Setting Up Stalls – Chapter 13

This Taste Is Not Right

What is this? It’s too delicious?! Su Ruixi internally…

“What is this? It’s too delicious?!”

Su Ruixi let out a sincere exclamation in her heart. The chicken strips were like clouds and smoke, but the taste in her mouth was completely unexpected. If she had to compare, it was somewhat similar to the Three-Thread Soup [三絲湯 | sān sī tāng | a soup made with three types of shredded ingredients] she had before. However, Sun Miao’s chicken strips were smoother without any dryness; not as strong as the Three-Thread Soup, and didn’t overpower either the broth or the original chicken flavor.

“Delicious, truly delicious!”

Su Ruixi, someone who didn’t like meat dishes, mainly disliked them because of their peculiar smells. Pork had its gamey smell, fish had its fishy smell, lamb had its mutton smell, and other meats all had their strange characteristics.

The only meat she could really eat was beef, but even that wasn’t good in large amounts.

These chicken strips, however, had no excess flavors, even the chicken taste was light. This was because—Sun Miao used chicken breast meat. While chicken thigh meat would make firmer strips, chicken breast wouldn’t affect the seasoning, and most importantly, it was cheaper.

Moreover, chicken breast was easier to shred, making it more convenient to tear into the current form where once in the soup, a simple stir with chopsticks would make it disperse like willow catkins.

After eating the chicken strips, Su Ruixi developed some expectations for the fish balls. The fish balls were tricky to pick up, so she used a spoon instead. They weren’t large, about the size of the first joint of her index and ring fingers, round and rolling slightly in the spoon.

The fish balls looked milky white, and Su Ruixi hesitated. Although she trusted Sun Miao’s culinary skills, she was still uncertain about eating fish balls, which typically had a strong fishy taste. This was true even though Sun Miao had said both the fish balls and peeing beef balls were handmade by her.

After a moment’s hesitation, Su Ruixi, trusting in Sun Miao’s craftsmanship, closed her eyes and ate it directly. Surprisingly, it had the taste of fish without any fishiness, and there weren’t any obvious seasonings used to mask any unpleasant flavors.

Most importantly, the fish balls were exceptionally delicious. They were clearly handmade, with perfect Q [Q彈 | Q tán | bouncy texture prized in Asian cuisine]. One bite split the fish ball in half, and you could still feel its bounce. After a few bites, Su Ruixi felt there couldn’t be any fish balls more delicious than these.

Though Su Ruixi didn’t like meat dishes, she didn’t leave even a bit, just like before, consuming everything including the broth and green onions. After finishing, she picked up a napkin from the table to wipe her mouth, and looking at the empty disposable container, she felt regretful again.

—She shouldn’t have let Sun Miao give her less rice noodles.

She also felt ashamed about previously looking down on malatang, realizing one shouldn’t judge something without understanding it first.

This malatang’s fragrance was truly exceptional.

Su Ruixi rose from the small stool and slowly walked to the food cart. If asked why she walked so slowly, it was simply because she ate too much. After all, it was past nine, and she finished eating at nine-thirty. Though she hadn’t eaten much for dinner, she had eaten some, and now with a bowl of malatang in her stomach, how could she not feel full?

It’s worth noting that Su Ruixi usually didn’t eat anything after eight o’clock, not even drinking much water.

She cared greatly about her appearance, unable to imagine what she might look like if overeating caused her figure to lose shape.

Su Ruixi took out her phone and scanned the QR code, paying fifty yuan again.

Sun Miao heard the payment notification and felt moved, though it wasn’t surprising anymore. Mainly because her stall was located in the legendary wealthy villa district, and in the past two days, her customers were all wealthy people like Su Ruixi who would directly pay fifty yuan, quite a few of them.

Some would park their supercars near her stall, order two portions, pay a hundred yuan, and leave stylishly.

However, her crush was different to Sun Miao. She took out a packed disposable container from behind the food cart and offered it: “This is clear broth, I noticed you really enjoy it. You always pay extra, so please accept this as my thank you gift, I hope you don’t mind.”

The disposable container was filled about three-quarters with broth, sprinkled with some floating green onions. The white plastic bag couldn’t hide the color of the broth, and just one look brought back the taste they had in their mouths earlier.

Su Ruixi wanted to decline politely, but still nodded slightly: “Mm, thank you.” Then reached out to take it.

She was still curious: “How do you make your broth base?”

After asking, she felt somewhat abrupt, after all, the other person was running a stall, and this broth base could be considered her cooking secret. Asking like this seemed a bit impolite. If someone had asked about her business secrets to her face, she would have kicked them ten li [10 li = 5km | 1 li = 0.5km | 里 | lǐ | traditional Chinese unit of distance] away with her high heels.

But Sun Miao didn’t hide anything, instead openly telling her: “It’s just regular three-fresh bone soup, using kelp, corn, and Chinese yam, plus bone broth.”

Su Ruixi nodded, but she didn’t know that without special techniques, using these three ingredients would produce a light yellow soup, not a milky white one. Making it milky white involved many secrets. The Chinese yam was mashed into paste, and both the timing and amount of adding it required unique techniques.

Making bone broth was even more difficult, requiring bones with marrow, which needed to be crushed before stewing. After cooking, it needed filtering. This soup wasn’t easy to make. After completion, Sun Miao, for convenient storage, made it into concentrated soup blocks, later reconstituting it with a combination of bone broth and milk.

Only this way could the milky white broth be achieved.

This clear, milky white broth had cost Sun Miao considerable effort.

Of course, the spicy broth base was even more challenging, requiring extraordinary skill.

Of the six months, nearly half was spent perfecting these two broths. Even if ordinary chefs studied for this long, they couldn’t match Sun Miao’s quality, because she had the golden finger system helping her.

Su Ruixi didn’t know these details, only thinking about asking her house auntie to try making it.

She left with the packed soup, only realizing upon entering the garage: why was Sun Miao still operating at nine o’clock? Previously when selling egg fried rice, it was eight to eight, but today she was still there at nine. She thought perhaps it was because she hadn’t sold all her ingredients yet, as this villa area near the suburbs had fewer people than behind the hospital.

Back home, she transferred the soup from the disposable container to her own storage bowl, covered it, and put it in the refrigerator. She didn’t want to risk plastic taste seeping into the soup from that cheap disposable container over time.

Looking at the soup in the refrigerator, Su Ruixi’s mood improved. Yes, tomorrow morning when leaving, Sun Miao should be setting up her stall at the community entrance, perfect for getting a portion for lunch.

Just couldn’t get the rice noodles, otherwise by lunch time they would be clumped together, how could anyone eat that? Pairing it with rice, pouring the reheated broth over it, would surely be delicious. Though reheated food could never match the taste of eating it fresh.

Nothing could be done about that, after all, Sun Miao wasn’t setting up her stall under her company building.

Besides, Su Ruixi had already experimented when eating the egg fried rice before. Although eating takeaway after some time affected the taste, it still suited her stomach better than other dishes.

Moreover, after work on her way home, she could eat at the entrance, sitting there, finishing it as soon as it was served, then head home.

As she thought about this, a smile appeared on Su Ruixi’s usually cold face.

She thought back to the previous egg fried rice and made a comparison: mm, she still preferred the non-spicy malatang, the broth suited her taste, being light and subtle. Though the egg fried rice was good too, it was still stir-fried with oil, and even though Sun Miao made it light, it couldn’t compare to this malatang.

But the egg fried rice was delicious too, and if given the chance to eat it again, she would gladly do so.

Su Ruixi took a shower, dried her hair, and by then it was almost eleven o’clock. She lay in bed and fell into a satisfied sleep. Her full stomach was warm, her digestion comfortable, allowing her a rare good night’s sleep.

The next morning, the hourly housekeeping auntie Su Ruixi hired came to make breakfast again. Su Ruixi was somewhat particular and didn’t like having others in her home. So even with such a large villa, she only hired an hourly housekeeper to come clean and cook at scheduled times.

Actually, the auntie didn’t cook very often, as Su Ruixi ate out most of the time, with breakfast being the only meal the auntie had to prepare. The auntie’s cooking didn’t quite suit her taste, but it was light enough to be acceptable.

Su Ruixi woke up earlier than the auntie, and when she saw her, gave special instructions: “There’s soup I brought back in the refrigerator, please use it to make a bowl of noodles with some vegetables.”

“Yes, miss.”

After giving instructions, Su Ruixi returned to her second-floor room to apply makeup. When she came down after finishing, the noodles were ready, accompanied by some delicate side dishes. The first thing she noticed that morning was the soup’s fragrance, and Su Ruixi was very satisfied.

She sat at the dining table, looking at the soup bowl and noodles before her, feeling even more satisfied. The milky white broth was just like last night’s, emanating a subtle fragrance that wasn’t too strong, just one whiff bringing back memories of yesterday’s taste.

On top floated some green onions and leafy greens, with noodles winding through them.

Hmm, the presentation wasn’t as good as last night’s, but it wasn’t bad.

Especially with her own bowls, wasn’t it much more upscale than those disposable containers? Su Ruixi picked up her spoon and chopsticks, which were also better than last night’s disposable ones.

Her movements were elegant, her bearing even more refined than when she sat on the small stool. Everything seemed perfect, until she ate the first noodle.

“…”

Something wasn’t right, how could it taste like this? Huh? How could it taste so bad?

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LP: Sorry ma’am, only your future wife can get it right

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