Setting Up Stalls – Chapter 280

Preparing the Farewell Party

There were simply too many people that day. After returning home, Sun Miao was still complaining to Su Ruixi during dinner. “Honestly, a lot of them can’t buy it anyway, and having them line up like that makes me feel so Alexander.¹ They always say I don’t make enough, but I feel like there are just too many people. No matter how many portions I make, it’s never enough.”

At that moment, Su Ruixi offered a targeted suggestion. “Well, why don’t we just stop setting up a stall then?”

The system, which had already grown very confident in Sun Miao, immediately popped up with an exclamation point over its head. 【You see! You see! Host, you see! Your girlfriend’s too much, how could she say something like that! You absolutely can’t be seduced by a pretty face; you have to keep setting up a stall obediently!】

Sun Miao wasn’t in a hurry to comfort it. Instead, she said cheerfully, “If you’re so worried, then don’t leave.”

【…】 The system fell into a rare silence. Sun Miao knew it must be incredibly conflicted; it didn’t want to leave either. So, she offered a little comfort. “I’m just kidding. Don’t worry, I’ll be good and keep setting up a stall and not forget the original intention.”

When the system heard her say that, it was quite happy at first. But in the next second, it remembered what Sun Miao’s original intention was. They had discussed this issue before, and Sun Miao had told it very honestly, “It’s to make money.”

The thought made the system even more worried. What if, after I leave, the Host raises the prices sky-high?

But on second thought, Sun Miao wasn’t that kind of person. Although she valued money a lot, she was fundamentally a “small wealth is peace”² kind of person. She was also optimistic and kind and would never do something like sell at an exorbitant price. Rather than worrying about her overcharging, it should be more worried about her lowering the prices.

The system worriedly instructed her: 【After I’m gone, you have to remember to set prices according to my previous strategy. You get it. For big dishes, set them at 588. This price point should basically cover the cost of most big dishes. If there’s something especially expensive, you can raise it a bit, to 888 or 1588. As for snacks, they should be around the 30 or 50 mark.】

The system could be like an old mother³ at times. While eating, Sun Miao replied to it in her mind, Got it.

At the same time, she didn’t forget to reply to Su Ruixi. “Haha, let’s not do that. I like setting up a stall.” After chatting with the person and the system for a bit, she made another proposal. “Susu-jie, are you free on the evening of the 17th? I’m planning to throw a farewell party for the system.”

Su Ruixi nodded. “Okay.”

She felt a sense of joy that the system was finally leaving, but she was also worried that Sun Miao might be sad about its departure. She had indeed eaten a lot of the system’s vinegar⁴ before and had even used Sun Miao as an intermediary to have a remote argument with it. But since the system was leaving anyway, she had no reason not to agree to a farewell party.

When the system heard Sun Miao officially put the “farewell party” on the agenda, it couldn’t help but sigh. 【It’s really not necessary. I’m just a system.】

The system was a puppet of the main system, a mechanical existence that didn’t understand human hearts and had no emotions. Yet its Host, Sun Miao, seemed to treat it like a friend, treating it with genuine care. She was even giving it treatment no one else had ever received—throwing it a farewell party.

At this thought, the system felt its non-existent “heart” soften.

“It is necessary. It’s settled then.”

Sun Miao didn’t say this in her mind to the system but spoke it aloud. Across from her, Su Ruixi, who was eating, also nodded in affirmation.

To be honest, Su Ruixi had been quite busy lately. She had long had this idea of constructing her own building so she would never have to squeeze into an elevator again. And recently, this idea had begun to enter the practical stage. After returning from the National Day⁵ holiday and dealing with some backlogged work, she and her assistant had been running all over the city, looking for a suitable location.

To free up her time on Tuesday, the 17th, she had switched to overtime mode. She had to manage her work, select a suitable address, and conduct on-site inspections. And right at this time, Father Su had to call her to complain.

On the 13th, Sun Miao’s third day of setting up her stall, Su Ruixi received a call from her own father. Before she could even speak, Father Su started, and the first words out of his mouth were bad things about her girlfriend that Su Ruixi didn’t want to hear.

“I’m telling you, that little Sun is really thoughtless. She saw me yesterday but didn’t even think to send a portion of pagoda meat⁶ to your mother and me. She doesn’t care about us at all!” Father Su said, his chest filled with righteous indignation, but Su Ruixi immediately got the main point.

“So you went to line up for pagoda meat yesterday. Did you get any? Did you get to eat it?” Su Ruixi was able to speak to Father Su with a good voice and good air⁷ for a reason.

At that very moment, she was standing at one of her potential sites, looking at the office building in front of her, about to enter with her assistant. Hearing that she was on the phone, the assistant took the real estate agent aside to ask about some details that were unclear over the phone.

Father Su choked for a moment before answering, “I didn’t make it in the line…”

“So did you get to eat it?”

Father Su was so frustrated. His daughter was just too sharp. “I got two pieces from a friend.”

Su Ruixi understood. He had eaten some, but it wasn’t enough. He was craving it badly and felt he couldn’t get it by queuing himself, so he called her, hoping to break through from the side. She also got another piece of information: her mother hadn’t eaten any. Otherwise, it would have been Ms. Shen Yiqiu herself who Didi’d⁸ Sun Miao directly.

A look of someone with a victory ticket in hand⁹ appeared on her face, and she immediately changed the subject. “Oh, so you were eating exclusive food¹⁰ without my mom.”

“!!!” For a moment, Father Su wanted to hang up the phone right then and there. But before he could, he heard Su Ruixi continue on the other end, “If you hang up now, I’ll tell Mom immediately and have her come over to eat pagoda meat without you.”

“…What do you want?”

When Father Su said this, there was an unavoidable hint of resentment in his voice. Su Ruixi laughed. “I’m a little short on cash for something I’m buying. Wire it to me.”

Father Su breathed a sigh of relief. “Oh, how much are you short?”

“Not much. Three hundred million.”

Father Su choked. Three hundred million in cash was a lot, okay! Who had that much cash lying around these days? He took a deep breath and asked Su Ruixi why she needed so much money, and also tried to bargain for a lower amount.

After hearing that Su Ruixi wanted to buy a building for her company’s base, he was even more speechless. “Your dinky little company needs to buy a whole building? Isn’t it fine to just squeeze in at the old office building?”

“Squeezing into the elevator wastes my time, and I get home late. With my own building, I won’t have to squeeze.”

In reality, as the boss, Su Ruixi could leave a little earlier. But Su Ruixi was a stubborn donkey;¹¹ she led by example and would never leave work early. But if it was her own building, there would be no problem. She could even put the president’s office on the second floor and just zip right downstairs.

Su Ruixi had originally planned to have an elevator reserved just for herself, but after careful consideration, she decided against it.

Because that kind of thing was too capitalist!¹² Too evil! Monopolizing an elevator and not letting employees use it… if Sun Miao found out, she would look at her with strange eyes. So it was better to take the stairs. She could get some exercise, too.

After a few rounds of you pull, I tug¹³ with Father Su, Su Ruixi still managed to get one hundred million. She hung up the phone with a “Tch,” knowing full well her old man had money.

She had been looking for a chance to call Father Su anyway, but she never expected him to run right into the wood-granary opening¹⁴ himself. Su Ruixi was genuinely grateful to Sun Miao. If it weren’t for her, getting the money probably wouldn’t have been so smooth. With the money secured, she felt more confident. She called her assistant over, and they went straight upstairs to begin their inspection.

Buying the building was an urgent matter for Su Ruixi. After all, even after buying it, she couldn’t use it right away. The office building would only come with basic renovations; she would have to get a fine decoration done herself, or it would be uninhabitable. And since it was her own building, she had to put up a particularly eye-catching sign.

Besides, even after the renovations were done, they couldn’t move in immediately. They would have to let it air out for at least half a year to get rid of the formaldehyde.¹⁵

Sun Miao had complained to her before that her boss at the company she was at before she transmigrated was particularly heartless. After the company moved, they were forced into the new place less than two weeks later, becoming human formaldehyde absorbers. Whenever Su Ruixi heard about things like this, she would feel so sorry for Sun Miao that she would cry Xili huala.¹⁶

She could never do something like making her employees move in and absorb formaldehyde. She couldn’t even have such a thought. The moment she did, she would see a mini-version of Sun Miao, teary-eyed, typing at a computer in an office full of formaldehyde.

Her conscience truly couldn’t take it.

Besides setting up her stall, Sun Miao was also busy. She was busy thinking about how to throw a farewell party for the system. While she was thinking, she even had the system block itself from her thoughts. She was determined to give the system a surprise.

But this had become an old, big, difficult problem for Sun Miao. The system was a system, an entity without even a physical form. How could she hold a party for it? She couldn’t just set up some electronic pickled mustard,¹⁷ could she? She broke the brain thinking¹⁸ about it and finally came up with a rough plan.

First, she found a little painter hand¹⁹ online to create a super cute design of the two characters for “system.” Then, she found a custom doll manufacturer to put the two characters on a specially shaped throw pillow. Sun Miao didn’t know if the system could take the pillow with it. If it could, she would let it take it. If not, she would keep it by her side to show the system that even after it left, she would always think of it.

In addition, she also hand-wrote a thank-you letter, printed out every dish the system had taught her to make, and placed them inside, learning many fancy crafting techniques from videos.

Sun Miao was nimble-fingered, but making this kind of DIY scrapbook for the first time was still a bit difficult. Fortunately, she had plenty of time and managed to finish it before the 17th. The throw pillow had also arrived, and she had hidden it in her closet, just waiting to give the system a surprise on the 17th.

She also ordered a small cake. Even if the system couldn’t eat it, she wanted it to experience the joy of blowing out candles.

Time trickled by until the morning of the 17th. This was the last day she would be selling pagoda meat, but there weren’t as many people as on the first day. To be precise, after the explosive popularity of the first and second days, the numbers had started to drop from the third day onward, as people realized they wouldn’t be able to get a spot in line.

Although the people who came early were still very early, the total number of people was not as exaggerated as before, which was a relief for Sun Miao.

On the seventh day, Sun Miao also saw a few old customers she hadn’t seen in a long time.

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