Speaking nonsense

The two branches that He Chengyi rarely visits are far from home.
Especially the one that Zou Shun adjusted to, it takes more than half an hour to drive there even with good traffic conditions, and he only goes there once or twice a month since it opened.
He promised to go see him soon after Zou Shun arranged everything, but in reality, it was already more than half a month later when they met again.
It's not that he intentionally broke his promise. During this time, he was forced to return to his hometown once.
He Chengyi's hometown is very close to this city, about a five-hour drive one way. The reason for going back was that his dad claimed he fell while working in the fields and hurt his leg, needing someone to take care of him. He didn't quite believe it in his heart, but he was afraid that voicing his doubts would be too unfilial, so he could only obediently rush back.
After returning home, he found that there was indeed a deception. He saw with his own eyes the old man moving swiftly and steadily, but as soon as he noticed his presence, he immediately started limping. The next day, during lunch, unexpected guests arrived at the house, a family of three. It was said that they were the daughter, son-in-law, and granddaughter of the production team leader from the neighboring village.
The young woman is not very old, only twenty-four, has never attended college, yet has already been married once.
He Chengtai finds it both amusing and distressing.
When he was in school, everyone in the village praised his prospects, much to his parents' envy. However, as fate would have it, now that he is over thirty and his peers have all gotten married and had children, his parents are gradually losing face in front of the villagers.
They say it’s a new countryside, and although people have become wealthy, their thinking is still rooted in the old ways. Those who are older and unmarried will inevitably be talked about.
He Chengyi could see the intentions on both sides at that moment and didn’t express his stance. After that, he barely managed to get through a few more days, accompanying them for meals and even taking them to a nearby town for a stroll and to watch a movie.
Then he made an excuse that an urgent matter had come up at the store and hurriedly drove home overnight.
他骨子里有些浪漫主义，对学历或者感情经历不那么看重，若真心动，哪怕是带着孩子来的他也绝无芥蒂。可聊起天来驴唇不对马嘴完全没法沟通，怎么相处。
On the way back, he drove and couldn't help but think about why he was still single at this age.
It has been quite a few years since the last breakup. Looking back, there may be some emotions and regrets, but there is no longer any ripple. Over the years, there have been women who have actively shown interest in him, but most of them have not progressed. Perhaps being single for a long time really does become a habit, even enjoyable, unwilling to break free from this state.
The parents are anxious, but he himself couldn't care less.
There are also people around him joking, saying that a man at forty is like a flower in bloom. With his assets, he will still be able to attract college girls in a few years, so there's really no need to panic.
He didn't take it seriously. A three-year age gap creates a generation gap; with such a large difference in age, they simply couldn't find common ground. Reflecting on his own student days, he once referred to someone in their thirties as an "uncle" and genuinely felt that they were not on the same wavelength. But now, he sees those in their twenties as kids.
Recently, the only college student he had been in contact with was the cute part-time worker in his store who always caused trouble for him.
After resting at home for a few days, he specifically checked the store's schedule and went to find Zou Shun, who was working. However, when he arrived at the store, he didn't see anyone.
The store manager said that Zou Shun had taken leave due to some issues. He also mentioned that this young person seems to be experiencing some changes at home and might resign, so it would be best to prepare for hiring new staff.
He Chengyi felt a pang of emotion. Children are just so capricious. However, the student workers are generally very mobile, so perhaps Zou Shun has finally reconciled with his family and no longer has to struggle to earn his living expenses. This might be considered good news.
So he reluctantly gave up on taking apprentices and continued to focus on the matter of replacing the dining tables in the shop. The old batch had been used for many years, and there were many small damages; it would be better to take this opportunity to replace them all. He planned to find a designer to custom-make a new batch, as the ones he had bought originally were ready-made due to budget constraints and did not quite match his ideal vision.
After a week of busyness, I suddenly received a phone call from an unfamiliar number.
The voice on the other end of the line, converted into sound waves, sounded both familiar and unfamiliar, but the tone was as obedient and honest as usual.
"Hello, boss, I'm Zou Shun, do you remember me?"
He Chengyi went to the store the next day.
After more than half a month, Zou Shun looked no different from before. As soon as he saw him, he greeted him with a big smile.
“I was worried you wanted to learn just to pass the interview,” He Chengyi said with a smile as he worked on his preparations, “but I didn’t expect you to be genuinely interested.”
Zou Shun stood beside him, hands clasped behind his back, biting his lip and nodding vigorously.
“Actually, you should have a pretty good idea of the general process by now, right?” He Chengyi said again.
“I know a little bit, just a rough understanding,” Zou Shun replied with a face of a good student, “but I still need the teacher to explain it carefully again.”
He Chengyi nodded slightly, just about to speak again when Zou Shun continued, "Boss, you look so handsome like this."
When he said this, he turned his head, his gaze landing on the jar storing coffee beans beside them, completely not looking at He Chengyi.
“...Thank you.” He Chengyi said.
He wanted to add, "Don't worry, you're doing quite well now, I won't fire you, it's unnecessary." But he worried that the little one might feel shy, so he held back and didn't say it.
Zou Shun also followed his example and unbuttoned the cuff of his uniform shirt, neatly rolled it up to his elbow, revealing his entire forearm.
“Teacher, why do we need to roll up our sleeves like this when roasting coffee beans?” he asked seriously.
He Chengyi felt a bit embarrassed: "…because the cuffs of the shirt I'm wearing today are a bit prickly and uncomfortable."
Zou Shun blinked twice, purposefully switching the topic: "Teacher, why don't you ask me where I got your phone number from?"
“Isn't it the contact list posted on the wall of the lounge?” He Chengyi asked.
To facilitate communication in response to emergencies, each store has a contact list posted, which includes the contact information of all current employees, including of course, He Chengyi.
Zou Shun widened his eyes: "No wonder the store manager told me as soon as I asked!"
"By the way," He Chengyi remembered what the store manager had said to him some time ago, "Are you considering resigning?"
Zou Shun immediately shook his head: "That's not true!"
"You need to be sure," He Chengyi urged, "If you don't want to continue, you have to tell us in advance so we can find someone new. Otherwise, it'll be a chaotic situation."
“I’m not leaving; the environment here is good, my colleagues are easy to get along with, and the salary isn’t low,” Zou Shun looked at him and said, “The boss is also so nice to me. Even if I’m asked to leave, I wouldn’t go.”
He Chengyi smiled and said nothing.
The two stood quietly in front of the baking oven for a moment, Zou Shun sniffed and said, "It smells so good."
"Right?" He Chengyi nodded, "The reason I wanted to open a café was because I love this smell."
He finished speaking and turned his head, just as he was about to introduce a few more sentences, he saw Zou Shun staring blankly at him. Their eyes met, and for some unknown reason, Zou Shun suddenly felt guilty, hastily lowering his head.
He Chengyi was confused but did not ask any questions.
The atmosphere became strange.
He Chengyi couldn't guess the little friend's thoughts, so he had to take the initiative to break the silence.
“By the way,” he said to Zou Shun, “the person who came looking for you last time came by again, and your old store manager told him you had quit, but he didn't believe it and squatted there for several days.”
Zou Shun frowned: "…Are you sick?"
“He is indeed quite paranoid,” He Chengyi said, “but it seems he has finally accepted things recently and hasn’t come around anymore. You should be careful too. It's best not to confront people with such extreme personalities directly.”
"Hmm." Zou Shun nodded.
"He hesitated for a moment, curiosity prevailing, 'Why is he so obsessed with you?'" He Chengyi asked.
"I don't know," Zou Shun frowned. "If I had known earlier, I wouldn't have bothered with him."
“Does he think you guys are... in a romantic relationship?” He Chengyi speculated.
“He mentioned it, and I rejected him on the spot,” Zou Shun said, rolling his eyes, raising his hand to hold up his pinky finger, “Can you believe it? He's tall and big, but down there there's only a little bit. When it's tucked in, it looks like there are three eggs.”
This change of topic took He Chengyi by surprise. He hesitated for a moment and didn't respond.
Zou Shun couldn't help but indulge his desire to complain: "Just that little bit, and it couldn't even get in, making me hurt like crazy. If he hadn’t finished suddenly before it got inside, I would have fought him on the spot."
“……”
He Chengyi felt a bit dazed, realizing that the generation gap between him and the current young people is really something else.
“I wanted to delete his contact information on the spot, but he insisted that I be his boyfriend,” Zou Shun looked very angry, “Do you think there’s no sense of boundaries?”
He Chengyi said casually to ease the awkwardness, "He should really like you."
"So annoying, I don’t want him to like me," Zou Shun muttered.
“But...” He Chengyi said, “You must have had some feelings for him at first, otherwise you wouldn’t…”
"At that time, I thought he looked quite pleasing." Zou Shun said.
Hu Chengyi felt that he shouldn't preach, but couldn't help himself: "Do you regret it now?"
Zou Shun nodded honestly: "I regret it, I regret it so much."
He looks so well-behaved now that it's completely hard to associate him with the story he just told.
He Chengyi thought that Zou Shun might be more like a child than his peers. That's why he can handle things so directly and openly, without hiding his emotions or preferences. He honestly says this because he doesn't think there's anything wrong with it at all.
The oven in front of them made a crisp sound of "ding". He Chengyi put on gloves and took out the freshly roasted coffee beans from inside.
"Wow," Zou Shun exclaimed excitedly, "it smells so good! Can we grind it now?"
“You really haven't been paying attention to how they do things these days, have you?” He Chengyi joked with a smile, “Or is it because you’re often late that you've missed it?”
“No,” Zou Shun hurriedly shook his head, his expression sincere, “I want to learn from you, so I purposely didn’t go to watch.”
He Chengyi slightly raised his eyebrows.
“Um... I just think that understanding the system completely first will help me remember it better…” Zou Shun explained flusteredly, “We all agreed that I…”
He Chengyi smiled. This kid really took things too seriously.
“This needs to be set aside for now,” He Chengyi said, placing the plate on the side kitchen counter. “Let it cool before putting it away. We’ll grind it up when we need it.”
Zou Shun nodded: "Then it needs to be left for a long time, right? What about you, teacher..."
He Chengyi held back a laugh, walked over to a cabinet, opened the door, and took out a jar: "Here are some baked ones that are already cooled and ready."
邹瞬意识到自己的愚蠢，闹了个大红脸。
"You come," He Zhengyi beckoned him with a wave, "Come closer, I'll demonstrate it for you."
Zou Shun immediately moved closer, but still maintained a slight distance from him, with no physical contact between their bodies.
The coffee grounds in their shop are all manually ground. In terms of flavor, they are not necessarily superior to machine-ground coffee. Initially, He Chengyi enjoyed the hands-on process himself, and later it became one of the selling points of their shop, so it has been retained.
“Why do you keep staring at my face? I don’t have instructions on how to grind coffee beans written on it.” He Chengtong said.
He said this with a bit of intention to tease Zou Shun. During the process of putting the coffee beans into the grinder, Zou Shun only glanced up twice out of the corner of his eye.
“I...” Zou Shun took a small step back and suddenly raised his hand, “Teacher, there’s something stuck on your ear.”
After saying that, he quickly poked at He Chengyi's ear.
"What is it?"
“The thread,” Zou Shun flicked his hand back, “is lost.”
He Chengyi, without a doubt, replied: “Thank you.”
Zou Shun lowered his head, pressed his lips together, and then his gaze remained fixed on the grinder.
“I have a question,” he said.
"Yes?"
“That keychain,” Zou Shun pointed to the base of the grinder, “I noticed everyone has one.”
On the base of the grinder hung a small keychain shaped like a coffee bean, which was a small gift that came with their coffee bean order back then. The store used to have quite a few, but the merchant stopped giving them away, and now there are no more in stock. The one on the grinder is welded on and cannot be removed.
“Do you want it too?” He Chengyi understood his hint.
Zou Shun remained silent.
“Wait a moment.” He Chengyi said.
He ground the coffee beans and demonstrated the brewing process to Zou Shun again.
“If the beans are ground and left for more than three minutes, they will lose their aroma, so you have to act quickly.” After everything was set, He Chengyi summarized the key points for him.
Zou Shun held the coffee cup, took a light sip, and exhaled, “Got it!”
He Chengyi smiled and took out his keychain from his pocket, taking off the keyring on it: "Here you go."
Zou Shun was taken aback.
"Didn't you want it?" He Chengyi asked, "Don't you like the old one?"
“No! I don't dislike it at all!” Zou Shun said, reaching out to take the keychain but not looking at it, just gripping it tightly in his palm. “...Th-thank you.”
His expression and tone at this moment were akin to that of a primary school student who had just received praise from the teacher. His face was red, and he looked like he wanted to laugh but was forcing himself to hold it back.
The keychain had been hanging on He Chengyi's keyring for nearly a year, but the sense of satisfaction it had brought him was far less than this one moment.
This tiny gift made the little boy so happy.
He Chengyi suddenly wanted to know what else Zou Shun liked. He thought he would buy everything and give it to him, just to see him smile.
关于长相，其实每个人审美都不一样啦。贺老板完全戳在邹瞬的萌点上。
Fang Mo thinks Boss He is quite ordinary, mainly because Fang Mo's eyes are on top of his head, so he basically can't appreciate anyone.
In the next chapter, write from Xiao Zou's perspective.