Setting Up Stalls – Chapter 16

Let Me Give You Some Candy

Su Ruixi was in no hurry to finish, eating slowly. Even after the hourly worker meimei had finished…

Su Ruixi was in no hurry to finish, eating slowly. Even after the hourly worker meimei had finished, and Sun Miao had gone to wipe the table and collect the disposable container, Su Ruixi was still eating. Mainly, she was wondering when Sun Miao would pack a portion of soup for her.

Yesterday when she finished eating, Sun Miao had already prepared that portion of soup, showing she had prepared it in advance. If she was going to pack a portion of soup for her today as well, she would certainly prepare it ahead of time today too.

But after waiting and waiting, Sun Miao had cleaned all the tables thoroughly, yet hadn’t gone to pack soup for her.

As for opening her mouth to ask, Su Ruixi felt too embarrassed.

Mainly because asking others for soup was something Su Ruixi had never done in her life. As for speaking up to pay money for a portion of soup to take away, Su Ruixi also felt very awkward, as if it would show how much she liked drinking her soup.

So this matter reached a stalemate.

No matter how slowly Su Ruixi ate, this portion of malatang was only so much, she would eventually finish it. Actually, Sun Miao’s portions weren’t small—though there were only five dishes and one rice noodle, she didn’t give takeaway malatang portions of just 50 grams or three slices, but rather genuinely estimated 100 grams for each, directly stuffing in 8 fish balls, 5 large-sized peeing beef balls, plus rice noodles—it really wasn’t a small portion.

Otherwise, last night, Su Ruixi wouldn’t have felt somewhat stuffed.

But she still finished it.

Even after finishing, she didn’t see Sun Miao packing a portion of soup for her, so Su Ruixi simply sat there, pretending to play with her phone for a while. Sun Miao didn’t come to hurry her along, because sitting for a while after finishing eating was quite common.

Sun Miao also stood behind the food cart, taking out her phone and starting to scroll.

These actions nearly made Su Ruixi angry. She was hesitating, wondering if she should just speak up directly—no matter how awkward and tsundere she was, her stomach was still more important. While she was hesitating, a high-end black sedan stopped in front, the back door opened, and a young girl got out.

She was truly young, still wearing her school uniform, with a face so fresh it looked like water would come out if pinched. But her expression wasn’t very pleasant, appearing quite dull, without any of the spirit typical of her age, instead looking very rigid.

After getting out of the car, she closed the door with a backward motion and walked to Sun Miao’s food cart. Sun Miao immediately put down her phone and smiled: “Xiaoling is here? What would you like to eat today?”

Hearing Sun Miao’s voice, the young girl finally showed a slight smile and ordered her dishes. Sun Miao nodded: “Would you like it mildly spicy today? Yesterday you were crying from the spiciness.”

“It wasn’t from the spiciness…”

The young girl explained quietly, but Sun Miao didn’t listen, instead talking about something else: “Xiaoling, do you know? I saw online that if you sneeze and tear up when eating chili, it actually means you’re allergic to chili.”

The young girl’s eyes widened: “Am I allergic to chili?”

“Maybe.” Sun Miao smiled beautifully, but the young girl seemed a bit dejected: “How can I be allergic to chili too…”

But Sun Miao said: “Actually, I am too. To be honest, many people are allergic to chili. Since I sell malatang, these past few days, many customers have been sneezing and tearing up while eating, using several packs of my tissues. Me too, when I eat spicy food, I sneeze and my face gets red—those are all allergy symptoms.”

“Actually, many Chinese people are allergic to chili, so it’s very normal that you’re allergic to chili. Though our constitution seems a bit better than foreigners—when foreigners have allergies, they act like they’re dying, while when we have allergies, we think: ‘I’m not allergic, my stomach just isn’t feeling well.'”

Sun Miao spoke humorously, and the young girl pressed her lips together in a smile. She stood there, listening to Sun Miao chat while cooking, occasionally responding with a few words.

Su Ruixi on the side found it strange, because Sun Miao usually didn’t chat while cooking. Previously when selling egg fried rice, if someone tried to chat with Sun Miao, she would at most nod and respond with a couple of words—how could she be like now, chatting away with the young girl?

At this moment, why wasn’t she worried about saliva flying and accidentally splashing into the food?

After finishing the malatang, Sun Miao carried it to the side table. The young girl walked around from the front, also going to the folding table and chair, then obediently sat on the small stool, picking up the disposable chopsticks and spoon, ready to eat.

“Wait a moment.”

Sun Miao called out, then took a piece of candy from the small pocket in front of her apron and placed it on the table: “After you finish, have this dried tangerine peel candy [陳皮糖 | chén pí táng | traditional candy made with aged citrus peel]. It’s a bit sour and can help clear the taste from your mouth, and it’s quite delicious.”

This candy was given to her by the little nurse before, in that big plastic bag. She quite liked eating this candy—it could stimulate appetite before meals, clear the palate after meals, and even when there was nothing to do, she could slowly savor one in her mouth.

The young girl’s face broke into a smile: “Thank you, boss jiejie.”

Sun Miao returned to behind the food cart. At this time, the driver got out of the car, looked at Sun Miao and then at the young girl, walked far away to the downwind side and squatted by the roadside to smoke.

After Sun Miao came back, Su Ruixi looked at her. She didn’t really understand—why did the young girl get candy?

Seeing Su Ruixi’s gaze, Sun Miao felt a bit strange and instinctively asked: “What’s wrong?”

Su Ruixi wanted to ask about the candy. Sun Miao’s behavior of showing favoritism wasn’t good for business—if Su Ruixi did something like this in the business world, once exposed, she could easily lose customers. But Su Ruixi didn’t directly mention the candy, instead opening a different topic: “That young girl seems to be my neighbor, surname Zhou.”

“So she’s called Zhou Ling?”

“Should be.”

Sun Miao took out another piece of candy from her pocket. Su Ruixi thought it was for her and thought somewhat reservedly: if she offered it, she should refuse. The packaging looked rather ordinary, definitely not expensive candy.

Low-priced candy would also be of lower quality, the ingredients would definitely be questionable, such as adding artificial sweeteners or food coloring.

She definitely wouldn’t eat such candy.

But after Sun Miao opened it, she popped it into her own mouth, talking to Su Ruixi while eating. Her speech remained quite clear, not becoming muffled from eating the candy.

“Young Zhou Ling must be in her final year of high school, feeling like the Gaokao [高考 | gāo kǎo | national Gaokaoination in China] is coming soon. But her pressure is so great—yesterday while eating malatang, she silently started crying. I spent quite a while consoling her yesterday.”

Hearing this, Su Ruixi finally understood why Sun Miao had mentioned chili allergies, sneezing, and tearing up when talking to Zhou Ling earlier—it was just to comfort her. Su Ruixi fell silent again, not knowing how to respond.

Although the Zhou family were her neighbors, they didn’t meet often. With Su Ruixi working every day, where would she find time to build relationships with neighbors? She couldn’t possibly have known that the girl next door was about to take the Gaokao.

Come to think of it, after being neighbors with the Zhou family for several years, her understanding of the young girl wasn’t as deep as Sun Miao’s.

Moreover, Sun Miao had actually eaten the candy herself, not even thinking about the person beside her.

While Su Ruixi was thinking about these things, Sun Miao continued: “She’s been eating here for four days now, coming back every night after finishing her tutoring classes. The past few days she hadn’t eaten dinner, just making do with a bite here at my place…”

After thinking for a moment, she still said: “I don’t know how to say this, I don’t know her parents, but if Miss Su… well…” She felt it wasn’t quite right to bring this up, but she truly felt sorry for the young girl: “If you could say a few words to her parents, maybe advise them not to chicken-baby [雞娃 | jī wá | internet slang for parents who push their children too hard in education] so much.”

“Chicken-baby?”

This term was unfamiliar to Su Ruixi, as she wasn’t very familiar with internet slang.

Sun Miao explained: “It means especially hoping your son will become a dragon or daughter a phoenix [望子成龍望女成鳳 | wàng zǐ chéng lóng wàng nǚ chéng fèng | idiom for parents having high expectations for their children], arranging loads of study tasks all day long, intensely watching them study and compete.” Her voice lowered, muttering quietly: “I feel the young girl is becoming a bit depressed, it’s not good for her if this continues.”

Su Ruixi tilted her head, looking toward Zhou Ling at the folding table on the other side of the food cart, and after thinking, said: “I’ll try, but I’m just an outsider, I can only mention it briefly.”

“Then I thank you on behalf of the young girl!”

Sun Miao’s smile was so bright, even more dazzling than the streetlight beside them. Su Ruixi thought about it—Sun Miao seemed to always do things that brought no benefit to herself, but she didn’t dislike such people.

Su Ruixi was a very practical person, a businesswoman who roll until death [卷生卷死 | juǎn shēng juǎn sǐ | to compete intensely] just for the word “profit.” When she helped the little nurse and Sun Miao before, it was only because “she wanted to do it, and doing it would make her feel good.” But essentially, it wasn’t much different from young girls helping stray cats on the street.

But Sun Miao wasn’t like that—she didn’t have much ability, yet instinctively showed kindness to others.

A kind person.

As if possessed, Su Ruixi asked Sun Miao: “Isn’t there any reward?”

“What?” Sun Miao was genuinely stunned, but Su Ruixi didn’t elaborate, only saying: “Never mind.”

At this moment, Sun Miao suddenly understood. She moved somewhat anxiously, reaching into her small pocket, rummaging around inside. After a moment, she pulled out a piece of candy in notably more elegant packaging.

“Can I treat you to some candy as payment?”

Su Ruixi nodded reservedly: “Alright, it was just a small favor anyway.”

The smile never left Sun Miao’s face, making Su Ruixi worry it might freeze that way. She extended her hand, offering the candy to Su Ruixi, who also reached out, picking up the candy with her thumb and index finger.

She looked at the packaging—light pink plastic wrapping around the small candy, with cute bears on the wrapper.

Sun Miao’s voice was soft: “This is strawberry flavored, it’s really delicious, I only have a few left.”

Look how stingy you are, it’s just one piece of candy.

Su Ruixi mocked her in her heart.

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