Pats Little Shrike's Tail - Chapter 89

Chapter 89

“I…” Shen Qingyi held Shan Ling tightly in front of her. Her cheeks involuntarily flushed, and her earlobes started to feel hot.

“You what?” Shan Ling looked at her in confusion, showing a puzzled expression.

Shen Qingyi paused, then slowly opened her mouth and said: “I like you.”

These four words had lingered in Shen Qingyi’s heart for who knows how long. From the first moment she saw Shan Ling, she had longed to say this, but due to certain issues, she had always held back.

At this moment, on this dimly lit street, in the cold wind of January, Shen Qingyi finally revealed her true feelings.

Her deep eyes stared intently at the person in front of her, but she noticed that Shan Ling’s expression was neither shocked nor confused. She was simply looking back at her calmly.

So calm that Shen Qingyi felt something was wrong.

“You like me?” Shan Ling’s light-colored eyes looked at her and said: “But I don’t like you.”

As the words fell, Shen Qingyi felt a moment of disorientation. When she opened her eyes, she saw the familiar ceiling of her bedroom.

In the dimness before dawn, shadows flickered in the room. Shen Qingyi lay in bed with her eyes wide open, only realizing after a long time that she had just been dreaming.

She had dreamt of the words she wanted to say last night.

Shen Qingyi turned her head and saw Shan Ling sleeping beside her. Perhaps because the heating was too warm, Shan Ling had rolled over, kicking off the blanket, revealing her pink patterned underpants.

Shan Ling’s little butt was not very noticeable in the dark room, but its round, plump shape was vaguely discernible, like a perfectly steamed bun.

Shen Qingyi sighed, she didn’t know why, perhaps feeling a sense of sadness for herself.

This is probably what they mean by ‘see but can’t eat.’

She sat up slightly, pulled up Shan Ling’s blanket, and covered her completely.

“Mmm…”

Shan Ling rubbed her eyes, looking vaguely at Shen Qingyi. Her small, fair feet stretched out from under the blanket willfully. She asked in a muddled voice: “Yiyi, what time is it?”

“A little after 6 AM,” Shen Qingyi told Shan Ling, glancing at the clock on the bedside table.

“That early?” Shan Ling was also surprised. She opened her eyes and looked at Shen Qingyi, wondering: “Then aren’t you going back to sleep? We usually get up at 8 AM.”

“We should leave early today. It’s hard to get a taxi early in the morning.” Shen Qingyi hadn’t driven last night because of her headache, so her car was still parked near the coffee shop. They needed to leave earlier today to have a better chance of catching a taxi.

Shan Ling nodded, rubbed her eyes, and tried to get up, but Shen Qingyi told her: “If you’re sleepy, sleep a little longer. I’m going to take a shower first.”

“Showering this early in the morning?” Shan Ling tilted her little head, looking at her.

Shen Qingyi felt a little uncomfortable under her gaze. She recalled her confession in the dream, and looking at the ‘protagonist’ in front of her now made her feel uneasy all over.

“Yes,” Shen Qingyi said: “You can get up after I finish showering. There’s still plenty of time anyway.”

Shan Ling obediently lay back in the bed, hugging the little blanket and saying: “Okay, I’ll sleep for a bit longer.”

When Shan Ling woke up, it was already an hour later.

Shen Qingyi had long since finished her morning routine and had even gone downstairs to buy breakfast. When Shan Ling finally crawled out of bed, Shen Qingyi invited her to eat breakfast directly, saving her from having to rush to do anything else.

They had gotten up quite early today. By the time the two finished breakfast, it was exactly 8 AM, which was usually the time their alarm clock just rang.

After changing the bird feed and water on the balcony, Shan Ling left the house with Shen Qingyi.

The 8 AM sun was not yet warm enough. Shan Ling, wrapped in a long scarf, shivered slightly when the wind blew.

“It’s so cold today,” Shan Ling exhaled a puff of white air and said to Shen Qingyi: “Yiyi, if we leave now, won’t we get to the shop before 9 AM?”

Shen Qingyi nodded. They were indeed up a bit early today.

Shan Ling hesitated for a long time, then told Shen Qingyi: “Yiyi, can you do me a favor?”

Shen Qingyi turned to look at her, asking with her eyes what it was.

Ten minutes later, the two found an orange cat in a sheltered corner. Shan Ling stood far away and told Shen Qingyi: “This is a small bag of cat food I bought at the supermarket a few days ago. Help me feed it, and then we’ll leave.”

Shen Qingyi weighed the 200-gram bag of cat food in her hand and glanced at the orange cat, which was almost a sphere. She thought that every cat feeder in the community was to blame for the cat’s excessive weight.

After feeding the cat, Shen Qingyi walked back.

“Don’t move,” Shan Ling looked at her seriously, pulled out a wet wipe from her pocket, and handed it over, saying: “Wipe it clean.”

Shen Qingyi looked at her amusedly, helplessly taking the wet wipe and asking: “If you’re so afraid of cats, why do you feed it?”

Shan Ling said earnestly: “Only if it’s full will it not try to catch and eat birds.”

Remembering the bird feed on the balcony, Shen Qingyi could more or less understand Shan Ling’s reasoning. She probably thought that as long as the orange cat was fed, it wouldn’t hunt small birds out of hunger.

What a kind thought.

Shen Qingyi didn’t say anything, but looking at Shan Ling’s serious expression, she said: “Let’s go. It’s about time to leave.”

They hailed a taxi and arrived at the shop around 9:30 AM.

This was only after Shen Qingyi directed the taxi driver to take a slight detour to avoid traffic jams under the elevated road.

By the time Shan Ling had cleaned the coffee shop inside and out, Nuonuo finally showed up.

She peered around first, then said in surprise: “Xiao Ling, Boss, why are you two here so early today? It’s making me feel disoriented.”

Shen Qingyi set the chairs in place and said: “No need to be disoriented. Today’s situation is just special.”

Nuonuo looked at them suspiciously, then quietly leaned over to Shen Qingyi and asked: “Boss, you wouldn’t be living with Xiao Ling, would you? Why else would you arrive early together? You often left together before, too, and lied to me that you were just going the same way.”

Shen Qingyi glanced back at her and said: “Go change your clothes and prepare to open the door.”

Nuonuo stuck out her tongue, knowing that the aloof boss wouldn’t reveal any details about her and Shan Ling. She was just being nosy and didn’t expect a definitive answer.

She turned into the changing room and saw Shan Ling organizing goods inside.

The coffee shop’s changing room was also used to store many goods, acting as a small storage space. Seeing Shan Ling busy in there, Nuonuo’s gossipy instincts flared up again. She leaned close to Shan Ling and asked curiously: “Xiao Ling, tell me the truth, are you living with the boss?”

Shan Ling remembered what Shen Qingyi told her about handling this kind of question. She smiled and said: “No, we just go the same way. We came a little early today, and I just happened to run into Yiyi.”

No matter what, she couldn’t reveal the fact that they were living together.

Nuonuo saw how secretive they were and sighed helplessly: “Fine, I can’t force you to talk if you don’t want to.”

Shan Ling felt a bit uneasy hearing this. She was usually very honest, and lying to Nuonuo, who was so kind to her, made her feel guilty.

“Nuonuo, did you have breakfast? The work in the shop is pretty much done. Should I go buy you some breakfast?” Shan Ling asked engagingly.

“No, no, I ate on the way,” Nuonuo said: “But I heard some gossip today. Do you want to hear it?”

“What gossip?”

“It’s about Song Qinglan and her assistant.”

Nuonuo looked left and right, as if afraid someone would suddenly jump out, and leaned closer to Shan Ling’s ear: “That Assistant Fang, do you remember her?”

Shan Ling blinked. How could she forget?

“The gossip is about Fang Ran?” Shan Ling was extremely curious: “What is it?”

“A while ago, Song Qinglan was constantly switching people around her, right? Everyone was guessing if Assistant Fang had offended Song Qinglan and was fired,” Nuonuo said to Shan Ling while changing into her uniform: “But yesterday, Assistant Fang appeared in a live stream.”

Shan Ling was puzzled: “What’s the gossip in that?”

Nuonuo said to her: “Wait for me to find the live stream recording, and you’ll know what I’m talking about.”

When Nuonuo took out her phone and found the live stream recording for Shan Ling, they saw what looked like a live e-commerce platform scene. Song Qinglan was sitting next to a male host, chatting about something. Just then, the look on Song Qinglan’s face, which had only shown a professional smile, instantly bloomed. She smiled, her eyes crinkling, looking off-camera, as if she saw someone she desperately wanted to see.

In the male host’s words, a term like ‘assistant’ seemed to be mentioned. Then, Fang Ran walked in from off-camera and stood beside Song Qinglan.

Shan Ling watched the two whispering to each other in the live stream and felt that something was amiss.

Fang Ran had said she was going to resign just two days ago, and Song Qinglan hadn’t spoken to her for a week. But now, they didn’t look like they had a bad relationship at all. In fact, there was a subtle, ambiguous feeling between them, which Shan Ling found very strange.

Nuonuo looked at Shan Ling’s expression and said to her: “Do you also feel that Song Qinglan and her assistant have an unusual relationship? Everyone thinks so, even speculating whether they are a couple.”

“Everyone thinks so?” Shan Ling asked in surprise.

“The public’s eyes are sharp. Before, Song Qinglan and Assistant Fang were close, but it was the closeness of good friends. But look now, Song Qinglan’s eyes are practically sparkling. Who wouldn’t think they’re dating?”

Nuonuo spoke righteously, even opening a certain app and finding the corresponding discussion group to look at the gossip with Shan Ling.

The more Shan Ling looked, the more surprised she became, so much so that when Shen Qingyi walked in, neither of them noticed.

Shen Qingyi saw Shan Ling and Nuonuo huddled together. She knocked on the door and said to them: “Customers have arrived. Why are you two still in here?”

Nuonuo quickly put her phone away, smiling brightly: “I just finished changing. I’m going out now.”

Shan Ling also walked out, holding the inventory book. Shen Qingyi glanced at her and followed her out.

After serving the first batch of customers, Shan Ling started packing takeout orders on the side. Since the promotion was just confirmed a few days ago, the shop’s business was quite good today.

The delivery driver had just picked up the coffee when a few more customers walked in.

“Welcome~”

Shan Ling looked up and only glanced once, seeing Fang Ran among the customers, her brows tightly furrowed as if something was weighing on her mind.

Support