Chapter 80 I want to open a coffee shop
After crossing the Baitan Bridge, the group of five returned to Pineapple Island.
Riding along the country road along the coast, passing the pier, we first arrived at Shayang Village.
"I am home."
As Liu Zhiyi spoke, the bicycle slowly slowed down.
Fang Wei and his companions also slowed down and greeted Uncle Liu at the gate of the yard.
"So Zhiyi lives here?" Xu Caiwei asked curiously.
"Sister, that's Uncle Liu, dad's teacher!" Xu Cailing said.
"Uncle Liu!"
"You are the eldest daughter of Zhiyuan's family, right? Caiwei Caiwei." Uncle Liu laughed. He recognized her just by seeing that the two sisters looked alike.
"Yes! Uncle Liu, you know me!"
"I know, Caiwei, have you just come back?"
"Uh-huh."
"Do you work in Shanghai?"
"Yeah, hehe, I wasn't very good at studying, so I went out to work early."
"Well, the two daughters of Zhiyuan's family are very sensible and pretty. Did you have a smooth journey back home?"
"Well, it went smoothly, but it's a little far."
"It's the holidays, so I should go home. How many days do you have off?"
"Just one day. I took two days off and will be back to work on Sunday."
“It’s hard to make money, so keep working hard.”
"Well! Then Uncle Liu, we'll leave first!"
Xu Cailing, who was sitting in the back seat of the car, also said to Liu Zhiyi: "Zhiyi, I'll come to you tomorrow morning to do homework!"
"Uh-huh."
Liu Zhiyi and Uncle Liu watched as Cailing and her sister and Fang Wei and Asheng rode away on their bicycles.
Tomorrow is Mid-Autumn Festival. In addition to Xu Caiwei, Uncle Liu also saw many fellow villagers who returned from working outside today.
Only my own home seemed a little deserted.
But after his granddaughter came back, Uncle Liu didn't feel so lonely anymore.
"Zhiyi, come in. Grandpa just killed a chicken and it's stewing in the pot. The soup is almost ready. Have a bowl of soup first to fill your stomach."
"Good~"
……
"Ah?? So there is such a thing..."
Since Liu Zhiyi was not there, Xu Cailing whispered to her sister about Zhiyi's family.
Like Cai Ling, Xu Caiwei's expression became heavy when she heard this. It was obvious that the girl who was about the same age as her sister would have a hard time during the Mid-Autumn Festival this year.
"Sister, don't say too much in front of Zhiyi!"
"I know."
"So, I was thinking of going to Zhiyi's house tomorrow to do homework together, so that she wouldn't be so bored and have random thoughts."
"You're quite thoughtful."
"Then it would be the same if you were here! Besides, we are good friends with Zhiyi now!"
"Indeed, it should."
Xu Caiwei nodded. Her sister was right. In fact, during the days she worked in Shanghai, she had received a lot of help from strangers and colleagues.
Perhaps only those who have experienced tenderness can better understand and sympathize with the difficulties faced by others.
……
After skipping this topic, the familiar village also appeared before my eyes.
I grew up here and thought that the village didn't change much throughout the year. After being away from home for a long time and coming back, I realized that the village also has four seasons. It is difficult for Xu Caiwei to describe the feeling in her vision. Unlike the big cities built of steel and concrete, what she sees is a vibrant green that makes her body and mind feel comfortable.
"Haha, I feel like the trees around here have grown a lot taller, and there's a lot of grass too!" Xu Caiwei laughed.
"Really? Hasn't it always been like this?" Xu Cailing wondered.
The only person who didn't change at all was Master Li, who was lying under the big lychee tree at the entrance of the village to enjoy the cool air.
He seemed to be so old that he would never get older. When Xu Caiwei left the village to go to work after the New Year, he lay under the shade of the tree like this. Now that he has returned for the Mid-Autumn Festival, Mr. Li is still lying under the shade of the tree like this.
The seven or eight months in between gave Xu Caiwei the illusion that she was just riding her bicycle to school and back like she used to.
"Master Li!"
"..."
"Master Li!!"
The old man under the shade of the tree finally heard it, squinted his eyes, and propped himself up to look carefully for a while.
"…Huh? Is that Caiwei?"
"Yes! Master Li, don't you recognize me?"
"Huh?" (ears carefully)
"Master! Li! You! Don't! Recognize! Me!"
"I recognize you! I've watched you grow up, how could I not recognize you..."
Mr. Li laughed and asked:
"Is Caiwei back from school?"
"work!"
"Ohhh, how was school?"
"work!!"
"Oh... I'm at work. Yes, yes, I'm so confused. Are you back for the Mid-Autumn Festival?"
"Yup!"
"How many days are you going to rest?"
“We’re going back on Sunday!”
"Ha ha……"
"Master Li, how are you feeling lately?"
"well……"
I guess he didn't hear it clearly again.
But it doesn’t matter anymore.
Master Li knew that the Mid-Autumn Festival was coming. Today, in addition to Caiwei, he also met many young men and girls who he had watched grow up. He was very happy to see them come back.
Although he couldn't hear clearly and couldn't see clearly, Mr. Li always felt that the village seemed to be more lively than before.
Pineapple Island is very small and people from the same village are very familiar with each other.
After entering the village and riding towards the inside, Xu Caiwei met many uncles, aunts and aunts along the way. They all greeted her, and one of them always said, "Caiwei is back."
This is the treatment Xu Caiwei could not experience no matter where she went. Only when she returned to her hometown could she hear these greetings from her fellow villagers.
Soon, he arrived at his doorstep.
From a distance, I saw Xu Zhiyuan and Fang Xianfeng sitting on a rock by the roadside, smoking and chatting.
Hearing the sound of a bicycle, the two elders also looked up.
"Oh! Caiwei is back!" Fang Xianfeng said with a smile.
"Are you back?" Xu Zhiyuan also smiled.
Perhaps compared to Fang Xianfeng, the smile on Xu Zhiyuan's face was not as obvious, not even as obvious as the smiles of uncles, aunts and uncles who greeted him on the street, but from the subtle changes in his eyebrows, the two sisters could also see the joy hidden in their father's reserve.
"Dad! Uncle Fang! Hehe."
Xu Caiwei stopped her bike and talked to the two elders, and that was all they talked about.
Fang Xianfeng said with a smile: "You came back from Shanghai on a bicycle?"
"No! I just happened to meet Aweiwei at the dock." "Did you have a smooth journey back? I said I would pick you up at the dock." Xu Zhiyuan smiled as he looked at his eldest daughter in front of him, looking at how she had changed in the past few months since she left home.
"Caiwei has become more beautiful now! She has become much whiter after living in the city for a long time!" Fang Xianfeng said with a smile.
"Hehe..." Xu Caiwei also smiled shyly.
Fang Wei untied the leather rope on the bicycle frame, lifted the heavy suitcase down, and brought it in front of Xu Zhiyuan.
"Uncle Yuan, Sister Caiwei bought a lot of things for you!"
"Sure, Caiwei, you will honor your father when you make money. Look at your father, he is so happy that his mouth is almost grinning from ear to ear!" Fang Xianfeng gave a thumbs up.
Xu Zhiyuan was indeed very happy in his heart, but his expression was deliberately stern:
"You're back now, why did you buy so many things..."
"What you said is true. Caiwei is sensible and filial to you, but you are not happy? Awei is also so filial to me. I wish he would buy me a big ship and a plane!" Fang Xianfeng echoed.
"Awei, did you hear that? Your father is hinting at you!" Xu Zhiyuan said with a smile.
"I'll try my best." Fang Wei smiled and didn't care about the jokes of his elders. In fact, he knew that one day when he really earned money to buy things for his father, he would probably be like Uncle Yuan and say with a stern face, "Why buy this?"
"Come into the house. Your mother just made some soup. Go get a bowl of it. Ah Wei, you come and have some soup too."
After letting the two girls into the house, Xu Zhiyuan asked Fang Wei to come along as well.
Fang Wei was naturally sensible. Now that Sister Caiwei had just returned and the family was having a great time, he would not go along with them.
"Let's do it another time, Uncle Yuan. My mom has prepared dinner, I can just eat at home. I'm going back to my room first."
The younger generations went into their houses, and Fang Xianfeng and Xu Zhiyuan continued to sit on the side of the road, smoking and chatting.
Dusk is falling and smoke from cooking is rising.
……
Fang Wei was too embarrassed to eat for free, but the cat didn't have such concerns.
When I saw July in the evening, this guy had just come out from the neighbor's house. He was full and it was another day without having to feed him.
When Fang Wei was hanging clothes in the yard, he saw Xu Caiwei who had just finished taking a shower and was holding a basin of clothes to wash.
"Sister Caiwei."
"Eh? Awei, are you done with your shower?"
"Yes, the clothes are all washed."
When I saw Xu Caiwei during the day, she was wearing more "city-like" clothes. Now, after taking a shower, she changed into the old clothes that she used to wear at home.
Although her outfit is simple, the moonlight shining on the girl's pretty face still makes her look extremely beautiful.
Having not seen each other for a long time, the two of them stood in the yard and talked.
"Is Sister Caiwei still working in the coffee shop?"
"Yeah, it's hard to find a job in Shanghai, and I'm not old enough, so many places don't want anyone. But our boss is pretty good. Seeing that I'm hardworking and capable, he gave me a salary similar to that of other waiters."
"That's good. How's your work? Are you tired?"
"Of course I'm tired. I have to work ten hours a day!"
"What is Sister Caiwei mainly responsible for?"
"A lot of it. All kinds of work."
Xu Caiwei squatted down beside the water-shaking well and spoke while washing clothes.
"Every day when I arrive at the store, I have to arrange the tables, chairs and parasols inside and outside. Our store's hygiene is very strict. When the store is open, I have to clean it. I have to clean left and right, and help the kitchen to organize materials. These are all odd jobs. The main job is to serve coffee to customers, take orders, serve food, and clear the tables..."
"If Auntie is too busy, we have to help wash the dishes, cups, and spoons. Anyway, we just wash and scrub..."
"And keep smiling! Wow, my face is going numb from smiling all day long..."
"Why are you laughing?"
"laugh--"
Xu Caiwei deliberately put on an exaggerated smile, which made Fang Wei laugh.
“That’s really tiring.”
"Actually, it's okay once you get used to it. What I worry about most is making mistakes!"
"Hmm? Do I have to pay a fine if I make a mistake?"
"need!"
Xu Caiwei said, "You don't know, some customers are very picky! Some will deliberately make things difficult for you when they see you are from another place. Our store is quite big, and there are many rich people who come to drink coffee. Some of them have very good personalities and will give tips, while others are particularly picky, as if they can't show their sophistication if they don't do this..."
"upstart."
"Yes, yes! Our colleagues also said that many of them are nouveau riche! Obviously, we were all poor before, but now that we are rich, we come to make things difficult for each other..."
Sister Caiwei was talking and Fang Wei was listening quietly.
She said it lightly, but Fang Wei knew that for a girl so young, it would be her first time meeting such a customer, and she would probably be at a loss and feel quite aggrieved.
"Shanghai is indeed very big, and there are many rich people, but it is not easy for people like us to make money there."
"Fortunately, our store provides food and accommodation. Otherwise, that little salary may seem like a lot here, but in Shanghai, it might not even be enough to rent an apartment..."
"The coffee in our store is so expensive! I don't know how they are so rich that they can drink it every day."
"Ah, have you ever drunk coffee? The first time I drank it was after get off work at night. After drinking it, I couldn't fall asleep all night. I had to get up early to go to work the next day. It was so frustrating!"
"Awei, do you know what the most challenging job is? It's serving the kind of coffee with latte art. The milk cap on the cup is just flush with the rim. I was so nervous the first few times I served it! When I saw the milk cap about to overflow, I always wanted to take a sip first. When serving food, I wanted to hold a loud speaker and shout "Please get out of the way!" After all, if it spills, it will not only be troublesome to deal with, but you will also be fined, so you have to be very careful, haha. The first time I served this kind of coffee, I really wanted to kneel down in front of the customer every minute."
Fang Wei was listening quietly. Xu Caiwei was talking about these things as if she was telling a story.
"Has Sister Caiwei ever thought about coming back?"
"No."
Unexpectedly, Xu Caiwei shook her head. Of course she missed home, but she had never thought of returning home in such a dejected manner.
This is very similar to Cai Ling. Both sisters are inexplicably stubborn.
"I haven't finished stealing my skills yet, how can I come back like this? That would be such a loss!"
"what?"
Fang Wei's eyes lit up, and he asked with interest, "Stealing skills? Sister Caiwei, tell me in detail!"
"Haha, it's nothing, except that it was really difficult at the beginning. Now I'm slowly getting used to it. I've been working there for a year. Now, in addition to serving dishes, I sometimes go to the kitchen to help out, such as making sparkling water and snacks. This is a chance for me to learn from them!"
"I know some simple coffee recipes, such as ingredients and brewing techniques. Sometimes when they are too busy, they will ask me for help."
"But you have to be very careful. It doesn't matter if the coffee is bad, but you must not break the coffee machine. The coffee machines in the store are so expensive! I heard from them that there was a little girl who forgot to take out the spoon when making a milkshake, and the blender was scrapped. She had to pay for it!"
"Sometimes they would teach me, but most of the time I still had to figure it out on my own and learn secretly."
When talking about these things, the color of Xu Caiwei's face changed completely. Fang Wei knew that this was probably the reason why she was willing to stay there.
"So, Sister Caiwei, do you want to open a coffee shop in the future?"
"Yeah! That's right!"
"Want to open one in Shanghai?"
"hey-hey."
Xu Caiwei smiled and said, "Of course I want to, but I probably can't open one in Shanghai. It's too expensive to open a store. I'll save money slowly."
Then she changed the subject and said, "If possible, I want to open a coffee shop on the island. There is no coffee shop even on Baitan Island. If I open such a coffee shop, wouldn't it be the first coffee shop on the island?"
"Indeed. The first coffee shop."
"Of course. Actually, I also know that it is impossible to open a store on the island. After all, who can afford to drink such expensive things here..."
"Maybe there will be a chance in the future?"
Fang Wei smiled and said, "The outside world is developing, and our island is also developing. Who knows, one day, everyone will have money to drink coffee."
"Haha, then I must come home!"
Perhaps Fang Wei's words were not credible at all, but at this moment, Xu Caiwei's eyes still had a light and she became yearning.
"Sister Caiwei."
"Ok?"
"come on!"
"Hey, you too, you're better at studying than the rest of us, you must have a bright future!"
(End of this chapter)
