Cloudside Café - Chapter 1

When Jiang Ying walked out of the office building, it was raining in the world. Spring is cold in March, and the temperature has just warmed up and dropped sharply, as if returning to winter all at once.

The street lights lit up the dark night, and the spring rain fell on the ground with pink petals.

She took the phone out of her pocket and took a look at the time, at 23:48 on March 14.

In twelve minutes, her birthday is about to pass.

After a day’s work, the plan hasn’t been changed. Had it not been for the uncle security guard who locked the door to urge her, she might have to spend the night here.

It’s raining just in time.

Jiang Ying sighed, opened his umbrella and stepped into the rain.

How could a social animal be worthy of a birthday? It was nothing more than a reminder that she was one year older and passed a year in such a silly manner.

She went out this afternoon, and when she came back, the parking space was occupied, and she turned around before finding a place to park. Jiang Ying dropped his head and shoulders, and walked over listlessly.

It would really be a good thing for people if the water reversal.

As soon as she was about to walk to the end of the street, when she raised her eyes, she was attracted by a small house with lights not far away.

In the quiet and dim early morning, this shimmering hut resembles a treasure box accidentally dropped from the magical world, hidden abruptly between trees and tall buildings.

Jiang Ying stopped and couldn’t resist curiosity and approached there.

I have heard from my colleagues a long time ago that a new coffee shop has been opened nearby, and the decoration is quite beautiful.

It’s all this point, and it’s still on?

Vaguely seeing the figure inside, Jiang Ying walked under the eaves, retracted the umbrella and gently pushed open the glass door.

A bell was hung on the door, and the collision made a crisp sound, which disturbed the quiet rainy night and also disturbed the people behind the console.

He was a young man with a white shirt over a loose sweater, a gray apron, gold-rimmed glasses on the bridge of his nose, and a mature and gentle dress.

Seeing Jiang Ying, he was a little astonished. He nodded at her in return, showed a polite smile, and said, “Hello.”

Jiang Ying also nodded at him, and quickly glanced at the store environment. White is the main color, the tables and chairs are all wood, and there are a lot of green plants. On the left side of the door are the front desk and the back kitchen. There are five or six seats in the lobby.

Simple Nordic style, but there are many warm places, warm yellow tones of lighting, light green or yellow grid tablecloths, a small pot of plants on each table, and printed pillows on the chairs.

“It’s not closing so late?” she asked.

The man hummed, and continued to bow his head to pack the tableware.

Yun Xian is the owner of this coffee shop.

There is rain today, and the ticking sound will make it more difficult for him to fall asleep, who is already insomnia, so he simply stays in the store to prepare tomorrow’s ingredients to kill some time and energy.

But I didn’t expect that there would be guests coming so late.

“Can I still order now?” Jiang Ying put the umbrella beside the door frame and walked to the front desk.

When he came closer, he found that the young man was quite handsome.

He is very tall. Jiang Ying himself is 1.75 meters tall. He is at least 1.85 meters tall.

Thin lips and high nose, inner eyes, white skin, gentle temperament.

When the handsome coffee shop owner can meet such a handsome amateur man, Jiang Ying raised his hand and rubbed the tip of his nose, covering the corner of his mouth that he wanted to raise, and he was secretly happy.

It stands to reason that the business has closed. Yunxian hesitated, but nodded: “Yes, but not all meals are available.”

Jiang Ying didn’t look at the menu, and asked directly, “Are there any cakes?”

There was just one piece left today, and Yun Xian wanted to take it home by himself. He left a sentence of “wait a minute” and turned to enter the back kitchen. When I came out again, I had a plate of light yellow sponge cake in my hand.

“That’s it, cheese ice cream, okay?”

Jiang Ying was ready to make a move: “Okay, that’s it.”

The cash register in the store was turned off, and Yun Xian asked, “Twenty-two, is there any cash?”

Jiang Ying hasn’t used cash much since the popularization of mobile payment. She shook her head and realized that this is a good opportunity to reach the other party’s WeChat.

Fearing that he would say “I will open the cash register” in the next sentence, Jiang Ying speeded up his speech and suggested: “I’ll send it to you on WeChat? Shall I scan you?”

“Okay.” Yun Xian took out the phone from his pocket.

As he unlocked the screen and opened the WeChat interface, Jiang Ying cheered inwardly.

Until I saw the other party opened face-to-face collection.

Jiang Ying: “…”

The little Jiujiu in her heart was ruthlessly stifled by the convenient application technology.

The smile on Jiang Ying’s face stiffened, and he entered the value and paid 22 yuan.

His name is displayed on the page as *Xian.

Jiang Ying didn’t recognize the word, so he asked, “Han?”

Yun Xian was stunned for a moment. He realized what the other party was saying and replied: “xiàn, my name is Yun Xian.”

Jiang Ying chanted the name in a low voice—Yun Xian, which was quite immortal.

After paying the money, Yun Xian took out the packing box and wanted to pack it up for her.

Jiang Ying stopped him: “No need to pack, are you in a hurry to close the store?

“No hurry.” Yunxian put it back in the box, took out a blue porcelain plate from the cupboard, and handed the cake to Jiang Ying, “please use it slowly.”

“thanks.”

There was a bar next to the front desk, and Jiang Ying sat down nearby.

The store’s stereo plays soft and soothing songs.

Jiang Ying scooped a spoonful of cake, the cheese was salty and sweet, and the taste was creamy. She held her chin and watched the handsome boss being busy at the console in a straightforward manner.

Thinking of knowing the name of the other party, Jiang Ying said in courtesy, “Boss, forgot to say, my name is Jiang Ying. Jiang with ginger, welcome Ying.”

Yunxian didn’t know why she suddenly reported herself to her family. He thought she was bored and wanted to talk to someone. He nodded slightly and continued the topic: “Are you working nearby?”

“Well, Zhicheng Studio, a game maker. I don’t know if you have heard of it.”

Hearing the name of Zhicheng Studio, Yun Xian twitched his mouth.

It’s not just that he heard that the name Zhicheng was proposed by him.

Knowing that the other party is a friend’s employee, Yunxian relaxes: “I’m not afraid of getting fat after eating cakes so late?”

“Although there are still a few minutes, but today is my birthday.” Jiang Ying dug a scoop of ice cream sandwich into his mouth, his teeth trembled from the cold, and said vaguely: “A sense of ritual.”

Wen Yan Yunxian looked up at her, feeling a little surprised, and whispered happy birthday.

The girl looks quite young, she should have just graduated. The long black hair has a low ponytail, perhaps because it is a single eyelid, it adds a bit of coolness to her facial features, which is a good-looking look.

He didn’t know much about Li Zhicheng’s company, but he also knew that in the initial stage, it was when the boss was squeezed by the investor and the employees were squeezed by the boss.

Game development is also a hair-consuming task. It seems that she has just got off work and she is exhausted. I can’t make it to my birthday. I can only buy myself a small cake in the last few minutes of this rainy night.

If he happened to stay in the shop today, she might not even have a piece of cake.

Probably recalling the embarrassment when he was just working, Yun Xian looked a little bit more intolerable when he looked at Jiang Ying again.

He sighed slightly when he thought that this could be regarded as a crime made by Li Zhicheng.

Yun Xian turned around and went back to the kitchen. When he came back in a few minutes, he held a small fragrance in his hand.

He turned off the light, leaving only one on the top of the bar, and took a lighter to light the fragrance.

With the sweet smell of apple, the flames burned in the dim.

Yun Xian pushed the aromatherapy to Jiang Ying and said, “I only found this.”

Jiang Ying didn’t understand, so he moved his gaze from the candle to Yun Xian’s face, staring at him blankly, “Huh?”

Yun Xian raised her eyebrows and motioned to her: “Wish, no candles, just take this will.”

Jiang Ying let out a cry, and the corners of his mouth rose as he lowered his eyes, and muttered, “What am I doing.”

“Yeah…” She thought for a while, and she didn’t seem to have any big desires. Work smoothly, be healthy, and find a boyfriend.

Xu Laixu is always so few.

The song played on the stereo came to an end, and the deep male voice sang in a low voice—

“Goodnightdearworld.

Goodnightoldtrees.

Goodnightandgoodbye.”

“I have made a lot of wishes for myself every year, and few of them can be realized.” Jiang Ying folded his hands, closed his eyes, and said softly: “Then care about humans. I hope that people with insomnia will sleep tonight. Sleep well.”

Her voice is very special, not sweet among girls, her voice is low, her tone of voice is calm, like a light wine in a glass, it matches her cold and clean face.

Jiang Ying opened his eyes, blew out the candle, raised his head and thanked Yun Xian, “Thank you, boss Yun.”

When his eyes met, Yun Xian lost his senses for a moment.

The rainy night was heavy and the lights in the room were dim, but her eyes were full of candlelight, bright like stars, as if hiding all the sparks in the world.

It is rare that the eyes of a single eyelid can be so big, watery, very aura.

sleep tight.

For the insomniac, this is too pale.

Others can’t understand the pain of being unable to sleep for a long time while dragging their tired body and mind at night.

Tossing and turning, from anxiety to numbness, I clearly felt my own chaos, and only I knew what kind of torment he suffered.

So “good night” is the word Yunxian is most afraid of hearing.

Because his night is not peaceful, he needs to rely on drugs to force his brain to shut down, wait for his drowsiness to return to one place, and finally fall into a chaotic dream.

They had never met before, and Jiang Ying couldn’t possibly know the difficulty of the man in front of him.

When meeting Pingshui, she made a wish “good night and good dreams”.

If it is a wish, then this sentence is too gentle.

The rain stopped, and the long night returned to silence.

The anxious mood was suddenly relieved, Yun Xian tilted his head and looked out the window, perhaps because he was relaxed physically and mentally, he was born with a rare sense of sleepiness.

Yunxian straightened his watch strap and said with a smile: “I knew it was your birthday. I should invite you to this cake.”

Jiang Ying laughed, and the arc pulled out the dimples on both sides: “Your store’s service is really in place, and the boss will also send cakes on birthdays?”

Yun Xian said, “Well, come to my store for your birthday next year, and I will make it up for you.”

Jiang Yingqian smiled and responded well, and said “boss atmosphere”, but he only treated it as a polite statement in his heart.

Yun Xian was serious, thinking it over, he found a post-it note and pen in the drawer at the front desk, and leaned down and roughly made a coupon. To say rough is really rough, the light blue paper only has the words “birthday coupon” and a piece of cake he drew.

Yun Xian picked it up and looked at it, and added a small line below: “Jiang Ying belongs to”.

In the lower right corner of the paper, he left his signature, and his handwriting is smart, which is regarded as a seal to guarantee his credit.

He handed the post-it note to Jiang Ying: “I’m serious, take it, and come to me to exchange it next year.”

Jiang greeted him, and saw the words on the paper were amused and laughed: “What to exchange for? Will you accompany me on my birthday?”

Yunxian did not expect that she would understand this way, and a trace of embarrassment flashed across her face: “I mean to give you a birthday cake.”

The atmosphere suddenly became a little subtle. Yun Xian took off his apron and turned back to the front desk. Jiang Ying coughed, and put the broken hair on his cheek behind his ears aside his eyes.

Just as she carefully folded the paper and put it in her shoulder bag, the man turned back.

He was still holding the unfolded apron in his hand, his fingers were slender, with distinct bones, and the skin on the back of his hand was even fairer on the dark cloth.

Jiang Ying raised his head and looked at him, and asked, “What’s the matter?”

Yun Xian raised his hand and pushed down the glasses that had fallen, and Jiang Ying discovered that there was a small mole directly under his left eye, which was not obvious because it was blocked by the frame.

I don’t know where I heard that people with tearful moles love to cry and their hearts are soft.

Maybe it is true, because she heard Yunxian say—

“It’s okay for your birthday, if no one is with you.”

The author has something to say: enjoy reading. A light-hearted short essay.