There is indeed a problem with my summoning spirit system

Chapter 273 270. There is a small shop
On the east side of Qianhai in Beijing, next to Di'anmen Street, a man wearing black sunglasses got off the back door of an Audi, looked around and walked into a nearby street.

This is a pedestrian street. Because there are schools such as Beijing Normal University and residential areas around, fashionable students, plainly dressed middle-aged people and even foreign friends exist on the same street without any sense of disobedience.

The man in sunglasses moved forward along the pedestrian street, looking down at a piece of paper in his hand from time to time. On the note was a line of addresses and a stick figure-like map.

"Where the hell is it?"

The man muttered to himself in some distress.Lift your head and look around.

And after seeing a wooden signboard full of ancient charm, the man's eyes lit up:
"'There is a small shop', this is it."

The man in sunglasses pushed open the door of the store. The store had just opened, and almost all the interior decorations were brand new.

In the carefully planned and arranged hall, there are more than a dozen tables of different heights and square shapes, as well as matching sofas or high wooden stools.There are also several bookshelves in the store to divide the space. There are many books scattered on the bookshelves, but the height of the bookshelves is only about one meter, and the number of books placed on them is not many. In terms of visual effects Does not affect the transparency of the overall space.

In the corner, a piano waits quietly.

The surface of the white marble polished bar is as smooth as a mirror, reflecting the white light of the chandelier. It is made of logs and occupies the entire front of the wine cabinet. The coffee machine, ice machine and other machines placed side by side in the corner of the bar are also spotless.

Standing at the bar was a young man wearing a neat white shirt, a black suit vest, black trousers and a tie. He was bending over and writing something on the bar with a pen.

After the young man heard the doorbell, he raised his head:
"welcome."

After seeing the young man, the middle-aged man with sunglasses smiled. He took off his sunglasses, revealing a tough and handsome face.

"Brother Li, don't you recognize me?"

"Brother Lin? Long time no see. Why are you here? Welcome."

Li Xiang took off his apron, pushed open the baffle of the bar, walked out of the bar, and shook hands with the man.

The person who came was Lin Chongyi, who played the leading role in the movie "Gunfire" that Li Xiang had participated in before. He was a very mature and prudent person. He took good care of him in the crew, so he formed a good friendship.

Li Xiang closed the door and hung a sign saying "Closed Business" on the handle.

Lin Chongyi, as a Xiangjiang star, has been extremely popular in the mainland with the pirated CDs in the streets and alleys more than ten years ago.If he was recognized in this place, it would not only make it difficult for Lin Chongyi to escape, but it would also be difficult for his small shop to be peaceful.

"Brother Lin, what is the reason why you came to see me?"

"Of course I have something to ask you about. "Gunfire" will be released soon. It is scheduled to be released in the summer in a month's time. You haven't forgotten the preview screenings and road promotions that Director Chen mentioned before, right? It just so happened that I I have several events to attend in the capital these days. I just happened to drop by to invite you to the preview screening and press conference."

Lin Chongyi sighed, and said earnestly:
"Brother, if I hadn't looked for you, we wouldn't have known that you had dropped out of the Central Theater Academy. Even my agent found out the current address with great difficulty. What happened? Do you need it? Brother help?"

"No, it's just that I have a chance, so I want to live the life I want." Li Xiang pointed to the surroundings, "Brother Lin, look, isn't my newly renovated shop pretty?"

Lin Chongyi looked around and nodded sincerely:

"It's really good, it must have cost a lot of money, right?"

"The storefront is rented for a long time, and most of it was spent on decoration. The renovation, including tables and chairs, various machine tools, and raw materials in the wine cabinet, cost a total of more than 200 million yuan."

"So much investment? Is the coffee shop so profitable now? But I don't think you have any customers here yet?"

"Haha, let's not mention that this store has just opened not long ago. I didn't do this just to make money and invest. Today is a fate. Brother Lin is the first customer of our store today. , it’s not good to drink during the day, how about buying you a cup of coffee?”

Lin Chongyi looked at his watch. There was still plenty of time. After all, he had reserved enough time to chat with Li Xiang. He still had about two hours of free time to take a rest.

"Okay, don't tell me that I'm really sleepy after the two-day event. Bring me a cup of coffee."

Li Xiang walked into the bar and took out the fine-mouth pot, filter cup, filter paper, electronic scale, etc. used for brewing coffee.

Seeing Li Xiang take out so many utensils, Lin Chongyi couldn't help being speechless:
"Brother, what are you planning to do?"

Li Xiang picked up the hand grinder and asked with a smile:

"Brother Lin, haven't you seen other people's hand-made coffee?"

Lin Chongyi scratched his head, and said with a little embarrassment:

"I'm an ordinary person, and I don't know much about tea, coffee and wine. Generally, I drink coffee and tea to refresh myself. No matter how good it is, I can't drink it. Of course, sometimes I talk about business at the tea table. Invite guests to drink more expensive tea. But I can't drink it myself."

"Brother Lin, don't mind. Although the original coffee has a good aroma, it tastes a bit sour. After all, there are many people who can't drink it. Brother Lin, don't look at me as if I understand it now. When adding sugar, I at least I'll have to add three sugar cubes or I won't be able to drink it."

The two looked at each other and laughed friendly.

Li Xiang opened the paper bag, took out a spoonful of coffee beans with a strong brown color, put it into the hand grinder, adjusted the grinding thickness of the hand grinder, and turned the handle.

The shell on the surface of coffee beans is very hard. If you boil coffee beans directly with water, even if you boil them for a day, you can’t make drinkable coffee. If you want to make coffee from roasted coffee beans, you first need to grind the coffee into small pieces. Particles, exposing the inner part.In this way, when the hot water passes through the coffee powder, the ingredients will be dissolved in the water to form coffee.

If you order a cup of hand-brewed coffee in a coffee shop, most of the baristas will grind the coffee beans before brewing coffee, because once the coffee beans are ground into coffee powder, it is difficult to keep them and ensure that their aroma will not be lost due to oxidation or volatilization. drain.

At the beginning, the tools used to grind coffee beans were the original mortar and pestle, but this was too laborious. After coffee, tea, and cocoa gradually became the three most popular non-alcoholic drinks in the world, the demand for coffee continued to increase. With people around the world drinking at least 700 billion cups of coffee every year, using such a primitive tool is somewhat inefficient.

In modern times, the work of grinding coffee beans has become the work of semi-automatic bean grinders in most commercial stores. Just put coffee beans in, select the grinding degree you need, and you can directly grind coffee powder. .The barista who brews coffee is greatly liberated.But right now Li Xiang only needs to make two cups of coffee, and less than 50g of coffee powder is enough, so there is no need to use a special grinder.A good quality hand grinder will do the job perfectly.

Li Xiang turned the handle of the hand grinder, and the coffee beans made a "click" sound when they came into contact with the blade, and were gradually crushed by the blade.

While Li wanted to grind the beans, Lin Chongyi started the conversation:

"Brother, I haven't seen you for a few months, and I feel that you have changed a lot."

"Really? I don't think I've changed much?"

"It's changed a lot. You may not feel it yourself. I used to think that although you are young, you are very calm. Now this feeling is more obvious than before."

"It's probably because I pretended to be diligent before, but now I'm completely lazy. I just want to stay in a comfortable place to eat and die every day."

"As long as there is a chance, who doesn't want to have a good rest? It's a pity..."

Li Xiang poured the ground coffee particles into the filter cup with the filter paper in his hand,
"Brother Lin, why are you frowning? It's clear that your development has been going well recently, Brother Lin, hasn't it?"

"The development is indeed going smoothly, but it's tiring to catch up with the announcement."

Lin Chongyi sat down on the swivel chair in front of the bar, put his elbows on the table, and supported his chin with the back of his hands.

"When I was young, I always wanted to get ahead and worked hard at everything I did. Now that I am getting older, my health has begun to decline. There are a lot of intrigues in the entertainment industry. Sometimes I want to quit the entertainment industry and live an ordinary rich life. Weng’s life is fine. But my family is now completely accustomed to living with money, and the speed of spending is too fast...”

Li Xiang didn't speak, just listened quietly.

For some complaints from middle-aged men, what they need is often not help, but just a listening audience.

They can actually solve it by themselves, but the negative emotions accumulated in their hearts need to be vented when facing difficulties. This is one of the reasons why many middle-aged men cannot give up smoking and drinking.

The water from the spout of the thin-mouthed pot slowly flows through the coffee powder piled up into a "hill", and under the filter paper, drops of brown liquid flow into the bottom pot.

This time, Li Xiang chose his favorite medium-roasted coffee beans. The aroma, acidity, and bitterness are relatively moderate, and the taste is soft.

After Li Xiang repeatedly tested and brewed this coffee bean, he finally determined a relatively suitable brewing temperature and time.

Slight steam hovered and curled up, and a mellow aroma permeated the room.

Gently sucking in the warm air, Lin Chongyi couldn't help showing a smile.

"Brother Lin, let's try it. This is Americano coffee. The taste is relatively light and slightly sour, but the caffeine content is relatively high, which is more suitable for refreshing. If you are not used to it, add some milk and more sugar. It should be able to much better."

As Li Xiang said, he put a few cubes of sugar into his cup, took out a small spoon and stirred slowly.

A cup stretched out in front of Li Xiang, and Li Xiang raised his head:
Lin Chongyi smiled strangely and raised the coffee cup in his hand to signal in front of him:

"You didn't come to the film's wrap-up banquet before, so let's have a drink this time."

Li Xiang smiled helplessly, raised the coffee cup in his hand, and clinked it with Lin Chongyi.

"Brother, to be honest, I am quite envious of your life now."

Lin Chongyi looked at the floor-to-ceiling windows of the store facing the pedestrian street. Pedestrians were in a hurry. From time to time, someone rode a bicycle passing by the window. The flow of everything outside the window set off the quietness of the store. In the sound-proof cafe, everything seemed to have stopped. .

Li Xiang looked at the "flowing" crowd outside the store, held the plate with his left hand, held the handle of the porcelain cup with his right, and quietly took a sip of the coffee in the cup.

Sweetened coffee softens the bitterness and sourness just right, leaving a wonderful aftertaste on the palate.

"The press conference and preview screening, the time and address are on the note I gave you, remember to come."

Lin Chongyi, who hastily finished his coffee, reminded him again before leaving.

Li Xiang raised the note in his hand:

"Understood, Brother Lin can come and sit with me whenever you have time."

"Forget it, I'm usually in Xiangjiang, but you can come to my place to play when you have time. Although there is no coffee, I have a lot of arty red wine. Seeing that you have so much wine here, you must know better than me. Wouldn't it be nice to have a taste together?"

Lin Chongyi put on his sunglasses, mask and beret again, opened the store door and walked out, joining the flow of people on the pedestrian street.

After Lin Chongyi left, Li Xiang simply tidied up the bar, found a seat in the store, took out a book from the bookshelf beside him, and read it quietly.

"Jingle Bell……"

Before he finished reading a page of text, Li Xiang's eardrums were touched by the doorbell again.

It's really rare, there have been no customers for several days in a row, and today there are people coming to the door continuously.

Li Xiang shook his head, put the bookmark into the book, and stood up:
"Welcome, may I have..."

Li Xiang was taken aback the moment he saw the guests coming in.

The one who opened the door was a female guest. She was carrying a guitar case, wearing a somewhat old white coat, and a pair of washed-white jeans, which were not the ripped style popular in recent years.The shoes worn on the feet seem to have been with the owner for a long time, and the soles of the soles have been worn out. However, the owner of the shoes seems to wash them frequently, so the uppers are still very clean.

In short, although the clothes on the woman's body were basically old, they were all well-groomed, like her smooth black hair.

The female guest turned around, and the cloth collar around her neck was extremely clear to Li Xiang's eyes.

It was a white cloth collar with a bright plum blossom embroidered with colorful silk threads.

He seemed to have seen this thing somewhere before.

After the woman saw Li Xiang, it seemed that Li Xiang's unfinished "Welcome" made her confirm that the person in front of her was the owner of the shop.So she walked up to Li Xiang, and took out a palm-sized pad and a ballpoint pen from the pocket of her jacket.

The woman wrote and drew on the notepad, and then handed the notepad to Li Xiang's hand.

Li Xiang lowered his head and took a closer look. On the notebook, there was a line written in delicate characters:

"Can I play the piano in your store?"

The woman closed her eyes and clasped her hands together, as if to express her please.

(End of this chapter)