Setting Up Stalls – Chapter 107

I haven’t bought mine yet!

Zhou Ling’s mother left. She waved goodbye, and before leaving, she even said, “I’ll come again next time. Help me keep it a secret!”

Sun Miao also waved back at her, saying goodbye.

Being able to make delicious food that people recognized, helping others, and receiving their affirmation and gratitude—this was a very happy thing for Sun Miao.

She had genuinely fallen in love with street vending. Before transmigrating and in the very beginning, Sun Miao had only wanted to earn some money through her stall to make her life better. At the very least, to have a place to stay, a small bed to sleep soundly in, and then a little nest of her own.

Now, even without so many additional conditions, she had come to love street vending. To be precise, she loved meeting all sorts of customers while running her stall.

It was because of street vending that she was able to meet Su Ruixi. From love at first sight due to her appearance, to gradually being attracted by her personality, and finally falling completely for her—if she hadn’t come here to set up a stall, she would never have met Su Ruixi.

It was also because of street vending that she could meet all kinds of people. For example, the interesting hip-hop yabi duo, Zhou Ling and her mother, and even the lemon tea boss she had only recently met… and so on, all made her feel incredibly fortunate.

Sun Miao said to the system from the bottom of her heart, “Thank you for choosing me and letting me come here.”

Hearing Sun Miao’s thanks, the system seemed a little embarrassed, even a bit bashful: 【En, you should thank me. I’m so amazing… Alright, no need for thanks, you’re welcome.】

The usually sharp-tongued system became a little awkward due to Sun Miao’s sincerity.

After a short while, another interesting customer arrived. It was the cat owner from yesterday who had brought the formidable tabby cat, Niuniu. Today, she still had Niuniu with her, riding her small bicycle with Niuniu sitting in the front basket, still in that boss-like posture.

Sun Miao vaguely saw a golden glint shoot out from Niuniu’s eyes, which were somewhat narrowed by its chubby cheeks, staring straight at her.

Help! Sun Miao never thought she’d one day be stared at so fiercely by a cat. And that gaze, it seemed almost green, like a lion that had been starving for days and had finally spotted its prey.

The cat owner walked over, parked her bicycle to the side, and put down the kickstand. Then, she lifted the heap of a cat out of the basket. Niuniu was too fat; it looked like it weighed over ten jin¹. One had to know that tabby cats are generally very agile, usually weighing between 8 to 12 jin as adults.

Sun Miao often bought a lot of ingredients for her cooking, so she could tell at a glance that Niuniu was far beyond the standard weight—it looked exceptionally heavy!

So, the cat owner also struggled to hold her. She huffed and puffed to finally get Niuniu onto her lap, and the cat still acted all high and mighty² in her arms. The two of them painstakingly took a few steps to reach Sun Miao, and the cat owner began to order: “I’ll have one serving of Bubble Wontons and one Crab Shell Yellow.”

The cat owner thought for a moment: “Boss, if I just want half a bowl of soup without the Wontons, how much would that be?”

She didn’t ask Sun Miao to give it for free, and Sun Miao didn’t offer, because it was obvious that she would likely continue to come here to buy half a bowl of soup. Sun Miao communicated with the system for a bit before quoting a price: “Five yuan.” This price was actually a bit steep because there was nothing in it, just a little Chicken Broth.

It was the kind of clear, transparent Chicken Broth that looked like water, the kind that other places would definitely say, “It’s fine, it’s on the house, I’m not short of money.”

But the essence of the Chicken Broth Bubble Wontons was in this soup. Essentially, one was drinking this bowl of soup; the Wonton skins stirring in the Chicken Broth were what brought a unique taste bud experience. Those ten-odd Bubble Wontons themselves couldn’t sell for much; to put it bluntly, they were just Wonton skins with a dab of minced meat.

If Sun Miao opened the floodgates for free soup now, her soup might very well be completely claimed by customers later on.

So, she still had to charge for it.

When the cat owner heard it was five yuan for a bowl, a pained expression clearly showed on her face. But the big cat in her arms meowed “miao” twice with a whimper, and the cat slave could only present her wallet: “Forget it, Boss, give me one serving.”

The cat owner, holding the tabby cat, sat down to one side.

Sun Miao first gave her the Crab Shell Yellow. The cat owner originally wanted to eat it, but Niuniu insisted on pawing at the bag, so the cat owner had to temporarily put it aside, waiting for the cat to drink its soup and satisfy its craving before she could eat.

In a short while, Sun Miao had also finished making the Bubble Wontons and served half a bowl of soup to her. The cat owner, as usual, diluted it with water from her flask before letting the cat drink.

Other customers arrived, so Sun Miao went to attend to them first. One customer saw there was still a seat, said, “I’ll just eat here,” and sat down next to the cat owner. The cat owner, holding her cat, felt it wasn’t good to be too close to others, so she scooted her small stool a bit to the side.

This customer was also a regular, from Cuiting Yiyuan. Sun Miao had run into her on the road just a couple of days ago. The customer smiled when she saw the cat owner’s movement: “It’s okay, you don’t have to shrink into the corner. You won’t be able to enjoy your food like that.”

The cat owner thanked her softly and relaxed a little.

That customer was quite chatty and started a conversation directly: “Yo, you’ve fed this tabby cat of yours really well, huh? It must be pretty heavy.”

The cat owner was clearly a bit embarrassed. She jiggled the cat in her arms before replying, “She is quite heavy. I’ve been trying to put her on a diet recently and taking her out for walks, hoping she can lose some weight. When we went to the pet hospital for a check-up before, the vet said she was too fat.”

It was obvious she needed to lose weight; the reason why it had stared at Sun Miao with those green eyes earlier was also clear now—it was starved.

“Is this a tabby cat? Nowadays, many young girls like breed cats. My younger sister also has cats; she raises Ragdolls and Maine Coons, and spent quite a bit of money on them. Fewer people raise tabby cats.”

The cat owner’s nervousness faded considerably. When it came to the topic of raising cats, she really opened up, even stopping her movements of eating the small Wontons. “Yeah, but I still think tabby cats are great too. I found Niuniu in our residential complex. She’s amazing; she even helps me catch mice and can pass my keys to me through the window.”

As soon as she spoke about her cat, the cat owner’s face was full of smiles, especially when she said the last sentence, her voice full of sincere and heartfelt emotion: “Sometimes, working here all alone, I feel it’s quite boring. If it weren’t for her at home, I wouldn’t even know what I’m doing every day.”

At this moment, Sun Miao, who was making Bubble Wontons on the side and listening in, understood. To the cat owner, Niuniu was long past being just a simple pet. To her, Niuniu was family, a place where her heart belonged.

This was quite common among many people working in big cities. Initially, they just wanted to get a cat for amusement, and also to escape the helplessness of returning home only to curl up alone in their room playing with their phones.

Gradually, the cat became their emotional pillar.

Sun Miao had never owned a pet, but she understood that bone-deep loneliness. If she hadn’t been too poor, she might have also gotten a pet to accompany her.

But well, she didn’t need one now. Her empty heart had found its place; it was completely filled by Su Ruixi. Sun Miao finished making the Bubble Wontons with a smile and served them to the customer. This customer clearly didn’t understand much, but she was a good person, so she agreed, “Well, having a pet like that is really nice then.”

“It’s just that raising a pet is too expensive. She even needs to drink a separate five-yuan portion of soup. I can almost not afford to keep her anymore.” Although the cat owner said she “can’t afford to keep her,” her eyes looking at Niuniu were full of love.

The customer chuckled a few times and then started eating her Bubble Wontons and the Crab Shell Yellow beside her.

After these two left, another batch of regular customers arrived, and the lemon tea boss was among them. She even took advantage of a rare break Sun Miao had to chat for a bit: “The drawing I did before, I posted it, and the response was pretty good. I quit my job to become a freelance illustrator, right? I was actually quite lost, but now I have an idea: I’m going to draw a manhua³, and I’ve already thought about the content! I’ll use that picture I posted before as a prototype and start drawing their story of meeting, getting to know each other, and falling in love at school.”

That sounded pretty good. The lemon tea boss set up her stall at the school gate every day, observing the students coming and going, their interactions. Sun Miao believed that capturing the scenes would surely be a piece of cake for her.

“I want to draw something very ‘yang energy’⁴ stuff, the kind that makes people feel ‘Ah, my corpse is warm⁵‘ after seeing just one drawing!” The lemon tea boss was full of ambition, and Sun Miao also cheered her on. She didn’t understand manhua very well, but the lemon tea boss’s drawing skills were excellent; Sun Miao felt she could definitely do a good job.

“It’s just that drawing alone is quite troublesome. If only I had a heaven-sent assistant!”

After paying, the lemon tea boss even shouted at the sky, “Give me an assistant! I can afford to support one!”

Sun Miao also felt that she really needed an assistant sometimes, preferably one who didn’t need a salary. But when she thought about how little money she was already making and that she would have to pay an assistant, she dismissed the idea—forget it, she’d better do it herself.

The lemon tea boss was still over there talking about needing an assistant and saying she could afford one. It was clear that the lemon tea boss definitely earned a lot; otherwise, she wouldn’t be idly running a stall selling lemon tea and then deciding to switch careers to draw manhua just like that.

However, hearing the lemon tea boss say she wanted to draw a manhua based on the picture of her and Su Ruixi, Sun Miao still felt a little expectant. This also meant that Sun Miao would have more desktop wallpapers in the future! Drawing a manhua also required drawing cover illustrations; otherwise, without a big release of beautiful pictures, how could they promote it?

By now, Sun Miao had sold most of her things for the day. With five items left, she planned to eat them herself later.

Sun Miao was the type of person who thought about packing up early and rushing home all day long. Originally, Sun Miao didn’t feel this way. Back when she was selling Egg Fried Rice, Malatang, and Beef Pancakes, she didn’t care what time she went home. She could even stay until after seven o’clock just to save a couple of pancakes for Su Ruixi.

But things were different now. She was a person with a mission. She still had to buy groceries, cook, and then wait at home for Su Ruixi to return.

The mere thought of this made Sun Miao feel joyful. She packed up her food cart with particular enthusiasm. After sending a message in the group chat saying, “Packing up and heading home~”, she hopped on her tricycle and headed towards the wet market.

Just then, a customer who had bought from her yesterday happened to pass by. At this time yesterday, Sun Miao hadn’t left yet. Seeing Sun Miao riding her tricycle forward, the person shouted, “Hey, wait, I haven’t bought mine yet!”

Sun Miao just smiled and replied loudly, “Not selling anymore, going home!”

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