I thought I could see Li Chuan the next day, but he didn't show up. I have no expectations for him, let alone wishful thinking. In my opinion, his kindness comes from a kind of upbringing, which is his usual attitude in dealing with things, not just for me. Since the first time I met him, politeness is my main impression of him. But the next time I meet him, I will definitely buy him coffee to show my gratitude.
Gradually, a month passed, and the night shift staff never saw Li Chuan again. There were rumors of him visiting at breakfast a few times, though I never worked the morning shift, so there was no way of knowing. Xiao Ye often went to the morning shift, but she was unlucky and never met her once. No matter how old customers don't come often, they will be forgotten. What's more, this street is commonly known as Financial Street, handsome men and beautiful women are not uncommon, and rich money is everywhere. Gradually, the child's conversation turned to a middle-aged bald man driving a Porsche sports car. But the parking lot next to the door is getting crowded day by day, the boss finally reduced the two disabled parking spaces to one, and there is a tendency to cancel them. Xiaoye argues for this. It is said that the existence of disabled parking spaces is the essence of the mind and cultural quality of Starbucks managers, and it is also one of the characteristics of this cafe. This is enough to prove that Xiaoye is too ignorant of the boss's businessman nature. It was Xiaotong who had an idea and saved her. Xiao Tong said that in fact, the parking spaces for the disabled and the elderly can be combined. Because there are still many elderly people who drive here. With one seat, both the elderly and the disabled can park, and the conflict is resolved.
Xiaoye knew that if there were no parking spaces for the disabled, the young man named Li Chuan would definitely not come to this cafe again. He drives every time he comes, which means that his work place is far away from here. His legs are inconvenient, and he will never bother to walk over for a cup of coffee. What's more, there are Starbucks everywhere in Beijing.
That night, Xiaoye invited Xiaotong to dinner. The next day Xiaotong told me that Xiaoye drank a lot of wine and cried while drinking, it was really pitiful. But he felt worthless for Xiaoye: this girl fell in love and couldn't extricate herself, she had a crush on her like crazy for half a year, and in the end she didn't even know her name.
I wanted to tell Xiaoye that Li Chuan sent me off that night, or at least tell her that the person's name was Wang Lichuan; I thought about it, but didn't say anything. I sympathize with Xiaoye, but Xiaoye is not my friend. Xiaoye seldom took the initiative to talk to me. Once I received the wrong money, and when she was in a bad mood, she scolded me severely, which made me very embarrassed. In fact, everyone here knows that she often makes mistakes in collecting money, and everyone is too scared to let her touch the cash register. Why is it so unforgivable when I make a mistake once? The next day, she knew she had gone too far, so she came to buy me coffee again. In short, she is a very emotional person. And me, my mother died early, I was sane. I was like a boy since I was a child, not easy to be emotional.
This month, I ushered in three exams since the beginning of school. Although I worked hard to recite words, the time I spent on studying was still too little compared to my classmates in the same dormitory. The average score was only sixty-five—the listening ability was so-so, and the intensive reading unexpectedly failed. Sixty-five is a score I have never encountered in my student life. I was ashamed, humiliated and so depressed I didn't want to see anyone, especially the girls in the dorm room. Because their scores are higher than mine, but they don't care about their scores. Only someone like me who got in from a "regional high school" would care about the score.
None of them went to self-study every day, but they kept going to dances, watching movies, and shopping in shopping malls. Feng Jinger is the most relaxed one. She is in relationships all the time and often skips classes. And she was the highest score in the department. She said that if she keeps this advantage, she will be able to receive four kinds of scholarships at the same time by the end of the year, the highest being the "Hongyu Fund", which is awarded to the ten students with the best grades in the school. I need money so much, but I have no chance of scholarship.
I'm not a good student, but I'm a good daughter. I was finally able to send money home and paid for my brother's tuition. With the remaining money, in addition to living expenses, I also bought a Walkman and a lipstick. The boss of Starbucks requires the female employees to wear makeup, so I have been wearing Lin Qing's lipstick. When I wanted to return it to her, she said she gave it to me. Unfortunately, it's already expired. "Cosmetics have an expiry date, and you must use them up before the expiry date." She also advised me not to buy inferior cosmetics. I bought a brand that she sniffed at, and it cost ten yuan, which already felt very expensive. But she said that the color is okay, and it matches my skin. It shows that my aesthetic ability is not bad. I had no choice but to tell him that my father was from Shanghai, and he voluntarily went to the branch of Yunnan Province. In order to marry my mother, he had a falling out with my grandfather and never returned to Shanghai.
On the night I finished the third test, I took a day off and didn't go to the coffee shop. Suddenly a large group of boys came to the dormitory. I only know one of them, Lu Jie. It turns out that Lu Jie's dormitory and ours are "friendly dormitories". And I mostly work at night, missing out on many activities in the friendly dormitory. According to Ning An'an's introduction, the main exchange program in the friendly dormitory is that the boys accompany the girls to watch movies, or the girls teach the boys how to dance. The second is to look for opportunities to develop "friendship". After several friendly exchanges, a boy from the Department of Mathematics - known as "Xiao Gao" - has won the heart of Wei Haixia. Of course, the most people pursued Xiao Rui, and none of them were in the friendly dormitory. Xiao Rui has a lot of convenience because of this. For example, I have to bring boiling water at least twice a day from the hot water room next to the cafeteria for washing in the morning and evening. Xiao Rui never brought boiling water. Someone always packs it for her and sends it to the dormitory. Besides, she always had chocolates in her pocket, also from someone else.
That night, I went to the student dance hall on the East End for the first time. The dance floor was about the size of an auditorium, with colorful lights hanging from it, and a band in front of it, with singers, sometimes singing ballads, sometimes crazy rock. When the music started, everyone entered the pool one after another, holding hands and dancing vigorously. The boy who taught me to dance is Xiu Yue, a third-year student in the Department of Philosophy. He said that he can only get a good job if he has a doctorate in his major, so his goal is a doctorate.
If dancing is regarded as a kind of sport, I think I still have talent. I like swimming, I also like volleyball, and I have learned a little Tai Chi. So in one night, I have learned the basic dance steps. Xiu Yue asked me if I would like to study with him in the evening, because he always listened to me complaining about my test scores.
"Play when you play, and learn when you learn. You can't mix these two things together, otherwise, you can't play well if you play, and you can't learn well if you learn." He suggested seriously.
Xiu Yue is qualified to say that because he is the study director of their department. Some professors have been optimistic about him for a long time, and it will be a matter of time before he can enter the graduate school without the entrance examination.
"oh."
"I heard that you often go out to work? Just enough money is enough. Don't sacrifice your studies for part-time jobs." He added.
"oh."
"I have already passed the sixth level of foreign language, but my oral English is not good. Especially I can't pronounce retroflexes well."
"Really?" I said.
"Yes. Every morning, I put a pebble under my tongue to practice tongue rolling." He looked determined, "By the way, the English corner on Friday night, are you going?"
"No. Where?"
"West End Garden." He was surprised, how could a person learning a foreign language not go to the English Corner.
"Are you free this Friday? We can go together. After practicing our oral English, we can watch a movie with Lu Jie and the others. The night ticket allows you to watch it all night."
"Well... next time. Next week is the midterm exam, I have to prepare well."
"Don't keep thinking about studying, you should combine work and rest. Especially when you are about to take the exam, you should relax."
"I still have to work."
"Then next time." He smiled and stopped insisting.
After dancing, everyone rushed to the street video hall to watch the video, ate a few catties of sunflower seeds, drank a case of soda, and continued to make noise until one o'clock in the middle of the night, when the activities in the friendly dormitory were over.
I have been thinking about my grades, and my mind is heavy.
From then on, I got up on time at five o'clock every day to recite words. In addition to part-time work and classes, I am studying in all my spare time.
I can see the white dew on the grass by the street lamp in the late autumn night. Cafe employees have a ten-minute "Coffee break" every four hours. The day before the exam, I ordered a small cup of coffee and sat in a corner, watching the autumn wind through the window and sweeping the long street. The night lights are shining brightly, pointing to a few pedestrians, pacing leisurely at the street corner. I drank my coffee slowly when suddenly a figure came towards me.
I saw Li Chuan again.
This time he was wearing a brown jacket, a pure black turtleneck sweater, and a pair of washed white jeans. His skin was fair and his face was sharply defined. For the sake of my breathing and heartbeat, I dare not look at his face more. As if he had just taken a shower, he exuded a faint water vapor all over his body. Hair is so wet and stiff that it could be pulled for a men's hairspray ad. I suddenly remembered a word I memorized this morning—"dashing"—I don't know why people here call him "Youth in a Suit". People in suits abound. A more appropriate word would be "fashionable boy". Said he was a boy, because compared to the fashionable young people on the street, he had a more bookish look.
"Hi!" he said, "Ho are you?"
"I am fine. (Translation: OK.)"
"Do you mind me sitting here?" He pointed to the seat next to me.
"No. lease sit. I'll bring the Coffee to you. hat ould you like for today?" After he answered, I hurriedly added: "This time I treat guests. Thank you for sending me off that night." I changed back to Chinese in time, because my spoken English was only limited to the level commonly used in cafes. Beyond this range, it is possible to make a fool of yourself.
"Oh...you're welcome. You sit down and I'll get the coffee myself. Would you like something?" He asked while putting the leather bag with the computer on the chair.
"Nothing. I'm coffee break, I'll be back to work right away."
He went straight to buy coffee. Then, I saw him pay and walk back.
"Where's your coffee?" I asked.
"Your colleague insisted on bringing it for me." There was no change on his face, but there was a hint of embarrassment in his words. Maybe Xiaoye was too attentive and made him feel uncomfortable. When I turned around, I saw Xiaoye's face flushed, and suddenly realized that this was the first time she had seen Li Chuan in several months.
Xiaoye walked up to us with a cup of coffee, and gave me a secret wink, and I said with interest: "Look, my rest time is over. This is Xiaoye, Ye Jingwen. A top student in the Chinese Department of M University. She can recite "Song of Everlasting Sorrow". And her foreign language is very good, even better than my foreign language department."
He smiled lightly and said, "This cafe is really a hidden dragon and a crouching tiger. Miss Ye, I'm sorry to trouble you to bring me coffee every time."
I breathed a sigh of relief. Apparently, he's not an indifferent person—he knows Xiaoye.
I stood up and hurried to the cash register to take over Xiaoye's job. Xiaoye sat down and chatted with him, her smile was so bright, I felt relieved for her.
She sat for half an hour before returning to the counter, her face still red.
The little boy came over and joked, "You finally know his name this time, right? Tell me, which family is he from? He's so handsome at such a young age?"
Xiaoye said, "I don't know. I didn't ask."
"You didn't even ask his last name?"
"I asked, and he said that the surname is Wang.... That's all."
"What does he do?"
"I don't know. We met by chance, why ask these details?"
Xiaotong still wanted to inquire carefully, but Xiaoye suddenly asked me: "Xiaoqiu, do you know him?"
"do not know."
"Don't lie. He came to you on his own initiative and obviously knows you."
"Of course he knows me. I spilled coffee on him once."
"Do you know what his name is?"
"No... I don't know." Since he didn't want to say it himself, why should I say it for him.
Xiaoye looked at me suspiciously, obviously not believing my words. Then she turned her back, thought for a while, then suddenly turned around again, and said coldly, "You don't mean to be interested in him, do you?"
"What do you mean?" I remained calm.
"I always thought country girls were innocent, but it doesn't look like that. You have a good way of seducing men, huh?" Her voice was very low and sweet, and it echoed in my ears like gnashing of teeth. Then suddenly she smiled again and looked up. I saw Li Chuan walking towards the counter.
"Hi." Xiaoye said.
"Hi."
He looked at us in bewilderment. Xiaoye and I were standing in front of the cash register at the same time, and he didn't know who to talk to.
"Mr. Wang, do you want coffee?" Xiaoye asked sweetly.
"Yes. No sugar."
I suddenly said, "Mr. Wang, are you free tonight?"
He looked at me, after a while, and nodded.
"Can I buy you a movie?" I continued.
He was slightly taken aback: "Watching a movie? When?"
"Twelve o'clock."
"Okay." He agreed quickly.