Although there were many shops that catered to the students who frequented East Street because of the nearby academy, there were also many shops that sold jewelry and other things as well. Over time, East Street had become a sort of commercial center for the town so there were naturally many women who would come here to go shopping.
And as it happened, amidst the lively crowd of students who had come to see Su Tang’s cafe, there was coincidentally a girl who looked to be about twelve years old and her maid there. When they heard Su Tang’s words, the young girl’s eyes lit up and she stepped out of the crowd to say: “This little sister, did you just say that your shop is only open to female customers?”
The crowd turned to look at this new arrival and saw that it was a small girl who looked to be about 11 or 12 years old. She was dressed in a neat pink dress under a fluffy fox-fur cloak. The white fox fur was brushing against the girl’s round cheeks, and her sparkling black eyes were looking at Su Tang with curiosity.
Seeing who it was, Zhu Ran immediately stepped back and murmured, “Miss Lu!”
However, he spoke in a voice so low that the little girl obviously didn’t hear him.
But Su Tang, who was standing closer to him, heard him clearly and felt a little surprised inside that there was someone who could make this little tycoon so hesitant. However, seeing that the little girl was looking at her with curious eyes and waiting for a response, she put that thought on the back burner. She focused on the girl and gave a smile and nod, “En, my cafe only serves female guests. Would you like to come inside and try one of our desserts?”
“How excellent, it just so happens that I’m a bit tired from shopping.” Getting Su Tang’s confirmation, the little girl happily grabbed her maid by the hand and headed into the cafe.
This time Su Tang didn’t block the way so the girl got inside fine. At the same time, Su Tang sent the orange cat a meaningful look in order to get him to go and investigate where this little girl had come from.
Because the orange cat had eaten some delicious desserts today he was happy to run this sort of trivial errand for Su Tang. After receiving her look, he disappeared in a flash.
Meanwhile, Baohe had finished handing out the flyers, so Su Tang beckoned her over and let her handle the free samples and sales at the front counter. Once Baohe was at the counter, Su Tang turned and followed the other girl into the cafe.
The appearance of the little girl seemed to confirm things for the spectators outside. After she entered the Dessert Cafe they could see that this new and expensive ‘cafe’ with its strange and special rules was really only open to female guests.
The other thing that they had seen, was that these ‘free samples’ were really free, so they all began to go forward to have a try. Baohe asked them all to queue up and form a line in the way Su Tang had taught her to and began arranging to let them all try the samples one by one. However, it was a very busy scene, so eventually, she called Pengmo over to help her so there wouldn’t be any mistakes.
“What kind of dessert would you like? Have a look at the menu here and take your pick.” Su Tang followed the little girl into the cafe and found her just standing in the entrance and looking around with curious eyes. See that the girl seemed uncertain, Su Tang pointed to the menu hanging up on the wall and gave a brief explanation.
“So this is the menu?” The little girl had already seen the colorful paintings hanging on the wall that Su Tang was pointing at and she had thought they had looked pretty good, but she hadn’t expected that they would actually be a menu. She felt this was a very curious and novel idea.
In fact, this menu had been hand-painted by Su Tang personally, and on it were all the products currently being sold by the Dessert Cafe. After all, this era didn’t have the benefits of a modernized education system, so there were many illiterate people. Of course, as a person doing business, Su Tang wanted those people to be able to use the menu as well.
But, in the end, there just weren’t that many people who could read so, in the end, Su Tang had decided to paint the menu herself and directly represent her products with colorful pictures. After all, she had an education in design, so she was very good at this sort of work.
“En, it is. Can I ask what the young lady interested in? I could make a suggestion.” Su Tang nodded and continued introducing the cafe.
The little girl looked carefully at the menu for a while before saying, “I haven’t tried any of your food before, so why don’t you just recommend your best dish?”
Her brows were furrowed after looking for a while but, in the end, she didn’t know what any of the things on the menu were, let alone which one was the most delicious or how to eat it.
Thus, she simply asked Su Tang. After all, she was the owner of this cafe, and the girl felt that the owner should certainly be able to make the best recommendation.
tl begging corner:
