CH 13.1

The Thirteenth Cup of Coffee Part 1

It was about a two hour drive from Xi City to Shanghai. Yun Xian and Jiang Ying decided to drive there on Friday afternoon, just in time for dinner and turn in for the night once they reached Shanghai.

Jiang Ying left her suitcase at Cloudside before going to work in the morning. There was not much to do this week. She left an hour early. When she went downstairs, Yun Xian was in his usual spot waiting for her.

Before he could honk his horn, Jiang Ying walked to the side of the car and sat in the navigator seat.

“There are quite a lot of people traveling during the weekends. There will be a bit of traffic on the highway today. Eat something first.” Yun Xian took a paper bag from the back seat and handed it to Jiang Ying. It contained a sandwich and a bottle of squeezed orange juice.

“Thank you.” Jiang Ying accepted it. She took out the sandwich and unwrapped it. Two pieces of soft toast were filled with tomatoes, eggs and sliced ham. She took a small bite and asked, “Did you make it yourself?”

“Yeah.” Yun Xian pointed to the paper bag. “There is also a bottle of orange juice. It has a bit of sugar, so it won’t be too sour.”

“Thank you.” Jiang Ying licked the condiment off her lips and took a sip of orange juice. The sweet and sour taste was balanced. It was refreshing and a nice palate cleanser.

Jiang Ying was really hungry. She took a few bites of the sandwich and drank most of the orange juice.

As dusk approached, the sky gradually darkened. The vehicles on the highway moved forward smoothly.

There was still an hour left. Jiang Ying took out her iPad and pencil from her bag and opened the drawing app.

Occasionally, she would draw some simple sketches to kill time when she was bored. Jiang Ying skillfully drew the outline and colored it in. Soon, there were several lovely drawings on the canvas.

Whenever she started to do something, she would put her heart and soul into it. Yun Xian saw that she was painting and turned on the lights of the car roof for her.

Her long hair was tied into a ponytail. Her head was lowered, and the loose hair next to her cheeks covered the side of her face, which produced a platonic beauty. The car was quiet except for the small sound of Apple pencil touching the screen from time to time.

Yun Xian couldn’t help but be curious and glanced at her hand.

When he caught a view of the drawings on the screen, he felt that it was a little familiar. When Yun Xian realized it, he asked, “Are the emojis you often post on Wechat drawn by you?”

Jiang Ying replied, “I draw things for fun when I am bored. Many people use it when I add them to Wechat.”

Yun Xian recalled that she used two sets pretty often. One was called “Why did the boss do that” and the other was called “day in the life of a corporate slave”.

He thought of the chibi version of the little girl lying on the table in front of the computer in tears, with bubbly letters saying “I volunteered”1 written over her head. Yun Xian’s lips rose to a smile.

Jiang Ying often sent him this emoji. And as soon as she sent it, he knew that Jiang Ying was going to work overtime today and he would remember to save a piece of cheesecake for her.

“It’s very cute,” Yun Xian commented with a smile.

“When I was in college, I would do commission and earn a lot of money for living expenses.” Jiang Ying finished painting the last stroke. She clicked save, but did not quit the drawing app. She created another canvas. She had an idea in mind, and drew it very smoothly.

Yun Xian listened to her show off, and his smile grew.

Jiang Ying continued while drawing, “In fact, if I hadn’t met my boss, I would be a freelance artist.”

Yun Xian asked, “Is it your dream?”

Jiang Ying shook her head. “Not really, I just think drawing is very interesting. Because of Fu Chen in high school, I was a little lonely and had low self-esteem. Of the things that changed me, one is Shen Xuan, one is my…”

Jiang Ying paused and quickly spoke the next few words, “One is my ex, and there was also drawing. When I was in college, I would post my drawings on Weibo. There were about 10,000 fans. They always called me madam, which gave me a lot of confidence.”

Yun Xian frowned and repeated, “Madam2?”

“Oh…” Jiang Ying realized that although she and Yun Xian were both born in the 1990s, there was still a generation gap between someone born in 1990 and 1995. She patiently explained to him, “Madam is a kind of title, which means someone who is a little more powerful than Dada3. If I draw fan art, there will be fans of the original work who will follow me.”

After listening to the pop culture explanation, Yun Xian couldn’t fully understand these children’s brain holes, but he still felt it was very interesting. He then asked, “Then does your fanart… have a format?”

“Hmm…” Jiang Ying thought for a few seconds and tried to explain it in terms he could understand. “Fanart is something where if you really like a work, such as manga, movies, or novels, you can draw the characters or scenes with your own style. It is a type of creation based on the original.”

Yun Xian vaguely understood and laughed. After a while, he laughed at himself, “Do you think I’m an old man?”

Jiang Ying quickly denied, “How can I? It’s normal that you don’t understand these things. It’s like how I don’t know any C# or any programming language, and you are also really skilled with your hands4

This word was ambiguous, and Jiang Ying suddenly realized it was inappropriate.

Awkward silence unfolded in the car for a few seconds.

Jiang Ying coughed and said, “What I mean is you’re skilled with making coffee by hand.”

Yun Xian couldn’t hold back any longer. He held the steering wheel with one hand, and covered his mouth from the low laugh coming out with the other.

The man’s voice was pleasant and clear. His laugh had a su5 feeling. He rarely laughed like this, his eyebrows and eyes were curved, and his little mole was shaking at the moment.

Jiang Ying was ashamed that she had accidentally said something dirty. While her heart was pounding from his laughter, her ears turned red.

Yun Xian laughed for a while. After the laughter stopped, the smile lines on the corners of his eyes and eyebrows couldn’t stop. He returned to the topic just now and asked her, “Then why did you choose to be a game planner later?”