Where to Go for the Eleventh1
Sun Miao also consulted many online posts. Many people, when meeting their mother-in-law for the first time, would buy some skincare products, a set costing around two thousand. For an ordinary family, this price was already very expensive. But when it came to Sun Miao’s situation, this was a bit on the cheap side. She couldn’t afford the ones Su Ruixi usually used, and if she was buying them for her future mother-in-law, she couldn’t possibly buy something cheaper than what Su Ruixi used on a daily basis, right?
To really buy something that expensive… Sun Miao’s heart ached.
Wuwuwu, with her pathetic small-town citizen’s perspective2, she really couldn’t afford such expensive skincare. The ones she used daily only cost a few hundred yuan; if she were to buy a set for several thousand or even 10,000 in one go, her heart would truly ache.
But if she were buying it for Su Ruixi, Sun Miao might have just gritted her teeth and bought it.
Although she felt very sorry for Ms. Shen, she really couldn’t bear to buy such expensive skincare as a gift. With Sun Miao’s disposition, she would probably just buy some gift boxes. After wandering through the supermarket for a while, she bought a gift box of imported fruit juices in various flavors. One box cost her 588, which was the price of a single Lion’s Head Meatball and a dish of Braised Abalone in the Shell. Sun Miao was truly heartbroken.
She always felt that the flavors she could make herself wouldn’t be any worse than this gift box.
In addition, she bought two boxes of black goji berries3; one box was 388.
Gift-boxed items are really too expensive!
She also blindly picked seven and grabbed eight4, selecting some other gifts. When she checked out, Sun Miao watched as the little monies on the bill headed straight for 5K. She couldn’t help but comfort herself, Everyone has to buy this much stuff when they go meet the parents!
After she came out of the supermarket, threw the items onto her food cart, and returned home, she still had to make Diced Bamboo Shoot and Shiitake Mushroom Meat Buns5. Su Ruixi was also off tomorrow. With her around, Sun Miao would probably get lazy, wanting to nap with Su Ruixi and do nothing at all. This wasn’t good, but Sun Miao really enjoyed times like these.
So, in order to be able to nap and be lazy with Su Ruixi tomorrow, Sun Miao decided to prepare everything she needed to bring today, including the food.
The first thing Sun Miao had to make was the Diced Bamboo Shoot and Shiitake Mushroom Meat Buns that Su Ruixi had been very fond of recently. These weren’t actually troublesome to make. Because the bamboo shoots and shiitake mushrooms were dried goods, she could just use the dried bamboo shoots and dried shiitake mushrooms from that supermarket. Sun Miao had bought them before and the quality was quite good. Although the price was a bit higher, Sun Miao could accept it.
After washing them clean, she wrung out the water again. After all, they were dried goods bought from a supermarket, so Sun Miao could only accept them after giving them a wash. Then, she diced them and set them aside. Similarly, she diced the pork directly. Some places would use braised pork cubes6 to make this kind of bun for a richer flavor. But Su Ruixi preferred lighter tastes, so Sun Miao chose fresh meat.
She mixed the three ingredients in a 1:1:1 ratio, added chopped scallions and minced garlic, and stirred evenly. After that, she added the seasonings. Salt and sugar went without saying; haoyou7, soy sauce, and MSG also had to be put in. After stirring again to let the flavors fully combine, she had to add sesame oil and lard8.
The taste of lard is very strong, and Su Ruixi disliked all the store-bought kinds, so even the lard was something Sun Miao had specially rendered herself during her break, after buying pork leaf lard9. The lard Sun Miao rendered not only lacked that very greasy, meaty smell, but on the contrary, it looked clean and pure.
It was hard to say whether it was Su Ruixi’s psychological effect or if it was actually true, but in any case, after switching to the lard Sun Miao made herself, she immediately felt that even the dishes tasted better and were more to her liking than before.
At this step, once it was mixed well, it could be set aside to rest, and she could turn to kneading the dough. She poured flour into a bowl10, stirring with chopsticks while pouring to work up its strength11. Making bun wrappers was, for Sun Miao, as easy as reaching out one’s hand to catch something12. She had made too many flour-based foods. There was no helping it; most of the roadside snacks in the country were carbs, and flour-based foods were an indispensable part of that.
Once the bun wrappers were ready, she wrapped the filling in the skin, and a bun took shape. Sun Miao had bought one of those special trays for holding buns in advance, the kind with individual compartments. To prevent the buns from sticking to the bottom, Sun Miao even deliberately sprinkled some flour on it.
Only when both trays were filled with buns did Sun Miao place them in the freezer, waiting to be taken out and brought directly to Su Ruixi’s family home the day after tomorrow. The bald butter13 and Zhe’ergen chili sauce14 were both simple to make, and she even had some stock of the Zhe’ergen chili sauce. Fortunately, after coming to Su Ruixi’s house, Sun Miao had acquired many machines, including sealing equipment.
If it weren’t for this equipment, Sun Miao wouldn’t have known how to preserve everything.
This delivery of things to Su Ruixi’s family home could also be considered clearing out a wave of inventory.
The next day, which was the last day of running her stall, many unfamiliar customers came, and quite a few spoke with an authentic Yu Province accent. Some were elderly, and Sun Miao even had some trouble understanding them. For example, the old grandmother in front of her opened her mouth and said, “This nü li15 looks like a capable person at a glance.” At first, Sun Miao wasn’t sure what “nü li” meant, but looking at the context, she understood: it was a compliment on her good work.
Later, a younger person explained in Mandarin, “I brought my grandma here because I heard the Hulatang16 here is delicious. She doesn’t speak much Mandarin, sorry about that, Little Boss Sun.”
“It’s fine, it’s fine, I can understand.”
Most people could actually understand the Yu Province dialect, as it’s very similar to Mandarin. But they also had their iconic “zhong17.” As the younger person helped the old grandmother to the side to eat Hulatang, Sun Miao heard her ask, “Nai18, is it zhong?”
The grandmother gave a thumbs-up and replied, “So zhong!”
Hearing this, Sun Miao also cheered up a bit.
After finishing for the day, Sun Miao was pushing her food cart home when she saw that Su Ruixi had taken out all the gift boxes she had secretly hidden away. Su Ruixi was a little amused, “Miaomiao, I told you that you didn’t need to prepare so much, yet you still went and bought all these gift boxes.” Her tone shifted, “Did you spend a lot of money?”
Sun Miao was a little embarrassed, but she still answered in a small voice, “It’s okay, really, not that much.” Though she said that, a flesh-aching expression still appeared on her face, because this was 5,000 silver dollars19! For the Sun Miao who was still working at a company before she transmigrated, that was a whole month’s salary!
Su Ruixi could actually see Sun Miao’s flesh-aching pain, but she just watched with her arms crossed and smiled. Since it was a day off today, they should have done some things that were not suitable for children20, but when Su Ruixi leaned in, she was sternly refused by Sun Miao. “Susu-jie, we’re going to see Uncle and Auntie tomorrow, we need to save our energy.”
Su Ruixi paused for a second, then couldn’t hold back a laugh. “Then you have to compensate me tomorrow afternoon.”
When it came to matters of passion, Su Ruixi could be said to have tasted the marrow and knew its flavor21. Sun Miao’s caresses made her feel as if starving and thirsty22. If she didn’t pester Sun Miao to fool around for a long time every weekend, it would mean Su Ruixi had changed her personality. Even though she was rejected by Sun Miao, Su Ruixi wasn’t angry, but the things that needed to be done could not be escaped by Sun Miao.
Hearing Su Ruixi say this, Sun Miao had no other choice but to agree.
Early on their day off, Sun Miao pulled Su Ruixi out of bed. Even though Su Ruixi’s morning grumpiness flared up and she said, “It’s too early! It’s really too early! They might not even be awake yet!” she didn’t escape Sun Miao’s sanctions. In mid-September, the temperature in the city was still very high, and short sleeves and shorts were considered appropriate attire.
But for her first visit, Sun Miao planned to dress a bit more formally, insisting on changing into long pants. As for her top, she still chose a simple white T-shirt, and her hair was obediently tied into a ponytail behind her. While brushing her teeth, Su Ruixi poked her head out of the bathroom and looked at Sun Miao, her words muffled, “Miaomiao, you don’t look any different from usual. Where are your skirts?”
“Wearing a skirt isn’t great, right? It’s better this way, same as usual. Maybe Auntie will find me more pleasing to the eye.”
Compared to the simple and unadorned Sun Miao, Su Ruixi was dressed far too fashionably. An off-the-shoulder light blue top, paired with an asymmetrical light-colored skirt below. For driving, she wore simple and comfortable flats that stayed on her feet, looking both beautiful and energetic. Judging by Su Ruixi’s attire, you could tell the Su family was definitely not some feudal family.
But wearing her everyday clothes made Sun Miao feel more at ease.
Su Ruixi had originally wanted to help Sun Miao carry the things to the trunk, but Sun Miao said, “No need, I can do it myself. Susu-jie, you’ve already changed your clothes, don’t get them dusty.” Hearing Sun Miao say this, Su Ruixi didn’t step forward. Instead, she watched as Sun Miao, like a little ant, bustled back and forth, moving the prepared items into the car bit by bit.
Yesterday, Su Ruixi had said that Sun Miao didn’t need to prepare so much, but watching Sun Miao bustle about like a little ant, she was still very happy. Because Sun Miao would do all this for one reason entirely——Sun Miao really liked her. If it wasn’t for love, why would there be a need to prepare so much?
Just thinking about this made Su Ruixi’s heart feel soft.
Once the little ant Sun Miao finished moving everything, Su Ruixi took a step forward to press the trunk door shut, then pulled Sun Miao into the front seat. In the car, Su Ruixi casually asked about the “Eleventh” holiday. “Will your system give you a vacation? If it does, let’s go out and play. Where do you want to go?”
Sun Miao hadn’t thought about it, but she could answer the first part of the question. “The system is pretty nice, it will most likely give me a vacation.”
“Mm, we’ve seen the ocean before; do you want to see the desert? The stars in the desert are especially beautiful. I’ve wanted to take you to see them for a long time.”
Sun Miao was stunned for a moment. For a place like this that she had never been to, she really did want to see it. “I do.”
Su Ruixi smiled. The red light ahead was long, but to Su Ruixi, it passed in a flash. “Then it’s settled. When we have our Eleventh holiday, we’ll go to the desert to see the stars.”
Hearing what Su Ruixi said, Sun Miao couldn’t help but feel a sense of anticipation. She was already imagining how beautiful that starry sky would be. But after thinking for a moment, she couldn’t help but ask, “But won’t the desert be very crowded during the Eleventh? After all, everyone is on break, so there might be a lot of people. I’m afraid it will be a mountain of people and a sea of people23 if we go out then.”
Su Ruixi was unconcerned. “People who want to travel will go to Jiangzhehu24, or places like the Great Wall and Tiananmen. Who would go to the desert for people squeezing against people?”
As the two of them chatted boundlessly, Su Ruixi’s car came to a stop. Sun Miao paused, looking at the wrought iron gate in front of them, and couldn’t help but ask, “Are we at the entrance to the residential community?”
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