Setting Up Stalls – Chapter 124

Had a Nightmare?

After the prep work was done, the next step was to place the food in water and begin the cooking process. A clear broth was brought to a simmer, then green onions, ginger, and garlic were added to remove any gamy flavors. One by one, the Lion’s Head Meatballs with Crab Roe were gently placed into the water to stew.

Controlling the heat and stewing time placed high demands on the chef. The slightest lapse in attention could result in the meatballs being either uncooked on the inside or falling apart on the outside. Most importantly, they had to be cooked through while retaining their firm, springy texture.

At this stage, the broth should be clear. After skimming the foam twice, it would only become clearer. There shouldn’t be any disintegrated bits clouding the water, let alone any oil floating on the surface. If oil appeared or the broth turned murky, it was a failure.

It took Sun Miao another two months to reach this stage. But the System demanded more. It required: not a single speck of foam. Sun Miao thought the System was joking, but it said: 【Foam is an impurity, but it also carries the flavor of the crab roe and the lion’s head. When you skim it, you are also skimming away a portion of the flavor. Your originally perfect seasoning becomes lost in the process. The Lion’s Head Meatballs with Crab Roe you make is not perfect.】

Sun Miao had no idea how long she had been practicing; she had lost all track of time. All she knew was the endless cycle of slamming the meat, shaping it into lion’s heads, stir-frying the crab roe, and finally, stewing them. By now, when the lion’s heads entered the broth, there truly wasn’t a single trace of foam. They tumbled and danced in the water, the outermost layer of the meatballs puffing up into what is known as the “lion’s mane.”

Next came the Napa cabbage hearts, in a quantity equal to the number of lion’s heads.

The cabbage hearts floated on the surface of the broth, steamed by the rising heat, and were eventually cooked through by the flavorful soup.

Only after all this was done were the cabbage hearts removed first and placed at the bottom of a small tureen. Two spoonfuls of the clear broth were ladled over them. Then, the Lion’s Head Meatballs with Crab Roe was taken out and placed inside the tureen. Finally, two or three flecks of chopped green onion were placed on the very top.

Only then was the Lion’s Head Meatballs with Crab Roe considered successfully made.

Sun Miao slowly let out a breath. A year had passed, and she had finally learned how to prepare a single serving of Lion’s Head Meatballs with Crab Roe. At that moment, her resentment for the “Head Chef” reached its peak.

If it weren’t for him, I wouldn’t have gone a whole year without seeing Su Ruixi!

When she left the System Space, her hands still felt incredibly sore, but that was just a phantom sensation. Sun Miao got out of bed, washed up, and did her morning skincare routine using the cosmetics she had bought with Su Ruixi yesterday—or rather, a year ago. She went downstairs to find a breakfast set on the table. Su Ruixi was long gone.

Sun Miao froze for a moment before it hit her: Su Ruixi had gone to work today. She checked the date on her phone—May 29th. Taking a deep breath, she sat down at the table and began to eat the breakfast Su Ruixi had prepared for her. It was delicious. As expected of something ordered by a big shot rich woman, it tasted much better than street stall fare.

After finishing breakfast, Sun Miao headed out with her food cart to stock up at the market. Just then, her phone buzzed. It was a reminder she had set for herself. After a year with nothing but Lion’s Head Meatballs with Crab Roe on her mind, she had forgotten many things, such as her promise to host the Hip-Hop & Yabi Duo for dinner at her place today.

Remembering this, Sun Miao decided she would make Lion’s Head Meatballs with Crab Roe for them.

Of course, there was one thing she would never, ever forget: delivering lunch to Su Ruixi.

She bought all the ingredients, rode her scooter home, and first prepared lunch for Su Ruixi and herself. Sun Miao had messaged Su Ruixi, hoping they could eat lunch together, but it seemed Su Ruixi was very busy. Understanding, Sun Miao ate her own lunch before delivering Su Ruixi’s.

It was the back entrance again. Su Ruixi approached at a quick pace in her high heels, a fine sheen of sweat on her forehead. In that instant, Sun Miao knew she must be swamped today. It was the start of the week, after all. After a weekend, work tended to pile up; it would be strange if she wasn’t busy.

Sun Miao felt she shouldn’t be troubling Su Ruixi. From Su Ruixi’s perspective, they had only been apart for one night and one morning. But for Sun Miao, it had been 365 days. And it was 365 days and nights where she had been awake every single minute, every single second.

Even the rest periods the System gave her had become unbearable.

When she was busy, her mind was filled with nothing but Lion’s Head Meatballs with Crab Roe. But the moment she relaxed, she would think of Su Ruixi.

She missed her terribly. The longing was like fine needles, piercing through her skin and into her very bone marrow, a bitter ache welling up from the bottom of her heart. This feeling was a first for Sun Miao. She was a person without attachments and had never missed someone so intensely. Even when she left the orphanage director she had known for eighteen years, the initial reluctance to part soon faded, and she rarely thought of her afterward.

When she did think of her, it was always with nostalgia, not this painful ache of longing.

This was a good thing for Sun Miao, because she was learning once again what it felt like to miss the person she loved.

Seeing how busy Su Ruixi was, Sun Miao tried to hide her emotions so Su Ruixi could go back to work without worry. She thought she did a good job, but it wasn’t good enough—Su Ruixi saw right through her. Or rather, it was precisely because she was Su Ruixi’s lover that Su Ruixi noticed the wrongness in her expression.

Su Ruixi paused, holding the lunchbox. She asked first, “Sun Miao, what’s wrong?”

Sun Miao instinctively shook her head, feeling flustered, as if her distress had been exposed. “Nothing.”

Su Ruixi thought for a moment, set the lunchbox down, then stepped closer and hugged Sun Miao. “Had a nightmare?”

Hearing her words, Sun Miao let out a small laugh. She was a grown woman, how could she still be having nightmares? But Su Ruixi’s embrace was so warm that she couldn’t help but hug her back, her palm resting gently on Su Ruixi’s back. She wasn’t an awkward person, so in that moment, she went along with Su Ruixi’s words. “Yeah, I had a nightmare.”

When she was little, she used to have nightmares. She would dream of her faceless, unseen parents abandoning her as a swaddled infant at the orphanage gates. She would dream of standing on a cliff when the future was uncertain, a cold wind threatening to blow her off. She would dream of a huge black dog from who-knows-where chasing her down a long, dark alley, barking madly.

When Sun Miao woke up, there was no one to hold and comfort her. There were too many children at the orphanage, some much younger than her, and the director was busy taking care of them.

Gradually, Sun Miao stopped having nightmares. Even if she did, she would just go back to sleep after waking up. She wouldn’t cry, because it was useless.

But Su Ruixi’s simple words and single action seemed to traverse time, comforting the little girl she used to be and filling her with immense warmth. Su Ruixi’s hand rested on her back, patting it gently. “You’re a grown-up now, and you’re still making a face like that over a nightmare… It’s okay, it was just a dream.”

Su Ruixi was an awkward person, but when faced with Sun Miao’s distress, she became surprisingly frank. After comforting Sun Miao for a moment, she heard a soft voice say, “I missed you.”

Su Ruixi’s heart trembled. She let go of Sun Miao and looked at her for a moment. Sun Miao’s pitiful expression made her heart skip a beat. She leaned in, right there at the company’s back door where someone could pass by at any moment, and kissed her on the lips. Su Ruixi seemed a bit more direct, but she was still awkward; she only pecked Sun Miao on the lips, not doing anything more or deepening the kiss.

She took a step back and picked up the lunchbox. “Can’t be helped. You’ll just have to endure it for now.”

Sun Miao blinked. She wasn’t too concerned about the ‘enduring it’ part anymore. Instead, her eyes widened. “Susu-jie, this is…”

This is the back door of your company! What if someone saw us?

Sun Miao herself didn’t really care. She had no family or relatives, so it wouldn’t matter if people saw her; her sexual orientation was already semi-public anyway. But Su Ruixi wasn’t the same. If they were seen, she’d be coming out to her entire company. It would be social suicide. Besides, the world wasn’t exactly completely accepting of same-sex relationships. People would probably gossip about her behind her back.

Even worse, if a business partner heard about it, they might worry about the potential impact on their company’s image and choose to cancel their collaboration to minimize the fallout.

All of these were real possibilities. Sun Miao didn’t mind for herself, but she didn’t want something like this to actually happen to Su Ruixi.

But Su Ruixi was truly a queen. “If they saw, they saw.”

She raised her hand to check the time. “Sun Miao, I have to get back to work. I won’t be working overtime tonight!” As she said this, she waved to Sun Miao and turned to leave. Her retreating figure looked hurried; she really did seem busy. But she had said she wouldn’t work overtime tonight. Sun Miao knew what that meant—she was probably going to work herself to the bone to finish early.

Because of that hug, that kiss, and that “If they saw, they saw”… Sun Miao’s little heart was pounding. She really, really liked Su Ruixi. Every day, she liked her a little bit more. Su Ruixi could make her heart flutter a hundred times, a thousand times!

The dull ache of longing unconsciously faded away, and Sun Miao’s mood brightened. She hopped on her little electric scooter. Time to go home!

A gentle breeze lifted the loose strands of hair at Sun Miao’s temples. She hummed a tune as she rode, a stark contrast to the lifeless gloom she had arrived with.

The System couldn’t help but speak up: 【Sun Miao, you really do like her.】

“Of course I do!”

Back home, Sun Miao rolled up her sleeves and got to work. First, she prepared the chicken broth and the Lion’s Head Meatballs with Crab Roe, which was the showstopper dish she could now make. Next, knowing the Hip-Hop & Yabi Duo liked spicy food, she prepared two spicy dishes. One of them was her personal favorite, Stir-fried Yellow Beef with Chili Peppers—one of her specialty dishes.

After finishing the Lion’s Head Meatballs with Crab Roe, Sun Miao took a photo and posted it in the group chat, announcing her stall’s opening time, location, menu, and prices for the next day. The moment the group saw the picture, the chat exploded with activity, but Sun Miao was too busy to look.

She also made some Poached Prawns¹ and two vegetable dishes, and ran to the supermarket to buy some drinks. By the time she was done with everything, it was already five in the afternoon. The video doorbell rang. Sun Miao was in the middle of preparing a fruit platter. Hearing the sound, she wiped her hands on a paper towel and ran over, still in her apron.

On the screen was Hip-Hop Mei’s face, and in the corner, Yabi Mei’s face could be vaguely seen, squeezed to the side. Hip-Hop Mei’s voice came through: “We’re here, open up!”

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