"Excuse me, what happened?"
Just as Chris and his son were crying in each other's arms, the coffee shop door was pushed open, and a beautiful female employee walked out.
"Sorry, we'll leave right away…" Being poor, Chris thought the female employee was there to drive them away, and he unconsciously showed a humble posture.
Chris Jr., in his arms, was very sensible at this moment, reaching out his small hand to wipe away his father's tears.
"No, no, no, that's not what I meant!" Max quickly explained, "I saw that you were thinly dressed, and it's snowing right now… Perhaps you can come inside and sit for a while until the snow stops."
In fact, Max had already noticed the down-and-out father and son. She had been crouching behind the display window and had heard most of their conversation.
As a girl living in the common district, Max could deeply understand Chris's difficulties.
Her original intention in coming out to talk was to offer some help to this poor father and son.
As for Chris, he didn't want to cause trouble for anyone.
However, the snow outside was getting heavier, and in an area like Fifth Avenue, it was difficult to find a mobile relief station.
Looking at his young son's red, frozen face, Chris thanked her, "Thank you, we'll leave when the snow lightens up."
Before entering the shop, Chris even carefully cleaned the snow off his and his son's feet.
Perhaps because of the snow, there were no other customers in the coffee shop.
Only a girl wearing the same uniform as the previous female employee was buried at a table, seemingly calculating something.
"Max, have customers arrived?" Caroline, who was doing the year-end summary, looked up when she heard movement at the door.
Although Caroline was the owner of this coffee shop, she was also an employee. She usually served coffee to customers, while Max was responsible for desserts.
"No need, you go on with your work. I'll take care of these two customers." Max smiled and waved her hand, indicating that she could handle it.
"OK." Caroline continued to look down at her accounts.
Although this small coffee shop had only been open for three months, the various detailed purchase and sales accounts, when gathered together, were not easy to sort out quickly.
Despite Caroline graduating with an economics degree from Columbia University, her math skills were actually very poor.
Looking at the dense pile of numbers in front of her, Caroline, who had once again bent her head down to "fight," soon started scratching her head again.
"Please sit down first, I'll get you something warm to drink…" Max shook her head with a smile, looking at Caroline's distressed expression while calculating, then turned and arranged for Chris and his son to sit nearby, before walking behind the counter.
Soon, Max brought out a cup of black tea and a cup of warm milk and placed them in front of Chris and his son, also giving them a plate of donuts.
"We're not hungry…" Looking at the exquisite donuts in front of him, Chris, embarrassed by his empty pockets, quietly swallowed and then refused.
"This is afternoon tea that Caroline and I prepared for ourselves, it's free," Max explained with a smile.
Chris, clearly feeling the kindness of others, didn't speak again, but silently kept this warmth in his heart.
After handing a donut to his young son, Chris also picked one up for himself.
As the sweet donut entered his mouth, this dejected middle-aged man once again felt like crying.
"Little one, I heard you say earlier that today is your birthday, is that true?" Max didn't leave after delivering the items, but sat down next to little Chris.
"Yes, my name is Christopher. Today is my fifth birthday." Chris Jr., feeling that the big sister beside him was a good person, revealed his information without any guard.
"Congratulations, Chris!" Max said cheerfully, "Do you know, every child who celebrates their birthday at our shop gets an extra birthday cake?"
Since it was her first time doing something like this, Max's performance was a bit exaggerated.
"Really?" Chris Jr.'s face showed a surprised expression, but he quickly added, "But Dad and I didn't make any purchases in the shop."
"But you're 'guests,' aren't you?" Max continued to fool the little boy.
She quickly made little Chris believe he was a lucky child.
Chris, who had watched the entire process from the side, wanted to speak several times, but seeing his young son's happy expression, he ultimately didn't open his mouth.
Then, to little Chris's expectant expression, Max went to the display window and picked out a medium-sized cake, thoughtfully inserting five small candles.
At the same time, a paper birthday hat was placed on the little birthday boy's head.
In the warm atmosphere, Max accompanied Chris in singing "Happy Birthday" to little Chris.
Then, the girl left the rest of the time for Chris and his son to be alone.
"What's going on over there?" Caroline, dizzy from calculating accounts, naturally noticed the commotion around little Chris.
Seeing Max walk over, she asked curiously.
Max shook her head, indicating she didn't want to talk about it, then whispered, "I'll pay for the cake later."
"I didn't mean to blame you, I meant to say, why didn't you include me when you were doing a good deed?" Caroline, who had been slacking off from her accounting, had actually been secretly paying attention to little Chris's situation.
She probably guessed what Max had done.
It was just that she didn't know Chris and his son, so she felt awkward joining in the fun.
"Shh, I know you're a young lady, you don't care about a cake. Can we not talk about this?" Max motioned for Caroline to speak softly, so the people involved wouldn't hear.
Only the poor can truly understand the pride of the poor.
Although Caroline wasn't bad-hearted, having not experienced much hardship, she couldn't understand the struggles of ordinary people's lives.
"Okay," Caroline didn't dwell on the topic. She pushed the ledgers she needed to organize towards Max and said, "Now I need your help too."
Max was born in a common district and didn't have many opportunities for schooling, so her math skills were only on par with Caroline's.
However, seeing her friend's distressed look, she still took over her work.
Yes, although Max became an employee of this small shop by accident, her personality seemed to naturally complement Caroline's, and thus the two became very good friends in a very short time.
As for Chris, after celebrating a happy birthday with his young son, his gaze inevitably turned to Max and Caroline, who were calculating accounts.
Children can be ignorant, but adults cannot be without discretion.
Having received such care, Chris felt that he should personally thank the kind people.
"When I grow up, if I have the chance, I will definitely come back to repay that big sister…" Chris Jr. followed his father's gaze and also looked at Max.
Facts proved that the saying "children from poor families mature early" indeed holds much truth.
Although little Chris was young, he wasn't completely ignorant. And the birthday cake he had just eaten had price tags displayed in the window.
"Dad is very happy that you have the idea of repaying kindness. We cannot think that others' help is a given just because we are poor now…" Chris rubbed his young son's head with relief, a rare smile appearing on his face.
Finally, Chris decided to take his young son with him to thank Max before they left.
"Chris Jr. and I are about to leave. Thank you for letting us come in to escape the snow. Also, the cake and donuts were delicious…" Chris held his young son's hand and came to Caroline and Max to express his gratitude.
Of course, these words of thanks were mainly directed at Max.
Although the snow outside hadn't stopped yet, Chris, who still needed to find a place to stay for the night, was already planning to leave.
"It's nothing, it's what we should do…" Caroline, who was also thanked, was in a very good mood.
At this moment, she also noticed that the man in front of her was indeed very down-and-out; his cheeks were very thin due to long-term malnutrition, and his complexion was not very good either.
The little one next to him, however, was very well taken care of.
"Oh, Max. Don't we have some donuts and small cakes that are about to expire and need to be disposed of? Since this gentleman likes them, we can give them to him…" Caroline also had a heart to help others, but her approach was very clumsy.
Compared to her, Max was considered the more tactful one.
How does that saying go: it's all thanks to "peers" for making one look good.
"Thank you—" Chris clearly felt the "young lady's" kindness as well.
As for feeling ashamed or losing face?
To ensure little Chris got a few more full meals, Chris no longer cared so much.
"Max, I remember we also have some bread that needs to be disposed of, you can pack that up too…" Caroline, who was enjoying the feeling of doing good, winked at Max while speaking.
She was probably reminding her to pack more.
"Got it." Max looked at her friend's childish behavior, feeling a bit like covering her face.
And the other party's winking was too obvious; even a blind person could see it.
In any case, Chris and his son next to them were certainly not blind.
"Are you practicing mental math?" To avoid awkwardness, after Max left, Chris glanced at the messy ledger on the table and casually found a topic.
Although Chris was also born in a common district and didn't have much schooling, he was a "genius" naturally sensitive to numbers.
He could calculate the answers to the numbers on the table in his head.
"These aren't just math problems, but the income and expenditure records of the small shop for three months. The accounts are too many and too messy, it gives one a headache to calculate…" When talking about the accounts, Caroline couldn't help but complain.
"This is a ledger?" Chris was surprised for a moment and reminded her, "You should use the table method for bookkeeping; it's simple, convenient, and clear at a glance."
Chris clearly knew where his talent lay and had self-studied knowledge in this area for a period of time.
"Table method? What's that?" Caroline asked when she didn't understand.
Looking at the girl's clear eyes, Chris took action and said, "This thing is very simple, I'll show you…"
So, when Max came out with a large bag of food, she saw Chris hunched over the table drawing tables, while Caroline was watching from the side.