Setting Up Stalls – Chapter 211

The Long Line

The moment she opened her mouth, Lizi asked for ten portions. She was a big-stomach king; eating this much was nothing to her. But she had already eaten a round at dinner. For the sake of her health, she couldn’t eat an excessive amount, so she only asked for ten portions.

The Cat Owner behind her ordered seven portions: three for herself, three for the Lemon Tea Boss, and one portion for Niuniu, fried but without any sauce.

Lizi was in line ahead of the Cat Owner, but Niuniu was perched on top of the cat carrier on her back, so she could see Sun Miao. The moment she saw Sun Miao, she started to squeeze¹. She “meow meow meow meowed” several times, each sound more coquettish than the last.

Even the viewers in Lizi’s livestream started spamming question marks:

【? Wait, I don’t think this cat meowed like this before.】

【She’s squeezing, definitely squeezing. It’s so obvious, even my cat says it’s fake.】

【Good heavens, such a coquettish sound is coming from a fat-ass cat?】

Luckily, Niuniu couldn’t understand the bullet comments; otherwise, she would have surely thought she was being cyberbullied. Live long and see, nowadays you could even see viewers in a mukbang livestream criticizing a cat.

Sun Miao’s movements were quite fast. After learning their preferences, she quickly fried everything and brushed on the sauces. Before long, she handed the food directly to the two of them. The Cat Owner took Niuniu and walked to the side to find the Lemon Tea Boss. Like a magic trick, the Lemon Tea Boss somehow pulled out another small stool and cleared the things off her table.

She had sold most of her drinks, with only a few cups left. She planned to have one with the Cat Owner and then find a chance to sell the rest.

The customers to the side saw their maneuver and exclaimed at their cunning: “Despicable! How could you think of bringing your own table and chairs?!”

“There’s another way? I’m bringing a small folding stool next time too!”

Sun Miao’s one small, square folding table and four small stools were truly not enough for everyone. But there really weren’t many people who, like the Lemon Tea Boss, would bring their own seating. Previously, the old man at the scenic spot had given everyone a new idea to find seats inside, and now the Lemon Tea Boss had provided yet another strategy.

Someone mumbled, “Are there any seats inside this little park?” Someone believed it and snuck in. Before long, several others followed.

The park was too small. Even if there were seats, they were likely all taken by those few people, so no one else went in after them.

However, because of this, a few standing and squatting spots opened up nearby. Lizi wasn’t picky. She found some road teeth² and sat down. She found a place for her selfie stick, sticking it directly to the ground, and aimed the camera at herself. She also pulled a bottle of fat otaku water³ from her bag and began to show it off to the camera.

“Everyone, look, this is the classic three-piece set of fried skewers from Miao Miao’s Mobile Food Bar. I waited in line for nearly forty-five minutes to buy this. Now, I’m going to try it with all my viewer friends.”

She made her signature gesture again, holding a skewer in front of the camera with one hand while placing her other hand behind the food to prevent it from going out of focus. Lizi’s selfie stick had a built-in light; otherwise, the fried skewers would have been impossible to see clearly in such dim lighting.

With the help of the light, the fried skewers Sun Miao made looked even more succulent.

Lizi was holding a fried starch sausage. The starch sausage had been scored with a flower knife⁴. After tumbling in the hot oil, it had blossomed open. You could even see on camera that the skin was dehydrated and wrinkled from the frying, making it look incredibly crispy.

After showing it off, Lizi opened her mouth and bit into the very top of the starch sausage—the round, unscored part—and bit off the first section in one go.

It had just come out of the fryer, and with the hot weather, the bite made Lizi open and close her mouth repeatedly—it was scalding. But even though it was hot, Lizi couldn’t bear to spit it out. After all, if she spat it out, she’d be missing a bite!

Chewing it, the first thing she felt was a crispiness that matched what she had just seen on screen, followed by a soft interior. Even though starch sausages are often called junk food, you had to admit: they were just delicious. Especially after being slathered in sweet and spicy sauce, it made Lizi eat bite after bite without stopping.

It didn’t even take twenty seconds to finish one starch sausage. Licking the sauce from the corner of her lips, she looked at the camera, remembering she was livestreaming. She had originally intended to give her commentary, but the aroma of the fried skewers lingered around her, constantly tempting her!

Lizi took a deep breath and spared a precious ten seconds. “Sorry, everyone!” After saying that, she threw herself into the blissful time of eating fried skewers. Every now and then, she would take a sip of her drink and let out an involuntary, satisfied “Ha.”

All the while, the bullet comments scrolled by frantically:

【Hey, don’t just eat, give us the commentary!】

【Where’s the commentary?! Lizi?! Did you forget about us?! Have you completely abandoned us?!】

【Is it really that good? It’s just a fried skewer, and the most basic three-piece set at that. How good can it be?】

【Watching this is making me hungry. I want some too. Ordering takeout now. Even if I can’t have Lizi’s fried skewers, I can get a low-tier version.】

【I know where the address is, I’m heading out now.】

【Person above, post the address! I’m going! … Where’d you go? Don’t you run, get back here!】

Things on the Lemon Tea Boss and Cat Owner’s side were not yielding much⁵. The main player putting in the effort was Niuniu. The Cat Owner had bought her a portion without sauce. She broke off two sections of the starch sausage and placed them on the bag for Niuniu to eat first. Niuniu leaped down from her spot on the cat carrier and squatted beside the small table. She sniffed it first, then nudged it with her nose before finally opening her mouth and starting to eat.

She had a very distinctive way of eating; her whiskers twitched and she made a purring sound, clearly extremely satisfied.

Ham sausages naturally contain sodium nitrite, so the Cat Owner didn’t give her much. After she ate half a sausage, she ignored Niuniu’s pleas for more. But fortunately, there was also a portion of pork tenderloin. This one wasn’t sauced after frying, and Sun Miao had only added a bit of starch to the marinade, so Niuniu could eat it.

The Cat Owner tore off half and was about to place it on the plastic bag. Niuniu, who had been “meowing” in protest over the remaining half of her ham sausage, saw the Cat Owner’s hand and didn’t even wait for her to put it on the bag. Niuniu stood up straight, held her owner’s hand with her front paws, and began eating right from there.

For a hefty cat like Niuniu, standing up like this was quite difficult. But for a bite of food, Niuniu hugged the Cat Owner’s hand tightly and didn’t let go. Her little head bobbed as she ate, the picture of pure contentment.

Other people nearby saw this and wanted to tease Niuniu with the fried skewers in their hands. But Niuniu was a good cat; no matter how greedy she was, she didn’t even look at anyone else.

The Cat Owner was a little proud. “Don’t be fooled by how greedy our Niuniu is,” she said. “She’s very well-behaved and won’t eat things given to her by anyone other than the two of us.”

A regular customer mercilessly exposed her: “That’s not necessarily true. If Boss Sun gave her some, she’d definitely go scampering over happily.”

“…” The Cat Owner didn’t seem to have a comeback for that.

While they were happily chatting and eating over there, Lizi, the streamer, was also eating with great joy. Only after she had finished everything did she say with a sigh, “That was so satisfying. So delicious.”

But on the bullet comments, a few voices of doubt remained: 【Wait, is it really that good? How delicious can fried skewers possibly be? I don’t believe it. And it’s 30 for one portion? I don’t even know how she can justify selling it for that much. Did Lizi get paid for this?⁶】

【Exactly. I didn’t say anything last time with the Spanish mackerel dumplings, because I’ve never had them, so maybe they really are that good. But who hasn’t had fried skewers? Especially these old three types⁷; it’s rare to find someone who hasn’t. No matter how well you make these three, how amazing can they possibly be?】

After the bullet comments was brought a wave of rhythm⁸, more and more voices of doubt appeared. Lizi looked at them and then replied, “Lizi has had other fried skewers before. Lizi knows very well what fried skewers taste like. But the ones from Miao Miao’s Mobile Food Bar are just exceptionally good. As everyone knows, fried skewers are something with a low ceiling and a low floor, but this boss manages to make them blossom⁹. Many people are first drawn to the fried meat skewers or the fried starch sausages, but Lizi has been a food blogger for a long time, and I have to tell you all, with fried skewers, it’s the vegetarian items that reveal the true skill.”

Her expression showed a hint of regret. “It’s a pity I didn’t save one to show everyone. The fried rice cakes this boss makes are the real masterpiece. If Lizi isn’t mistaken, the rice cakes should be homemade by the boss. These rice cakes are truly crispy on the outside, yet tender, smooth, and even slightly sticky on the inside, with that little bit of stringiness¹⁰ you get from sticky rice.”

Lizi said this, she couldn’t help but lick her lips. “Besides, you all saw my reaction just now. It really is that good. For an experience like this, 30 yuan for 3 skewers is totally worth it. And I’m not the only one here; there are so many people. It’s such a small stall, she can’t have hired all these people as actors, right? What would she even be earning then.”

Many people were swayed by Lizi, mainly because it was 30 yuan, not 300. If it were 300, they would feel like total big-headed victims of injustice¹¹. If it were 3000, they would just smile without a word and think the buyer was a big-headed victim of injustice and a lunatic. But it just had to be 30.

This was a price everyone could afford, and many of them were in this city right at this moment. Seeing the poison Lizi released¹² late at night, some people could no longer hold back and started heading toward Sun Miao’s location. They even left their own comments on the bullet comments: 【No investigation, no right to speak¹³. I’m already on my way. Just wait, I’ll be there soon.】

Just as this wave of people was heading over, Shen Yiqiu was pulling Father Su] to the end of the line. Shen Yiqiu looked at the long line and couldn’t help but complain, “Look at this. It’s all your fault. We wouldn’t have had to wait this long otherwise. I wonder if we’ll even get a turn.”

Father Su frowned. Like Su Ruixi, he was someone who disliked waiting in line. At this moment, he really wanted to have his assistant or driver come and wait in line for him. But the person who had dragged him out here was Shen Yiqiu, so he could only apologize. “Didn’t something come up unexpectedly? But why do we have to come and line up for fried skewers anyway? That’s stuff for young people. At our age, eating this late at night can’t be good for our health…”

The most crucial point was, for fried skewers sold outside, you never knew how long the oil had been used. How filthy must it be?

Father Su looked at the line and couldn’t help but sigh.

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