Setting Up Stalls – Chapter 204

Opening a Second Group

Lizi’s video was in production for two days and was released on the night of the 13th, the second to last day for the Spanish mackerel dumplings. And Sun Miao wasn’t even the first one to discover it.

Although Sun Miao knew Lizi would be posting it, she had spent the last two days miserably refreshing the page many times without seeing it. After her high-intensity ego-searching still only brought up the same old things, her refresh frequency dropped.

Just when Sun Miao had almost forgotten about it, the group chat exploded, and she was @’d. This time, the @ mentions alone reached 99+. Sun Miao took a look, clicked in, and saw it was a URL. It started with Lizi’s self-introduction, and the title was 《The Sky-High Priced Spanish Mackerel Dumplings from a Roadside Stall That This Streamer Actually Thinks Are a Great Value!》.

Sun Miao had originally planned to watch it, but then she remembered she had talked about this with Su Ruixi, so she decided to wait until Su Ruixi got off work and came home that night so they could watch it together.

Sun Miao didn’t know that Su Ruixi was lurking in her small group chat, and Su Ruixi didn’t know about Sun Miao’s plans. During a break at work, she switched to her alt account, preparing to see what the group was saying about her Sun Miao. Unexpectedly, she scrolled right to the video.

Without hesitation, she clicked it open. First was Lizi’s self-introduction, where she also mentioned the little stall she was going to visit for this store exploration. Her tone of voice was quite cute, which matched her personal image.

“This little stall got super famous online a while back, and I’ve been wanting to try it forever. It’s just… why is its location so remote! I have to walk so far after getting off the bus.”

After a moment, the camera cut to a different shot, accompanied by Lizi’s voice saying, “I’m finally here, let me see the menu!” If Sun Miao were there, she would have definitely said: “That line was added later, she didn’t say it at the time.”

Following Lizi’s voice, the image on the screen changed to the price list. A shocked chibi¹ emoji was used, along with a shaking and zooming-in special effect that repeated a full three times to express Lizi’s shock. At this moment, the bullet screen² comments completely exploded, filling the entire screen:

【???】

【What’s going on? Did I read that wrong? Did they miss a decimal point, is it actually 8.8???】

【I knew the prices in the Demon City³ were magical, but I didn’t think they’d be this magical.】

Some bullet screen comments also asked if Lizi had been paid off, questioning how she could do a store exploration video for this kind of place, especially when the video title said “a great value.” One comment was suspicious: 【Could it be that the ‘great value’ is the UP⁴ being sarcastic? How could it possibly be a great value? 88! Lizi is from Lu Province, how many plates of dumplings can you get in Lu Province for 88! And she’s only selling one serving!】

Next, when everyone saw Lizi order three servings, they all started spamming “666⁵” and calling her an “injustice big head⁶.”

After that, not even the footage of Sun Miao’s meticulous cooking could grab the audience’s attention; everyone’s focus was still fixed on the “88 per serving” issue. Lizi edited the video, and the next scene showed her sitting at a small table with a large plate of dumplings in front of her.

She picked up a dumpling and brought it close to the screen for everyone to see. “I won’t lie to you all, this dumpling is seriously good-looking. It’s just, so round and plump, white and chubby, and you can even see the pinkish color through the skin. The moment I saw this dumpling, I just knew it would absolutely have a thin skin and a ton of filling!”

The bullet screen comments were still stuck on the 88 per serving issue: 【No matter how you look at it, it can’t be worth 88 for one serving.】

But from the moment Lizi ate the first dumpling, the tone of the video shifted. Usually, after eating something, Lizi would pause to give a brief explanation, describing the taste and the general cooking techniques used. She wasn’t a professional, and her descriptions weren’t professional either—they were mostly subjective—but her everyday commentary was very connected to the earth’s energy⁷, so it resonated with her audience.

Coupled with her especially cute appearance while eating, that’s how she attracted such a large fanbase.

But after she ate the first dumpling, she seemed to have completely forgotten about her audience, single-mindedly eating one dumpling after another. At that moment, a single sentence floated across the bullet screen: 【Lizi, say your lines!】

After that wave of comments passed, the bullet screen chatter began to become five flowers and eight gates⁸ again:

【Wait, am I the only one who thinks Lizi is having a genuinely amazing time eating this? She’s completely forgotten her lines.】

【You can tell it’s really delicious, she doesn’t even have time to talk.】

【Lizi’s reaction is the most convincing evidence. The way she’s focused on doing rice⁹ and not hearing matters outside the window¹⁰, I can’t imagine how good it must be.】

【I feel like Lizi’s expressions are even more vivid than usual this time. Just watching Lizi eat has made me so hungry my drool is all over the table…】

【Ball ball please¹¹, where is the address? I want to eat it, I really want to eat it!】

Later, after Lizi had finished eating, she offered her most sincere review: “Hah, delicious.”

The bullet screen was once again a flood of comments:

【That’s it?】

【Although I know this is the most simple and sincere comment, you weren’t like this before. Where are the words? Didn’t you used to blow until heavenly flowers fell in a jumble¹²?】

【Lizi, you’ve changed. You’ve become so taciturn.】

【But you can also tell she genuinely thinks it’s delicious.】

【I can attest, when a person eats something truly delicious, they can’t think of any other adjectives. Their mind is just filled with two words: good, and eat.】

Finally, there was Lizi’s summary and her request for a like and three-part combo¹³, follow, and so on. Su Ruixi looked at the bullet screen comments at this point, and the public opinion had completely shifted. At the beginning, people were questioning if 88 per serving was too expensive and that no one would go, but now it was:

【It seems like it’s not too far from my house, I plan to go check it out.】

【Is it really that good? I’m curious now, I’ll go buy a serving in a couple of days to try.】

Su Ruixi switched back to the chat app. On her alt account, she could see the group chat was blowing up. Everyone was complaining:

【What’s going on, why did a store explorer show up? We finally managed to fend off the student group, why are so many people trying to compete with us now?】

【Wuwuwu, the fact that Little Boss Sun’s stall is delicious can’t be hidden anymore. This blogger is pretty well-known locally, and her store explorations are usually for places that aren’t expensive and have high value for money. She still found Little Boss Sun.】

【Is she in the group? Doesn’t seem like it. That’s weird, how did she know where Little Boss Sun sets up her stall?】

【Sigh, I’ll have to go earlier tomorrow. For the past two days, the Hip-hop Yabi Duo actually failed to get first place. They’re just short of pulling an all-nighter in the scenic area. That group of grandpas and grandmas are deceiving people too excessively! They actually line up there super early every morning! And there are more and more of them!】

【Don’t even start. A portion of the grandpas and grandmas have already invaded the group. They’re really slick with their phones.】

In the midst of the chatting, more people were joining the group. Seeing that the member count was about to break 500, the day Sun Miao would have to open a second group was truly a day that could be pointed to and awaited¹⁴. The old customers in the group were all worried in their hearts, heavy heavy¹⁵, afraid that more and more people would come to compete with them for Sun Miao.

Reading this, Su Ruixi wanted to “Pah!” What did they mean, compete with them for Sun Miao? It was obviously competing with herself for Sun Miao. But Su Ruixi wasn’t worried at all that Sun Miao would be snatched away, because she had already spirited Sun Miao home. Sun Miao was opening a small stove¹⁶ for her every day. Did she need to worry that having more customers would mean she couldn’t eat?

The less she worried, the more she felt like watching the drama unfold. In the spirit of “watching the excitement and not minding if the matter gets big¹⁷,” Su Ruixi didn’t hesitate to pay for ad placement for the streamer’s video. This meant that even more people would see the video, and even more people would be attracted to Sun Miao.

And then, she would just have Sun Miao come home earlier every day.

Su Ruixi almost laughed out loud just thinking about it.

The old customers had no idea that the biggest threat to them in this world was this woman, Su Ruixi. They spent every day afraid that too many new customers would prevent them from getting Sun Miao’s snacks, but Su Ruixi was always thinking about spiriting Sun Miao home, having her quit the stall business entirely and just stay at home.

However, when they got home that evening, Sun Miao said, “Susu-jie, that streamer I mentioned before posted the store exploration video. I didn’t watch it today, let’s watch it together in a bit.” Sun Miao was clearly a little excited. As she spoke, her eyes were fixed on Su Ruixi, a smile held within them.

It was at this exact moment that Su Ruixi felt a pang of guilt, because she had already secretly watched it at the office. Right now, Su Ruixi didn’t dare let anything show, because she had no intention of revealing the fact that she had an alt account lurking in Sun Miao’s group.

If Sun Miao found out, Su Ruixi would be embarrassed.

So she smoothed her hair and said, a bit unnaturally, “Mm, okay.” Sun Miao, however, didn’t notice Su Ruixi’s slight discomfort. After they finished dinner and were nestled together watching the video, Sun Miao’s phone suddenly started vibrating nonstop.

It was in short bursts, not a phone call, more like notification sounds. Sun Miao took her phone out of her pocket, glanced at it, and met Su Ruixi’s questioning gaze. “It’s friend requests. The notes all say the group is full and they can’t get in. I’ll open another group.”

It was only a matter of time before Group 1 filled up, but she hadn’t expected it to be so soon. Sun Miao scratched her head, created the second group, but didn’t know where to post it. She thought for a moment before posting it in Group 1 and on her friend circle¹⁸. She even added a special note in Group 1: 【If any of your friends still want to join, have them join this group. If you’re already in Group 1, please don’t join the new one.】

Just after Group 2 was created, it immediately hit over 100 members. This made Sun Miao’s cheeks flush red with happiness.

“You’re that happy?” Su Ruixi leaned closer and couldn’t help but ask. Sun Miao nodded forcefully. “Yeah, because this means a lot of people like the food I make.”

No matter the situation, knowing that you are liked by others is a very happy thing.

“Miaomiao, do you like cooking that much?” Su Ruixi asked suddenly. Sun Miao didn’t hesitate in her reply: “I do. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have set up a stall to sell things.” She shifted on the sofa to get closer to Su Ruixi. “And it’s because I set up the stall that I was able to meet Susu-jie.”

She was very serious when she said this, her eyes sparkling and dark, so dark that Su Ruixi could see her own reflection in them.

“Then how long are you going to sell at the stall?”

This question, however, caught Sun Miao a bit off guard. She had never really considered it before, mainly because she was still young; it wasn’t so easy to think about when to retire. But since Su Ruixi had asked, she thought about it seriously and finally came to a conclusion. “When Susu-jie retires, I’ll stop running the stall, I guess.”

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