Setting Up Stalls – Chapter 193

Spanish Mackerel Dumplings¹

Sun Miao specially made some dishes that Su Ruixi likes to eat, and packed two portions. If Su Ruixi was not busy, she wanted to eat with Su Ruixi, and this would also count as—hmm, a set visit². If Su Ruixi was very busy, then she would just give Su Ruixi’s portion to her, and eat her own after returning home.

At 11:20, she arrived downstairs at Su Ruixi’s company, riding an electric scooter.

Sun Miao had specially called in advance to ask about Su Ruixi’s situation. Su Ruixi had originally wanted to come down, but Sun Miao asked: “Is Susu-jie very busy? Should I bring it up?”

From her words, Su Ruixi could tell that she actually wanted to deliver it upstairs to her. How could Su Ruixi possibly not satisfy such a cute little wish?

“Not very busy. Miaomiao, you come straight up. I’ll have my assistant call the front desk downstairs. You can go over and ask them directly for an access card.”

“Okay.”

Sun Miao parked³ her small electric scooter⁴ well, and holding two meal bags, entered the building. After she entered the building, she was actually a bit uncomfortable. Before Sun Miao transmigrated, she had worked in an office building, but it was just a very ordinary office building, without even access gates downstairs, so anyone could enter.

There were also very few elevators; excluding the freight elevator, the office building had only four elevators in total.

And the first-floor lobby was also very small, and the front desk staff was often nowhere to be found.

The first-floor lobby of this office building of Su Ruixi’s, compared to the one Sun Miao used to work in, was the difference between clouds and mud⁵. This one was the clouds.

Fortunately, having lived in a high-end hotel for so long before, apart from the initial discomfort, Sun Miao quickly steadied her nerves. She walked up to the front desk as Su Ruixi had told her and explained her purpose to them.

The other person quickly handed her an access card: “Okay, Miss Sun, this is the access card. You need to swipe the card to enter and exit the office building’s access gates and to select a floor in the elevator. You don’t need it when coming down; you can just press the button for the first floor directly. When you are finished using it, you can return it to the front desk on your way out.”

“Okay, thank you.”

Sun Miao took the access card and swiped it at the access gate to enter.

After arriving at the floor, Sun Miao discovered that this entire floor was just one company, and there was its own front desk after entering the company. The assistant, whom she had met twice before, was waiting at the front desk. Upon seeing her, the assistant raised a smile: “Miss Sun, you’ve arrived? President Su is waiting for you in her office. Please come with me.”

She led Sun Miao all the way to the president’s office and closed the door after letting Sun Miao in.

Su Ruixi was standing inside the office. Seeing Sun Miao come in, she immediately took the meal bags from her hands, explaining as she did so: “Actually, I also wanted to go to the entrance to pick you up myself, but doing so would definitely make everyone keep staring, and I was afraid you would be very uncomfortable, so I had the assistant pick you up.”

“Mm, it’s fine.”

What Su Ruixi said was indeed true. Just now when the assistant came to get her, she had felt faint gazes, especially… everyone’s line of sight seemed to land on the meal bags Sun Miao was carrying.

You couldn’t blame everyone for this, because one of the meal bags was quite familiar.

That bag, President Su often carried it, and its frequency of appearance was too high. When it was in Su Ruixi’s hands, everyone would mistake it for an exquisite shoulder bag from some unknown high-luxury brand. But when Sun Miao was holding it, right next to her own meal bag, it made everyone look and feel—no, why did President Su’s bag also look like a meal bag, huh?

It was because of this strange feeling that everyone kept looking at Sun Miao.

However, for Sun Miao, even if there was no ill will in those gazes, she would still feel a bit awkward. This was a bit different from being stared at when she set up her stall as usual, because they were all Susu-jie’s employees, and she was afraid that they would figure something out.

After Sun Miao sat down, Su Ruixi brought both meal bags to the table, only then discovering that Sun Miao had brought two portions of food.

Her first reaction was jealousy.

“Why did Miaomiao bring two meal bags?”

Her tone carried a hint of sourness, but that wisp of sourness was a bit faint, and Sun Miao, with her mind occupied, didn’t notice it. What she was preoccupied with was related to the meal box—she opened her mouth and said in a small voice: “I missed Susu-jie, and wanted to eat with Susu-jie.”

Su Ruixi’s old face flushed red, only then realizing she had thought wrong.

Her original thought was: Could this extra meal box be a gift from Sun Miao for her assistant? A thank-you gift for helping to deal with the troublemaking man before. Now, hearing that it was Sun Miao’s own, and the purpose was to eat together with her.

That bit of sourness in Su Ruixi’s heart immediately vanished without a trace.

Her voice also became gentle: “Mm, let’s eat together.”

The two of them gathered together and ate on the sofa and coffee table. After Sun Miao finished eating, she still felt a bit uncomfortable, mainly because sitting on the sofa and eating at the coffee table required her to bend over from time to time. She reminded Su Ruixi: “Susu-jie, why don’t you get a dining table for the office? Eating like this is bad for your waist and spine.”

Su Ruixi agreed, not feeling that there was anything wrong with it at all.

After Sun Miao had left, she called the assistant in. It was only when she mentioned this matter that she noticed the assistant seemed to want to say something but was hesitating: “What is it? Go ahead and say it.”

“President Su, it’s just… don’t you think that the household items in the office are increasing more and more?”

Su Ruixi glanced around and saw her private little refrigerator. At Su Ruixi’s request, the small refrigerator was later framed with a shelf, and a microwave was placed on top of it, so that she could take things out of the refrigerator and heat them up right there.

If she were to add another dining table specifically for her own meals, it would indeed be rather extravagant. When no one else was around, she could actually eat directly at her desk; she just needed to move her laptop a little. Occasionally, the assistant would come over, and only when they were exceptionally busy would she eat with Su Ruixi.

Ever since Su Ruixi started bringing her own meals, the assistant ate with her less and less often.

Therefore, Su Ruixi actually had no need to prepare a separate dining table at all.

Not to mention it would take up space, a perfectly good office with a minimalist decor style would also become filled with a sense of domestic life.

However, Su Ruixi was used to being willful. She replied directly: “So what? Buy one, and have it installed in the next two days. Find one that is formaldehyde-free; you should understand.”

Su Ruixi wasn’t buying a dining table for herself, but for Sun Miao. She herself could really eat at her desk, but if Sun Miao came over again like today, she couldn’t have her eat at the desk with her, right? Today they ate at the sofa and coffee table, and Sun Miao clearly felt that it was not good for her lumbar spine and that it was also a bit awkward to eat that way.

So, just buy a table directly. When Sun Miao comes over in the future, they can eat directly at the dining table.

The assistant saw Su Ruixi’s say-one-not-two⁶ nature, and after thinking for a moment, asked: “Then would it be okay to buy a hidden folding table? It can be hidden on the wall usually and unfolded directly when needed. The chairs would also be foldable. This way, it won’t change the office’s decor, and Miss Sun doesn’t come over on weekdays, so it won’t take up space.”

“That doesn’t matter, you see to it.”

The assistant finally breathed a sigh of relief, at least they wouldn’t lose face when partners came over.

After Su Ruixi returned home, Sun Miao told her about her plan to set up her stall the day after tomorrow. Su Ruixi was stunned for a moment and subconsciously said: “Then I’ll take tomorrow off to accompany you.” At this moment, Sun Miao felt as if her entire being was enveloped by sunlight, and her whole body felt warm as if it were being sunbathed.

Even her speech couldn’t help but become a bit soft and gentle: “No need, I’m not so easily afraid of loneliness anymore. Besides, we were just out playing for so long, it’s fine. Susu-jie, you work well, and I’ll come back and make you little snacks to eat⁷.”

Su Ruixi looked at Sun Miao for a while and saw that she was not putting on a brave face. Moreover, after being out for so long, even though her assistant was very capable and had shouldered most of the work pressure, there were still matters at work that required her personal attention.

Only then did Su Ruixi nod: “Alright, then I’ll come back earlier tomorrow.”

That night, the two of them slept while holding each other tightly. The next morning, Sun Miao wanted to get up to make breakfast for Su Ruixi, but Su Ruixi kissed Sun Miao’s forehead: “It’s okay, you continue to sleep, I’m going to work.”

She had wanted to get up, but the system pulled her into the system space.

The snack to be learned this time was—Spanish Mackerel Dumplings.

Sun Miao was momentarily speechless. They had already returned from Lu Province, and now it was releasing a Lu Province-related snack.

People in the Lu Province region especially love to eat dumplings and are also very fond of wheat-based foods. Among these, the Spanish Mackerel Dumplings from the Jiaodong⁸ region are especially beloved by the local people.

Making Spanish Mackerel Dumplings is not considered difficult. The main ingredients are Spanish mackerel, minced meat, and flour. In some regions, some chives are added as a supplement. The Spanish Mackerel Dumplings that the system taught Sun Miao were the version with chive filling. Because the production was not too difficult, the instruction this time was only three months.

Among the steps, learning the dumpling wrappers was quite easy. Sun Miao had a foundation in making wheat-based foods, and had also made wontons before; once you understand one thing, you understand a hundred things⁹, so when it came to rolling the dumpling wrappers, she also learned quickly and well.

The only thing that was relatively difficult was the handling of the fish.

In the system’s teaching, it had not really taught much about fish; the only thing it had taught was how to make fish balls. That had a similar principle to processing minced fish filling, but it was necessary to pay attention to distinguishing the differences between them to avoid confusion.

The so-called Spanish mackerel is actually majiao¹⁰. Generally, the one selected is the blue-spotted majiao¹¹, which is a deep-sea fish and also an important commercial fish among China’s marine fishing targets. This also means that its quantity is quite large.

But it is a deep-sea fish after all, and they didn’t have it here, especially if one wanted to buy it fresh and live, which was really a bit troublesome.

But it had to be this fish for it to be good. This fish’s meat is fine and firm, and rich in nutrients. When chopped into a fish paste, its texture is also better than other fish. The most crucial thing is that it is large, has a lot of meat, and few bones, satisfying the pursuit of “bigness” by the people of Lu Province, and it is also delicious.

If you were to make authentic Spanish Mackerel Dumplings but didn’t use blue-spotted majiao, the people of Lu Province would all say you are not authentic.

Therefore, the first step for Sun Miao was to select the Spanish mackerel. First of all, one must observe the appearance. The most basic things are: the fin rays must be complete and not eroded, and there must not be any strange spots like red or white dots on the body; the blue-spotted majiao is blue-green overall, and other colors are not acceptable.

A delicious majiao seems to shimmer with an iridescent light like a rainbow on its body, which looks beautiful to the eye.

The fish’s eyes must be clear and bright; if they are cloudy, it is likely not far from being deceased.

These were all things that could be observed with the eyes. If this step failed, there was no need to bother with the rest of the selection.

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