Cloudside Café

The Twelfth Cup of Coffee Part 3

Yun Xian stopped walking and said, “So it’s like that.
I’m sorry.
I’ve never had an ex, so I didn’t know.”

Jiang Ying’s eyes widened and remarked, “Really?”

Yun Xian started walking again and stopped at the doors of a congee restaurant.
“Is congee okay?”

Jiang Ying acted like she knew a huge secret and had to ask him, “Why? With how you are, you don’t have an ex?”

Yun Xian lightly glanced at her.
He walked through the restaurant door and sat down by the window.
“Puppy love was strictly prohibited at home when I was a student, and later I was too busy to think about it.”

Jiang Ying nodded and said with jealousy, “There are a lot of people chasing after you.”

Yun Xian marked a few things on the order form and handed the paper and pen to Jiang Ying.
“To tell you the truth, not really.”

Jiang Ying looked unconvinced.
“How is that possible?”

Yun Xian poured a cup of tea and said in a general pace, “I took the CET-4 and CET-6 as a freshman, joined the student union as a sophomore, and I learned a few foreign languages in my junior year, followed by graduate school, internship, and work.
I was left with little time to socialize, and I was not in the mood to be in a relationship.”

Jiang Ying asked tentatively, “Have you ever met someone you like? Or let it slip by you?”

Yun Xian looked up at her: “When I was at school, there was one.
She was my deskmate.
She was a really great girl.”

Jiang Ying sipped her tea and felt jealous.
“Oh, your white moonlight.”

Yun Xian smiled and said, “What white moonlight? She already has a child.”

Jiang Ying secretly breathed a sigh of relief and looked at Yun Xian.
She only felt that she knew too little about the man in front of her.

“I thought you were a very easy going and laid back person,” she said.

—Growing up in a well off and liberal minded family, she had gentle and kind parents.
She liked reading and watching movies in her spare time.

Romantic, mature, stable, mellow, good finances, and free time.

Yun Xian smiled and accepted her words.
“But you did not expect me to be a corporate slave1?”

Jiang Ying’s lips rose.
“At the very least, I admire how you live your life now.”

Yun Xian’s smile became faint, and there was a bit of indifference from an accumulation of many experiences.
“Don’t admire me, you will always be who you want to be.”

He put down the teacup and leaned against the back of his chair.
He looked out of the window and watched the people passing by that were probably in a group or alone.

He said in a gentle, courteous and calm tone, “Before I came to Xi City, someone asked me why I was in such a hurry to get out of my comfort zone.
Didn’t you work hard in previous years for your current life?”

“Having a stable job, a home, and a car, and getting married at the right age may be an ideal life for many people, but that’s not the comfort zone I want.
After living life the proper way for 30 years, I don’t know why, but I suddenly wanted to rebel.
I quit my job, packed my bags, and didn’t even think about where I was going when I got to the airport.
I came to Xi City because my good friend from college was here.
I just wanted to not be bored, and I opened a café on a whim.”

Jiang Ying listened to the hints behind his words and asked, “So Cloudside is just you trying something new?”

Yun Xian nodded.
“It made me happy without realizing it.
I’m very satisfied with my current way of life.”

Jiang Ying became nervous and asked carefully, “So when you feel bored again, will you go somewhere else? Don’t you want to settle down in Xi City? ”

The light in the restaurant was dim, the bowl of congee in the earthenware pot created a barrier of steam between them.
Jian Ying could not tell how he was feeling through his eyes.

Yun Xian continued to have a vague smile.
“Maybe.
I’ll have to see if there is any reason for me to stay.”

Jiang Ying asked, “Is Cloudside not enough?”

Yun Xian shook his head.
“I just wanted to have fun.
After a few years, when the business is dying, I’ll stop doing it.”

Jiang Ying frowned, but not at what he just said.
She still felt the jealousy expanding in her heart because Yun Xian could easily disappear at any time and anywhere.

She made a poor attempt to get him to stay.
“Xi City is next to mountains and lakes.
The air is good, and it’s a good place to settle down.”

The waitress gathered the new customers to sit down.
All kinds of voices in the restaurant mingled together.
Jiang Ying heard a short chuckle from Yun Xian.

“If I marry a girl from Xi City, I may have to stay.”

“”

He was half-joking and half-serious.
His eyes landed straight on her, with a bit of subtle probing.

The hot steam curled up on the table, and Jiang Ying blushed.

The author has something to say: Jiang Ying, he is desperately hinting at you.

Footnotes

社畜(shèchù) – comes from a Japanese internet term to ridicule employees who obediently work for the company at the expense of their private lives.