Fully Prepared
Grandma Li was getting on in years and couldn’t really hold the dog back well, but her family’s dog was enthusiastic and polite, and rarely ever charged at people. When Sun Miao saw the Samoyed rushing over, she immediately slowed down her vehicle and came to a gentle stop. She even said to Grandma Li, “Grandma, you can let go of the leash. I’ll grab it.”
Grandma Li let go of the leash, and the Samoyed charged even faster. In a moment, it was in front of Sun Miao, its front paws standing straight up as it pounced on her, nudging her with its nose while letting out little “wu wu wu” whimpers of affection. Sun Miao stroked its head several times, but the Samoyed showed no signs of getting down.
Not only that, but its hind legs were also kicking and kicking, as if it wanted to climb right onto Sun Miao.
Sun Miao was at a loss and gave his head a few more strokes. She had to admit, the Samoyed was quite nice to pet; its fur was smooth to the touch. It was clear that Grandma Li took very good care of it. Even though it was a large dog, its fur wasn’t coarse at all.
Grandma Li slowly shuffled over. Seeing the Samoyed like this, she reached out, grabbed it by the ear, and twisted it off Sun Miao, then gave the back of its head several smacks with her open palm. The Samoyed seemed to know it had done wrong and lowered its head, falling silent. Only its tail was still wagging back and forth, as if trying to curry favor.
“What’s gotten into him today? He’s usually not this excited to see me.”
Sun Miao said with a cheerful laugh. At first, Grandma Li didn’t know either, but when she got closer to Sun Miao, she understood the crux of the problem. “Xiao Sun, did you go sell fried pork ribs today? You smell so fragrant. This thing must have smelled the meat on you, that’s why he’s so excited.”
Now that she mentioned it, that did make some sense. Sun Miao thought for a moment and asked Grandma Li, “Can he eat bones? I’ll bring some over for him later.”
“Oh, I’d be too embarrassed to accept.”
“It’s fine, it’s fine.”
After Sun Miao went home, she did indeed prepare some bones—the kind with meat and cartilage still on them. She didn’t use any marinade, just simply boiled them and then passed them through the fryer once. Little doggies can’t eat fried things, but the Samoyed was a medium-sized dog, so eating a little once in a while to satisfy a craving wouldn’t hurt.
Watching the Samoyed happily munching away, one bone per bite, Sun Miao thought of Niu Niu. That poor little kitty, if she knew a big dumb dog was currently feasting heartily, she would surely be heartbroken.
When Su Ruixi came back, she found that Sun Miao had made pork rib and winter melon1 soup. She was a master at making soup, too. The ribs were stewed until they were soft and tender, yet the winter melon wasn’t so overcooked that it fell apart at the touch of chopsticks. Moreover, Sun Miao was very meticulous and had peeled all the skin off the winter melon. With one bite, the winter melon was soft and waxy without having lost its fiber, and it carried the flavor of the meat broth as it went down. It was simply Su Ruixi’s absolute favorite.
She had always felt that being with Sun Miao meant she had walked into heavenly great luck.
This meal once again left Su Ruixi with a stomach that was sleekly round, mostly from drinking too much soup. While acting cute with Sun Miao, saying things like “drinking soup won’t make you fat” and “it’s fine, the soup will all be gone after a trip to the bathroom,” she had nearly downed a huge bowl of soup in one go. Now, she both wanted to go to the bathroom and didn’t want to, lying on the sofa and letting Sun Miao rub her belly.
The feeling made Sun Miao think she was rubbing a kitty’s belly.
It was just that her kitty was a bit too precious.
While letting Sun Miao smooth her fur, Su Ruixi couldn’t stay still. She was over there, counting on her fingers, trying to figure out when the Eleventh2 would finally arrive. Today was already the 19th, which meant the holiday was only ten days away. This made Su Ruixi extremely excited. She held up her phone, showing Sun Miao places they could travel to.
Unfortunately, however, Sun Miao couldn’t go abroad because she didn’t have a passport.
Sun Miao was a person stuffed into this world by the System. Although she had basic identification documents, extra ones like a passport had to be applied for by Sun Miao herself. If she applied for a passport now, there was a high chance it wouldn’t be ready in time, and then there was the visa and everything else to add on, which was a bit too troublesome. Sun Miao didn’t want to bother Su Ruixi with these things, so Su Ruixi could only say, “It’s okay, China is so big, there are deserts we can visit here too.”
Nevertheless, the matter of getting Sun Miao a passport was added to the agenda.
Right now, they were researching which deserts in China were more fun to visit.
When it came to desert tourist destinations in China, most people’s first reaction was the Taklamakan Desert3, and Sun Miao’s was the same. But she was really afraid… afraid of getting stuck in a traffic jam in the desert. She was a master at scrolling through videos, and with the National Day holiday approaching, last year’s travel videos were being recommended to her. The magnificent feat of a camel traffic jam in the desert was something Sun Miao really did not want to encounter.
So, in that first instant, Sun Miao ruled out the Taklamakan Desert.
But on this matter, Su Ruixi had a strange and complete confidence. “No way, there should be very few people in the desert. When I went before, there was hardly anyone. Even if it’s the National Day holiday, people wouldn’t think of going to a desert to have fun, right?”
Su Ruixi had truly never gone out to play during a crowded time like the National Day holiday, which was why she had such blind confidence. There was nothing to be done about it; who could blame Su Ruixi for being a young lady who does not eat the smoke and fire of the human world4?
Fortunately, Sun Miao had a decent grasp of the people mountain people sea5 situation during the National Day holiday, so she directly crossed the Taklamakan Desert off the list and looked for other places. After much deliberation, the two finally decided on the Gurbantünggüt Desert6. The Gurbantünggüt Desert and the Taklamakan Desert are both in Xin Province7 and it is the second-largest desert in the country. However, compared to the Taklamakan, relatively fewer people go there to play.
After all, with the Taklamakan right next door, people wouldn’t retreat and seek the next best8 by choosing the second largest.
Once the location was confirmed, the rest was up to Su Ruixi. She would put her executive abilities to work and create a very reliable itinerary. All they had to do was wait for their vacation to start, and they could travel together. She still asked Sun Miao worriedly, “That system of yours, did it really approve your leave?”
Sun Miao patted her chest. “It’s approved, don’t worry. We can definitely go.”
The System would certainly not get in Sun Miao’s way over such minor matters, although it was quite reluctant when it heard Sun Miao was going on a trip: 【The host knows this system is about to leave, yet you’re still abandoning this system to go play with someone else. Host, you have no heart.】
Well, there was nothing Sun Miao could do about that. After all, the most important things to her in the whole world right now were Su Ruixi and her food stall. But if it was for Su Ruixi, she could temporarily abandon the stall too. Sun Miao let out a “haha.” “Well, you could also assign me some tasks in the desert, like selling roasted lamb skewers?”
The System was nearly bent out of shape with anger by Sun Miao: 【Do you look like you want to do a temporary mission? You just want to make roasted lamb skewers for Su Ruixi! Don’t think I really don’t understand the human heart!】 In truth, the System didn’t understand other people’s hearts, but when it came to Sun Miao, it now truly had her held in the hand, grasped by the handful9.
Seeing her little scheme exposed, Sun Miao didn’t feel awkward at all, just grinned like a two-skinned face10. You couldn’t blame her. Since they were going to Xin Province, how could they not eat roasted lamb skewers? But that stuff, the smell was too strong; Su Ruixi would definitely not be able to handle it. Even though Sun Miao was very confident in her cooking skills, she would still feel the drumming in her heart when faced with an ingredient she had never handled before.
At a time like this, it would be for the best if the System was there to help.
She could definitely make roasted lamb skewers that would make Su-jie eat one and not make a peep11.
The next day, when Sun Miao was at her stall, she ran into someone she hadn’t seen in a long time. It was Kaixin’s family of three, with whom she had been particularly close when she was renting in the suburbs. The parents were holding little Kaixin’s hand, and Kaixin was grinning at Sun Miao from her spot in the line.
Sun Miao was quite fond of children. Back at the orphanage, she loved playing with the younger didis12 and meimeis13. She was especially patient with Kaixin and Grandma Li’s Nan Nan14, and had become good friends with both little girls. But liking kids was one thing; having one come between herself and Su Ruixi was not okay.
Seeing Kaixin, Sun Miao had already made up her mind: she would pack a little more for Kaixin, so she could eat happily. Among the people Sun Miao knew, their family’s financial situation was on the poorer side. Plus, her food was quite expensive. If she didn’t add even a little extra for Kaixin, her heart would ache.
But she wouldn’t go too overboard, like turning 150g into 300g. If someone found out about that, Hip-hop Mei would most likely point at her nose and say: How could you do this! How could you treat people differently! It’s one thing to be like this with Su-jie, but now some random little girl who popped out of nowhere gets better treatment than me! Little Boss Sun, do you even have me in your heart?!
Just thinking about that scene made Sun Miao feel like her head was going to explode. So, the matter of secretly giving Kaixin an extra portion must not be known by anyone!
Kaixin’s family had arrived quite early; otherwise, they wouldn’t have been in the front half of the line. But they had probably been waiting for a while, as Kaixin’s expression looked a bit listless. Because they had been neighbors before, Sun Miao knew that this was supposed to be Kaixin’s nap time. She had just been brought out by her parents to queue, so she had missed her nap.
Seeing Kaixin’s little head bobbing as if she were about to fall asleep, Sun Miao subconsciously sped up her cooking. Although her speed increased, the quality of the taste was still guaranteed.
Inspired by the lemon tea boss and the cat owner who brought drinks yesterday, everyone brought their beloved beverages today. There was homemade lemon tea in insulated cups, happy water15 casually stuffed in pockets, and even milk tea that had been specially bought from a nearby shop and was being carried directly in hand. The most outrageous had to be those two inhumanly rich members of the Hip-hop Yabi Duo. After getting the Bridgehead Pork Ribs16 Sun Miao made, they didn’t eat it right away but instead just stood to the side.
This was truly out of character for the two of them, especially Hip-hop Mei. The bizarre scene made even Sun Miao unable to resist looking over several times. It wasn’t until about half an hour later that a delivery driver would shanshan to arrive late17, holding a milk tea bag in his hand.
Sun Miao surfed the internet diligently, so she naturally knew which milk tea brand this was. It was a recently opened place, said to be the new queue king18, the kind you couldn’t get without lining up for two or three hours. The delivery driver was particularly attentive, a satisfied smile on his face. Needless to say, the Hip-hop Yabi Duo definitely hadn’t held back and must have given a huge tip; otherwise, why would he have been willing to wait in line?
With the queue king’s milk tea in hand, the Hip-hop Yabi Duo were finally content. However, in that time, they had lost their seats and could only squat by the side to start eating.
Even the other onlooking customers couldn’t help but say, “Serves you right! Go on and show off, now you don’t have a seat!”
The author has something to say:
Sun Miao: I’m in a hurry, why hasn’t Hip-hop Mei left yet?
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