly very fond of this coffee shop.

She was a barista, and although working in any shop was still work, it was genuinely hard to find a job with a decent salary, full benefits, weekends off, and a good boss and colleagues.

Shen Qingyi mostly left Nuonuo to manage everything, not even coming to the shop much when there were few customers initially. When customers increased later, she actively hired more people to reduce the staff’s workload. Although Shen Qingyi’s underlying motive was to not tire herself out, Nuonuo genuinely benefited a lot.

She was probably the person in the entire shop who least wanted to lose her job.

Shen Qingyi pondered for a moment before saying to the two, “For now, the plan is to resolve the issue with the sasaeng fan first, and then discuss compensation. The shop is so badly burned that it’s almost completely scrapped. It needs to be renovated from top to bottom.”

“I will contact people regarding the renovation and decoration,” Shen Qingyi looked at Nuonuo and said, “Then I might need to trouble you to oversee the renovation progress. I hope we can reopen within three months.”

“Three months…” Nuonuo thought for a moment and asked, “Will that be too short? Can the renovation be completed in time?”

“Three months is the ideal state. I will ask the renovation team for an assessment then. We should try to reopen as early as possible,” Shen Qingyi sighed. “This will cost a lot again. Fortunately, I bought insurance before.”

However, many items weren’t insured because she hadn’t paid much attention to them initially, so now she would have to pay out of pocket.

Shen Qingyi suddenly felt a lot of pressure. She had never thought she would experience a business failure. Although this wasn’t exactly a failure, in a sense, she had still lost a lot of money.

She secretly thought, I need to find someone to foot the bill.

Nuonuo was somewhat relieved after hearing her words: “That’s great. Then I’ll be responsible for overseeing the renovation. We’ll strive to open before the weather gets hot.”

Shen Qingyi nodded and chatted with the two about other things. Nuonuo deeply resented the arsonist, and because the person recorded a video, the incident made it to the trending topics today, prominently displayed on the front page.

Watching the man in the video shouting Song Qinglan’s name made all three of them look grim.

Sometimes, being an ordinary person was safer.

Nuonuo then asked about Shan Ling’s physical condition, relieved to learn that only her foot was burned.

“It’s okay. I know a really good medical aesthetic clinic,” Nuonuo held Shan Ling’s hand and comforted her, “Don’t worry, even if you do get a scar, it can definitely be removed.”

“Mhm,” Shan Ling smiled at her, “I’m not that worried, actually. So many people have already comforted me like this. Anyway, it’s just my foot, and no one will see it if I don’t take off my socks.”

The only thing was that summer was approaching soon, and it would be inconvenient for Shan Ling to wear short skirts since the burn extended to her calf. She would either have to cover it with knee-high socks or only wear ankle-length dresses.

“You can buy more pants in the future,” Nuonuo said with a smile, “Xiaoling, you have such a good figure. You look great in jeans too.”

Shan Ling also smiled: “Mhm, you’re right.”

At noon, Shen Qingyi ordered takeout. Nuonuo, being the one who could run errands, was very diligent. The three of them had lunch in the room, and then Shen Qingyi told Nuonuo to leave first.

“Take a good rest now. Once the renovation starts, you might not have time to rest,” Shen Qingyi told Nuonuo as she was leaving, “Enjoy your half-month break. I’ll call you if anything comes up.”

Nuonuo laughed awkwardly, “Boss, you saying that makes me worry about getting fired.”

Shen Qingyi laughed, “Don’t worry. You’ll be busy later.”

Nuonuo pretended not to hear the remark, said goodbye to Shan Ling, and left.

After seeing Nuonuo off, Xu Wentao and An Xin also came to visit her in the afternoon. They only learned about the incident at the shop from the trending topics. They couldn’t leave in the morning, so they came to visit Shan Ling in the afternoon.

The group chatted in the room for a while. Learning how dangerous the situation was made An Xin feel very distressed.

Xu Wentao was also very worried about her, holding Shan Ling’s hand and talking non-stop.

They probably would have kept chatting if the nurse hadn’t come in to change the dressing.

During this time, Shen Qingyi sat peacefully on the side, occasionally answering a call, and spending the rest of the time calmly watching Shan Ling, without blinking.

Before dinner, Xu Wentao and An Xin also left. Now, only Shen Qingyi and Shan Ling remained again.

Shan Ling started yawning while eating dinner, rubbing her eyes sleepily.

“What’s wrong?” Shen Qingyi looked at her, twisted open a bottle of water and handed it to her, asking, “You’re sleepy already, and it’s not even eight yet?”

“A little,” Shan Ling drank the water and said to Shen Qingyi, “I haven’t gotten out of bed all day, but I still feel so tired, like I have no energy.”

“It should be the medication,” Shen Qingyi explained to her, “The nurse applied the medicine earlier and said that if you feel tired, you should rest more. Anyway, right now, all you need to do is recover well.”

Shan Ling hastily finished the last two bites of her meal and said to Shen Qingyi, “Yiyi, aren’t you going home? You’ve been staying with me at the hospital for three days.”

“There’s nothing much going on at home,” Shen Qingyi said, “Or are you saying you don’t want me to stay here with you?”

“No, I didn’t mean that,” Shan Ling quickly denied.

Actually, having Shen Qingyi here was very good. Shan Ling’s leg was inconvenient. Getting out of bed to go to the bathroom was always troublesome. If it weren’t for Shen Qingyi’s help, she really wouldn’t know what to do.

More importantly, she also wanted to be with Shen Qingyi.

Hearing what Nuonuo said today made Shan Ling feel very confused.

Shen Qingyi liked her, and she didn’t object, but there seemed to be a species gap between them, which truly troubled the little mountain sparrow.

She glanced at Shen Qingyi, cleared her throat, and asked, “Yiyi, was what Nuonuo said today true? Were you really that worried about me?”

Shen Qingyi looked at her with bright black eyes, nodded: “She was telling the truth.”

Shan Ling’s heart instantly blossomed with joy. She shook her foot, then started to look troubled again: “But we…”

“You know this much, don’t worry about anything else for now.” Shen Qingyi naturally understood Shan Ling’s dilemma. She also knew that if she had said something a few days earlier, Shan Ling probably would have gotten together with her.

But now that Shen Qingyi knew Shan Ling was a little nature spirit, she didn’t mind much. If the other person didn’t mind that she had mental issues, how could she mind that the other person wasn’t human?

However, the ball was now in Shan Ling’s court. Shen Qingyi wasn’t in a rush for an immediate answer.

Let the little mountain sparrow think about it for a few days. Once she figured it out, telling her the answer wouldn’t be too late.

“Don’t feel any pressure,” Shen Qingyi collected the bowls and chopsticks, stood up, and said to her, “You don’t need to rush to tell me anything. Just focus on recovering.”

Watching Shen Qingyi take the bowls and chopsticks to the sink to wash them, Shan Ling puffed out her cheeks and fell into deep thought.

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