Setting Up Stalls – Chapter 151

Leading a Wolf into the House

Hip-hop Mei said “just in time,” but the shining look in her eyes told a different story—that this was premeditated. She had planned it with Yabi Mei, which was why they came directly to the pedestrian street vicinity to stay up all night. Before Hip-hop Mei could even say a few words, a group of people popped out from behind them. There were both men and women, but in the Hip-hop and Yabi duo’s circle of friends, there were still more female friends.

Among them, a friend couldn’t help but complain: “No, seriously, after clubbing all night, you told us early this morning there was something good to eat, and you just made us walk 500 meters to eat at a small stall’s…” She double-checked the writing on Sun Miao’s little sign before continuing: “…Zongzi?”

Someone next to her added: “Isn’t that right? And it’s limited, a limit of two per person. I don’t even want to eat something like Zongzi, who would buy extra? Never mind a limit of two, selling at this time of day, I bet she can’t even sell a single one.”

Hip-hop Mei was furious: “This lady¹ brought you here with good intentions to eat something delicious, and this is your reaction? Go, go, go, you two aren’t allowed to eat Zongzi! Pfft, you have eyes but fail to recognize Mount Tai². Little Boss Sun, hurry up and blacklist them!”

Yabi Mei was more direct: “Little Boss Sun, give me two Zongzi.” When it came to cutting in line, Yabi Mei made it look as easy as reaching out a hand to catch something³. She had already placed her order while Hip-hop Mei was still bickering with her friends.

Hip-hop Mei was just messing around with her friends, and Sun Miao wasn’t actually going to blacklist someone. It was just a couple of sentences; if she blacklisted people for something like that, it would make her seem so petty.

Right now, her blacklist only had one person on it: Zhang Qiang. Of course, Chef Qian and the manager could also be on it, but it didn’t matter whether they were or not. They were already behind bars, and it was impossible for them to crawl out and buy her food again.

It was no big deal for her to be criticized by a couple of customers who had never eaten her food before; it wasn’t the first time. After this type of customer ate her food, they would immediately change their tune and become loyal guards of her cuisine.

Hip-hop Mei was an unreliable person and didn’t have much credibility among her friends. What she thought was delicious, everyone else didn’t necessarily agree was particularly good. But… Yabi Mei was different. She looked much more dependable than Hip-hop Mei, and she had already started buying without saying a word, which was enough to show that she also thought this stall’s Zongzi was delicious.

The friends exchanged a glance and understood: it seemed this unremarkable little stall, with a sign that was at best a little cute, really had two brushes⁴.

So, they very tacitly lined up behind Yabi Mei, pushing Hip-hop Mei far away without a sound. By the time Hip-hop Mei realized what was happening, a long line of people had already formed in front of her. “You all! I… You just wait!”

She clearly wanted to curse in the middle of her sentence, but Yabi Mei turned her head to glance at her, and she quickly changed her words, then dejectedly lined up behind her friends.

One of the friends at the front of the line spoke up directly: “Little Boss, are the Zongzi you make really that good?”

Her words were full of disbelief, but Sun Miao answered with a smile, “They’re delicious. Have a taste and see.”

Everyone more or less bought one or two. Those who bought one were skeptical, but after pulling an all-nighter, they really wanted to replenish some carbs. Sun Miao’s seating area couldn’t accommodate such a large group, so they simply, and with a complete lack of decorum, either squatted or sat down and started eating right on the curb.

Sun Miao fell silent for a moment, especially when she saw the sanitation worker cleaning the road nearby cast a somewhat contemptuous gaze in her direction.

—Please, I’m begging you, don’t look at me like that. This group of unemployed vagrants really has nothing to do with me!

It wasn’t a huge problem to call them a group of unemployed vagrants. Most of the people who hung out with Hip-hop Mei were idle rich second-generation kids whose parents’ only expectation for them was: don’t start a business, and don’t get involved with things you shouldn’t.

So they ran around all day long, eating and drinking everywhere, not much different from a street loafer⁵.

Usually, it was just the Hip-hop and Yabi duo, which was fine. They both looked like they dressed in a very “Yabi” style, but with only two people, it didn’t form a large-scale presence. Moreover, Yabi Mei had a naturally calm, cool-girl vibe that directly diminished that unemployed vagrant feeling.

But now it was different. There were too many unemployed vagrants, all dressed in flashy and gaudy clothes. Even a cool girl like Yabi Mei was hidden among the crowd, her temperament completely invisible.

At this moment, Sun Miao’s stall truly looked like a gathering place for social idlers.

Especially after they took their first bite, they all began to wolf it down as if they hadn’t eaten a full meal in eight lifetimes. It was just like those spiritual little brother and sister⁶ who, after starving for three days and nine meals⁷, finally found a cheap place to eat.

Look at them, how pitiful.

But they weren’t pitiful at all! Every single one of them probably drove a sports car, and Sun Miao’s place was by no means cheap. One of her Zongzi sold for 15 yuan! Two was 30!

This price was a price that would make every breakfast stall owner fall silent.

The current average price for a meat Zongzi was 2.5 yuan. Even with a price increase, it would be around 5 yuan. A bit more expensive, 10 yuan for a meat Zongzi the size of a woman’s fist, was the absolute ceiling. But Sun Miao, she was charging fifteen.

Sun Miao didn’t think this price was too expensive. It was probably because after the sudden drop from a 588-yuan Lion’s Head Meatball with Crab Roe to a 15-yuan Zongzi, the contrast naturally made a 15-yuan Zongzi seem like nothing. Especially since, no matter how she thought about it, Sun Miao felt that making Zongzi was more tiring for her.

Less profit, more work, so what’s wrong with 15 yuan for a Zongzi.

From the sincere trepidation of selling Egg Fried Rice at the beginning to the current composure when selling a Zongzi for 15 yuan, in a sense, Sun Miao had also grown a lot.

Among the friends of the Hip-hop and Yabi duo, the first group of people to finish their Zongzi had appeared—the ones who had skeptically bought only one. After they finished eating, they watched as others started on their second one. Immediately, feeling that they hadn’t had enough, they ran to Sun Miao, ready to buy more.

The person at the front of the line opened his mouth and said, “Little Boss, what you make is really delicious. Give me two more.” Sun Miao rejected him directly: “You can only buy one more.”

The person’s eyes widened. “Wait, didn’t you say the limit was two per person? How come I can only buy one?”

“It’s a limit of two per person, not a limit of two per purchase.”

Was she kidding? How could Sun Miao let people exploit a bug like that? There were periods when her stall didn’t have many customers, like when she first arrived every day. How could people possibly come so early to buy breakfast? If this bug really existed, wouldn’t this pair of all-nighter-pullers, the Hip-hop and Yabi duo, be able to just repeatedly get in line and buy everything?

Sun Miao would absolutely not let them succeed.

The first person took a deep breath. “Fine, one is one.”

But someone squatting nearby, grunting and snorting as he ate his second Zongzi, muttered, “What if you come back after a long time, or find someone to buy it for you? You still wouldn’t be found out.”

Speaking of this, Hip-hop Mei became triumphant. “You’re thinking way too naively! Her food is delicious, and her eyes are sharp too! You want to use a little trick like that to fool Little Boss Sun? Dream on!”

For some reason, Hip-hop Mei’s proud energy made it seem as if she had accomplished these things herself. She even excitedly told her friends the story about Zhang Qiang and how she got blacklisted, as if she were a storyteller.

Immediately, someone expressed disbelief: “The Zhang Qiang you’re talking about, it couldn’t be that Zhang Qiang, could it?”

They were all from the same circle. Many things didn’t need to be said explicitly for everyone to know what was meant. They all knew who “that Zhang Qiang” was.

“It’s her! I don’t know how she offended Little Boss Sun, but she was straight-up blacklisted.”

Yabi Mei fell silent for a moment. If she remembered correctly, she seemed to have given Xu Zi’an a hint. Had this guy forgotten again?

Forget it, forget it, she was an idiot to begin with.

“Awesome! This little stall can actually blacklist Zhang Qiang!” The thought of this made them feel a bit of fear towards Sun Miao. After all, Zhang Qiang was from their parents’ generation, someone who sat at the same table to divide the cake⁸, while they could only look up to her.

A person like that was blacklisted by this Little Boss. If they made her unhappy, wouldn’t they be blacklisted in a matter of minutes?

Being blacklisted by others was no big deal, but they couldn’t be blacklisted by this little stall. Otherwise… where would they find such delicious food in the future?

The moment she saw the look in this group’s eyes, Yabi Mei realized something. She sighed while eating her Zongzi. Hip-hop Mei noticed something was off with her and immediately sidled over. “What’s wrong? You don’t have an appetite today and don’t want to eat? If you don’t want it, give it to me. I still have room. It’s a pity the limit is two, I can’t get full at all.”

Hearing this, Yabi Mei wanted to smack Hip-hop Mei on the head a couple of times. “Eat, eat, eat, all you know is how to eat.” She was truly fuming right now.

Hip-hop Mei realized Yabi Mei was genuinely angry and became timid. After a moment, she still couldn’t resist asking her, “What’s wrong with you? Why are you angry? I didn’t do anything annoying.”

Yabi Mei hesitated for a long time before sighing and continuing, “You’ve led a wolf into the house⁹, how could I not be angry.”

The two of them were originally speaking quietly, and with everyone around them focused on eating their Zongzi, no one noticed what they were saying. But Hip-hop Mei was truly a wooden club¹⁰. She suddenly shouted loudly, “Leading a wolf into the house, what are you talking about? Where’s the wolf?”

In that instant, all their friends around them lifted their heads. If they hadn’t heard that sentence, they wouldn’t have been able to tear their mouths away from the Zongzi in front of them. But at this moment, lifting their heads like this, looking at people like this, even Hip-hop Mei knew who the wolves were.

At this moment, Hip-hop Mei wanted to slap herself across the face.

They were the wolves Yabi Mei spoke of. The way they looked up was like a pack of wolves tearing at their prey, who suddenly hear a rabbit stumble into their encirclement. They raised their heads, their eyes glowing green, eating what was in their mouths while still thinking about what was in the pot¹¹.

The scene of Hip-hop Mei bringing her friends to eat at Sun Miao’s stall—wasn’t that just leading a wolf into the house!

And to make matters worse, the pack of wolves was still laughing over there: “That’s right, where’s the wolf? Don’t be so creepy. We’re in the city, there are no wolves, ha.”

Sun Miao, who saw everything, could only say: perhaps Hip-hop Mei saved Yabi Mei’s life in a past life. Otherwise, it was hard to explain how Yabi Mei had tolerated her until now.

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