Setting Up Stalls – Chapter 102

Is the landlady auntie there?

【How could this be?! Did you guys even search properly? How could you not find it?!】

【Wuwuwu, changfen, I haven’t eaten changfen for three days, nor have I smelled its aroma. I’m about to have withdrawal symptoms!】

【You’re just talking over there, why don’t you go search?!】

【I’m the one who analyzed the map! I’ve also done my part for the people!】

The students, having found nothing, focused their hopes online, posting on various apps in the local city sections, searching for this changfen stall.

Most netizens, upon seeing “30 kuai for one serving of changfen,” were astonished and skeptical, even suspecting it was a large-scale marketing campaign.

【What kind of changfen costs 30 kuai?! I wouldn’t eat it even if you gave it to me for free!】

【30 kuai?! Has the owner gone mad thinking about money?!】

【No way, it’s just a roadside stall, and you’re putting this much effort into promoting it?!】

The onlooking students fell silent. This scene was all too familiar. Back when they heard the recommendations from the first batch of people who had eaten it, they had thought the same. As a result, the face-slap¹ came swiftly, almost instantly. Just one bite, and they would realize: Worth it! It’s absolutely worth this much money!

It was even a bargain, really.

University students might be less experienced, but they weren’t fools. How could they not know in their hearts what level of food they could get for a certain amount of money? Although university students might occasionally be suckers², they would only be suckers once. If it wasn’t delicious, they would immediately post about it in the university group chats, guaranteeing that the stall would lose all its business.

But everyone was won over, which was enough to prove that the changfen was so delicious it was earth-shattering³!

They remained unmoved by outsiders, solely focused on finding help from a fated person⁴, hoping a netizen would fall from the sky and let everyone know where the changfen stall was. Some students who had taken photos before even posted them online.

That changfen was truly a feast for the eyes. Even a simple snapshot made it look exquisite. Never mind those who had eaten it; even those who hadn’t found their mouths watering⁵, their craving worms⁶ completely lured out. For those who had tasted it, the sight was even more unbearable; its flavor seemed to already fill their mouths.

Unfortunately, when they tried to gulp it down, all they got was a mouthful of saliva born from their craving.

While they were tirelessly searching, their posts were forwarded by two students, Xiao Xiao and Man Man, to Sun Miao’s foodie group chat. A new round of discussion began:

【I told you we shouldn’t let those students into the group! They can’t hold back! They’ll want to broadcast it to the whole world, completely unaware that these are all our potential rivals!】

【Ahhh, please don’t let them find it, please don’t let them find it! This female devotee is willing to eat thirty extra meals of Little Boss Sun’s bubble mini wontons as a price! Please don’t let the students find her!】

【Hey, you up there, you’re trying to have your cake and eat it too!】

【Speaking of which, I saw someone in the comments section post their search area map. The students’ execution power is terrifying; they’re really coming for Little Boss Sun.】

【I saw it too! They’ve identified places that allow stalls and have good foot traffic. They’re really impressive. Logically, they should be able to find her.】

【Little Boss Sun doesn’t take the beaten path⁷. Except for the Education Park last time, she hasn’t been to places with particularly high foot traffic. Because she loves the second lamppost, haha.】

【Huh? I saw on their search area map that they went to the back gate of the Municipal Hospital’s main branch? Isn’t that where Little Boss Sun first started selling egg fried rice?】

At this point, the old customers in the group couldn’t sit still. Exclamation marks flew across the screen, and then they tagged every customer who had joined the group because of the egg fried rice: 【You absolutely must keep your mouths shut! Don’t leak a single secret!】

While the foodie group was strictly on guard, some students discovered a blind spot. Mainly, someone found a netizen’s comment: “Why does this scene feel so familiar? A while ago, that beef pancake, it seemed to be the same situation. It just wasn’t as big a deal as it is now. I almost thought I remembered wrong, but there really was a beef pancake incident.”

The student crowd followed the clues⁸ and found the “beef pancake incident” this person mentioned. Although that vendor sold beef pancakes, and the location was different, the experience indeed had a similarity rate of up to seventy percent with theirs!

It was also exceptionally delicious, and even the price was similarly expensive! The vendor also disappeared immediately after saying they wouldn’t sell anymore. Most crucially, it was the state of the diners speaking in riddles in the comments! The same thing was happening in their comment sections too; some people were exchanging secret codes, while others were completely clueless.

It was just—what was going on? How come she also sold beef pancakes?! And beef pancakes were cheap, only 10 kuai each! That was much cheaper than their changfen! Given how delicious the changfen was, even without having tasted the beef pancakes, they believed: the beef pancakes must also be delicious!

While the students began to follow the clues, Sun Miao was entertaining her new customers. Among contemporary young people, there are definitely some who, harboring the thought, “I just have to see what on earth is so expensive,” will dive right in. Most of the time, they get ripped off, but there’s also a chance they encounter a rare event like Sun Miao.

There weren’t many such people, but there were a few. After eating, they bought more to eat and to go, walking away directly with bubble mini wontons. Locals really love bubble mini wontons. No wonder there was an auntie who would go all the way to Gusu every week to eat mini wontons. Though, things like fare evasion were really uncalled for.

However, without exception, anyone who ate Sun Miao’s mini wontons became Sun Miao’s person; they simply couldn’t break free from the wontons. In comparison, the crab shell yellow weren’t as popular with the locals.

They did eat crab shell yellow here, but mostly sweet ones. This area preferred savory flavors. People speaking Mandarin with a local accent, upon hearing it was preserved mustard greens with meat filling and a bit of chili, would wave their hands dismissively: “How can you put chili in it? No, no, no, red bean paste filling is the delicious one.”

Sun Miao didn’t explain, just continued to sit calmly. If a customer needed something, she would stand up and prepare food for them. If not, she would sit on her chair and browse her phone for a while. She hadn’t forgotten about buying those free-range chickens from the landlady to make soup for Su Ruixi. Right now, she was contacting the landlady.

To be honest, if it weren’t for Su Ruixi, she probably wouldn’t have bought those free-range chickens. Because… they were too expensive. If Sun Miao were eating them herself, an ordinary old hen would suffice. She had already eaten even better chicken in the system space. What chef doesn’t taste their own cooking? One always has to take a few bites to know the flavor.

No matter how good the chicken in reality was, its quality definitely couldn’t compare to what the system provided.

Sun Miao had eaten such delicious chicken, so why would she crave the landlady’s free-range chickens? But Su Ruixi hadn’t eaten them, and she loved chicken soup. Yesterday, she almost couldn’t walk away from the chicken soup and even drank several bowls.

It was precisely for this reason that Sun Miao was thinking about the landlady’s free-range chickens.

Also working hard at her stall today: Is the landlady auntie there?

Landlady: What’s up?

Seeing the landlady’s reply, Sun Miao immediately explained the situation, speaking earnestly and saying many nice things. But the landlady was still hesitant: Those are for my daughter. She just got married not long ago. If she has a baby, they’ll be perfect for making nourishing chicken soup.

Parents’ love for their children is probably always like this.

Sun Miao sighed inwardly: Your daughter just got married! The baby isn’t even a speck on the horizon yet!

However, if she said that, the landlady auntie would definitely get angry. Sun Miao could only appeal to her emotions and reason with her, finally succeeding in happily acquiring two old hens from the landlady. After all, it was still unknown how long it would be before her daughter had a child; there was plenty of time to raise a few more old hens. Selling the two old hens she had now could buy many chicks.

Sun Miao indeed paid a hefty price: 500 kuai for two, meaning 250 each.

This price was enough to make Sun Miao curse herself for being an idiot⁹. If she bought free-range chickens online, it definitely wouldn’t cost this much. But online purchases would surely be frozen, completely different from freshly slaughtered ones.

This amount of money wasn’t actually a lot for the current Sun Miao. She still felt it was expensive because she had been poor for too long and was afraid of poverty. For Su Ruixi, this sum was even more like pocket change¹⁰. But to see if someone truly loves you, you don’t look at how much they can give, but at how important what they give is to themselves.

Sun Miao, accustomed to poverty, proactively spent money on Su Ruixi because she genuinely liked her.

This feeling might not yet be called “love”—that emotion was too heavy for Sun Miao—but it was definitely “like.” She settled the price with the landlady, transferred the money directly, and was just waiting for the crab shell yellow to sell out before pedaling her tricycle to the landlady’s place.

Although the crab shell yellow weren’t selling exceptionally well, most of them were sold out. Sun Miao looked at the remaining bit, only about ten or so, and decided to take them back for herself. These had chili, which Su Ruixi couldn’t eat. She would eat five tonight and another five tomorrow morning.

It wasn’t good to sell leftovers to customers, but it was fine for her to eat them herself.

Thinking this, Sun Miao began to pack up. She collected the trash and restored the food cart to its mobile state. Carrying the crab shell yellow, Sun Miao set off on her electric tricycle. It was just past five o’clock. Su Ruixi had sent Sun Miao some messages, and Sun Miao had read them all.

She was very seriously cleaning the vegetables she had bought, though she was rather clumsy at washing them. Su Ruixi had bought some okra. For this vegetable, you actually just need to wash the skin clean and boil it with the stem on, dealing with it afterward. However, Su Ruixi, while washing the vegetables, had removed the stem along with the cap, causing the little white beads inside to pop out.

Su Ruixi even said: This okra is really disobedient.

When Sun Miao saw this, she smiled very happily: I’ll do it next time. You wait for me to come home.

The five words, “You wait for me to come home,” greatly pleased Su Ruixi, but in her message, she only replied: Okay.

Sun Miao took a detour, first dropping off the trash at the garbage station, then went to the landlady’s place. The landlady had already informed the elderly folks at home. When Sun Miao arrived, the old folks had already tied up the chickens’ feet, so Sun Miao just had to put them on her cart.

She thought for a moment and, in the end, didn’t take the crab shell yellow home. There were about ten of them. She split them in half, giving some to the landlady and some to Kaixin’s family. Kaixin was out playing, so Sun Miao gave them to Kaixin’s mom, explaining that there was some chili inside, so if Kaixin couldn’t eat spicy food, she shouldn’t give it to her.

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