Setting Up Stalls – Chapter 2

This Bowl of Egg Fried Rice

But when Sun Miao placed the prepared egg fried rice and Furong egg drop soup in front of the guest who caught her eye…

But when Sun Miao placed the prepared egg fried rice and Furong [芙蓉 | fúróng | lit. “hibiscus,” traditional name for egg flower] egg drop soup in front of the guest who caught her eye, the guest appeared somewhat picky.

This was understandable, as the customer appeared to come from a good family and was clearly wealthy, probably having rarely eaten at street stalls before.

Her egg fried rice looked appealing, but the disposable takeout container diminished this aspect. Moreover, as night had fallen, with only streetlights providing some illumination, under these circumstances, the fact that the dish’s appearance hadn’t become a negative already showed how visually impressive this egg fried rice truly was.

At this point, saying more would only make things worse, and since the customer hadn’t paid yet, Sun Miao decided to stay silent and wait until the enchanting guest finished eating before collecting payment.

If it weren’t for the fact that every strand of the customer’s hair aligned perfectly with Sun Miao’s aesthetic preferences, she would never have included a complimentary bowl of Furong egg drop soup. After all, her savings had dropped from one thousand yuan yesterday morning to just three hundred yuan today – how could she afford to treat someone to soup?

A pitiful lesbian, just being toyed with in the palm of a straight girl’s hand.

Sun Miao internally criticized herself as she sat back behind her food cart. Her seat was much higher than the folding stool, otherwise she wouldn’t be able to see if customers were approaching when sitting behind the cart. She perched on the crossbar beneath the high stool, swinging her crossed legs back and forth.

After serving the egg fried rice, Sun Miao stopped paying attention to the customer, as she was just her crush. There was a note about “crush”: a momentary flutter of the heart, and once she knew the other party was straight, Sun Miao was left with nothing but appreciation.

Her customer, however, was lost in tumultuous thoughts.

At this moment, Su Ruixi felt she must have been delirious from hunger, otherwise she wouldn’t have bought egg fried rice from a small stall behind the hospital. She had stomach problems, and after being hungry for so long today, her stomach and digestive system were already suffering. She had come to the hospital today precisely because of her stomach condition, and the doctor had suggested she return for IV drips over the next two days, otherwise she definitely wouldn’t be able to handle it.

These past two days she’d been dealing with a cold and fever, and now stomach problems on top of that – she really did need to eat something.

But after finishing her IV drip at the hospital, she found all the surrounding shops had closed, with only one small stall’s light still burning.

Su Ruixi approached cautiously to take a look, firmly decided that if there was even the slightest hint of poor hygiene, she would immediately turn and leave.

Surprisingly, this tiny food cart was kept quite clean and sanitary, so Su Ruixi decided to order a portion of egg fried rice.

Not only was the food cart spotlessly clean, but even the set-up tables and chairs were immaculate, without a trace of dirt. Su Ruixi sat on the folding stool, and after a short while, the stall owner brought over a portion of egg fried rice and a bowl of soup.

The presentation of the egg fried rice, in Su Ruixi’s view, was really quite ordinary, and far too simple – just egg, rice, and a sprinkle of green onions. Su Ruixi fell silent, no wonder this owner had so few customers, charging twenty yuan for something like this, surely no one would buy it.

As for how she knew the owner had few customers… that was because the owner only set up the customer tables and chairs after she arrived. Su Ruixi was too shrewd a person not to figure out the reason.

However, seeing as the egg fried rice appeared fairly light and clean, Su Ruixi decided to try some.

She first picked up the Furong egg drop soup beside her, which was served in a transparent disposable container the same size as the rice box. Su Ruixi guessed that the owner normally didn’t prepare soup for sale, and had spontaneously offered it to her. This probably meant the owner’s business really wasn’t doing well.

However, the Furong egg drop soup was also light and clean, containing only some chopped greens and carrot bits, with delicate egg flowers floating on top. Su Ruixi pressed her lips together, but still took a sip.

The egg drop soup was very mild, simply seasoned, but freshly made. The warm soup was refreshing to drink, and as it went down, Su Ruixi felt warmth spreading throughout her body.

On an April evening, under the streetlights, a bowl of egg drop soup dispelled the chill from Su Ruixi’s body.

To be honest though, the soup was merely refreshing to drink, nothing particularly special in taste.

Su Ruixi hadn’t had high expectations for this small stall to begin with – if the cooking was really that good, they would have been in a big restaurant already, so why would they be out here with a small food cart so late at night?

Su Ruixi looked back at the egg fried rice. She usually ate very little, sometimes even skipping meals when busy, and now she thought perhaps she should just have some soup to fill her stomach and forget about the egg fried rice. Su Ruixi was inclined to leave, but as if ghost-driven and god-directed [鬼使神差 | guǐ shǐ shén chā | meaning to do something inexplicably], she still picked up the disposable plastic spoon and scooped up some egg fried rice.

The egg fried rice sat there quietly, originally without much fragrance, only visible steam rising from it. But when Su Ruixi lifted a spoonful, she was suddenly hit with a wave of enticing aroma.

It was the distinctive fragrance of egg fried rice, not overpowering – yet one could subtly detect the aroma of oil, the fragrance of eggs, and the scent of green onions.

Each fragrance was a main note, mysteriously blending together, not competing for dominance but rather reflecting light upon each other [交相輝映 | jiāo xiāng huī yìng | meaning complimenting each other].

Just from the smell alone, Su Ruixi knew this bowl of egg fried rice wouldn’t taste bad.

The fragrance captivated Su Ruixi, leaving her no capacity to observe the appearance of the egg fried rice; instead, she simply opened her mouth and took a bite.

After eating it, Su Ruixi found it even more extraordinarily delicious. This bowl of egg fried rice had an exceptionally rich texture that Su Ruixi couldn’t quite describe, but it could be summed up in one phrase – it was delicious.

On the second spoonful, she had time to observe and discovered there was hidden complexity in this spoonful. Some parts of the egg fried rice had distinct grains with clearly separated egg pieces, while other rice grains had merged with the egg to become golden yellow. Su Ruixi didn’t know how this was achieved, but she had to admit, this egg fried rice possessed two distinct textures.

Some parts were soft and dense, others light and refreshing. But without exception, all the rice grains were plump and moist, carrying a hint of wok hei [油花味 | yóu huā wèi | lit. “oil flower fragrance”]. But here, the wok hei wasn’t a criticism, but rather a compliment. [LP: those who watch uncle roger will get this!]

She indeed hadn’t used much oil, but every drop had served its purpose.

Before she knew it, Su Ruixi had finished the entire portion of egg fried rice, still feeling somewhat reluctant to stop, and had even finished the egg drop soup completely clean, not leaving even a single piece of green onion. At this moment, Sun Miao came over and opened a packet of tissues to offer her.

Su Ruixi, just coming back to her senses from the delicious egg fried rice, saw the tissues being offered.

Hmm… the quality was rather poor, and she didn’t really want to use them.

But since the owner had already brought them to her, and they were freshly opened, Su Ruixi felt a bit embarrassed. She still accepted the tissues and said thank you.

Next came scanning the code and payment, and before leaving, Su Ruixi couldn’t help but ask: “Will you be here tomorrow and the day after?”

Sun Miao blinked her eyes and smiled: “Yes, from eight in the morning until eight in the evening, I’ll be here.”

Su Ruixi nodded, then walked away in her high heels.

After she finished eating, at 7:58, Sun Miao put the disposable containers in a garbage bag, wiped the table clean with a cloth, sprayed it with alcohol disinfectant, and only then packed everything back into her food cart.

By this point, it was already past 8 o’clock. Sun Miao directly mounted her electric tricycle and set off for home.

Calculating at night, today’s revenue: 50 yuan.

Hey, that customer gave quite a lot. Sun Miao had been so busy admiring her crush’s retreating figure that she hadn’t noticed how much the other party had given. Looking at it now, she was quite taken aback.

Back home, Sun Miao couldn’t go straight to sleep, as she still needed to prepare things for the next day. She had prepared a pot of rice the night before, but today only sold one portion.

In the morning, she had soaked the rice to make rice porridge for breakfast, ate a big bowl each for lunch and dinner, and now there was still a lot left. Sun Miao could only eat it all as a late-night snack.

She certainly couldn’t serve today’s leftover rice to customers tomorrow – using day-old rice for egg fried rice was fine because it actually tasted better that way. But two-day-old rice would be going too far.

In the food business, the most important thing was to have a conscience.

Sun Miao could only cook some dishes for herself and eat a late-night meal with the rice.

The next morning, she continued pedaling her tricycle to sell egg fried rice at the hospital entrance. However, something was different today – while there hadn’t been a single stall yesterday, today there were many. Faced with this situation, she could only set up a bit further away.

At 9 o’clock, someone shouted: “The Urban Management is coming!”

The vendors jumped on their electric bikes and scattered away. Sun Miao initially ran along with them for a while, until the system reminded her:

【Why are you running?! You have a permit!】

Only then did Sun Miao realize: Right, why am I running?

After running just a few steps, she happened to return to yesterday’s spot, so Sun Miao set down her things and continued setting up her stall.

The Urban Management’s electric cart came slowly rolling up, probably not expecting that Sun Miao’s stall not only hadn’t left but was setting up right there. An officer got down from the cart and came to Sun Miao’s stall: “What do you think you’re doing? No stalls allowed here!” The officer was a woman, and perhaps seeing that Sun Miao was also a young girl, she spoke without much harshness.

But Sun Miao told her: “I have a vendor’s operating permit, and I’ve checked the map – this area allows stalls.”

“?” The Urban Management officer was stunned.

Sun Miao pulled out a small box from behind her food cart, then retrieved a thick stack of certificates to show the officer.

The officer paused, then started examining them seriously. Her colleague came over and asked what was going on. After the officer explained, her colleague was somewhat surprised: “Our area actually allows stalls?”

“Why don’t you check?”

The two officers actually checked their maps and discovered there indeed wasn’t any no-vending sign in this area. The officer finished checking Sun Miao’s certificates, which were truly in order, and returned them to her: “Alright then, just make sure to keep things sanitary and don’t leave any garbage behind.”

“Okay, I understand. Thank you for the reminder.”

After these brief exchanges, the Urban Management’s cart drove away.

Sun Miao looked at the sky, thinking: How many orders can I get today? She looked at the rice she had cooked in a small pot this time: Selling out… shouldn’t be a problem, right?

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