[Fan Hua]: Where are you? I'll come pick you up!
Hua Jin got up, turned off the store's power switch, and locked the door. Seeing that Tan Yuan hadn't replied to her message, she directly dialed her phone.
"Tan Yuan, tell me the address."
"HuaHua, I'm fine. Don't come over," Tan Yuan held her phone, looking at her weary reflection in the bathroom mirror, her voice choked with emotion.
"Nonsense, you're not fine." Flower Jin interrupted, "We've been friends for years, and I know your personality. Give me the address, I'll come pick you up right away."
Hearing Hua Jin's stern tone, Tan Yuan's originally restless heart calmed down. She took out a powder compact and gently pressed the tear stains at the corners of her eyes. Then she gave Hua Jin the address.
"Yuan Yuan?" A concerned male voice came from behind. Tan Yuan put her phone back in her bag and walked out of the restroom.
The two of them sat back in their chairs, with Tan Yuan bowing her head in silence. She gently stirred the coffee in her cup, her expression cold.
After a while, her boyfriend, sitting across from her, spoke up.
"I'm sorry, Yuan Yuan," her boyfriend's face showed signs of exhaustion. "Our three or four years of relationship, I shouldn't have said those things so harshly earlier. I'm sorry."
Tan Yuan glanced up at him, then turned her head away. "Cao Yi, what hurts me is not how harshly you said it, but that you denied all my efforts over these years, as well as my parents' efforts. Do you understand?"
"I didn't mean it that way," Cao Yi explained. "You clearly know that I have your best interests at heart. Why do you misinterpret my intentions? The lacquerware you make takes so much time and effort, yet doesn't bring in much money. Do you want to live like this for the rest of your life?"
"But do you know that fewer and fewer people in China are making lacquerware? If nobody else does it, and I stop doing it too, then who will carry on this craft in the future?" Tan Yuan tightened her grip on the coffee spoon in her hand. "Cao Yi, this is my father's lifelong skill, and I don't want it to be lost."
"What about me then?" Cao Yi's emotions became somewhat agitated. "We're going to get married and build a life together. And Uncle Tan and Aunt Gao are getting older. If they have any health issues, it will cost a lot of money. I respect your ideals, but ideals can't put food on the table. We need to survive, treat illnesses, and spend money. Even if the craft of making lacquerware doesn't die out in our generation, what about the next generation or the one after that? Sooner or later, it will vanish into the flow of history."
Tan Yuan smiled bitterly. "If I, as a successor of lacquerware craftsmanship, am not willing to continue, then others will probably be even less willing to engage in this industry. Cao Yi, do you still remember how we first met? Besides, you don't need to worry about my parents' retirement. My family isn't so destitute."
Cao Yi was stunned.
"Back then, at the handicraft competition in school, you saw the lacquerware I made and said it was rare to find someone who could wholeheartedly study traditional craftsmanship. You praised me and pursued what I was pursuing. But now you're advising me to give it up," Tan Yuan smiled, her eyes reddening and tears welling up. She closed her eyes, holding back the tears. "In these four years, who has really changed, you or me?"
"It's me who has changed, but people change. Back then, we were students who hadn't yet experienced the real world, and we didn't have to consider money and status..." Cao Yi felt uncomfortable under Tan Yuan's gaze, he turned his head. "You're different from Hua Jin. You have parents, education, and a brighter future ahead. Someone like her, a village girl from the countryside, without education or other avenues for development, apart from relying on Aunt Gao for a living, she doesn't have any other better way of life. If you spend all your time with her, you won't become better, you'll only become like her..."
"Shut up!" Tan Yuan's face turned grim. "Cao Yi, Hua Jin is my good friend!"
"It's because you're friends with her that I wanted to wake you up!" Cao Yi, seeing his girlfriend quarreling with him over an outsider, also grew angry. "You, a prestigious university student, hanging out with a village girl like her, are you trying to lower your own standards?"
"I actually think... being with you is what truly lowers my standards." Tan Yuan stared at Cao Yi in disbelief, never expecting him to view her good friend in such a way. Last year, when Cao Yi didn't know what to give his classmates for a gathering, it was her and Hua Jin who hurriedly made over twenty hand-embroidered card holders for him to bring along. Earlier this year, for his mother's birthday, Hua Jin embroidered a particularly beautiful shawl to make a good impression in front of his future mother-in-law, and Tan Yuan gave it to Cao Yi to take back. When Tan Yuan and Cao Yi were busy, Hua Jin often helped them out, and although Cao Yi thanked Hua Jin with his words, did he really think that way about her?
"You're right, I do need to be awakened." Tan Yuan forced a bitter smile. "Cao Yi, let's... break up."
"Just because I mentioned Hua Jin, you want to break up with me?" Cao Yi looked at Tan Yuan incredulously. "After several years of being together, you want to break up with me because of another woman, Tan Yuan, have you gone mad?"
"I'm not mad, I'm just sober." Tan Yuan put down the coffee spoon, her expression gradually turning cold. "I'm sorry, I can't give you what you want. You can leave."
Laughing at Tan Yuan's words, Cao Yi pushed the coffee cup forward, making a cracking sound and attracting the attention of several people at the neighboring table. "Tan Yuan, you're ruthless. After several years of being together, I love you so much, but you can just let go so easily. What about your heart?"
"If you weren't ruthless, how could you look down on my parents' traditional craftsmanship in front of me? How could you mock my best friend?" Tan Yuan retorted. "Cao Yi, I like you, but I don't live solely for you. If you want me to give up the things I love, my friends, and everything else for you, I can't do that."
"You..."
"Since you love me so much, why can't you understand my profession and respect my friends?" Tan Yuan, regardless of how many people were watching nearby, stood up directly, preparing to leave. "Don't hurt me under the guise of loving me. I can't bear that kind of love."
"You can't leave!" Cao Yi grabbed Tan Yuan's wrist. "Tan Yuan, explain yourself to me!"
"What's going on here?" Hua Jin approached the coffee shop and saw Cao Yi gripping Tan Yuan's wrist with a grim expression. The other customers in the shop were all secretly looking in their direction, eager for a spectacle.
She took a couple of steps forward, pulled Cao Yi's hand away, and stood in front of Tan Yuan. "Cao Yi, if you have something to say, let's discuss it elsewhere. Making a scene here, are you trying to entertain everyone?"
"The matter between Tan Yuan and me doesn't concern you, an outsider," Cao Yi sneered. "Just because Auntie Gao took you as an apprentice, you think you're really like a sister to Tan Yuan?"
"Well, I have thick skin, so I love to meddle," Hua Jin glanced at Cao Yi, making sure he wasn't carrying any dangerous weapons or about to suddenly go berserk and harm someone. She then relaxed a bit. "If you can't handle it, then hold it in. You, a grown man, bullying my friend and not allowing me to help. Do you really think there's no one behind my dear Tang Yuan?"
Cao Yi blushed and was infuriated. He didn't expect Hua Jin to be so shameless. Looking at Tan Yuan and Hua Jin's hands already clasped together, he became even more agitated and blurted out even more hurtful words. "You're just an unmarried village girl who can't find a husband. Are you mentally disturbed, unable to stand seeing others happy, and thus trying to ruin our relationship?"
"Get lost!" Tan Yuan couldn't bear it any longer. She picked up the unfinished coffee on the table and splashed it on Cao Yi's face. "Cao Yi, watch your mouth."
With coffee splashed on his face, Cao Yi gradually calmed down. He wiped the coffee off his face and managed to say a few words. "Tan Yuan, are you really breaking up with me?"
Tan Yuan remained silent. She lowered her head and held Hua Jin's hand, whispering softly, "Hua Hua, don't listen to his nonsense. Who said you're a village girl..."
"I certainly won't listen to him. When it comes to appearance, I'm not just an ordinary village girl. At the very least, they should use 'village beauty' to describe my looks," Hua Jin didn't know what had transpired between Tan Yuan and Cao Yi, and she didn't want to escalate the situation further between the two. So she casually brushed it off with a joke, "I won't argue with a man of such low aesthetic standards."
"Hua Jin, you don't have to pretend to be magnanimous in front of me. By trying so hard to please Tan Yuan, aren't you just aiming to learn Auntie Gao's exceptional needlework?" Cao Yi sneered. "I've encountered many people like you who come from small towns, and very few of them are innocent. Tan Yuan, if you continue to protect her, one day she'll sell you and count the money."
He still remembered one time when he visited Tan Yuan's shop, and Hua Jin put on a hypocritical facade just to earn a few extra dollars. Despite learning elegant embroidery, she engaged in extremely vulgar activities.
"I'm willing," Tan Yuan's heart completely turned cold. "Cao Yi, leave. There's nothing left to say between us. The issues between you and me have nothing to do with others. In the end, it's a clash of our fundamental beliefs. When our values don't align, even if we force ourselves to continue, it will only be mutual torment. While you're still young, I won't hold you back. I hope you find a partner who suits your desires."
"If you won't say it, I will," Cao Yi glared at Hua Jin with resentment. "Hua Jin, the reason Tan Yuan and I have reached this point today is partly because..."
"Is this a marketplace or a coffee shop?" Just as the onlookers in the cafe were enjoying the spectacle, a group of young men and women walked in.
The man in the lead was wearing a white shirt, with his hair neatly groomed. His slightly upturned peach blossom eyes carried a hint of arrogance. He walked towards Hua Jin and the other three with long strides, his tie clip with a diamond subtly swaying, resembling stars twinkling in the sky. However, his appearance was even more dazzling than the diamond on his tie clip.
"Please continue," he raised his wrist, adjusted his cuff with a mocking tone, and suddenly kicked Cao Yi's knee, causing Cao Yi to fall down with a cry of pain.
"Who were you calling a country bumpkin, hm?"
After knocking down Cao Yi, he turned his head to look at Hua Jin, his face full of disdain. "You were so outspoken in front of me, but when faced with trash like him, you can't even defeat or out-insult him?"
Author's Note: Pei Yan's Little Classroom: Good kids, don't learn from me, okay?
Hua Jin's Little Classroom: Regardless of gender, when encountering scum, if you notice that the other person's emotions are off or even aggressive, take measures to protect yourself, such as escaping, using comforting words to pacify the other person, and reporting to the authorities after escaping. Your personal safety is the most important.