Someone is Talking About Me
At first, Su Ruixi didn’t plan to open her mouth and ask Sun Miao for some. She wanted to endure it; if she asked directly, it would make her seem so unreserved1, so gluttonous. She could bear it. She could bear it until Sun Miao was completely finished and brought everything to the dining table.
Sun Miao divided the vegetables into two portions again. She placed one portion on a plate first, then slathered the other with chili sauce.
After both portions were placed on their respective plates, Sun Miao turned back to start frying the meat. Those two plates were too close to Su Ruixi. The tempting aroma of the fried skewers drilled into her nostrils, bit by bit.
The aroma of the fried skewers was too much. The other snacks and delicacies Sun Miao had made before also had aromas, but none were as domineering as the fried skewers. If other aromas were content to sit there quietly, honestly waiting for customers to come and taste them, then the fried skewers were constantly wriggling, impatiently trying to entice customers to come and eat them quickly.
——This is too much!
Su Ruixi glared viciously at those fried skewers. She had to use all the strength in her body to avert her gaze and not look at them. At that moment, she felt her stomach rumbling.
For lunch, they had eaten in Gusu. It couldn’t be called bad, and the sweet Gusu cuisine suited Su Ruixi’s palate, but it wasn’t made by Sun Miao, after all. There was a certain gap compared to what Su Ruixi ate on a daily basis, so she hadn’t eaten her fill, stopping her chopsticks after being only fifty or sixty percent full2.
After such a long time, plus the fact that she had helped Sun Miao with a little work—even if it was truly just a little bit, she had still done it—it wasn’t very strange for Su Ruixi to be hungry by now.
The most crucial thing was that these fried skewers were just too fragrant! Coupled with the fact that they were right in front of her, Su Ruixi’s gaze, after turning away for a moment, couldn’t help but sneak back. She swallowed a mouthful of the excessive saliva her craving had produced and glanced at Sun Miao again.
At this point, Su Ruixi was swaying back and forth, almost unable to stand still.
It was as if Sun Miao had a heavenly eye open on the back of her head. Though she clearly hadn’t seen Su Ruixi’s actions, she had already detected her distraction and longing. Sun Miao didn’t turn around, merely staring at her pot, but her voice carried over, “Susu-jie, would you like to eat one first to try the flavor? It won’t taste as good when it gets cold.”
Sun Miao had a precise grasp of Su Ruixi’s aojiao (tsundere) nature, deliberately using the phrase “would you like to try the flavor,” which soothed Su Ruixi’s prideful heart. She even put on an act, saying, “Alright, since you put it that way…” The moment her words fell, she reached out her hand toward a skewer.
The skewers were wooden, and after tumbling in the pot of oil for a while, they were inevitably a bit greasy. Sun Miao had originally intended to get her a napkin to hold it with, but before she could, Su Ruixi, who was usually a bit of a clean freak, had already touched the skewer with her bare hand and picked up the one with cabbage.
Seeing this, Sun Miao did nothing more and just focused on her pot with peace of mind.
Su Ruixi saw that Sun Miao wasn’t looking at her and continued to lift the skewer. The cabbage was a bit long. Sun Miao had already cut off much of the thick stalk before skewering it. She had threaded three strips of cabbage onto one skewer. The stalks were pierced by the skewer, while the long leaves drooped downward.
The cabbage, smeared with sauce, was even heavier than before, and some of the sweet sauce was sliding down. In the end, however, it all stayed obediently on the cabbage without dripping off. Su Ruixi, a little worried it might fall, held her other hand underneath to catch anything.
She craned her neck, leaned her body forward, opened her mouth, and bit off a piece of a cabbage leaf.
Su Ruixi had never actually eaten something with such strong flavors. She had never liked heavily seasoned food to begin with; whether it was hot pot, barbecue, or fried skewers, she never understood what was so delicious about them. It wasn’t until the moment this skewer of cabbage entered her mouth that she realized she didn’t hate strong-flavored food—she hated food that wasn’t delicious.
The cabbage stalk was crisp, and with each bite, she could feel the juices that had been locked in by the oil and high heat. After a few more bites down to the leaves, she discovered their softness. The cabbage was also coated in sweet sauce and barbecue seasoning, creating a pleasant granular texture in her mouth that was exceptionally delicious.
Su Ruixi herself had never had fried skewers, but she had heard others talk about them, especially the Hip-hop Mei. She had even complained that some fried skewers were truly terrible, dry and tasteless, and when you ate the seasoning, you just felt like your teeth were coated in tiny seasoning particles.
But this would never happen with Sun Miao’s sauce. Sun Miao’s seasonings were all ground exceptionally fine, and with the sweet sauce as a binder, the seasonings were enveloped by the sauce and went into the stomach together.
Except for the fact that the cabbage was so large that some sauce inevitably got on the area around her lips while eating, not a single bit was left behind in her mouth to cause that unclean, foreign-body sensation one sometimes gets after eating fried skewers.
Most importantly, the fried skewers themselves were just too delicious.
Sun Miao usually didn’t use too many seasonings in her cooking, but fried skewers had to be a carnival of spices. Even someone like Su Ruixi, who normally ate a light diet, was so impacted by the multitude of seasonings that she couldn’t find north3.
After finishing the cabbage, she launched an offensive on the other skewers.
Cauliflower, lotus root slices, shiitake mushrooms… after she had eaten five or six skewers, Sun Miao stopped her.
“Susu-jie, stop eating for now. I’ll be done in a bit, and we can eat everything together for dinner. I’m making a few more dishes,” Sun Miao said. Her diligent and thrifty nature was carved into her bones. In any case, this oil had only been used for frying once, and it was for their own consumption, so after filtering it, she could still use it for stir-frying.
If she were running her stall, she would definitely not do this; the oil had to be replaced with new oil every day.
Sun Miao’s practice was that of a truly conscientious shop owner, because for the fried skewer shops outside, the better ones changed their oil once every one or two weeks, and the worse ones might only change it once every one or two months. Even the fast-food chain Kaifeng Cuisine4 only changed its oil once every four days.
Changing it daily was practically unheard of. Moreover, Sun Miao’s stall hours weren’t particularly long each day. The system stipulated twelve hours, but Sun Miao always managed to sell out early.
That was equivalent to changing the oil after just a few hours.
Sun Miao finished cooking all the dishes. She first took out the Classic Fried Skewer Trio, arranged them separately for a photo, and sent a message in the group chat. What was worth mentioning this time was that the hours were different from usual. They were changed to 10 p.m. to 10 a.m. the next day.
After all, no one gets up first thing in the morning to eat fried skewers. The fried skewer stall that used to be next to Sun Miao’s would show up every morning, but it really didn’t have much business. He was just hoping some clueless person would eat something so greasy early in the morning, perhaps pairing it with a burrito, so he could sell a little something.
That boss truly had perseverance when it came to making money, much stronger than the current Sun Miao, anyway.
After sending the message, Sun Miao stopped paying attention to the group chat, carried the dishes out, and sat down to have dinner with Su Ruixi.
The two of them ate with great delight, leaving the old customers to stare at the photo again and again, their mouths practically watering. This was it! The Fried Skewer Trio! The classic childhood combo! Forget childhood, even people in their thirties and forties still bought it from time to time.
The price for the trio was a bit expensive, listed directly at 30.
For a three-piece set, this price was as expensive as it could possibly get. After all, if you bought them individually, even at a tourist spot, a hot dog sausage would be about 5 yuan, a rice cake also 5 yuan, and pork loin, being a bit pricier, would be 10 yuan—that’s only 20 yuan! But Sun Miao, she dared to ask for 30!
In a normal little fried skewer shop, this combination wouldn’t even cost 10 yuan!
Some people in Group 2, who didn’t know the situation and hadn’t even tasted the Spanish mackerel dumplings, also voiced their doubts:
【Seriously, just three of the most common fried skewers, and you’re selling them for 30? That’s ridiculous, isn’t it?!】
【Who would eat something so expensive.】
【I didn’t get to eat the Spanish mackerel dumplings before either. I just know they were 88. I only heard Lizi say they were worth it, but I don’t know what they were really like. And now she’s changed locations and isn’t selling dumplings anymore. This isn’t some scheme to lure a wave of customers just to rip them off, is it?】
The people in Group 2 were clueless, but the people in Group 1 were already starting to scream:
【Ahhh, it’s the Fried Skewer Trio! My mouth is watering just hearing about it! And the time is so friendly, starting at 10 p.m. I’ll have time to take a shower after work!】
【Good heavens, it’s only 30 yuan! After the Spanish mackerel dumplings, I thought it would be at least 50!】
【30? You know what this means? It means it’s practically a giveaway! It’s too cheap! It’s not even a fraction of 588! I may not be able to afford the Lion’s Head or the Braised Abalone in its Original Shell, but I can afford fried skewers! I must eat this, no one can stop me!】
【Someone @ the Lemon Tea Boss, tell her to set up her stall next to Little Boss Sun. Fried skewers with something iced, wouldn’t she earn until her basins and bowls are full5?】
【What do you know? Who wants to pair it with lemon tea? I’m definitely pairing it with fat otaku happy water6! And it has to be ice-cold!】
The people in the group chat were all expressing their own opinions. Shen Yiqiu was watching as well. She had been a little curious about what Sun Miao would sell next. After the Yanyung potato cakes and Spanish mackerel dumplings, she was full of anticipation for whatever Sun Miao made. But after waiting for so long, this was the result.
The Fried Skewer Trio might be a carnival for young people, but for an older person like her, it was a bit too much of a burden, and it didn’t pique her interest.
Just when she was feeling annoyed, an even more annoying fellow appeared. Father Su happened to walk over and ask Shen Yiqiu, “Yiqiu, when do you think Xixi will send some more food over?” He even smacked his lips, clearly craving the things Su Ruixi’s girlfriend made.
Hearing this, Shen Yiqiu felt even more irritated.
Eat, eat, eat all day long, that’s all he knows. Sooner or later, he’ll eat himself into a big fat pig.
Shen Yiqiu looked at him for a while, thinking to herself: Why won’t our daughter bring her partner home? Why can’t I just directly order and eat those Yanyung potato cakes? Isn’t it because this guy here is still against it every single day?
A cold smile appeared on the corner of Shen Yiqiu’s lips. She let out a few “hehe”s that made Father Su’s hair stand on end before she finally said, “How about this. Tomorrow night, you can accompany me for a late-night snack. That place is delicious.”
Although Father Su felt that Shen Yiqiu’s expression was strange and there was a dagger hidden behind a smile7, how could he dare to refuse? He could only nod like he was pounding garlic8 and reply, “Okay.”
Sun Miao, who was in the middle of eating, sneezed. Su Ruixi asked, “Is the air conditioner set too low? I can turn it up a bit.”
Sun Miao rubbed her nose. “No need. Someone must be talking about me.” Sun Miao was already very used to people talking bad about her behind her back, causing her to sneeze for no reason. She took her phone out of her pocket, opened the chat interface, scrolled from Group 1 to Group 2, and then showed it to Su Ruixi.
“Susu-jie, look. Someone is talking about me.”
The author has something to say:
Su Ruixi makes a praise-and-step-on9 comment: Fried vegetable skewers are the best!
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