Cloudside Café - Chapter 3

Jiang Ying held the square post-it note in his hand and spread it out when he was at the company. The paper had been wet with sweat from his palm and was crumpled.

Fortunately, the numbers above have not been blurred.

She handed the carton to Zhou Qingqing and asked her to distribute afternoon tea to everyone.

When I heard that I had something to eat, I stopped no matter what I was doing, and walked around like a square feeding pigeons.

After Jiang Ying retreated to the crowd, he returned to his seat.

She clicked on the search function of WeChat and typed numbers one by one, slowly and seriously.

Soon he jumped out of the man’s business card.

The WeChat nickname is Jianshan, and the avatar is the cloud and moon at night.

The area says Beijing, no wonder he doesn’t have a local accent.

There are not a few posts in the circle of friends, and some are just insignificant daily routines.

Facing the few messages, Jiang Ying looked at it again and again for a long time.

Until Zhou Qingqing came over with the cake and asked: “Did you buy it by the cloud?”

“Cloud edge?” Jiang Ying peeled off the lid of the coffee cup and lifted it to take a sip.

Warm latte, slightly bitter, the aftertaste in the mouth is a light milky fragrance.

“It’s the new coffee shop next to you, I told you.”

“Ah…” Jiang Ying nodded, originally called Yunbian.

She has been there twice, without paying attention to the name of the shop.

Zhou Qingqing leaned on the edge of the table and ate cakes, frankly fished and chatted with Jiang Ying: “How about it, have you seen their boss?”

“Boss? What’s the matter?” Jiang Ying pressed add to the address book, flipped the phone on the table, and opened the cake in the box.

Zhou Qingqing sighed: “A rare high-quality sportsman, haven’t you noticed?”

Before Jiang Ying could say anything, Zhou Qingqing said to herself: “Recently, this topic of women is all about him. You can find out whether you are in the store today, what clothes you wear, and which group you choose to open.”

Jiang Ying paused when he was eating the cake: “Does everyone know him?”

“Yeah. People are very gentle, they should be single. The most important thing is—” Zhou Qingqing approached Jiang Ying and whispered: “Young coffee shop owner, financially free, free time, looks good, and is a perfect boyfriend. Human set.”

Jiang Ying used a spoon to poke the mango pulp on the cake, a little absent-minded.

Zhou Qingqing is still chattering: “You know the beautiful photographer in the studio downstairs? It’s very literary and temperamental. I heard that I went to the cloud every day to brush my presence. Hey, I don’t think about it when I wait for the grassy people. Appreciation and appreciation are enough to satisfy your eyes.”

Waiting for a piece of fruit to be completely unrecognizable by Jiang Ying, she snapped and put down her spoon: “Speaking of character design, think about the character setting and plot outline of the hero in the new chapter for these two days, and give it to me by next Monday.”

Zhou Qingqing held the spoon in his mouth, and instantly wilted: “Ah, but today is Friday.”

Jiang Ying patted Zhou Qingqing on the shoulder: “Then work overtime on weekends and I will stay with you.”

Zhou Qingqing smirked: “Okay, I get it.”

As his ears calmed down, Jiang Ying sighed, picked up the phone and clicked on WeChat.

At the top of the message list, it says “You have been added, now you can start chatting.”

Jiang Ying straightened his back and became nervous for a moment.

Fists clenched and loosened, she typed “Hello, I am Jiang Ying” on the keyboard and sent it over.

Seeing “The other party is typing…”, Jiang Ying sighed and stared at the screen.

[See the mountain: Hello. 】

Hi.

and then?

Then what does she want back?

Jiang Ying was worried, and suddenly glanced at the cake at hand, and immediately regained his vitality.

[Sunset Orange: What is the taste of today’s cake? It’s delicious. 】

[See the mountain: Melaleuca mango. 】

[Sunset Orange: But I still prefer the piece I ate last time. 】

[See the mountain: Cheese ice cream, right? Unfortunately, the little master did not do it today. 】

[Sunset Orange: Then wait for next time. 】

[See the mountain: Hmm. 】

The chat was over again, and Jiang Ying slumped on the back of his chair.

Really should learn to have nothing to talk with Zhou Qingqing.

With two hours left before get off work, Jiang Ying plans to make a list of work schedules for the next week before the weekend arrives.

The cafe is the topic she temporarily thought about today. The progress is zero, and there is still a busy schedule to hand in a plan.

Although Jiang Ying’s grades were not top-notch since he was a child, he has an advantage. Once he starts something, he will devote himself to it.

Colleagues clocked in and got off work one after another, and she was the only one left in the grid.

Jiang Ying hit the last Enter key to save the document and pack things.

Picking up the phone, he realized that Yunxian had sent her a new message an hour ago.

[See the mountain: Next week, the young master will make a new product, red velvet and sea salt taro mud, you can come and try. 】

In the evening, the setting sun was blood orange, sinking between the buildings and the trees, and a breeze blowing in the sky.

Jiang Ying’s mood was relaxed and happy because of the sunset and the approaching weekend.

It is also an invitation that is barely considered.

[Sunset Orange: Good. 】

—

“Like makes people stingy.”

Jiang Ying’s gaze stayed on these words for a long time, biting the straw and not knowing what he was thinking, a cup of red grapefruit soda was about to bottom out.

The computer beeps, it is a new email from Zhou Qingqing.

Jiang Ying put down the phone, moved the mouse and clicked on the attachments. A few pages of documents were preliminary sketches and characters.

Zhicheng Studio was established two years ago, and its game “Small World” has been officially launched at the end of last year. It is a gourmet-themed mobile game for young people, combining traditional business simulation games and role-playing. The player unfolds the story as the protagonist Su Xiao, retrieves lost memories while savoring food, meets new friends, experiences various interesting events, and gradually solves many years of mystery.

When touch-screen phones were first used, stand-alone games were the first to become popular. With the continuous development of mobile phone performance, large-scale real-time battle mobile games are now the most popular. This kind of game takes more than ten minutes, and even half an hour for the elderly, it is not easy to take advantage of the fragmented time.

The small world is different, and the promotion of a level and plot often only takes two or three minutes. In addition, the plot and new modules are constantly being updated, and the player is like chasing a serialized comic with a stronger sense of experience. In addition, the small world painting style is refreshing and healing, and the pictures of food are exquisitely made and lifelike, which is called “the best game for food” by players.

“Small World” was originally a girl comic created by Jiang Ying during his college years. By chance, I met the current boss Li Zhicheng and adapted it into a mobile game. The storytelling game progressed in the comics has been synchronized, and several new characters will appear in the next update.

Jiang Ying took the tablet, clicked on the drawing software, and set up a drawing based on the person Zhou Qingqing had planned.

[Jian Ying: Coffee shop owner, 32 years old. Dark brown hair and eyes, dress: light blue shirt and trousers, wearing a pair of silver-framed glasses. He has a gentle and stable personality, with estrangement in courtesy and politeness, and no one knows his origin. 】

The requirement for the human design is that Jian Ying sits in a corner of the shop, holding a book, the coffee on the table is hot, and the cherry blossoms outside the window are in full bloom and spring is in full bloom.

It is not difficult. Jiang Ying puts on headphones to play music, while conceiving in his mind, while moving the pen on the tablet.

I don’t know if this person accidentally fits with someone, or if he has been to Yunbian too many times recently. When he drew a rough sketch and hooked it, Jiang Ying suddenly found that he had been substituting Yunxian.

Even when she closed the pen at the end, she magnified the eye and spotted a small mole under the eyelid.

Because of his guilty conscience, the more Jiang Ying looked at the characters on the screen, the more he felt like Yunxian.

His face blushed, as if his secret thoughts had been revealed.

She bit her lower lip and wiped off the small black spots under her eyes. She was cruel and adjusted the facial features and expressions of the characters on the picture.

But the facial features of the characters I just painted are more accurate, and if you want to change it, you have to move your whole body.

She wiped this line and patched up the shadow, but she was stretched, and the more she looked, the more unpleasant she became.

Jiang Ying has always been a perfectionist at work, so he must first modify his drawing until he is satisfied. If it doesn’t work, he will start again.

She created a new canvas, took a deep breath, and re-drawn her pen to draw the lines.

Two hours later.

Jiang Ying irritated his hair and threw the paintbrush and lay on the table weakly.

The man on the screen has his legs crossed, his posture is calm and graceful, holding a book in his hand, and smiling with his eyes down, as if his mind has been immersed in the plot of the book, earnestly focused. He was sitting on the dark green fabric sofa, half of his body bathed in the sun. The coffee is steaming on the wooden table, and beside the white porcelain cup is a golden hollow moire bookmark.

Behind the glass window, the spring sun is warm, and a tree blossoms like clouds.

No matter how you paint, you can see Yunxian’s shadow on Jian Ying’s body.

Could it be possible that there is still gu in the coffee? Why are people full of hearts and eyes.

Jiang Ying maintained a prone posture, stretched out his hand to the drawer beside the table, opened the door in a familiar way, poke his fingers, and took out the cardboard box and lighter in his palm and took it out.

This is her last pack of cigarettes. At the beginning of the year, she decided to quit, so she kept one pack and couldn’t help smoking another one.

Marlboro double explosion, classic and popular ladies cigarette.

Jiang Ying had smoked it for a while before, and it was flavorful, but it would retain the flavor. The lady’s smoke is milder, but it has many weird flavors and does not leave an excessive tobacco flavor.

When you open the lid, you can smell the sweet aroma, pop the beads one powder one orange, the strawberry flavor when you breathe, and the orange flavor when you breathe out.

The soft lips contain moisturizing cigarette tails, the white teeth bit through the pink beads beside the mouth, and the sweet strawberry flavor flows into the lungs along the breath.

It is fresh and sweet when exhaled.

Jiang Ying was sitting on the small swing on the balcony. A few days ago, she was busy with work and forgot to take care of the flowers and plants. But the orange rose she raised in this spring season when everything is growing, hangs her head listlessly.

She smoked a cigarette lightly and slowly, vomiting lazily, cross-legged looking out the window in a daze.

On Saturday afternoon, I don’t know whose children were chasing and playing downstairs. The laughter was tender and clear, not noisy, but it was a bit of excitement.

On a sunny day in March, the wind blew through the vines on the windowsill of the neighbor’s house. The golden sunlight poured into the room, and the orange petals were reflected brightly.

The smoke burned out, but the sweetness of the orange remained between the teeth.

Jiang Ying pinched out the cigarette butts in the ashtray shaped like an orange cat. This is the baby he found when visiting the neighboring city with his girlfriends during the Spring Festival.

I also stopped by to visit Dajue Temple that time.

Climbing up the hundred steps of the temple killed her. Jiang Ying doesn’t believe in gods and Buddhas, but since he has come, he always asks for something.

She knelt on the futon, closed her eyes and bowed her head religiously, and made a vulgar wish.

-Bodhisattvas, Buddhas, and believers in women have been waiting for a long time. It is really a bit lonely. You can send me a letter to Yuelao and ask him to guarantee me a good marriage in the coming year.

She doesn’t know if Yun Xian is her good marriage.

It only took a cigarette for Jiang Ying to figure it out, and she fell in love with others.

Because he looks good to her, because of the smell of apple in the rainy night, because of the two post-it notes he wrote.

Because she discovered that when Zhou Qingqing talked about how popular he was that day, her unhappiness should be called “jealous” again.

After all, liking someone makes a person stingy.

The author has something to say: Love comes too fast like a tornado~~~