Trouble at the Café
After turning Li Yuanyuan down, Chen Ze returned to his rented room, feeling somewhat unsettled.
He had been in this female-dominated world for some time now, but he still couldn't adapt to any of it. He felt like an outsider watching the people and events in a movie, never able to become a part of it.
Shaking his head, Chen Ze pushed aside his tangled thoughts and remembered the system mission.
He took out his phone and downloaded Tomato Novels, a novel platform that was hugely popular in this world. He registered an account and became an author, then began typing furiously.
After writing over ten thousand characters, Chen Ze divided them into four chapters according to the story's progression and published them.
Seeing that the novel was under review, Chen Ze switched off his phone, stood up, and stretched. Only then did he notice that it was almost dark.
"Ding~ Congratulations, host, on completing the mission. You have received 5 attribute points to allocate as you wish and 10,000 empathy points. The rewards have been delivered to the system inventory."
"Oh, wow! It's done already!" Apparently, simply publishing it counted as completing the mission; he didn't have to publish the entire novel. Come to think of it, the whole of Battle Through the Heavens was over five million characters long. Even if he went without food or water, he couldn't possibly finish writing it in three days.
System, put all the attribute points into charm, Chen Chen said silently.
"Ding~ Attribute allocation failed. Please raise your other attributes to 80 before continuing to increase your charm!"
"It can do that?" Chen Ze was a little disappointed. He had hoped to max out his charm! Apparently, he couldn't raise it until his other attributes reached a certain level.
"Then put all the attribute points into constitution!" Chen Ze said.
"Ding~ Allocating attribute points for the host. The process is expected to take one day!"
Chen Ze felt a warm current transforming his body, filling him with a sense of comfort from head to toe.
He looked out the window. The sun was already slanting westward.
"Oh no! I almost forgot I have a part-time shift tonight!" Chen Ze slapped his forehead, hurriedly got ready, and ran to the café.
At the Words Among the Flowers Café, Chen Ze carried a cup of coffee over to a customer, a smile on his face.
"Hello! Here's your coffee. Please enjoy!" Since Chen Ze had only just started, preparing coffee naturally wasn't his job. He was working as a server, responsible for serving customers tea and water.
"Oh, little brother, are you new here? I haven't seen you before!" A potbellied middle-aged woman spoke with a lecherous grin. As she spoke, she reached out a fat hand and slapped Chen Ze on the butt.
Chen Ze's smiling, handsome face darkened in an instant. Across two lives, this was the first time a woman had molested him—and an ugly one at that!
Remembering that he was new here and it wouldn't be wise to offend anyone, he said nothing and simply turned to leave.
But what Chen Ze hadn't expected was that his unwillingness to make an issue of it would be taken by the ugly woman as weakness she could exploit!
"Hey, little brother, you haven't answered me yet. Why are you leaving?" With that, she grabbed Chen Ze's hand.
"Let go!" Chen Ze said expressionlessly.
"Don't be angry, little brother. Just come with Auntie, and Auntie will take care of you! Why put yourself through the hardship of working here as a server?"
Chen Ze tugged hard at his hand, but found he couldn't pull free. Without thinking, he swung the tray in his other hand straight at her head!
Bang! The sound drew a chorus of startled cries! Everyone in the café looked over, wondering what had happened.
When they saw the scene before them, everyone understood. So the woman had taken liberties with the handsome young man, and he had hit her for it!
They understood, but judging by the woman's clothes, she was clearly no ordinary person. Nobody wanted to be the bird that stuck its head out.
The woman clutched her forehead in pain. Fortunately, the blow hadn't drawn blood, only raised a bump. She couldn't help raging, "You ungrateful little bastard! I gave you face, and this is how you act? Do you know who I am?"
Chen Ze was a little panicked now too. He had struck her on the head in the heat of the moment, and he didn't know how she would deal with him next. With his current physical condition, he was definitely no match for her.
"Stop!"
Manager Chu hurried over at that moment and found out what had happened.
She thought to herself that what she had feared had still come to pass! During the interview, she had already seen that Chen Ze's looks were extremely likely to attract trouble.
But at the time, her heart had softened and she had agreed to take Chen Ze on. She hadn't expected something like this to happen on his first day.
"Boss Wu, I'm terribly sorry. The new hire doesn't know any better, and he's caused you trouble. Please be magnanimous and overlook his mistake. How about we let this matter rest?"
"Let it rest? Look at this! Can we just let it rest?" The woman pointed angrily at her forehead as she spoke.
"Boss Wu, how about this? This cup of coffee is on me, and on behalf of our boss, I'll also compensate you twenty thousand yuan for your medical expenses. What do you think?" Manager Chu said, neither servile nor overbearing.
Seeing how low Manager Chu had lowered herself, and hearing her bring up the boss, the ugly woman immediately furled her flags and stilled her drums.
Clearly, someone who could run a café in such a bustling area couldn't possibly have a simple background!
So she took the chance to get off the donkey on the downhill slope. "Since you're so sincere, Manager Chu, we'll let the matter drop. But I don't want to see him again!" She pointed at Chen Ze as she finished.
"Rest assured, Boss Wu. You definitely won't see him in our café again," Manager Chu said coldly.
"That's for the best!"
Chen Ze felt wronged. She was clearly the one at fault first, so why did he have to bear it all? Did men in a female-dominated world really have so few human rights?
Manager Chu called Chen Ze into the back, then took out a hundred yuan and handed it to him. "You don't need to come back."
Hearing the no-nonsense tone in Manager Chu's voice, Chen Ze said nothing. He took the money and left in silence.
Walking along the busy street, Chen Ze felt a little lost. He was unemployed again. Where should he go from here? Should he set up a street stall? Or sell barbecue?
Chen Ze thought of many possibilities, but without exception, they all required startup money, and he had none to spare.
Chen Ze took out his phone and searched online, hoping to find a job suited to his current situation.
Hard work paid off, and he actually found one.
A job listing read: "Role-player urgently wanted. Work involves cosplaying various two-dimensional characters. Male applicants required. Performance this Saturday. Pay negotiable in person. Interested parties, please contact..." Below was a string of phone numbers.
Chen Ze immediately called. The person on the other end asked to meet at a certain café at noon the next day, and Chen Ze agreed.
At noon the next day, Chen Ze didn't even stop to eat before hurrying to the café.
Chen Ze took a deep breath and pushed open the door to the little shop filled with the aroma of coffee.
Soft light filtered through the wooden blinds, casting patches of mottled light and shadow across the shop.
His gaze searched the café eagerly and soon settled on a girl sitting in the corner. Her name was Su Qin, and the two had arranged to meet today when they spoke yesterday.
Su Qin wore a simple white dress today. Her shoulder-length hair was slightly curled, the ends falling naturally over her chest.
Compared with her exaggerated, glamorous cosplay looks online, she seemed especially fresh and otherworldly now.
Noticing Chen Ze's gaze, she looked up, a radiant smile spreading across her face, and gave him a little wave.
After they briefly introduced themselves, Su Qin said, "When I heard your voice last night, I thought you must be a pretty boy. I didn't expect you to be so pretty in person too."
Only after saying it did she realize her words were a little forward, and her face flushed slightly.
Chen Ze shook his head awkwardly. "Sister Su, let's talk business!" Chen Chen still wasn't quite used to being called pretty by someone of the opposite sex.
Chen Ze sat down across from Su Qin and took the menu the server handed him. After a casual glance, he said, "A latte for me, please."
After the server left, Su Qin went straight to the point. "I've been studying Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba lately. I think Tanjiro is a particularly challenging character, especially his movements and expressions in battle. It won't be easy to recreate them perfectly, so I hope you can do the role justice."
Chen Ze's eyes lit up, and his interest was instantly piqued. "I think so too! Tanjiro's personality is complicated—he's gentle but steadfast, and every look in his eyes is full of stories.
"The last time I saw someone cosplay him, their movements in the battle scenes were too stiff. They didn't convey Tanjiro's agility or sense of power at all."
"Exactly, exactly!" Su Qin nodded vigorously. "And there's his Nichirin Blade. The texture and color of the blade are hard to recreate. I've tried so many prop shops, but none of them quite satisfied me. I never expected you to have studied this so deeply too, little brother Chen Ze. Looks like I found the right person this time!"
What Chen Ze hadn't expected was that the two-dimensional world here would be so similar to the one in his previous life!
Only some of the names had changed; the content was much the same. He had also loved two-dimensional characters in his previous life, so he could speak knowledgeably about them.