These dishes are fine for entertaining people from other countries, but when it comes to actually serving them, they only look good; they don't taste very good.

Seeing Ji Feng eating at a remarkably steady pace, the legal counsel couldn't help but mutter in admiration:

"Manager Ji, you have a good appetite."

The man slowly cut his steak, a smile appearing in his eyes as he heard her words.

"It's free here."

Legal Department: "..."

However, I immediately thought that if I didn't eat here, I would still have to order similar things when I got hungry at home, and the quality might not even be as good. So I might as well eat here and avoid having to spend the company's money to reimburse me if I ordered something at home.

Thinking this, the lawyer picked up a knife and fork and viciously cut the steak in front of him into seven or eight pieces.

After finishing their meal, the group stood at the restaurant entrance, unsure of what to do next.

After Lu Xun remained silent for a long time, Song Mai finally couldn't help but speak up.

"So where do we go next?"

Lu Xun pinched the bridge of his nose and looked at the road in the distance where cars were coming and going.

"Since they said they'd talk again tomorrow morning, they definitely won't see us today. I'll go back to the hotel and report to the group first. You're free to do as you please. We can meet at the hotel later to discuss anything."

"good."

Since this matter cannot be resolved in the short term, the next steps of our work cannot be carried out.

Since we're just staying in the hotel anyway, we might as well go out and explore, so the trip won't be in vain.

Song Mai took the address of the coffee shop that the coffee shop clerk had recommended to her last time, and prepared to go there to buy some coffee beans.

The young woman from the Ministry of Justice wasn't interested and planned to browse the nearby shopping district to see if any of the boutiques there sold luxury handbags that couldn't be ordered domestically.

Fortunately, it was daytime and there were no safety issues, so Song Mai said goodbye to the girl and went alone.

Without language barriers, finding a shop in a new place wasn't difficult for her, as she had a specific address.

The shop was a bit out of the way, located in a narrow alley. Song Mai circled around it several times but never expected the shop to be in such a narrow place, so narrow that it could only allow two people to pass at most.

Song Mai finally found the shop with the help of an old man at the alley entrance.

The storefront looks very old, and the overall decoration style is like that of the last century.

The shop is old but not dilapidated.

Before Song Mai even stepped into the store, the aroma of coffee beans wafted over, as if the entire store was permeated with the fragrance.

Even the wooden doors and windows seemed to be emitting this smell.

The shop owner was an elderly woman in her seventies, wearing reading glasses and reading a newspaper by candlelight.

The lighting in the alley was not very good. Although there were electric lights, they were not as effective as natural light.

It was a yellowed newspaper, clearly quite old, with the bottom edges thinned from repeated handling.

Song Mai stepped into the shop and looked around for a while before the old lady belatedly realized that someone had entered the shop.

Upon seeing that the visitor was a young foreign girl, the old lady said in broken English, "Please feel free to look around. Call me if you need anything."

Song Mai smiled at her and replied in Spanish, "Okay." The old lady smiled back at her as if she had breathed a sigh of relief.

The shop is not large, consisting of two rooms, but these two storefronts are filled with transparent glass display cases containing all kinds of coffee beans. Next to the coffee beans are handwritten notes with information such as the name of the coffee bean and its place of origin.

The ink from my own crooked and illegible writing, along with the faint ink from the fountain pen, suggests it wasn't written a year or two ago.

Song Mai doesn't know anything about coffee. In her life, she didn't have much opportunity or means to drink coffee.

When I was in college, I often worked part-time to earn money, and I also had to study, so I could only study in the middle of the night.

She was often so tired that she couldn't stay awake, but she persevered with the instant coffee her roommate gave her. She would make herself a cup of instant coffee late at night, sit quietly under the lamp to read and study, while her roommates slept peacefully. This made her feel incredibly happy.

Instant coffee isn't made from pure coffee beans, and it contains a lot of sugar, which made her feel for a while that coffee wasn't as bitter as it was portrayed in TV dramas.

Later, after graduating from university and starting work, she learned that there are so many kinds of coffee, and the most bitter kind is called espresso.

However, she still couldn't bear to spend money, and even when she needed to stay awake while working overtime, she still drank instant coffee.

So she hasn't actually drunk coffee many times, and naturally doesn't know how to choose coffee beans or what kind of coffee beans are the best.

Song Mai stared at the various coffee beans for a long time, finding them fascinating but unable to discern anything specific.

Just as the old lady was about to introduce her to someone after she had been looking at him for a while, a tall and slender figure appeared in front of the door.

The man walked straight toward Song Mai and saw her staring intently at a type of coffee bean in the display case, searching for its characteristics and flavor profile on Baidu.

"How long are you going to stop investigating like this?"

Song Mai was startled by the voice and quickly turned around, only to find that the person standing behind her was Ji Fenghe.

"Manager Ji, what are you doing here?"

Ji Feng raised the newly acquired coffee cup in his hand.

"I've come to buy coffee beans."

Song Mai nodded, somewhat surprised.

How did you find this store?

This shop is so hard to find; if she hadn't asked the coffee shop's waiter for the exact address, she would never have been able to find it.

The man casually picked up a coffee bean, held it to his nose, and smelled it.

"This shop is very famous, don't you know it?"

Song Mai shook her head; she truly didn't know.

The man accurately located the type of coffee beans he wanted in the counter, and then called over the old lady sitting by the door to have her pack the coffee beans for him.

He called out twice before the old lady heard him, but when she saw his face, her wrinkled face instantly came to life.

How come you have time to come over at this time of year?

Ji Feng smiled, his brows full of gentleness.

"I was on a business trip with the project team, so I came here. I just ran out of coffee beans this afternoon, and I didn't have many left at home, so I came here to buy some more."

The old lady pulled a small sealed bag from the drawer, opened it, and gave Ji Feng the coffee beans he wanted.

"It's kind of you to still remember this place. It's been a year since your last visit."

Ji Feng nodded, watching the coffee beans flow into the sealed bag.

"What are you saying? I've been here for many years, how could I possibly forget you so easily? Even if I'm not on a business trip, I'll still come, firstly to see you, and secondly because I'm used to your coffee."