The Final Lesson
Even though Su Ruixi told Sun Miao, “I already sent it to them,” Sun Miao still couldn’t lie down. She stubbornly picked up her phone and, in a daze, started tapping at it. It was only when Su Ruixi, at her side, reminded her which character was wrong and needed to be changed that she finally sent the complete sentence.
After sending it, she could finally rest properly this time.
Watching this, Su Ruixi felt both sad and amused. She gently patted Sun Miao, as if coaxing a small child to sleep, and finally managed to lull her into slumber. She herself couldn’t quite fall asleep. The things Sun Miao did before bed replayed in her mind, scene by scene.
Sun Miao… she should be quite fond of her parents, or rather, she was also trying hard to treat them as family. But there was still a boundary. After all, no matter how much Sun Miao liked them, she would never treat them the same way she treated Su Ruixi.
To Sun Miao, Su Ruixi was still her one and only family and lover.
She also knew that Sun Miao was good to them because they were her own parents.
Of course, some of it was also due to Sun Miao’s own reasons. Having grown up in an orphanage, she had never felt the presence of family, which was why she so stubbornly wanted a home of her own. At times like these, she would especially cherish the goodwill shown by others.
It was precisely because she thought of this that Su Ruixi felt a little sad.
Her Miaomiao had truly had a bitter past.
But now that she has me, everything is different. Miaomiao’s life will definitely get better~
With this thought, Su Ruixi also set her mind at ease and had a good night’s sleep. The next day, they genuinely woke up late. When Su Ruixi awoke, Sun Miao was just groggily getting up. Thanks to Su Ruixi’s attentive care after she got drunk last night, Sun Miao didn’t feel any pain, just a bit tired.
She got up and made some breakfast. This time, the old customers didn’t have the thick skin to come over and scrounge a meal. Hip-hop Mei had the inclination, but Yabi Mei had her by the collar, making it impossible for her to come over.
They ate a relatively quiet breakfast. Only after everyone else had gotten up and padded their stomachs with things like instant noodles and small buns was the person assigned to drive for them sent over. Focusing her eyes to look1, it turned out to be Zhou Ling.
Sun Miao couldn’t help but widen her eyes. “Zhou Ling… you can drive?”
“I can. I’m an adult now. My mom had me learn during summer vacation, and I’ve had my license for two or three months. Xiao Sun-jiejie, don’t worry, there will definitely be no problem.”
Su Ruixi also said, “I also went to learn when I graduated from high school. It’s actually not hard, quite simple. Miaomiao, if you have time, you can go learn it too. It’s very quick.”
“Although you can’t go on the highway in your first year after getting your license, don’t I have Su-jiejie next to me? Su-jiejie is an old driver2 with over three years of experience. With her sitting next to me, it’ll be fine.”
Zhou Ling was actually a very steady driver. Although she had never driven a camper van, her C-class license permitted it. She skillfully pressed the brake, shifted gears, and then stepped on the gas to start the vehicle. The entire process was completed in one breath. Zhou Ling drove a little slowly, but they weren’t in a hurry, and there weren’t many cars on the road, so just cruising along slowly was fine.
Once they got to the hotel, everyone returned to their respective rooms. If nothing else, no one had showered last night. Now that they were back, everyone had been marinated until flavorful3. The most genuine thought for everyone at this moment was to return to their rooms, wash up, and then get a good sleep.
After they woke up, it was time for the return journey. Su Ruixi and Sun Miao were the first to leave; the two of them had booked their tickets for tomorrow long ago. The others, however, seemed to have tacitly agreed to go back on the 9th. There was no other way. They couldn’t very well take the same flight home as Sun Miao after just making up an excuse, could they?
If Su Ruixi saw them, wouldn’t she tear them all apart alive?
Su Ruixi’s company was also scheduled to start work on the 9th, which happened to be a Monday. On her first day back at the office, Su Ruixi heard people from another company complaining in the elevator lobby: “I really don’t know what the people who arrange adjusted rest days4 are thinking. National Day5 connected to Mid-Autumn6, and Mid-Autumn was on the 7th, yet they didn’t add a couple more days off. I spent Mid-Autumn Festival two nights ago on the road, worked all day yesterday, a Sunday, and then I open my eyes today, haha, it’s Monday.”
“Seriously, connecting Mid-Autumn to National Day, you’d think they could give a couple more days off.”
“But more days off means having to make them up later, which is even more exhausting.”
“By the way, you know that company upstairs from us? The one that was voted TOP 1 by the cattle and horses7 as the company women most aspire to.”
“What about it?”
“Hahaha, they got an extra day off and are only starting work today. Yesterday was a paid holiday. I’m so envious I could cry.”
As the two of them were talking, they reached their company’s floor and got off. Su Ruixi, who had been standing beside them and heard the whole thing, felt her back straighten with even more pride. Although her reason for the extra day off was because she herself couldn’t make it back—how could she possibly return with Sun Miao on the night of the 7th and spend Mid-Autumn Festival on the road?
She would definitely have to finish celebrating Mid-Autumn Festival before slowly making her way back.
Su Ruixi had always been a person who used her own body to set the rule8. If she herself wasn’t even at the company, how could she let her employees come in? With the backbone not even present, what was the use of the cattle and horses? So, Su Ruixi was very straightforward and gave her employees an extra day off as well.
Su Ruixi did indeed have a bit of a capitalist mindset, but it was also because of her arrogance and self-importance—her belief that she was the most important one—that she would do such a thing. But the fact that she could do it already put her leagues above most capitalists, making her the most conscientious one of them all.
Most importantly, Su Ruixi would also put Sun Miao in others’ shoes. The moment she saw the miserable appearances of her own employees, she couldn’t help but think: Before my Miaomiao came to this world, in her own world, was she also such a beast of burden?
Thinking like this, Su Ruixi couldn’t help but be a little more tolerant toward her employees.
If the employees at Su Ruixi’s company knew her thoughts, they would probably start worshiping Sun Miao as well. In any case, they were already worshiping Su Ruixi, and they had already resolved to live and die with the company. A boss like Su Ruixi who treated her female employees so well was truly hard to find! Not to mention the company benefits were so good!
When they learned about the extra day off, even though they had sworn to “absolutely not empathize with the capitalist,” they couldn’t help but think: Will Boss Su really not lose money by doing this? Sob sob sob, Boss Su is too good.
After spending a day of leisure, on the 10th, Sun Miao was hauled into the System Space early in the morning by the System. She knew it was time for her to continue with the food stall. The System had given her a very long vacation; she couldn’t be lazy anymore.
And because she was well-rested, her attitude toward the System was: bring it on.
What Sun Miao had not anticipated from the start was that the System wasn’t in a hurry to teach her the next delicacy she would be selling. Instead, it told her very directly: 【Host, this is the last time I will be teaching you a delicacy. After this, I must leave to find a new host. The time, location, and food to be sold for every stall session hereafter will be decided by you.】
Although she had known for a long time that the System would leave, when the day truly arrived, Sun Miao was still frozen in astonishment.
She was stunned for a moment, and only after a long while did she say, “Are you really leaving?” She had originally thought she could wave goodbye to the System coolly, just as she had when facing everyone else’s departure in the past.
When leaving the orphanage and parting with the director and her friends, Sun Miao had been very composed. With a warm and radiant smile on her face, she told them, “Don’t miss me, okay? I’ll come back to visit from time to time,” and then waved goodbye, not leaving anything behind, not even a single tear.
When moving out of the shared rental apartment, her roommate’s face was streaked with tears, but Sun Miao remained like a light wind and pale clouds9, telling her, “It’s okay, I’m still in this city. If you miss me, you can come see me anytime.” Then she packed up all her things and went to the small house she longed for with all her heart and mind10 and saved up to buy.
Even in this world, when she moved out of the rental in the suburbs, she flicked her sleeves as she left, untethered by anything.
Because she was a person without ties. With no roots, Sun Miao was like a floating cloud, drifting wherever the wind took her. The pain of parting didn’t exist, because her life was a constant series of farewells. But now, she had a place to return to and possessed far too much. Even facing farewells, she was beginning to feel reluctant to part.
So she couldn’t be as composed as she had imagined. Instead, she said words of persuasion: “But, I still have many shortcomings. Look, my knife skills11 aren’t very good, and I can’t compare to Jiang-jie. There are many other cuisines I haven’t even touched. If you leave just like this, can you really be at ease?”
Hearing Sun Miao’s words, the System was actually quite happy, because it could feel her reluctance to see it go, her unwillingness to part, and her attempt to make it stay. In truth, it didn’t want to leave the host either, because this was the first host it had ever been bound to, and it had encountered such a good one.
It truly didn’t want to go.
But Sun Miao had already completed her apprenticeship, and the Main System had also notified it that it was time to let go. So it wasn’t that it wanted to leave, but that it could not stay.
The System directly informed Sun Miao: 【Host, you can already graduate. To address the problem with your knife skills, for our final snack, we have chosen—Pagoda Meat12.】 This couldn’t really be called a snack; it was a dish of very high difficulty. But it didn’t matter. Since she had made Lion’s Head Meatball13 and Braised Abalone in its Original Shell14 before, what was wrong with making Pagoda Meat for the finale?
The price would be 588, with 20 portions sold each day, stopping once they were sold out.
Sun Miao actually quite liked selling this kind of snack, because—it sold out fast, which meant she had more time for herself, more time to rest, and more time to be clingy with Su Ruixi.
But the moment she thought about this being her last time with the System, she felt that the three-month learning period didn’t seem very long after all. The System had made it clear; it probably couldn’t stay any longer. Sun Miao could only sigh, “I haven’t even held your farewell party yet.”
【It’s alright. My departure time is after this stall session ends. Host still has time to hold one for me during this period.】
The System didn’t understand the human heart; it never seemed to pick up on Sun Miao’s intention to procrastinate. She always felt that she could still spend a long time with the System. Although she said she would hold a party for it, she never did, because she always assumed they still had a lot of time to spend together.
“Yes, I will hold one.”
They didn’t have much time to be sad in spring and feel sentimental in autumn15. In the remaining time, she had to, under the System’s urging, learn this dish that was an extreme test of one’s knife skills.
Sun Miao stood before the preparation station, her hand gripping the most simple and unadorned kitchen knife.
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