Setting Up Stalls – Chapter 146

Jiaxing Meat Zongzi

To say she could eat them all was purely Su Ruixi overthinking things. No matter how they were made, Zongzi never strayed from their one constant—they were made of glutinous rice, and glutinous rice has a particular characteristic: it’s hard to digest and very filling.

Su Ruixi’s appetite was much better than before, and she had even put on a little weight, but no matter how much she could eat, Sun Miao couldn’t let her eat more than three Zongzi!

That’s really just too filling. Eating one or two to satisfy a craving is fine, but how could she keep eating more!

Su Ruixi also thought of this point and only hummed in mild disapproval for a few moments before finally agreeing. “Fine. I’ll deliver them when I have a day off.”

Sun Miao didn’t offer to go with her, and Su Ruixi didn’t ask her to come along. Both of them were on the same page: it’s still too early. Her parents are definitely still fuming. If they saw me, the person who ‘abducted’ their daughter, swaggering into their home, they’d probably lose control of their anger.

Although Sun Miao had never experienced such a thing, the les-bars were full of folks who had fallen out with their families after coming out, drinking away their sorrows and crying their hearts out.

It was a well-known fact that in the hearts of Chinese parents, a child could be a cockroach, but they couldn’t be a homosexual.

When Sun Miao realized she was a lesbian, she had been lost for a time, but also felt a sense of relief: relief that she wouldn’t have to face the most difficult hurdle for homosexuals in China.

In reality, Su Ruixi’s parents were very good to her and were also relatively open-minded. Upon hearing that Su Ruixi was gay and had a girlfriend, they didn’t resort to crying, fighting, and threatening to hang themselves, nor did they drag Su Ruixi straight home, wishing they could break both her legs.

So far, they were just huddling together for warmth at home, occasionally cursing Sun Miao and making her sneeze a few more times.

As time went on, they would likely find themselves increasingly unable to do anything about Su Ruixi and would eventually choose to compromise.

That’s good. Sun Miao truly had no intention of going up there to touch mold¹. Avoiding the sharp edge of the blade and not looking for trouble for herself was one of Sun Miao’s ways of navigating the world.

When Sun Miao woke up the next morning, Su Ruixi had already left for work. However, there was someone downstairs. Su Ruixi had sent a message to the auntie, asking her to come over for the next two days to make breakfast for Sun Miao. When Sun Miao got up, the auntie was all smiles.

“Xiao Sun, you’re up? Auntie didn’t know what you like to eat, so I just made some of my specialty dishes. Quick, sit down and have a taste.”

In their daily interactions, the auntie wasn’t so formal as to call Sun Miao “Miss Sun,” instead affectionately calling her “Xiao Sun.” To be honest, Sun Miao preferred it this way; being called “Miss Sun” actually made her a bit uncomfortable.

It made her feel like the auntie was some kind of salesperson. The only times she heard “Miss Sun” or “Miss Sun Miao” were when she answered sales calls marked as “spam.”

“Okay, thank you, Auntie.”

The auntie had indeed prepared quite a lot, clearly having put her all into it. There were egg pancakes, noodles with a tomato gravy, and freshly made soy milk.

Sun Miao’s tongue was exceptionally discerning, but she herself was not a picky eater. As long as it was edible, she would eat it, making her much easier to feed than Su Ruixi. Moreover, the principle she’d been raised with was not to waste, so she immediately finished everything on the table.

Fortunately, while the auntie had prepared many different items, the portion size for each was small, otherwise Sun Miao really wouldn’t have been able to finish it all. Once Sun Miao was done eating, the auntie naturally cleared away the bowls and chopsticks, taking them to the kitchen to wash the dishes and clean up.

Sun Miao wouldn’t go and help the auntie; that was her job. Her own presence had already had a certain impact on the auntie’s work. If she were to fight with the auntie over washing dishes now, the auntie might start thinking she was going to be fired sooner or later.

After finishing breakfast, Sun Miao rested for a while. The auntie tidied up the house and then left. Su Ruixi was very busy that day, probably because of the work matter she had mentioned before, which led to her working overtime in the evening.

Situations where Su Ruixi worked overtime were rare now. In order to eat and chat with Sun Miao, she really went all out during work hours.

Sun Miao could understand an occasional instance of overtime. She ate dinner alone; Su Ruixi had told her not to bring her dinner, as she would probably have to stay in the office and eat with her other employees. After seven o’clock, Su Ruixi sent Sun Miao a photo. Her assistant had ordered takeout for her, not from Yuanfu Lou this time, but from a different place.

The photo showed a layer of tuhuangyou covering her rice, a glistening golden layer over the white rice below. The contrast between the two colors was particularly striking. Below the picture, Su Ruixi added a sentence: I am eating well, thank you for the tuhuangyou.

Sun Miao couldn’t help but smile, but still typed back: You’re eating too late. Irregular meals aren’t good for your stomach.

Su Ruixi didn’t reply after that. It wasn’t until 8 o’clock that she responded with a single sentence: Got it. You go to sleep first, I don’t know how late I’ll be busy.

Sun Miao actually wanted to wait for Su Ruixi, because tomorrow morning, she would likely be pulled into the System space before she even woke up. Making Zongzi wouldn’t take too long, but it would be three months at the very least. She didn’t want to be separated from Su Ruixi for that long, not at all.

But she waited until ten o’clock and still couldn’t hold on any longer, so she went to sleep.

She usually went to bed early, and her biological clock was already set. So even though she had rested all day, she couldn’t help but feel drowsy at this time. She was sleeping soundly in Su Ruixi’s bed when she suddenly heard some rustling sounds. In her dream, she didn’t immediately realize what was happening, but in the next second, she groggily opened her eyes.

The moment her eyes opened and saw Su Ruixi, Sun Miao was wide awake. Her body moved faster than her brain, reaching out her hands towards Su Ruixi. “Susu…”

Su Ruixi’s heart immediately melted into a puddle. She whispered, “I haven’t showered or changed yet.”

But Sun Miao kept her arms open, asking for a hug. Su Ruixi had no choice but to take off her jacket and lean over. Sun Miao had already showered and smelled of the fresh scent of body wash. Su Ruixi buried her face in Sun Miao’s embrace, sniffing for a while before she caught the faint scent of the smoke and fire².

This scent was more satisfying to Su Ruixi than the fragrance of body wash. She couldn’t help but bury her head deeper. After being gently hugged by Sun Miao, she landed on the bed. Sun Miao patted her back and said softly, “You worked hard.”

“It was okay.”

The awkward Su Ruixi couldn’t say anything else, nor could she easily admit that work was indeed hard. Hearing her lover’s words, she could only say those three tsundere words.

But Sun Miao was already used to it. Her Susu-jie was the type who would only say words like “it was okay” or “average.” Sun Miao was a bit more awake now, but not completely. She just pecked Su Ruixi a few times, only to be pushed away by Su Ruixi’s fingertips against her lips. “Don’t kiss, I just got back. I’m going to take a shower first.”

But Sun Miao was acting spoiled, not wanting to let go of Su Ruixi.

If I let go, I won’t see Su Ruixi for at least three months!

Su Ruixi was helpless. She could only lean against Sun Miao, her neck held by a hand that Sun Miao had stealthily slipped behind her at some point. This posture forced her to lower her head and kiss Sun Miao.

After kissing for a good while, Sun Miao finally let Su Ruixi go. When Su Ruixi came back from her shower, she brought a cloud of steam with her to the bed. Sun Miao had already drifted off into a drowsy sleep again. Su Ruixi was a little annoyed. She reached out and pinched Sun Miao’s nose, watching her hum and whimper a couple of times in her sleep before she let go, satisfied.

“Good night.”

Su Ruixi said, preparing to sleep. Who knew that Sun Miao would actually mumble a reply in her daze, “Good night…”

A smile on her lips, Su Ruixi reached out, turned off the light, and fell asleep beside Sun Miao.

The next morning, not long after Sun Miao woke up, she was pulled directly into the System space by the System to begin learning the next item for her stall—Jiaxing fresh meat Zongzi.

The history of Chinese people eating Zongzi is incredibly long. According to records, the term “jiaoshu”³ appeared as early as the Spring and Autumn period, initially used for ancestral sacrifices. It later slowly evolved into Zongzi, and there is a more detailed record in the Han Dynasty’s Shuowen Jiezi⁴—”wrapped in reed leaves is rice.”

By the Jin Dynasty, it became associated with the Dragon Boat Festival and Qu Yuan, becoming a festival food⁵. After so many years, Zongzi have become an indispensable part of the Dragon Boat Festival.

Jiaxing fresh meat Zongzi are famous throughout the country, even hailed as the “King of Zongzi.” It was only natural that the System would choose this Zongzi for Sun Miao to learn.

The Jiaxing fresh meat Zongzi has a full name for its production process—the “Boiling, Scalding, Stewing, Braising, and Simmering Method”⁶. This process name practically lays out the entire method for making Jiaxing meat Zongzi, and the process is very tedious, especially the 3-hour stewing time required after they are made.

To make Zongzi, the first step is to select the Zongzi leaves. Many Zongzi on the market now are made with dried Zongzi leaves sold in bulk. This is convenient and practical, and since it’s just an outer wrapper, there’s no need to be too particular. But the System demanded: Fresh Zongzi leaves must be used.

The System space has them, but the ones sold at the wet market outside are all dried. Sun Miao pondered for a moment and thought of her landlord’s house—the landlord’s house was along a river, and in a nook between the river and their own fields, they had planted Zongzi leaves.

Their family didn’t have many Zongzi leaves, but in the same village, there should be a few other families who also grew them. When the time came, she would go to those homes to pluck some leaves.

While she was at it, Sun Miao was also pushed into a chair by the System to learn about the differences in Zongzi leaves.

The Zongzi leaves in the south are mostly Ruo bamboo leaves⁷. These leaves are fresh and emerald green, a vibrant sheet of color that even carries a hint of a refreshing fragrance. Han Yu⁸ once wrote, “Green ruo leaves wrap salt for the returning mountain guest, green leaves wrap rice for the traveler,” which describes the scene of using Ruo bamboo leaves to wrap Zongzi.

The great thing about these leaves is that they don’t disintegrate even after long boiling, and their color doesn’t darken. After three hours, they remain a fresh and tender emerald green. At the same time, the fragrance of the glutinous rice and the leaves’ own scent merge; not only do they not clash, but they blend together naturally.

The leaf itself also has a certain flexibility, so it won’t break easily, and it even has a natural preservative effect. More importantly, Ruo leaves also have the effect of clearing heat, stopping bleeding, detoxifying, and reducing swelling. However, this last bit of knowledge wasn’t very useful for wrapping Zongzi, so the System just glossed over it.

These leaves had a thousand good qualities, with only one rather bad one, which prevented them from becoming the mainstream wrapping leaf nationwide. Because—they are relatively short. Zongzi in the north are mostly wrapped with reed leaves⁹. Reed leaves are long and can easily wrap a Zongzi, but Ruo bamboo leaves… they’re short.

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