The Old Coffee Shop and a Misunderstood Encounter

Zhou Yi approached the noodle shop counter to place her order.

She casually inquired of the boss, “Boss, isn’t there an old coffee shop around here that’s been open for many years?”

The boss, a kind-faced man in his fifties, was jotting down orders in a small notebook.

Hearing her question, he looked up and smiled. “You mean Old Chen’s place? It’s been around for thirty years. It’s just around the corner on the street behind us.”

“Is business still good there?” Jiang Chen chimed in, picking up the conversation.

The boss quickly finished writing the order.

He then looked up at them, a puzzled expression on his face. “Are you two…?”

“We’re students from Dongda University,” Zhou Yi quickly explained, gesturing between herself and Jiang Chen.

“We have a research assignment this semester, studying several coffee shops around our university. We thought we’d ask you for some information.”

“Oh, university students doing research, that’s excellent, excellent,” the boss said, nodding in understanding.

The ballpoint pen in his hand moved swiftly across the order slip.

“Ah, Old Chen’s shop, now… it’s long past its prime. When Old Chen was around, it was so lively!”

“After we closed up shop at night, we all used to love going there to sit, have a drink, crack some melon seeds, and chat. Sometimes, card games would last until the early hours of the morning.”

“But now…” He shook his head regretfully.

He skillfully tore off the order slip, called out “Two bowls of beef noodles!” to the kitchen window, and then turned back to them.

“Once Old Chen passed, only Afang was left. It’s not easy for a woman to run such a big shop alone, especially with a growing child.

Though there’s a lot of goodwill, it doesn’t exactly put food on the table.”

He seemed to suddenly remember to ask the main point, looking at Zhou Yi and Jiang Chen. “Oh, right, you students doing this research, is it for a paper or something?”

Zhou Yi immediately responded, “Yes, exactly! For a report! We want to understand the real situation.”

“Oh, I see, that’s good, that’s good,” the boss nodded, showing understanding.

Zhou Yi was still pondering the boss’s words about “affection that doesn’t put food on the table,” wondering what exactly he meant.

Then, a shout came from the kitchen, “Noodles are ready!”

The boss immediately called back, “Coming!”

He then offered an apologetic smile to Zhou Yi and Jiang Chen. “Sorry about that, students, the noodles will be out in a moment. Please take a seat.”

With that, he turned to attend to his duties.

An auntie at a nearby table, who had been listening to their conversation, couldn’t help but turn around and interject.

“You’re talking about Afang’s coffee shop, aren’t you? Ah, these days, only us old neighbors occasionally go there to sit. What young person would go?”

She sighed, her face mirroring the same regret. “Honestly, we mostly go just to keep her company. That place… it’s too old now. The chairs aren’t even comfortable to sit on anymore.”

“When my grandkids come back, they’d rather go to Starbucks or Luckin Coffee in the mall than ever set foot in that place.”

The auntie’s words were far more detailed than what the boss had just offered.

Taking the hint, the two of them sat down at the table right next to the auntie.

The auntie continued, “Old Chen, he was truly a good man, loyal, and he helped many people. So, when he passed, everyone remembered his kindness and tried to support his wife’s business.”

“But who consistently patronizes it now? People buy one coffee and sit there all day, and Afang feels too awkward to chase them away. She doesn’t really earn much.”

“Her son doesn’t seem to care much about the shop either… If you ask me, that shop is just a memory now.”

Zhou Yi listened intently, unable to resist pressing for more information.

“What about his son then? Why doesn’t he come back to help his mother? Maintaining the shop must be quite difficult, right?”

“Xiao Wei?” The auntie’s chopsticks, halfway to her mouth with noodles, paused at the mention of the name.

A helpless expression crossed her face. “That child… I watched him grow up too. He was so bright as a kid, following his dad around, learning to brew coffee, looking quite professional. Old Chen doted on him.”

The auntie put down her chopsticks and wiped her mouth with a tissue. Her words flowed freely now.

“Old Chen left us suddenly. Xiao Wei was only in high school then, wasn’t he? The family’s pillar was gone in an instant, and Afang was grief-stricken all day, neglecting the shop. That period was utter chaos.”

“I reckon… that child has a hurdle in his heart he can’t overcome.”

“What kind of hurdle?” Zhou Yi pressed.

The auntie shook her head. “It’s hard to say. Maybe he feels that the shop is a burden, that it wore down his father, and now it’s trapping his mother.”

“His mother tried to persuade her many times to sell the shop or just close it, to live a simpler life. But Afang wouldn’t listen; she believes holding onto the shop means holding onto Old Chen.”

Hearing this, Zhou Yi suddenly felt a pang of sadness in her heart.

She could almost feel the helpless, painful tug of being caught between a deceased father and a mother trapped in the past.

“Sometimes, when we see him come back, he just wanders around the shop. Mother and son barely exchange a few words; it’s quite awkward.”

“Afang doesn’t know what to do with him either. If she says too much, he just becomes even more reluctant to come home.”

Only then did the auntie seem to realize how much she had been talking. Her narrative abruptly halted.

She looked at Zhou Yi and Jiang Chen with curiosity. “Oh dear, look at me, rambling on about Old Chen’s family. You two are so young… and you look unfamiliar. You’re not from around here, are you? Why are you asking about this?”

Her eyes darted between the two of them.

Suddenly, she leaned in, lowering her voice with a beaming smile. “Could it be… you want to take over a shop too? A young couple starting a business?”

Zhou Yi nearly spat out the mouthful of water she had just taken.

Jiang Chen reacted with lightning speed, immediately interjecting, “Auntie, we’re students from Dongda University, here for a social practice survey. Our topic is about the survival status of old shops in this area, so we came to understand the situation.”

“Oh—university students doing research!” The auntie suddenly understood, her eyes instantly filling with approval.

“That’s really not easy, coming all the way to our old district on such a cold day.”

“It’s fine, it’s just for an assignment,” Zhou Yi replied with a dry laugh.

The auntie’s gaze lingered between them, especially on Zhou Yi’s face for an extra two seconds.

Suddenly, she bloomed into a smile. “Young man, this must be your girlfriend, right? She’s so pretty, and so gentle and quiet!”

Before Jiang Chen could even reply, Zhou Yi’s face was already flushed crimson to her ears.

She frantically waved her hands in denial. “No, no! Auntie, you’ve misunderstood! We’re just classmates! Classmates working on a project together! And actually, I’m not…”

She trailed off, stuck. Should she tell the auntie, ‘I’m not a girl’ or ‘I’m a boy’?

The auntie, however, gave Zhou Yi no chance to even think, directly cutting off her ‘spellcasting’.

“Just ordinary classmates, huh? Auntie was young once too, I understand, I understand~”

‘No, Auntie, what exactly do you understand?!’

‘No! Auntie, I really didn’t mean that! I was saying…’

“Alright, alright, no, no,” the auntie interrupted her, still smiling.

She then turned and winked at Jiang Chen. “Young man, you have good taste. This girl gets even prettier when she’s shy.”

“No, Auntie, we really are just classmates!!!!” Zhou Yi was practically giving up.

“Is that so…” The auntie drew out her words, her eyes twinkling.

She then looked at Zhou Yi with a beaming smile. “Then, young lady, if Auntie may be so bold as to ask, do you have a partner?”