Through Thick and Thin

The cell phone alarm clock on the bedside table kept ringing, Chen Yuan reached out to turn it off, and sat up from the bed.

He hasn't slept well in the past few nights, perhaps because he has been very busy with work recently and is always flying around the country. When he comes home every day, his body and brain are obviously very tired and drowsy, but it is still difficult to fall asleep.

Apart from him, there was only one nanny and aunt in the family. Chen Yuan finished his breakfast step by step, changed his shirt, tied his tie, put on his leather shoes, and left the house.

On the way to drive to the company, Chen Yuan felt that his energy was extremely low today and he was too sleepy. He saw a coffee and dessert shop not far away, so he stopped the car and planned to buy a cup of coffee to refresh himself first.

This store only opened this month, and Chen Yuan hasn't been here yet. The location is good, and most of the business is done by nearby white-collar workers and young people.

When Chen Yuan walked into the store, the clerk shouted welcome. It was early and there were not many customers in the store. The aroma of coffee and dessert bread filled the store. Chen Yuan went straight to the bar and ordered a cup of Americano.

The clerk behind the bar was busy making a cup of milk tea. Hearing this, he quickly raised his head and agreed, but was slightly stunned for two seconds when he saw Chen Yuan, and finally quickly placed an order on the computer.

After the coffee was delivered, Chen Yuan opened it and tasted it. It tasted very good, much better than the coffee brewed by the company's coffee machine. Chen Yuan asked, "Do you deliver food here?"

For some reason, the clerk looked at him with a nervous look on his face: "Yes, sir, just search for our name on the platform, and we can deliver within six kilometers. Or you can directly call the number on our official account, Private delivery will be faster, we open at [-]:[-] in the morning and close at [-]:[-] in the evening, we have Western-style breakfast and supper, this is our official account, you can pay attention to it.”

Chen Yuan took out his mobile phone and followed the official account, then left.

The clerk watched Chen Yuan leave, and finally touched his slightly warm cheeks, when he suddenly heard his colleague call him to help, he quickly agreed and ran over.

After a while, the store manager came out from behind, called him, and said: "Ai Qian, Xiao Zhang has something to do tonight, you can change the night shift with him, and he will change you the day after tomorrow."

Ai Qian: "Hey, good."

Ai Qian has only been working in this coffee shop for less than a month. He has just graduated from college for more than two years, and there are only three people in his family, including him and his parents.

His parents usually like to take care of flowers and plants, so they simply opened a small flower shop at the entrance of the community where they live. He originally helped out in the flower shop at home, but after the opening of this coffee and dessert shop, Ai Qian came to work here.

Ai Qian really likes this kind of peaceful and fulfilling life. His usual hobbies are watching movies, playing games, researching food, and he has never had any love affairs.

Every day, he can see in the store the white-collar workers rushing to go to work during the morning rush hour to buy a cup of coffee in a hurry, or when most people have already gone home, people who work overtime until late at night come in for a snack night.

The man in the suit and leather shoes just now should also be a white-collar worker working around here, right?

Ai Qian was tidying up a table, thinking of the face of the man just now, he was a little lost in thought for a moment.Although the man looked a little tired, maybe because he had not slept well, but even so, he was still gentle and charming.

It was the first time for Ai Qian to meet such a charming man in his life. Just now, he was careless and almost lost his mind in front of the guests.

Ai Qian dumped the food scraps on the plate into the trash can, sighed slightly, it was just a chance encounter, it was not certain that the other party would come, he turned around and went back to work, no longer thinking about it.

That night, Ai Qian and his colleagues changed shifts. At ten o'clock in the evening, the computer at the bar indicated that they had received an order from the official account. Ai Qian opened it and saw that it was an order from Sheng'an Insurance Company.

Shengan Insurance is a well-known large company in City B. It is about four kilometers away from the coffee shop. The order is two cups of Americano coffee and two snacks. The order on the official account is delivered by the store clerk. Ai Qian quickly prepared Meals, take the packing box and go out to deliver the meal.

Ai Qian rode an electric scooter to the gate of Shengan Insurance Company. There were sporadic lights on in the imposing office building, and people in neat shirts could be seen passing by the window from time to time.

Ai Qian took out his mobile phone and called the customer who ordered the meal. The order stated that the customer's surname was Chen. After the call was connected, Ai Qian said: "Hello, is this Mr. Chen? The coffee and desserts you ordered at Wheat Restaurant will be delivered to your company building It's down, do you want me to send it up?"

"Thank you, come in through the north gate, there is a special place for takeaway next to the company's front desk."

Ai Qian was slightly taken aback, the voice on the phone was somewhat familiar, he recalled for a moment and then remembered that the man on the other end of the phone was the man who bought coffee in the shop this morning.

Ai Qian's cheeks became hot, and he replied: "Okay, I wish you a happy meal."

After hanging up the phone, Ai Qian rode his bicycle to the north gate of the company. On the way, he couldn't help thinking, so the gentleman who worked here this morning... must be a very powerful person.

What Ai Qian didn't expect was that since then, he could see the Mr. Chen in the store every now and then. He seems to be a coffee drinker, and occasionally stops his car when passing by the store in the morning. Come and receive his orders from time to time in the evening.

Every day, Ai Qian began to vaguely look forward to seeing him again today, even if it was just a few simple conversations between customers and shop assistants every time, Ai Qian was already very happy to see him.

There were no customers this morning, and Ai Qian was sitting at the front desk drowsily, but suddenly he saw that familiar car parked in front of the store from the corner of his eyes. He yelled welcome.

Ai Qian: "Good morning, sir, are you still Americano?"

Chen Yuan smiled slightly: "Let's try charcoal coffee today."

"Well, good." Ai Qian placed an order on the computer, hesitated for a while, and asked tentatively, "Sir, I see that you come here often, do you want to get a membership card? You can usually get 40% off, more than [-] yuan [-]% off orders."

Ai Qian was a little worried that the people in front of him thought he was too busy, after all, most of the guests didn't like being recommended to apply for a card.

Chen Yuan heard the words and said, "Yes."

He took out his own business card from his pocket, Ai Qian quickly took it with both hands, looked down, and only then did he know the name of the person in front of him.

Chen Yuan, general manager of Shengan Insurance Branch.

After Chen Yuan took the card and the packaged coffee, he suddenly noticed that there was a small box of fresh cherries in the bag, Ai Qian smiled and said: "Mr. Chen, this is for you, thank you for being a member of our store. "

Chen Yuan: "Thank you."

After Chen Yuan left, Ai Qian stared in the direction of the gate in a daze for a long time, and it was not until Chen Yuan's car had been driving for a long time that he came back to his senses.

He held the business card lightly, and his cheeks felt a little hot for a moment. In fact, the small box of cherries was not a gift from a new member, but something he wanted to give to Chen Yuan on his own initiative.

In Ai Qian's heart, he was indeed attracted by Chen Yuan, but he also knew very well that it was good to keep his goodwill in his heart properly. Mr. Chen, an outstanding and successful person, probably already had His own family died, and he was just a small coffee shop clerk who never thought he would have any chance.

Ai Qian sighed slightly, wiped the tabletop of the bar counter with a rag, and thought sadly and relievedly, that he might be just like what his parents said, in the future, he would go on a blind date and find someone who has a stable job and is willing to take care of him Ordinary people will do.

Two weeks later, on the weekend, Ai Qian was on the night shift. After 11:30 pm, apart from a pastry chef who was still working in the back, there were only Ai Qian and two or three other colleagues left in the shop.

Not long after, all the other colleagues went out to deliver the night snack orders, and Ai Qian was the only one left at the front desk of the store for a while.

The store will close in half an hour, and Ai Qian guesses that there will be no customers coming to the store, so he sits idly behind the bar and yawns.

At this time, the store door was suddenly opened, Ai Qian looked up and was surprised, the person who came was Mr. Chen.

It was the first time for Ai Qian to meet Chen Yuan in the store so late, usually Chen Yuan likes to order and send to the company most of the time.Chen Yuan walked to the bar, ordered a cup of lemon tea and a fruit salad, and asked, "Are you closing? Can you still eat in the store?"

Ai Qian: "Yes, yes, you can sit wherever you want."

When Chen Yuan approached, Ai Qian faintly smelled a smell of alcohol from him, it wasn't strong, but it was obvious.

For a person like Chen Yuan who occupies a high position in a big company, socializing is inevitable. Seeing that his brows are tired, and he always uses coffee to refresh himself, Ai Qian feels a little uncomfortable, and said: "Mr. Chen... …How about I add some honey to your tea? Honey lemon tea is good for hangover.”

Chen Yuan paused in surprise, and finally nodded: "Thank you."

Chen Yuan found a seat for two and sat down, Ai Qian turned around to prepare meals for him, and couldn't help but look back at him from time to time.

Ai Qian could see that he was in a bad mood, Chen Yuan sat there with a somewhat lonely and melancholy expression, as if he was recalling and thinking about something, or recalling and thinking about someone.

Ai Qian served him tea and fruit salad. Seeing Chen Yuan's preoccupied appearance, he wanted to help him solve the problem, and thought it would be good for him to find someone to talk to, but he felt that he didn't have the position to speak up. Ask, what qualifications does a clerk have to ask about a customer's personal affairs?

In the end, Ai Qian didn't ask any questions, but went back behind the bar, watching Chen Yuan silently from a place that he didn't notice.

Not long after, Chen Yuan answered a phone call.

"Hello? Boss Lin, good evening...it's okay, this is what I should do...well, I know about it...will you go to participate? Are you..." Chen Yuan paused and gave a wry smile , "Yes, I have met Manager Lu, but we... are not familiar with each other."

Ai Qian was slightly distracted, he could see that Chen Yuan seemed very unwilling to discuss this topic again, but he had to continue because of the occasion.

Chen Yuan: "Okay, contact me when you have time, and say hello to Director Lin for me, um, okay, goodbye."

After hanging up the phone, Chen Yuan sighed softly. He silently stared at the mobile phone on the table with a gloomy expression.

Ai Qian finally couldn't bear it any longer, he really didn't want to see such an expression on Chen Yuan's face, he called "Mr. Chen" softly, and said: "Mr. Chen... If you are in a bad mood, we Give you a small gift, or... if you don't mind, I can also chat with you."

Chen wished that the young clerk in front of him looked worried and nervous. He has been to this store so many times, and he can almost always see this energetic little clerk. He is very enthusiastic and cute, and when he smiles, there are two small pears on his cheeks. eddy.

Having lived alone for so many years, Chen Yuan has long been used to the days when no one confides in him. He himself is not a person who is willing to casually tell outsiders what is on his mind, but this time, he feels that he really wants to talk to someone. Talk to relieve the long-standing gloom in your heart.

"Thank you." Chen Yuan gently stroked the rim of the cup of honey lemon tea with his fingers, and said with a faint smile, "It's just that the relationship can't get what you want... This kind of thing can't be let go, it's hard to understand, right?"