Chapter 222 – Thousand Miles Chuan-Shu Said Good-Bye Before Leaving
Time quietly passed, and in the blink of an eye, it arrived at the golden October. The Jiangcheng Media University didn’t have the fragrance of fruit, but there were colorful falling petals. The cool autumn breeze blew down the brilliant golden leaves all over the ground, evoking romantic thoughts in many students.
During this season, some confessed their love, some cherished their love, and some experienced heartbreak, but none of it had anything to do with Yang Yi.
Yang Yi only knew that this was a great season for taking photos!
On a certain weekend, he enthusiastically picked up his DSLR camera and had Xixi step on the crisp fallen leaves, taking many portraits with beautiful depth of field on the beautiful campus road of Jiangcheng Media University.
Although it wasn’t a film camera and it wasn’t possible to develop the photos in a darkroom, Yang Yi still spent a lot of money to purchase a large printer and used professional photo paper to print these digital format photos.
Since Ding Xiang took over the coffee shop, Yang Yi has had time to play with these little gadgets. Not only did he print palm-sized high-gloss photos that could be put in their family album, but he also started playing with high-end large-sized photos.
He used professional matte photo paper to print them, although they were still in color, they had a noticeable graininess, and a strong artistic atmosphere.
These photo papers were very expensive. Yang Yi only printed some of the good-looking ones and framed them with specially-made solid wood frames and transparent glass, or placed them on stands on his own desk, or hung them on the walls of his home with nails.
He also specifically picked out one he was most proud of, which was of Xixi looking up in surprise at a small animal jumping on a nearby tree against a backdrop of golden falling leaves. This cute profile was captured by her father and taken to the coffee shop downstairs, where it was displayed on the shelf next to his own exclusive seat.
……
When a familiar customers inquired, Yang Yi would proudly tell the other party, “This is my daughter, and the photo was taken by me, yes, it was taken on that small slope in Jiangcheng Media…”
The business of the coffee shop has gradually entered a stable period.
After all, due to the influence of its location and the fact that coffee was only a novelty for most Chinese students, something to try out, but not many people were willing to spend tens of yuan every day to drink an expensive freshly ground coffee.
Not to mention the coffee shop’s newly launched product, the baked paper cupcakes.
Inspired by Yang Yi, Ding Xiang gave up on the complicated process of making of pudding and mille-feuille cake, and instead developed a variety of styles of paper cupcake with a simple and convenient production process.
Paper cupcakes could be made with all the ingredients at once, then poured into multiple cups and baked together in the oven. After they cool down, they only need to be topped with cream and decorated with sliced strawberries or other fruits to be completed.
However, even with the release of paper cupcakes, although the coffee shop’s revenue has slightly increased, there was no growth in the number of customers, which made Ding Xiang a little frustrated.
The paper cupcakes didn’t go unsold. Every evening, Guo Ziyi, a foodie, would come over and buy all the remaining unsold paper cupcakes to eat as a midnight snack. Ding Xiang couldn’t help but sell them!
But the problem wasn’t the sales of paper cupcakes. Ding Xiang wanted the popularity of the coffee shop to further increase!
Yang Yi didn’t interfere or comfort Ding Xiang. He saw everything but allowed Ding Xiang to develop and come up with solutions on her own.
Yang Yi didn’t really care about the quality of the coffee shop’s business, but he was very interested in seeing Ding Xiang’s growth and changes.
It was like an anthropology teacher working on a topic about macaques. An opportunity was given to a girl who used to struggle with life, had to run around for three meals a day, and had a slight sense of inferiority when communicating with others. What kind of miracle would she create?
Yang Yi didn’t know, but he thought it would be interesting to observe like a bystander.
So, when Ding Xiang expressed her frustration to him, “I know all the customers who come every day. I can even call them by name. I haven’t seen any new customers appear for a whole week…”
Yang Yi just smiled and said nothing.
Actually, there have been some new customers coming in during the past week. Yesterday, there were two people who came. For Ding Xiang, they were new customers, but for Yang Yi and this coffee shop, they were old customers… Ding Xiang didn’t count them.
Thousand Miles Chuan-Shu!
These two people came to say goodbye.
Lu Xiaoshu and Miao Chuan applied for a leave of absence with the school to retain their student status and were preparing to go to Xiangnan to report to the entertainment company they had signed with.
But for some reason, the day before they left, they thought of Yang Yi, the coffee shop owner whom they had only met once.
The two of them brought their guitars and a small amount of pocket money and came to the coffee shop, ordered the most expensive coffee along with Ding Xiang’s newly-launched paper cupcakes.
“Boss, we came here this time to thank you for the encouragement you gave us when we were a little lost about our chosen path, and for the guidance you gave us in our songs.” It was still Lu Xiaoshu who spoke, while Miao Chuan nodded beside him.
“You two are too serious!” Yang Yi didn’t feel that what he said to them was so important. He smiled and waved his hand, “Didn’t you already make your first income through commercial performances? You just lacked confidence in your appearance, but deep down, you had already firmly decided to take this path, right? My words were just icing on the cake.”
Lu Xiaoshu and Miao Chuan knew that Yang Yi didn’t care much about money, and they had no way of giving him any return in terms of money, so they fell short in that aspect.
Therefore, when they came this time, they brought their revised representative work “I Miss Her in Northern Winter” and wanted to sing it to Yang Yi.
“This is the revised version we made, and it was thanks to your guidance, boss, that we were able to impress the talent scouts with this song and get the opportunity to become artists now. So before we leave, we hope to perform this song for you, and let you hear how the melody has become purer after your guidance…”
Lu Xiaoshu and Miao Chuan didn’t know that Yang Yi had already heard their song at the freshman party that day, but Yang Yi didn’t point it out either and just gestured for them to sing.
“I’m lost in the winter of the north, wandering in the boundless wilderness, looking at the flying geese, thinking of her… her face that will never return…” Lu Xiaoshu’s pure and clean voice mixed with Miao Chuan’s harmony echoed leisurely in the coffee shop.
At this moment, there were only a few scattered customers in the coffee shop, and the empty coffee shop seemed to have built-in surround sound. The unplugged singing surprisingly had the effect of a recording studio. Ding Xiang couldn’t help but stop the filter pot in her hand and listen.
“Don’t ask me when I can cross the mountains and grasslands to be by your side… Because that day is today…”
Similar to “College Days”, the epilogue was a simple melody loop, with the sound gradually fading, until the unnamed finger plucking the strings also comes to a stop at the very end.
Thousand Miles Chuan-Shu has left, just like their singing, crossing mountains and rivers, they will go to another place and start their new musical journey.
Yang Yi didn’t have much confidence in their decision to take a break from school and join a brokerage company, nor did he have much confidence for their prospects of entering the music and entertainment industry without much experience. But he didn’t say anything to remind them, after all, the other party had already signed the contract and had their own ambitions.
The first meeting was an acquaintance, and perhaps the second meeting could be considered as friends.
So, I wish you well, my friends!
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