“Mhm…” Facing the little girl’s big blinking eyes, Su Tang could only helplessly nod and, like that, their friendship was sealed.
“Thank you, TangTang. By the way, are there any other delicious things that you can cook? Are there any other sweets? When do you think you will have a new recipe? I’ll have to go back to the county seat before the end of the year, so it will be inconvenient for me to come over after that. So at least while I’m still here in town, could you cook a bit more?”
Lu Wan’er didn’t relinquish her grip on Su Tang’s sleeves as she continued to chatter away, and Su Tang began to feel a headache coming on. Obviously, she had opened a cafe that would only entertain female guests in an effort to keep things calm and quiet, so why was this happening?
Su Tang felt a little skeptical about life, but she managed to muster up a response. “Well, why don’t you sit down for now? I’ll go and prepare the things you ordered and you can take them back for your family to taste.”
After asking Lu Wan’er to sit down so she could prepare her order Su Tang quickly disappeared behind the counter like she was running away. Lu Wan’er called out to Su Tang’s disappearing back: “Wait, how much will it cost altogether? Qing Ju, hurry and give her the payment.”
Just now Qing Ju had been muttering that Su Tang was running a shady business, but as soon as she turned around she found that her family’s young miss had been completely enchanted after taking a single bite and was eagerly asking for more, which felt like a slap to the face. But the worst part was watching her young miss shamelessly trying to cling to Su Tang and wheedle more sweets from her.
In the end, she decided not to comment. She just took out the purse again and said, “Young Miss, come sit down first. Can’t you see that Miss Su dislikes it?”
In fact, even though she had been following her since they were both small children, this was the first time Qing Ju had dared to talk to her young miss this way.
“TangTang still hasn’t said anything and doesn’t seem to have any issues, so why are you speaking up for her, huh?!” After being lightly chided by her servant girl, Lu Wan’er immediately blustered back.
When Su Tang heard this, she secretly wanted to say that she actually disliked being treated like this. But she knew that she had invited this treatment on herself, so she could only quietly accept it.
She quickly brewed another pot of milk tea, then took three cupcakes and ten pieces of toffee and packed them into a paper bag. After that, she also took out a fourth cupcake and set it down on the table in front of Lu Wan’er while saying: “It’s been nice meeting you. Here, take this as a greeting gift from me.”
Although she was a spoiled little devil and seemed a bit annoying, she was still quite a cute little girl. Since Su Tang had agreed to be her friend, and since she was Su Tang’s first guest, and since she had already bought so many things from the cafe, Su Tang felt it was appropriate to treat her a little bit.
“TangTang, that’s so sweet of you!” When Lu Wan’er saw Su Tang seemed to have gotten a bit more friendly, she smiled hugely with obvious happiness.
Su Tang nodded, “Well, it’s my name after all.” (tl note: reminder that the ‘Tang’ in Su Tang’s name can mean candy/sweet. Also, the translation of this back and forth isn’t perfect but it brings the meaning across I think.)
Lu Wan’er hadn’t expected Su Tang to suddenly tell a joke, so she was surprised for a moment. But she quickly recovered and said with a smile: “TangTang, you’re so nice.”
Su Tang smiled back and said: “En, you’re absolutely right.”
Hearing Su Tang joking around and acting thick-skinned, Lu Wan’er felt even happier.
In fact, even though at a glance it seemed that Lu Wan’er just liked to act coquettish and spoiled, she was actually quite astute. For example, Su Tang mentioned she could bring her friends, and shortly after that Lu Wan’er had said that she could invite her friend Zhuo’er over.
Thus, since she knew to negotiate like this, it showed that although she acted a bit sweet and naive on the outside, she was a little girl who had her own thoughts and plans. Probably she had even been able to see through Su Tang’s attempts to hide her feelings and knew that she had been feeling a bit impatient just now.
But after deliberately pestering Su Tang to accept her as a friend their relationship seemed to have improved, which made Lu Wan’er feel happy. After all, Su Tang had taken the initiative to treat her to another cupcake and told some thick-skinned jokes, which seemed like a simple gesture but, in fact, could be said to be Su Tang taking the initiative to show that she had truly accepted her.
Su Tang didn’t know that this pampered little girl was so sensitive and thinking so many things, but it wouldn’t matter if she did. Either way, she knew that she had taken the initiative to approach the other girl first, so she had decided to seriously accept her as a friend. In any case, she found the little girl cute, and being friends was fine. What was done was done anyway.
At most, this girl seemed likely to ask her for more delicious food in the future, which wasn’t a big deal or anything. With those thoughts settled in her heart, Su Tang began to chat and laugh with Lu Wan’er in earnest.
However, once she ate the third cupcake and drank the whole pot of milk tea, the little girl was really full, so she finally reluctantly let Qing Ju pick up the things she had ordered to take away and left the Dessert Cafe.
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tl begging corner: