My wife and I are both time travelers.

Chapter 138 News
As the days went by, Lin Ying's belly gradually began to show.

Almost four months have passed since Zhou Jiye disappeared, and Lin Ying is now more than six months pregnant.

After its internal trial operation, the Violet Café achieved remarkable results and received high praise from hotel guests.

Many customers come to the coffee shop every day to drink coffee, enjoy pastries, and kill time. They use it as a place to relax and chat with friends or conduct business. Although the coffee shop is not cheap, a regular cup of coffee costs ten yuan, and the most expensive special coffee costs thirty yuan, which is frightening for today's wages.

However, such a price is quite ordinary for the hotel's customers, most of whom are foreign guests or overseas Chinese visiting Shanghai.

This amount of spending is not much for them, and the pleasant environment is a pleasant surprise. In addition, Xie Xiangrong's superb coffee-making skills and Lin Ying's newly launched exquisite pastries (excluding egg tarts) are very popular with customers.

After the internal trial operation ended, the coffee shop officially opened for business.

And so, in addition to the hotel customers, the number of visitors gradually increased. Because the coffee shop was of a particularly high standard and charged exorbitant prices, the people who came to drink coffee here were not ordinary people. Even among the visitors, most were well-off individuals with overseas connections. Even if these people couldn't afford to come here every day, they could still sit here every few days, enjoy a cup of fragrant coffee, sample the freshly baked pastries, and experience the elegant and sophisticated atmosphere.

Besides these, there were also some young people who were keen on pursuing a Western style and came specifically to broaden their horizons. There were quite a few of them, dressed in bright and colorful clothes, and enjoying their coffee with relish, just like the other customers inside.

Whether the coffee is good or not, or whether it suits their taste, is another matter, but being able to spend money here, no matter how expensive it is, will give you an extraordinary experience once you've been here.

If you happen to be chatting with friends and they mention that they once had coffee at the Violet Café, with blond-haired, blue-eyed foreigners sitting not far away, listening to their conversation in English that they couldn't understand at all, and the elegant environment and melodious background music of the café, these are all rare topics of conversation!

In reality, this is no different from Mr. Jing going to Lao Mo for a taste of the West; having such an experience instantly elevates the café's status. The arrival of these people also boosted the café's popularity and spending, making it packed with customers every day after its official opening.

That's not all. In addition to the coffee shop's regular revenue, Lin Ying's pastries are also very popular.

In the end, Lin Ying's egg tart making technique was given to the hotel. Ge Xianlin had been keeping a close eye on this matter, especially since egg tarts and other Western-style pastries became very popular after the coffee shop's trial operation began. How could Ge Xianlin let this opportunity pass?

Lin Ying had long known that this skill couldn't be kept secret, and frankly speaking, egg tarts and the like don't require much skill. Whether they taste good or not depends on the quality of the ingredients and some baking techniques. As for the production process, it's purely a matter of experience.

Since the cooperation with the hotel is currently in its honeymoon phase, and Ge Xianlin also has this need, it would be better to take this opportunity to secure some benefits for oneself.

After discussing it, Lin Ying and Xie Xiangrong made a deal with Ge Xianlin, whereby the hotel would provide the equipment to set up a special pastry shop. This pastry shop, like the coffee shop, would be a joint venture between the two parties. The coffee shop would provide the technology, and the hotel would provide the personnel. Soon, the pastry shop officially opened. In addition to selling the pastries to the hotel and supplying the coffee shop, the pastries produced could also be sold to the public. In this way, a window for officially selling pastries to the public was added to the left side of the coffee shop.

Once this window was opened, business was unexpectedly good.

Even though egg tarts and other Western-style pastries are not cheap, there is a constant stream of customers. The pastries made every day are simply not enough to meet the demand. If it weren't for controlling the quantity, we would have to prioritize the needs of the hotel and coffee shop, and there still wouldn't be enough to meet the demand.

Lin Ying's two younger sisters, Lin Wen and Lin Xi, have been learning coffee-making from Xie Xiangrong. However, compared to the calm and composed Lin Wen, Lin Xi is not doing very well. Her personality is inherently restless, and coffee-making especially requires talent. After learning for so long, the coffee Lin Xi makes can only be described as "drinkable".

But Lin Wen was different. She learned very well. According to Xie Xiangrong, ordinary coffee making was no longer difficult for her. She had reached about five or six points of Xie Xiangrong's level. As long as she studied for a few more days and gradually mastered some more difficult coffee making techniques, coupled with her in-depth understanding of coffee bean quality identification and roasting techniques, she could basically graduate after one or two years.

Lin Ying was both pleased and troubled by this.

What's gratifying is Lin Wen's talent in this area. With her help, Xie Xiangrong's skills can be considered to have a successor. In addition, Xie Xiangrong is getting old. Although his coffee-making skills are among the best in Shanghai, running a coffee shop is completely different from making coffee at home. The former is a business, and with coffee shops doing so well now, Xie Xiangrong's age can't keep up like that of young people. Now that Lin Wen is gradually becoming able to handle things independently, it has made things much easier for Xie Xiangrong.

Lin Ying was troubled by Lin Xi's situation. She realized that Lin Xi was not cut out for coffee making, so after some consideration, Lin Ying decided to have Lin Xi help her make Western-style pastries.

But who would have thought that Lin Xi wasn't cut out for pastry making either? She simply couldn't sit still; these things required not only patience but also talent. After learning pastry from Lin Ying for a while, Lin Xi's skills were truly worrisome, so Lin Ying had no choice but to send her to work as a waitress. Unexpectedly, Lin Xi found it incredibly enjoyable, without the slightest bit of pressure. Wearing the waitress uniform, she was busy every day, and because the café catered to foreign customers, she had even learned a few English phrases on her own, making her even more adept. She frequently received tips from customers, and receiving them made her beam with joy, which only fueled her enthusiasm even more.

During this time, Lin Ying kept inquiring about Zhou Jiye's whereabouts, but there was still no news.

Although she told herself that as long as there was no bad news, it was good news, she comforted herself. But the longer time went on, the more uneasy Lin Ying felt. Xu Guoqing and Lao Wen came to see Lin Ying several times, partly to give her the money from the sale of goods, and partly to exchange information about Zhou Jiye's whereabouts and ask if there was any new information.

But as the days passed, there was still no news. Every time the three of them mentioned this matter, they would sigh deeply, hoping that one day they would hear good news from Zhou Jiye.

On August 26, a news item was published in the newspaper announcing the official establishment of the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone.

With the establishment of the special economic zone, a new process began in the 1980s. In addition, more and more goods came from the south, and the number of people involved in this industry also increased. The people doing this business outside the region were also different from before.

This change in circumstances caused Xu Guoqing and his team to experience a decline in both the speed of their shipments and their profits. However, compared to other businesses, this line of work was still relatively good. Moreover, after the establishment of the special economic zone, Lingnan was further opened up, and the channels for obtaining goods became much smoother. This had both advantages and disadvantages. Xu Guoqing and Lao Wen came to Lin Ying to discuss countermeasures. Although Lin Ying was no longer involved in this business, she still gave them some advice, for which the two men were quite grateful to Lin Ying.

Now, Lao Wen is mainly in charge of the stalls in Xigong, while Xu Guoqing has taken A Ming, the kid with bad legs whom A Wei introduced to him, to open a new stall on Fengyang Road.

This gave them two shipping points, making sales much faster than with just one. Furthermore, with Amin assisting them, they temporarily filled the manpower gap left by Zhou Jiye's disappearance and Lin Ying's departure. Overall, while business was somewhat affected, the impact wasn't significant.

Two weeks ago, Lin Ying got home from get off work that day. Not long after she arrived home, the auntie at the public phone came to deliver a message.

At first, Lin Ying thought it was a message from Xu Guoqing or Lao Wen, but when she saw the few words written on the note her aunt handed her, Lin Ying's face changed instantly, her body swayed slightly, and tears involuntarily fell as she leaned against the door frame.

"Second sister! Second sister, what's wrong? Don't scare me!" Lin Wen, who was standing to the side, saw Lin Ying suddenly crying uncontrollably. Lin Xi also panicked and quickly helped Lin Ying up. You know, Lin Ying was pregnant. If she accidentally fell, it would be a big deal.

"What's wrong? What happened to Xiaoying?" Fang Manxia rushed downstairs upon hearing the commotion and asked Lin Ying, who was in tears.

"I...I'm fine, I'm just happy, so happy..." Lin Ying said with a smile, wiping away her tears.

"Happy?" Everyone was puzzled. At this moment, Lin Ying held up a note and said, "Jiye! There's news about Jiye! He... he called! He said he's fine, he's in Hong Kong, and he'll be back soon!"

"Really? Brother-in-law is coming back?" Lin Wen and Lin Xi asked anxiously, but Fang Manxia remained calm. She stepped forward, took the note from Lin Ying's hand, and glanced at it. After reading the two short lines, she also smiled.

"It seems it's true. Xiao Zhou is finally alright. Now you can finally relax, right?"

"I'm relieved..." Lin Ying smiled and nodded vigorously, but tears kept flowing uncontrollably.

These days, although she appears very calm on the surface and is busy going to and from get off work every day, Lin Ying also shows extreme strength when talking to Xu Guoqing and the others about Zhou Jiye's situation.

But who could know that Lin Ying was actually incredibly fragile inside? Countless nights, Lin Ying tossed and turned in bed, unable to sleep, constantly worrying about Zhou Jiye's whereabouts, wondering what his current situation was and where he was.

Lin Ying, who has always been strong-willed, became somewhat sentimental at this time, perhaps because of her pregnancy. Touching her already protruding belly, Lin Ying told herself countless times that she must be strong, but her concern for Zhou Jiye never faded, and instead deepened with each passing day.

When she suddenly received news of Zhou Jiye today, Lin Ying could no longer contain her emotions and burst into tears. At the same time, the weight that had been hanging over her heart finally lifted. Knowing Zhou Jiye's whereabouts, she was relieved and looked forward to his early return.

(End of this chapter)