Setting Up Stalls – Chapter 242

Su Ruixi’s Double Standard¹

Regarding the topic of “children,” Su Ruixi still gave Sun Miao a full sense of security. After their fooling around at night, as the two lay in bed, even though Su Ruixi was already very tired, covered in sweat and needing Sun Miao to carry her to the bath, she still pressed close to Sun Miao in the bathtub and whispered.

“I won’t have children, and my family won’t force me to do something like that. I don’t plan on adopting children either. Their assets have to be inherited by me. Before we die of old age, we’ll spend most of the assets, and then donate whatever little is left. If there’s a lot left, we’ll donate that too. Anyway, it’s my own money, I’ll spend it however I want.”

After she finished speaking, she even kissed Sun Miao’s cheek.

However, Sun Miao didn’t quite understand these extremely double-standard words of hers. “Won’t they get angry and then not give you the assets?”

“My mom won’t, and my dad won’t either. Even if my dad gets brainwashed by my grandma one day, he wouldn’t dare.” Su Ruixi said, full of confidence. “My dad is all about carrying on the family line². He needs me to inherit the assets, and once they’re in my hands, it’ll be all up to me to decide.”

She turned over, and the swirling water in the bathtub made a slight upward sound. Su Ruixi cupped Sun Miao’s face. “Even if they don’t give me the assets, my own money is also enough to spend. So, Miao-miao, don’t you worry. Just treat them the same way you’d treat ordinary customers, don’t be anxious.”

Having a lover like this, Sun Miao felt, was her good fortune. Su Ruixi’s personality was also adorable; that little touch of aojiao³ made her especially happy. But at the same time, when it was time to be serious, she was very serious, and she would also give Sun Miao a full sense of security, preventing her from worrying about personal gains and losses⁴ over this or that little thing.

Come to think of it, ever since they got together, aside from the very beginning, Sun Miao had almost never felt bad or that the two of them were mismatched because of their huge economic disparity. Although Sun Miao appeared to be a very cheerful and optimistic person, she had a severe sense of unworthiness⁵. She could only feel worthy of things she obtained through her own efforts. Once something exceeded her own capabilities, she would become particularly anxious.

For example, Su Ruixi wanting to transfer ownership of the house to her name.

Su Ruixi, on the other hand, was the complete opposite of Sun Miao. She had a very strong sense of worthiness, which was specifically manifested in her double standard regarding assets. Without a strong sense of worthiness, one couldn’t pull off something like this. It was also this sense of worthiness that allowed her to enjoy Sun Miao’s care with a clear conscience; even with the obvious contrast in their salaries, she could calmly accept gifts from Sun Miao.

In a sense, the two of them were quite a good match.

With Su Ruixi’s comfort and explanation, Sun Miao’s heart finally returned to her stomach⁶. She nodded, indicating that she understood.

When she arrived at her stall spot the next day, she still scanned the waiting crowd with her eyes. Sure enough, she spotted Father Su with a somewhat stinky face and the gentle-faced Shen Yiqiu in the crowd. At this moment, Sun Miao had a rare thought: Sigh, Auntie just didn’t have very good eyes back then. How did such a gentle great beauty end up with a guy like Father Su who has a black face every day.

Actually, you really couldn’t blame Father Su for his black face. Today was Tuesday. Many office workers and members of the student faction really weren’t free enough on a weekday at the great crack of dawn, past six, to run to a place twenty-something or even thirty or forty kilometers away from their schools or workplaces just to eat a meal.

Especially since the previous two days had been a weekend and a Monday, those who could come over for a few bites had already done so. Although having a taste would make them crave it more, it had ultimately satisfied their stomachs somewhat, so they planned to come back to buy hulatang⁷ after a while. Now that they weren’t coming, the wealthy, “unoccupied members of society⁸,” had their chance.

This city wasn’t small, but it wasn’t huge either. But there were only so many rich people, and everyone knew each other. Even those who didn’t were all regulars of Little Boss Sun. After watching that previous interview video, they all recognized Father Su. Before Sun Miao arrived, they were already teasing him: “Yo, President Su, long time no see. Last time I saw you was on that TV interview.”

“Too bad there’s no interview today. If there were, President Su could be a food display rack again. What a pity.”

“Yo, President Su, bringing your beloved to eat a snack that particularly suits the tastes of the common folk, are we?”

What was even more infuriating was that he also saw Xu Zian and her little sister-friend⁹ lining up at the very front. He called out, wanting Xu Zian to switch places with him, but Xu Zian’s head shook like a pellet drum¹⁰. “How could that be okay? If Little Boss Sun found out, she’d definitely put me on the blacklist. Uncle Su, we’d better not do something like that.”

Father Su was so angry. He refused to believe that Xu Zian didn’t know about the relationship between Sun Miao and Su Ruixi. Even if she didn’t know, that bestie¹¹ next to her was smarter than her; could she not see it? Since she knew Sun Miao was Su Ruixi’s girlfriend and he was Su Ruixi’s biological father, there was no way Sun Miao would blacklist him, right?

But then he had another thought: wouldn’t that make him, who hadn’t seen any fishy business¹² between them for so long, even dumber than Xu Zian?

The moment he thought of this, Father Su’s face turned black. This was also the reason why Father Su’s expression wasn’t great when Sun Miao arrived.

Hip-hop Mei in front, however, didn’t see Father Su’s expression. Instead, she said smugly to Yabi Mei next to her, “Uncle Su even wanted to switch places with me. He might not get blacklisted, but what if I do? Could I possibly go find Su-jie to get me off the blacklist?”

Her voice got quieter, and she leaned in to whisper in Yabi Mei’s ear, “Besides, even Su-jie has to wait in line. I think that even if Uncle Su is Su-jie’s own dad, when it’s time for Little Boss Sun to be ruthless and blacklist someone, she’ll do it all the same.”

Yabi Mei felt she was too close and nudged her away. “Don’t be so close. What if you smudge my makeup?”

Today’s line was moving a bit slower than usual because Sun Miao’s customers were all saying, “No rush, no rush.” They were all people with money and leisure; it would be strange if they were in a hurry. By the time it was Father Su and Shen Yiqiu’s turn, it was also later than usual. Father Su had long been impatient. He stood in front of Sun Miao and opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but some things weren’t appropriate to say in front of others.

In Father Su’s view, being gay was not something to be proud of. Could he really announce that his daughter was a lesbian in front of so many people? And so, Father Su, whose face was already black, looked even blacker. Shen Yiqiu, beside him, was very calm and even nudged him with her arm.

“We’d like 8 youmotou¹³ and four servings of hulatang. Xiao Sun, sorry to trouble you.”

Just as Shen Yiqiu ordered, she heard Father Su beside her say, “Qiu ah, we can’t eat such oily and stimulating things so early in the morning. It’s not good for our health.”

This sentence actually made Sun Miao’s impression of Father Su improve somewhat. Shen Yiqiu, however, ignored Father Su’s bitter-mouth-and-grandmother’s-heart advice¹⁴ and said instead, “Then you eat less. I’ll eat 6 of the 8 youmotou.”

Father Su shut his mouth.

The old couple took the breakfast Sun Miao had prepared and went to an empty spot on the side. Sun Miao felt that Shen Yiqiu’s luck was pretty good; every time she wanted to eat here, she could find a seat. This was definitely not Father Su’s luck, because sometimes, Father Su couldn’t even buy any food.

The two sat at the small table, eating quite happily. Father Su, who had just said that “oily and stimulating things are bad for your health,” finished his portion in one go and then looked expectantly at Shen Yiqiu, who was still eating. He shouldn’t have said those words just now, otherwise he wouldn’t have been left with only 2 youmotou for himself.

After the two finished eating, Shen Yiqiu, just like an ordinary customer, called out a greeting to Sun Miao. “Xiao Sun, we’re leaving.”

Father Su still had a look on his face like he wanted to speak but stopped himself. In the end, before a single word could come out, he was led away by Shen Yiqiu. Sun Miao secretly breathed a sigh of relief in her heart. Thank goodness Shen Yiqiu was here; otherwise, if she had to face Father Su alone at a time like this, she would definitely be nervous.

After returning home, she didn’t expect another heavy pound bomb¹⁵ to be waiting for her. During dinner, Su Ruixi told her, “My mother wants us to go over to their house on Sunday. My dad will be there too. Don’t worry, she’s just asking you over for a meal.” She even added, “But don’t have too high expectations. My mom is a really bad cook, and she likes to innovate.”

When Su Ruixi said this, it didn’t occur to her at all that, besides Shen Yiqiu, she was also someone who was bad at cooking. Not only that, she also liked to innovate.

For something like a watermelon slushie, which could be made just by relying on a machine, the lower limit theoretically couldn’t be that low. But Shen Yiqiu liked to innovate, stubbornly adding so much sugar that it ended up being so sweet it stung the throat. However, with this little diversion from Su Ruixi, Sun Miao wasn’t so nervous anymore.

She shoveled a few mouthfuls of rice, thought for a moment, and then asked, “Then should I bring anything?”

When Shen Yiqiu came to their place before, she hadn’t brought anything, but she was an elder, and the two of them were juniors. Plus, it was Sun Miao’s first time visiting their home; there was no way she could go empty-handed. Sun Miao was already planning to start searching for “what to bring on the first visit to your future mother-in-law’s house.” But Su Ruixi said, “The sunding xianggu roubao¹⁶ you made yesterday were really good. My mom will definitely like the tuhuangyou¹⁷ too. And then just pack a little of that zhe’ergen¹⁸ chili sauce she likes, and that’ll complete the set¹⁹.”

Sun Miao, however, was a little worried. “Will that be too cheap?”

On Little Red Book²⁰, there were quite a few posts where people were called out for the male or female party showing too little courtesy with their gifts. Sun Miao felt that the things she made herself were just too cheap. It would be a little lacking even for a visit to an ordinary family, let alone a household of ringing bells and magnificent tripods²¹ like Su Ruixi’s.

Su Ruixi didn’t think so. “If they like it, they eat; if they don’t, forget it. And they’re going to complain it’s too cheap? I really like those sunding xianggu roubao. If they don’t eat them, we’ll just bring them back and eat them ourselves.” Su Ruixi said this so righteously that, for a moment, Sun Miao suspected it was Su Ruixi herself who wanted to eat them.

But on second thought, it was probably best to listen to Su Ruixi about what gifts to bring. However, on the 15th, the second-to-last day of her hulatang stall, when Sun Miao went to buy some ingredients needed for dinner, she still browsed through the supermarket near her home. The day after tomorrow, the 17th, was Sunday. Both she and Su Ruixi had the day off, which was the day they had arranged for the visit.

After thinking it over and over, Sun Miao decided to pay a little more attention to etiquette. Besides the things she made herself, she would also bring a gift box. She just didn’t know if they would like what she picked.

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