1 - The First Flavor

Translator: tarararawr

Xian Bei was afraid to step forward because there was a person standing at the door of the apartment.

It had to be known that she had moved into this neighborhood for almost a year and except for the food delivery man, no other living creature had taken the initiative to look for her.

Even her editor communicated with her online.

Xian Bei stood vigilantly in the same place , staring at……the figure in front of the door.

——She did not know if the figure was a man or a woman.

The person had shoulder length hair that was in a half-up top knot, which was a common female style.

But the person’s height, shoulder width, and composure were completely a beautiful man’s body.

Both hands were empty and it was clear that this was not a food delivery.

The person was still knocking on the door.

Xian Bei’s heart trembled.

The dreaded knocking sound meant the beginning of a social torture.

Last year, two well-spoken and formally dressed women came to collect property fees.

They stood together while echoing each other 1 and singing praises 2 . They boasted about the neighborhood’s security and how it was as unbreakable as the national defense. They still dragged her into the conversation to agree with their point of views……

This made her lose her strength for a week and she did not even finish a lineart draft.

It was scary to think about.

She didn’t know how long this person would stay.

Xian Bei clung behind the stairs railing, shrinking slightly……

The person suddenly stopped knocking.

Then, the person took out a cell phone and turned their head.

Xian Bei crouched lower at once and tried to bury herself.

As a result, she finally saw their profile.

It’s a man. A stranger.

He had a high nose bridge and a perfect chin. From his esthetic plane 3 , his face was handsome. His well-trimmed facial hair added a yuppie 4 spirit to him.

The contour lines of his face were so good it was like he came out of a shoujo manga 5 .

Perhaps he sensed that there was something behind him secretly watching, so he suddenly turned his head and indifferently looked at Xian Bei.

Xian Bei had a lump in her throat and she quickly averted her eyes.

Her heart was jumping out of her chest.

When they looked at each other, it became cosmic level torture.

Every look was like a knife piercing her heart.

While turning red, the phone in Xian Bei’s pocket started vibrating.

The man looked back again. His eyes, which were listless, now became surprised.

But this emotion did not last long and it changed to a curious and discerning look.

Xian Bei tightly squeezed the shopping bag in her hand and didn’t know what to do.

This look was more than suffocating. It could simply strip her naked, then throw her to the bottom of the stairs and under the sun.

In her sweatshirt pocket, the cell phone continued vibrating like it was a heinous accomplice. Its destructive power was the same as death knocking on the door and it only caused her to be more frightened.

After observing her for a while, the man ended the call and Xian Bei’s cell phone became silent.

It should be confirmed that there seemed to be a faint smile emerging from his lips……

Then he moved his mouth and took a step towards her.

Mother! This man was really looking for her!

She did not hear what he said at all!

Xian Bei turned around in panic and scrambled down the stairs.

——

In the afternoon, Chen Zhuo returned to [Zhong Yi 6 ].

[Zhong Yi] is an afternoon tea store located in Ning City’s City Plaza.

Because of its pure white and carefully selected interior design, along with the boss’s celebrity-like appearance, it became famous on the internet.

The store was already open for a year and it still had good business.

Oh, Chen Zhuo was this store’s owner.

When he walked back to the employee break room, the assistant store manager, Zhou Qingshu, was still arranging this month’s small gift quota. He raised his head and glanced at him. “Did you see the fairy 7 ?”

Fairy was just a playful nickname.

Shortly after [Zhong Yi] opened, it started doing delivery.

Everyone knew that after the delivery app accepted an order, it would display the customer’s last name and delivery address.

Regardless of rain or shine, a “Miss Xian” who lives in Zhongjing County Division ordered milk tea every day for almost a year. No one knew whether this special surname was real or fake and it attracted the attention of all of the shop’s employees.

In particular, she had a single and specific taste. No matter how many times the variety of milk teas in the store changed or how much the indifferent boss racked his brain to come up with a new flavor, she continued to place the most simplistic order and without anything additional——

Original flavor milk tea.

Fixed with 30% sugar.

Chen Zhuo did not rush to answer. The scene from half an hour ago was still vivid in his mind.

He couldn’t help but smile, and was also somewhat confused.

“It looks like you did see her,” Zhou Qingshu leaned back in the chair. “Did you speak to her?”

Chen Zhuo shook his head. He poured himself a cup of water. He walked back to the table and sat down.

After sipping some water, he frowned and said, “She ran away when she saw me.”

Zhou Qingshu laughed and joked, “She must be tired of drinking our milk tea for a year and she had a change of heart. She probably started drinking someone else’s. Just look at how she hasn’t ordered for half a month, and when the boss came to her door to get even, she still did not run away in a hurry.”

“……”

Just as Zhou Qingshu actually said, for the first time in the past half a month, their [Zhong Yi]’s loyal fan “Miss Xian” didn’t order a cup of milk tea.

All of the employees thought it was strange.

Everyone went to Boss Chen about this situation because they had no doubt about his goodwill for regular customers and his self-confidence in his own creations.

Chen Zhuo found an afternoon and went to the location of “Miss Xian” to confirm if she had moved.

That’s today.

Coincidentally, he bumped into her.

Zhou Qingshu shook his leg. “What did she look like? Xiao Rui said he has delivered for a year and has never seen what she looks like. He has seen the door open a crack and a small, shaking hand would stretch out and pick up the milk tea.”

“Did she look like a fairy?” Zhou Qingshu was very curious.

Chen Zhuo mused, recalling the scene in the building.

A skinny, little girl was wearing a loose hoodie and pants. The pants were long, and it was rolled up twice.

She wore a mask and the hood was completely over her head.

Only a pair of frightened, dark eyes showed. She looked at him as if looking at severe floods and fierce beasts 8 .

It was both inexplicable and amusing.

Chen Zhuo’s lips curved up. “I don’t know.” But he remembered it very carefully.

Zhou Qingshu asked, “Are you sure it was her?”

Chen Zhuo: “I’m sure.”

Zhou Qingshu sighed. “Might as well move on.”

Chen Zhuo remained silent, but smiled deeper.

As far as he was concerned, it was just the opposite. How could he move on? He might as well get tired of his store’s flavors and want to try some other type of food.

Only by comparing flavors could she tell the difference between what was good or bad. Thus, she could look back and find that out of hundreds or thousands of stores, they were still not as good as his drinks from [Zhong Yi].

Footnotes

一唱一和 (yī chàng yī hè) – idiom for two people who are on the same side. 歌功颂德 (gē gōng sòng dé) – idiom for flattery and exaggeration in a derogatory way. A line drawn from the tip of the nose to the tip of the chin. The line is used to evaluate facial harmony and appearance. 雅痞 (yǎ pǐ) – short for young urban professional. It’s borrowed from the English term “yuppie”, meaning a young adult working a well-paying job and lives in a large city. 少女漫 (shàonǚ màn) – Japanese term for manga targeted at young female teens. 中意 (zhòngyì) – means to be to one’s liking. 仙 (xiān) – means celestial. Together with 仙女(xiānnǚ) it means fairy. 洪水猛兽(hóngshuǐměngshòu) – idiom for great scourges or extremely dangerous and threatening things.