Setting Up Stalls – Chapter 223

The More She Asked, the More Satisfied She Was

Sun Miao looked at Su Ruixi with a reproachful gaze, but Su Ruixi was perfectly composed and pretended not to see.

Su Ruixi was a bit thin-skinned; why would she tell her own mother about something like her confession?

Shen Yiqiu, however, didn’t stop asking questions because of Su Ruixi’s interruption. Instead, she snorted, changed the subject, and began asking other questions that were a bit too sharp for Sun Miao.

“Xiao Sun, how much do you make a month from your stall?”

Sun Miao sat upright with straightened lapels, her back perfectly straight. She began in a very official tone, “Auntie, you’ve been to my stall, so you know. I sell different things each time, so the money I make varies, but I can still earn over 30,000 RMB¹ a month. Covering basic needs isn’t a problem. I definitely don’t make as much as Susu-jie, and I’m ashamed to be living in her house, but I am responsible for our daily food expenses.”

She was being modest, stating a figure slightly lower than what she actually earned. In reality, her monthly income could reach 100,000 RMB, but since she was about to take a long vacation for over a month, Sun Miao didn’t dare claim she earned a lot and intentionally undersold it.

Sun Miao also sincerely emphasized that she covered the food expenses. Knowing she really wasn’t competitive when it came to earning money, she could only bring up the fact that she did the cooking again.

Sun Miao was very nervous, more nervous than at her very first job interview.

Her nervousness was obvious, and Su Ruixi, sitting beside her, noticed it at a glance. She reached out and took Sun Miao’s hand. Sun Miao grasped her fingers in return, holding them tightly in her palm. Su Ruixi’s eyes crinkled into a smile, clearly pleased by Sun Miao’s action.

The two of them were so lovey-dovey that Shen Yiqiu, sitting next to them, had no eyes to look². It was clear that her own daughter didn’t care one bit whether Sun Miao could earn money or not.

Su Ruixi was more than capable of earning money. She had already earned back all the pocket money she used as start-up capital and had made a significant profit in the last two years. Although she couldn’t compare to Father Su right now, given time, she would definitely surpass Father Su.

Besides, she was going to inherit the family fortune eventually.

Don’t be fooled by Su Ruixi’s pride, insisting on starting her own company to prove herself; this didn’t mean she was a fool who would refuse to go back and inherit the family business no matter what. Once she turned thirty and had trained herself, she would definitely return to the Su Group and shoulder all of Father Su’s burdens.

Otherwise, how could she let such a huge family enterprise just sit there?

Su Ruixi wanted the company she built herself, and she also wanted the family business accumulated by the previous generation. On this matter, there was no room for discussion.

If Father Su ever had one of his nerves suddenly get crossed³ and used the excuse that “Su Ruixi is a lesbian and can’t pass on the clan and continue the generations”⁴ to deny her the inheritance—giving the family fortune to his nephews instead—then Shen Yiqiu’s palm would land on his face the very next second, telling him to roll back to wherever he came from.

But only Grandma Su would have such thoughts; Father Su thought the same as Shen Yiqiu. When the time came, they would give the family assets to Su Ruixi, and the old couple would travel the world. Father Su would say bye-bye to his company, Shen Yiqiu would also say goodbye to her career, and the two people who had been busy their whole lives would go and properly relax.

As for what would happen to the family fortune after it was in Su Ruixi’s hands, that was not for them to think about.

From this, one could tell that the future Su Ruixi would absolutely be the richest of the rich. Let alone Sun Miao, it would be difficult for anyone to match her earning power at her age. Therefore, since Su Ruixi herself didn’t care about earning money, what reason did her mother have to care?

Moving on from that topic, Shen Yiqiu began to ask other questions. “What about your family? Have your parents accepted it? In the future, if you have to provide for your parents’ old age, will you need to have them live with you?”

Su Ruixi didn’t have any issues with providing for her parents’ old age. Shen Yiqiu and her husband were wealthy and had so many servants around; there was no need for Su Ruixi to busy herself with their care. Sun Miao was a good girl, but it was precisely because she was a good girl that Shen Yiqiu was worried.

What if Sun Miao was especially filial⁵ and insisted on bringing her parents to live with them and take care of them? What would they do then? Wouldn’t her dear Xixi suffer along with her?

Before Sun Miao could answer this question, Su Ruixi answered for her. “Mom.” She called out to Shen Yiqiu, and only when the other woman looked at her did she say with a slight frown, “Miaomiao has had a rough life. She’s an orphan, abandoned at the gate of an orphanage as a child. Miaomiao doesn’t plan on looking for her biological parents either. Since she was abandoned, she considers it as if she never had them.”

Hearing this, Shen Yiqiu subconsciously said, “I’m sorry…” But inevitably, she felt a little happy inside.

No father, no mother—great, isn’t it? This meant Su Ruixi wouldn’t be lorded over by Sun Miao’s parents, and she wouldn’t have to deal with the relationship with the other family. As Su Ruixi’s mother, even though she knew it was wrong to think this way, she was actually quite happy to hear that Sun Miao was an orphan.

Her Xixi was such a stubborn person; she wouldn’t easily bow her head to anyone. If she ended up in a conflict with Sun Miao’s parents later, how upset would she be?

But Sun Miao had no parents at all, so this was a non-issue.

The more Shen Yiqiu looked at Sun Miao, the more delighted she became, and she began to think: Being a lesbian doesn’t seem so bad. Her own parents are supportive, and her partner doesn’t have parents. She won’t have to endure the pain and aftereffects of childbirth, and the two of them can spend their lives full of deep feelings and honeyed intentions⁶. Isn’t that better than finding some stinky man⁷?

If she married a man, she might even have to endure a mother-in-law, just like her.

In the eyes of others, Shen Yiqiu already had a good enough life. She had a loving husband, an outstanding daughter, was not a flower-vase rich wife⁸ who did nothing all day, had her own career she worked hard for and loved, didn’t need to worry about practical matters, and her husband supported her.

This situation, you could say, insta-killed⁹ 99% of married women.

But in reality, Shen Yiqiu had her own unhappiness, and the main point was Father Su’s mother. Shen Yiqiu actually knew that most of the time, she couldn’t blame her mother-in-law. She too was just an oppressed woman, and it wasn’t strange that she would have such a mindset.

She might know that, but she was the one being oppressed by her mother-in-law, so there was no way Shen Yiqiu could not blame her. In the conflicts between herself and her mother-in-law, Father Su stood on her side most of the time, but the woman was his own mother after all, and he couldn’t completely cut her off.

Besides that, whether she was willing or not, Shen Yiqiu also had to handle matters with other Su family relatives. During holidays, she had to welcome those arriving and see off those departing¹⁰.

Fortunately, her father-in-law died early, otherwise she would have been even more unhappy.

But Su Ruixi had none of these worries at all, because she wasn’t marrying a man, and her partner was a woman and an orphan. Thus, the problems that troubled Shen Yiqiu simply didn’t exist for Su Ruixi from the start. From this perspective, being a lesbian was actually pretty good.

Having asked this much, Shen Yiqiu couldn’t really ask any more, because she already knew everything she wanted to know. Most importantly, Shen Yiqiu knew that her daughter would have a very good life with Sun Miao in the future.

That alone was enough.

Shen Yiqiu changed the subject and made some small talk, asking if Sun Miao was really going to wait that long before setting up her stall again. After getting an affirmative answer, she checked the time and felt it was about right.

Shen Yiqiu stood up and gave the two some instructions. It was the very ordinary things any mother would say: “Don’t try too hard to stay cool. It’s so hot these days, and the large temperature difference between inside and outside can easily make you sick. Take hot showers; don’t take cold showers just to cool down. Dry your hair before you sleep—don’t go to bed with it dripping wet, or you’ll get headaches when you’re older.”

She rambled on and on, saying much more than when she was “interrogating” Sun Miao earlier. Only after Su Ruixi said, “I know,” did she sigh. “I don’t want to nag you so much, but you’re a grown person and still act like a child sometimes.”

She looked at Sun Miao again. “Xiao Sun, don’t you spoil her too much either.”

“Okay.”

Shen Yiqiu finally said her goodbyes and prepared to leave. But not long after she went out the door, the doorbell rang again. Sun Miao looked and saw it was Shen Yiqiu. “Auntie, did you forget something?”

Shen Yiqiu had an embarrassed look on her face. “Um, well, the food you prepared for me?”

Sun Miao finally realized. “Oh, right, you forgot to take this.” She hurried back to the dining table, grabbed the bag, and rushed to the door. Only after stuffing the bag into Shen Yiqiu’s hands did Sun Miao breathe a sigh of relief.

This time, Shen Yiqiu really left. Before closing the door, Sun Miao added, “Auntie, come again! I’ll add you as a friend—remember to accept. Next time you want to come, just send me a message, and I’ll make you some of your favorite dishes.”

Shen Yiqiu felt that something about these words wasn’t quite right. It didn’t sound like something a daughter-in-law should say; it was more like a mother-in-law or one’s own mother carefully instructing her child before they went out. She felt she couldn’t just sit and await death¹¹ and be left behind, so she also spoke up. “Alright, next time…”

She wanted to directly invite Sun Miao to be a guest at their house, but on second thought, her own muddle-headed egg¹² hadn’t yet realized Sun Miao’s identity. She could only say, “Next time, your uncle and I will wait for you at home. You and Xixi can come over, and I’ll make you some of my specialty dishes.”

Sun Miao agreed.

After Shen Yiqiu left, Su Ruixi leaned against the wall, looked at Sun Miao, and said quietly, “Miaomiao, I’d advise you not to eat my mom’s cooking. It’s really not that good.”

Sun Miao was stunned for a moment, then replied, “I’m not a picky eater.”

She clearly hadn’t recovered from Shen Yiqiu’s “interrogation” yet, speaking without it passing through her brain¹³. Su Ruixi got a little angry, walked over, and pinched Sun Miao’s cheek. “Is Miaomiao saying that I’m a picky eater?”

Sun Miao laughed foolishly. “Susu-jie isn’t picky either. You eat whatever I make every day.”

What Sun Miao said was true, but only on the condition that Sun Miao was the one cooking. If it was anyone else’s cooking, Su Ruixi could be so picky she wouldn’t eat a single bite. But her words pleased Su Ruixi, who happily pulled her over and gave her a light kiss on the lips. “What do you think of my mom?”

“Auntie is very nice and gentle. She usually speaks in such a soft voice. It was just me who was too nervous earlier.” She then asked Su Ruixi with some vexation, “I didn’t say anything wrong, did I?”

“No, you answered very well.” Su Ruixi could also tell that Shen Yiqiu was very satisfied with Sun Miao.

Only then did Sun Miao breathe a sigh of relief. “That’s good.”

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The author has something to say:

Sun Miao: No father, no mother, an orphan.

Shen Yiqiu: Wonderful!

(Happy holidays! Yay, tomorrow is the 1st!¹⁴ Of course, during the “Eleven” holiday I’ll also be at home piling up characters¹⁵ QAQ)

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