Setting Up Stalls – Chapter 286

Won’t Fall for It Again

It seemed that every time Su Ruixi planned to hoard Sun Miao’s cooking all to herself, the universe conspired against her.

Just like today. It was 3:30 PM, the universal hour for afternoon tea. Su Ruixi had been fiercely determined to stick to her diet lately, but she was saving her calorie allowance specifically for the Langya Potatoes¹ Sun Miao had promised her. She had forcefully suppressed her cravings all day, refusing even a single snack, just so she could go home later and indulge properly.

But unexpectedly, Sun Miao sent a message saying she had already called a courier² to deliver the Langya Potatoes. They would be arriving at Su Ruixi’s location any minute.

Su Ruixi had been sitting properly in her office chair, ready to buckle down and work, but the notification made her freeze. Her first reaction was, naturally, pure joy. She immediately replied with a sticker³.

Su Ruixi wasn’t usually the type to save sticker packs, but modern chat apps were terrifyingly convenient; the emoticon bar had a search box where you could type in keywords and a whole pile of options would jump out. Su Ruixi picked one at random to avoid the awkward stiffness that sometimes plagued her texting style.

Beside her avatar, a cute cartoon rabbit hugging a carrot popped up, its mouth wide open as a large character for “Good” bounced out.

After the joy faded, a wave of distress washed over her. She had just steeled her resolve to skip afternoon tea today! She was supposed to be losing weight! And yet, here was Sun Miao, ruthlessly destroying her Dao Heart⁴! This sweet, agonizing torture was something only Su Ruixi could bear.

Not long after, the runner called. Unfortunately, Su Ruixi was in the middle of a video meeting. She glanced at her phone, saw the courier notification, and rejected the call. She messaged him to leave it at the front desk, where the receptionist would give him the pickup code.

Once the meeting finally wrapped up, Su Ruixi messaged her assistant to bring the delivery in.

When she saw the insulated box, Su Ruixi sensed something was wrong. It was huge. When she opened it, the contents were glittering and dazzling, filling her eyes⁵—it was packed to the brim with Langya Potatoes.

Sun Miao had specially bought disposable paper cups for packaging. Since it was for takeout, the paper lids were carefully secured and clamped down with paper tape. Two wooden picks were taped to the top of each lid, and finally, everything was bagged in plastic and tied with a beautiful knot.

Looking at the haul, Su Ruixi felt a mix of happiness and annoyance. She was happy because Sun Miao really thought about her, preparing so many servings. A rough count showed at least fifteen or twenty cups. Knowing that Sun Miao’s stall only sold about a hundred portions a day, the fact that Su Ruixi had received one-fifth of the total stock clearly proved Sun Miao’s favoritism.

The annoyance came from the fact that Miaomiao was being too generous again, sending food to the company where it would just benefit the employees. Su Ruixi didn’t want to share Sun Miao’s cooking with anyone, but she had enough self-awareness to know she couldn’t physically eat twenty cups of potatoes.

Under her assistant’s watchful gaze, Su Ruixi took out three cups. She felt confident she could finish them.

But her assistant, being a trusted confidante, dropped a heavy truth bomb that forced Su Ruixi to put one back. “President Su, didn’t you say you wanted to lose weight? Potatoes are pretty high in calories.”

“…Fine.”

Having successfully saved an extra portion for the pack, the assistant smiled and carried the remaining eighteen servings out the door. Back in the assistants’ office, she planned to use the “choose your own afternoon tea” perk to trick some people into giving up their share of the Langya Potatoes. But after the last time, it was obvious no one was going to fall for it again.

Some people had even seen the assistant carrying the insulated box into Su Ruixi’s office and started speculating.

“That thing the department head had… was that a delivery thermal box?”

“Yes, yes, and it went straight to President Su’s office.”

“Miss Sun didn’t come herself last time? Did something hold her up today, so she called a runner?”

“Wow, you’ve already decided it was made by Miss Sun.”

“I’m not saying anything else, but Miss Sun’s cooking is genuinely delicious. Even with that box sealed so tight, not a bit of the smell leaked out.”

“A box that big couldn’t be holding just a little bit of food, right? Maybe it’s like last time—lots of portions.”

There were words they didn’t even speak aloud. Instead, the moment the topic died down, they looked at each other, their eyes staring like a tiger watching prey⁶. The message was clear: No matter what food was delivered today, I am getting a share! Don’t even think about fighting me for it!

Raging fire burned in the assistants’ eyes. When Su Ruixi’s Executive Assistant⁷ walked over carrying the box, everyone’s gaze locked onto her with perfect coordination.

Under that kind of pressure, even the Executive Assistant, who had seen her fair share of intense situations, couldn’t help but swallow nervously. Still, she tried to maintain her image of being wind light, clouds pale⁸ and approachable, repeating the same offer she made last time.

Last time, most people had chosen the “choose your own tea” package. This time, however, they all spoke in unison: “Oh my, we should save the company some money. Besides, this is a kind gesture from President Su’s good friend, Miss Sun. We shouldn’t make the company spend extra. I’ll just taste the food Miss Sun made.”

“Yes, yes, I’ll eat this too. Department Head, what did Miss Sun send? Is it good?”

The Executive Assistant forced the corners of her mouth into a stiff smile before answering one by one. “It was sent by Miss Sun, but we only have 18 portions. It’s not enough to go around no matter how we split it.” She brought up the old topic again. “So, is there really no colleague who wants the self-selected afternoon tea? That small cake shop in the mall next door is quite good. A slice is fifty or sixty yuan, pretty expensive. The boss is treating today—if you’re not plucking wool⁹, you’re plucking for nothing¹⁰.”

But the assistants in front of her remained completely silent. They just looked at her with pairs of sparkling eyes that clearly said: Don’t try to scam us.

The main issue was that Su Ruixi was genuinely generous. She treated them to afternoon tea four or five times a month. They could always pluck the wool and eat expensive cake then. But snacks sent by Sun Miao? Those were rare.

Out of options, the Executive Assistant knew this group wouldn’t be tricked like the first time. She spread her hands, deciding to smash the broken jar and be done with it¹¹. “No choice then. Since it’s like this, we have to split it. Draw lots. Long strip gets a full portion, short strip shares half. Otherwise, there’s no way.”

Everyone agreed this was a fair method and nodded.

Sun Miao hadn’t anticipated that preparing twenty portions would be too few. She had walked past the assistant’s office before, but the assistants weren’t always at their desks. Some were out on field work, some were collaborating with other departments, so the room was rarely full.

When Sun Miao had done a rough headcount previously, she thought 19 portions would definitely be enough. She hadn’t expected Su Ruixi to skim off two portions for herself, nor that the Assistant Department had far more people than she saw.

To be honest, Sun Miao found it hard to imagine a company’s assistant department having so many people. Her previous company was a true small business. They didn’t even have a Vice President, just a General Manager. The Finance Department and HR Department head were both the boss’s wife working part-time. The receptionist was the sister-in-law, and the colleague sitting near her was the boss’s nephew.

In that kind of family workshop, there was no such thing as an assistant department. She had subconsciously judged Su Ruixi’s department based on the size of her old finance team. In her old job, those two departments combined only had four or five people, so she assumed her preparation was perfectly adequate.

She never expected it to be completely insufficient.

However, no one really minded. After all, they just wanted a taste; a few bites were enough. But as the Langya Potatoes were finished off, the colleagues who drew the half-portions looked at those still eating with eyes glowing green, like hungry wolves staring at fresh meat. Those who won a full portion quickly turned away to hide their potatoes, terrified they’d be robbed by the pack.

They didn’t know that while they were finishing up, the regular customers were already lining up at the stall. Sun Miao’s start time today was 4:30 PM. She hadn’t set a specific end time for herself—she’d just leave when she sold out. Without the System, this was one area where she had total freedom. When to set up, when to leave—it was all her call.

If it got too late, Sun Miao might even pack up and leave without selling everything.

But usually, Sun Miao didn’t have to sell for long. Even with everything made to order, she estimated it would only take an hour or two.

This time, the Hip-hop Yabi Duo had finally reclaimed their spot at the front of the line. Their smug expressions made the other customers grind their teeth in irritation. “Yo, it’s not like last time with the Pagoda Meat¹². You finally managed to line up first.”

Hip-hop Mei got choked by the comment but immediately whipped her head around. “I ate Pagoda Meat at least twice! You only had a few bites and you’re over there snapping at me. It’s only because she’s selling a high volume of Langya Potatoes that you even get a turn. Since the potatoes aren’t limited, do you believe I’ll buy them all in one breath?”

After being clapped back by Hip-hop Mei, the heckler fell silent, pretending not to hear as they lowered their head to queue obediently.

Hip-hop Mei couldn’t actually bring herself to buy out the entire stock—she was genuinely afraid of being blocked by Sun Miao. So, she only bought three portions. Yabi Mei, having a smaller appetite, ordered two. Sun Miao dumped them all into the fryer at once. Start frying.

Hip-hop Mei was still a little worried, whispering instructions. “Little Boss Sun, don’t short my quantity and put it all in her bowl instead.”

Sun Miao was wearing a mask and busy frying, so she didn’t really want to talk. She just glanced at Hip-hop Mei.

Yabi Mei kicked her friend. “Don’t you know Little Boss Sun’s skill level? She knows the weight just by tossing the ladle. You think she’d mess up something this small?”

Hip-hop Mei took the kick without getting angry, laughing “Haha” twice. “I was just saying.”

Once the frying was done and the excess oil drained, the fried potatoes went into a large stainless steel basin. Sun Miao asked the two in front of her, “Same flavor as before?” With a light flick of her hand, the condiment station revealed itself directly to the Xiha Yabi Duo.

The old Sun Miao would usually only offer spicy or non-spicy, maybe adjusting the heat level or the amount of scallions and garlic. This time, she had prepared a huge array of seasonings, clearly taking the “customization route”.

Hip-hop Mei thought about the chili sauce Sun Miao made, and her mouth started watering frantically. But faced with the choice between her own ideas and letting Sun Miao have free rein, she chose the latter.

You have to be kidding—Hip-hop Mei had always felt that Sun Miao’s grasp of her taste buds was even clearer than her own!

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