Setting Up Stalls – Chapter 154

There’s One More Thing I Haven’t Said

Zhou Ling’s mother’s xiaojiemei¹ also came over to buy some. She furtively wore a pair of sunglasses, terrified of being seen by others. Sun Miao looked at her with astonishment, and she said in Mandarin tinged with a dialectal accent, “Aiyo, don’t look at me like that. If people found out I ran so far to eat² a Zongzi from a roadside stall, oh, I wouldn’t be able to hang out with them anymore.”

On this point, this xiaojiemei couldn’t compare to the Hip-hop Yabi duo. They wouldn’t care if their friends thought they had dropped out of their social class just for eating at a roadside stall; they would bring all their friends over to sink together³.

However, Sun Miao wouldn’t say anything to her. After all, she was from the older generation; she had to keep face⁴.

Sun Miao packed them up for her and added in a low voice, “These are the last two.”

The eyes of Zhou Ling’s mother’s xiaojiemei lit up a bit. “I’m this lucky! That’s great!” She directly scanned to pay 50 yuan and left, carrying the Zongzi.

After the person left, Sun Miao began to pack up the food truck. She glanced at the time; it was past 1 PM. After she finished cleaning up, she sent a “sold out” message in the group chat, then sent a private message to Su Ruixi saying, “All sold out~ I can go home now.” Only after the other party replied with “Be careful on the road” did she happily message Kaixin’s Mom to ask about the ruozhu leaves.

Kaixin’s Mom replied quickly: We’ve pretty much finished sorting them. We should be done by the time you get here.

Sun Miao: Okay, thank you.

When she drove her three-wheeled vehicle to the house she used to rent, it was the landlord’s dog that came bounding out first. This was a rural suburb, and many of the village dogs were raised free-range in their yards. Sun Miao didn’t mind; these dogs were kept to guard the house and were very well-behaved, just staying in the yard and not going anywhere.

Sun Miao gave the dog’s head a good scratch, then let go and walked towards Kaixin’s house. Before she could even knock, Kaixin’s Mom opened the door. “I saw Da Hei⁵ wagging his tail and heading outside. The landlord’s family definitely isn’t back at this time, so I guessed it was you. Sure enough, Da Hei is only this enthusiastic with you and the landlord’s family.”

“That’s a friendship I fed with meat.”

As they spoke, Kaixin’s Mom let Sun Miao in. The rented house wasn’t large, just big enough for a large bed and two tables. Several large basins were placed on the floor, all filled with ruozhu leaves. To Sun Miao’s surprise, the leaves had all been washed clean and were now in the basins to drain.

“I figured it would be slow for you to handle them alone, so I washed them at home after Kaixin’s Dad picked them this morning. My hands are rough⁶, I hope I didn’t mess things up?”

“No, you’ve been a huge help.”

Sun Miao paid Kaixin’s Mom according to the previously agreed-upon price. “Thank you for your hard work, and for fronting the money for me. This is for the ruozhu leaves.”

Kaixin’s Dad happened to return with Kaixin just then. Seeing Sun Miao, he gave a shy smile. “I’ll help you carry them to your vehicle.” With someone helping, it was indeed much faster. Soon, the ruozhu leaves were on Sun Miao’s bamboo mats, slowly draining on the food truck. The system very consciously switched the setting from “insulation” to “moisture and freshness preservation,” ensuring Sun Miao’s Zongzi leaves would not be affected.

Sun Miao greeted Kaixin and took out a bag of Zongzi from her vehicle. This was what she had promised when she asked for their help yesterday. Kaixin bounced and took the bag, hugging it.

Actually, Sun Miao hadn’t prepared a lot of Zongzi, just one bag. It’s just that Kaixin was so small that she had to hug it.

“Thank you, Sun Miao-jiejie~” Kaixin’s innocent voice was a joy to hear. Sun Miao waved to her and said goodbye.

On her way, she bought ingredients for the next day’s stall and for dinner, then drove her three-wheeler to the courier collection point at the entrance of the Cuiting Yayuan residential complex. She was as furtive as a thief, terrified that someone would discover she had bought some things that sounded unsuitable for children. But the management at Cuiting Yayuan was very strict. Sun Miao didn’t look like a homeowner, so they questioned her about her situation.

For example, which building she lived in, what the homeowner’s name was, whether she was an employee of the homeowner, if she had any proof, and so on.

I didn’t leave a specific unit number precisely because I didn’t want to expose which building I’m in! If I had known it would be this much of a social death⁷, I might as well have written the building number and had it delivered directly to my door!

After a round of interrogation, Sun Miao finally left with her small box. The good news was, at least she hadn’t revealed all her secrets.

Back at home, Sun Miao first reverently placed the small courier box on the side cabinet by the side door, then turned back to start organizing her things. Once everything was put away, she took advantage of the empty house to quickly open the courier box. She looked at the two boxes inside and couldn’t help but start to think: Tomorrow, the 9th, is Friday. The day after is the 10th, Dragon Boat Festival, and Su Ruixi will definitely be off work. So, tomorrow night, could we perhaps…

After taking out the two boxes, Sun Miao saw a small booklet underneath. The booklet was thin, with only a few pages, but when she picked it up, she saw that it was, unbelievably, an instruction manual.

This instantly made Sun Miao’s face turn completely red.

She, this little novice who was all armchair strategist⁸, had at most only seen some suggestive novels, films, and anime. Much of her knowledge was half-understood, but this booklet was incredibly detailed. And it was written in a very serious tone, a truly rigorous instruction manual.

But perhaps it was this very serious tone that made the booklet seem even more… emmm.

Torn between slight embarrassment and immense curiosity, Sun Miao still finished reading the entire booklet. After she was done, Sun Miao genuinely felt a bit hot. She raised a hand and fanned her face, giving herself two very theatrical waves of air.

Just then, the system suddenly made a sound: 【Host, so this is how it’s done between girls…】

Sun Miao immediately cut it off: “Why didn’t you shield yourself?! A sensible system should have shielded itself by now! System! How could you?!” The system pouted and fell silent.

After reading the booklet, Sun Miao began to prepare the materials needed for the next day’s stall. She needed to wrap extra Zongzi today and tomorrow. Tomorrow was the ninth, and Zhou Ling should be finished with her exams. She had been thinking of giving some to Zhou Ling, and she couldn’t forget this time. Then she thought that since she was giving them out, she shouldn’t forget Grandma Li next door and her own housekeeper. And also the young part-time cleaning lady who used to frequent her stall when she was making malatang.

Although she had been living here for a while, Sun Miao hadn’t actually run into the young part-time cleaning lady; their schedules just didn’t line up. She would give them to the security guard at the back gate later and ask him to help deliver them, and also give the guards a couple to eat. Sun Miao had thought of every detail, but the most important recipients were still Su Ruixi’s parents.

The 10th was the Dragon Boat Festival, and Su Ruixi had the day off, so she would definitely go back for a visit. That was when her Zongzi could come in handy—at the very least, to earn some goodwill for herself.

Before Su Ruixi returned, she delivered all the Zongzi. Zhou Ling wasn’t back yet; their family’s housekeeper said that the whole family was probably going to eat out tonight to celebrate Zhou Ling finally escaping her ordeal. Sun Miao gave the Zongzi to the housekeeper, who smiled and thanked Sun Miao on behalf of Zhou Ling’s family.

Grandma Li received them in person, her face wreathed in smiles. “Little Sun, thank you so much. I was originally going to take Nannan over, but that pedestrian street is too crowded. This old lady was afraid of getting separated from Nannan, so we didn’t go. I was thinking I wouldn’t get to eat your Zongzi, I didn’t expect to get so many for free.”

“You’re welcome.”

Hearing Sun Miao’s voice, Grandma Li’s Samoyed also ran out, wagging its tail at Sun Miao. Seeing Sun Miao playing so well with her “Yeye,” Grandma Li couldn’t help but say, “I think our family is benefiting from its good fortune. It’s thanks to its good relationship with you, Little Sun, that ours has gotten better.”

Sun Miao smiled but didn’t say anything.

She waved to Grandma Li and left.

Although she gave some to everyone, the gifts differed according to the closeness of the relationship. Zhou Ling’s family got more, while Grandma Li’s was a polite gesture. As for the young part-time cleaning lady, it was entirely because Sun Miao remembered that her life wasn’t easy and wanted to send a few for her to try.

But in terms of who received the most, that would be her own housekeeper and Kaixin’s family. However, even all of those combined couldn’t compare in quantity to what she planned to give to Su Ruixi’s parents.

After Su Ruixi returned, she sat down to eat with Sun Miao as usual. At the dinner table, she talked about the backpacker she had met that day. As she spoke about the person, Sun Miao’s eyes were shining, her admiration practically overflowing. This made the originally happy Su Ruixi not so happy anymore.

She wanted to use her actions to express her dissatisfaction, for example, by poking her rice with her chopsticks, but such an action was far too childish, and the table manners she had learned since childhood wouldn’t allow her to do so. The only action Su Ruixi could use to express her dissatisfaction was to—eat much slower than usual.

But to make Su Ruixi put down her dinner, she was also unwilling. Sun Miao had put so much effort into making the food; how could she possibly leave any of it?

Thinking of this, Su Ruixi felt a bit defeated: The actions I can use to express my dissatisfaction are limited to just this.

However, Sun Miao quickly noticed Su Ruixi’s unhappiness. She paused for a moment, then immediately understood: Su Ruixi is unhappy that I keep talking about someone else, and with such an appreciative expression. She had noticed before that Su Ruixi could be a little black-bellied⁹.

Even though she had no relationship whatsoever with the other person and was simply admiring their free spirit, Su Ruixi would still get upset when she praised them in her presence. Sun Miao gently pursed her lips; she felt that if she didn’t, she wouldn’t be able to hold back her laughter.

So this is what it feels like when your lover gets jealous.

When it was time for bed, Sun Miao didn’t proactively offer an explanation, which made Su Ruixi even angrier. But then she thought, perhaps her own reaction wasn’t obvious enough, maybe Sun Miao didn’t even notice.

The “good night” was long overdue. Just as Su Ruixi was feeling puzzled, Sun Miao scooted over and hugged her. Her forehead rested against Su Ruixi’s, and her voice was soft: “Susu-jie, your vinegar jar¹⁰ has been knocked over. I won’t need to prepare extra vinegar when I make crab roe.”

That sentence was the last straw, instantly setting off Su Ruixi’s powder keg. Sun Miao knew she was angry and was just acting like nothing was wrong! Su Ruixi tried to pull back, but Sun Miao held her hand, her voice soft: “Susu-jie, there’s one more thing I haven’t said…”

“The lubricant and finger cots arrived today.”

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