Volume 3 Chapter 30: Late Night Talk at the Cafe
“Yahoo—!”
Under the city’s night sky, the moonlight shone over the busy shopping street. People passing by outside the café would sometimes stop and look at the shop. Lin Lin looked up and saw Sister Wenmei, who had not seen her for a long time, standing in front of her and greeting her.
“Sister Wenmei, long time no see~”
“It really has been a long time, cute little Lin~”
Sister Wenmei nodded, put her bag beside the table, and looked around. She couldn’t help but nod in admiration.
“You chose a good place, Xiao Lin. This café is decorated very nicely.”
Lin Lin nodded in agreement and looked around. The stylish, internet-famous decoration style gave off a small, middle-class feeling. But the sofa was really soft and comfortable to sit on.
There were also decorations hanging from the ceiling. Stars, moons, and things like that. It matched the nighttime atmosphere quite well.
But what was even more interesting was that there was a cat sitting on the counter.
A black-and-white cow-patterned cat. It looked smart, but it wasn’t very active. It stayed quietly on the counter, like the shop’s mascot.
Or maybe… a lucky cat?
Wait a minute. Why is the fur around its mouth all white, but there’s a small patch of black right above its upper lip?
This…
Lin Lin shook her head speechlessly, then turned to Sister Wenmei and said,
“Of course it looks nice. The rent in this area is very expensive. Just renting this shop costs a lot of money. But there are many customers here, and most of them are business people nearby. If the place isn’t decorated well, how can it attract customers?”
“Mm, the operating costs here must be quite high.”
As expected of an adult who has been working for years, Sister Wenmei immediately touched on Lin Lin’s sore spot. Lin Lin nodded helplessly and said in a slightly depressed voice:
“Yeah… I originally thought we could just find any café and have a drink. It wouldn’t cost much. But after I booked a seat and came here, I realized the prices are so high…”
Lin Lin lay down on the table in frustration. Sigh… I should’ve just gone to KFC.
Wait… maybe I can’t even afford KFC anymore. Should I have gone to Wallace instead?
Du Wenmei looked at the discouraged girl and smiled. She sat down across from her and reached into her bag.
“I’ll treat you to drinks, Xiao Lin. You don’t have to pay.”
“Ah, no no no!” The girl quickly sat up and waved her hands to refuse. “That’s not okay. How can I let you spend money? I invited you, so I should treat you.”
“Hehe, but I could have refused your invitation too.” Sister Wenmei covered her mouth and smiled. “Then, since you don’t want me to treat you, let’s split the bill.”
“Mm… sorry, Sister Wenmei. I didn’t know this place was so expensive.” Lin Lin basically agreed with her suggestion.
After hearing this, Sister Wenmei felt calm inside and even wanted to laugh a little.
“It’s okay. I’m used to it.”
“Eh?” Lin Lin looked up at her in confusion. What does that mean…? Do I make Sister Wenmei pay often?
That shouldn’t be the case, right? We haven’t even met that many times.
While the two of them were talking, the drinks and desserts Lin Lin had ordered were brought over. They ate and continued chatting.
“Well, I mean money… sigh~ Life pressure in Huadu is really heavy.”
Sister Wenmei waved her hand and said with a troubled look, “Forget about this café. Even the place I used to rent before had an unbelievably high rent. The money I brought from home was used up very quickly. I had no choice but to move into a small apartment.”
“Ah… I see…”
Lin Lin quietly took a sip of her coffee. The taste was much better than the bottled coffee drinks she had before.
That one before… the only difference between it and traditional medicine was that medicine can be covered by medical insurance…
Even so, the bitterness of those drinks was still not as strong as the bitterness she felt now, listening to Sister Wenmei talk about these very real life problems. That feeling was even more depressing.
Lin Lin did not understand these real-life pressures very deeply. She was still like a baby bird protected by her parents. They supported her financially, and she did not need to worry about many things.
So at first, when she listened to Sister Wenmei, who had come alone to the big city to work hard, talk about these things, she even felt a little unreal.
“And that apartment you’ve been there before, Xiao Lin. It’s really terrible. Bad air flow, poor sunlight, very damp, not clean. Sometimes I even catch a few cockroaches. The space is so small. It’s really like living in a snail shell!”
Du Wenmei took another sip of coffee and complained for a while. In the end, she could only shrug.
“There’s no choice. The rent there is a little cheaper. Otherwise, who would live in such a broken place? Ah—Xiao Lin, do you know? Even like this, they still raise the rent from time to time. Too many people come to Huadu. I feel like I might not even be able to afford this apartment soon~”
“Ah…” Lin Lin nodded quietly. “After all, this is a big city.”
“Yes, exactly. Even prices are different. Xiao Lin, do you know how big the price difference is between my hometown and here? You’re a local from Huadu, so you probably can’t really feel how different the living costs are between a big city and a small city.”
Seeing Sister Wenmei looking so upset made Lin Lin feel a little awkward.
“Ah… yeah. Sister Wenmei has been working really hard. Aren’t you still doing part-time jobs? That must be tiring. But… don’t you have quite a lot of fans? Isn’t your livestream income… not enough?”
“Sigh, talking about that makes me even more worried.” Du Wenmei shook her head. “My fans are not very loyal. I don’t have many active viewers. In the end, the virtual streamer field is still a small circle. At the lower level, there really isn’t much money to make. My income has been getting lower these past few months, but rent and prices keep going up. Making a living is really hard.”
“Mm…”
After hearing this, Lin Lin thought for a moment and nodded. But soon, she looked up at Sister Wenmei with confusion.
“Sister Wenmei, since the financial pressure in Huadu is so high, then… why not go back to your hometown? As a virtual streamer, it doesn’t really matter where you live, right? Living in a smaller city would have less pressure.”
“Ah… well…”
Du Wenmei looked at Lin Lin pitifully and said, “Xiao Lin, do you really want to be separated from me forever like heaven and earth?”
“Ah, no no no! That’s not what I mean! This place isn’t heaven either!” Lin Lin quickly waved her hands.
“I’m not telling you to go back. I would feel sad too. I’m just… curious why you want to livestream here. You said yourself that the cost of living is high. Or is it… because there are more fun things to do here?”
“That’s not it.” Du Wenmei shook her head. She thought for a moment, then slowly began to speak.