Zhe’ergen?!
Sun Miao’s question was somewhat redundant. Su Ruixi wouldn’t have any other answers to these questions of hers.
So after lunch, Su Ruixi put on a sun hat and sat down next to Sun Miao. But as soon as she sat down, Sun Miao took off the sun hat and fastened the helmet she had bought for Sun Miao onto her head.
“Wear this. You have to wear it when riding in a vehicle, it’s a protective measure.” After meticulously fastening the buckle on Su Ruixi’s helmet, Sun Miao took out the helmet that came with the electric scooter she had bought and put it on.
Looking at the ugly helmet on Sun Miao’s head, Su Ruixi was dissatisfied. “Why haven’t you thrown this away yet? Didn’t you say before that you were going to give it to someone else?”
——It seemed there was such a matter.
But given Sun Miao’s level of stinginess, it was truly impossible for her to just throw it away. Sun Miao probably did say she would give it away, but she had indeed forgotten.
So she immediately started to laugh it off1. “Isn’t this coming in handy right now? Besides, I usually only wear this cute one that Susu-jie gave me, and I don’t wear this ugly one. Susu-jie doesn’t usually ride along, it’s just me, so one is enough.”
“That won’t do.” Su Ruixi felt this was not acceptable. “Besides, one helmet isn’t enough. The electric scooter needs one dedicated for it, and the tricycle needs one dedicated for it. This way, when I ride, there will be exactly two more. Two doesn’t seem to be enough either. It will be summer soon, and we’ll sweat more, so they’ll need to be washed and replaced.”
Su Ruixi immediately wanted to open her phone and order two or three more, but Sun Miao stopped her hand. “Susu-jie, let’s buy them when we get back. Let’s go to the wet market first.”
“Alright.”
Sun Miao’s electric tricycle drove out. Along the way, people saw Sun Miao and greeted her. To be honest, Sun Miao hadn’t been in Cuiting Yayuan for long, but her relationships with people were much better than Su Ruixi’s. Many people who saw Su Ruixi sitting next to her didn’t even recognize who she was.
Sun Miao also smiled and returned the greetings. All sorts of people greeted her. There were staff members from the residential complex who did the landscaping and cleaning; there were homeowners from the complex, like Grandma Li and the like; and there were also those hired by the homeowners for in-home services, just like the young woman who works as an hourly cleaner.
Her circle of friends was simply all-encompassing; she could even tell Su Ruixi who that person was and which household they belonged to.
Su Ruixi was a little surprised. “Sun Miao, you’re actually very good at socializing.”
“Not at all. It’s just that I have a lot of time, and when I go out to buy groceries, I run into them and can chat a bit. Those aunties and grannies all have to go out to buy groceries, and when it’s inconvenient for them, I’ll help bring some back.” She briefly explained the reasons why she knew them.
Su Ruixi, however, felt that wasn’t the case.
The homeowners in their residential complex were all, if not rich, then noble2, and some of the elderly ones had eccentric tempers; she knew all this before moving in. But Su Ruixi still chose this complex without hesitation, mainly because it was far from her family’s home, and the eccentric tempers didn’t matter since she wasn’t going to socialize anyway.
Besides, Su Ruixi might very well be the one others called eccentric.
Sun Miao’s social circle, however, covered everyone from top to bottom. It had to be said that Sun Miao really had two brushes3 when it came to interpersonal relationships.
On the other hand, Su Ruixi also felt it was only natural that everyone liked Sun Miao. Sun Miao was so wonderful, just like a scorching little sun4. She always had a meeting face, three parts smile5 for everyone she met. Facing such a likable young girl, it was perfectly normal to want to befriend her.
Even the security guards at the gate had a good relationship with Sun Miao. They opened the vehicle gate for her from a long way off. “Little Boss Sun, setting up your stall today too?”
“Not setting up my stall. I’m going to buy some things to prepare for tomorrow.”
After leaving the residential complex, there were finally no more people to greet, and Sun Miao’s tricycle picked up speed. They drove all the way to the wet market they had visited together before, heading straight for the vegetable section. When they reached the stall where Sun Miao often bought her vegetables, Sun Miao got out first and instructed Su Ruixi, “Susu-jie, don’t get out. The ground is covered in rotten vegetable leaves, don’t step on them.”
Su Ruixi was a bit of a germaphobe. Seeing that the condition of the ground was indeed not very good, she obediently stayed seated on the tricycle.
From time to time, she looked around. An electric tricycle was also parked next to them. It wasn’t a food cart like Sun Miao’s, just a very normal tricycle used for hauling goods. Su Ruixi saw the filth on the tricycle’s body; even the seat cushion in the front was tattered, and there were many mud splatters on the footboard.
Most of the tricycles here were in this condition; she didn’t see a single clean one.
Su Ruixi pulled her feet back and gathered the long skirt she was wearing. In her heart, she felt a little bit smug: Look, our Sun Miao’s little vehicle is so much cleaner than theirs! Not to say that fine dust does not stain6, but there isn’t a single mud splatter, and the seat cushion is not only intact but also wiped sparkling clean. She takes great care of her little vehicle, cleaning it every day.
Of course, the System helped with this too. If any parts were truly broken, the System would replace them in a timely manner.
But keeping it so clean was probably mostly Sun Miao’s own doing.
After looking at the other little vehicles, Su Ruixi shifted her gaze back to Sun Miao. She had already reached the vegetable stall. The owner obviously knew her, and after chatting for a few sentences, Sun Miao agreed on a price with the person and squatted down to start picking potatoes.
The most important thing for this Yangyu Potato Cake is the quality of the potatoes. Whether it’s delicious or not all depends on the potatoes. The most basic requirement for potatoes is to choose ones that are uniform in size and have an intact shape. They can’t have wormholes, nor should they be bizarrely shaped. The more standard the shape of the potato, the better the quality will surely be.
The texture must also be firm; if it feels soft, then there’s a big problem. In terms of color, the best is an earthy yellow, which is a sign of natural maturity. Additionally, you can rub the skin. If a bit of the potato skin comes off with a rub, that proves the potato is no good. Conversely, if the potato skin doesn’t come off easily, it means it’s relatively fresh.
Most importantly, the skin must be dry and smooth, without any water blisters.
There’s another little trick: slender varieties are more suitable for stir-frying, so choosing them for dishes like shredded potatoes with green peppers is better. For steaming or boiling, however, one should choose the rounder ones, as these are mealy potatoes.
Sun Miao spent a whole week just on the lesson of choosing potatoes; she had picked so many that her eyes would blur. Now, when it came to picking potatoes, the heart gets what it wants and the hand responds7.
In reality, this kind of wholesale market doesn’t allow you to pick potatoes like this. The price is already cheap, so if you pick out all the good potatoes, who will buy what’s left? Sun Miao was well aware of this, so she would rather let the stall owner charge a little more per jin8 in order to pick them herself.
She had spoken to several stalls, and only this one was willing.
Fortunately, Sun Miao didn’t buy too many each day, which is why the stall owner was willing.
“That pair of eyes of yours is really amazing. The ones you’re picking are all from the shipment that just came in today.”
For many people, there isn’t much need to go to the wet market to buy vegetables on that very day. In fact, there’s no difference between the vegetables bought the day before and those put out the next day; if the shopkeeper can’t sell them, they’ll just keep selling them. It’s quite possible that the vegetables you rush to buy early in the morning are just the leftovers from the day before.
But for those who know how to choose, it’s different. They can always find the freshest ones in a batch of vegetables.
Sun Miao smiled. “It’s also because your vegetables are good, Boss. Actually, the ones I pick are all pretty much the same.” She bought the potatoes, then bought some other vegetables for herself to eat today and tomorrow, put the items in the storage space at the back of the tricycle, and then took Su Ruixi and charged toward the meat section.
Sun Miao also asked Su Ruixi, “Susu-jie, do you want to buy a fish to eat?”
Su Ruixi’s eyebrows furrowed slightly, and Sun Miao understood. “You don’t like to eat fish?”
Su Ruixi shook her head. “It’s not that I dislike it, it’s just that the ones with bones are too troublesome to eat. As for sea fish, the fishy smell is a bit strong. And river-fresh9 have a bit of that… river taste.”
“Alright, then I’ll buy a fish and make fish balls10 for lunch.” Sun Miao still remembered that Su Ruixi had quite liked eating fish balls when she had her stall. Hearing Sun Miao’s plan, Su Ruixi nodded. “Okay.”
“It’s not the same method as before. The fish meat will be a bit looser, made in a way similar to Crab Roe Lion’s Head.”
After explaining, Sun Miao had Su Ruixi wait in the vehicle while she squeezed inside. Su Ruixi really did stay seated in the vehicle, not moving a single step. This was mainly because this area sold fish and shrimp, so the ground was even dirtier, covered in water stains, and you could smell the fishy odor.
Although Su Ruixi really liked coming out with Sun Miao, she was truly unwilling to walk on this kind of ground. It might sound a bit affected, but she was Su Ruixi, and this kind of affectation was only to be expected from her.
Sun Miao wasn’t the type of person to force Su Ruixi to challenge herself. If she didn’t want to get down, she could just stay in the vehicle, right? Was she supposed to engage in some kind of PUA11 and insist that Su Ruixi get down and wade through the muddy water12?
Sun Miao wandered around inside for a while, and after buying what she needed, she came out, put the items in her vehicle, and drove straight home with Su Ruixi. While driving, she would chat with Su Ruixi, recounting even the matter of her grocery shopping just now, in matters big and small13.
And when she was buying the fish, she bought a silver carp14. This fish is uncommon; what’s usually seen is the bighead carp15, and the farmed ones are especially large, but silver carp are very rare.
“But the fish balls made from silver carp are also delicious; you’ll know when you try them. The silver carp isn’t small either, so I can make quite a lot. I can vacuum-seal16 them and put them in the freezer, and we can eat them again next time. As for the fish head, I’m thinking of cooking the fish head. You don’t eat chili peppers, so I can just eat it by myself.”
Hearing what Sun Miao said, Su Ruixi was a little dissatisfied. She said, “I can try a few bites too.”
“No, you’ll be so spicy you’ll be crying your nose17.”
She remembered the time she gave Su Ruixi some beef chili sauce to eat. That chili sauce was clearly not spicy at all, but when Su Ruixi ate it, her mouth was spiced until it was bright red18, and her eyes were spiced until they were watery. Her whole person looked extremely pitiful.
Hearing Sun Miao say this, Su Ruixi became even more indignant. “No way, I would not cry.”
“Alright, alright, alright, Susu-jie won’t cry.”
The two of them talked the whole way, hardly stopping. With Su Ruixi by her side, Sun Miao was completely different from when she had first woken up. Her whole person was with spirit shaken up, and her glance and look made her spirit fly19, without a trace of the fragile appearance of a pitiful little thing.
“Did you buy Zhe’ergen?”
“I did.”
Sun Miao confessed honestly. A look of struggle appeared all over Su Ruixi’s face. “Then… then after you’re done preparing the Zhe’ergen, you have to clean up extra thoroughly!”
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