One month later.
In a street corner cafe next to Ivy League College, several cats were lying on the table, fiddling with their tails, looking very cute.
Inside the store, Mai Xiaoshu, with her hair tied in a bun and wearing a shop assistant's uniform, stood behind the bar, supporting her chin with her left hand and swatting with a fly swatter with her right hand from time to time.
The coffee shop was empty except for a cat and a few flies making trouble, which was completely different from the bustling scene half a month ago.
As for why the business collapsed, it all started a month ago.
After she left Shiku Technology, the Reiki ZOO project came to a standstill, and An Chengye stopped the project as expected, but he got the inspiration from somewhere and developed an APP called Yunzhongmiao.
The software actually brings together cat lovers and cat lovers who like cats but don't have the time or energy to raise cats on a virtual platform. Players can adopt their favorite "cats" online and interact with their pet "cats" through rewards and other means...
As soon as the game was launched, cat-loving players were excited. They all quickly downloaded the software and adopted their own pet "cats" to experience the feeling of being a poop-scooper.
For a time, the number of customers visiting cat cafes dropped sharply.
After leaving Shiku Technology, Mai Xiaoshu had a hard time convincing her boss Yu to re-hire her. If business continues to be as slow as it is now, she will probably have to find a new job soon.
"welcome!"
Just as I was feeling worried, an electronic greeting sound came from the door - it came from the automatic sensor at the door.
Mai Xiaoshu happily picked up the order form, and when she turned around, she saw a girl wearing a colorful fur ball costume screaming "Wow wow wow wow"...
It turned out that the cats thought the colorful balls on the girl's clothes were balls of yarn to play with, so they pounced on them and scratched and clawed at the girl's clothes. She was so scared that she quickly pushed the cats away.
"Oh, is your cat crazy?" The girl said this and left the coffee shop with an unhappy face.
“Stop!” Mai Xiaoshu shouted to stop them, and the cats calmed down. “How can you chase away guests like this?”
A blue cat simply jumped onto the table and excitedly said to Mai Xiaoshu: "She is covered with wool balls."
"That's someone's clothing decoration, not something to play with!"
"We want a ball of yarn, too." Several cats came up to her.
"Even if you like balls of wool, you can't scare the customers, do you know? Without customers, there will be no income, and without income we will all starve in the future! Fortunately, Boss Yu is not here. Be good and obedient in the future, okay?" Mai Xiaoshu put his hands on his hips and glared at them as he taught them a lesson.
The cats nodded sullenly.
A few hours later, the electronic welcome sound sounded again.
Mai Xiaoshu came back to his senses and saw a tall boy wearing a pair of sunglasses walking towards him.
"Why are you here?" The boy took off his glasses and looked at Mai Xiaoshu in surprise.
Mai Xiaoshu blurted out in disbelief: "An Chengye!"
The weather is already very cold, but he seems not to feel the cold. He is only wearing a slim white shirt on his upper body and jeans on his lower body that wrap his long legs. He looks like a fashion model walking down the catwalk.
An Chengye quickly concealed his inner surprise and said to Mai Xiaoshu expressionlessly , "Didn't I tell you not to appear in front of me?"
His sudden questioning made Mai Xiaoshu stunned for a few seconds, and then she realized that this was obviously her territory!
"Who wants to appear in front of you? Didn't you come to me on your own?"
As soon as she finished speaking, she vaguely saw the veins throbbing on An Chengye's forehead.
A Garfield cat strolled up to her, rubbed her ankle with its furry little paws, and called out in a coquettish voice: "Meow-- (Who is this?)"
Mai Xiaoshu lowered his head, covered his mouth and whispered, "Enemy."
Her voice was very soft but still reached An Chengye's ears. He shrugged and said, "Yeah, enemies often meet on narrow roads. Don't block my way. I'm looking for Boss Yu."
" He...he's not here." He could actually hear it even though she spoke so softly, Mai Xiaoshu thought to himself, but his face turned red with embarrassment.
"Not here?"
"He didn't come to work today."
"What? Today is rent payment day. He wouldn't have forgotten about this, right?" An Chengye coughed lightly and looked at Mai Xiaoshu and said, "Tell him to transfer the rent to my card before 12 o'clock tonight."
After saying that, he turned around and walked out of the cafe. When he reached the door, he turned back again and said, "How much money do you need? Didn't you just sell the information to my competitor? Didn't they give you a satisfactory price?"
Hearing the sarcasm in his words, Mai Xiaoshu felt a lump in his throat.
She opened her mouth, but in the end nothing came out.
Following the direction An Chengye left, she saw Jian Jun standing next to a sports car on the side of the road.
Jian Jun saw An Chengye walking towards the car, so he immediately opened the door for An Chengye and asked tentatively, "Did you see her? It's Miss Mai, I must be right."
"Yes."
"So what should we do?"
"What to do?"
"According to your personality, shouldn't you do something to make her regret doing something that let the company down..." Seeing An Chengye looking at him with impatient eyes, Jian Jun immediately shut up, his heart beating fast.
Could it be that I have misunderstood again?
When he heard that Mai Xiaoshu was working in a cat cafe, he told An Chengye immediately. He thought that this busy man came to collect rent in person to take revenge on the traitor, but he didn't expect him to come out so soon.
He also didn't explain that he asked Boss Yu to fire Mai Xiaoshu. Did he turn down the meeting just to see her?
Jian Jun scratched his head in confusion, returned to the driver's seat, and drove away.
On the other side, Mai Xiaoshu was complaining in his heart. He could have asked Jian Jun to do the rent collection, so why did he go there in person? If it was Jian Jun, the situation just now would not be so embarrassing.
Feeling extremely depressed, she simply turned her grief and anger into labor, gave all the cats a bath, cleaned the cafe, and in the blink of an eye it was time to get off work.
The sky gradually darkened, and the dense street lights lit up, like a river of stars.
She closed the shop and walked towards the station, and found couples everywhere...
Why are there so many couples on the road today?
Confused, she took out her phone and went to Shiku Technology, only to find that today's hot searches were all about Christmas.
Unexpectedly, it was already Christmas. No wonder couples were out to "torture each other" today. Just as she was thinking about whether she should prepare a Christmas gift for Song Feifei, who was also single, she suddenly remembered something else. Jiang Xingye had sent her a text message during the day to ask about her recent situation, and also said that he had something important to tell her in person tonight. The two agreed to meet at Qinghe Restaurant in White Bear Plaza at 8 o'clock.
Jiang Xingye has a lot of things to do at the company and school, and he is usually very busy. If it is not an important matter, he will not specially ask her to meet. Mai Xiaoshu got on the bus to White Bear Square without thinking much.
White Bear Square at night.
The sky was covered with a net of lights shining with silver light, like the Milky Way emitting brilliant light lingering above everyone's head, creating a strong sense of fantasy. Beautiful love songs came from afar, making the Christmas atmosphere even more romantic.
Not far away, a little girl selling flowers saw a good-looking couple and surrounded them, looking up at them and saying, "Brother, give me a bouquet of flowers."
"No, no, get out of here!"
The man's scolding scared the little girl so much that she burst into tears. The tall girl next to him rolled her eyes at him and said, "With your behavior, I should have broken up with you a long time ago!"
Mai Xiaoshu guessed that the girl was unlucky and ran into a couple who had just broken up. The couple ignored the girl and left in anger.
The little girl had red eyes and looked about eight or nine years old. Her clothes were very simple. Especially on Christmas when both boys and girls were dressed up, her outfit stood out in the crowd.
Mai Xiaoshu felt sorry for her, so he walked up to the little girl and gently touched her hair: "Little sister, how much is a rose? I'll buy them all."
"Really, sister? But who are you going to give it to?" The little girl looked at Mai Xiaoshu, who had no male companion, with her eyes wide open and a look of disbelief on her face.
"Although my sister doesn't have a boyfriend, I still want to give myself a bouquet of flowers today."
The little girl had been selling flowers all day, and this was the first time she met someone who bought flowers for her. She sniffed and said as if to comfort Mai Xiaoshu: "Sister, you will definitely find your happiness soon!"
"Little sister, please sell me the flowers in your hand." At this time, a familiar male voice came from behind Mai Xiaoshu. She turned her head and her eyes met Jiang Xingye.
"You're here!"
"I should be the one buying the flowers." Jiang Xingye looked at her seriously, with a gentle smile on his lips.
"So my sister has a boyfriend!" Looking at the happy expression of the flower girl, Mai Xiaoshu wanted to explain, but was interrupted by Jiang Xingye: "How much is it together?"
Soon, the flowers in the little girl's hand were in Mai Xiaoshu's hand. Under the starlight, the red flowers made Mai Xiaoshu's face red. She took out her wallet and tried to return the flowers to Jiang Xingye while explaining: "I bought the flowers because I wanted my little sister to go home earlier."
"They are so beautiful." Jiang Xingye walked beside her and said something ambiguous, which made Mai Xiaoshu's ears turn red. "Give me back the money, and the flowers are all mine. But do you think it's appropriate for me to take the flowers?"
Mai Xiaoshu was amused and stopped refusing.
The two walked along the way without saying anything. Looking at the flowers in their hands and listening to the love songs coming from the roadside, Mai Xiaoshu felt that the atmosphere was weird. What was it that had to be said on Christmas? Didn't Jiang Xingye have to deal with those girls pursuing him?
After hesitating for a moment, Mai Xiaoshu expressed his doubts: "Today is Christmas, why did you ask me out?"
"Because..." Jiang Xingye suddenly hesitated. After half a second, he whispered, "Today is not only Christmas but also my birthday, so I want to get together with some friends, but except for you, they all don't have time."
"Your birthday! Really?"
Mai Xiaoshu breathed a sigh of relief.
"What do you think? Do I want to date you?" Jiang Xingye smiled and winked at her. This was the first time that he joked with her.
Realizing that she had just overthought, Mai Xiaoshu's face showed a trace of shyness. Suddenly, she seemed to have thought of something and paused: "What should I do?"
"What should we do?" Jiang Xingye was confused.
"I don't have enough time to prepare a gift for you!" Mai Xiaoshu looked embarrassed, then he seemed to have thought of something and raised his eyebrows, "How about you just accept this bouquet of flowers and prepare a more suitable gift for you another day?"
Jiang Xingye's eyes widened, and before he could react, Mai Xiaoshu had already stuffed the bouquet into his arms.
"Look, actually you are more suitable for beautiful flowers!" Mai Xiaoshu smiled mischievously.
"You can even think of this!" Jiang Xingye knew that she was playing around, and reached out and tapped her head lovingly.
The two of them walked into the restaurant laughing and joking. When they saw the familiar-looking waiter, Mai Xiaoshu remembered that she and An Chengye had been here before, and it was here that she was tricked by him into signing the contract.
time flies.
As she was thinking about all sorts of things , the two were quickly led by the waiter to the reserved table. As soon as she sat down, she caught a glimpse of a familiar figure at the next table, and her confusion quickly turned into shock.
The corner of her eye twitched and she looked at An Chengye and Jian Jun in shock, not understanding why they were here.