Setting Up Stalls – Chapter 158

Whatever You Do, Don’t Go Astray

Sun Miao tidied the bed and also changed the four-piece bedding set¹. She washed the original set before throwing it away. She still disposed of it at the recycling point next to the trash station; the items in this point would be donated. Sun Miao was not the least bit embarrassed; after all, their bedding set was not very dirty, except for the bedsheet.

The bedsheet truly could not be donated. If she donated it, Su Ruixi would get upset with her out of embarrassment!

Sun Miao shredded the bedsheet and then threw it away. It was not her fault; you really could not blame her.

Of course, she had not been idle during this time; she was continuously preparing zongzi and Su Ruixi’s breakfast. There was no need to leave lunch, as Su Ruixi was going to her mother’s house today; she could not possibly come back without eating a single bite. In the morning, Sun Miao had also specially made something to relieve fatigue, juicing fresh orange juice for her and placing it in the refrigerator to keep it fresh.

She also cooked millet porridge, boiled white eggs, and made two small side dishes. After getting all this done, Sun Miao went upstairs again to check on Su Ruixi. Right now, Su Ruixi was sleeping soundly, and her body was clean and dry. After they had finished last night, Sun Miao had given her a quick wash and wiped her down.

The lubricant was quite thick, and combined with what was on their bodies, it felt somewhat uncomfortable sticking to the skin. If she did not wash the person clean, Su Ruixi would surely be displeased and would get upset after waking up. By the time they had finished, Su Ruixi was so tired she did not want to move a single finger, leaning completely on Sun Miao and letting Sun Miao help her wash and wipe.

Unlike Su Ruixi, Sun Miao was still full of energy, a complete contrast to the half-dead state she was in when she got up early to cook zongzi the past two days.

She was a chef; how could she be physically exhausted just from pulling an all-nighter and expending a little physical energy? Her previous state had been entirely influenced by the “work flavor.”² Now, her whole person was full of life and energy,³ showing no signs at all of having toiled all night.

Sun Miao pulled out a sticky note, scribbled a few sentences with a kach-kach⁴ sound, and stuck it next to Su Ruixi’s phone so she would see it as soon as she woke up.

She also did not disturb Su Ruixi’s sleep any further and left directly to set up her stall. By the time she arrived at her spot, she could vaguely see some people already. To be honest, seeing so many people this early in the morning, no matter how many times it happened, Sun Miao was still somewhat unaccustomed.

And this was different from when she ran her breakfast shop. Back when she ran her breakfast shop, customers would come no matter how early it was; after all, everyone had to rush to work, so people came early in the morning. But it was different now; their mental state was completely different from her previous customers!

It was not yet six o’clock. The June sun had just come out not long ago, and the sky still had a pale hue. But this group of customers stood there quietly, just like stone pillars. The moment Sun Miao arrived, they all looked toward Sun Miao…

This feeling was more like—you’ve disturbed a witch!

Help me, they won’t really pounce on me like zombies, will they?

As Sun Miao was thinking this, she saw them move their feet and truly pounce toward her. Sun Miao took a deep breath, subconsciously got off her cart, and switched from riding to pushing, gripping her handlebars tightly with both hands.

“Little Boss Sun, you’re finally here! We’ve been waiting for so long!”

“Zongzi, give me zongzi! I can’t live without zongzi!”

“We got here before the student crowd, quick, quick, give me the zongzi! Any later and it’ll be too late! The subway is about to start running!”

“I drove here! Boss, hurry up and sell! In a little while the traffic police will be on duty! If I don’t run I’m going to get a ticket!”

Sun Miao wondered why she did not see any students, only a crowd of working people; it turned out the subway had not started running yet, so the students could not come even if they wanted to. Sun Miao swallowed a mouthful of saliva: “You… you all, please make way first, let me get to my spot.”

“Why are you still so fixated on your second lamppost! Can’t you just start selling right here!”

【? Block him! Host, right now, immediately, block him!】

The System was really just adding to the chaos. Sun Miao shouted, “Make way, you all make way, if you’re all crowded together like this, I can’t do business either. Wait until I get to my spot, then we’ll start selling.”

She was really a bit mentally exhausted now. She felt as if she had seen this scene somewhere before, but she still had to push her cart through a crowd of hungry people. Fortunately, there were truly not many people who were this frantic so early in the morning. It did not take long to send this batch of people away. Sun Miao looked at the remaining zongzi and was about to count them when the System gave her the answer.

【There are 120 left.】

“Hiss…” They always said how terrifying the student crowd was, but they were each not to be underestimated either. In just that instant, they had actually sold 40 portions. Having finally gotten a moment of peace, Sun Miao looked for the sanitation workers who had been getting water from her the past two days, wanting to wait for them to come over to get water.

However, the sanitation workers were all looking at her with strange gazes. That look was quite similar to the gaze on the first day when she looked at those Hip-hop Yabi, the socially idle people. After a while, an Auntie came over with a broom. She looked at Sun Miao with a complicated expression for a while, then suddenly spoke with a trace of pity, “Xiao Sun, Auntie thinks you are a good person, but whatever you do, don’t go astray.”

?

Sun Miao was dumbfounded. She was just selling zongzi, how could she possibly be going astray?

Seeing Sun Miao’s expression, the Auntie thought Sun Miao was not admitting it and continued to speak in a heartfelt tone, “Is what you’re selling really zongzi? The way they all act is like… it’s still better not to go down the wrong path.”

Only then did Sun Miao realize that the Auntie and the others had misunderstood that she was selling that kind of stuff. She took a deep breath and said very seriously to the Auntie, “Auntie, what I’m selling is just zongzi, nothing else. It’s because I make them too delicious, so they are all scrambling to eat them. Don’t you worry, I am legitimate, my permits are all in order.”

The Auntie was somewhat skeptical: “Are they really that delicious?”

“I’m not lying to you. If they’re not delicious, I’ll give you your money back.”

The Auntie hesitated again and again but was eventually persuaded, spending fifteen kuai⁵ to buy one. She had already eaten before leaving home this morning and had also brought a steamed bun to have with water for lunch. The reason she bought one was out of a kind-hearted hope that Sun Miao would be able to return to the right path. She truly found it hard to believe that so many people would be clinging to Sun Miao’s food cart just to eat a zongzi.

But her own granddaughter often said, “No investigation, no right to speak⁶,” and besides, Sun Miao guaranteed her money back if it was not delicious, so she simply bought one, intending to give it a try. She did not sit on Sun Miao’s chairs; even though they were empty, she would not, because Sun Miao’s table and chairs were wiped so clean, and she was afraid of getting them dirty.

The Auntie took one or two bites and was stunned. After a while, she wrapped the zongzi back up. Seeing her action, Sun Miao was also a bit confused—did she not make that zongzi well, is it not delicious? Sun Miao called out to the Auntie and asked.

Only then did the Auntie remember the earlier matter. She quickly waved her hands: “No, it’s delicious, really delicious. In all her years, this Auntie has never eaten such a delicious zongzi. This zongzi is too delicious, I want to take it home for my granddaughter to try as well.”

Hearing the Auntie say this, Sun Miao was finally relieved: “That’s good.” She said with a grin, “Auntie, I didn’t lie to you, did I? It’s really delicious.”

The Auntie nodded, also smiling warmly: “Yes, delicious, you didn’t lie to me.” She walked back, and the other sanitation workers gathered around her. They spoke for a while, and then they all came over to Sun Miao’s to buy zongzi. Some bought two, some bought one, but none of them could bear to eat them; they just wrapped them up and put them away.

A zongzi this delicious had to be taken back to eat with family.

With this, Sun Miao’s zongzi were down to only 100 left.

After some more time passed, around seven-thirty, her customers increased; it was that group of students who had arrived. They swept away Sun Miao’s zongzi like a whirlwind sweeping away scattered clouds.⁷ By the time they left, only 20 remained. The student crowd was still more powerful; they almost did not leave her a single one.

By now, it was past eight, approaching eight-thirty. Sun Miao hesitated for a moment, then sent a message to Su Ruixi: Susu-jie, good morning, are you awake?

She did not send a second message, just stared at her phone screen. When she did not see the “is typing…” message from the other side, she let her hand fall. But after a while, she raised her hand again and looked at her phone; still no reply.

Yesterday had, evidently, exhausted Su Ruixi.

Sun Miao had gone upstairs around seven-thirty in the evening. Su Ruixi finished her shower before eight, and by the time they were done, it was already twelve o’clock. Sun Miao had woken up full of vigor after just a short sleep to cook zongzi, but Su Ruixi had slept until now.

The difference in their physical stamina was very obvious.

Su Ruixi did not wake up until after nine o’clock. After she got up, she subconsciously reached out and grabbed her phone. When she grasped the phone, she also felt what seemed to be a piece of paper next to it. Su Ruixi gave a yawn and, with half-open eyes, read the words Sun Miao had left.

It roughly told her that the room had already been tidied, breakfast was also made, the orange juice was in the fridge and she should remember to drink it, and that the zongzi prepared for her parents were placed in the freezer. There was a foam box in the kitchen that was specially bought; she just had to put the zongzi inside it. They were already cooked; when she wanted to eat them, she just needed to heat them in hot water for a while.

Su Ruixi woke up a bit. She opened her phone and saw Sun Miao’s message asking her good morning. Su Ruixi had not yet fully come to her senses and was preparing to send her a message after she washed up. But when she lifted the covers to walk outside, she only felt her whole body was soft.

Lowering her head, she could still see the marks on her thighs that Sun Miao had mischievously left.

She raised her hand and covered her face: You scoundrel!

After she recovered her strength, she picked up the bathrobe Sun Miao had prepared for her, directly unfolded it and draped it over her body, and went toward her own room. By the time Su Ruixi had washed up and gotten dressed, it was almost ten o’clock. She sent a message to Sun Miao while eating the breakfast Sun Miao had prepared downstairs.

——Awake, eating breakfast now.

It was a bit late to be eating breakfast at this time, but as soon as she thought of her mom still sending messages to rush her home for lunch, she unconsciously wanted to fill her stomach—that way she could eat less of her mom’s cooking.

Sun Miao replied quite quickly: Just getting up? I’m packing up now, I’ll be back soon.

Su Ruixi: So soon?

Sun Miao: Yeah, because today is the Dragon Boat Festival holiday, so there were a lot of people, and I sold out quickly.

In reality, Sun Miao still had the last three that were not sold, but right now she wanted to go back and see Su Ruixi. Even if she had to be punished by the System with washing dishes for three days, she would accept it.

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