Setting Up Stalls – Chapter 208

Just This

If someone else had asked Su Ruixi this question, and had made her watch such a TV show, Su Ruixi would have definitely gotten angry and fired back with a yin-yang strange air¹, “What do I think? Do you think I’d like watching this kind of show? I really don’t know what you were thinking, making me waste so much of my time.”

But the person asking was Sun Miao, and Sun Miao had genuinely watched this short-form drama² with her for so long. Su Ruixi would subconsciously think: Actually, everyone has their own little hobbies. Watching this kind of show is fine. Although it’s awkward and brainless, it can relieve boredom.

Before she could say this out loud, however, Su Ruixi saw Sun Miao’s expression.

She was quite serious, and she had the look of a prisoner on their way to the execution ground, that feeling of viewing death as returning home³.

This glance made Su Ruixi pause, and she calmed down and began to think more deeply. She thought quietly for a good while but couldn’t make heads or tails of it, even wondering: Could Miaomiao be trying to say that she’s related to the male lead in this show, that he’s her long-lost biological older brother?

However, this idea was quickly dismissed by Su Ruixi, because the male lead was truly not good-looking—so unattractive that Su Ruixi suspected he had paid his way onto the cast⁴. How could someone with his looks possibly be siblings with her Miaomiao.

After eliminating the other possibilities, the most impossible answer was the truth.

Su Ruixi’s tone and expression were both very strange. “Miaomiao, are you trying to tell me… you also have a system like that?”

Actually, when Su Ruixi first said this, she meant it as a bit of a joke. She was an atheist who would rather believe in aliens than in the existence of something like a system in this world. But Sun Miao fell silent. Her silence also made Su Ruixi close her mouth, just watching Sun Miao quietly.

Sun Miao’s mouth opened and closed. Saliva was pooling in her mouth, making her close it again to swallow. She was like a criminal awaiting the fall of the executioner’s hammer, anxiety and embarrassment swirling in her heart. But soon, Sun Miao steeled her resolve.

She had already made up her mind long ago. There was nothing to be afraid of. Sun Miao didn’t think Su Ruixi would leave her because of what she said; she would definitely stay by her side.

“Yes…” She explained everything—about encountering the system and how she came from a parallel dimension. Throughout this process, Su Ruixi just listened, her hands on her legs, her eyes lowered, not saying a word. Sun Miao, with one roll of the drum⁵, said everything in one breath.

After she finished speaking, Sun Miao slowly let out a breath.

After a moment, Su Ruixi asked, “That’s it?”

Sun Miao paused, then nodded. “Yes, just… just this.” When she said the words “just this,” a mix of various feelings churned in Sun Miao’s heart, an indescribable sensation. She felt that this wasn’t a “just this” kind of matter, but Su Ruixi’s attitude was as if the wind is light and the clouds are faint⁶.

She said, “Oh,” and then there was nothing more. She just asked Sun Miao, “So we don’t need to watch this short-form drama anymore, right?”

“Ah… right, we don’t.”

Su Ruixi exited the screen mirroring and switched to another channel, which happened to be showing a documentary about animals. The two of them watched for a while, but Sun Miao was still a bit torn. She asked Su Ruixi cautiously, “Susu-jie, don’t you have anything else to say?”

Su Ruixi hummed in acknowledgment and reached out to pat Sun Miao’s head. Her hair was soft, and Su Ruixi found it nice to touch.

“Miaomiao is pretty amazing. If I went to a completely different world all by myself, I would definitely feel very lost.” Moreover, when Sun Miao first transmigrated, she had a body without a single fen⁷ and a home with only four walls⁸. Su Ruixi felt that if she were in that situation, she would probably be lost for a very long time; after all, she had never lived the life of a poor person.

Hearing Su Ruixi praise her like this, Sun Miao felt a little embarrassed. “It’s nothing…” She had been poor before, or rather, she had always been poor, so she was quite used to not having a few coins in her pocket⁹.

It was also for this reason that after transmigrating, she only felt out of place for a short while before immediately getting into the swing of things.

Once this matter was behind them, Sun Miao’s heart felt much lighter, and she was able to say more of what she wanted to say. “Susu-jie, well, actually, all those dishes you like to eat were obtained by me through cheating.”

Su Ruixi didn’t really care about this point. Instead, she asked, “But didn’t Miaomiao say that on the morning after every rest day, the system would pull you into the system space for training lasting anywhere from three months to a year? Doesn’t that also mean that this is something Miaomiao learned through her own hard work?”

That may be so, but Sun Miao’s expression still held a hint of guilt for having learned through cheating.

Su Ruixi couldn’t bear to see it. She moved closer and pulled Sun Miao into a hug. “Besides, if there’s a convenient method, why not use it? When I do business, I can’t avoid getting help from my family. In other people’s words, that’s also me cheating. Should I refuse to use it just because of that? People who reject timely help and effective shortcuts are fools.”

Su Ruixi’s words made so much sense that Sun Miao was completely convinced.

The two talked for a while, and the matter was considered closed. Because Su Ruixi accepted it so naturally, Sun Miao was left a little doubtful: Am I dreaming? Or was everything that just happened my own fantasy, and it never actually occurred?

As it neared dinnertime, Su Ruixi finally couldn’t help but ask, “So what did the system teach this time? Is it delicious?”

“It should be pretty delicious.” Then, she prepared to start making tonight’s dinner—fried skewers.

At this moment, Sun Miao’s group chat had the pot exploded¹⁰. Normally, Sun Miao would post a photo of a sample product in the morning to announce the specific time, but it was already this late today, and Sun Miao hadn’t even shown her face. This caused the regular customers to experience withdrawal symptoms¹¹, constantly guessing what had happened to her.

Only the Hip-Hop Yabi duo, popped up to say: Don’t worry, she’s definitely fine.

As for how the two of them knew… it was purely because they saw Su Ruixi’s Moments post. Su Ruixi had just posted some scenery photos. Her photography skills were quite good; the whole “small bridge, flowing water, people’s homes¹²” vibe of Gusu was captured.

Hip-Hop Mei had initially just casually liked it and scrolled past, but then it occurred to her that the display name was a bit off. She scrolled back up and saw that it was actually Su Ruixi! She looked again and again before realizing—Su Ruixi really went out to have fun!

She used her not-so-brilliant brain to think for a moment and immediately figured out the key point: then Little Boss Sun probably went out to have fun too. So while everyone in the Sunday group was getting anxious and catch fire¹³, the Hip-Hop Yabi duo was very calm.

Little Boss Sun was definitely fine. As for whether the food supply for this group of regular customers would be fine tomorrow, that was uncertain. But since Little Boss Sun hadn’t come out to ask for leave or temporarily stop her stall even at this late hour, she would probably still be setting up.

While everyone was dying of anxiety, Sun Miao was unhurried, starting by threading ingredients onto skewers.

Although the system only taught the classic trio, Sun Miao could make more than that for Su Ruixi. She had bought a lot, especially vegetables. Su Ruixi liked to eat vegetarian, so she bought extra. She also made the Pissing Beef Balls¹⁴ and hand-beaten fish balls from before, which could also be fried.

The side dishes she prepared when selling malatang could also emit light and radiate heat¹⁵ in the fried skewers.

Seeing that she was busy, Su Ruixi also came over.

The kitchen at home now had many things Su Ruixi wouldn’t normally buy, such as the small stool Sun Miao brought with her. Seeing Su Ruixi approach, Sun Miao took out a small stool and had her sit beside her. The two of them, together, threaded the skewers.

Sun Miao’s hands and feet were nimble and her movements were fast; she could thread a dozen or so in no time. Su Ruixi’s movements were slow, and she wasn’t good at it. Sun Miao constantly reminded her to go slower and not to accidentally prick her hand.

They threaded skewers until five o’clock, which was about enough. Sun Miao had Su Ruixi stop, then turned on the stove to heat the wok with oil. Seeing this, Su Ruixi finally understood what Sun Miao was preparing to make.

She swore she believed in Sun Miao’s cooking skills; she loved whatever Sun Miao made. The problem was, Sun Miao was going to make fried skewers… This made Su Ruixi’s little heart give a lurch. Her willow-leaf eyebrows¹⁶ furrowed slightly. “Miaomiao, I… um, use a little less oil.”

“Susu-jie, don’t worry, I definitely won’t use too much oil for you.”

After the oil was hot, Sun Miao separated the skewers by meat and vegetable and placed them into the wok in sequence. Since she was cooking at home, she only used one wok, frying the vegetables first. After taking the vegetables out, she then fried the meat.

When the vegetables went in, Su Ruixi deliberately stood further back. She didn’t know much about kitchen matters, but she had watched her own mother cook a few times. Ms. Shen Yiqiu was always very enthusiastic about cooking, but all of her talent had been dedicated to her career; she truly had no gift for cooking.

She had never made fried skewers, but she had deep-fried things before. Every time she made fried food, Su Ruixi felt like she was about to blow up the kitchen. The oil could splatter three feet high, forcing Su Ruixi to stay far away, terrified of getting splattered.

Su Ruixi firmly believed that Sun Miao’s cooking wouldn’t result in such a tragic scene, but she couldn’t help it; she had already formed a conditioned reflex¹⁷.

When Sun Miao turned her head, she saw Su Ruixi standing two meters away from her. It was a good thing their kitchen was huge. In a normal apartment complex’s kitchen, at this distance, she would already be in the dining room.

Su Ruixi craned her neck, and only after confirming that no oil was splattering did she walk back over.

The scene in Sun Miao’s wok was extremely beautiful. The vegetables on the skewers tumbled in the golden-yellow hot oil, making sounds from time to time. But it was the enthusiastic, sizzling sound of being fried, not the explosive sound of splattering oil.

It was hard to imagine that this wok of oil could be so docile in Sun Miao’s hands.

During the frying, the aroma of the tumbling oil didn’t have the slightest hint of greasiness. When Sun Miao lifted the fried skewers out and placed them aside to drain, the vegetables looked particularly beautiful under the light. The vegetables taken from the wok were still moist and full of life, as if all their vitality had been locked inside. They were coated in a layer of crystal-clear oil, which, instead of making the vegetables shriveled and greasy, actually made them look like they were sparkling.

While the meat was frying, Sun Miao used tongs to pick up the vegetable skewers, placed them in a stainless steel basin to the side, and skillfully brushed on a sweet sauce first, then sprinkled on barbecue seasoning. The vegetables, which originally had their natural colors, instantly took on a new appearance. The reddish-brown sweet sauce coated the vegetables, making them look as if they were waving at Su Ruixi: Come and eat me~

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