The story of a coffee man: the coffee shop owner who sells "good night"

I have coffee. Do you have a story? On Changzhou Island in Guangzhou, there was such a young woman in literature and art: she opened a cafe and was told a story, and she gave her half a cup of coffee. She also sent a "good night" message to strangers. To her surprise, such a lopsided "business" attracted many people to place orders.

She used to be a white-collar worker in an enterprise, has a well-off income, is in a hurry in the fast-paced city life, and needs to handle all kinds of work efficiently every day. One day, however, she resigned and said she wanted to slow down and live a slow life. As a result, the 30-year-old Chaoshan girl, known as "Jiumei" Weng Biying came to Changzhou Island in Guangzhou. During the day, she is in the cafe on the island, quietly listening to stories; late at night, facing her mobile phone, she sends "good night" text messages to lonely people in the city.

"to some extent, this way can cure people who suffer from 'autism' in the city, as well as those who used to be lonely." This is how she describes what she is doing and what it means.

Weng Biying, known as "Jiu Mei", is 30 years old and born in Chaoshan.

She turned the idea of literature and art into reality.

Online, she sells "good night" to convey warmth.

Offline, she runs a coffee shop on Changzhou Island, Guangzhou.

Give half a cup of coffee to customers who tell stories for themselves.

In the future, when the story is complete, the other half of the cup of coffee will be filled when we meet again.

Say good night online

Open an online store to sell "good night", and some people actually place orders.

Jiumei is called "the girl who sells good night". She has opened a small shop on Taobao since 2012, with only the word "good night" for its products. "at first, I just opened a store with the mentality of giving it a try, but I didn't expect that someone really placed an order for one yuan per item, and more than 30 orders were placed in a day."

Why sell "good night"? This starts when Jiumei just graduated. In 2010, she graduated from college as a Chinese major. The first job after graduation was in Shenzhen. after being busy, Jiumei suddenly found that the campus life was completely different from the life after work. "there are a lot of friends in school who celebrate their birthdays, and everyone takes great pains to make cards, give gifts and send blessings. However, after entering the society, once so ordinary trivial things have become a luxury. Sometimes, when I get tired from work, I go through my address book and want to find someone to tell me about my day, only to find that there is no phone number I can easily dial. Because of my busy life, I neglected to contact my old friends, and suddenly I called and worried about disturbing others. "

Jiumei found that in the high-speed operation of the big city, many people around them have a lonely side and need spiritual comfort. So, one night in 2012, Jiumei thought, dragging her tired body every day after work, before going to bed, can someone send me a "good night" message?

In this way, Jiumei sold "good night". The online store has just been launched, "there is really someone to place an order", which is unexpected and unexpected. People in the city seem to have a large circle of friends, but many people have "autism" inside. The first business is done like this, some people place an order out of curiosity, spend one yuan, try it, and some people want to find spiritual comfort. The people who issued the order took one shot, seven at a time, and 30 at a time. "after filming, they will write down what time to send, some at 10:00 in the evening, some at 1 in the morning, and the latest message (the next day) at 2: 00 in the morning." Nine Girls will send out "good night" to the mobile phone number provided by the buyer on time at the time marked by the buyer.

After the sale of "good night", some people gave good reviews as well as bad reviews. The bad reviewer said, "one dollar is too profiteering." To the high praise, "the word 'good night' is very warm, simple, and it's good not to interfere with each other."

Jiumei opened an online store to sell "good night" to convey warmth.

More than 4000 times "good night" to warm strangers

Over the past four years, apart from the fact that Jiumei in the middle has been off the shelves for more than half a year because of her busy home, there have been more than 4000 orders for "good night". The product has been evaluated more than 2000 times, and more than 300 people have bought "good night" from Jiumei. Jiumei said that people who buy "good night" are for themselves, for friends, and for ex-boyfriends and current boyfriends. There are also couples who are in a stalemate, trying to ease the tension by buying "good night".

Jiumei has a regular customer, whose online name is Antarctica, who buys "good night" from time to time and writes "people far from home" in his comments. On February 16 this year, after Jiumei stopped selling "good night" for half a year, Antarctica placed an order again. This time he placed an order for 319 pieces. "I was wondering why it was 319 days. I looked through the calendar and found that there were 319 days left in 2017. I suddenly have a feeling of being needed. " For this regular customer, Jiumei sent the word "good night" every night he designated, and Antarctica never replied for several years. "there is no purpose or emotional entanglement with strangers. A simple good night, hoping to bring warmth to each other. "

At the end of February, a strange girl went to the store to buy "good night". She told Jiumei that "good night" would be sent to a work partner she had worked with for many years. She and her partner had told her everything, and her partner had been comforting her when she was in a bad mood, but now she knew that her partner had been ill for more than two years and had to undergo kidney dialysis every few days. The sad girl bought her partner a "good night" for 20 days, hoping to let him know that someone around him cared about him.

After Jiumei shared the story on social software, people who had never met the partner bought a 10-day "good night" for him, hoping to send warmth. So, at 11:00 every night, "good night" will be sent to your partner's mobile phone as scheduled. One day recently, Jiumei received a message-"I'm still here". After seeing the reply, Jiumei was moved and replied, "No matter how dark the night is, there is a star around." May this little starlight accompany you to sleep well. Good night. "

Some "good night" have been questioned and warned.

In the process of sending "good night", it is not always warm, Jiumei has been "warned" as a result. A woman bought "good night" and told Jiumei, "my husband and I have been married for many years, and now life is so dull that there is almost no communication between the two." I want to buy seven 'good night' for my husband and send them at ten o'clock every day. After sending "good night" on the first day, the other person replied, "are you getting married?" Jiumei felt bad and still sent it on time the next day. The other person asked, "who are you?" After sending it again on the third day, the other party began to get angry and replied, "if you continue to send, I will call the police."

Such a situation is not uncommon. After sending a "good night" text message, some unknown people will call to ask, if the buyer mentioned "confidentiality", Jiumei will not have any response. When the other party does not accept "good night", Nine Girls will contact the buyer to explain the reason and refund the remaining unissued "good night" goods to the buyer.

In fact, Jiumei does not want to simply refer to people who buy "good night" as "customers" or "buyers". She prefers to treat them as friends they have never met, accompany each other, or even understand and trust each other, without interfering with each other's lives. So she refused to respond when she was questioned by phone or expected to know more about her personally. As for the buyer's story, she wouldn't ask too much if the buyer didn't mention it on her own initiative.

Help depressed girls to be cheerful and happy.

But there is also an exception, there is a girl broke the nine sisters "do not interfere with each other's life" principle. It was a high school student who started buying "good night" in 2014, buying it for a few days at first, then sometimes for a month, and buying it off and on. The girl said she didn't have any friends and didn't have a good relationship with her family.

"the girl bought 'good night' for almost a year. During that time, I learned that she was prone to depression. " When buying "good night", the girl likes to tell a lot of her own stories to Jiumei. The girl said that she had a bad relationship with her teachers and classmates, and she often held her back. She also went to the hospital to see a doctor, who had advised her to suspend school.

"she made me break the principle of keeping boundaries. I accompanied her, told her that everyone would encounter difficulties, and tried to make her understand the parents she didn't like and how to fit in with her classmates. " One day the girl said that she had learned to make cakes, and Jiumei suggested that she make some and take them back to school for her classmates to eat. "I didn't expect that all the students said it was delicious, and I was very happy." The girl gradually became cheerful and kept a hamster. she would call Jiumei from time to time to talk about what had happened at home and what had happened at school. On New year's Eve in 2015, she talked with Jiumei on the phone for two hours. The girl's condition is getting better, and Jiumei also feels happy.

Keep the original heart and continue to give warmth to the lonely

Will say good night to so many strangers, and never met people on the phone for two hours, someone asked, Jiumei must not be married? As a matter of fact, Jiumei is a wife or a mother with a three-year-old child. So, if she says "good night" to strangers, will her family have a problem with it?

Jiumei smiled and replied, "my husband is a young man of literature and art like me. we fell in love in college and got married together at work. He supports my cause of 'good night'. Because to some extent, this way can cure people who suffer from 'autism' in the city and cure themselves who used to be lonely."

Some people say that by sending the word "good night", you can earn one yuan, which is too easy. Jiumei said that her original intention was to bring warmth to the lonely people in the city. If she makes money from this, she earns more than 4,000 yuan in four years, but the time and energy invested in it is difficult to measure with money. "some people specify to send it in the early morning, while others buy it for their friends abroad, sometimes with a difference. In order to send it on time, I am strict with myself. " At different times of the same night, it is often necessary to send out more than ten "good night". In this process, in the face of so many people's stories, she not only mechanically pressed the word "good night", but also needed emotional input.

Even if it takes so much, Jiumei said, "I think I will insist on doing it." Moreover, if more people who live attentively are willing to say good night to strangers and share each other's stories, I think our lives will be warmer. " In mid-2015, Jiumei stopped selling "good night" because of her personal circumstances, but now she has free time, and she resumes the sale of "good night" after the Spring Festival this year.

Listen to stories offline

You tell a story, I'll give you half a cup of coffee.

Online, Jiumei sells "good night". Offline, Jiumei collects "stories".

After resigning from her high-speed job, Jiumei wants to start her own slow life. In 2014, she came to Changzhou Island in Guangzhou. Drinking coffee and writing stories is her biggest dream when she graduated from the Chinese department. So she took over a storefront and opened a cafe on the island. This cafe has a "rule": guests tell a story, Jiumei please drink half a cup of coffee. When we meet again in the future, the story is complete and the other half of the cup of coffee is filled. In this way, Jiumei turned the idea of literature and art into reality.

After resigning, Jiumei went to Cheung Chau Island to open a cafe. Ye Wei, a reporter from the Information Times, took a photo.

On the first day of the coffee shop trial, a girl who had just experienced a breakup came in, so she told a story about the breakup and drank half a cup of coffee. The next day, another girl came. She took the wrong car and hit the cafe by mistake. At that time, she didn't have a boyfriend. Later, the girl came no less than 20 times, bringing her boyfriend with her. Through these stories, Jiumei witnessed the growth and harvest of many people on the road of love.

A "post-90s" boy from Qingyuan, who was carrying out a "1000-kilometer cycling plan", told his story to Jiumei in a cafe. The boy said that in 2015, he encountered some changes, family, work, relationships, and all kinds of accidents followed, including the girl he loved left him. He was so unhappy that he decided to go for a walk and planned to ride through more than a thousand kilometers by himself, with a terminal in Hainan. Why Hainan? Because the girl he once loved wanted to see the sea, he wanted to take her there. Why bring a pot of gardenia? Because she didn't plant the flowers he gave her before, so he bought a pot of gardenia that was automatically watered. The boy said, "We broke up when the flowers arrived." I want to plant it at the ends of the earth in Hainan Island, every relationship should be serious, even if the result is not satisfactory, there should be a good end. " After the boy left the cafe, Jiumei later learned that when the boy went to Hainan, he really planted gardenias at the ends of the earth and sent the picture to Jiumei who came across on the cycling road.

Jiumei used to love to travel, but she has hardly traveled since she opened a coffee shop. "from these people, I opened a window to see the outside world." Each storyteller has a different experience, ups and downs, I listen quietly, but also feel the taste of life. Today, Jiumei has heard the stories of no less than 50 people.

I stopped listening because I received too much negative energy.

In leisure time, Jiumei will also invite some small potatoes around her to tell you stories. "We have a motorcyclist on Changzhou Island. He is in his 40s and works in a factory. He is optimistic and kind-hearted. He likes to install a stereo on his motorcycle. Happy songs reverberate everywhere he passes by. We invited him to talk about Cheung Chau Island, and many people around him were happy to hear it. He will tell you where the carambola in Cheung Chau Island is more delicious, where it is quietest and where it is more fun. The simple experience is very popular with the islanders. "

"I don't like boring life, so I like to listen to stories. I study Chinese, and I love writing. But listen, I found that many stories are not good, so I have accumulated a lot of negative energy. " Not all stories are warm. In the process of listening, Jiumei also paused to listen because she received too much negative energy and had to clear herself before she could start all over again.

Every once in a while, Jiumei will stop listening. When they are not listening in the cafe, some people who come to the cafe will write down their stories on post-it notes and stay in the shop.

Jiumei said that stories are "standard" in cafes, and "storytelling coffee delivery" will continue forever. "some guests come to the store and say that they can talk to someone here, which makes them feel at home." such comments give Jiumei a sense of achievement.

The coffee is half sold and half free, and the story has been listening to it. There is a real question ahead: can such cafes be profitable? Jiumei said that the business is just good enough to support the store. As for the next plan, she said that when she chose to go to Cheung Chau Island, she hoped that she could live a slow life and free herself, so that she would not be in a hurry like people in big cities, so she would always manage her slow life quietly on the island. "it would be even better if she could warm others while slowing down her own pace."

■ 's notebook

The "companionship economy" spawned by urban loneliness

Say good night, ask for comfort, send blessings, ask to confide in, be scolded for others, and even entrust an apology to lovers or friends. On the Internet, there are more and more virtual goods. Some people say that the loneliness of the city makes these virtual goods gradually form a unique "companionship economy". Such goods may be like Jiumei's store, do not make a lot of money, but always exist. On average, thousands of people look for "companionship" on Taobao every day, according to Taobao data.

In Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and other big cities, in the face of stressful work and life, do you want to "escape" or not? These arguments never stop. The objective situation is that more and more young people still choose to leave their hometown and come to work in big cities. When they have not yet established new social ties in the new environment, and there is less familiar warmth around them, loneliness will appear or even become more and more intense, and Jiumei used to be one of them.

But Jiumei is the one who has the courage to escape the mainstream trend. she gives up her generous income at work and chooses to live in a corner of Changzhou Island on the outskirts of Guangzhou. She lives the life that many literary and artistic young women have always wanted to live-drinking coffee, listening to stories and writing in their spare time.

Because she has experienced the loneliness of the city and found that "companionship" has become a need of urbanites, she uses the delicate feelings unique to women to sell "good night" online and listen to stories offline. Although some people questioned her "selling good night" to make money, she said that by doing this, she felt "needed" and, for her, a sense of achievement.

Maybe in the middle of the night, when you are working in a big city, you receive a "good night" from a stranger. On the other end of your phone, that person may be "Jiumei".