Slowly Falling For Changkong

Xiang Nuan Extra (1)
[Chapter 57]

***

On the eve of the college entrance exams, the school gave the seniors a little holiday in advance so that they could study at home.

Of course, during this time, a more important event was happening- taking their graduation photos.

The students had just about finished packing their things. Textbooks that were usually stacked up high on top of their desks were now gone, making the classroom look somewhat wider than usual.

Xiang Nuan was sitting at her desk when her two good friends came and called her to line up and take photos with them. Xiang Nuan agreed, and they trotted down the stairs where everyone was gathered.

Maybe it was because separation was imminent, but every student, no matter if they disliked each other or not, were lined up downstairs, clustered together without any split or segregation between them. At the front, their homeroom teacher was sitting on a chair, his expression amiable.

In class photos, girls were usually in the front rows while the boys were at the back. But since Xiang Nuan was in a science-oriented class, her class only had two rows of girls. After finding out that she was standing just in front of Shen Lin, Xiang Nuan curled her lip and asked a female classmate if they could switch places.

(T/N: Don’t quote me on this, but my understanding is that some schools have art-oriented classes and science-oriented classes during high school? Like science-oriented classes will have physics and chemistry in their schedule while art-oriented will have, well, art.)

But the photographer standing behind his tripod yelled: “Students, don’t move. Just stand still and look at the camera.”

Xiang Nuan hesitated for a moment, then eventually acquiesced and stood still.

Shen Lin looked down at Xiang Nuan’s head and thought that she seemed somewhat angry.

“Three, two, one..eggplant!”

(T/N: eggplant is qiézi so it’s like saying ‘cheese!’)

Shen Lin raised his hand and formed a ‘V’ with his fingers on Xiang Nuan’s head just as the photographer called out ‘eggplant’.

The photographer took three pictures in a row and asked them to come down so another class could take their photo. Their homeroom teacher led everyone back to their classrooms and reminded them to make sure that they had all their things when they left. Their classroom needed to be prepared today as it was going to be an exam room.

The seniors simply had too much stuff. Day students had the opportunity to move their things in batches a couple of days in advance, but dorm students like Xiang Nuan could only take all their stuff in one fell swoop today. What’s more, in addition to her textbooks and classroom items, she also had to pack her things in her dorm room. Just the thought of it already gave Xiang Nuan a headache.

Shen Lin had noticed that Xiang Nuan was carrying a lot of things and took the initiative to help relieve some of her burdens. “I only have a few things to bring back home; I can help you hold some of your stuff.”

Xiang Nuan subconsciously wanted to refuse him, but before she could open her mouth, Shen Lin had already taken a stack of books off of her hands and walked off. Xiang Nuan caught up to him, began to walk beside Shen Lin, and said: “You’d better give those back to me. Your mother will see you with my stuff and will probably think I’ve enslaved her son again.”

Shen Lin was silent for a few beats but then replied: “I apologize for what my mother did last time. I explained it to her when we came home after that day.”

“Oh.” Xiang Nuan raised a brow and asked: “And she believed you?”

Shen Lin pursed his lips and didn’t reply.

Xiang Nuan could tell from his reaction that his mother certainly didn’t believe his explanation. Maybe she thought Xiang Nuan had told her son to say these words to her. Xiang Nuan suddenly sighed and looked at Shen Lin. She said: “Well, I actually sympathize with you a little. With a mother like that, you’ll probably have an extremely difficult time finding a girlfriend in the future.”

Shen Lin replied: “Actually, my mother isn’t as difficult as you think.”

Xiang Nuan gave him a droll look and let out a deadpan laugh. Shen Lin’s grades simply lowered by a few points and his mother immediately called her brother to school just because they were frequently spending time together. How can that not be difficult to get along with?

But no matter what, she was Shen Lin’s mother. So after giving Shen Lin a brief sneer, Xiang Nuan didn’t say anything else.

Today, everyone’s family had come to help carry their children’s things. Xiang Nuan was no exception as once she walked out of the school, she saw Xu Lian’s car. The car door soon opened and Xiang ChangKong stepped out. He approached Xiang Nuan with hands outstretched to help carry some of her stuff, but Xiang Nuan immediately shrunk back and pointed to Shen Lin. “You can help take the stuff he’s holding for me.”

Xiang ChangKong turned to look at Shen Lin and immediately recognized him. Seeing that the pile of books Shen Lin was holding had Xiang Nuan’s name, Xiang ChangKong took the books and said: “Thank you for the help.”

“You’re welcome.”

“Brother, get in the car first. Those books are heavy, ah.” Xiang Nuan immediately took the stack of books from Xiang ChangKong and urged him to sit in Xu Lian’s car. Shen Lin stood there for a few seconds, then called out: “Xiang Nuan, do your best on the exams.”

Xiang Nuan looked back at him and said: “I will!”

Xiang Nuan stowed her things in the trunk and went to the dorm with her mother to clean her bedroom. She had said her goodbyes to Shen Lin at the school gate. He should’ve already gone home.

Xiang Nuan patted her cheeks and made herself stop thinking too deeply. Now that Xiang ChangKong had successfully been admitted into graduate school, it was her turn to take an exam.

Xu Lian sat in the car with Xiang ChangKong and asked him: “Who was that boy who helped Xiang Nuan just now?”

“Shen Lin, the boy who was thought to have been in a relationship with Xiang Nuan last time.” Xiang ChangKong explained.

“…” Xu Lian still had a vague impression of that particular incident. She recalled Shen Lin’s appearance and commented: “He looked like a top student.”

Xiang ChangKong smiled. “You can tell whether or not someone’s a top student based on their looks?”

“Of course, ah. Don’t you think all of the top scorers look the same?”

Xiang ChangKong: “….”

Xu Lian turned towards Xiang ChangKong and added: “Oh, but you can be considered an outlier among the academic masters.”

Xiang ChangKong replied: “Hm, maybe because I’m not a top scorer but a study god instead?”

Xu Lian: “….”

Xu Lian thought that ever since Xiang ChangKong had successfully passed the postgraduate entrance exams, he had changed, ah.

It was now time for the college entrance examinees to adjust their mentalities and do their final reviews. Xiang Nuan was currently living with Xu Lian and nowadays, whenever she was home, Xu Lian would make an effort to make as little noise as possible as to not affect Xiang Nuan’s studies.

Xu Lian felt she had already experienced what it was like for a parent to watch over their examinee children twice in advance. Xu Lian figured that when it was time to send her children to college, she would be quite calm.

Xu Lian’s neighborhood was calm and peaceful, so it was the perfect place for a student like Xiang Nuan to study. From time to time, Shen Li would share an article about study tips to their group page, and would also send them to Xiang Nuan in a personal chat for good measure.

Much much later in the future, Xiang Nuan would ask Shen Lin why he would send the same article to her personal chat when he would send the same thing on their group page anyway.

Shen Lin would later reply that he only sent the study tips to the group page as a cover and actually wanted to just send them to her.

Future Xiang Nuan would then realize that she may have underestimated just how outstanding top scorers were.

The national unified entrance exams for university enrollment took place on June 7th and 8th. Xu Lian and Xiang ChangKong had personally sent Xiang Nuan to her exam venue. Every year, the college entrance exams garnered the country’s attention. The media would be busy spouting various statistics about the exam and would recount someone’s unfortunate child forgetting their ticket/getting stuck in traffic/ending up in the wrong examination room which would eventually be helped by a kind uncle policeman. Various social media platforms would be filled with previous exam questions and language comprehension questions. There would even be some examinee parents who carefully thought about what style/color clothes they wore in order to help their children to flourish.

(T/N: A superstition thing.)

The two-day exam was like a big battle.

And after these harrowing days, everyone’s hearts were relieved. However, Xiang Nuan didn’t celebrate as hard as she imagined.

She didn’t tear up her books, nor did she celebrate all night. Instead, she ended the last day of her exam like any other normal day.

This calmness was very similar to when Xiang ChangKong finished his own college entrance exams.

Her family seemed to have some sort of tacit understanding with each other. Nobody asked Xiang Nuan how she did, and Xiang Nuan didn’t seek out other people’s answers online to check how she did. Instead, after resting at home for two days, she began to look for a summer job.

In general, the most popular summer jobs were things like distributing flyers and other short term menial work. Summer vacation was the brightest and hottest of the year, so Xiang Nuan wanted to spend her summer vacation indoors to avoid the sun. If she spent all day outside, Xiang Nuan was afraid that when she started university, people would think she was an exchange student. So Xiang Nuan avoided outdoor jobs and began to send her resumes to fast food restaurants and cafes.

(T/N: Her overly tanned skin would make her look non-native? Something like that.)

Eventually, a cafe hired her. It wasn’t in the most prosperous area out there, but the shop’s decor and style were good. Her manager gave her a set of work clothes, and simply trained her for two days. Afterward, Xiang Nuan formally started work.

The cafe already had dedicated baristas, so Xiang Nuan was mainly responsible for taking orders, delivering meals, and cleaning the tables. She had no problems with servicing the customers. The only difficult thing was getting familiar with all kinds of coffee and matching the coffee with the correct price.

There was a girl named Liang LingLing who worked with Xiang Nuan in the cafe. She looked about to be the same age as Xiang Nuan and started working at the shop just two months before Xiang Nuan. So naturally, the manager assigned Liang LingLing to watch Xiang Nuan and help her if needed. Because Xiang Nuan was a lovely and hardworking girl, all the cafe employees had come to like her. Liang LingLing was no exception.

“Excuse me, here are your coffees. Please enjoy it.” Xiang Nuan placed the cups on the table, then returned to the counter with a plate. When Liang LingLing saw her coming, she noticed that Xiang Nuan’s expression wasn’t very good. Liang LingLing asked: “What’s the matter? Were the guests making things difficult for you?”

Xiang Nuan shook her head and instead motioned her to look at the table she had just served. “You see that man? I remember him. He came the day before yesterday and had another young woman with him.”

Liang LingLing was stunned for a moment, then said: “Maybe they’re just ordinary friends?”

“No way. I just heard him call that woman sweetheart. The last woman he came with was called ‘baby’! Oh, man…”

Liang LingLing: “….”

Liang LingLing was silent for a while. Then, she reminded Xiang Nuan: “We can only do our jobs to the best of our abilities. Don’t interfere with our customer’s private affairs. Honestly, work here long enough and you’ll witness things like this many times. The only thing we can do is offer the man a napkin after he’ll inevitably get splashed with water by a woman.”

Xiang Nuan: “…”

Ah, it seems that her coworker was someone used to seeing the great storms of society.

Xiang Nuan replied: “Understood.”

Xiang Nuan didn’t pay attention to that male customer anymore and became busy with work. In the next few days, that particular male customer came again twice, each time with a girl companion different from the previous ones. When the male customer visited the third time…the boat finally capsized.

That day, Xiang Nuan served coffee as usual. But before long, another young woman stormed into the cafe. As soon as she entered the door, she rushed towards the male customer’s table and spilled coffee on him.

Brown coffee immediately stained the man’s white shirt, and the woman opposite him screamed.

Xiang Nuan’s eyes brightened and she quickly rushed towards them with a towel.

She wanted to watch the drama up close, ah.

The two women argued for a while, then eventually, one of them slapped the man and left, while the other cursed at the man before stomping away.

After they all left, Liang LingLing comforted the other customers in the cafe, then looked towards Xiang Nuan. “I’m amazed that you weren’t afraid to get close. Weren’t you afraid that they’d end up hitting you in anger?”

Xiang Nuan was still feeling a little exhilarated. While she cleared the table, she said: “Working in a coffee shop is so exciting, ah.”

Liang LingLing: “….”

“…Then I’ll leave this to you. I’ll take care of the other customers.”

“Alright.” Xiang Nuan cleaned up the table and then mopped up the coffee that had been spilled on the floor. After she was done she felt a little tired, but Xiang Nuan thought it was worth it since she had seen the scum man get beat up.

Xiang Nuan placed the mop back into the service closet, washed her hands, then came out again to entertain the customers.

Then, the windchime by the door rang once more. Xiang Nuan turned her head and saw a man and woman enter.

The girl was a beautiful young woman. She looked like a college student. And the man next to her…was Shen Lin.

Haha.

Working in a coffee shop really is so exciting.

The author has something to say:

The extras will follow the timeline.

Because I set Xiang ChangKong to get married only after he received his Ph.D., Xiang Nuan’s extras come first. Right now, he’s at university, ah.

But a little spoiler: By the time Dr. Xiang ChangKong graduates, Xiang Nuan still hadn’t graduated. [covers face]

Xiang Nuan: ….haha, the author really knows how to prick my heart, ah. 🙂