Setting Up Stalls – Chapter 136

Sleeping Soundly¹

Sun Miao, with an air of facing death as if returning home², walked to the bed, pulled back the covers, and was the first to lie down. The result was that Su Ruixi froze. The spot Sun Miao was now lying in was the one she usually slept on!

She composed herself for a moment before moving like light wind and thin clouds³ to the other side, also lifting the covers and lying down.

Su Ruixi hadn’t overestimated herself; she had prepared two separate blankets. If they were to share one blanket right now, Su Ruixi would be too shy to even speak.

The two of them lay in bed, both a bit stiff at first, even forgetting to turn off the light. It was Sun Miao who finally mentioned it, “Should I turn off the light?”

“Okay.”

After a click, the room fell into silence.

In such an awkward atmosphere, Sun Miao thought she wouldn’t be able to sleep. Especially with Su Ruixi lying right beside her, it was inevitable that Sun Miao’s heart would be stirred⁴ and that she would toss and turn. But in reality, after a brief period of nervousness, she groggily fell asleep.

Su Ruixi’s scent enveloped her, making her feel completely relaxed. A sense of security filled her heart, leaving her no room to worry about much else. After a short while, she tilted her head and drifted off.

And how could she not be surrounded by Su Ruixi’s scent? She was sleeping on Su Ruixi’s pillow and under Su Ruixi’s blanket, after all. Sun Miao was asleep, but Su Ruixi was wide awake.

She had never been a particularly good sleeper. At night, her mind would be filled with many things, usually work-related matters. These thoughts churned in Su Ruixi’s mind, always making her roll over several times before she could fall asleep.

Tonight, Su Ruixi had even more on her mind. With Sun Miao right beside her, how could her thoughts not be in a jumble? She couldn’t even stop herself from wondering: Do I snore, drool, or talk in my sleep? Is my sleeping posture unruly? Will I disturb Sun Miao?

She had always slept alone, so she had no idea what she was like after falling asleep.

But a short while later, Sun Miao fell asleep. This made Su Ruixi even more conflicted. She didn’t even dare to turn over, afraid that the slightest movement would wake the soundly sleeping Sun Miao.

She thought for a moment and suddenly felt so annoyed: Here I am, afraid to even turn over for fear of waking her, yet she’s already fast asleep.

At first, Su Ruixi hadn’t noticed, assuming Sun Miao was just like her, tossing and turning, unable to sleep. But with one turn, by the faint heavenly light filtering through the sheer curtains, she saw Sun Miao’s profile, facing her, sleeping soundly.

Her hair, usually tied up, had come loose and rested quietly on her face. Her eyes were closed, and her lips glistened with a moist sheen, looking exceptionally kissable in the glow of the moonlight.

Her breathing was long and steady; if you listened closely, you could even hear the nasal sound of her inhales and exhales.

Sun Miao—she was really asleep, and sleeping so peacefully, as if she were having a sweet dream. She had seen Sun Miao asleep before; she looked exactly the same as when she had accidentally dozed off on the sofa.

It was because she had seen it before that she knew Sun Miao wasn’t just drifting off, but was already deep in sleep.

How unfair. I’m still over here tossing and turning, and Sun Miao is already in dreamland. Thinking this, Su Ruixi couldn’t help but reach out her hand, but her fingers stopped short of Sun Miao’s face. She drew her hand back, pillowed her head on her own arm, and studied Sun Miao’s face in the moonlight, slowly letting out a breath.

Amid the sound of Sun Miao’s steady breathing, Su Ruixi’s eyelids gradually grew heavy. She gave a silent yawn, her mouth opening to form two soundless words—Good night—before she closed her eyes.

There was someone else’s breathing beside her, but that sound was like a lullaby. She had thought she’d never be able to sleep with someone next to her, but she slowly drifted into dreamland anyway.

Good night, sweet dreams.

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Early the next morning, Sun Miao’s alarm went off. With a quick hand, she shut it off and couldn’t help but let out a big yawn. But before she could even stretch, she felt something pinning down her other hand. Immediately after, she heard a slightly irritated “Mmm.”

Sun Miao’s body instinctively stiffened. She knew it was Su Ruixi’s voice. Looking down, she saw that Su Ruixi had, at some point, ended up in her arms, her head buried in her chest. While sleeping, they had unconsciously snuggled together.

Su Ruixi’s hand was on Sun Miao’s waist, her head resting on Sun Miao’s arm. She, too, had been woken by the alarm and whimpered twice in dissatisfaction.

Sun Miao instinctively coaxed her, “It’s still early, you can sleep a little longer.”

Clearly not fully awake, Su Ruixi didn’t like the noise. She subconsciously turned onto her side, taking all of Sun Miao’s blanket with her in the process. It was only because of this movement that Sun Miao was able to prop herself up and get out of bed.

When she stood on the floor, she saw Su Ruixi wrapped in one thin blanket, with another one bunched up beneath her. One could imagine that last night, it was Su Ruixi who had first abandoned her own blanket and had now stolen Sun Miao’s.

Sun Miao felt a bit helpless. She’s the one who burrowed her way in last night. If she gets shy about it later, she better not blame me.

Seeing Su Ruixi still groggily wanting to sleep, Sun Miao smiled and grabbed her phone. She went back to her own room to wash up and change, then started her day just like any other.

When Su Ruixi woke up and came downstairs in the morning, Sun Miao noticed she was, as expected, a little uncomfortable.

“Good morning.”

Su Ruixi tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “Good morning.”

The two of them sat down, but Su Ruixi seemed to be deliberately avoiding Sun Miao’s gaze. Sun Miao understood; Su Ruixi was just being shy. This conflicted little look of hers was, in Sun Miao’s eyes, both cute and beautiful.

Before leaving for the day, Sun Miao decided to push her luck. “Susu-jie, could you give me a good morning kiss?”

Before Su Ruixi could speak, Sun Miao added, “After all, you did steal my blanket last night.”

Su Ruixi flew into a rage out of humiliation. “I… I did not!” Once her prideful little temper flared up, she was impossible to handle. Only Sun Miao could face the difficulty head-on. She leaned in and kissed her cheek, which seemed to placate her. Grumbling, Su Ruixi picked up her lunch bag and left for work.

After Su Ruixi left, Sun Miao continued making her Lion’s Head Meatballs with Crab Roe. Once she was done, she set out at her usual time, only to see a huge crowd of customers before she even arrived at her spot.

In that moment, Sun Miao couldn’t help but think—Why are these rich people so much like the student crowd? Not only did they refresh in batches, but they all stared at her little food cart as if they hadn’t eaten a full meal in eight lifetimes, looking like they were about to swallow her whole and peel her alive⁵.

They surrounded her before she even got to her spot, and by the time Sun Miao had her little stall set up, they had already formed a neat line. The number of people in line now far exceeded 20. Seeing this, Sun Miao could only raise her voice and shout, “Customers at the back, please don’t line up anymore! I only prepared 20 servings. Once they’re sold out, that’s it! The customers at the back won’t be able to buy any. Please come earlier tomorrow!”

“What?!”

The moment she finished speaking, a chorus of complaints rose up.

No joke, Sun Miao really felt they and the student crowd were different songs with the same skillful execution⁶.

The first 20 people in line, upon hearing Sun Miao’s words, immediately showed triumphant expressions, each one eagerly starting to buy the Lion’s Head Meatballs with Crab Roe. Today, Sun Miao once again finished the battle in ten minutes. She was about to leave when she saw the head chef come out again.

Chef Qian truly thought she had just arrived this time. But before he could even say a word, he heard the customers who hadn’t been able to buy anything chattering beside him. “Chef Qian, are you also here to buy the Little Boss’s Lion’s Head Meatballs with Crab Roe? You’re too late, they’re all sold out. I didn’t even manage to get one.”

“If you want to buy one, you have to come early tomorrow. I heard the earliest person came at 10 AM. You should come even earlier, maybe line up here at 9:30 AM when you come in for work. Anyway, no one’s going inside to eat until they’ve bought a Lion’s Head Meatball, so it won’t hurt you to wait a bit.”

“Chef Qian, you’re right to come buy one. The Lion’s Head Meatballs with Crab Roe you make just aren’t as good as hers. You should learn from her, maybe you’ll be able to make them tastier.”

“We have to say, Chef Qian is a head chef for a reason. He still has the fine quality of being diligent and eager to learn. He should take advantage of his youth to learn more.”

This barrage of comments from the customers made Chef Qian’s face flush red. He instantly began to boil with anger, stammering a few words, not knowing what to say.

To make matters worse, the customer who had clashed with him yesterday was still there and immediately launched into a bout of sharp, yin-yang strange air⁷ sarcasm. “Chef Qian, you’re just not up to snuff. Your cooking can’t even compare to a fraction of hers. I bet you knew in advance she was setting up a stall here, and you knew you couldn’t compete, so that’s why you sold yours at a discount for 188 yuan, right?”

This comment from the customer made everyone suddenly realize there was a cat business⁸ going on.

“You know, now that you mention it, wasn’t it the same day this Little Boss started her stall that Yuanfu Lou put their Lion’s Head Meatballs with Crab Roe on sale?”

“That’s right. Setting up a stall right at someone’s doorstep is, frankly, a pretty provocative thing to do. Yesterday I saw the owner of Yuanfu Lou come buy one himself, so it’s clear the conflict isn’t with the restaurant’s owner.”

How else could this bunch have become rich? Every single one of them was a human essence⁹, and they all spoke in that backhanded, roundabout way. Saying “it’s clear the conflict isn’t with the owner” was a veiled way of asking: then who is the conflict with, that would make someone do something as drastic as setting up a stall right at their front door?

The answer was self-evident: it was with this very Chef Qian.

Their words made Chef Qian’s face turn shades of pale and purple. Sun Miao was a little worried he might just keel over¹⁰ from anger. But Chef Qian, a head chef for a reason, managed to withstand the pressure. He walked up to Sun Miao. “Your business is indeed good. I admit you have some skill. Our boss even said what you make is better than mine, but I don’t believe it. Do you have any Lion’s Head Meatballs with Crab Roe left? I’ll buy one. I insist on tasting it for myself.”

To be honest, Sun Miao couldn’t care less whether he believed it or not. In the current situation, she had already metaphorically stomped Chef Qian’s face into the ground and rubbed it with the sole of her shoe several times over. The reaction of the surrounding customers was the best answer—not a single person spoke up for Chef Qian. They had all figured out the conflict between Sun Miao and Chef Qian, and because of a single dish, the Lion’s Head Meatballs with Crab Roe, everyone was on Sun Miao’s side.

Whether something is delicious or not is objective. What’s more, the most frequent customers were already on their fourth visit; they were crystal clear in their hearts just how delicious Sun Miao’s cooking was.

All the smart people were thinking the same thing: Siding with Sun Miao is beneficial. Who knows, maybe we’ll get to eat an extra Crab Roe Lion’s Head Meatball because of it?

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