Setting Up Stalls – Chapter 190

You First Have a Taste and See

Hearing that it was made by Sun Miao herself, Yuan Xiangyi on the contrary became even more interested: “Then I must have a portion, to taste and see just how delicious this is.” Yuan Xiangyi bought a portion and went inside the hotel. Behind the two windows to the left and right of Sun Miao, there were still customers eating over there. Yuan Xiangyi learned a trick and also went inside to directly ask for rice.

“She lives here too?” Seeing her light carriage, familiar road appearance, Sun Miao understood. Su Ruixi nodded her head: “Probably, there are only a few high-end hotels in Qindao, this one is a chain and its reputation is very good, most people who come here to have fun will choose this one.”

The presidential suite at this place was also quite difficult to book. Fortunately, Su Ruixi’s luck had always been good, so she was able to secure it easily.

So it was not strange that Yuan Xiangyi was staying here. They had not run into each other before, and running into each other today was also very normal.

Yuan Xiangyi also took a seat nearby. She had the waiter reserve Su Ruixi’s seat for herself; otherwise, with such a good location, it would definitely have been taken by someone else. Yuan Xiangyi, on the other hand, truly had some skill when it came to taste testing. First, she observed its color, then smelled its aroma. She dipped the very tip of her chopsticks into the sauce, tasted a light mouthful, and only then did she pick up the contents and begin to eat.

The first mouthful was naturally the ham, and after that, she started on the abalone, picked out the winter bamboo shoots from within, and finally had a mouthful of green vegetables. However, after eating for a little while, she hurriedly came out: “Little Boss Sun, your sign didn’t say it was a limited quantity, right? Give me another portion!”

The system also hadn’t said it needed to be a limited quantity, so Sun Miao nodded and handed another portion to Yuan Xiangyi. Yuan Xiangyi’s eyeballs rolled, and she was just about to say that she wanted to buy out¹ all that was left. She was thinking of buying all of the last three portions. One reason was that it was truly delicious; she ran a restaurant and was very fond of eating herself, so when faced with this kind of rare delicacy, there was no way she would want to let it pass.

Another reason was that just now when she came over, she had observed a hint of impatience on Su Ruixi’s face, who was clearly a little agitated because Sun Miao’s food was taking so long to sell. If she bought them all at this moment, wouldn’t she be able to sell a good one² in front of Su Ruixi?

Besides, in a certain respect, she and Su Ruixi had the same thought: selling this for 588 a portion, wasn’t that a pure profit for the buyer? To not even buy this? Was this not having eyes but not recognizing Mount Tai?!

This was only because they were in Qindao, where Little Boss Sun had no regular customers. If this were back at the original place, 10 portions? It was guaranteed that the moment Little Boss Sun set up her stall, they would all be snatched up in less than a minute. How could there be time for Little Boss Sun to sit around and wait for customers?

However, before she could say it, her act of hurriedly walking outside just now had made the customers who were originally sitting inside unable to sit still. They immediately followed her and ran out. These were all customers who had just bought Sun Miao’s Braised Abalone in its Original Shell. Before they had even gotten close, they heard Yuan Xiangyi’s words, so without waiting for her to say she wanted to buy them all out, they opened their mouths one after another:

“Give me a portion too?”

“I want one too!”

Sun Miao only had three portions left in total. Yuan Xiangyi wanted one, so for the customers who came after, there were only portions for the two who ran at the very front. Sun Miao sold all of the last three portions and said to the customers behind her who had looks of regret on their faces: “Sorry, they’re all sold out.”

The regret on the customers’ faces was very clear, but it was indeed their own heads that were stupid and their running that was slow, so they couldn’t blame others. However, they were still not resigned to having eaten only one portion, so they asked Sun Miao: “Are you coming to sell again tonight?”

Sun Miao shook her head: “No, I’m only selling this one meal.”

The customers obviously didn’t get Sun Miao’s meaning, thinking she was only selling this one meal at noon. Only Yuan Xiangyi understood that it probably wasn’t just about selling this one meal at noon, but rather this one time: she was only selling that one meal just now.

Thinking about it, it made sense. After all, she was out to have fun, not to do business. To occasionally not forget her original heart once was enough; how could she not forget her original heart every single time.

Even if Sun Miao wanted to set up a stall every day, her friend Su Ruixi who came out to play with her wouldn’t be happy. This great young miss had already condescended from her honorable position to lower her nobility³ to accompany her to play, but you, on the other hand, instead of serving her from front to back, you hang the person out to dry on one side to set up your own stall. Does that make any sense?

Yuan Xiangyi, however, did not know the two were a couple and only thought of them as ordinary friends, and friends with a huge difference in status at that. If Yuan Xiangyi were standing from Sun Miao’s perspective, she would definitely serve Su Ruixi up to the heavens like an old slave.

Yuan Xiangyi carried her portion, exchanged greetings with the two of them, and returned to her seat to start eating her original portion. She wasn’t at an angle directly facing Sun Miao’s small stall, but she could still see them both. Completely different from what Yuan Xiangyi had thought, not only was Sun Miao not acting like an old slave, she was even directing Su Ruixi to do things with a peaceful heart and justified reason⁴.

While she was over there tidying up her small stall, the great young miss also followed her before and after like a small spinning top, helping out. She helped put away the garbage bag placed to the side, helped clear the top of the folding table, and also picked up the small blackboard.

After they were done, the two of them walked towards the inside of the hotel, talking while carrying a large pile of things in their hands.

As they passed by outside Yuan Xiangyi’s window, Yuan Xiangyi saw the smile on Su Ruixi’s face.

Su Ruixi usually… shouldn’t be like this, right.

Yuan Xiangyi didn’t have much contact with Su Ruixi, but she was, after all, a celebrity among celebrities. For someone like Yuan Xiangyi who was in the service industry, these clients were all key subjects for her to observe. Especially after that incident last time, Su Ruixi had become the weight among weights⁵.

Rumor on the street⁶ had it that Su Ruixi was a famous cold beauty.

In photos on social media, she was also always not given to casual talk or laughter⁷, looking clear and cold, and also arrogant. When Yuan Xiangyi saw those photos, she truly felt that a face like Su Ruixi’s should be paired with such an expression. The aura around her body, even through a photograph and across dimensions, could make one feel a burst of icy cold.

But at this very moment, separated by a window, the smile that Su Ruixi unintentionally revealed somehow made one feel that this was how it should be.

Presumably, although Su Ruixi’s daily personality was a bit cold, when facing family and friends, she would also have a smiling face like a flower, right?

It was a good thing these were all Yuan Xiangyi’s thoughts, which Su Ruixi’s “family and friends” did not know; otherwise, they would all definitely open their mouths to complain. At the very least, Hip-hop Mei would certainly raise a small sign with three typed words and one punctuation mark written on it: Not at all!

Watching the two of them walk far away, Yuan Xiangyi finally focused on the portion of Braised Abalone in its Original Shell in front of her. She ate to her heart’s content⁸. After finishing off two bowls of rice and leaving nothing behind in the disposable food box before her, she let out a long sigh of relief.

Her current actions were a bit too unladylike, a bit extremely vicious and extremely hungry⁹, as if she had been hungry for eight lifetimes and had never eaten her fill.

Only when she picked up a paper napkin from the table to lightly wipe the corners of her mouth did she recover the style of an upper-class boss. She got up, but instead of returning to her room, she carried the other untouched portion, turned, and went out the door. She had the hotel help her call for a private car while holding her mobile phone in her other hand to make a call.

“Hello? It’s me. I have a dish here that I’d like you to critique.”

On the other end of the line was the head chef who was with her last night. She had seen the disdain the head chef had for Sun Miao and Su Ruixi last night, and besides, that fellow’s asking price was too high. Yuan Xiangyi was now going to carry this portion of Braised Abalone in its Original Shell to go slap his face¹⁰.

She had to let arrogant people know what it means that there is a sky beyond the sky, and a person beyond the person.

They arranged to meet at the head chef’s home. When Yuan Xiangyi placed the disposable food box with its inconspicuous appearance in front of the head chef, he was a bit silent. Nowadays, for the sake of their own brand and reputation, high-end hotels even came up with all sorts of ideas for their takeout boxes.

Just like Yuan Xiangyi’s Yuanfu Lou, its disposable boxes were who-knows-how-much thicker than others. Holding one in your hand gave the illusion that it was a ceramic bowl, and it even had a blue-and-white porcelain pattern printed on it. Paired with food that was complete in color, aroma, and taste, one glance was enough to know it was not inexpensive.

The restaurant where the head chef was employed also strove for excellence¹¹ in its external presentation.

When Yuan Xiangyi had said on the phone that she wanted him to critique something, the head chef had thought it was made by some other chef and had even roused one hundred and twenty thousand points of spirit. The result was that as soon as he saw the packaging—that simple disposable food box, with a plain, unprinted plastic bag over it—it looked just like something packed to-go from a roadside fly restaurant¹².

Nowadays, any restaurant with a bit of standing would do something with their takeout bags. Slightly more high-end ones would have thick, insulated bags. Even a small shop would have to print its own logo on it. After all, how much could a single bag be worth? Yet it could promote one’s own brand.

Only fly restaurants would use this kind of common, transparent plastic bag with no printing on it whatsoever.

Yuan Xiangyi was a shrewd person¹³; she saw the disdain in the head chef’s eyes. She knew she would definitely win this round, so she maintained an air of clouds being pale and the wind being light¹⁴: “Head Chef, you first have a taste and see.”

The head chef nodded. After all, Yuan Xiangyi could potentially be his future boss, so he had to give her some thin face¹⁵.

But when he opened his mouth, it was still to say: “But Boss Yuan, I have to say the ugly words up front. If this dish isn’t good, I will definitely say it all, one five one ten¹⁶, and won’t give the slightest bit of face.”

——Heh, still thinking of saying this dish isn’t good.

“Mm, that’s a matter of course.”

The head chef reached out, untied the outermost plastic bag, and then lifted the lid of the takeout box. At that moment, the head chef fell silent for a bit. Because the appearance of this dish was, surprisingly, quite good.

The head chef was a master of Lu cuisine, and with one glance, he could recognize that this was Braised Abalone in its Original Shell made with the most authentic method. The method used in many restaurants is to take the already-cooked abalone and place it back on top of the abalone shell, then serve it up together with the shell.

The benefit of this is——the plating looks more exquisite, making the abalone appear as if it is swimming deep in the sea, transparent and shining, while at the same time showing off the size of the abalone, causing the value of the dish to go up another level.

This Braised Abalone in its Original Shell, on the contrary, was like the method of the older generation. Back then, abalones were not as large as the farmed ones today, so they were cut into slices and piled together, with ham added to increase the volume of the dish while also making the flavor richer.

Moreover, the color and luster of this thickened sauce let the head chef know that the creator of this dish was definitely of a high level¹⁷. Several names of the older generation flashed through his mind, and finally, he began to ponder——what was Yuan Xiangyi’s reason for doing this.

Was she trying to tell him that she could also get in contact with those head chefs of the older generation, and that he wasn’t her only option? Or did she want to use this connection to push his price down?

Ten thousand thoughts flashed through his mind. He raised his head to look at Yuan Xiangyi opposite him, but she simply extended her hand lightly, making a “please” gesture in his direction.

The head chef lowered his head again, picked up his chopsticks, and advanced toward the dish.

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