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    Setting Up Stalls Near the Rich Lady

    Setting Up Stalls – Chapter 183

    by Little Panda

    Nothing Left to Live For

    Sun Miao and Su Ruixi were having a very happy time in Qindao, but many of the people left behind were not satisfied. The first to be affected were the old customers. Although today, the 24th, was supposed to be a rest day after the end of a cycle, this day became exceptionally difficult, especially knowing that Sun Miao would not be setting up her stall for the entire Plum Rain Season, and they would have nothing to eat from her.

    Hip-hop Mei was letting it rot​1 at Yabi Mei’s house. She lay directly on the carpet, projecting a state of “nothing left to live for”.

    “Wuwuwu, without Little Boss Sun’s food, I’m going to die.”

    Yabi Mei was playing on her computer. Hearing Hip-hop Mei’s words, she corrected her: “You won’t die, don’t worry. You can starve for several days.”

    “Wuwuwu, you have no conscience, you don’t care about me at all.”

    Yabi Mei couldn’t be bothered with her. Hip-hop Mei was over there counting on her fingers, calculating just how many days Sun Miao would be gone: “Just when will she be able to come back?”

    Yabi Mei casually searched for the dates of the Plum Rain Season and answered her: “After ten days, I guess.”

    Hip-hop Mei counted on her fingers over there and started wailing again: “Why does the world have to have a Plum Rain Season, just why is that?!”

    There were not a few people who felt the same as Hip-hop Mei, including Zhou Ling’s family. The Gaokao​2 results came out on the afternoon of the 23rd. Zhou Ling’s score was good, so getting into her ideal school was not a problem. This made Zhou Ling’s mother both happy and sad. Happy, of course, that Zhou Ling’s grades were good; sad that Zhou Ling had already made up her mind to be a bird leaving the nest, to be an eagle spreading its wings on a high peak.

    Then, not being able to eat Sun Miao’s food became Zhou Ling’s mother’s second point of sadness.

    Not to mention her little sister also sent a message: 【Goodness gracious, we have to wait so long. I’m already starting to crave it today. I suspect Little Boss Sun has poisoned me, with a poison that makes you want to die if you can’t eat her food.】

    Zhou Ling’s mother was not as caustic as Yabi Mei; on the contrary, she even comforted her friend with a couple of sentences.

    Besides the old customers, there was another person whose days were not going very well. That was the Troublemaking Man, who had been forgotten by Sun Miao and Su Ruixi and was now still in detention. Following that day when he stubbed his toe at the police station, the Troublemaking Man began his journey of bad luck.

    The environment of the detention center was average. Each room was very small, furnished with only the simplest things, such as a bed, a table and chair, a squat toilet, and a washbasin. Fortunately, he was only detained for a total of fifteen days. Today was already the sixth day, with only nine days left. However, this thought was shattered not long after he had it.

    On the 18th, his first day in, he had accidentally kicked something at the police station, injuring his toe. When he woke up early on the 19th, he was woken up by being doused with cold water. As soon as he opened his eyes, the faucet of the washbasin was squirting water, sending a column of water directly at his face. If he didn’t wake up, who would?

    In the end, he got someone to come and look, but when they checked, there was no problem at all. The faucet was fine, it wasn’t squirting water, not a single problem.

    The matter was left unresolved. But when the evening of the 19th came, just two steps after he finished using the toilet, he fell on his butt. Looking again, it was water squirted from the faucet. This fall on his butt really hurt; the pain went from his tailbone to the top of his skull. He insisted that he must change rooms, and only then did the detention center staff reluctantly change his room.

    He thought things had improved, but this room was even more outrageous. The squat toilet… the smell was coming back up!

    If it were just a bad smell, the Troublemaking Man could have tolerated it; he wasn’t a particularly clean person to begin with. But the stench was indescribably bad, simply so stinky it could not be smelled. The fumes were so strong he couldn’t even sleep. The stench seemed to want to drill into his skull, making him toss and turn.

    In the middle of the night, he really couldn’t take it anymore and directly called for someone. Good heavens, it was a good thing he called someone, or else he could have gotten ammonia poisoning.

    But this kind of bad luck did not stop. Every day, if it wasn’t a problem here, it was a problem there. Even staying in the small room was not safe. Who knew when a large piece of plaster from the ceiling would peel off and fall, giving his noggin a whack.

    The Troublemaking Man truly felt, could it be that his life was offending Tai Sui​3, and that’s why he was so unlucky?

    By today, he was completely resigned. There were no major incidents, nothing that would cause serious injury, just some minor ailments and small troubles​4. If it wasn’t falling on his butt with pain shooting from his tailbone to the top of his skull, it was being squirted by water, or being hit on the head by falling wall plaster until it buzzed; if all else failed, he could even get a grain of rice stuck in his throat during lunch and cough for half a day, unable to spit it out.

    It wasn’t life-threatening, nor could he go directly out to the hospital. It seemed to confine him within this one mu and three fen of land​5 of a tiny cage, unable to move, and still unlucky.

    He did not know that this was a curse from the System. He also had a predecessor, Qipa Nan​6. Back then, after that man offended Sun Miao, he was also cursed by the System and encountered many troubles.

    But not as unlucky as him.

    Because the degree to which the Troublemaking Man had offended was deeper, he was, of course, also more unlucky.

    After his own relatives came to visit, the Troublemaking Man felt even worse. It was worse than the physical pain he suffered, because that represented his money.

    Visits are permitted for non-criminal detention. Currently, the Troublemaking Man was only under administrative detention​7, so when his relatives came, told him what had happened with tears and snot all over their faces, and asked him what to do, the Troublemaking Man was dumbfounded.

    His relatives told him that the research institute had unilaterally terminated the contract, and even his relative who held a position at the institute had been sacked. Moreover, neither he nor that relative would receive any compensation, because they were the ones who had made the mistake first.

    For the research institute not to pursue further liability was already the utmost of benevolence and righteousness.

    Originally, if the research institute’s business went bust, then it went bust. Although that was his biggest and most important business, he still had other contracted company cafeteria businesses. But the next moment, the visiting relatives told him that those businesses had also gone bust, exactly the same as the research institute’s.

    At this moment, if the Troublemaking Man still didn’t understand, he would be a fool—someone was targeting him!

    He thought of the woman who was with the small stall owner that day. That aura of hers was not that of an ordinary person. She definitely had the power to make his business go bust. But he didn’t understand. The cafeterias he contracted involved many companies, including some relatively large ones.

    Bullying the soft and fearing the hard was carved into the Troublemaking Man’s bones. Towards these big companies, he hadn’t dared to be deceptive and had been doing the cafeteria business with all his heart and effort. They shouldn’t be afraid of that woman…

    What he didn’t know was that Su Ruixi had indeed pushed the waves and added to the billows​8 from behind the scenes, adding bricks and tiles​9 to the downfall of his career, even playing a decisive role. But after that, there were also some people who, as “when everyone adds firewood, the flames rise high​10“, made unremitting efforts to make his business further rot and stink.

    Those were Sun Miao’s old customers.

    Cuiting Yayuan​11 had many property owners who were Sun Miao’s old customers. They had been following Sun Miao and eating and drinking extravagantly​12 since her Malatang days. Even those who didn’t go often, like Grandma Li, got along very well with Sun Miao after she moved into Cuiting Yayuan.

    Besides them, there was also that batch of customers from the Crab Roe Lion’s Head incident, for example, Zhou Ling’s mother’s close friends.

    These people were all either rich or noble​13, and some were both rich and noble. After learning that someone had already taken the lead and made connections, they immediately and unhesitatingly ran to help. Everyone was thinking the same thing at this time: Hopefully, Little Boss Sun will remember my small help today and give me an extra bite to eat. If that’s not possible, then just take fewer holidays. Don’t be like this time, going completely silent for the entire Plum Rain Season! Miao-men​14!

    There were also some who purely couldn’t stand seeing the Troublemaking Man bully Sun Miao. What a good person Little Boss Sun is; the Troublemaking Man bullies her, the Troublemaking Man is bad.

    Sometimes, perhaps just saying one sentence is enough to make it impossible for the Troublemaking Man to get by in this city. Let alone so many people saying so many things.

    It wasn’t just them; other old customers were also busy. As the saying goes, “those with money support with money, those without money support with their presence​15“. The ordinary diners were also working hard in their own ways. After Manman learned about this, she immediately integrated online information and directly exposed the Troublemaking Man’s “past and present lives”​16 on Xiaohongshu​17, revealing everything he had done before and now.

    After the student group saw it, they learned about the matter and immediately launched a campaign of reposting and liking.

    Besides suffering a crowd-created blow​18 in his career, the Troublemaking Man also gently shattered on the internet.

    It was also fortunate that he was still in the detention center. If he were to get out, he would find the current situation even more miserable than he imagined.

    While the Troublemaking Man’s body and heart were both in pain, Sun Miao and Su Ruixi, on the other hand, had a good night’s sleep. Although the entire journey had not been too tiring, it was still a long and wearying trip​19. In the afternoon, they went to the Zhanqiao​20 and the St. Michael’s Cathedral​21 to play for a while, and most importantly, they also fooled around for a long time in the afternoon.

    So in the evening, the two of them leaned against each other, sitting shoulder to shoulder on the bed, leaning against the headboard to watch a movie, and then fell asleep.

    They chose a horror movie to watch. Su Ruixi was extremely calm, and could even point out places where the subtitle group’s​22 translation was not very good. Sun Miao, however, didn’t understand, and just listened to what Su Ruixi said, murmuring a few “Oh, oh, so that’s how it is”.

    After watching it, the two of them snuggled together, sleeping with their necks entwined​23.

    The next morning, Sun Miao pulled her up.

    After washing up, Sun Miao directly took her and set off to browse the morning market. This was a guide​24 she had researched long ago. Su Ruixi, however, was rather uninterested in the morning market. She always felt that no matter how extravagantly praised​25 it was online, it would be useless; it definitely wouldn’t be as delicious as what Sun Miao made.

    They took a taxi to a market sandwiched inside a residential complex. Su Ruixi had no idea where Sun Miao had managed to find such a place.

    It was a bit like a vegetable market, but cleaner and tidier than a vegetable market.

    Just as they got out of the car at the entrance, they saw electric scooters weaving through the crowd. Without even entering the market, they could see several small stalls outside. Mixed-grain Jianbing​26, Baozi and Youtiao​27, Roujiamo​28, and everything else was available, and there was also a stall selling internet-famous moon biscuits.

    Sun Miao pulled Su Ruixi over to look at the moon biscuits, but felt they weren’t much different from Roujiamo, so she didn’t buy one. She turned her head and fixed her gaze on the egg hamburgers​29, and her eyes had two words written in them—want to eat.

    Inside this market, the voices of people were like a boiling cauldron​30. Su Ruixi found it a bit noisy. She didn’t really like this kind of place; she was a person who liked quiet. Sun Miao was a beautiful accident for her.

    But it seemed that as long as she was with Sun Miao, even places she didn’t like could radiate a different kind of brilliance. Sun Miao’s greedy-for-food expression was too vivid and lifelike. She laughed and said, “Let’s go, let’s go buy it.”

    TOC

    Footnotes

    1. 摆烂 (bǎi làn): A popular internet slang term, literally meaning “to let it rot”. It describes a state of giving up on improving a situation that is already bad, choosing to let things worsen without trying to fix them; to slack off or be completely passive.
    2. 高考 (gāokǎo): The National College Entrance Examination, a prerequisite for entering almost all higher education institutions at the undergraduate level in China. It is known for its intensity and is a major event in the life of Chinese students.
    3. 命犯太岁 (mìng fàn Tàisuì): A concept in Chinese astrology. Tai Sui (太岁) is the deity who presides over the year. “Offending Tai Sui” means one’s Chinese zodiac sign is in conflict with the year’s presiding deity, leading to a year of bad luck, obstacles, and misfortune.
    4. 小毛小病 (xiǎo máo xiǎo bìng): A colloquial phrase meaning minor ailments and small troubles; insignificant problems.
    5. 一亩三分地 (yī mǔ sān fēn dì): Literally “one mu and three fen of land” (a small plot of land; 1 mu ≈ 0.165 acres). This idiom refers to one’s own small sphere of influence, personal domain, or territory where one has control. Here, it refers to his small, confined cell.
    6. 奇葩男 (qípā nán): A descriptive name. 奇葩 (qípā) originally meant “exotic flower” but is now popular slang for a “weirdo” or an “oddball”. 男 (nán) means “man”.
    7. 行政拘留 (xíngzhèng jūliú): Administrative detention. A form of punishment in China for minor offenses, imposed by police without a court trial, for a period of up to 15 days.
    8. 推波助澜 (tuī bō zhù lán): A chengyu (four-character idiom) literally meaning “to push the waves and add to the billows”. It means to add fuel to the fire or to make a situation worse.
    9. 添砖加瓦 (tiān zhuān jiā wǎ): A chengyu (four-character idiom) literally meaning “to add a brick and a tile”. It means to do one’s bit to help or contribute to a cause.
    10. 众人拾柴火焰高 (zhòngrén shí chái huǒyàn gāo): A proverb meaning that when many people contribute, a great result can be achieved. It’s the equivalent of “many hands make light work”.
    11. 翠庭雅苑 (Cuì Tíng Yǎ Yuàn): The name of a residential complex. Literally “Jade Pavilion Elegant Garden”.
    12. 胡吃海喝 (hú chī hǎi hē): A chengyu (four-character idiom) literally meaning “to recklessly eat and drink to the sea”. It describes eating and drinking without restraint, often extravagantly or gluttonously.
    13. 非富即贵 (fēi fù jí guì): A chengyu (four-character idiom) meaning “if not rich, then noble”; describes people of wealth and high social status.
    14. 淼门 (Miǎo Mén): A playful term of devotion created by fans/customers, combining Sun Miao’s name (淼, Miǎo) with 门 (Mén, gate/sect), and used as a pun on “Amen” (阿门, Āmén). It’s like saying “Praise be to Miao” or “In Miao we trust”.
    15. 有钱的捧个钱场、没钱的捧个人场 (yǒu qián de pěng ge qián chǎng, méi qián de pěng ge rén chǎng): A common saying meaning that people can contribute in different ways; those who are wealthy can offer financial support, while those who are not can offer their physical presence, effort, or moral support.
    16. 前世今生 (qiánshì jīnshēng): Literally “past life and present life”. Used here metaphorically to mean his entire history, from past deeds to present actions.
    17. 小红薯 (Xiǎo Hóngshǔ): “Little Red Potato/Sweet Potato”. The colloquial name for the popular Chinese social media and e-commerce platform Xiaohongshu (小红书), which translates to “Little Red Book”.
    18. 众创 (zhòngchuàng): This is a pun. The literal meaning is “crowd creation” or “mass innovation”. However, it is a homophone for 重创 (zhòngchuāng), which means “heavy blow” or “severe trauma”. So, he suffered a “heavy blow” that was “created by the crowd”.
    19. 舟车劳顿 (zhōuchē láodùn): A chengyu (four-character idiom) literally meaning “boat and carriage weariness”. It describes the fatigue and exhaustion from a long journey.
    20. 栈桥 (Zhànqiáo): “The Pier”. A famous landmark in Qingdao, extending into the sea, with a pavilion at its end.
    21. 大教堂 (Dàjiàotáng): “Great Cathedral”. Likely referring to St. Michael’s Cathedral (圣弥爱尔大教堂), a prominent Catholic church and landmark in Qingdao.
    22. 字幕组 (zìmùzǔ): “Subtitle group”. These are often volunteer fan groups that create and translate subtitles for foreign films, TV shows, and anime.
    23. 交颈而眠 (jiāo jǐng ér mián): A literary expression meaning “to sleep with necks entwined”. It depicts a scene of great intimacy and affection, often used for lovers or very close companions.
    24. 攻略 (gōnglüè): Originally “strategy guide” for games. In travel contexts, it means a detailed plan, guide, or collection of tips that has been well-researched.
    25. 天花乱坠 (tiānhuā luànzhuì): A chengyu (four-character idiom) literally meaning “heavenly flowers falling in disorder”. It describes speech or writing that is eloquent, flowery, and often exaggerated or fanciful.
    26. 杂粮煎饼 (záliáng jiānbing): A type of savory crepe popular as a street food breakfast in China. It is made from a batter of mixed grains, with an egg cracked on top, and filled with various sauces and crunchy toppings.
    27. 包子油条 (bāozi yóutiáo): Baozi are steamed buns with various fillings. Youtiao are long, deep-fried dough sticks. Both are common breakfast items.
    28. 肉夹馍 (ròujiāmó): Literally “meat stuffed in a mo (bun)”. A popular street food from Shaanxi province, often called a “Chinese hamburger”. It consists of stewed meat (usually pork) chopped and stuffed into a flatbread.
    29. 鸡蛋汉堡 (jīdàn hànbǎo): “Egg hamburger”. A popular street food snack. It’s made by pouring batter and an egg into a special circular mold, adding a meat patty and other fillings, and then sandwiching it all between two cooked batter “buns”.
    30. 人声鼎沸 (rénshēng dǐngfèi): A chengyu (four-character idiom) meaning “human voices like a boiling cauldron”. It describes a place that is bustling with noise and activity.

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