Pats Little Shrike's Tail - Chapter 5

Chapter 5

The coffee shop was still peaceful today. Even though it was the best season for coffee, there were still very few people in the shop. Nuonuo sat behind the counter, resting her head in her hand, boredly staring at the empty coffee shop. As the only employee, Nuonuo’s daily routine was to first clean the main hall, then make herself a strong cup of coffee, and after that, there was nothing else to do.

When she occasionally checked the accounts, Nuonuo would find that the shop’s income was pitifully small. The location and decor were both excellent, but the prices were too high, and many customers were deterred. A few customers who stumbled in would be shocked when they saw the price of the coffee.

Because of a past customer complaint, Shen Qingyi now required Nuonuo to state the price at least three times before the customer ordered. If the customer accepted, she could make it. If the customer caused a scene after drinking the coffee, Shen Qingyi told Nuonuo to handle it herself. However, Nuonuo, being a young girl who had just graduated, handled the problem by trying to calm the customer down and giving them a free coffee.

Luckily, Shen Qingyi didn’t care about this method of handling things.

“Yesterday’s sales were 813 yuan.” Nuonuo tallied up the sales, poking her chin with the end of her ballpoint pen. The clicking of the retractable pen echoed. She looked up at Shen Qingyi, who was watering the plants outside, and sighed with worry. Is this coffee shop going to go out of business?

Nuonuo was worried. She really liked the work environment here. There were few customers and little work. Her salary wasn’t particularly low. Compared to her classmates who had also graduated, her job was much better. The only thing was that the boss wasn’t very easy to get along with. It wasn’t that Shen Qingyi had a bad temper. It was just that she rarely spoke to Nuonuo. Every day, Nuonuo would be the one to greet her. If Nuonuo didn’t speak, Shen Qingyi could go the whole day without saying a word to her. Even when Nuonuo did talk to her, it was just “good morning,” “good afternoon,” or “see you tomorrow,” which were repeated every day.

Sometimes, Nuonuo wondered if her beautiful boss had some kind of psychological illness. Shen Qingyi was publicly recognized as being beautiful. Many customers would come to the shop and pay two or three hundred yuan for a cup of coffee just to see her. However, the beauty was a cold beauty. She never responded to customers’ flirtations. If she was annoyed, she would even be rude. Over time, even the customers who came for her beauty stopped coming.

Nuonuo let out a sigh and closed the shop’s ledger. She looked at her boss, who had just come in from outside, and said, “Manager, our sales yesterday were a little over 800 yuan.”

Shen Qingyi calmly said, “Mhmm.” She put the watering can in the bathroom and then said to Nuonuo, “Make me a cup of coffee. I’ll be upstairs and won’t be coming down today.”

“Okay~”

Nuonuo complied, getting up to make Shen Qingyi’s coffee. She then watched her manager take a bag and go upstairs. The rich aroma of coffee stimulated the senses. Nuonuo made a cup of latte and brought it upstairs.

When Nuonuo entered the private room on the second floor that Shen Qingyi often used, she saw the table filled with tools and the ancient book in front of Shen Qingyi. Nuonuo actually knew about her manager’s second job of restoring damaged ancient books. She used to find it fascinating and would always come over and ask questions. But later, she probably found it boring and stopped bothering Shen Qingyi.

“Manager, I’ve put the coffee here for you.” Nuonuo found a place to put the coffee down. She looked at the book in front of Shen Qingyi and, with her hands behind her back, asked, “Is that the package that arrived yesterday?”

Shen Qingyi calmly said, “Mhmm.” Without looking up, she said to Nuonuo, “Leave and close the door behind you. It’s windy today.”

“Oh.” Nuonuo looked at the book again and didn’t leave immediately. Shen Qingyi noticed Nuonuo was still standing there. She looked up and asked calmly, “Is there anything else?”

Nuonuo thought, The shop’s business is so bad, why are you acting like you don’t care? But what she said was different. She tilted her head and asked, “Manager, this book looks so old. Can it really be restored?”

“It’s a little troublesome, but not difficult.” Shen Qingyi still had a blank expression. She said coldly, “It just takes a little more effort.”

“Did you spend all day yesterday reading this book, Manager?”

“Mhmm.”

“Is it any good?”

Shen Qingyi paused. She didn’t answer the question. Instead, she said calmly, “How interesting can a plagiarized work be?”

Plagiarism?

Nuonuo perked up. She sat across from Shen Qingyi and asked, “How do you know it’s a plagiarized work, Manager? It looks so old. Maybe someone else plagiarized it.”

Shen Qingyi looked up. Her eyes, as black as ink, stared at the girl in front of her. Her cold expression combined with her dark eyes would make anyone’s heart skip a beat. Her eyes were as calm as a deep pool, but beneath the tranquil surface, there seemed to be a different kind of storm brewing, a layer upon layer that seemed to make people lose their minds.

Nuonuo’s heart trembled under her gaze. Just then, she heard the ‘ding-ling’ of the bell downstairs. She quickly stood up and said, “A customer’s here! I’ll go check. Manager, you, you, you, you, you get back to work!” With that, she scurried away, not forgetting to close the door behind her.

Shen Qingyi looked at the closed door. Her eyes lowered slightly, but she didn’t care. Instead, she went back to her familiar work. The whole day passed in a daze. Shen Qingyi only did some basic cleaning, tidying up the moldy and dirty areas. The book was too old, and many parts needed to be handled very carefully.

When Shen Qingyi was driving, she was still thinking. A week might be a bit rushed. She should probably discuss adding a few more days with the client. Looking at the slow-moving traffic, which moved like turtles, Shen Qingyi rolled down her window, letting the evening breeze blow into the car.

She was stuck in traffic for over half an hour. By the time she got home, it was already dark. It was autumn now, and it got dark much earlier than in the summer. When Shen Qingyi entered the house, it was completely dark. She fumbled for the light switch, and the living room finally lit up.

“Chirp, chirp—”

Shan Ling, upon hearing Shen Qingyi open the door, quickly flew back into the cage. She expertly closed the door behind her and now stood on the little wooden perch, puffing out her chest.

Good evening~

Shan Ling chirped a greeting. You came back later than yesterday. Did you go somewhere? Have you had dinner yet?

Shen Qingyi put her things down, changed into her slippers, walked to the balcony, and opened the door. She reached her hand inside, and Shan Ling cooperated by rubbing against her finger.

Merit +1

Merit +1

Merit +1

…

Shan Ling rubbed against Shen Qingyi’s finger, then hopped onto her finger, letting Shen Qingyi take her out of the cage.

“Were you bored all day?” Shen Qingyi looked at the little chubby bird, using her other finger to tap its little head. “I’ll let you out to play for a while, and you can go back to your cage at night.”

Upon hearing this, Shan Ling flapped her wings and flew onto Shen Qingyi’s shoulder. Her tiny body rubbed against her, and she chirped, sounding very happy.

The intimate gesture from the little chubby bird surprised Shen Qingyi, but when she remembered that it had given her a feather yesterday, she knew the little chubby bird genuinely liked her.

Shen Qingyi played with Shan Ling, and a rare softness appeared in her eyes. “You’re the first animal to be so close to me, even if you are just a bird.” Shen Qingyi glanced at the clean feeder in the cage and then tilted her head. “You sure can eat a lot.”

She poured some more birdseed. Shen Qingyi watched Shan Ling bury her head in her food. She then went to take a shower and ordered some takeout.

After Shan Ling had eaten her fill, she started flying around Shen Qingyi. She watched her eat her takeout, then flew to the chair opposite her, tilted her little head, and chirped twice. Why are you eating this kind of takeout? My mom says takeout isn’t clean. But I haven’t seen you cook at home in the past few days. Could it be… that you don’t know how to cook?

When Shan Ling thought about how messy Shen Qingyi’s house was, she was even more certain that this beautiful woman didn’t know how to do housework or cook. She sighed helplessly. Shan Ling fluttered her wings and flew to Shen Qingyi’s shoulder, nudging her with her little head.

“Chirp~”

Poor human. When I can turn into my human form, I will definitely not let you suffer like this!

Because Shen Qingyi was home, Shan Ling could fly around the house openly. However, Shan Ling had already flown around a lot during the day. She had even diligently loosened the soil of the spider plants on the balcony and caught a few small bugs. Presumably, when Shan Ling could turn back into her human form, she would be able to water these poor flowers.

In the evening, Shen Qingyi continued her unfinished work in the study. She had cleaned the “Old Stories of Longcheng” today and planned to restore the cover, which was almost falling off.

Shen Qingyi was working, and Shan Ling didn’t want to leave. She continued to stick close to Shen Qingyi, peeking at her work while shamelessly leeching merit. To this day, Shan Ling still didn’t understand why Shen Qingyi had so much merit. But she felt that she was just a cute little bird right now and wasn’t able to think about such complex questions.

“Little chubby.” Shen Qingyi felt Shan Ling clinging to her neck, almost falling into her collar. She took a finger out of her work and moved it, saying calmly, “If you rub against me any more, you’ll fall.”

Shan Ling rubbed against Shen Qingyi’s hand and chirped discontentedly, “Chirp, chirp.”

Who are you calling little chubby?!

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