Setting Up Stalls – Chapter 20

Is It Really That Delicious?

“……”

When Su Ruixi saw the beef sauce, she fell silent. Her first thought was: Sun Miao couldn’t be this stingy, right? But considering it contained chili sauce and she wouldn’t eat much anyway, she didn’t mind too much. She just took the beef sauce and her malatang to a table nearby and started eating.

It was dinner time, and most families had gone home, so people preferred not to eat at the small outdoor tables, choosing instead to take their food home to eat with family.

That’s why Su Ruixi could find a seat at Sun Miao’s stall during the dinner rush.

As Sun Miao watched Su Ruixi go to the side, she began attending to the next customer, but remained curious, couldn’t help wondering to the System: “Will Su Ruixi like my beef sauce?” She hadn’t learned to make the spicy beef sauce from the System; it was purely her own previous skill combined with her current understanding.

Sun Miao had tried it herself and thought it was quite tasty, perfect as a rice topping. But she wasn’t sure if Su Ruixi, someone who couldn’t handle spicy food, would like it.

【Host, this beef sauce wasn’t learned from the System, so there’s no guarantee it’ll taste good.】

The System was being stingy about this – in its view, only recipes learned from it could be the best. Sun Miao pouted and stopped talking to the System, continuing her work. Su Ruixi had arrived quite late compared to other residents in the complex, even later than late.

After waiting half an hour for her turn, there weren’t many people left behind her.

Sun Miao took some time to finish making malatang for the remaining customers, then thought about it and still wanted to know if Su Ruixi found it tasty. She quickly washed her hands before approaching Su Ruixi.

At that moment, whether Su Ruixi found it tasty or not, Sun Miao couldn’t tell, but she definitely found it spicy. When she looked up, her lips were bright red and her eyes were watery. Sun Miao knew immediately – she found it spicy, quite spicy indeed.

Sun Miao found it strange – how could it be spicy? She had used mild green and red peppers. Especially the red peppers, which were sweet bell peppers, the thick kind with no spiciness at all. If it were up to her own taste, she would have used xiaomijiao [小米椒 | xiǎomǐjiāo | bird’s eye chili] and denglong jiao [灯笼椒 | dēnglóng jiāo | lantern chili].

It was out of consideration for Su Ruixi that she had used such mild peppers.

Yet unexpectedly, it still proved too spicy for Su Ruixi.

Usually, Su Ruixi was cold and distant, showing no expression, but today was different. Those cheeks, those eyes, looking as if she might cry at any moment – truth be told, it was quite a lovely sight.

Sun Miao pushed aside her sapphic thoughts and simply asked: “Is it very spicy?” Su Ruixi nodded: “Very spicy.” It wasn’t just ordinary spiciness – at first, she had only put a tiny bit on the lid of her disposable lunch box, but when eating, she couldn’t resist picking up a bit with her chopsticks and putting it in her mouth.

She had trusted Sun Miao and thought it wouldn’t taste bad, which was why she had tried a bit with her chopsticks, but unexpectedly, once it entered her mouth, the spiciness shot up immediately.

Sun Miao’s brows furrowed slightly: “That shouldn’t be right, I really didn’t add much chili.”

“You’re lying, it’s really spicy.”

Su Ruixi sniffled, looking quite pitiful. Her usual unapproachable demeanor had weakened, which unconsciously emboldened Sun Miao, who directly grabbed a small stool and sat beside her.

Sun Miao took out disposable chopsticks from her apron: “Do you mind if I taste it?”

Su Ruixi was somewhat angry at this point – she had eaten it because she trusted Sun Miao, but didn’t expect it to be so spicy that tears and snot were about to run. So when Sun Miao said “Let me taste it,” Su Ruixi’s usual germaphobia didn’t act up; instead, she pushed her bowl lid towards Sun Miao: “Eat it!”

Sun Miao opened the chopstick wrapper and picked up a bit to put in her mouth. Beside her, Su Ruixi watched hopefully, clearly thinking: Well? It’s spicy, right? I told you it was spicy!

However, when Sun Miao tasted it, it was the same flavor as when she ate it at home – the beef sauce hadn’t fermented or become spicier over time.

So after hesitating for a moment, she could only say: “It’s not spicy at all.”

“How can it not be spicy?” Su Ruixi was even more incredulous. She looked at Sun Miao, who noticed her lips. They looked – indeed like they’d been burned by spice. Her mouth was red and slightly swollen, looking as if she’d applied particularly vibrant lipstick.

Su Ruixi wasn’t one for bright-colored lipstick – though Sun Miao hadn’t known her long, she’d noticed this. She preferred lipstick colors close to her natural lip color, or slightly brighter, but never wore heavily pigmented ones.

She didn’t like excessive things – not overpowering flavors, not eye-catching colors, even her clothing tended toward lighter shades. Though sometimes she’d wear black work attire, giving off strong jiejie [姐姐 | jiějie | mature, sophisticated woman] vibes.

Her aura naturally emanated from within, requiring no makeup enhancement.

Now Sun Miao thought that red lipstick might actually suit Su Ruixi, making her presence even stronger… though her eyes shouldn’t be this watery – looking like this now, any commanding presence was completely gone.

Su Ruixi hadn’t noticed that her tone had taken on a slightly whiny quality.

After Su Ruixi’s questioning, Sun Miao could only answer: “Well… Su xiaojie [小姐 | xiǎojiě | miss] really can’t handle spicy food.”

That single statement plunged both into silence. After a while, Sun Miao asked: “Should you stop eating this beef sauce then? Do you want to give it back?”

Su Ruixi’s immediate reaction was – no way. She said directly: “How can you take back something you’ve given to someone?” Faced with this solid reasoning, Sun Miao could only say: “Alright…” Though she found it strange that Su Ruixi wanted to keep the beef sauce despite being so affected by its spiciness.

If one had to ask why, only Su Ruixi herself knew the reason: though the beef sauce was spicy, it was really delicious.

As Sun Miao had said, this beef sauce was perfect with rice. From her first taste, though it was spicy, she knew it would make anything taste better. Even takeout dishes would become more palatable with this sauce as a condiment.

So despite the spiciness, Su Ruixi wouldn’t return it to Sun Miao.

Sun Miao had no choice, but seeing how affected Su Ruixi was by the spice, and since she’d provided the sauce, she could only offer some remedies. She dug out a candy from her small pocket: “Eat this to help with the spiciness. Would you like some soup? I can prepare a separate portion for you.”

The soup and candy were not something Su Ruixi would pass up, especially the soup – she had wanted it yesterday but forgot. Now that Sun Miao was offering, how could she refuse? So Su Ruixi nodded: “Okay,” and instructed Sun Miao: “Pack the soup, I’ll take it home.”

She hadn’t actually eaten much of the spicy sauce, but because she really couldn’t handle spice, it felt extremely hot. After drinking some soup and letting time pass, Su Ruixi had calmed down. The extra soup didn’t need to be consumed here; she could take it home and drink it tomorrow morning or afternoon.

This time she’d learned her lesson – she would drink the soup alone, absolutely not letting the ayi use it for noodles and ruin its original flavor.

Sun Miao didn’t question it and returned behind her food cart to pack the soup.

Su Ruixi continued eating her dinner at a leisurely pace, naturally taking more time. She had thought she would finish earlier, but halfway through her meal, she saw Mother Zhou bringing Zhou Ling over. Zhou Ling’s mother paused upon seeing Su Ruixi and nodded to her.

Then she pulled Zhou Ling close, showing her maternal side: “Lingling, you haven’t had malatang before, right? This place’s malatang is delicious and clean. Mama doesn’t let you eat malatang from outside because other places aren’t clean, not because I’m restricting everything you eat. See, when I found this delicious place at lunch, I brought you right away.”

She turned to Sun Miao and started ordering: “Two portions, both to go, for mine I want…” After finishing her order, she turned to Zhou Ling: “Lingling, what about you?”

At this moment, Zhou Ling was actually afraid of giving herself away, as she had been eating here for several days already, but Sun Miao winked at her. At this moment, Zhou Ling relaxed and couldn’t help but smile: “I want this…”

This was her little secret with Sun Miao, and this realization made Zhou Ling especially happy. For a child her age, having a secret from her parents, and the small pride of discovering something delicious before her mother, improved her mood considerably.

Zhou Ling’s mother sent the driver home first, and she and Zhou Ling each carried a portion of malatang, walking home together slowly. On the way, mother and daughter chatted and laughed. This kind of experience was quite rare for Zhou Ling.

She had always been repressed, afraid to tell her parents the truth. But at this moment, she realized that sometimes she might do better than her parents, like finding this malatang stall that everyone praised before they did.

With the addition of good food, the atmosphere between mother and daughter had improved noticeably.

By this time, Su Ruixi had finished eating. She wiped her mouth and stood up, approaching the food cart where Sun Miao handed her the soup. Su Ruixi casually remarked: “The young girl has been in good spirits these days.”

Sun Miao smiled too: “Mm, that’s a good thing. I hope they can use today’s opportunity to open up to each other.”

Su Ruixi took the soup and walked two steps away, when suddenly something occurred to her, and she abruptly turned back.

Sun Miao was still puzzled when she heard Su Ruixi ask: “Are you planning to end your stall business here?”

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LP: I used to have a very weak spice tolerance where I can’t even eat spicy cup noodles without crying… But then I tasted a spicy Shawarma and the taste is so different from the non-spicy one! For such delicious food, I decided, it’s worth it to cry for~ Now I have a good enough tolerance that I won’t cry anymore lol

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