Setting Up Stalls – Chapter 149

Zongzi Are Really Delicious

The rice fragrance of glutinous rice¹ and a faint salty aroma emerged slightly from the zongzi leaves. They were ready to burst out², as if they couldn’t wait to break free from the constraints of the outer zongzi leaves and show Su Ruixi just how delicious and fragrant they were.

Su Ruixi swallowed a mouthful of saliva. She had been working for a whole day, and for lunch, she had gone out to eat with a client.

An outside simple meal, and a business meal at that, one could only say that everyone understood.

Was that edible? For Su Ruixi, it was simply inedible. She barely had any smile on her face, only discussing work matters with the partner. Occasionally, she would pick up her chopsticks to eat a little something, perfunctorily filling her stomach a bit. After returning to the office, she even had her assistant cook a packet of instant noodles for her.

However, she didn’t use the instant noodles’ seasoning packet. That seasoning was too strong for Su Ruixi, and it was filled with a kind of industrial taste. It was edible, but when she ate it, she was always expressionless, unable to say she liked it at all; it could only serve the purpose of filling her stomach.

So Su Ruixi took out the tuhuangyou that Sun Miao had prepared for her.

It was worth mentioning that the tuhuangyou finally had its own exclusive throne—the mini-fridge in Su Ruixi’s office. After 24 hours, the fridge could be used. Su Ruixi personally went to the pantry to carry out her glass jar and placed it preciously into the mini-fridge.

For lunch, she had her assistant soak the noodles and then pour out the water, leaving the noodles to be dipped in the tuhuangyou, and she ate them directly.

After the instant noodle cake was soaked, it wasn’t very tasty on its own. Without the seasoning packet, it was far inferior to dried noodles³. After adding the tuhuangyou, it became delicious. But the original underlying taste of the noodles was still there. Su Ruixi ate half of the noodles and all the tuhuangyou she had poured into the instant noodle cup, and then she couldn’t eat anymore.

Only now, after all this time, could she finally eat a satisfying, steaming hot dinner.

Su Ruixi reached out her hand and once again held the verdant green zongzi. Actually, she had wanted to start eating it directly just now, but it was a bit hot, so she had placed it in the bowl to cool down a little.

This zongzi in Su Ruixi’s hand was as if wholly natural; no cotton string was used, yet it was wrapped tightly and securely. Su Ruixi followed the veins of the leaves to search for a bit before finding the tucked-in end of the leaf. There was a layer of water vapor on it, but it wasn’t dripping wet; instead, it was slightly damp and soft, not enough to dirty her hands, which made Su Ruixi very satisfied.

She directly extended her fingertips, pinched the very tip of the leaf, and gently pulled it back, and the leaf just came apart.

It really just came apart, as if a green flower was blooming in Su Ruixi’s hand. The instant the flower bloomed, the zongzi in Su Ruixi’s hand changed its form. Originally, the zongzi leaves tightly wrapped the zongzi, but now they were completely loose. Two leaves overlapped and landed in Su Ruixi’s hand, and in the very center was the zongzi itself.

The outermost layer of this zongzi was a pale yellow tending towards white. The further inward, however, the darker the color became, approaching brown, and its shape was the most perfect pyramid. A small one rested in the palm of her hand, so crystal clear and translucent it looked like some kind of art piece, not a zongzi.

The green zongzi leaves underneath drooped outwards a little, but the overall shape was still there, not having completely lost its form; it even looked a bit like it was holding this zongzi, doing its utmost to present the zongzi to the person.

Just based on its appearance, it was already able to capture Su Ruixi’s heart.

But what made Su Ruixi feel even more tempted was the zongzi’s fragrance.

Su Ruixi had never thought zongzi were particularly fragrant, but at this moment, that perception was overturned. The instant the zongzi was opened, carried by the heat and water vapor, the fragrance of the zongzi also rushed towards her.

That fragrance was rich, and perhaps because it was directly facing Su Ruixi, she felt the rich aroma rush towards her in the first moment; although it was so rich, it was not cloying, but instead carried the tranquility of the glutinous rice fragrance.

It was just like that wisp of fragrance from when it was first wrapped, only more intense, more fragrant and sweet. At the same time, there was also a rich savory aroma, letting one know just by smelling it: what was inside was definitely a meat filling.

That smell made Su Ruixi even more impatient. She didn’t hesitate, opened her mouth, and took a bite right at the tip of the zongzi facing her. It wasn’t her fault for being so impatient; the zongzi itself was beckoning to her, it was the one over there saying “come and eat me”~

Su Ruixi rarely used a word like “entice,” but the zongzi in front of her was using its crystal-clear appearance and its rushing fragrance to entice her, the diner!

This zongzi must be taught a lesson.

Unfortunately, the first one to be taught a lesson was Su Ruixi.

Hot, that zongzi was quite hot, so hot that even Sun Miao spoke up to remind her: “Susu-jie, slow down, it’s hot!” Unfortunately, it was too late; Su Ruixi had already taken a bite. The zongzi, having just been cooked not long ago, was tightly wrapped by the zongzi leaves, preventing the heat from dissipating directly. It hid beneath the zongzi leaves, ready at any moment to attack a passing diner.

And Su Ruixi was the unfortunate one who fell for the trap.

But Su Ruixi, she treated it as sweet as malt sugar⁴.

So what if it was hot? It was so delicious, did they think she would spit it out?

Yes, it was just that delicious.

The first bite, she actually only tasted the glutinous rice, not even touching the meat filling, yet she still felt it was extremely delicious. The faint taste of glutinous rice spread in her mouth; the glutinous rice had already been thoroughly soaked, carrying a sweetness and a slight saltiness. As Su Ruixi chewed, both the sweetness and the saltiness became richer.

But they were both just right, not making one feel it was overly sweet or overly salty. At this moment, the flavors of sweet and savory zongzi seemed to have reached a perfect agreement in Su Ruixi’s mouth.

The more she chewed, the more fragrant it became; the more fragrant, the more she chewed. Even though the zongzi was a bit hot, Su Ruixi was reluctant to spit it out.

She chewed several times. The glutinous rice was extremely soft and sticky, yet with a few more bites, she could clearly feel the individual grains of the glutinous rice. These two completely different textures also fascinated her.

After swallowing the glutinous rice, Su Ruixi still felt it wasn’t enough. She subconsciously stuck the tip of her tongue out a little, lightly sweeping it across her upper lip, and then retracted it. A good upbringing told her that doing this was not polite, and eating like this would make a person seem too greedy, just like someone who hadn’t eaten their fill in eight lifetimes.

It was only when she realized this that she pulled it back.

Immediately after, she lowered her head and took another bite. It was hot; because of the way zongzi are made, the further inside, the more compact it is, and of course the heat is trapped and can’t get out, so it would be hotter. But for this bite of food, even if it was hot, Su Ruixi accepted it.

She ate another one or two bites and felt that she had bitten into the meat filling.

Su Ruixi couldn’t describe that meat filling; she only felt that it was very easily bitten off along with the surrounding glutinous rice. After chewing it twice in her mouth, that completely different flavor suddenly impacted her taste buds, only then making Su Ruixi realize: she had eaten the meat filling.

Yes, one really had to use the word “impact.”

As Su Ruixi ate two bites of glutinous rice, the sweetness and saltiness of the rice grew stronger in her mouth, but overall maintained a just-right level. But the moment she ate the meat filling, the fragrant sweetness and savory freshness of the meat rushed up forcefully.

The magical thing was, Su Ruixi didn’t find it salty, only thinking—meat filling, can it be this delicious?

Su Ruixi was on a business trip once and bought a Jiaxing Meat Zongzi to eat at a service area. The moment she bit into the meat filling, she only felt a ball of oil burst in her mouth. Su Ruixi couldn’t hold back at that moment and directly spat it into the zongzi’s bag. From then on, Su Ruixi would retreat three she⁵ from Jiaxing Meat Zongzi.

Her impression of Jiaxing Meat Zongzi directly became “greasy, fat, stinky pork.” Moreover, in their Jiangnan area, almost every highway service area sold Jiaxing Meat Zongzi. Every time she saw them, Su Ruixi’s brows would wrinkle enough to clamp a fly to death.

But now, her previous impression was shattered, and a new impression was input into Su Ruixi’s mind.

What was truly fat but not greasy, lean but not tough⁶, what was the true fragrant sweetness and deliciousness of pork, Su Ruixi truly felt it. As she ate, she could clearly taste the sinewy texture of the lean meat, yet that lean meat was separated as smoothly as silk threads by her teeth. While biting down, she could taste the dense softness of the fat. That fat was sandwiched between two layers of lean meat, providing grease to the lean meat, but its own texture was also there, and it melted in the mouth, simply perfect.

In this meat filling, the fat and lean meat were perfectly unified, as if they were each other’s best partners.

But at the same time, the glutinous rice had not lost its color either. The glutinous rice mixed with the meat filling, becoming a bit saltier, the sweetness slightly weakening. But this flavor was clearly also just right.

This was very magical. Every bite’s flavor clearly had distinctions of light and rich, but when Su Ruixi ate it, she only felt that it was all just right. One bit more would be too salty, one bit less would be too bland. The ultimate seasoning made Su Ruixi’s head feel dizzy.

She couldn’t even help but think: if in the future I don’t have such good zongzi to eat, what am I to do?

In this life, a person can’t be ruled forever by that zongzi with bursting fat and oil from the highway service area, right?!

This kind of thing, absolutely not!

This question only surfaced in Su Ruixi’s mind for a second, because it was quickly covered by the next thought: It won’t happen, it definitely won’t. She and Sun Miao are in a girlfriend relationship! In this world, whoever can’t eat the things Sun Miao makes, it’s impossible for her not to be able to eat them!

For the rest of her life, she has nothing to do with the zongzi from the service area!

Even on business trips, she must bring Sun Miao along, and even if Sun Miao doesn’t go with her, she must bring Sun Miao’s zongzi!

Su Ruixi made a secret resolution in her heart and ate several more bites of the zongzi. In the face of ultimate gourmet food, it was difficult for Su Ruixi to remain reserved. In no more than five minutes, she had finished one zongzi. After finishing, she still couldn’t help but stick out her tongue a little.

This time it wasn’t because she was greedy, but purely because it was too hot. She had a bit of a cat tongue⁷ in her, so she couldn’t help but stick it out a little to let her tongue and mouth dissipate some heat.

Watching her like this, Sun Miao couldn’t hold back and started to tell her off: “Susu-jie, no one is fighting you for it, why are you eating in such a hurry? You got burned this time, right? Let me see, wait a moment before you eat the next one.”

Su Ruixi felt a little wronged, but still nodded: “Okay.”

She actually really wanted to refute Sun Miao. How could there be no one fighting her for it? There were plenty of people fighting her for it. Especially Xu Zi’an and the other one!

Today, before it was even time to get off work, Hip-hop Mei had called Su Ruixi, and the meaning behind her words was just one thing: she wanted to come to Su Ruixi’s house to freeload a meal. She knew that buying from the stall the next day would have a limit, so… she wanted to be the first to taste it!

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