Setting Up Stalls – Chapter 101

Student party, on the hunt

“…”

It was delicious, no doubt, but the moment she thought it was made by the scoundrel who had led her daughter astray and spirited her away, the biological mother suddenly felt it wasn’t quite so tasty anymore. Even the fact that she had been utterly blown away¹ when she first tasted it, and that her love-struck husband had tried to coax her into letting him have another one—she couldn’t even remember those things now.

This young lady was slyly mischievous! Knowing Xixi was a picky eater, yet still making food this delicious—it was precisely because of these cooking skills that she had managed to spirit her Xixi away!

No one knows a daughter better than her mother; Mother Su’s guess was ninety-nine percent accurate.

Then she fell into an even longer silence. She actually really wanted to ask Su Ruixi: Was it necessary to be so quick? How long ago was it that you called saying you’d fallen for her, and now you’ve already confirmed the relationship, and she’s your girlfriend²? And things have developed so rapidly, she’s even making things for you to eat on weekends?

Su Ruixi, however, didn’t notice Mother Su’s silence and continued on her own, “Her crab shell yellows are really delicious. The ones she made for me have no chili; I can’t eat spicy food, so I sent those ones to you guys.”

Her own daughter, why did it feel like she wasn’t very dutiful? Mother Su shook the thought out of her head and chuckled softly, “Heh heh.”

Su Ruixi, while picking out vegetables, continued speaking to the person on the other end of the phone, “Don’t think five is too few; there’s a purchase limit.”

Mother Su couldn’t stay silent any longer. “Hold on a minute.” She pinched the bridge of her nose. “What do you mean, a purchase limit? Didn’t she make them?”

“She did make them, but she has too many customers. If there wasn’t a purchase limit, they’d be snatched up right at the beginning, so she had people implement a limit.”

“You have to abide by a purchase limit when you buy them too?”

“Yeah, I’m a customer too, you know.”

Mother Su took a deep breath. She understood the subtext: her own daughter had to pay out of her own pocket to buy a few small crispy buns from her girlfriend!

Mother Su chatted sourly with Su Ruixi for a while longer before hanging up. Then, turning her head, she saw her husband looking furious. “I told you we couldn’t let her find a partner on her own! Look, what kind of person is this she’s found! If you ask me, that young lady who’s leading our Xixi astray definitely isn’t a good girl! And she even makes our Xixi pay her for a few crispy buns! That’s too much! She can’t even bear to treat our Xixi to a few crispy buns!”

Mother Su looked at him, feeling even more weary at heart. “Stop talking. No matter what you say, Xixi won’t listen to you. If you object and Xixi cuts off ties with you, then you’ll find out just what the word ‘regret’ means. Also, what are you standing here for? We mother and daughter are talking, are you eavesdropping?”

Father Su wilted. “I… I’m just worried about Xixi.”

Ignoring the two of them, Su Ruixi picked out some vegetables she liked, bought some shrimp and steak, and then went to the checkout area to queue. While queuing, she overheard a young couple chatting in front of her.

The girl was blaming the boy, “If you hadn’t worked overtime yesterday, how could we have gone from celebrating 520³ to 521⁴!” The boy was begging for forgiveness. Su Ruixi didn’t pay attention to these details, but she did register what the girl said.

Yesterday was 520, and today was 521!

Thinking about this, she turned her shopping cart around, preparing to buy some fresh flowers and scented candles. Her mood improved even more because yesterday, she hadn’t worked overtime, and Sun Miao hadn’t set up her stall either. Although both of them had forgotten that yesterday was 520, they had indeed spent the entire day together.

And, they even kissed!

Her first 520, her first date—although the location and content of the date were somewhat unconventional, Su Ruixi was very happy. She hadn’t realized it yesterday, but she could make up for it today, just like that young couple.

After buying these things, Su Ruixi returned home in high spirits. She planned to look up some tutorials online. Even if she couldn’t cook proper meals, she could at least prepare some ingredients! It was just washing vegetables, right? She couldn’t cut, but surely she could still wash them?

While Su Ruixi was quite happy on her end, Sun Miao was also gradually selling a lot on hers. Tong Yuwei, who was off today, also came. She ordered a serving of mini wontons and one crab shell yellow, and sat down to eat. Before this, as soon as she arrived, she had asked Sun Miao, “Boss-jiejie, will our beef pancakes ever have a chance for an encore?”

Sun Miao didn’t answer, so Tong Yuwei could only sigh and place her order. She sat there obediently, finishing off a crab shell yellow in two or three bites, looking very happy as she ate. After finishing, she was silent for a good while, and when paying, she still had to say to Sun Miao, “Even though the crab shell yellow with preserved mustard greens and pork filling is delicious, the NO.1 in my heart is still the beef pancake! I won’t yield!”

So, toxic solo stans⁵ really are annoying!

Sun Miao grumbled inwardly, then waited for Zhou Ling and her mother. Zhou Ling walked ahead, calling out, “Mom, hurry up! What if they sell out because we’re late?”

“Coming, coming! You’re just too fast.”

The mother and daughter arrived one after the other at Sun Miao’s stall and each ordered a serving. They had come quite late; it was already past two in the afternoon. Even if Sun Miao didn’t get any new customers, with the purchases from a large number of regulars, there weren’t many crab shell yellow left.

She estimated that she could definitely sell out before six o’clock today.

Sun Miao’s working hours had changed from 7 AM to 7 PM to 6 AM to 6 PM because she wanted to go back earlier to cook for Su Ruixi and have dinner together.

In fact, many times, even with the 7 AM to 7 PM schedule, she could sell out early and go home. But there were also days like today, where there really weren’t many customers, causing her to still be selling at this hour. Often, she had to sell until five or six o’clock.

Now that she had a partner, Sun Miao wasn’t alone anymore, so it didn’t matter what time she sold out. She wanted to finish her stall business early and return to Su Ruixi’s side. Strangely, Sun Miao felt that she had found a place to settle down, an existence called “home.”

She was an orphan. The last time she had felt this way was when she bought a small two-story shopfront property. She had felt that it was her home, something to work hard for, and her heart had been full to bursting with this thought.

But now, it was different from that time. Her heart felt just as full, but at this moment, it felt so full there wasn’t a single gap left. Her entire being felt warm and fuzzy from the wisp of flame gathered in her heart.

That was her home, and her lover was in that home. She was no longer a rootless duckweed⁶, destined to drift everywhere.

A rented room couldn’t be called a home; it was just a temporary place to stay. She was like a migratory bird, ready to move away at any time for various reasons. But now, she had a place to roost and never wanted to move again.

Of course, the most important thing right now was to finish the business at hand.

Sun Miao served Zhou Ling and her mother their food. They didn’t leave but sat at the small table, eating and casually chatting with Sun Miao. Many regular customers were like this; they didn’t like takeaway, preferring to sit at her small tables, on the flowerbeds by the roadside, or even squatting on the curb holding their hot food, just to eat it there.

This was Sun Miao’s personal charm. She had an uplifting aura of everyday warmth, making even people who were usually distant and indifferent unable to resist gathering around, wanting to enjoy a sliver of that warmth.

Not to mention Zhou Ling and her mother, who had already changed somewhat because of Sun Miao; they especially didn’t want to leave once they were there.

“Sun-jiejie, my mom said you moved to Number 11 and are living with the elder sister next door?”

“Yes.” Sun Miao put down a crab shell yellow and smiled a little. “I chatted with your mom for a bit yesterday. I found out Grandma Li’s family has a doggy; her doggy is really friendly.”

“It’s raised by their little sister; it’s super friendly. Usually, their grandpa takes it out for walks. This morning, my mom ran into Grandma Li, and when she came back, she told me that their Samoyed absolutely loved the chicken you made and ate every last bit of it!”

Today was May 21st. There were actually only a few days left until the Gaokao, but Zhou Ling’s attitude was very relaxed, which was a good thing. Sun Miao didn’t bring up the Gaokao; she knew that with Zhou Ling’s personality, she must have prepared well, and there was no need to add pressure at this time.

“As long as it likes it.”

“My mom originally planned to have Auntie make chicken soup today too, but then she thought yours was better, so she brought me here directly!”

Speaking of this, she glanced at her mother, “Mom, is it good?”

“Delicious. Better than Yuanfulou’s.”

Heaven knows how many times Yuanfulou had been dragged down to elevate Sun Miao. As a fellow chef, she mentally lit a candle⁷ for her peers at Yuanfulou. It really wasn’t their fault that their food wasn’t as good as hers, because Sun Miao was basically using cheats; there was no comparison.

“I think so too!”

Zhou Ling was very happy to get her mother’s approval. The portion of this bowl of “bubble” mini wontons was a bit small for someone with a large appetite, but it was just right for Zhou Ling, especially since she had already eaten a little something to tide her over at lunchtime. Now, after finishing, she felt a bit stuffed.

The two of them also got a serving of mini wontons to go, planning to take it back for Zhou Ling’s dad.

“Sun-jiejie, see you next time~”

Sun Miao waved at them, watching the mother and daughter leave while chatting, and couldn’t help but sigh, “How nice.”

While Sun Miao was sighing about the peaceful and quiet times, the internet was in an uproar. It had been three days since she stopped her changfen stall. The students from the Education Park had formed a “Changfen Stall Search Plan” group and vowed to “ferret out” Sun Miao.

This group of students was brimming with confidence, even formulating corresponding plans and deploying people throughout the entire group. There were even students majoring in market management or related fields who conducted research, finding out where stalls could be set up and which locations were more suitable.

They had previously learned that Sun Miao had all her licenses and had even promoted the standardized development of the stalls on a street in the Education Park. Therefore, they guessed that Sun Miao would definitely choose a place where stalls were allowed and where there was a lot of foot traffic.

Based on this, under the group admin’s arrangements, they fanned out across the city, searching for traces of Sun Miao. It wasn’t that they had no leads; they did find the back gate of the hospital… It was just that there was a small problem with communication, and in the end, they didn’t manage to connect with Sun Miao.

Because among the ranks of these bright-eyed university students, there were some who didn’t quite use their brains. When asking, they directly inquired, “Is there a particularly delicious changfen stall here?” The other party replied, “Huh? No, but we used to have a particularly delicious egg-fried rice stall here. The aroma of that egg-fried rice…”

“Thank you!”

He didn’t even wait for the person to finish before turning and leaving.

Three days, three whole days, and they had found nothing.

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