On the east side of Di'anmen Avenue in front of the capital, a man wearing black sunglasses got out of the back door of an Audi, looked around and walked into a nearby street.

It is a pedestrian street, and because it is surrounded by schools such as Kyoto Normal School and residential areas, fashionable students, middle-aged people dressed modestly, and even foreign friends exist on the same street without any sense of disobedience.

The man in sunglasses moved along the pedestrian street, looking down at a note in his hand from time to time, with a line of addresses and a stick figure-like map.

"Where the hell?"

The man muttered to himself with some distress. Raise your head and look around.

And after seeing a wooden signboard with a simple charm, the man's eyes lit up:

"'There's a little shop,' this is it."

The man in sunglasses pushed open the door of the store, which had just opened, and the interior decoration was almost all brand new.

The well-planned hall is staggered with more than a dozen tables of different heights and squares, as well as matching sofas or high wooden benches. There are also several bookshelves in the store to divide the space, and there are many books scattered on the shelves, but the height of the bookshelves is only about one meter, and the number of books placed on them is not much, which does not affect the transparency of the overall space in terms of visual effect.

In the corner, a piano waits silently.

The white marble polished bar has a smooth mirror-like surface that reflects the white light of the chandelier, and the wood that occupies an entire front of the wine cabinet is immaculate, and the coffee and ice machines placed side by side in the corner of the bar are also spotless.

Inside the bar, a young man in a neat white shirt, a black suit vest, black trousers and a bow tie stood bent over with a pen and writing something on the bar.

The young man, after hearing the doorbell that opened the door, raised his head:

"Welcome."

After seeing the young man, the middle-aged man in sunglasses smiled, and he took off his sunglasses, revealing a tough and handsome face.

"Brother Li, you don't know me anymore?"

"Brother Lin? Long time no see, why are you here, welcome. ”

Li Xiang took off his apron, pushed open the baffle of the bar, walked out of the bar, and shook hands with the man.

The person who came was Lin Chongyi, who played the leading role in the movie "Gunfire" in which Li Xiang had participated before, a very old and serious person, who took great care of him in the crew, so he formed a good friendship.

Li Xiang closed the door and hung a sign saying "Temporarily closed" on the handle.

Lin Chongyi, as a star in Hong Kong, has been a smash hit in the mainland with pirated CDs on the streets and alleys more than ten years ago. If he is recognized in this place, it will not only make it difficult for Lin Chongyi to get out, but his small shop may not be able to maintain peace.

"Brother Lin, did you come to me for something?"

"Of course, I have something to look for you, "Gunfire" will be released soon, and the schedule is set for the summer in a month, haven't you forgotten what Director Chen said before about the test screening and Lutui promotional activities, right? It just so happens that I have a few activities to participate in in the past few days in Beijing. I just dropped by to invite you to a preview screening and press conference. ”

Lin Chongyi sighed and said earnestly:

"Brother, if I hadn't been looking for you, we wouldn't have known that you had dropped out of Central Opera. Even the current address was finally found out by my agent, is there something going on? Do you need help from your big brother? ”

"No, no, I just have a chance, so I want to live the life I want." Li Xiang pointed around, "Brother Lin, look, isn't my newly renovated shop very good-looking?" ”

Lin Chongyi looked left and right, and nodded sincerely:

"It's really good, it must have cost a lot of money, right?"

"The store is rented for a long time, and most of it is basically spent on decoration, renovation and decoration, plus tables, chairs, various machinery and tools, as well as raw materials in the wine cabinet, a total of more than 2 million."

"Invest so much? Are cafes so profitable now? But I don't think you have any customers here, do you? ”

"Haha, let's not mention that this store has only been open for a short time, and I didn't do it to make money and invest in the first place. Today is also fate, Brother Lin is the first customer of our small shop today, it is not good to drink during the day, how about you have a cup of coffee? ”

Lin Chongyi looked at his watch, there was still plenty of time, after all, he had left enough time to chat with Li Xiang, and he probably had two hours of free time to rest.

"Okay, don't say that I'm a little sleepy right now during the two-day event, give me a cup of coffee."

Li Xiang walked into the bar and took out the spout pot, filter cup, filter paper, electronic scale, and so on used to brew coffee.

Seeing that Li Xiang took out so many utensils, Lin Chongyi couldn't help but be speechless:

"Brother, what are you going to do?"

Li Xiang picked up the hand grinder and asked with a smile:

"Brother Lin hasn't seen someone else pour coffee by hand?"

Lin Chongyi scratched his head and said with a little embarrassment:

"I'm a layman, I don't know much about tea, coffee, and wine. Usually I drink coffee and tea to refresh myself, no matter how good it is, I can't drink it, of course, sometimes I talk about business at the tea table, and I will invite guests to drink a little more expensive tea. But I can't drink it myself. ”

"Brother Lin doesn't have to mind, although the original coffee has a good aroma, but the taste is a little sour, there are more people who can't drink it, Brother Lin, don't look at me now, I look very understanding, when I add sugar, I have to add at least three sugar cubes, otherwise I can't drink it."

The two looked at each other and smiled kindly.

Li Xiang opened the paper bag, took out a spoonful of coffee beans with a slightly strong brown color, put them in the hand grind, adjusted the grinding thickness of the hand grind, and turned the shaker.

The crust on the surface of the coffee beans is very hard, and if you want to make coffee from roasted coffee beans, you first need to grind the coffee into small particles and expose the inner part. In this way, when the hot water passes through the ground coffee, it dissolves the ingredients in the water, and the coffee is formed.

If you order a cup of pour-over coffee in a coffee shop, the barista will most likely grind the coffee beans before brewing the coffee, because once the coffee beans are ground into powder, it is difficult to preserve them and ensure that their aroma is not lost due to oxidation or volatilization.

In the beginning, the tools used to grind coffee beans were primitive mortars and pestles, but this was too laborious, and after coffee, tea, and cocoa gradually became the three most popular non-alcoholic beverages in the world, the demand for coffee continued to increase, and people around the world now drink at least 70 billion cups of coffee every year, and the use of this primitive tool is somewhat inefficient.

In modern times, the work of grinding coffee beans has become the work of semi-automatic grinders in most commercial stores, and you can directly grind the coffee powder by putting the coffee beans in it and selecting the degree of grinding you need. Greatly liberates the barista who brews the coffee. But at the moment, Li Xiang only needs to make two cups of coffee, and about 50g of coffee powder is enough, so there is no need to use a grinder. A good hand mill is up to the task.

Li Xiang turned the crank of the hand grinder, and the coffee beans made a "clattering" sound when they came into contact with the blade, and they were gradually broken by the blade.

During the time when Li wanted to grind beans, Lin Chongyi provoked the conversation:

"Brother, I haven't seen you for a few months, and I feel like you've changed a lot."

"Really? I don't think I've changed much, huh? ”

"It's changed a lot, you may not feel it yourself, I used to think that you were young but very calm, and now this feeling is more obvious than before."

"I used to pretend to be diligent, but now I'm completely lazy. I just want to stay in a comfortable place every day and eat and die. ”

"Who wouldn't want to rest when they have the chance? It's a pity ......"

Li Xiang poured the ground coffee particles into the filter cup where the filter paper was placed.

"Brother Lin, why are you sad? Obviously, Brother Lin, your development has been quite smooth recently, isn't it? ”

"The development is really going well, but it's tiring to catch up with the announcement."

Lin Chongyi sat down on the swivel chair in front of the bar, his elbows resting on the countertop, and the back of his hands supporting his chin.

"When I was young, I always wanted to get ahead and work hard in everything. Now that I'm getting older, my body is starting to go downhill. There are also a lot of intrigues in the entertainment industry, and sometimes they want to quit the entertainment industry and live an ordinary rich life. But my family is now completely accustomed to a life of money, and the pace of spending is too fast. ……”

Li Xiang didn't speak, just listened quietly.

For the slightest complaint from middle-aged men, what they need is often not help, but simply a listening audience.

They can actually solve it by themselves, but the negative emotions accumulated in their hearts in the face of difficulties need to be vented, which is one of the reasons why many middle-aged men can't give up smoking and drinking.

The spout of the spout flows slowly through the "hill" of coffee grounds, and under the filter paper, drops of brown liquid flow into the bottom pot.

This time, Li Xiang chose his favorite medium-roasted coffee beans, with a relatively moderate aroma, sourness, and bitterness, and a soft mouth.

After Li Xiang's repeated experiments and brewing of this coffee bean, a relatively suitable brewing temperature and time were finally determined.

A slight steam swirled upward, and a mellow aroma permeated the room.

Gently taking a breath of warm air, Lin Chongyi couldn't help but smile.

"Brother Lin, come and try it, this is Americano. The taste is mild and slightly acidic, but the caffeine content is relatively high, which is more suitable for refreshing. If you're not used to it, add some milk and then more sugar and it should feel much better. ”

Li Xiang said, put a few pieces of sugar cubes into his cup, took out a small spoon and stirred slowly.

A cup stretched out in front of Li Xiang, and Li Xiang raised his head:

Lin Chongyi smiled strangely and held up the coffee cup in his hand to signal in front of him:

"You didn't come to the movie finale banquet before, so this time we'll have a drink."

Li Xiang smiled helplessly, also raised the coffee cup in his hand, and clinked glasses with Lin Chongyi.

"Brother, to be honest, I envy you now."

Lin Chongyi looked at the floor-to-ceiling windows of the shop facing the pedestrian street, pedestrians were in a hurry, and from time to time someone rode a bicycle in front of the window, and the flow of everything outside the window set off the silence of the store, and everything seemed to be suspended in the well-soundproofed café.

Li Xiang looked at the "flowing" crowd outside the store, held the plate with his left hand, held the handle of the porcelain cup with his right hand, and quietly took a sip of the coffee in the cup.

With added sugar, the bitterness and sourness become soft and just right, leaving a wonderful aftertaste on the taste buds.

"Press conferences and preview screenings, the time and address are on the note I gave you, remember to come."

Lin Chongyi, who hurriedly finished drinking coffee, told again before leaving.

Li Xiang raised the note in his hand:

"I know, Brother Lin can come and sit with me whenever he has time."

"Forget it, I'm usually in Xiangjiang, but you can come to play with me when you have time. Although there is no coffee, but where do I have a lot of vassal elegance to buy red wine, seeing that you have so much wine here, you must know better than me, wouldn't it be beautiful to try it together? ”

Lin Chongyi put on his sunglasses, mask and beret again, pushed open the door of the store and walked out, merging into the pedestrian flow of people.

After Lin Chongyi left, Li Xiang briefly tidied up the bar, found a seat in the store, pulled out a book from the bookshelf next to him, and read quietly.

"Jingle Bell ......"

Before he finished reading a page of text, Li Xiang's eardrums were touched by the doorbell again.

It's really rare, obviously there have been no guests for several days, and today there are people coming to the door continuously.

Li Xiang shook his head, clipped the bookmark into the book, and stood up:

"Welcome, may I have ......?"

The moment he saw the guests who came in, Li Xiang was stunned.

Pushing the door open was a female guest carrying a guitar case, wearing a somewhat worn white jacket and a pair of white-washed jeans, not the ripped style that has been popular in recent years. The shoes worn on the feet seem to have accompanied the owner for a long time, and the soles have been thinned and smoothed, but the owner of the shoes seems to be washed frequently, so the upper is still very clean.

In short, the woman's clothes, though mostly old, were as well groomed as her smooth and silky black hair.

The female guest turned around, and the cloth collar around her neck was extremely clear in Li Xiang's eyes.

It was a white cloth collar with a bright plum blossom embroidered with colored silk thread.

He seemed to have seen this thing somewhere.

After the woman saw Li Xiang, it seemed that Li Xiang's unfinished "welcome" made her confirm the identity of the person in front of her as the owner of this store. So she walked up to Li Xiang and took out a palm-sized note from the pocket of her jacket, as well as a ballpoint pen.

The woman wrote and drew on the notepad, and then handed the notepad to Li Xiang's hand.

Li Xiang looked down and looked at it, and on the notebook, a line of delicate fonts read:

"Can I play your piano?"

The woman closed her eyes and folded her hands, as if to express her please.