Murphy stared at Yang Yi like that, making him feel a bit uneasy.
"Um, they misunderstood because of the sign earlier..." Yang Yi tried to explain.
But Murphy shook her head.
"It really was a misunderstanding," Yang Yi argued, his heart pounding. He was already secretly thinking that if Murphy kept pressing, he might as well admit it.
After all, he had laid enough groundwork and thought up a good excuse, but he wanted to wait until Murphy released her album to tell her, so she wouldn't have any worries.
Yet Murphy shook her head again and said, "I know you're not Mu Zi'ang, isn't that obvious?"
Uh...
Then, staring intently into Yang Yi's eyes, she added, "I just realized, there are so many girls coming to your shop to buy coffee!"
Maybe because school was about to start, the coffee shop had several waves of customers today, with the number of girls clearly overwhelming the number of guys. And they were mostly vibrant, pretty young women.
Hearing this, Yang Yi secretly breathed a sigh of relief. So it was about the gender ratio of customers! Scared me!
"It's normal to have more girls. This is Jiangcheng Media University, famous for its imbalanced gender ratio. Except for some science-oriented colleges, there are generally more girls than guys, especially in the arts. I've heard the ratio is a staggering 4:1 girls to guys!" Yang Yi said with a smile.
Who wanted to discuss gender ratios with him!
Murphy rolled her eyes at him in annoyance, originally planning to ignore him, but she couldn't let it go.
"From now on, you're not allowed to sell cappuccino to them!" Murphy huffed. "And it's not allowed on the menu either!"
Cappuccino was a type of coffee drink, but in this world, they didn't call the mix of espresso, steamed milk, and foamed milk a cappuccino. Murphy had heard Yang Yi call his latte art coffee a cappuccino that day, so she assumed that heart-shaped latte art coffee was a cappuccino...
"I only sell plain handmade coffee here," Yang Yi reminded Murphy. "But why do you say it can't be on the menu? I was actually thinking about getting a milk frother in case some customers want that kind of coffee."
"No selling it!" Murphy glared at him angrily. "Just stick to your original coffee. You need to learn to say no, got it?"
Yang Yi chuckled and said, "Alright, I want to stick to my principles too."
Murphy was almost amused by this clueless guy, but she wasn't done yet. "From now on, you can only make cappuccino for me, understand?"
"Sure, next time I can try a new shape!" Yang Yi said enthusiastically. "There are lots of ways to do it, like making it into a leaf shape, or a palm tree..."
"I want you to make me the same kind as that day, the heart-shaped one!" Murphy pouted, nearly fuming.
Yang Yi froze, looking at Murphy, and finally realized what they had been talking about!
...
In the capital, at the Ziran Village BBQ stall, Guo Ziyi was eating and drinking with his brothers who were chasing their dreams in Beijing.
"Xiao Guo, let me toast you!" A short, dark-skinned country brother stood up, holding his glass with a flushed face. "Even though you're younger than me, I think I should call you Teacher Guo, because I've learned a lot from you these days and improved a lot!"
"Geng Xia, don't say that. We're all learning from each other and improving together!" Guo Ziyi quickly stood up, swaying with his glass.
This was his farewell dinner. Tomorrow he would return to Jiangcheng, and soon school would start. Guo Ziyi was treating these brothers to a good meal, knowing that after this, who knew when they'd meet again. So he had downed several beers, and with his low tolerance, he was already a bit dizzy.
Geng Xia, speaking in his heavily accented Mandarin, said, "No, Teacher Guo, I have to thank you. Not only did I learn a lot from you, but you also gave us a boost before you left, introducing us to Brother Dabin and Director Ruan."
"These are small things. I just went with the flow. Whether you can seize the opportunity to succeed depends on your own efforts!" Guo Ziyi said.
"Are you two done yet?" Several brothers started heckling. "If you don't eat this BBQ soon, we'll finish it all!"
Geng Xia puffed out his chest, respectfully raised his glass, and said loudly, "I won't say much. I wish Teacher Guo a bright future and a good life!"
With that, Geng Xia tilted his head back and downed the beer in one go.
"Hey, just call me Xiao Guo," Guo Ziyi called out. He didn't hesitate and finished his beer along with Geng Xia.
...
Meanwhile, in a bar in Tingshan District, Jiangcheng, the place was packed with people. Young men and women were drinking, talking loudly, and some were dancing on the central floor.
"Excuse me, please let me through." Ding Xiang was jostled in the crowd, her small frame like a drifting duckweed with nothing to hold onto.
She was working a part-time job, a daily-pay gig a friend had set up. Since the bar only opened at night, it fit perfectly with the orientation work she had arranged with Senior Mao Peifu.
Of course, Ding Xiang wasn't working as a beer girl here. She was too dark, too skinny, and had a flat figure—even if she tried, she probably couldn't pull it off.
She was holding a rag, a broom, and a dustpan, weaving through every corner of the bar, cleaning up bottles, cups, cigarette butts, and other debris left by departing customers. Sometimes there were also little white umbrellas in dark corners that needed cleaning. Ding Xiang had been embarrassed at first, but now she was used to it.
Yes, Ding Xiang was working as a cleaner. The pay wasn't much, but she calculated that if she worked hard for a dozen days, she could earn enough for her September living expenses.
The job was far from easy, mainly because she had to constantly move through the crowd, which drained her energy.
When she got tired, Ding Xiang would pause at the edge of the crowd and listen to the bar's resident singer perform.
"...I've let too many people down, now I've become the victim, treating you with devotion..."
On stage was a somewhat handsome young man, reportedly named Lin Mu'an. But since he was singing Cantonese songs, it was hard to resonate with the crowd in a Jiangcheng bar.
"Silly boy... hoping to find a beautiful start, wanting you to see through this heart, but taking a fall is ironic, coming and going, still unable to change fate..." {Note 1}
Ding Xiang didn't really understand it either, but she thought Lin Mu'an sang quite well. His voice was as clean as his appearance, but carried a melancholy that was heartbreakingly infectious!
A guy like that, shrouded in a layer of mystery, was very appealing to girls!
Ding Xiang was no exception—after all, she was still a girl!
But... it was just admiration. Ding Xiang looked down at her gloves with a hint of inferiority, then turned to get back to work. Another customer had left, and there was a table she needed to clean.
{Note 1: The lyrics of this song are from the real-life Hong Kong singer Pakho Chau's "Silly Boy" (pretending it exists in that world). Friends interested in Cantonese songs can go listen to it.}