Setting Up Stalls – Chapter 272

Really Drank Too Much

Sun Miao finished grilling all the barbecue. Over there, Yuan Xiangyi also came over and told her to go check on the roast lamb chops. She went over, took a peek, waited a little longer, and then announced that the roast lamb chops were also ready. With that done, everything for tonight was finished, and they could start eating right away.

Everyone moved their chairs over. They kept the biggest bonfire going but extinguished the other two smaller ones.

The sight of everyone sitting in chairs in a circle around the fire reminded Su Ruixi of elementary school, when everyone would sit in a circle on the playground to play Drop the Handkerchief. But Sun Miao, who was walking around the outside, wasn’t dropping a handkerchief; she was holding the lamb chops and distributing them to everyone. Although three racks of lamb had been prepared, in reality, each person only got two ribs; there really wasn’t any more than that.

However, everyone had brought plenty of other food, plus the other things Sun Miao had made, so getting full wouldn’t be an issue.

As Sun Miao carried the lamb chops around distributing them one by one, she really felt like everyone was an elementary school student. They held those disposable barbecue plates in their hands, heads tilted up, eyes shining as they looked at her.

Those at the front who had already received theirs had lowered their heads and started to greatly satisfy their jaws¹, gnawing away. They all abandoned their chopsticks, choosing to gnaw on the meat directly with their hands. Occasionally, muffled praise could be heard: “Little Boss Sun’s cooking is so good, I’ve really never had such delicious roast lamb chops! Even though there’s a slight gaminess, it doesn’t make you feel sick at all; on the contrary, that hint of gamey flavor makes the lamb taste even more fragrant.”

“Delicious! It’s so delicious! I didn’t expect it to be this good without removing all the gamey smell!”

Although their words were muffled, everyone heard them clearly. As a result, the people further down the line stared with eyes not looking sideways² at Sun Miao and the roast lamb chops in her hands.

Especially the next person in line, who suddenly became so nervous they didn’t know where to look. If they stared constantly, they would look incredibly greedy, but the aroma had already wafted over, and shifting their attention away was no simple task. Their stomach started to rumble, and their mouth began to water. They put on a pose and struck an attitude³ to look to the side for a moment, but their eyes would unconsciously drift back to Sun Miao.

When it was finally their turn, they still had to put on a mold and make a shape⁴, feigning a sense of, “Ah, is it my turn already?”

It felt quite a bit like when colleagues distribute candy or tangerines at work.

After completing the circle and ensuring everyone had two ribs to eat, Sun Miao carried the few remaining lamb chops back to Su Ruixi’s side. Of course, her and Su Ruixi’s portions certainly wouldn’t be skimpy. These extra lamb chops were also for Susu-jie!

Sun Miao wasn’t the type of person who loved to sacrifice herself; in her heart, Su Ruixi and she herself came first.

When she returned to her seat, Hip-hop Mei next to them poked her head over and asked, “Little Boss Sun, there’s a little bit left, give it to me…” Before she even finished speaking, she saw Su Ruixi glaring at her. Su Ruixi held significant authority over her, so Hip-hop Mei could only sheepishly retreat, pretending she had never mentioned it at all.

There was meat to eat, but no alcohol to drink. However, someone had still traveled a thousand li⁵ with alcohol, and they opened a case now. Someone asked about driving, and someone else said, “I won’t drink, I’ll drive.” They gathered a few people like this, enough to ensure the cars could be driven back.

Sun Miao didn’t need to drive, mainly because she didn’t even have a driver’s license. The regular customers hadn’t forgotten about Sun Miao either and had long since found someone to drive their camping car⁶. So, both Sun Miao and Su Ruixi were poured a glass of wine.

Su Ruixi’s tolerance was actually quite good; in the business world, she always had to drink a bit during business banquets. Although she didn’t like drinking, she could hold her liquor when she had to.

Since getting together with Sun Miao, she had barely touched alcohol. Mainly because she declined all the business banquets she could, and tried to move the unavoidable ones to lunch. Perhaps because the situation for lunch and dinner is different—most people have to go back to work after lunch—so they don’t drink much either.

Drinking less for work, combined with usually driving herself, meant that the number of times she drank at home was naturally few.

Most importantly, when she met Sun Miao, she had stomach issues, so naturally, she couldn’t drink much anyway.

However, Su Ruixi’s tolerance was still there, so having a few glasses wasn’t an issue for her at all. But Su Ruixi hadn’t expected that Sun Miao’s tolerance was truly terrible. The wine wasn’t actually that strong, at most twenty or thirty percent alcohol, a bit higher than beer.

Sun Miao was an adult, and since she was right there beside her, Su Ruixi didn’t tell her not to drink. She just watched Sun Miao obediently taking sip after sip, pouring herself another glass after finishing the first, and continuing to drink. Truth be told, Su Ruixi also thought the wine tasted pretty good.

It was a fruit wine, somewhat sweet with a hint of alcohol; even someone as picky as Su Ruixi found it quite palatable. It was no wonder Sun Miao was drinking so much; there was a reason for it.

Last time the Hip-hop Yabi Duo went to their house to mooch a meal, they had also brought some fruit wine. But that fruit wine had a low alcohol content; Sun Miao had drunk a lot and only felt slightly tipsy. She never imagined that the alcohol content of this fruit wine would be so high, far beyond her limit.

So, without fail, Sun Miao drank too much and got drunk. Su Ruixi didn’t notice at first because Sun Miao was a quiet drunk; she didn’t get loud or rowdy, she just sat there obediently, continuing to sip away.

She was acting very normal when passing things to Su Ruixi. Although her cheeks were redder than usual, that was normal when drinking. It was only when Su Ruixi reached over to take her glass and tell her to stop that she realized Sun Miao had already had too much.

Having her glass taken away, Sun Miao was unhappy. She squinted at Su Ruixi. “Susu-jie, I’m still drinking!” Her tone was slightly petulant, sounding like she was acting spoiled. Sun Miao was usually a pretty serious young woman; she only showed this charmingly naive side in private. To be acting this spoiled in front of so many people was definitely a bit abnormal.

Su Ruixi took one look and was stunned: She really is drunk.

Before Su Ruixi could say a word, Sun Miao leaned in, burying her head in Su Ruixi’s embrace like a puppy, her nose twitching as she sniffed around. Su Ruixi glanced around first; she felt like people were secretly watching them, but the moment she looked up, she saw that everyone was busy with their own affairs.

“Miaomiao, you’ve had too much.” Su Ruixi lifted the hand holding the wine glass a little higher to prevent the wine from sloshing out and spilling onto Sun Miao.

But Sun Miao shook her head in Su Ruixi’s arms. “No, I didn’t.”

While the two of them were arguing about whether Sun Miao was drunk or not, someone suddenly spoke up: “Look, the moon is so big!”

The moment that voice rang out, almost everyone looked up at the sky.

They say the moon of the fifteenth is round on the sixteenth⁷, but right now, the moon in the sky was huge. It hung low, looking as if it were within reach. It was so large, so bright, hanging against the backdrop of the sky, bathing everyone in its glow.

But at the same time, the stars were shining too—specks of light, countless numbers of them hanging in the sky.

Many people think that if the moon is very bright, it will outshine the stars, making them invisible. But here in the desert, when you look up at the sky, you can see the moonlight and starlight shine and reflect upon each other⁸.

They were the best performers on the canvas of the dark night, together adorning the entire evening sky to sparkle and generate brightness⁹.

“Miaomiao, look, it’s the moon.”

When that person shouted earlier, Sun Miao had lifted her head, nestling in Su Ruixi’s arms to look at the moon in the night sky. She reached out her hand in a daze, as if she wanted to pluck the moon from the sky. Because she was drunk, her voice was a bit slurred and confused: “Mmh… it’s also the first Mid-Autumn we’ve spent together, hehehe…”

The drunk girl smiled foolishly, but she still remembered that this was the first Mid-Autumn Festival they were spending together. Because of this one sentence from Sun Miao, Su Ruixi’s entire heart went incredibly soft. She stopped looking at the moon in the sky and instead looked down at Sun Miao in her arms.

Her smile was so silly; how could she be so lovable?

Su Ruixi reached out and ruffled Sun Miao’s hair. Sun Miao didn’t mind at all, acting just like a large dog that Su Ruixi could casually rua¹⁰.

While the two of them were quietly being affectionate, someone just had to come and ruin the atmosphere. Hip-hop Mei suddenly said loudly, “Oh right, the mooncakes we all made today!”

Her voice made Su Ruixi look up at her. The meaning contained in that gaze was immediately understood by this tagalong who had practically grown up following Su Ruixi around: Is that really what “you guys” made? Without Miaomiao, could you have made anything?

Without Su Ruixi needing to say another word, Hip-hop Mei immediately added, “Of course, Little Boss Sun actually made them. We just assembled them and pressed them into the molds. Essentially, all the credit goes to Little Boss Sun!”

Only then did Su Ruixi nod with satisfaction.

The Hip-hop Yabi Duo took a few people into the camping car, took the Snow Skin Mooncakes¹¹ out of the fridge, and distributed them to everyone. Su Ruixi was also handed hers and Sun Miao’s—two for each of them, symbolizing good things coming in pairs.

Su Ruixi didn’t rush to eat hers; she put one in Sun Miao’s hand and let her eat first.

Sun Miao was truly well-behaved; even drunk, she didn’t cause trouble for anyone. She obediently held the mooncake and took a gentle bite. Seeing that she had started eating, Su Ruixi picked up her own and took a bite.

This Snow Skin Mooncake was truly delicious. The outer skin was made of glutinous rice; it was soft and smooth with a slight chewiness. It had been frozen solid in the freezer during the day and only moved to the fridge in the afternoon, so it was biteable now. If it had stayed in the freezer, it would have been too hard to bite into.

The temperature in the desert dropped sharply at night, so eating something this cold could freeze your teeth off. Fortunately, everyone had been eating with hot fire facing the sky¹² just moments ago, so they were feeling warm. Eating something icy and cool actually hit the spot.

Inside the skin, there was a layer of cream. The cream had hardened after being frozen, but now it had softened again, though it still had some ice crystals, making for a rich texture. Further inside was Sun Miao’s homemade jam.

The Snow Skin Mooncake Su Ruixi got was filled with strawberry jam. That jam was truly delicious; at first, you could taste the sweetness, followed by tiny bits of strawberry. With one bite, the sweetness spread through her mouth, bringing an unconscious smile to her face.

No one can refuse sweets.

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