Pats Little Shrike's Tail - Chapter 28

Chapter 28

Shen Qingyi brought coffee from her own cafe. She wasn’t stingy. She knew the playground had four employees during the day, so she brought four cups of coffee.

Smelling the rich and mellow coffee, Xu Wentao and the others were all very interested. When they heard it was free, they didn’t hold back and each took a cup.

“Hey, isn’t this that famous online cafe?” Xu Wentao said, looking at the logo on the cup. “I heard their coffee is really expensive. The cheapest one is over 180, but the taste is exceptionally good. There aren’t many cafes in the city that are better than theirs.”

“Really? I don’t know anything about coffee. There’s coffee that costs over a hundred a cup?”

“A hundred and eighty is enough for me to eat for a week.”

Xu Wentao couldn’t help but sigh. “Yeah, we can’t imagine the lives of the rich. But this coffee is really good. No wonder so many influencers go there to check it out.”

Shen Qingyi’s face fell at the words. No wonder there had been so many customers recently. It turned out to be an influencer cafe.

She remembered Nuonuo making cup after cup of coffee and complaining to her this morning that she even dreamed of grinding coffee at night.

Shan Ling had never had coffee before. Although she had been to Shen Qingyi’s cafe when she was a bird, the rich aroma had captivated her. She never thought she would finally have a chance to drink a cup today.

“Ugh!”

Shan Ling’s entire face crumpled after the first sip. “It’s so bitter!”

Xu Wentao looked at her and wanted to laugh. She said to Shan Ling, “Coffee is bitter. Haven’t you ever had coffee before, Xiao Ling?”

“I haven’t. I thought it would be sweet like milk tea,” Shan Ling said with a troubled expression, looking at the warm coffee in her hand. She thought for a moment and took another sip. Her eyes squinted from the bitterness. “It’s really bitter…”

Shen Qingyi saw that Shan Ling couldn’t get used to the taste, so she said with concern, “If you really can’t drink it, then don’t. I’ll bring you something else next time.”

“It’s okay,” Shan Ling didn’t want to waste food. This coffee was made from coffee beans. She couldn’t just not drink it.

“I’ll just take a sip at a time. I can finish it eventually,” Shan Ling saw that Shen Qingyi was still standing, so she pulled up a stool and placed it on the long table next to the counter. She said with a smile, “Miss Shen, you should sit for a while. I’ll treat you to a drink, too.”

According to what Xu Wentao had said last time, Shan Ling ordered the most expensive milk tea from the milk tea shop. In her mind, Shen Qingyi was so nice and gentle, she must drink the most expensive milk tea in the shop.

Shan Ling placed the heavy milk tea in front of Shen Qingyi and instructed her, “I told the shop owner to add more syrup and toppings. This cup is my treat.”

Shen Qingyi looked at the heavy cup of milk tea. It was so full of pearls, boba, coconut jelly, and pudding that the milk tea was just floating on top.

Did she think I was hungry?

Shen Qingyi gave a soft laugh. “Thank you.”

For the next two hours, Shen Qingyi sat in a chair next to the counter. Shan Ling worked and moved closer to Shen Qingyi, taking the opportunity to earn some merit.

Shan Ling found that Shen Qingyi’s merit was only effective within a one-meter radius from herself. So, if Shan Ling wanted to earn merit, she had to be about a meter away from her.

It felt a bit intentional to openly earn merit from someone. Whenever Shan Ling got close to Shen Qingyi, the other person would look up from her phone and ask with her eyes if Shan Ling needed something.

At these moments, Shan Ling could only quickly turn her head, pretending to pass by or clean up, and didn’t dare to look Shen Qingyi in the eyes.

At three o’clock in the afternoon, more children started coming to the playground. They were mostly brought by young parents or grandparents. The seats for the adults next to the playground became visibly fewer.

Under the intentional or unintentional gaze of an old lady, Shen Qingyi finally couldn’t sit still anymore.

“You can sit here,” Shen Qingyi said, getting up and giving up her seat.

The old lady sat down with a smile and asked Shen Qingyi, “Are you here with your child?”

Shen Qingyi explained with an awkward expression, “My friend works here.”

“Oh,” the old lady said, understanding. She smiled and said, “I can tell you haven’t had a child. You’re here to see your friend, huh? It’s good to be young, unlike us old folks who have to help our children with their grandkids.”

Shen Qingyi was a person of few words to begin with. The fact that the old lady was clearly trying to talk to her about child-rearing made it even more difficult for Shen Qingyi.

“Do you have a boyfriend, miss? How old are you this year?” The old lady’s eyes lit up as she looked at Shen Qingyi, with a look that said, ‘You’re so beautiful, I want to set you up with someone.’ She said eagerly, “I have a son who’s around your age and doesn’t have a girlfriend yet. When are you planning to have a child? You should have one while you’re young. It’s easier to recover after having a baby…”

Shen Qingyi’s brows furrowed as she listened. She gave the old lady a cold look and said, “I’m never having a child.”

The old lady was stunned. Before she could say anything else, Shen Qingyi turned and left.

Shan Ling had just pulled a child out of the ball pit and saw Shen Qingyi standing nearby. Her face was gloomy, and she seemed to be in a bad mood.

“Something came up at the cafe. I have to go back,” Shen Qingyi said to Shan Ling. “I’ll come find you again when I have time.”

“Huh? Oh,” Shan Ling was a little confused. She waded out of the ball pit and held onto the railing, smiling. “Okay. I’ll treat you to dinner next time. But it can only be in this area. I’m not familiar with other places.”

Shen Qingyi’s expression softened at the words. She resisted the urge to reach out and rub Shan Ling’s head. She put her hands in her pockets and said, “You get back to work. I’ll be going now.”

Shan Ling nodded and waved at her.

When Shen Qingyi was driving back, she received a WeChat message from Nuonuo, asking where she was and when she would be back.

Hearing the voice message, Shen Qingyi let out a helpless sigh.

The cafe’s business was getting better and better. In the past, customers would complain about the high prices, but now, many people came in and asked for the most expensive coffee, not caring about the money at all.

They didn’t care about the money, and neither did Shen Qingyi. But when she thought about going back and grinding coffee until her hand ached, Shen Qingyi’s expression became very strange.

The prices need to be raised.

They definitely need to be raised.

…

At five o’clock in the afternoon, there were still a lot of people sitting in the cafe, drinking coffee and chatting. Shen Qingyi was wearing an apron and holding a rag, walking back and forth between the empty tables to clean. There were so many customers all afternoon that there was no place to sit. It made Shen Qingyi feel exhausted.

Nuonuo was also very tired, but when she saw the day’s revenue, her face lit up like a flower. She was beaming.

“Manager, manager!” Nuonuo happily ran to Shen Qingyi’s side and whispered, “Today’s revenue exceeded ten thousand! If we have this many customers every day, we won’t have to worry about rent and utilities anymore!”

Shen Qingyi thought to herself that they didn’t have to worry about it in the first place. She straightened up and sighed. “Why are you so happy? Don’t you feel tired?”

“I am a little tired, but making money proves that our cafe is getting better and better,” Nuonuo said happily, following behind Shen Qingyi into the back kitchen. “As the business gets better, we won’t have to worry about the cafe going out of business anymore.”

Shen Qingyi dumped the trash into the bin and looked at Nuonuo. “You’ve been worried about the cafe going out of business?”

Nuonuo nodded seriously. “Yes. Manager, you never have any energy to work. Before, we only had two or three customers a day, and you still had to pay me on time and pay for my insurance. I was always worried that one day when things were going well, you would suddenly tell me the cafe was closing. Then I would have nowhere to go.”

Shen Qingyi never thought she was so concerned about her business. She looked at her with amusement. “Don’t worry. The cafe won’t go out of business.”

“But…”

“But what?”

Shen Qingyi thought for a moment and said, “There are too many people. I don’t have time to go out anymore.”

Nuonuo: “…”

Nuonuo looked at her. “Manager, you said you were going to deliver something today. Were you actually going to see that girl from the playground you met a couple of days ago?”

Shen Qingyi didn’t say anything, which was a tacit admission.

“Manager, you should at least care a little bit about your business!” Nuonuo said, feeling frustrated. “You started this cafe! It can’t just not make money; it can’t lose money either!”

Shen Qingyi thought what Nuonuo said made sense, but she still didn’t like to work. Besides, with the deal she made with Chen Shiling, she wouldn’t have to worry about the cafe’s livelihood for the next three to five years.

“I know,” Shen Qingyi nodded. “Let’s close the shop. Give the customers who are still drinking coffee a free pass and tell them we’re going to close.”

Nuonuo: “?”

This cafe is going to go out of business sooner or later.

In the following days, Shen Qingyi worked at the cafe during the day and went to the mall to see Shan Ling after work. But every time she went at night, there were so many children at the playground. Shan Ling, who was so small, still had to go into the ball pit to get them out, so she had no time to chat with Shen Qingyi properly.

Sometimes, if she stayed for a long time, she would get strange looks from parents. They thought it was weird for Shen Qingyi to come alone and sit in one spot for a long time.

For the first few days, Shen Qingyi was able to endure it, but later on, she felt a bit embarrassed. It wasn’t a long-term solution to keep taking a seat with no good reason.

But how could a grown woman like her have a child to bring?

She couldn’t just randomly pull one from the street, could she?

Shen Qingyi looked at the big and small kids in the playground. The oldest were no more than seven or eight years old, and the youngest might not even be in preschool.

A seven or eight-year-old child. Where could she find a seven or eight-year-old child?

A seven- or eight-year-old…

Eight-year-old…?

Eight years old??

Suddenly, a thought flashed through Shen Qingyi’s mind, and the image of a little girl appeared.

That’s right. Doesn’t she have an eight-year-old half-sister?

So on a Thursday afternoon, Shen Qingyi went to the elementary school that Shen Jiao attended, a place she had never gone to before, to wait for her half-sister to get out of school.

Jiang Yi was extremely surprised when she saw Shen Qingyi. She knew that Shen Qingyi didn’t interact much with the Shen family, let alone come to Shen Jiao’s school.

“Yiyi, you…” Jiang Yi paused and asked, “Are you here for something?”

“No,” Shen Qingyi said openly. “I’m here to pick up Shen Jiao from school.”

Jiang Yi was completely shocked. She stared at Shen Qingyi with a look of disbelief.

Shen Qingyi, however, looked at Jiang Yi calmly and said, “I already told my dad. I’m here to pick up Jiao Jiao and take her out to play.”

And Jiang Yi’s reaction was as if she had just heard a terrifying ghost story.

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