Setting Up Stalls – Chapter 27

Come Eat at My Place

Su Ruixi as a person, though difficult and tsundere, was just as Sun Miao observed – a well-mannered tsundere.

Sun Miao’s eager yet caring eyes showed she was serious and genuinely concerned for Su Ruixi’s wellbeing. To express doubt or belittle someone in such a situation would be extremely impolite.

Well-bred and polite Su Ruixi would never do such a thing. Though she disliked being lectured, Sun Miao was too sincere and concerned about her, so she could only maintain her cold expression while somewhat embarrassedly retorting:

“I was too busy at noon.”

Before she could finish, Sun Miao interrupted: “Being busy isn’t an excuse. Besides, you just had a bowl of soup and two pancakes, it wouldn’t take long, twenty minutes at most, you could finish quickly. Miss Su, I know you’re busy with work, but surely you have time for a proper meal…”

Something occurred to her, and she continued asking: “Miss Su, did you eat breakfast today?”

“…” Su Ruixi fell silent, and Sun Miao understood – she hadn’t eaten. She sighed: “How could you skip meals?”

Criticized harshly, Su Ruixi instinctively defended herself: “I wanted to eat, but Ayi’s cooking doesn’t suit my taste. I drove straight to the underground parking lot this morning and didn’t see you, otherwise I would have bought some pancakes to tide me over.”

“If Ayi’s cooking doesn’t suit your taste, why not change to a different Ayi?” Sun Miao couldn’t understand why keep an Ayi whose cooking wasn’t good.

“…” Su Ruixi was even more speechless. She couldn’t possibly say: Actually, I’ve hired many Ayis, but none of their cooking suited my taste, and this Ayi’s cooking is barely acceptable? Saying that might make Sun Miao think her cooking particularly suited Su Ruixi’s taste.

As if she especially loved eating her food.

Because of this thought, Su Ruixi remained quiet, but Sun Miao keenly noticed this. Not that she thought Su Ruixi liked her food, but she knew her cooking was good. It was the result of months of system training, and this wasn’t self-conceit – she truly hadn’t seen anyone who didn’t enjoy her food.

Every time she finished cooking, the system would randomly select a hundred customers, dividing them between spicy and non-spicy preferences, covering almost all demographics. Using various seasonings to create detailed taste profiles for regular customers, this made Sun Miao’s cooking invincible.

Moreover, Sun Miao’s cooking provided two different textures for the same ingredient, making it impossible for customers to resist.

For those who didn’t like dry food, she had moist versions; for those who didn’t like firm textures, she had soft ones… With such dual-texture combinations, no one could escape her Five Finger Mountain [五指山 | wǔ zhǐ shān | metaphor for inescapable control].

Even the pickiest customers would become her defeated opponents.

Therefore, Sun Miao was certain that Su Ruixi would definitely like her food.

With this thought, and mainly because she couldn’t stand seeing her crush with that face that hit all her aesthetic preferences turning pale from stomach pain… damn, her lovesick brain.

Sun Miao tried to brainwash herself: I’m just a kind-hearted person, I absolutely won’t fall in love and be played by a straight girl. Then she slowly said: “Miss Su, if you find my food acceptable, you can come eat here. I notice you quite enjoy soup, so I can prepare two extra bowls daily for you to pick up. The cost… same as before, ten yuan per bowl.”

Naturally, Su Ruixi was very moved by Sun Miao’s proposal. Her eyes blinked twice after hearing these words.

However, being a major tsundere, she first acted reserved: “That’s not really appropriate…”

“It’s no trouble, I’m making soup for myself anyway, it’s just adding more water to the same pot.”

Hearing Sun Miao’s words, Su Ruixi “reluctantly” agreed, then raised another concern: “But don’t you only set up for seven days each time? What should I do after that?”

Her words carried a hint of complaint and coquettishness, as if accusing Sun Miao of being unfaithful.

Sun Miao could only take out her phone: “Then… then let’s add each other as friends, I’ll tell you where I’ll be setting up next week. Miss Su probably has an assistant, right? The assistant can come pick it up. Or call a delivery service, though you’ll have to pay for that yourself.”

Delivery wouldn’t cost much, but hearing Sun Miao insist she pay for it, Su Ruixi was oddly reminded of what Hip-hop Mei had said earlier: “You’re such a penny pincher.”

Nevertheless, Su Ruixi nodded, took out her phone, and scanned Sun Miao’s QR code to add her as a friend.

There definitely wouldn’t be any soup tonight, as Su Ruixi had already finished Sun Miao’s portion, and Sun Miao couldn’t magically produce another serving. However, Su Ruixi still wanted to eat the beef pancakes, buying two pieces to take home with some mineral water would be better than anything else.

After adding her as a friend, Su Ruixi scanned and paid, then said before leaving: “Don’t call me Miss Su anymore, just call me Su Ruixi.”

Sun Miao responded with an “mm,” her eyes curved in genuine happiness. She waved to Su Ruixi, watching as she returned to her company building. She then secretly examined Su Ruixi’s WeChat profile for a while.

Su Ruixi’s profile picture… was quite minimalist, just a light blue background with a butterfly silhouette. Simple and attractive, but compared to the profile pictures in her group chat, it seemed rather formal. Her WeChat name was also in English.

Sun Miao’s English vocabulary wasn’t extensive, so she had to search to learn that the English word was “Eternity.”

It really suited Su Ruixi’s style.

Sun Miao thought for a while and decided not to give Su Ruixi a contact nickname, feeling that any nickname she might choose would seem strange. She certainly couldn’t write “crush❤️” – how embarrassing if Su Ruixi were to see it.

She then checked Su Ruixi’s Moments [朋友圈 | péng you quān | WeChat’s social feed], which had the default system cover and no signature. The feed was set to show only three days, but there weren’t any posts at all.

That seemed normal – Su Ruixi didn’t look like someone who would post often on Moments.

While Sun Miao was checking Su Ruixi’s account, Su Ruixi was actually examining Sun Miao’s. While waiting for the elevator, she discreetly opened Sun Miao’s profile.

Unlike her own minimalist profile picture, Sun Miao’s was a photo of her food cart. Upon opening it, the words “Miao Miao’s Mobile Food Bar” were clearly visible. Her ID was “Still Setting Up Shop Today.”

For a moment, Su Ruixi wondered if Sun Miao had added her using a business account. But thinking carefully, there was no reason for her to have separate accounts. Opening her Moments, the background was an animated smiling Shiba Inu, with the signature “Every day will be better.”

That silly Shiba Inu with that phrase immediately reminded Su Ruixi of Sun Miao’s smile. Come to think of it, her smile sometimes really did resemble that Shiba Inu’s expression.

However, in her Moments… there was nothing at all.

Su Ruixi pondered between whether Sun Miao wasn’t showing her Moments or simply had no posts, and chose to believe the latter. After all, Sun Miao clearly looked quite busy.

She guessed correctly this time – Sun Miao had transmigrated here less than a month ago and was indeed incredibly busy. All the accounts the system had registered for her were empty. The system had fabricated a past for her, but it was just records without traces, let alone any content in Moments.

After browsing Su Ruixi’s Moments, Sun Miao thought about how her own Moments was empty. She hesitated, then took out the third pancake she’d prepared for herself, placed it on a disposable container lid on her stainless steel table, and started arranging it for photos.

She took several shots but found none satisfactory.

This couldn’t be helped – what kind of good phone could the system buy her? This phone’s quality was terrible, being barely able to scroll through videos was already its limit. The camera was especially poor, unable to take any decent photos.

However, the beef pancake still looked impressive on the phone, because Sun Miao’s beef pancakes were naturally photogenic, their golden-brown crispy appearance visible even through the subpar camera.

She didn’t dare imagine how good the photos could look with a better camera.

But well, she didn’t have those means…

Sun Miao mumbled while selecting some nice shots, posted them to her Moments, added some text and location.

【Selling beef pancakes here for seven consecutive days starting today, available in spicy and non-spicy flavors. The spicy isn’t too hot, and you can add extra chili sauce~】 After typing and sending, she received several likes within moments.

Mainly from Hip-hop Mei and her friends, including one who lived in Su Ruixi’s complex and had come to eat malatang because of a friend’s recommendation. Hip-hop Mei commented: 【Already tried it, delicious, recommended. The spicy version isn’t too hot, I need extra chili sauce. The sauce is tasty, yummy, hope you’ll sell the chili sauce separately.】

Her friend responded below: 【Really? You’ve tried it already? I was planning to buy some after work.】

Sun Miao waited a while before receiving a notification showing Su Ruixi had also liked her post. Her lips curved up involuntarily, thinking that Su Ruixi must have hesitated before liking it, right? After all, she knew Hip-hop Mei, and might have worried about being teased if Hip-hop Mei saw her like.

Sun Miao’s guess wasn’t wrong at all, but she hadn’t quite grasped the specific thought process, after all, they’d only known each other for such a short time.

After seeing Hip-hop Mei’s like, Su Ruixi only hesitated for a moment before hitting like. Her lips curved slightly as she put her phone away into her pocket.

Hip-hop Mei had just been bragging about joining Sun Miao’s fan group, but look, now she had added Sun Miao as a friend. Moreover, Hip-hop Mei didn’t know that she would be getting Sun Miao’s special soup.

Of course, she couldn’t tell her about this. If Hip-hop Mei were to ask Sun Miao for the same, given Sun Miao’s personality, she probably wouldn’t refuse.

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