Cloudside Café

“I’m going.
You should go to bed earlier.”

“Hey, wait.l Li Zhicheng stopped him.
“I haven’t finished talking yet.”

Yun Xian ignored him, waved, and walked out of the room.

After returning to his room, Yun Xian laid on the bed, rubbing his sore eyes.
However, he did not feel sleepy.

The heavy black curtains blocked out all the light, and the room was completely dark.

The silence of the night could only comfort him to an extent.

He hated not being able to sleep, but ironically liked the hours before dawn.

Yun Xian closed his eyes and played the playlist—from the sound of a drizzle to the waves crashing against the rocks.

Recalling what Li Zhicheng had just said in his head, his heart became irritated again.

He opened his eyes.
He touched his phone to unlock the screen.
He scrolled through Moments with boredom.
Then, he saw Jiang Ying sharing the roses grown on her balcony.
He stopped his finger from swiping and gave a thumbs-up.

There was nothing interesting scrolling further.
Yun Xian wanted to exit out of WeChat, but saw that Jiang Ying had sent a message a minute ago.

Orange Sunset: Still not asleep?

See the Mountain: Yeah, I’m a little restless, can’t sleep.

A voice call popped up on the page just after sending his message .

Yun Xian clicked to accept and put the phone to his ear.

“I’ll read some English for you,” Jiang Ying said.
“I’m very hypnotic when I read English.
When I was in school, every time I read English in the morning class, my desk mate would become sleepy.
It’s a super ability.”

Her voice sounded close to his ear.
Yun Xian smiled.
“Okay, read to me.”

Jiang Ying made a shuffling noise, as if she was getting up and looking for something.
She asked, “What do you want to hear?“

Yun Xian remembered the tattoo on her left shoulder and said, “How about The Little Prince? Do you have it?”

“”

“Yes.”Jiang Ying opened the blue-covered paperback book, and her touch made a slight noise on the pages.
She imitated the tv hosts in sleep aid shows and intimately whispered, “Lie down now, and change to a comfortable position.
Close your eyes, and put your phone next to your ear.”

Yun Xian obediently followed her instructions, and let out a passive okay.

Jiang Ying softened her voice and spoke slowly, “Once when I was six years old I saw a magnificent picture in a book, called True Stories from Nature about the primeval forest.
It was a picture of a boa constrictor in the act of swallowing an animal…”

With the standard American accent, Yun Xian’s emotions relaxed in her gentle voice.

Maybe he was really tired, or maybe it was rare for him to not to worry about other annoying things, or maybe Jiang Ying’s super powers had taken effect.
Yun Xian became sleepy, and his mind gradually went blank.

“Yun Xian?”

He seemed to hear someone calling him, and muttered in a daze.

On the other side of the phone, Jiang Ying said softly, “Good night.”

Yun Xian couldn’t remember whether he had said his good night.

It was a rare night to sleep well without waking up in the middle.
When he opened his eyes again, Yun Xian picked up the phone that fell on the pillow and got out of bed.
He first opened the curtains.

The sun came in and he squinted his eyes to adjust to the light.

In April on this world, the crabapple flowers downstairs opened, and the warm sun projected specks of light through the gaps of the branches and leaves, and the birds were chirping.

He rarely got up with so much energy and he stretched happily.

Li Zhicheng was right.
Precious things could only be found by chance.
Just like how he passed by that abandoned factory building and decided to open a café here; just like that rainy night in early spring, when Jiang Ying opened the glass door and appeared in front of him.

His parents told him from an early age that he had to learn to weigh the pros and cons, and learn to choose and abandon things.

He once seriously weighed his situation and gave up.
However, they said again—Are you messing around? Are you crazy?

He was not messing around, and he would not regret it.

It’s not about quitting a high-paying job.
It’s not about leaving Beijing where he had lived for 30 years.

Compared to the foolish life he used to live, he was now living better.

He was not awake and staring at the ceiling every night, disgusted with everything about himself and this dull life.

At this moment, Yun Xian looked out at the ordinary scenery outside the window, and suddenly felt that his heart was swollen, like a new bud during spring that was breaking out of the ground—he had never looked forward to a new day so much before.