Setting Up Stalls – Chapter 26

How Could One Not Eat

Su Ruixi was a rather awkward person with some tsundere tendencies, something Sun Miao had discovered during their time together. However, Su Ruixi’s awkwardness and tsundere nature weren’t really an issue, as she was merely tsundere but not impolite.

Her awkwardness only troubled herself, never others.

So in Sun Miao’s eyes, she was a good tsundere.

But being tsundere could be troublesome at times, like now.

Sun Miao could clearly see that Su Ruixi wanted to drink it, and didn’t mind at all – her eyes were practically glued to the soup on the small table, yet she was still hesitating about how to maintain her dignity.

Sun Miao quite liked this conflicted tsundere expression. Those who like tsundere personalities are usually either S or M [S/M | dominant/submissive personality types], and Sun Miao felt she was both. She even mischievously urged Su Ruixi, asking: “Aren’t you going to drink?”

Su Ruixi lifted her head, looking at Sun Miao, unconsciously pressing her lips together. Just from this small gesture, Sun Miao knew she really wanted to drink it.

After being S, it was time to be M.

Sun Miao persuaded Su Ruixi: “I haven’t touched it, I ate a different portion at lunch, it’s not leftover from then. Besides, I’ve been drinking this soup for days now and am getting a bit tired of it. Miss Su, if you could drink it, you’d actually be helping me out.”

Sure enough, after going from S to M, Su Ruixi wavered, and her response followed the classic tsundere template: “Well, since you put it that way, I suppose I’ll drink a little.”

Sun Miao smiled, made an “mm” sound, and continued watching the beef pancakes. She wouldn’t watch Su Ruixi while she drank the soup, knowing it would make her uncomfortable.

It was quite strange – despite Su Ruixi’s consistently cold expression and particularly aloof appearance, Sun Miao could read quite a lot from that face that showed so little emotion.

This was probably because the other person was her crush, so she paid extra attention.

Sun Miao sighed inwardly: the tragic life of a lesbian being toyed with by a straight girl.

Only when Sun Miao turned her head to continue making beef pancakes did Su Ruixi return her gaze to the soup before her. Sun Miao was a very attentive person – she not only provided the soup but also placed a disposable lunch box lid underneath and a disposable spoon beside it.

The bowl was stainless steel, and the lunch box Sun Miao had just taken out was a standard cylindrical thermal container, designed to stack a small stainless steel bowl on top – like the one before her. Below was a stainless steel inner wall where rice and dishes were typically stored together.

Su Ruixi disliked this design, believing it allowed flavors to mix.

More precisely, she disliked the feeling of rice and dishes being mixed together, instinctively feeling that food sticking together became mushy and unappetizing.

She also didn’t particularly like the soup bowl design in these lunch boxes, always feeling that the bottom of the stainless steel bowl would get greasy from touching the food below. However, the small bowl Sun Miao handed her wasn’t like that – it was clean all around, containing only clear soup.

The soup’s taste needed no explanation – she knew just from thinking about it that it was the same as what she had last week.

But the corn and pork ribs made her curious about their taste.

She hadn’t eaten corn last week, and pork ribs hadn’t been on the menu either, so she was genuinely curious about this combination. This corn wasn’t the type Su Ruixi usually ate – she typically preferred fruit corn [水果玉米 | shuǐ guǒ yù mǐ | a smaller, sweeter variety of corn]. Small kernels, each one plump and particularly sweet.

But this corn was different – two small sections filled the small bowl completely, with some even floating on top of the soup. Su Ruixi picked up her spoon and reached for the corn. The disposable spoon’s quality wasn’t good, and with the corn being quite large, the spoon wobbled precariously, making Su Ruixi worry the corn would fall off.

She had to set the corn down and take a sip of soup first.

She’d only intended to take a small sip, but unexpectedly couldn’t help taking a big gulp. The soup entered her mouth and slid down to her stomach, instantly soothing her gastric discomfort. The temperature was just right – not scalding, yet still maintaining its warmth.

The gentle warmth made Su Ruixi’s stomach feel cozy.

It was truly amazing – Su Ruixi realized at that moment that her stomach could be so easily comforted.

Once her stomach had settled, she had the leisure to tackle the corn again. This time, she quickly scooped up the corn with her spoon, took a bite, then set it down. Though it wasn’t fruit corn, these kernels were equally plump, and once in her mouth, they were quickly chewed and swallowed.

It was… soft and glutinous [軟糯 | ruǎn nuò | describes a tender, sticky texture typical of glutinous foods].

After several bites of corn, Su Ruixi felt her stomach becoming even more comfortable.

Su Ruixi didn’t know that this was Sun Miao’s deliberate choice.

Between fruit corn and waxy corn [糯玉米 | nuò yù mǐ | a variety of corn with a sticky, glutinous texture], she chose waxy corn without hesitation. True, fruit corn was superior in both nutritional value and sweetness, with lower calories, but waxy corn was better suited for soup-making and as a staple food, with a softer, more glutinous texture.

Of course, the most important reason was that waxy corn was cheaper.

Sun Miao was quite poor, after all. She hadn’t been doing this job long – not even a month – and Labor Day [五一長假 | wǔ yī cháng jià | May Day holiday] would start the day after tomorrow. She was still selling pancakes under the office building, wondering how much she could sell… Though speaking of which, selling pancakes was quite profitable.

Mainly because her pancakes were expensive – ten yuan each, a hundred per pot. She’d already sold about ten pots between morning and noon, and with evening sales, two thousand wouldn’t be a problem.

Back to the corn issue, waxy corn was actually better for Su Ruixi. Fruit corn was tasty, but Su Ruixi had stomach problems. Before developing stomach issues, fruit corn would have been good for the stomach, but after getting sick, due to corn’s digestive properties and high sugar content, eating too much would actually make patients uncomfortable.

Waxy corn had similar effects, but eating a few bites wasn’t harmful and could even nourish the stomach.

So now when Su Ruixi ate it, she only felt stomach comfort, not discomfort.

Sun Miao flipped the beef pancake and pressed down the pot lid, catching glimpses of Su Ruixi taking small sips of soup, which made her want to smile. She was quite cheerful by nature, quite optimistic, so her face always beamed with smiles. But the reason for wanting to smile at Su Ruixi was different from her usual smiles – seeing Su Ruixi made her happy.

Nothing makes a cook happier than seeing their crush’s face light up with appreciation for their food.

After a while, the beef pancake was done. Since Su Ruixi hadn’t mentioned takeout, Sun Miao took an unused disposable container from her previous malatang, packed it in, and placed it beside Su Ruixi.

Su Ruixi nodded and was about to pick it up, but Sun Miao stopped her.

“It’s hot, let me get you some disposable chopsticks.”

“Okay.”

Sun Miao took out disposable chopsticks from the drawer below and handed them to Su Ruixi. Su Ruixi opened the chopsticks, picked up the beef pancake, blew on it several times in the air before putting it in her mouth.

Sun Miao was absolutely right – it was hot, and the freshly made beef pancake had what the internet calls “wok qi” [鍋氣 | guō qì | the distinct flavor and essence from cooking in a wok], in other words, it had an earthy authenticity. Thinking about it, Sun Miao herself had a touch of that worldly essence – when making beef pancakes, her every movement and the fine beads of sweat on her forehead gave her an extra vitality.

She was like a small grass taking root, running her successful little stall at commonly seen spots like hospital back gates, residential community back gates, and office building entrances.

Though generally, no one else was allowed to set up stalls at her residential community’s back gate or her company’s office building entrance.

When Su Ruixi put the beef pancake in her mouth, she wanted to take it out because it was scalding hot, but once her lips touched it, it was as if the pancake had absorbed her – she couldn’t bear to let it go.

Fortunately, she had blown on it several times, so it wasn’t unbearably hot. Su Ruixi took a bite and found this beef pancake even more delicious than the one she had snatched from the assistant earlier. Perhaps because it was freshly made, the heat and savory flavors alternated in her mouth, making Su Ruixi take several more bites.

The filling was still quite hot, so after a few bites, Su Ruixi inevitably took a couple more sips of soup. The warm soup dispersed much of the heat, and though it made the pancake skin softer, it also gave the beef pancake a slightly different taste.

The originally bold and impactful beef flavor was mellowed by the soup, making even the beef taste gentler. Not to mention the Chinese cabbage and fragrant green onions also became more subtle.

This taste suited Su Ruixi’s palate better.

Two pancakes with a small bowl of soup – Su Ruixi finished them in no time. She even felt somewhat reluctant to finish, wishing there was more soup. Unfortunately, Sun Miao wasn’t selling soup this time.

Moreover, after eating, Su Ruixi felt her stomach was much more comfortable, with no pain at all. Usually when her stomach hurt, even drinking some millet porridge couldn’t make her feel better. But this time, she felt the stomach pain fade away.

While she was eating, Sun Miao stood nearby, playing with her phone while observing Su Ruixi from the corner of her eye.

At first, Su Ruixi’s face had been deathly pale, clearly showing signs of her stomach condition acting up. After drinking the soup, she looked noticeably better, and once the beef pancake went down, her complexion became attractive again. Just looking at her like this, Sun Miao knew it was most likely caused by hunger.

When Su Ruixi finished eating and was preparing to pay, Sun Miao spoke up: “Miss Su, did you skip lunch?” Come to think of it, it had been just after lunch break ended an hour ago.

That’s when Su Ruixi had come down to buy pancakes, supposedly without having eaten anything for lunch.

Though the truth wasn’t like that – she had actually eaten one of Sun Miao’s pancakes at lunch. But Su Ruixi couldn’t say she’d already eaten Sun Miao’s pancake at noon. So she could only hesitate before slowly nodding.

Sun Miao immediately scolded her: “How could you not eat? As the saying goes, ‘People are iron, rice is steel, skip a meal and hunger you’ll feel’ [人是鐵飯是鋼一頓不吃餓得慌 | rén shì tiě fàn shì gāng yī dùn bù chī è de huāng | traditional saying emphasizing the importance of regular meals]. You even have stomach problems – wasn’t your stomach acting up just now? It was purely hunger-induced stomach pain, eating something fixed it. Why don’t you eat meals on time?”

Su Ruixi’s first reaction was: Who are you to lecture me like this?

But looking at Sun Miao’s expression, she couldn’t bring herself to say it.

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