Setting Up Stalls – Chapter 21

See You When Fate Allows

Sun Miao paused at this question, then realized the time was indeed about right. She nodded: “Yes, I usually set up my stall for a week. In two days, I won’t be selling here anymore.”

Su Ruixi had asked casually, not expecting this to be the case.

She thought about how she’d eaten malatang for three consecutive days and should practice some restraint. But then she remembered the egg fried rice incident – just because she hadn’t gone for two days, she couldn’t find it again for many days after.

Su Ruixi collected herself and asked: “So where will you set up your stall next, and what will you sell?”

To this question, Sun Miao had an immediate answer: “I don’t know.”

Realizing this response was rather inadequate, as Su Ruixi’s widened eyes seemed to question what nonsense she was speaking, Sun Miao had to elaborate: “I haven’t decided where to set up or what to sell yet. Next week’s matters will be known next week.”

Su Ruixi found this answer quite admirable, detecting some philosophy in it when carefully considered. It was only because Sun Miao’s cooking was good that Su Ruixi gave it such thought – if Sun Miao were just an ordinary vendor with mediocre cooking, Su Ruixi would have thought she was crazy.

At that moment, Su Ruixi actually wanted to ask for Sun Miao’s contact information, so she could be notified once a decision was made. But Su Ruixi was too proud to lower herself, not believing a small food stall could truly win her over.

Sun Miao’s cooking was just somewhat good; compared to real chefs, it might not measure up.

Su Ruixi had keen eyes and had tasted countless chef-prepared dishes. While Sun Miao was skilled with egg fried rice and malatang, her proper dishes, like yesterday’s stir-fry, fell short. Though she couldn’t taste it, the presentation and aroma told enough.

While Sun Miao’s food looked appetizing, its presentation couldn’t match those professional chefs.

As for the spicy beef sauce, Su Ruixi admitted it was decent, but only decent.

She once visited someone with her grandfather, where they knew a chef whose lunchtime sauces were far superior to this spicy beef sauce.

Su Ruixi made so many excuses to herself, all to say: it’s unnecessary, truly unnecessary, to chase after someone just for egg fried rice and malatang, asking where they’ll set up their stall next week.

Being realistic, what if Sun Miao’s new location isn’t on her route and is far away? She couldn’t abandon work or use her rest time to drive for half an hour or an hour, plus return time taking several hours, just for some street food.

Su Ruixi would never do something so inefficient.

So she could only nod and say to Sun Miao: “Then we’ll meet again when fate allows.”

Sun Miao was stunned for a moment, then suddenly asked: “You’re not coming tomorrow?”

Facing this question, Su Ruixi fell silent briefly: “That’s not what I meant.”

“So will you come tomorrow?”

Su Ruixi replied through gritted teeth: “I probably will.”

After speaking, Su Ruixi left with her soup and candy. Upon returning home, she first looked for stomach medicine, as she’d eaten chili today and might get digestive discomfort. Due to her chronic stomach condition, she always kept stomach medicine at home.

Unexpectedly, that evening, Su Ruixi felt no stomach discomfort. Instead, after drinking the delicious soup, her stomach felt comfortably warm. Looking at the fingernail-sized portion of spicy beef sauce, she thought perhaps Sun Miao’s sauce-making skills weren’t bad at all.

After Su Ruixi left, Sun Miao sighed: “See you when fate allows.”

She actually felt she and Su Ruixi had quite a connection. Their first meeting was at her first stall, and her second stall happened to be near Su Ruixi’s residential complex. How could this not be considered fate? Inevitably, a thought crossed Sun Miao’s mind: could there be something possible between her and Su Ruixi?

At this moment, the hourly worker girl came bouncing out of the complex, approaching Sun Miao’s stall, ordering her usual extra-spicy malatang. Sun Miao thought, since Su Ruixi had already asked, she might as well tell her regular customers now.

Hearing that Sun Miao would stop selling here in two days, the hourly worker girl was dumbfounded: “Huh? Where will you set up your stall, Little Boss?”

As they were discussing this, Hip-hop Mei arrived in her sports car, parking behind the hourly worker girl, and overheard their conversation. She was also stunned, her first reaction being: “Little Boss, did you make enough money to return to your hometown and that’s why you’re closing?”

These two had been completely won over by Sun Miao’s culinary skills. Actually, anyone who tried her food couldn’t help but be conquered by it, as it was simply too delicious.

Something that would displease Sun Miao was that in Hip-hop Mei’s chat group, some people suspected she added special ingredients. Someone had secretly sent her malatang to a testing center, worried it might contain opium or similar substances.

Fortunately, Little Boss Sun was honest – the tests showed no excessive content in her food, absolutely no trace of opium. Hip-hop Mei mocked the person who requested the testing, who sheepishly replied that it’s better to be safe than sorry. However, this test actually convinced many who were previously wary of street food to set aside their prejudices and travel far to try this highly recommended stall.

The test results showed that this malatang had no excessive bacterial colonies – how could it not be clean?

With such delicious malatang, it wouldn’t be surprising if she’d earned enough to return home and live comfortably, which is why Hip-hop Mei asked this question. At that moment, Hip-hop Mei was afraid – afraid of hearing the owner’s confirmation, saying “Who’s going to sell you malatang anymore? I’m going home to sleep and relax, bye-bye!”

How could the world be so cruel? She had just discovered this delicious malatang, and now the owner was leaving!

Fortunately, things didn’t develop as she imagined. The owner not only wasn’t leaving but told her: “No, I’m not planning to return home.” Sun Miao thought to herself: I don’t even have a hometown to return to. Whether before or after transmigrating, she had no hometown.

After arriving in this world, she was like a rootless duckweed, drifting everywhere, even setting up her stall randomly each week; before crossing over, she was an orphan with no hometown to speak of.

This was why she had worked so hard before crossing over – to give herself a place to belong, a… home of her own.

Hearing Sun Miao’s words, Hip-hop Mei’s heart relaxed, her mood lightened considerably: “Really? Moving to a new location? That’s good too, you’ll meet more people. The most important thing about running a stall is being happy!” She didn’t mind Sun Miao changing locations at all – being a second-generation rich, she had nothing but free time to chase down Sun Miao’s malatang wherever it might be.

This place was already quite far from her home, yet she still drove her flashy sports car every day to buy Sun Miao’s malatang.

Maybe the new location would be closer to her home: “So where are you planning to set up your stall and sell malatang next?”

Hip-hop Mei thought this was one question, but for Sun Miao it was two. She answered: “I don’t know where yet, we’ll see then. Also… I won’t be selling malatang anymore, I’ll sell something else.”

At this moment, Hip-hop Mei’s brain short-circuited, and the “Bruh” expression automatically appeared in her mind. After a while, she slowly asked: “You’re… not selling malatang anymore?”

“Probably not.”

Sun Miao’s answer wasn’t very certain, because the System was quite whimsical, and she couldn’t guarantee what she’d be selling next week. Perhaps the System would be capricious enough to have her still selling malatang.

Hip-hop Mei couldn’t accept this: “Why? Why stop selling malatang? The malatang is so delicious! If not malatang, what will you sell?”

Sun Miao thought for a moment and explained: “I’m not sure what I’ll sell next week, but it probably won’t be malatang. Last week I had a stall behind the hospital selling egg fried rice, which was also quite delicious.”

Sun Miao mentioned the egg fried rice hoping Hip-hop Mei would understand that whatever she sold would be delicious. This confidence came from trust in both the System and herself, guaranteeing all would be gourmet food.

Hearing this, Hip-hop Mei calmed down slightly. She thought, Sun Miao only said she probably wouldn’t sell malatang, not definitely – what if she did? Plus, her tone was full of uncertainty; she seemed like a spontaneous person.

Having finally found a stall that perfectly suited her taste, Hip-hop Mei didn’t want to let Sun Miao slip away. She said: “Little Boss, do you have WeChat? Give me your contact info, and let me know where you’ll set up next week.”

The hourly worker girl queuing in front immediately chimed in: “Me too, me too, tell me too!”

The three of them thought for a moment and decided to create a group chat right there. Hip-hop Mei quickly renamed the group “Miao Miao’s Mobile Food Bar”, then waved her phone: “Little Boss, remember, you must send us your location!”

“Alright, I understand.”

Sun Miao put away her phone, a smile appearing on her face. She felt that Hip-hop Mei and the hourly worker girl loving her malatang so much was a form of recognition. For someone in the food business, hearing customers say they like your dishes always brings joy.

Over the next two days, Sun Miao told visiting customers about her plans to relocate. Some customers were so reluctant to let her go that she invited them to join her small group chat. Before she knew it, the group had grown to about thirty people.

Su Ruixi still came to buy malatang these two days, and Sun Miao actually wanted to add her too, but thinking it over, she decided against it since Su Ruixi hadn’t shown particular enthusiasm about the food, and had even said “see you when fate allows”.

Sun Miao was optimistic but not presumptuous, so… she really didn’t add Su Ruixi as a contact.

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