Setting Up Stalls – Chapter 14

Sit Here With Me

Su Ruixi couldn’t understand at this moment, how could this be happening? She took a bite…

At this moment, Su Ruixi couldn’t understand what was happening. She took a bite of the noodles and felt everything was wrong. How could noodles have such a texture? Why were they so mushy without any chewiness, and they tasted strange too, with an odd flavor.

The mushy noodles formed a stark contrast with the broth. The noodles, which should have been fragrant and sweet, stood like two opposing fortresses with the broth, completely unable to blend. The delicious broth and the unpalatable noodles were like two parallel lines.

Su Ruixi felt something was off, and took another bite of vegetables, feeling even worse.

There was… an earthy smell [土腥味 | tǔ xīng wèi | unpleasant soil-like odor in vegetables].

Su Ruixi returned to the process of chewing wax, barely managing a few bites before eagerly drinking the soup. The soup was still good, though far inferior to last night’s, as if it had been tainted by the noodles and vegetables.

Su Ruixi took a deep breath and left without finishing the soup. It was 7:38, and she quickly walked to the garage, started her commuter car, and sat there for a while before slowly driving out of her gate.

She drove slowly on the residential roads, fortunately there weren’t many cars on the internal roads. This villa district was full of wealthy people, either second-generation rich or business owners. The most notable characteristic of the second-generation rich was not having to worry about money; some didn’t even consider inheriting the family business, simply able to sleep until they naturally woke up.

Who knows, they might not even be asleep at this hour.

As for the business owners, few were like Su Ruixi, getting up so early and being so diligent about work – most wouldn’t go to their companies until almost noon.

Who else was like Su Ruixi, getting up at the crack of dawn, rushing to beat the morning peak, arriving at work at the same time as her employees? So she drove like a turtle on the internal roads, with no one honking to hurry her along, slowly reaching the community entrance exactly at eight o’clock.

Su Ruixi breathed a sigh of relief as she drove out the west gate, but… no one was there. She parked by the roadside and stood waiting for a full five minutes, but didn’t see any sign of “Miao Miao’s Mobile Food Bar”.

Su Ruixi was somewhat surprised, and after hesitating several times, she went to ask the community security guard: “Where’s the small business owner who sets up the stall? Why hasn’t she arrived yet?”

The security guard was also taken aback by her question: “For these three days, she’s been coming at ten in the morning and leaving at ten at night. Right now she should be… still preparing at home?”

Su Ruixi nodded and politely said: “Thank you.”

But in her mind, she thought: Sun Miao! You dare play tricks on me!

That day, she again didn’t get to eat anything good for lunch, and had to visit clients in the afternoon. By the time she returned to the residential area, it was already seven o’clock. From far away, before she even got close, while waiting at the red light ahead, Su Ruixi spotted Sun Miao.

After passing through the traffic light, Su Ruixi drove a bit further before stopping her car. She turned on the hazard lights, pulled the handbrake, changed her shoes, placing her driving shoes on the floor in front of the passenger seat, then grabbed her coat, opened the car door, and got out. After that, she shook out her coat, put it on directly, and closed the car door.

This series of movements flowed like clouds and water, with particular style.

Su Ruixi walked in her high heels to Sun Miao’s food cart, finding her already preparing malatang. Looking to the side, she saw a young girl playing with her phone on the seat, obviously waiting for Sun Miao to prepare her malatang. Su Ruixi hesitated for a moment but still chose to eat there.

Because she felt that taking it home would somehow lose some flavor, not tasting as good as eating beside the food cart. Perhaps because on the way home after packaging, the food would inevitably be steamed for a while, causing it to lose some of its original flavor.

So Su Ruixi decided to eat there, ordered several dishes, and sat down nearby.

The young girl who had been happily playing with her phone while sitting on the small stool immediately moved aside when she saw the imposing Su Ruixi. Su Ruixi observed her and realized she must be an hourly worker in the residential area.

This young girl looked quite young, unexpectedly already doing such tiring work.

Being an hourly worker cleaning houses was no simple task. Taking Su Ruixi’s house as an example, with three floors above ground and one below, each floor being one hundred square meters, totaling over four hundred square meters, plus the bonus garden, entrance corridor, and more, all needing to be cleaned.

One round of cleaning like this could exhaust someone half to death.

Su Ruixi’s hourly worker auntie was only responsible for daily cleaning and cooking. She had also hired a separate cleaning team that came at fixed times every week. Even so, the auntie’s work was no leisurely task.

Seeing such a young girl, Su Ruixi felt this line of work was perhaps too exhausting for her.

However, work was someone’s personal choice, and Su Ruixi didn’t know her, so she didn’t say a word, just took a small stool and sat diagonally opposite to her. Truthfully, it was difficult to maintain dignity on the small stool, and sitting there in high heels was quite a torture.

Sitting there… indeed wasn’t as comfortable as yesterday when she wore flat shoes.

She also took out her phone to play for a while. Since she came early today, many dishes were still available. Su Ruixi ordered spinach, potato slices, and bean sprouts, while choosing beef slices and fish balls for meat dishes. While ordering, she even wanted to ask Sun Miao to make up for yesterday’s skimped rice noodles.

But Su Ruixi was someone who cared about face, so she couldn’t say it and had to pretend nothing happened.

While she was playing with her phone, she suddenly smelled something. It was fragrant—but very spicy! At that moment, Su Ruixi had an urge to run away. The hourly worker little sister across from her, however, showed an especially delighted expression, even leaning back to leave enough space for Sun Miao.

Sun Miao placed the malatang in front of the hourly worker little sister, and that spicy fragrance also wafted into Su Ruixi’s nose. She instinctively leaned back while turning her head to the side. Her movements were quite obvious, causing both people opposite her to pause in surprise.

“Sister Sun, does she not like the smell of chili?”

“Uh… seems so.”

Sun Miao answered, noting that Su Ruixi had never added chili, and considering her stomach condition, she probably really disliked spicy flavors. Su Ruixi’s body stiffened, feeling awkward that such a private matter was known to others.

At this point, the hourly worker little sister said: “Then I’ll go eat somewhere else, I can hold it while eating.”

“It’s a bit hot.”

“It’s fine!” The hourly worker little sister said, putting away her phone and preparing to carry the malatang in one hand and the small stool in the other to move elsewhere.

Her actions were so obvious that Su Ruixi had to speak up. She wasn’t such an overbearing person to drive others away just because of her own preferences. Su Ruixi called out to stop her: “No need, it’s fine, I don’t dislike it that much.”

Su Ruixi meant to say she didn’t dislike the spicy fragrance that much, but it came out sounding like “I’m not that disagreeable of a person.”

The hourly worker little sister didn’t think that much about it, just smiled and said: “Ah, okay, then I’ll stay here!”

Sun Miao looked at her again, confirming she was really okay before returning to prepare Su Ruixi’s portion.

Su Ruixi really was fine at first, but the spicy fragrance was very strong, much more intense than the clear broth, and the aroma kept wafting into her nose. She truly couldn’t take it anymore, feeling her nose tip starting to itch.

Sun Miao kept watching her side because Su Ruixi was her crush, so she paid special attention. Now seeing Su Ruixi’s restless state, she thought about how uncomfortable it would be for Su Ruixi to sit across from the hourly worker little sister while eating.

After all, the hourly worker little sister was eating malatang while playing with her phone, and wouldn’t finish for twenty or thirty minutes. Under these circumstances, Su Ruixi sitting across from her would be enduring hardship and suffering.

Sun Miao hesitated for a moment before speaking up: “Miss Su, why don’t you sit over here? I have some space here, though it’s upwind and a bit cold.”

Upon hearing this, Su Ruixi immediately stood up, abandoning her reserved demeanor. She really couldn’t handle spicy flavors, and her stomach had started to churn the moment she smelled the spiciness. Now hearing Sun Miao’s offer of rescue, refusing wouldn’t be reserved anymore, it would be foolish.

Though Su Ruixi was tsundere, she wouldn’t deliberately torture herself.

So while saying “Thank you for the trouble,” she walked over to Sun Miao’s side. Sun Miao extended a metal board from the food cart, lowering the support legs to form a table surface.

This was a small table board that came with the food cart, which could be lowered when there wasn’t enough space for temporary food preparation. The choice of metal was because—it was easy to clean, unlike wood which could easily retain marks that were impossible to clean completely.

Basically, hotel kitchens also use metal racks and metal tables because oil stains are easier to clean.

Not to mention how difficult it is to clean oil stains from wood, the gaps in tiles are similarly problematic. Only stainless steel is particularly easy to maintain. However—sitting beside it to eat wasn’t quite as elegant.

Sun Miao cleaned the table surface, disinfected it with alcohol spray, wiped it with a clean cloth, and then wiped it again with a wet tissue. After this, she also wiped down her high stool once more before moving it to the other side of the food cart, letting Su Ruixi sit down.

Su Ruixi said: “Thank you,” before sitting down.

This seat was located at the left rear of the food cart, with a direct view of Sun Miao preparing dishes on the right. Also, being upwind meant no smoke or aromas drifted her way. Wearing her coat, she didn’t feel cold at all.

With nothing to do for the moment, Su Ruixi simply watched Sun Miao prepare malatang.

Her movements were deft quick and skillful, holding long chopsticks and gently stirring the ingredients in the cooking pot, seemingly employing some unique technique in her stirring. Only afterward did she set the chopsticks aside.

Her movements flowed like clouds and water, appearing particularly effortless.

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