Setting Up Stalls – Chapter 15

What Are You Eating?

How could Sun Miao’s movements not flow like clouds and water? Even with her eyes closed, she knew…

Sun Miao’s movements couldn’t help but flow like clouds and water. She could perform these movements with her eyes closed, knowing exactly what to do. She was so tired of making malatang, truly sick of it.

But it still tasted quite good.

Sun Miao was someone who enjoyed spicy food, though she could only handle mild spiciness. Nevertheless, her spicy soup base was truly delicious, and the side dishes within brought out different flavors. Among those who came to eat her malatang these days, nine out of ten came specifically for the spicy soup base.

So it was always the same—the spicy soup base would sell out first, leaving plenty of clear broth to take home.

After returning home, she would consume some of the clear broth herself, and what she really couldn’t finish, she had to pour out. She probably didn’t know that if she told Su Ruixi about this, it would pain Su Ruixi to that extent.

At first, Sun Miao hadn’t noticed Su Ruixi watching her, and her movements were exceptionally fluid. But after a while, Sun Miao felt Su Ruixi’s gaze, and then——her operations weren’t as smooth anymore.

Well, although she knew there was no possibility between herself and Su Ruixi, especially after discovering that Su Ruixi lived in this villa district, Cuiting Yayuan, she knew even more certainly it was impossible. Chatting with the security guard-ge, he said each villa here cost several tens of millions, with renovations costing another ten or twenty million, and every household was pursuing a small goal [小目标 | xiǎo mù biāo | internet slang referring to an enormous sum of money, originated from Wang Jianlin’s famous quote].

A small goal—Sun Miao thought about her little stall that made a thousand yuan daily, at most earning fifty thousand yuan monthly. She was already earning relatively well, but compared to these mansions worth tens of millions, she truly couldn’t dare to dream.

Though the security guard-ge might have been exaggerating.

Knowing something was impossible was one thing, but her heart still fluttered when it wanted to, especially when her crush was staring intently at her. Sun Miao had to use all her strength to maintain control to avoid making mistakes.

She thought again: Fortunately, the virtual customers in the system space were all people she didn’t know—if there were a hundred Su Ruixis staring at her while she cooked, she definitely couldn’t handle it.

Sun Miao deftly finished preparing Su Ruixi’s malatang, added seasonings according to Su Ruixi’s taste, set it aside, and it was ready for Su Ruixi to eat.

Watching Su Ruixi begin eating, Sun Miao took out a lunch box from under the counter and walked to the side to eat. Hers wasn’t a disposable container, but rather a thermal lunch box containing her dinner.

Sun Miao ate with obvious enjoyment—her cooking skills were truly high now. Although her skill with simple stir-fries wasn’t as good as her egg fried rice or malatang, as the saying goes, mastery in one thing leads to mastery in all. She had made shredded pepper stir-fried beef, fried egg, and stir-fried baby bok choy, paired with rice she had cooked herself.

To put it simply: just eat it, guaranteed not a peep would be heard [一吃一個不吱聲 | yī chī yī gè bù zhī shēng | expression meaning the food is so good everyone becomes silent while eating].

After eating for a while, she noticed something: Su Ruixi had been eating properly, but at some point, she had started staring at Sun Miao again.

Sun Miao felt she couldn’t eat properly anymore. She deliberately took a few steps to the side, and without a seat, just stood there eating. The smell from her food shouldn’t be reaching Su Ruixi’s side.

She thought she might have been mistaken, took a few more bites, then realized: no mistake, Su Ruixi was indeed watching her.

Sun Miao raised her head and turned to look at Su Ruixi, who immediately lowered her head and continued eating her malatang. Sun Miao turned back and continued eating, but after just a few bites, she noticed Su Ruixi watching her again.

But when she looked up, Su Ruixi was eating malatang again. This time Sun Miao couldn’t hold back, and spoke first: “Um… Miss Su, is there something you need?”

Caught in the act, Su Ruixi maintained her composure, not a trace of excess expression on her face. She spoke as casually as if discussing the weather: “What are you eating?”

“Just… dinner I made myself.”

“What dishes?”

“Stir-fries.”

Su Ruixi pursed her lips—since she had already asked, her curiosity was laid bare, and not knowing the specific details was a bit uncomfortable. She decided to break the clay pot and ask to the bottom [打破砂鍋問到底 | dǎ pò shā guō wèn dào dǐ | idiom meaning to pursue a question until getting a complete answer]: “What kind of stir-fries?”

Sun Miao finally realized she wanted to know exactly what she was eating, so she answered: “It’s shredded pepper stir-fried…” She listed all three dishes, but had no intention of inviting Su Ruixi to try some. Sun Miao felt it would be strange to randomly invite someone to share her dinner.

Moreover, Su Ruixi seemed like someone who was particularly concerned with cleanliness, and since she had already taken several bites, inviting Su Ruixi now wouldn’t be proper.

Sure enough, Su Ruixi didn’t express any interest in trying it.

She just nodded: “Mm, is it good?”

“…” How should she answer this? Sun Miao was a bit bewildered. Of course she thought it was quite good—her culinary skills spoke for themselves. While not comparing herself to masters, surpassing ordinary chefs with these home-style stir-fries shouldn’t be a problem, right?

But saying that aloud would seem rather narcissistic. So after some thought, Sun Miao answered: “It’s okay, just average.”

At this point, Su Ruixi’s curiosity subsided, and she resumed eating. But watching Sun Miao feast heartily, she couldn’t help wondering: how good were Sun Miao’s stir-fries really?

While Su Ruixi was slowly eating her malatang, she heard the roar of an engine. This sound was very common in their residential area, and Su Ruixi was used to it. Though it was mainly noisy during the day—at night, these second-generation rich would obediently step on the gas slowly when entering the compound.

Otherwise, with so many people in the residential area, they’d end up offending everyone.

Sun Miao looked up, though, because these supercar drivers were all her customers.

Sure enough, a flashy supercar pulled up and parked directly by the roadside. The woman in the driver’s seat got out and strode over to Sun Miao’s food cart on her long legs. Despite the cold April evening at past seven, she was wearing ultra-short shorts with a tank top under a hip-hop style jacket—her outfit making it unclear whether she was cold or hot.

Sun Miao had no opinion about this style of dress—whatever the customer preferred was fine.

The hip-hop styled woman greeted Sun Miao with familiar ease: “Yo, little boss, I’m back!”

“Alright, what would you like to eat?”

The woman looked at the refrigerated display for a moment and listed her choices. She was about to sit down nearby, but her eyes swept across and spotted Su Ruixi. The hip-hop mei wearing pink sunglasses at night took them off: “Isn’t this my Su-jie? Why are you eating street stall malatang here?”

——Oh, so they knew each other.

Sun Miao glanced at Su Ruixi beside her. While Su Ruixi’s face showed no obvious change, Sun Miao instinctively felt her expression had soured. Similar to——the feeling of being caught by a welfare home [福利院 | fú lì yuàn | orphanage or social welfare institution] teacher when secretly using hidden money to buy spicy strips in primary school.

Sure enough, hip-hop mei’s next words were: “Don’t you have stomach problems? At the last gathering, I heard your stomach hurt so badly you were breaking out in cold sweat. How come you’re eating street stall malatang now?”

Sun Miao felt she should say something for her stall and her crush: “I also make non-spicy versions, and they’re very gentle and suitable for nurturing the stomach, perfect for Miss Su.”

Hip-hop mei chuckled: “Right, that’s true. I’ll have mine the usual way—extra numbing and extra spicy. To go.”

After saying this, she sat to the side with her hands in her pockets. While hip-hop mei played with her phone, Sun Miao stayed there preparing her malatang. When Sun Miao opened the large pot, Su Ruixi instinctively felt the spicy aroma would drift over and deliberately leaned back, but not a hint of fragrance reached her.

Looking again, Su Ruixi saw that Sun Miao’s pot lid was only half-open, and the side facing her wasn’t opened at all. The large ladle dipped in to scoop some soup, while Sun Miao’s whole body consciously blocked it. Plus, with Su Ruixi sitting upwind, naturally not a whiff of spice reached her.

Su Ruixi was stunned, not expecting the little boss to be so attentive.

After hip-hop mei’s malatang was ready, she picked up the disposable container and bid farewell to Su Ruixi: “Su-jie, see you at the next gathering, I’m heading out~” With that, she got into her supercar, stepped on the gas, and her figure quickly vanished.

Su Ruixi was somewhat speechless, slightly worried that Sun Miao might think she was the same type as hip-hop mei, so she explained: “She’s my relative’s child. I’m not close to her, and she doesn’t live here.” The subtext being, she had no idea why hip-hop mei would come here and run into her.

Sun Miao nodded: “Indeed, she doesn’t live here. Every time after buying, she drives straight away without even entering the compound.”

“…How many times has she come to buy?”

“Three days now, coming at this time every day.”

It seemed malatang was truly captivating, making someone traverse half the city just to buy a portion. Su Ruixi took a deep breath, mentally calling hip-hop mei a foodie. She had chosen this residential area for a reason—it was peaceful, and mainly because it was far from her parents and acquaintances.

If she lived closer, she would certainly be under their supervision.

But who would have thought that crossing half the city, that foodie could still find her way here, just for a taste of malatang! Su Ruixi could already imagine it—she would definitely tell her parents about seeing her eating at a street stall, then her parents would call to tell her to take care of her health, not to eat unclean things [不幹不淨 | bù gān bù jìng | literally “not clean, not pure”; referring to questionable food safety].

However, even if her parents said something, Su Ruixi would definitely continue eating here.

If she didn’t, she would truly be tortured to death by her stomach problems. Her taste was picky, there were many things she didn’t like to eat, and she was so caught up in work that she often missed mealtimes without eating a single bite. Now that she finally found something she “somewhat liked” to eat, even if her parents objected, she would still eat it.

She just hadn’t expected that hip-hop mei had eaten here more times than herself.

She had only eaten two meals, while that person was already on her third!

Su Ruixi thought: This won’t do, definitely won’t do.

Her gaze fell on Sun Miao’s large pot again, planning to take another portion of soup home today.

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