Setting Up Stalls – Chapter 12

I Must Say, It Really Tastes Good

When Su Ruixi relented, Sun Miao finally breathed a sigh of relief. Su Ruixi…

When Su Ruixi relented, Sun Miao finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Su Ruixi was truly her crush, and she had always been warmhearted by nature. She knew Su Ruixi had stomach problems and appeared to be quite picky with food, so she probably hadn’t been eating properly on regular days. Under these circumstances, seeing her and getting her to come eat a bowl would be good for Su Ruixi.

That’s why she persuaded Su Ruixi this way.

It was because Su Ruixi truly matched Sun Miao’s aesthetic preferences, and Sun Miao also admired her personality and character; otherwise, if it were someone else, Sun Miao would have just given up after one attempt at persuasion, how could she possibly say so much at once.

“Thirty per serving, two meat dishes and three vegetable dishes, plus rice noodles. If you don’t want rice noodles, you can switch to other ingredients and meat dishes.” The rice noodles option was added later when some customers from Cuiting Yayuan came to buy and didn’t want it as a main dish, asking if they could switch to something else, which Sun Miao naturally agreed to.

After hearing this, Su Ruixi hesitated, wondering whether to switch to something else. It was already past nine, eating a main dish now might be hard to digest.

Sun Miao seemed to read her mind and said directly: “Rice noodles are fairly easy to digest. If you’re hungry, eat a little. I’ll give you half portion, and you can pick another dish.”

“No need to add anything else, this is fine.”

Su Ruixi looked at the dishes above, appearing more hesitant when facing the meat dishes. Over these three days, many people who came to eat Sun Miao’s malatang had the same expression as Su Ruixi, so she explained softly: “The fish balls and beef balls are handmade by me, and all these ingredients were bought by me this morning. Though the freshness might have decreased by now, they’re definitely not like the zombie meat sold in those stores.”

Hearing Sun Miao’s explanation, Su Ruixi finally nodded.

She finally chose fish balls and shredded chicken, and for vegetables, she took baby bok choy, mushrooms, and lettuce.

It was obvious that Sun Miao’s business was doing well. Except for pre-processed items that could be made in bulk and stored like fish balls and beef balls, many other dishes were sold out. The vegetable section was also running low, with only a few items remaining.

After Su Ruixi finished selecting, Sun Miao took the tongs to serve her food, and asked if there was anything she didn’t want among green onions, garlic, and cilantro.

“No cilantro, less green onions, and no garlic.”

“Alright, takeaway or eat here?”

“I’ll eat here.”

Su Ruixi didn’t want to take the malatang home, thinking that even with clear broth, the smell would still be quite strong.

Sun Miao nodded and told Su Ruixi to have a seat. Su Ruixi walked to the folding table nearby, examined it, and only after confirming that the table was still very clean despite being used for malatang did she sit down on the folding stool.

She also noticed that the napkins Sun Miao placed on the table were of better quality than before.

After a while, Sun Miao came with a disposable food container: “It’s quite hot, eat slowly.”

The system had advanced technology, its large containers not only had excellent sealing that prevented any smell from escaping, but also had incredible heat retention. She discovered on the first day that whatever temperature the soup was when first poured in the morning remained the same when she returned home at night to dispose of the leftovers.

That’s why she specifically reminded Su Ruixi.

Su Ruixi nodded, picked up the disposable chopsticks, opened the packaging, and prepared to eat. Sun Miao returned to her own seat, no longer paying attention to Su Ruixi.

Su Ruixi looked at the chopsticks, noting that the boss had indeed upgraded her equipment. The original disposable chopsticks were the very cheap kind that needed to be split apart, but now the disposable chopsticks were more like the everyday use type.

One look and you could tell they were more expensive than before.

After opening the package and taking out the chopsticks, Su Ruixi wiped them with a napkin. Instead of starting to eat right away, she observed her portion of malatang and took in its aroma.

The presentation was excellent. Although it was late and the only illumination came from street lights and the lamp hanging on the tricycle cart, it looked appetizing just by appearance. The soup was milky white, with her chosen ingredients scattered throughout, topped with bright green scallions that made it particularly appealing.

After taking in the appearance, what first struck Su Ruixi was the fragrance.

The aroma wasn’t strong, but rather subtle, without any overwhelming scent. Like a gentle breeze in the air, dissipating as it passed. Yet that faint fragrance was enticing, making one wonder just how delicious the soup must taste. Su Ruixi was no exception, already imagining its flavor.

Su Ruixi prepared to start eating, picking up a disposable spoon and scooping up some soup. The milky white color became slightly translucent in the spoon, with a piece of green onion floating in the broth, making it look even more tempting.

Remembering the boss’s warning about the heat, she blew on it twice before putting it in her mouth.

That first taste left her stunned because it was truly delicious. It was even better than some famous private kitchen restaurants known for their soup specialties. The soup wasn’t heavy, wasn’t too oily, and carried a hint of sweetness. Drinking it felt as refreshing as spring water, yet it didn’t lack the distinctive flavors of a proper soup.

The sweetness wasn’t overwhelming either, not like added sugar… but rather a pure, natural sweetness.

After the first taste, Su Ruixi eagerly took several more spoonfuls.

The evening was still quite cold, requiring a jacket, but in her rush to get out of the car, Su Ruixi hadn’t put hers on. The car had been warm inside while it was cold outside, and the contrast was uncomfortable. But this warm soup helped dispel that discomfort.

Once her body warmed up, Su Ruixi started eating the ingredients in the soup. Her first bite would definitely be vegetables, as she preferred them to meat dishes. Su Ruixi picked up a piece of baby bok choy, blew on it slightly, before eating it.

Indeed, it was truly delicious.

The baby bok choy leaves weren’t large, with one small piece hanging perfectly from the chopsticks. This baby bok choy must have been freshly bought that morning, but after a whole day, it should have been wilted and shriveled. Instead, this baby bok choy was still crisp and firm, with a slight bounce to it.

The slightly yellowish leaves and tender white stem roots, when lifted from the soup, dripped bright drops of broth. Just the appearance alone looked better than the supreme soup baby bok choy Su Ruixi had eaten two days ago.

Su Ruixi picked it up with her chopsticks and put it in her mouth. As she chewed, she discovered the baby bok choy wasn’t mushy, but rather maintained some crispness, though definitely not undercooked. She finished the piece in just one or two bites and couldn’t help picking up another piece, only to find this one was slightly softer than the previous.

She felt a bit disappointed, thinking not every piece could be cooked perfectly.

But after eating this piece, it gave her a different sensation. Though slightly softer and easily torn apart with a gentle bite, it still tasted perfect, just with a different texture that wasn’t inferior, creating an interesting contrast with the previous piece.

Su Ruixi finished this piece and remembered feeling something similar when eating egg fried rice before. Some rice grains would be more moist, others drier, but the different textures interweaving in the mouth gave diners completely different sensations, yet were equally delicious.

This little boss indeed had some skill, managing to create completely different textures even in a single serving of baby bok choy.

She became more excited about the remaining dishes, and tried some lettuce stem slices, which were like the baby bok choy – the same dish offering both crisp and tender textures. The mushrooms didn’t have much variation, just normal mushroom texture.

However, even so, the mushrooms tasted different from others. They were smooth and saturated with soup, and when bitten, the broth burst in the mouth. It was hot but not scalding, making one reluctant to open their mouth and let the delicious soup escape.

The mushrooms also gave the broth a different quality, adding more umami flavor.

As for the rice noodles, Su Ruixi felt they were better than any she’d had before, and couldn’t figure out how Sun Miao made them. These noodles were chewy yet not too tough, breaking cleanly in the mouth with just one bite.

The natural fragrance of rice mingled with the soup, making one want to eat more and more.

Although her noodles broke easily when bitten, they were effortless to pick up with chopsticks, neither sticking together nor breaking apart. Just these rice noodles alone, Su Ruixi thought, could be sold separately. Put them in some high-end hotels with proper plating, and charging 108 yuan per serving wouldn’t be unreasonable.

Before she knew it, Su Ruixi had finished all the noodles, and after finishing, she felt a bit regretful. Since this was intentionally a smaller portion of noodles, she hadn’t expected to finish it all, and even after finishing, she still wanted more.

It seemed her appetite wasn’t as small as she thought.

Without realizing it, Su Ruixi had basically finished the entire bowl of malatang, except for the meat dishes still sitting untouched on the side, because Su Ruixi—didn’t like meat dishes!

She had actually considered asking Sun Miao if she could exchange everything for vegetables, but she felt too embarrassed to ask, so she reluctantly chose two meat dishes that looked relatively light. The white fish balls and white shredded chicken soaking in the broth made her reluctant to even drink the remaining soup.

But the impressive culinary skills Sun Miao had demonstrated during this time made her decide to give Sun Miao some trust. So she extended her chopsticks and picked up some shredded chicken first.

The so-called shredded chicken was made by cooking chicken breast or thigh meat until done, then tearing it into very fine shreds before drying it for preservation. When needed, it would be added to the broth. Sun Miao used to enjoy eating shredded chicken noodle soup in the school cafeteria, which was why she recreated this.

Fortunately, the system also approved of putting shredded chicken in malatang, and taught her the method of making it.

The shredded chicken enhanced by the system was far superior to those large bags selling for just ten yuan or so outside.

Each strand of chicken was very fine, yet they didn’t stick together at all, and with just a slight stir of the chopsticks, they would float up in the broth like clouds. Su Ruixi’s eyes lit up as soon as she put some in her mouth.

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LP: I just ate but I’m hungry again!

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