Setting Up Stalls – Chapter 231

The Watermelon Smoothie That Carried Such High Hopes

Because Sun Miao was making this kind of little dessert this time, Su Ruixi had specially bought a few transparent glass goblets—the wide-mouthed kind specifically used for serving milkshakes, ice cream, and the like.

The watermelon smoothie was a bit reddish in color, and who knows how Su Ruixi had managed it, but the very bottom was a transparent white, almost like ice. On the very top was the brown sugar Sun Miao had left out; she had made her own brown sugar syrup and drizzled it on, a reddish-brown…

The whole smoothie, from top to bottom, went from reddish-brown, to red, to a pale pink, and finally to the color of nearly transparent ice. Logically speaking, this gradient should have been quite pretty. But perhaps because Su Ruixi had made it in advance, the smoothie had started to melt a little, which, combined with the thick brown sugar syrup…

For some reason, to Sun Miao, it looked a bit like a spoonful of blood had been poured over it and was still slowly seeping downward.

It was as if what Su Ruixi was holding wasn’t a watermelon smoothie, but some kind of gory, bloody mess.

Su Ruixi, her eyes sparkling, held it up in front of Sun Miao, looking like she desperately wanted Sun Miao’s approval, wanted a good review.

Sun Miao couldn’t help but lean her head back a little, turning it slightly to the side. “Susu-jie, just put it on the dining table. It’s freezing to hold. I’ll go eat it in a minute after I change my shoes.” Hearing Sun Miao say this, Su Ruixi finally turned and walked toward the dining table.

Sun Miao breathed a sigh of relief. While changing her shoes, she thoroughly prepared herself mentally. Sun Miao slowly walked to the dining table and looked at the goblet of smoothie on it. For some reason, though only a short while had passed, the smoothie had melted even more and looked even more horrifying.

Saliva unconsciously pooled in her mouth. Sun Miao swallowed it down and, with a bit of an air of facing death as if going home¹, sat down.

She began to hypnotize herself.

It probably won’t taste bad. The equipment is the same as what I use, and there’s nothing difficult about making a smoothie; the machine does it all automatically. Logically, as long as you juice the watermelon, freeze it into ice cubes, put it in the smoothie maker, and finally drizzle it with brown sugar syrup, the taste can’t be too awful.

It just looks a bit like neither fish nor fowl², that’s all. How could a smoothie taste bad!

Besides, Susu-jie is only bad at cooking; things made with equipment should still be fine. Like before, when I first had Susu-jie make rice, although it wasn’t as good as mine, it wasn’t terrible, and it certainly didn’t lead to a nightmare scenario like blowing up the rice cooker.

So even if Susu-jie is a terrible cook, something like this that leaves no room for personal flair definitely won’t taste that bad.

Su Ruixi sat down opposite Sun Miao, still watching her with a hopeful expression. “Miaomiao, hurry and try it, or it’s going to melt completely.” It was clear that Su Ruixi had placed very high hopes on this watermelon smoothie.

“Okay, I’ll give it a try.”

It absolutely won’t be that bad! Absolutely not!

Sun Miao, with a mood of the wind whistles, the Yi River is cold³, raised her spoon and launched an attack on the watermelon smoothie. But in the next moment, that mood shattered into a million pieces like a broken tile. Because… the feeling of the spoon sinking into the smoothie was just so strange.

Normally, a smoothie is firm. Especially after the inside has melted a bit, the ice water makes the slush clump together further, causing the inside to be hard like a single solid block. If it’s melting, the outside will be softer, and when you poke a spoon in, you can feel that softness but also the granular state of the slush, which will offer a slight resistance to the spoon.

But at this moment, Sun Miao felt like she was stirring some kind of viscous liquid. The watermelon smoothie in front of her felt less like a smoothie and more like slime, or a slug. In short, it was so weird!

The moment she poked the smoothie, Sun Miao already had a bad feeling, but she still “managed” to dig out a spoonful. She took from the upper part, and the slush landed on her spoon, still carrying some of the red-brown sugar syrup.

Sun Miao didn’t hesitate. She knew this was no time for hesitation, or her courage would flee. Steeling herself, Sun Miao put the spoon in her mouth.

——I’m screwed.

That was Sun Miao’s only thought, because this spoonful of smoothie was just too sweet. Sickeningly sweet. It was clearly the familiar taste of brown sugar, the same brown sugar Sun Miao had been using for days, but this was just too much. It was so sweet Sun Miao felt like her throat was clogged.

Sun Miao managed to swallow it down with great difficulty. The next moment, she extended her spoon again, preparing to dig into the lower, transparent-colored part to relieve the sweetness in her throat. She quickly scooped some up, an eager action that, in Su Ruixi’s eyes, was clear proof that what she’d made was delicious.

Su Ruixi was a little pleased, the corners of her eyebrows lifting with delight. She sat opposite Sun Miao, resting her cheeks in her hands, watching her every move.

Sun Miao took a spoonful and put it in her mouth. This time, she couldn’t keep her composure.

What is going on! Why is the transparent part on the bottom also sweet! And it’s even sweeter! Is there something wrong with my taste buds?!

Sun Miao couldn’t hold back. She covered her mouth, her face flushing red. Seeing her like this, Su Ruixi realized something was wrong. She stood up, walked over to Sun Miao, and quickly asked, “Miaomiao, what’s wrong?”

“Water… water…”

Poor Sun Miao’s voice wasn’t even the same as usual at this moment; it came out all raspy. Su Ruixi was a bit dumbfounded, but she didn’t stop moving. She went directly to the wine cabinet in the small bar area, took out a bottle of mineral water, and twisted it open before placing it in Sun Miao’s hands.

Once she had the water, Sun Miao chugged several big gulps. Only after she felt the sticky sweetness in her mouth had been washed away did she finally recover.

She looked at Su Ruixi with an accusing gaze. “Susu-jie, did you add extra sugar?”

After Sun Miao finished speaking, she clearly saw a guilty look flash across Su Ruixi’s face. Just from that little expression, Sun Miao knew: she definitely did! And quite a lot of it.

Sure enough, after her moment of guilt, Su Ruixi’s voice became a little softer. “I was originally planning to use watermelon to make the smoothie, but then I thought, a lot of smoothies have jam added after they’re made, so I just froze plain ice cubes first. But I was worried it wouldn’t be sweet enough, you know? After all, watermelon has a pretty light flavor, so I dissolved some white sugar in the water before making the ice cubes.”

No wonder it was so sweet.

“So the ‘watermelon’ was just store-bought jam you poured on top?”

Su Ruixi nodded.

Alright, that explained why this bowl of smoothie had turned out like this.

Seeing Sun Miao let out a low sigh, Su Ruixi couldn’t help but ask strangely, “Is it really that sweet?”

“It really is!” Sun Miao quickly replied. “It’s so sweet, way too sweet. It’s so sweet I can’t stand it.”

Su Ruixi didn’t believe her. “But I didn’t add that much sugar.” Seeing her eager-to-try expression, it was obvious she still didn’t quite believe Sun Miao. Originally, Sun Miao wasn’t going to let Su Ruixi try it, but seeing her like this, Sun Miao felt she needed to be taught a little lesson.

“Susu-jie, you try it.”

Sun Miao turned the spoon, scooped a little out, and brought it to Su Ruixi’s lips. Su Ruixi tucked her hair back and leaned down to eat it. The next second, she made the exact same face as Sun Miao had. “Water, water!”

Just as I thought.

Sun Miao mused to herself as she handed over the mineral water. Su Ruixi also gulped down several mouthfuls before she recovered. Her haughty⁴ streak came out again. “Miaomiao, you’re mean. You knew it was super sweet and you didn’t stop me.”

“I told you it was, but Susu-jie didn’t believe me.”

Even though Sun Miao said that, Su Ruixi was still angry. To placate her, she stood up, leaned in, and pulled Su Ruixi’s hands away from her face, meeting her gaze. “Is the cloying sweetness still making you feel awful?”

Su Ruixi didn’t like strongly flavored things, and that included things that were overly sweet. If even a non-picky eater like Sun Miao found it so sweet it clogged her throat, how much worse must it be for Su Ruixi? Hearing Sun Miao’s voice, Su Ruixi felt even more aggrieved.

She nodded pitifully. Sun Miao could only move a little closer and kiss the corner of her eye. “It’s okay now. Just drink a few more sips of water to wash away the sweetness, and you’ll be fine.”

“Miaomiao’s mean.”

Su Ruixi was the haughty type; after being haughty, she’d become coy. She was now entering the pouting and acting cute stage. What could Sun Miao do but admit fault? “It was my mistake. I should have stopped Susu-jie. Don’t be angry, Susu-jie.”

After being coaxed like this a few times, Su Ruixi finally cheered up.

This kind of haughty personality wasn’t actually that easy to get along with in daily life. Especially someone like Su Ruixi, who was haughty more often than not and needed others to coax her. On top of that, her haughtiness was often a form of arrogance, which could easily frustrate people.

But Sun Miao loved it. She could tirelessly coax Su Ruixi until a smile appeared on her face.

Besides, Sun Miao didn’t think Su Ruixi was that hard to please.

When they first met, Su Ruixi was that very type of arrogant ice queen. Sun Miao had known just how arrogant Su Ruixi was and had still fallen for her. If she were to get annoyed now just because of a little bit of haughtiness, what kind of person would that make her?

And Sun Miao also felt it was part of the fun between them as a couple.

She said in a low voice, “Susu-jie, I’ll make you a watermelon smoothie tomorrow. You’ll definitely love it.”

Hearing Sun Miao say this, Su Ruixi was already looking forward to the next day’s watermelon smoothie.

When she got home from work on the 4th, Su Ruixi couldn’t wait to find the smoothie Sun Miao had prepared. But she was pressed down at the dinner table and made to eat first. “Susu-jie, you worked all day. You just got home and your stomach is as empty as can be. You have to eat something to line your stomach first. If you eat a smoothie on an empty stomach, your gastric problems will act up again.”

Su Ruixi could only sit there obediently. She ate her dinner distractedly, then looked at Sun Miao with great anticipation.

“Susu-jie, just wash the bowls, and I’ll go get the watermelon smoothie for you.”

Su Ruixi carried the plates and entered the kitchen with Sun Miao. She quickly rinsed the dishes and put them in the dishwasher. After finishing, she looked at Sun Miao again. Sun Miao opened the fridge and took out a cup from inside—the very same one Su Ruixi had used yesterday.

Inside the goblet was a watermelon smoothie, and this time, it was the real deal.

The presentation of this cup of watermelon smoothie and the one Su Ruixi had made yesterday simply could not be spoken of on the same day⁵. Sun Miao carried the smoothie out, and Su Ruixi followed behind, walking in her footsteps⁶. Clearly, the great Miss Su had been thoroughly hooked by this cup of watermelon smoothie.

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The author has something to say:

Susu-jie, if you can’t cook, maybe just don’t, okay?

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