1210 Everything She Had, Her One and Only
The bittersweet smell of coffee filled the air, like invisible threads, wrapping around her.
“At that time, I followed Su Yuan back to Yunzhou, but I couldn’t integrate into the Ye family and the school. When my hand recovered, I found a part-time job in a coffee shop in Yunzhou. It was also in that shop that I first saw you.”
She paused, and her lips curved into a light arc.
“At that time, I didn’t know that the person at Yanhui Mountain was you, so I always thought that was the first time I met you.”
!!
The coffee gradually cooled down, leaving only the last wisp of white mist.
“Autumn in Yunzhou is always very short and rainy. It was raining again that day. When you pushed the door open and came in, your hair was still slightly wet.”
He had been wearing a black turtleneck sweater and a long trench coat. His shoulders were wide and his legs were long. He looked elegant and n.o.ble.
It had been raining outside, but he had not brought an umbrella. His black hair drooped down, and there was a small dark, wet patch on his shoulder.
People who were drenched in the rain always seemed to be somewhat embarra.s.sed, but he was not.
He seemed to have a constant air of calmness, tinged with a languidness about him.
The hem of his clothes seemed to be wrapped up in a gust of cold autumn wind, and a drop of water fell from his slightly messy black hair, which contrasted with his cold, fair skin, making his brows and eyes look even colder.
He was like the snow on the mountain peak, the moon on earth.
He seemed so far away and untouchable.
“I made the black coffee that you ordered.”
She blinked.
“Actually, I knew that you were just going to take shelter from the rain and that you didn’t really want to drink anything. And… you were very picky. You didn’t even look at the menu at all from the time you came in till you left.”
Some people could easily become the focus of the crowd even without saying or doing anything.
Lu Huaiyu was precisely such a person.
All he did was casually sit down by the window, and the exquisitely decorated coffee shop suddenly seemed a lot more simple and crude.
Outside the window, the rain continued to pour as people rushed back and forth in the rain.
At that moment, all of them seemed to melt into the background until he was the only one who existed.
He had leaned back in his chair and crossed his long legs, his posture was lazy.
He had deep eyebrows, a high nose, and his jawline was clean and sharp. He looked abstinent and cold.
That was… until the cup of black coffee was sent over.
Also…
An umbrella.
“I thought you wouldn’t want the umbrella when I gave it to you.”
He had not intended on taking it. He had not even planned on drinking the cup of black coffee.
However, after she had brought it over, he had looked at the cup of black coffee for a few seconds before raising his eyebrows.
“Yet, you still drank it.”
Shen Li picked up the cup and took a sip.
This was the taste that she was most familiar with after practicing how to make it countless times.
The second young master of the Lu family had been born into an aristocratic family and had a prominent status. He was proud and arrogant to his bones and was extremely picky.
This was especially true when it came to the taste of coffee.
It was rare for that cup of black coffee to have caught his eye, but the taste of it was still a little lacking from what he liked.
“The boss asked you what you thought about the taste, and then… you taught him those things.”
It was probably a rare interest.
The type of coffee bean, water quality, temperature…
His voice had been deep and cold, with a hint of laziness and n.o.bility.
In the end, he had finished the cup of coffee and picked up the umbrella.
“Thank you, barista.”
There seemed to be a faint smile in his voice.
Then, he got up and left with the umbrella.
There was a note under the coffee cup.
She looked at Lu Huaiyu and raised the cup in her hand.
“I used that cup of black coffee and that umbrella in exchange for a favor from Second Master Lu.”
In fact, she had only found out his ident.i.ty when her boss had come over and given her the note.
The boss had teased, “That’s Second Master Lu from the Capital. This umbrella was well worth its price. Ah Li, you scored big.
She accepted the piece of paper with clammy palms and saw the string of numbers on it.
Then, she put it away and put the sliced peaches into the juicer.
The shop a.s.sistant beside her exclaimed, “Ah Li, didn’t you just make a cup of orange juice? ”
She looked up and realized that she had added peach juice into the orange juice that she had yet to take away.
She had never made a mistake before, except for that one time.
In the end, she had finished the gla.s.s of mixed juice.
A string of transparent bubbles had risen from the bottom, forming a hazy color between the orange and peach juice. The condensed water droplets slid down the wall of the cup.
She inserted the straw.
“I scored big.”
Her peach blossom eyes curved into a beautiful arc.
“However, that gla.s.s of juice had been much too sweet and sour. It took me a lot of effort to finish it.”
Even after so many years had pa.s.sed, she still remembered that taste clearly, a faint sweetness still lingered on the tip of her tongue.
Lu Huaiyu listened quietly.
“So, you only called me at the end?”
Shen Li replied with a soft “Hmm.”
That was why she had said that she did not know if he would come.
She stretched out a finger.
“In my dream, I only saw you twice.”
Lu Huaiyu looked at her with a deep look in his phoenix eyes.
After a moment, he asked, “What about the other things?”
“Huh?” she was stunned.
Lu Huaiyu slowly said, “I like j.a.panese food, but I don’t eat pufferfish sas.h.i.+mi.
“I don’t like onions.
“I do like black coffee, but I also have other preferences.
“I love the setting sun after the rain.
“And that day, you suddenly came over from the National Planetarium…”
One pile after another.
She knew everything.
The room fell into silence.
Shen Li put the cup down and suddenly said, “Lu Huaiyu, do you still remember the wish you gave me on your birthday last year?”
Lu Huaiyu’s gaze fell on her full, red lips.
“Yes.”
He had almost kissed her that day.
It was also that day that he had finally understood her feelings.
Shen Li walked around the kitchen island and headed to the living room.
Lu Huaiyu saw her take out a gla.s.s candy jar from her black backpack.
He got up and followed her.
Shen Li turned around, raised her head slightly, and handed the gla.s.s candy jar to him.
“The wish is here.”
Lu Huaiyu knew about her candy jar. Inside it was the candy that he had given her, as well as some other items, all related to the two of them.
He took it, opened it, and took out the things inside one by one.
Candy.
A deflated cake balloon.
The movie tickets on Christmas Day.
It was a piece of folded white paper.
Lu Huaiyu opened the piece of folded paper.
It was a sketch.
It was a sketch of him.
I drew this the night you first brought me back to Yunding Fenghua. I had just finished when you knocked on the door.
She said.
Lu Huaiyu’s movements paused.
After that, he took out another small piece of paper.
It seemed to have been torn off randomly from somewhere, and the edges were not very regular.
However, he quickly recognized it.
“Is this the wish I asked you to make on the day you saw the shooting star?”
She gently nodded.
“Yes, it is. That was also the wish I made on your birthday.”
Lu Huaiyu’s eyelids drooped slightly. After a long while, he opened the note.
The sentence written on it was clearly reflected in his eyes.
[ I hope that Lu Huaiyu will have a peaceful and happy life. ]
If she could hope for something, if her wishes could come true, if she could make a wish…
This was her one and only wish.