Chapter 33: Cappuccino, Turning down good intentions
(Part 1)
“Latte.” Tian Miaomiao ordered, “And a piece of cheesecake!”
“Aren’t you on a diet!” The female student sitting next to her smilingly asked.
“I’ll start after the excursion! Postpone postpone~” Tian Miaomiao said.
“Hahaha……” Everyone was amused and ordered the coffee or milk tea that they wanted to drink. They also paired it with all kinds of pastries and cakes as well.
When the shop assistant called out the orders to the baristas, the surprise of several baristas was clearly heard, “Why are there so many orders all of a sudden?”
The shop assistant immediately explained, but because her voice was softer, the crowd sitting outside could not hear it clearly.
After a while, the coffees were being served cup after cup. Lu Anran lifted her cup and from her first mouthful, she felt the smoothness of the milk, and the complementary flavours of the foam and coffee. It was sufficient to see that the barista has very high skill in milk steaming! Never would she have expected to drink such delicious cappuccino in such a small store.
“Anran, this one doesn’t taste good ah……” Ji Ling frowned. She truly could not understand why Lu Anran would drink with such relish.
Lu Anran only took one look at the milk foam of Ji Ling’s cup before deducing that their coffees were not made by the same barista. Lu Anran smiled and said, “Cappuccino was originally Italian- styled expresso with milk and steamed milk foam. Some people like it, and others do not. Also, every barista has a different level of skill, so the taste will differ by a lot.”
“En……” Ji Ling knitted her eyebrows. She was still a little dissatisfied.
“I think it is not bad!” Linda was quite satisfied with her cup of coffee. Even though she is not knowledgeable about coffee, she could still taste the aroma mingling with a faint hint of milk. Also, the milk foam was smooth and velvety.
“Hurhur……” Lu Anran glanced and knew that Linda had the same barista as herself. The corner of her lips revealed a smile. Her tastebuds are well- developed and could taste the slight differences in any food. In short, she was very pleased with the craftmanship of this barista. With that in mind, she called out to the shop assistant, “Can I meet the barista who made this coffee?”
“Uh……” The shop assistant was astonished, “Are you dissatisfied with anything?”
“It was very delicious.” Lu Anran smiled, “So, I wish to meet with this barista.”
“I’ll go and ask.” The shop assistant glanced at Lu Anran’s cup and confirmed that the coffee was personally made by that Italian barista before hurriedly entering the back. After about three minutes, that shop assistant ran back out again and smiled apologetically at Lu Anran, “Sorry……”
“It’s alright.” Lu Anran also smiled. She will come by often in future.
The sudden downpour has gradually stopped. Everyone who ate desserts each paid their own bill and went out of the door.
“Where are we heading to now?” Someone asked.
“Let’s buy some snacks! The snacks to eat tomorrow!” Ji Ling’s eyes shone. She anticipated this moment the most! Snacks! Snacks!
“Okay!” Lu Anran nodded. Everyone walked away from the shopping streets and strolled into shopping centre next to the shopping street. They sat the elevator and directly went to the snacks area of the supermarket on the 2ndfloor. Everyone selected their favourite snacks. The boys mostly chose dehydrated food like potato chips while the girls mostly chose sweets and cookies.
It was two to three people per shopping cart and every shopping cart was filled to the brim.
“Hey hey…… Did y’all buy too much?” Linda looked at Lu Anran and Ji Ling and felt a slight headache.
“Really?” Ji Ling beamed and said, “Linda, it’s you who bought too little! Just two tiny boxes of Pocky and one box of peppermint drops. Is this really enough? Apparently, it is a two hour bus ride tomorrow!”
“I will get car sick, so I will be taking motion sickness pills in advance tomorrow and will past the two hours by sleeping on the bus.” Linda pushed up her glasses on the bridge of her nose.
“So boring ah!” Ji Ling coiled around Lu Anran’s arm, “Anran, will you get car sick and sleep?”
“I won’t.” Lu Anran has never been car sick before.
“Then, it would be better for me to sit with you.” Ji Ling shook her head, “At least there would be someone to talk to.”
“Hurhur……” Lu Anran laughed. She really liked Ji Ling’s personality very much, “I’ll also bring along a few comic books!”
“Yeah!” Ji Ling said with a smile, “I haven’t read comics for a long time! My parents always say stuff like prioritising studies during third year of middle school! So annoying!”
“It’s best for you to first ask if Lu Anran is taking the bus with you!” Linda said.
“Eh?” Ji Ling slapped her forehead, “That’s right! Anran, you will be taking the bus with us, right?”
Chapter 33: Cappuccino, Turning down good intentions
(Part 2)
“Eh?” Lu Anran suddenly remembered her previous lifetime. In her previous lifetime, she did not take the bus with everyone. It was not that she did not want to instead it was Chu Yao who felt that it was annoying to squeeze in a bus with everyone, so she asked Old Zhang to drive behind the bus, sending the two of them to the excursion site.
During the excursion, Lu Anran felt that that everyone was intentionally avoiding her. She clearly brought a lot of snacks and comic books, but no one was willing to share with her. This was truly not a good memory! In this lifetime, she will surely take the bus with everyone, “Of course I will be joining you!”
“YAHOO!” Ji Ling laughed happily.
After settling the bill, everyone carried large shopping bags and bid goodbye to each other in succession. As Wu Gang lived near the shopping streets, he said goodbye to Lu Anran and left like everyone else. But as Ji Ling and Linda lived a distance away, Lu Anran decided to let Old Zhang send them home.
After calling Old Zhang, Li Anran asked Ji Ling and Linda to accompany her to go to a stationary store along the streets to pick up a new dairy. A whole new life, she should also record her brand- new self. Even though she has lived two lifetimes, her habit of writing in a diary still remained.
After sending Ji Ling and Linda home, Lu Anran also returned home. As soon as she entered the house, she saw Lu Junfeng’s family sitting in the living room with a serious look. Lu Jianhao who sat in the head seat and drinking tea lifted his eyes when he saw that Lu Anran has come back home, “You are back?”
“En! Grandpa, I’m home.” Lu Anran walked towards the sofa, “Second Uncle, Second Auntie, both of you came!”
“En! Why does it feel like Anran came home a little later today?” Xu Lianxin patted Lu Anran’s head.
“School actually ended an hour earlier today, but I went with my classmates to the shopping district to buy snacks and such.” As Lu Anran explained, Old Zhang carried into the house two bags of snacks that Lu Anran just bought, “Eldest Young Miss, should I bring these upstairs for you?”
“Yes.” Lu Anran nodded in response.
“Wow! So much snacks, Anran, you are going to stuff yourself till you get fat!” Lu Anming was Lu Junfeng’s second son and was only older than Lu Anran by 4 years. His disposition was still not as mature and steady and also loved to crack jokes at Lu Anran on a daily basis. In her previous lifetime, Lu Anran was extremely afraid of this older male cousin who loved to tease her.
“Definitely won’t get fat!” Lu Anran quibbled, “Ji Ling said it, snacks are stored in a separate stomach!”
“Ji Ling?” This was the very first time that Lu Anran mentioned a name other than Chu Yao in front of the Lu family. Lu Junfeng thought for a moment, “Your classmate?”
“Yes ah, my classmate.” Lu Anran replied.
“I have long thought that Lu Anran should make more friends.” Xu Lianxin nodded and said, “This is the age where you should make more friends! But don’t learn from your older brother Ming! When he was at your age, he made a lot of bad friends!”
“Mom!” Lu Anming was obviously displeased with his mother’s act of divulgence so he complained and said, “It’s all in the past, why mention it for?”
“Still don’t allow others to say it!” Xu Lianxin rolled her eyes at her second son while pinching Lu Anran’s face. She then said to Ji Rou who was smiling next to her, “Indeed it is better to have a daughter ah!”
“About the excursion……” Lu Anshuo was Li Anming’s older brother. Compared to Lu Anming, he was a lot more mature and steady. His disposition was also more like Lu Junfeng, “Want the driver to send you there?”
“No need, I’ll follow my classmates. Gather in front of the main entrance of the school and then take the bus with everyone.” Lu Anran smiled and said, “Have already promised my classmates.”
“Also good.” Xu Lianxin nodded, “Must take note of your own safety during tomorrow’s excursion ah!”
“Should we send a bodyguard to protect undercover?” Lu Junfeng also had his own worries, after all, Lu Anran was an Honourable Young Lady of the Lu family. Now that the entire S city knows of Lu Anran’s status in the Lu family, it would not be strange if people were to think of kidnapping her. Normally, the Lu family has spies in the school and Old Zhang sends her to and from school, but this excursion…… was still a little dangerous ah!
“No need to be so exaggerated……” Lu Anran has already decided that she will absolutely not leave her teacher’s and classmates’ line of sight. She has also anticipated that those people will not be so audacious as to blatantly snatch individuals in broad daylight and whatnots. But isn’t sending bodyguards a little over…… Isn’t this the same as the previous lifetime? Everyone avoided and all…… Not good, not good!
“I know someone!” Lu Anming said, “We grew up together. He went to serve in the special forces three years ago, but it seems that he is on vacation recently. I’ll just call him and ask him to go over tomorrow to keep a lookout then wouldn’t everything be okay!”
“Who is it? Is he reliable?” Xu Lianxin expressed obvious suspicion at this unreliable second son of hers.
“Reliable la!” Seeing his own biological mother expressing such doubt on himself, Lu Mingan almost burst into flames, “Extremely reliable!”
“En……” Lu Jianhao evidently was also not very reassured, “What’s his name?”
“Xue Dingan” Lu Mingan answered, “From Xue family of R city.”
“Xue family?” Lu Jianhao’s knitted eyebrows relaxed, “If it is Xue family, then he is quite reliable. We’ll settle on him! Anran, let your Brother Ming know where you are going for excursion tomorrow, so that he can tell Xue family’s Xue Dingan immediately.”
“Uhm……” Lu Anran was still a little troubled. Although everyone was worried for her safety and she was very touched, but she really did not want to make herself seem special. In this way, she would be alienated by everyone again…… Biting her lower lips, Lu Anran still decided to refuse everyone’s good intentions, “There’s really no need! I’ll definitely stick close to my classmates tomorrow, all of you can rest assured! It’s so rare to go on an excursion, I really do not want others to watch over me!”
Seeing Lu Anran’s determined attitude, everyone looked at each other before permitting reluctantly. When children grow up, they would have their own opinions. If it was them, they would also not want to live a supervised life!