Setting Up Stalls – Chapter 148

How Much Do You Miss Me?

Hearing Sun Miao’s news about the limited quantity, the group chat already exploded:

【No way? Who is 2 zongzi enough for?】

【Please, please, don’t set up a stall on the pedestrian street! The Dragon Boat Festival is a three-day holiday, the 10th, 11th, and 12th will definitely be super crowded! You’ll really have to get up very early to be able to snatch one!】

【Really, who is 2 enough for? I give up on Little Boss Sun, can’t you just make a few more?】

【Although, but, I’m not speaking up for Little Boss Sun, it’s just that zongzi are also quite troublesome to make, so please be a little considerate of the boss. Little Boss Sun, for the sake of me speaking up for you, can you sell me two more?】

Hip-hop Mei: 【It’s not easy to park over at the pedestrian street, if you park for too long you might get towed. I’m not worried about the fine, I’m worried about getting points deducted¹ and having no car to go home in!】

Yabi Mei: 【You should just obediently take the subway or a taxi over.】

【Let me say something, Little Boss Sun, why don’t you sell the zongzi for 100 kuai² each, that way no one will compete with us.】

【You fart, even more people would be trying to snatch them!】

After sending the message, Sun Miao closed the group chat and then clicked on Su Ruixi’s chat window. She hesitated for a long time, typing and deleting in the input box, and finally sighed. But after a short while, a voice call from Su Ruixi came directly through.

This sudden voice ringtone startled her, and the phone even flipped over in her hand. After finally managing to steady the phone with great difficulty, Sun Miao smoothed her hair before answering, “Susu-jie, why are you calling me? Aren’t you busy right now?”

“I was busy, but then I saw that you were constantly typing. I was really a bit curious, so I called you. Is something the matter?”

Su Ruixi was being deliberately difficult and deceiving Sun Miao when she said this. She had a side account lurking in the group chat. After reading the chat in the group, she switched back to her main account. Just as she was about to say a few words to Sun Miao, she saw the “The other party is typing…” notification under Sun Miao’s name. But after typing for a while, the notification disappeared, and no message was sent.

This happened repeatedly, making Su Ruixi unable to stop the corners of her mouth from rising. Finally, seeing that there was no more movement on the other end, she at last dialed Sun Miao’s number. Her voice was very light, like a feather landing on Sun Miao’s ear, making Sun Miao’s ear feel ticklish as well.

Sun Miao was a person who could endure quite a lot. Compared to not seeing each other for a year last time, this time it was only three months; she felt she could endure it. In fact, her performance was indeed much better, and she hadn’t done anything embarrassing.

But the moment she heard Su Ruixi’s voice, Sun Miao’s heart could no longer be controlled. The tide named “longing” rushed in from afar, striking the stubborn rocks on the shore again and again. Her ears were filled with the echoes of longing.

So surging, and so unwilling to recede.

Sun Miao’s heart suddenly became sore and astringent. She felt that at this very moment, even her heart seemed to be torn in half. One half was the soreness produced by missing Su Ruixi, and the other half was the joy produced by hearing Su Ruixi’s voice.

Her mood was like a pellet drum³ held in Su Ruixi’s hand; with a slight movement from her, it would rise and fall accordingly.

“Susu-jie, I miss you…”

This sentence slowly rolled out from her throat. Sun Miao still said it. Su Ruixi was silent for a moment, and her voice changed too, becoming even softer. Originally like a feather, it was now even lighter, as if afraid to disturb even the dust in the air.

“How much do you miss me?”

“A lot.”

Su Ruixi laughed a little. That laughter fell into the bottom of Sun Miao’s heart, making her want to see Su Ruixi even more.

Su Ruixi also said, “I miss you too.”

“How much?” This time, the one asking was Sun Miao. But compared to Sun Miao’s frank answer, Su Ruixi was much more difficult. “Not telling you.”

The two of them talked for a good while. Even just through her voice, Sun Miao felt that she had been soothed. The original soreness faded away, leaving only joy. After a while, a small sound came from Su Ruixi’s end. She said, “Sun Miao, I have to get back to work. Wait for me to come home.”

“Okay.”

After hanging up the phone, Sun Miao rolled around on the bed a few more times. Finally, she lay on the bed in the shape of the character ‘大’ (dà), her hand still quietly holding the phone. The phone screen was on her call history with Su Ruixi, showing a duration of 25 minutes.

They clearly hadn’t talked about any particular topic, nor was there anything of substance; just saying things that gave you goosebumps could last for so long, and they were still reluctant to put it down and hang up.

Perhaps neither Sun Miao nor Su Ruixi would have ever imagined that they would one day do such a thing.

At noon, Su Ruixi didn’t have Sun Miao deliver a meal because she was taking her assistant out to eat with a client. Sun Miao knew this from their voice call, so not long after hanging up, she simply went straight out to buy ingredients.

Starting to make them now, with the necessary time for the ingredients to sit and rest, there might not even be enough time by the evening. But even if the resting time wasn’t enough, it was still possible to take some out in advance to make a few for Su Ruixi to eat.

She wanted to share with the person she liked. Especially when she had just learned to make a new dish, she of course wanted Su Ruixi to eat it quickly.

Sun Miao started making them as soon as she returned with the ingredients. Factoring in the time needed for resting, Sun Miao began to simulate her upcoming work. It was impossible for her to come back the day before, prepare the ingredients, and only start making them the next day. That was too impractical; she wouldn’t even know what time she should get up.

Setting up the stall at six o’clock, plus half an hour on the road, plus three hours of cooking, she would have to get up at 2 o’clock at the latest.

This wasn’t too difficult. Sun Miao used to be in the breakfast business and often got up at this time to prepare. But wrapping them would take another 2 and a half hours; putting it all on the next day was impossible. So she definitely couldn’t let the ingredients rest the night before. She had to prepare them on the morning of the previous day, and after finishing her stall and returning home, set an alarm to get up and wrap them, then go back to sleep after finishing.

This way, when she got up the next morning, she could put them directly into the pot to cook. However, there was a problem with this: she had to buy the next day’s ingredients when she came home from the stall the day before, and then pre-process the ingredients for the day after that while the current batch was stewing.

It was very busy, but there was no other way.

Sun Miao could only take a deep breath and tell the System, “Next time, don’t make such troublesome things again.”

【Host was also very busy before transmigration.】

The System didn’t quite understand why Sun Miao was now proposing not to make such troublesome things. She was already used to being busy; logically, she shouldn’t feel this way. Sun Miao, however, was a bit bashful, but still answered the System, “Because I sleep with Susu-jie. If I set an alarm in the middle of the night and get up to work, wouldn’t that make Susu-jie unable to sleep well with me?”

【…This time, it was the Host who requested zongzi herself.】

Sun Miao also came to her senses: it seemed she really was the one who mentioned it first.

But her skin was rather thick⁴: “What I say doesn’t count. Anyway, you are not allowed to make this kind of thing that requires phased production, is especially troublesome, and has a very long waiting time anymore!”

What could the System do? It could only agree: 【Alright.】

Before Su Ruixi came home, Sun Miao had already made a batch. The rest really had to be cooked tomorrow morning. For one’s own people⁵ to eat, there weren’t so many particularities, but it wouldn’t do for customers.

When Su Ruixi came back, just as she entered the door, before she had time to put down her keys and change her shoes, she saw Sun Miao pouncing on her. She was stunned for a moment, but still caught Sun Miao and clasped a hand on her back. Her movements were done in one breath⁶, and at the same time, she didn’t forget to place the keys on the cabinet here.

“You miss me this much?”

Su Ruixi hugged Sun Miao, but her mood was very good. She had noticed something: every time on the second day of Sun Miao’s break, which was before the start of the next stall cycle, she seemed to be extremely clingy.

On this day, Sun Miao would act like she missed her very much and would always stick to her, wanting to be close to her. Last time, she said it was because she had a nightmare, but Su Ruixi felt that a nightmare wouldn’t turn a person into that. Most importantly, on this particular day, Sun Miao’s mental state would be a bit poor.

She would be very tired.

Wanting to be close and cuddly with her was one aspect, but a sense of fatigue would be revealed from the bottom of her eyes, as if she had stayed up for several long nights working overtime. But Sun Miao hadn’t gone anywhere; she had just slept in her bed at home.

Although Su Ruixi found it strange, she didn’t press the issue. She figured maybe Sun Miao had exhausted her brain cells thinking about what to make for the next stall, it wasn’t impossible.

At this time, what she could do was to soothe her, accompany her well, and comfort her. She thought about it; Sun Miao’s next break would be on the 15th and 16th, which was next Thursday and Friday. No matter what, she had to take leave on the 16th to stay by Sun Miao’s side.

Su Ruixi made up her mind and held Sun Miao, comforting her for a while.

After some time, Sun Miao finally let go of Su Ruixi. She knew that acting like this was quite inappropriate and took an awkward step back, curling her finger to scratch her cheek. “Susu-jie, you must be hungry, right? Come in quickly, I made zongzi, have a taste.”

Su Ruixi nodded. She took off her shoes, changed into slippers, and went to wash her hands before sitting down opposite Sun Miao.

“Is this what you’re planning to sell tomorrow?”

There were six zongzi on the plate in front of her. The group chat had said there was a limit of 2 per person, but Sun Miao had still prepared an extra one for herself. She also explained, “I only prepared this many because these were taken out during the resting process. They aren’t the most delicious yet. Tomorrow morning, I’ll save two more for you to have for breakfast. Also, glutinous rice is quite filling, it’s not good to eat too much. Actually, three is already a bit much…”

Su Ruixi didn’t think it was much at all. While Sun Miao was talking, she reached out and took one into her own bowl. This zongzi wasn’t large, only about the size of her fist. Su Ruixi felt that with Sun Miao’s culinary skills, eating three would be more than enough for her.

She first examined this zongzi.

The whole thing was a jade-green color, bright and fresh.

Normal zongzi are usually grayish-green, dark green, or brownish-green, but Sun Miao’s was so vividly green it was about to drip⁷, as if it had just been picked from a tree. This kind of zongzi leaf was actually very dangerous; it might have had coloring added.

Su Ruixi wasn’t worried at all, because the person who made this zongzi was Sun Miao! Who was Sun Miao? A super chef plus her own girlfriend. In this world, anyone could harm her, but Sun Miao would never harm her!

When the zongzi was brought closer, one could faintly smell a fragrance.

First was a burst of green scent, not strong, as if it were an illusion that passed in an instant, and then, it was the fragrance of the zongzi itself.

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