Setting Up Stalls – Chapter 152
by Little PandaThe Juggernaut Water Bottle
After a while, they all finished eating. The Hip-hop Yabi duo and their wolf friends said goodbye to Sun Miao and left with satisfied expressions.
Many others had secretly scanned the group QR code Sun Miao provided, directly infiltrating the group.
After they left, a sanitation worker intended to come over and sweep the area. People eating Zongzi would surely leave behind many Zongzi leaves or trash bags, but when the worker arrived, they found the ground in this area was perfectly clean. There wasn’t even a single speck of glutinous rice that had been accidentally dropped while eating.
What a joke. Although they ate like hungry tigers pouncing on food1, each one of them was meticulous amidst their roughness2 and very careful. Even Hip-hop Mei was earnestly unwilling to let a single bit go to waste, laboriously eating every last bite.
Those Zongzi leaves were even cleaner.
Sun Miao glanced at them; they were so clean that an unscrupulous merchant could take them back for secondary use without even needing to wash them. Fortunately, Sun Miao was a conscientious merchant. She planned to go back to the suburban area where she used to rent a house to collect more ruozhu leaves after she finished selling for the day.
She had also asked Kaixin’s parents to help her collect some because she was worried she wouldn’t have enough time. What if she had to sell until six in the evening? The sky would be dark by then, making everything inconvenient. She would have to ask around to find who had ruozhu bamboo and then pick the leaves herself.
Kaixin’s parents readily agreed, and Sun Miao gave them a payment. They didn’t want to accept it at first, but Sun Miao explained that she wouldn’t just be troubling them for one day, but likely for the next few days. Only then did they tap the red envelope3 to accept the money, still feeling a bit uneasy.
They thanked Sun Miao several times. A little while later, a voice message came through. Sun Miao tapped it and heard Kaixin’s soft, sweet voice saying, “Thank you, jiejie. Jiejie, you have to come play, okay?”
Sun Miao sincerely wished that all the children in the world were adorable little girls like this, and that there would never be any bear children4.
After the Hip-hop Yabi duo left, there was a period with no customers. Sun Miao checked the time; it was already 6:45. She estimated that Su Ruixi was probably still asleep. The alarm she set was for seven, and she still had to do her makeup after getting up, so she would only come downstairs to eat at 7:30.
While Sun Miao was looking at her phone, the sanitation workers who were cleaning up earlier were almost finished and could take a short break. Someone came over and asked Sun Miao if she had any water. At this hour, the shops on the surrounding pedestrian street hadn’t opened yet, and the nearest water station was a long walk away. Seeing Sun Miao’s stall here, they came to ask.
Sun Miao hadn’t actually brought extra water, but she had a system. After communicating with the system, it pulled a large water bucket from its fourth-dimensional pocket5 and placed it in an empty spot on the food cart. It was a good thing Sun Miao was selling Zongzi this time, as most of the work was done at home, leaving plenty of free space on the cart.
Sun Miao replied, “Yes, I do. It’s just some cold boiled water6 I prepared for myself. Here, give me your bottle, I’ll pour some for you.”
The sanitation worker auntie said, “Thank you, really, thank you. The water station is just too far from here, otherwise I wouldn’t have the thick skin to come and ask you,” while extending her hands, holding the bottle level as she passed it to Sun Miao. As she did so, her back was slightly bowed, appearing overly polite.
“It’s no problem.” Sun Miao saw the auntie’s blackened fingernails and the dirt in their crevices. Her hands weren’t clean, but Sun Miao felt the auntie herself was immaculately so.
Sun Miao had lived at the bottom of society for many years and had more sympathy for people like this. She now felt a bit of regret, because no one had ever come to ask her for water before, she had never thought to provide this convenience for others. She filled the auntie’s bottle, and the auntie said thank you again before leaving.
Sun Miao discussed with the system, “Can you not swap out this water bucket? Just leave it in one spot. If people come asking for water in the future, I can provide it.”
【You can.】
The system being so agreeable made Sun Miao smile. She praised the system several times in her mind.
Her system was also a little bit tsundere. Hearing Sun Miao’s praise, it immediately started humming and hawing, its voice tinged with pride: 【It’s just average, not that amazing.】
Perhaps the auntie shared her experience with the other sanitation workers, because several more came to ask Sun Miao for water afterward. Sun Miao even told them, “I’ll be setting up my stall here for the next few mornings. If any of you need water, just come straight to me.”
“Okay, okay, thank you so much! You’re such a kind-hearted little girl.”
They also kindly informed Sun Miao, “Someone will come to do inspections here at 9 o’clock. Little girl, you should pack up and go home a bit earlier later.” Sun Miao didn’t explain that she had a license and various permits, simply smiling and saying “thank you.” They were just being kind, after all.
After chatting for a bit, the sanitation workers saw a customer arriving, so they said goodbye to Sun Miao and left her little stall.
Sun Miao recognized the person who came; it was the little nurse. She came with a colleague. Sun Miao told her, “This time it’s also a limited quantity, so I can’t set some aside for the people in your department.”
The little nurse waved her hand grandly, “No problem, I’m buying them for myself. I’ll be happy eating them myself without bringing any for them.” She leaned in with a grin, “Wasn’t that Lion’s Head Meatball with Crab Roe from before super delicious? The pictures in the group made me drool, but it was too expensive, I really couldn’t afford it. Sigh, how about, boss-jiejie, you open up a Huabei7 channel? That way I could afford the Lion’s Head.”
“No.”
Sun Miao refused while packing the Zongzi for the two of them. Her refusal was so blunt that the little nurse could only say “stingy” before waving and leaving.
What a joke, how could I enable Huabei? If I did, that group of students would find me, and they might really think, “I want to use Huabei to buy a 588-yuan Lion’s Head Meatball with Crab Roe, and then pay it back slowly each month.” Besides, having to use a method like Huabei just to eat a meal… Sun Miao really didn’t want to sell to such customers.
In Sun Miao’s view, eating was a higher pursuit that came after satisfying basic life needs. One must always act according to one’s ability8. If someone truly had to rely on a lending tool like Huabei to afford a meal, then it was better not to eat that meal at all.
So, she had no intention of opening a loophole like Huabei.
Fortunately, when merchants set up their payment QR codes, they could directly select the option to “refuse Huabei payments.”
Sun Miao had only discovered this after starting her own business and running the breakfast stall. Sometimes when she went out shopping, she would notice that some places accepted it and others didn’t; this was the reason why.
After the little nurse came, previous customers started arriving one after another. Even the cat owner came over, holding Niuniu. She rode her little electric donkey, stopped in front of Sun Miao, and bought two. She even complained to Sun Miao, “My boss couldn’t get up, so she sent me out to buy Zongzi. She said there’s a limit of two per person, so it’s perfect for me to buy two and we can each have one.”
She muttered under her breath, “If the boss wasn’t reimbursing me, I would never agree to split one with her. This Zongzi, I bet one isn’t even enough for me alone.”
Unfortunately, the temptation of reimbursement was too great; she truly couldn’t resist it. So, the cat owner came over, grumbling all the way, riding the lemon tea boss’s electric scooter. She even said to Sun Miao, “You have no idea how strict the inspections are now. If I randomly run into a traffic cop on the road, they’ll pull me over to check my license. Good thing my boss made me go get one in advance, otherwise I’d definitely get caught. Then the boss would have to go to the station9 to bail10 me and Niuniu out.”
“Niuniu can’t sit in the little basket in front of the scooter either, so I specially bought a cat carrier to let Niuniu sit on the front footboard.”
She was a talkative person, chattering on for a long stretch before waving at Sun Miao. “See you later, I’m taking the Zongzi back now. You don’t know how gluttonous my ‘reincarnated from a starving ghost11‘ boss is. She kicked me out early this morning before my eyes were even open~”
After she finished speaking, she stuffed Niuniu into the cat carrier. Niuniu meowed several times, her cries clear and unadulterated, obviously full of dissatisfaction with the carrier. Sun Miao couldn’t help but chuckle, waving goodbye to the person and her cat.
It was only 7:30, but Sun Miao had already sold over 60 Zongzi, which meant more than thirty people had come to buy from her. However, about ten of them were from the Hip-hop Yabi duo’s group; the rest were her accumulated regular customers.
Seeing that it was 7:30, Sun Miao immediately opened her phone and sent a message to Su Ruixi: “Good morning, are you awake?”
Su Ruixi replied: Awake, eating breakfast now.
Sun Miao couldn’t help but ask her: Are the Zongzi delicious? Are they a little bit more delicious than yesterday’s?
Logically, today’s Zongzi should be more delicious, because yesterday’s Zongzi didn’t have enough time to rest, so they definitely wouldn’t be as tasty as today’s. But Su Ruixi was an awkward person; it was generally difficult for her to be honest, especially on such an inconsequential matter.
After a while, Su Ruixi finally replied: They’re alright.
Which really meant: “They’re both very delicious.”
Ah, a Su Ruixi like this is just so cute!
The smile on Sun Miao’s lips never faded. But just then, a customer arrived, so Sun Miao stopped chatting with Su Ruixi. After sending a quick message, she put down her phone and attended to the customer before her.
This customer looked a bit unfamiliar; she probably hadn’t seen her before. She was carrying a large bag on her back and looked like she was out for a day of fun. It was just a bit too early; the shops on the pedestrian street behind her hadn’t opened yet, so it was unclear why she was here now.
Yet, upon seeing Sun Miao, it was as if she had seen a glimmer of hope. She came up intending to buy something to eat, but as soon as she saw Sun Miao’s sign, the hope on her face was immediately extinguished. She hesitated for a long time before finally speaking, “Boss, give me one Zongzi, please. Do you have water? I’d like to get some.”
Sun Miao nodded. “Yes, I do.”
She got a Zongzi for the person and was about to get her some water when she saw the woman pull a juggernaut water bottle out of her backpack.
It was a blue and pink gradient, with a handle, and actually looked quite nice. But its size was completely different from what Sun Miao had imagined. Sun Miao looked at it and felt that this cup was unusually large.
Alright, alright. Sun Miao had been thinking that when this customer first saw her sign, she had wanted to back down, but then her face became determined. Sun Miao had thought she had accepted the price, but it turned out this was what she was waiting for.
She wants to pull wool12, to get my free water to drink!
But a word once spoken cannot be overtaken by four horses13. There was no way Sun Miao could go back on her word.
Footnotes
- 餓虎撲食 | è hǔ pū shí | An idiom literally meaning “a hungry tiger pounces on its food.” It is used to describe someone eating voraciously or tackling a task with fierce, unstoppable energy.
- 粗中有細 | cū zhōng yǒu xì | An idiom meaning “to have meticulousness within roughness.” It describes someone who may appear coarse or careless on the surface but is actually very careful and detailed in their actions.
- 紅包 | hóngbāo | Literally “red envelope.” A traditional way of gifting money in Chinese culture. In modern times, this is often done digitally through apps like WeChat or Alipay, where one can send a virtual “red envelope” that the recipient taps to accept the money.
- 熊孩子 | xióng háizi | A popular Chinese slang term literally meaning “bear child.” It refers to children who are spoiled, unruly, and cause trouble for others, often due to a lack of discipline from their parents.
- 四次元口袋 | sì cìyuán kǒudài | A direct reference to the iconic magic pocket of the Japanese anime character Doraemon, from which he can produce all sorts of futuristic gadgets. It has become a common cultural reference for a seemingly magical space that can hold an infinite number of items.
- 冷開水 | lěng kāishuǐ | Literally “cold boiled water.” This refers to water that has been boiled to sterilize it and then allowed to cool down. It is a common and traditional way to ensure safe drinking water in China.
- 花呗 | Huābài | A popular digital credit service in China, operated by Ant Group (an affiliate of Alibaba). It functions like a virtual credit card or a “buy now, pay later” service, allowing users to make purchases and pay them back in installments.
- 量力而行 | liàng lì ér xíng | A chengyu (four-character idiom) that means to act according to one’s capabilities or to not bite off more than one can chew. It advises practicality and self-awareness.
- 局子 | júzi | A colloquial slang term for a police station.
- 撈出來 | lāo chūlái | A slang term that literally means “to scoop out” or “to dredge up.” In this context, it means to use one’s connections or money to get someone out of trouble, i.e., to bail them out of jail.
- 餓死鬼投胎 | è sǐ guǐ tóutāi | A common and hyperbolic curse or expression that literally means “reincarnated from a starving ghost.” It’s used to describe someone who is extremely gluttonous or greedy, as if they were starved in their past life.
- 薅羊毛 | hāo yángmáo | A very popular modern slang term that literally means “to pull sheep’s wool.” It refers to the act of actively seeking out and taking advantage of promotions, discounts, loopholes, and freebies, often in a meticulous or large-scale way.
- 一言既出，驷马难追 | yī yán jì chū, sì mǎ nán zhuī | A famous Chinese proverb that literally means “a word once spoken, even four horses cannot chase it back.” It emphasizes the importance of keeping one’s promises and the irreversibility of words once they are said.
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