Setting Up Stalls – Chapter 160

Went Back Early

At this moment, Father Su was so embarrassed he wanted to dig into the ground with his toes¹. He had just been belittling Sun Miao’s zongzi and even told Su Ruixi to be careful about food coloring and what not. As a result, the moment he took one to eat while no one was looking, he made a huge fool of himself.

Su Ruixi asked him, “How is it? Is it delicious?”

Of course it’s delicious, it’s definitely delicious, much more delicious than what that whatchamacallit master chef made. What state banquet-level chef, all day long just thinking about showing off skills. Something like zongzi should return to its origins. While eating, Father Su’s mind even conjured up the time when he was dating Mother Su. Back then, when Mother Su was stuck on her research at school, he would bring zongzi to her.

The years of his first love seemed to float before his eyes, leaving him with endless things to savor².

This was the taste of the most simple and unadorned zongzi, a taste that couldn’t be matched by anything he had eaten for many years.

That was what he thought, but he definitely couldn’t say it out loud.

This matter of being tsundere was passed down in a single line.

“It was alright, I guess.”

Su Ruixi gave up on asking her own father and turned to ask her own mother. She, however, hadn’t eaten the one Father Su bought first, but had started with the one Sun Miao made. To defeat others, one must first study them better. Mother Su, considering herself a person who could cook, always felt that Su Ruixi had been coaxed away by that little girl’s good cooking. As long as her own culinary skills surpassed that little girl’s, maybe Xixi would stop liking women!

This thought of hers had best never be known by Su Ruixi for her entire life, otherwise, even if she was her own mother, Su Ruixi would have to say, “You’re indulging in wild fantasies.”

Mother Su ate much more slowly than Father Su. She finished the zongzi bite by bite, the expression on her face impossible to hide. Su Ruixi asked her, “Mom, how is it? Is it delicious?”

This matter of being tsundere was passed down in the family.

“…It was alright, I guess.”

Su Ruixi pursed her lips. She was now beginning to understand how speechless Sun Miao must feel when dealing with her. She hmphed and said, “Then you try the other one.” After Mother Su finished eating the master chef’s, Su Ruixi asked again, “How is it?”

Mother Su looked at Su Ruixi, then at Father Su. The look she gave Father Su was more or less filled with “hating iron for not becoming steel³,” the meaning clearly being: How could you have bought something like this?

Although she had that bit of a tsundere streak, it wasn’t to the point where she had to lie, so she could only answer, “It’s not as delicious as what your partner made.”

This sentence greatly pleased Su Ruixi. She leaned back, her back resting against the chair, her head tilted slightly to the side, but her gaze was still on her parents. That expression was, in every way, one of mockery.

—How about that? I told you my partner’s cooking is delicious, and you still didn’t believe me.

The staple food for this meal was the wontons that Sun Miao had prepared in advance, which Su Ruixi had brought. Su Ruixi even made a special point to say, “These were wrapped yesterday, so the taste isn’t as good as freshly wrapped ones. And the soup was also made before and frozen, so it’s definitely not as good as freshly simmered.”

Hearing this, Father Su’s interest was piqued. “She just gives you this frozen stuff to eat?”

“Dad, what are you thinking? Of course I eat freshly made food. Isn’t this because I was thinking of you two elders, so I specially made something easy to store to bring to you?” With one sentence, Su Ruixi silenced Father Su again.

Mother Su had a bit of a headache and stepped in to smooth things over, “Let’s eat, let’s eat. At any rate, it’s a kind gesture from her. Although making it into a broth cube is definitely not as delicious as simmering it fresh, but…” She didn’t finish her sentence, only because she had taken a sip of the wonton soup.

What’s going on, why is this so delicious? Did she add technology⁴?

Even Mother Su couldn’t help but have such a suspicion. She took several more sips. The base of this wonton soup was unusually suited to her taste. Su Ruixi took a few sips and, on the contrary, began to critique it, “This soup just isn’t as good as when it’s freshly simmered. When she makes chicken soup for me, she insists on buying three-yellow free-range chickens⁵ raised in the countryside, and absolutely never buys the white-feathered broiler chickens⁶ from the market.”

With this, Su Ruixi started to show off their loving affection. For a moment, Father and Mother Su didn’t know how to react.

After all, in the past, it was always the two of them doing this in front of Su Ruixi.

“She’s also afraid I won’t eat well, so she gets up every morning to make me breakfast and lunch, and she even made me tuhuangyou to take with me, to mix with rice.” The more Su Ruixi spoke, the higher she lifted her head, her expression exactly like that of a proud peacock.

Father Su was starting to regret it: I should have laid down the rule of ‘do not speak while eating, do not talk in bed’⁷ when she was little!

Mother Su, however, frowned. After a good while, she finally said, “Xixi, ah, how old is your partner, exactly?” She was now genuinely thinking, could it be that the other person isn’t much older than her? She hadn’t asked before, being so surprised that it was a girlfriend, she had completely forgotten to ask for specific details.

This woman is so good at cooking, even better than me, and the zongzi she makes are even better than those from a state banquet-level master, plus she makes tuhuangyou… not many young people know about that. I now suspect that girlfriend might already be well into her thirties!

My Xixi is so simple and naive, it’s not impossible that she’s being deceived by a woman in her late thirties! Thinking of this, Mother Su’s heart felt like a tangled ball of mahua⁸, so she could only ask Su Ruixi.

Su Ruixi glanced at her mom and knew she was definitely badmouthing⁹ her girlfriend. However, Su Ruixi answered very cleanly and crisply, “Just twenty-five, even younger than me.”

Hearing this, Mother Su was visibly relieved. “As long as she’s younger than you.” But then she thought, if she’s younger than my daughter, doesn’t that mean Xixi will have to take care of her in daily life? Mother Su also knew what kind of temperament Su Ruixi had; she was definitely not someone who could take care of others. If the two of them got along like that, there would definitely be problems.

Fortunately, she remembered what Su Ruixi had just said. This little girl was someone who could cook and also knew how to take care of people, which made her feel much more at ease.

With her heart at ease, Mother Su tried a few more bites of the chicken soup wontons. It wasn’t just Mother Su saying it, this chicken soup wonton was truly made well, especially these mini wontons. She didn’t even know how the wrappers were made; they were just a thin layer, floating on the water’s surface like gossamer, exceptionally cute.

Moreover, it was very much to her taste; she could eat several in one mouthful. Taking another sip of the chicken soup, one couldn’t describe how pleasant it was. If one were to eat this in the early morning, paired with a bite of a flatbread, that would be a pleasure even an immortal wouldn’t trade¹⁰.

In a certain sense, Mother Su also knew how to eat well; the System had arranged it this way. A small bowl of wontons, paired with two crab shell yellows—having a meal like this in the morning could leave one feeling refreshed and invigorated for the whole day.

Father Su was also over there, opening his mouth to drink. There were no flatbreads now, but pairing it with zongzi was still eating. Moreover, Father Su ate the bubble mini wontons with the manner of swallowing a date whole¹¹. Holding the bowl, he opened his big mouth and poured it directly in, slurping down more than half the bowl in a few noisy gulps. The cute little bubble wontons floating on the soup surface all entered his stomach in an instant.

In less than a minute, Father Su finished a bowl of bubble mini wontons. After finishing, he smacked his lips, feeling it was not nearly enough.

He called the auntie out and had her get him another bowl.

When he turned back, he saw that Su Ruixi and Mother Su were both looking at him. He was a bit bewildered and asked unconsciously, “What’s wrong? Why are you looking at me like that?” Mother Su shot him a resentful look and said through gritted teeth, “It’s nothing. You just eat yours.”

The way he looks is just like a reincarnated hungry ghost¹². This was a gift from Xixi and her partner for the two of them, but with him eating like this, how many bites could she get! Just goes to show that men are unreliable. Xixi’s partner thinks of ways to make delicious food for Xixi every day, but her own partner can eat three big bowls in one go. What would be left for her to eat?

Su Ruixi keenly sensed that her parents probably wouldn’t be picking trouble with Sun Miao for the time being.

After finishing lunch with her parents, Su Ruixi wiped her mouth and prepared to leave the table. Father Su was a bit surprised, “Xixi, why are you eating so fast?”

Mother Su, however, didn’t mind, only saying, “If she’s finished eating, she’s finished. You eat your own food, why are you managing others?” Turning her head to look at Su Ruixi, her expression was once again pleasant and kind, “After Xixi is done eating, go upstairs and rest for a while. I had the auntie tidy up your room in advance. You should take an afternoon nap.”

But Su Ruixi had no intention of staying. She shook her head, “I just came back to see you all. Now that we’ve eaten, I’ll be leaving.”

“?” Question marks simultaneously appeared above the old couple’s heads, but Su Ruixi was already doing as she pleased. After grabbing her small bag, she waved goodbye to her parents. Her demeanor fully demonstrated the meaning of the idiom “can’t wait to leave” to her parents.

Seeing his daughter leave the house, Father Su was so angry he could die, and even the food was no longer fragrant. “Look at you, look at you! After getting a girlfriend, she doesn’t even care about her parents anymore!”

“This is probably ‘marrying a wife and forgetting one’s mother’¹³.”

“…”

Father and Mother Su looked at each other, both somewhat dejected. They had never thought this sentence would be blurted out from their own mouths. In the end, they both sighed.

Su Ruixi couldn’t care less. She drove her car right back to her and Sun Miao’s little house of love. When she returned, Sun Miao was not downstairs, nor did she hear a sound of her coming to greet her. The auntie was there, though. She greeted Su Ruixi and said that Sun Miao was upstairs taking an afternoon nap.

Su Ruixi nodded and said to the auntie, “Go home early after you’ve finished your work. It’s a holiday today.” The auntie smiled and agreed, and even expressed her thanks, “Miss Sun also gave me a small bag of zongzi yesterday. I heated one up to eat this morning, and it was truly so delicious.”

Hearing someone else praise Sun Miao, Su Ruixi was happy. She nodded slightly, “En, they are delicious.”

After saying this, Su Ruixi didn’t say much more to the auntie and directly went upstairs. She guessed that Sun Miao wouldn’t be sleeping in her own room when she was alone, so she went directly to Sun Miao’s room. She had originally intended to go straight in, but found that Sun Miao had locked the door…

Su Ruixi was so annoyed; Sun Miao actually locked the door. But thinking about it carefully, Sun Miao was home alone, so it was normal for her to lock her bedroom door while napping. Su Ruixi could only raise her hand and knock on the door, her plan to see Sun Miao’s sleeping face completely ruined.

After a little while, Sun Miao called out, “Coming!” Not long after, the door in front of her opened. When Sun Miao saw Su Ruixi, her eyes were still full of disbelief. “Susu-jie, why are you back so early?”

Of course it’s because I missed her.

But how could Su Ruixi possibly say such a thing out loud? She just said very haughtily, “I finished eating, so I came back.”

Fortunately, Sun Miao understood her. With a smile playing on her lips, Sun Miao asked her, “Then, Susu-jie, would you like to take an afternoon nap together?”

---

---