Chapter 129 He Was Silly


    Summer was in a daze. She looked back at the milky white wooden door to the lounge. The paint


    wasn''t faded or chipped. The door was in pristine condition. Why did James want to change it?


    But she wasn''t supposed to ask why. He ordered it, and she had to obey. So she picked up the


    phone and called in a work order.


    Half an hourter, Summer received a phone call from the moody man. "The design department


    and the publicity department have just finished their projects. They worked extremely hard. As a


    reward, each of them gets a cup of coffee from the coffee shop across the street. See to it."


    "Hmm. Okay, Mr. Xi!" Summer stood up from her seat and was about to head downstairs.


    She also did some quick math. There were more than a thousand employees in the design


    department and publicity department altogether. Summer heaved a sigh and shook her head. ''Maria


    will be super busy again.''


    But she asked, "I assume you want to me to use the corporate ount to pay for it, Mr. Xi?"


    The man''s thin lips pursed tightly. After a long time, he said, "Their boss still owes me money. We


    don''t need to pay."


    Summer gaped again. She wondered if his reluctance to pay was due to his feud with Maria, but


    she dutifully went downstairs after hanging up the phone.


    When Summer entered Miracle Cafe and told Maria about the order, Maria was also taken aback.


    She asked, "How many cups of coffee this time?"


    "Hmm...six hundred. He also said he didn''t need to pay," Summer said. Some of the employees


    were on business trips or on vacation today, so the rest could be bought tomorrow.


    "All right, fine. But he needs to tip us. Make sure he knows that," Maria said, drawing up task


    sheets. ''I need to call in more people,'' she thought. She would at least get some money back from


    James.


    Taking a sip of freshly brewed coffee, Summer looked at the woman with pleading eyes. "Maria, Mr.


    Xi has been acting weirdtely. Maybe you could text him and let him know?"


    Maria looked up at her, thinking. Send a message to James? She hesitated for a moment and


    nodded. "Sure!


    Lawrence walked downstairs right then. "Maria, I''m done with the bulb."


    "Mr. Lu!" Summer greeted him with a wave.


    Lawrence nodded at her. "Hi, Summer. What''s up?"


    Maria handed another cup of coffee to him and said, "Freshly brewed. Try it."


    Without a second thought, Lawrence took the coffee from her and gulped it down. Then he put the


    empty cup on the bar counter and said, "Thanks!"


    Maria was amazed, looking into the cup and wondering if she had handed him brandy instead. It


    was the first time that she had seen someone drink coffee that quickly.


    Summer was astonished. ''Mr. Lu, isn''t your tongue burned?'' she thought to herself. Noticing their


    shocked gazes, Lawrence shrugged them off. "Got anything else that needs doing? If not, I''ll see


    youter." He had something else to do.


    "Okay, thank you. And as for seeing youter? Count on it!" Maria waved to him.


    "Okay."


    After Lawrence left, Summer approached the woman who was washing the cups and whispered,


    "You know, he''s a great guy. Why not go out with him?"


    Maria put the washed cup into the disinfection cab. It hummed as the UV rays washed over the


    cups inside. "He''s a good man, but he''s still a virgin. I''d better not corrupt him. I''m not worried about


    James, though. He''s already corrupt."


    Summer thought it made sense. "I''m on your side!"


    "I knew you would be!" Maria smiled.


    "Of course." The two smiled at each other.


    After Summer left, Maria sent a message to James. "Mr. Xi, this is my bank ount number. The


    coffee''s free. Please transfer the tip. I still need to pay my employees."


    After a long while, James replied, "Come to my office."


    "Then forget it. That''s not appropriate." This was Maria''s reply.


    Appropriate? Reading the heartless words, James became furious. He replied, "Are you serious?


    Get over here, or no deal."


    Maria curled her lips and sent him her final message, "Stingy Xi." Then she blocked him on WeChat


    just to show her displeasure.


    James replied, "I dare you to say that again!"


    However, he saw a red exmation mark in front of his message, which showed it hadn''t gone


    through. She blocked him! No one had ever blocked James on social media before. Maria was the


    first. But he knew he''d made her mad.


    James stood up, kicked away the chair, and left the office like a tornado.


    When a secretary tried to follow him, James turned and held out a hand. The secretary stopped,


    and James continued on his way alone.


    A few minutester, someone pushed the door of the cafe open. A busy shop assistant continued


    working while saying, "Sorry, we''re closed today. Please... Oh, hello, Mr. Xi!"


    Facing away from the door, Maria heard the shop assistant greet the personing in. She smiled


    and thought, ''Why is he here in person? Was it the Stingy Xi crack?''


    Standing at the bar counter and looking at the busy woman, James calmed down.


    A memory shed through his mind. He stood there, hands on his hips. He watched the woman, but


    his mind was somewhere else.


    Maria told him out of the blue that she was dating Lawrence. It happened so fast he wondered


    whether they were pulling his leg.


    Maria turned around and asked indifferently, "Mr. Xi, what brings you here? Supervising the coffee-


    making process?" The man pursed his thin lips and looked at the woman without saying a word.


    Maria was frightened by his gaze. She knocked on the table in front of him to wake him up. "Hello?


    James, what are you doing here? Thanks to you, we''re closed today."


    He ordered almost a thousand cups of coffee again. They were shorthanded dealing with this order,


    so she had to close the shop.


    James took out his phone and said, "I ordered some coffee. I''m here to give you the tip. How much


    do I owe you?"


    Maria didn''t answer him right away. She hadn''t done the math yet.


    But she didn''t mind at all, James seemed almost eager to pay. Ignoring his change of heart for the


    moment, Maria took out a calctor and pressed buttons. "Let''s see. ounting for overtime


    compensation, bonuses, lost business...I''ll give you a discount. Say, sixty bucks a cup?" We''ll serve


    you a thousand cups over two days, sixty thousand dors total. Please transfer the money, Mr. Xi."


    James sneered. Wow. She was really sticking it to him. That was the first he heard about these


    costs being passed on to the client. While sending a message to Lorenzo, he reminded her kindly,


    "If you keep doing this, you''ll go bankrupt, Maria."


    Maria knew what he meant. She put the calctor back and retorted proudly, "Nah. I''m too pretty to


    fail. Don''t you think, Mr. Xi?"


    James didn''t answer her. "I think I''ll buy up your shop one day." He was gleefully looking at her


    expression. With that, he walked to the door without another word. Maria snorted and used his own


    words against him. "Sometimes it''s good to have such a big dream."


    James paused, but then left.


    Soon, Maria was six hundred thousand dors richer. James had deposited that much.


    She had to count it three times, because she didn''t believe it. He owed sixty thou, and he put


    $600,000 in the ount.


    She was overjoyed. Everyone knew James was rich. Now she thought he was a little silly.


    After two days of hard work, Maria and her baristas finally finished the order of more than a


    thousand cups of coffee for HL Group. She gently touched her wounds. Fortunately, they were


    healing, so she could help her baristas from time to time.


    If James gave her another order of a thousand cups of coffee, she and her employees would die


    from overwork.


    When the Mid-Autumn Festival arrived, Maria gave everyone the day off and closed the cafe. That


    was a reward for all their hard work.


    Maria slept in that day and didn''t get up until noon.


    After lunch, she went to the hospital to visit Gordon, bearing gifts.


    Gordon was in good condition. He was due to be discharged, if the exam showed no anomalies.


    After visiting Gordon, Maria went to the cemetery to give some children''s moon cakes to Arthur.


    Finally, she drove to New South District without stopping. When she arrived at the vi vicinage in


    New South District, it was getting dark. She pulled up to the gate of one of the vis. Then she


    honked the horn and soon a middle-aged woman came out. She approached the car and asked,


    "Maria, is that you?"


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    Ophelia EKEfi