Setting Up Stalls – Chapter 291

It’s Snowing!

Sun Miao nodded briskly. She genuinely wanted the link.

It wasn’t that she planned on wearing them herself.

Sun Miao was the type of person who was extremely afraid of the cold. While the hip-hop girl needed her older sister to force her into Autumn Pants¹, Sun Miao had pulled hers on long ago, terrified of catching a chill. But compared to her, Su Ruixi stubbornly refused to wear them.

Even in this weather, Su Ruixi was still in suit pants. Dressed in tailored trousers and high heels, she looked fantastic, but just looking at her made Sun Miao feel cold. Su Ruixi, however, was unfazed. She kept her outfits simple: a blouse with an overcoat on top.

When Sun Miao brought it up, Su Ruixi had a ready excuse. “I’m not cold. Every morning, I preheat the car while I eat breakfast, so it’s warm the moment I get in. Then I drive to the company building, go straight to the elevator, and head up to the office, which is also heated.”

It sounded logical, but Sun Miao quickly saw through her vanity.

“But Susu-jie, the underground parking garage isn’t heated, and neither is the elevator. Sure, they’re not as cold as outside, but compared to your car or the office, that stretch is definitely chilly. Sudden drops in temperature like that, especially when you’re dressed so lightly, are an easy way to catch a cold.”

“Besides,” Sun Miao pressed, “aren’t you renovating that factory building you bought? When you move in next year, the parking lot will be outdoors. You’ll be even colder next winter.”

Seeing that Su Ruixi was unmoved, Sun Miao went for the critical point. “Susu-jie, you really haven’t gained much weight. You won’t look bulky even if you wear a thermal top and Autumn Pants underneath. Come on, Susu-jie, let’s just dress a little warmer.”

Only after all that coaxing did Su Ruixi finally add a few more layers. But she was still a person who loved beauty and cared deeply about her appearance. She wasn’t about to give up her little dresses just because it was winter. So, she would still wear long, one-piece dresses.

This made finding a good “Bare Leg Artifact²” a huge headache. Su Ruixi had incredibly high standards, but quality pairs were notoriously hard to find. The thin ones were too cold, and the thick ones tended to bunch up. Su Ruixi didn’t want them wrinkling and looking unsightly, while Sun Miao didn’t want her friend’s legs to freeze in a thin pair.

The two of them had been searching for ages but hadn’t found any suitable tights yet.

That’s when Sun Miao saw the Bare Leg Artifact Yabi³ was wearing. From a distance, it looked exactly like she wasn’t wearing anything at all—as natural as her own skin. It was only when she got closer that Sun Miao realized she was wearing them. Sun Miao was truly impressed and wanted to buy a pair for Su Ruixi. A mischievous glint lit up Yabi’s eyes as she hatched a little scheme, which led to her question.

The ever-earnest Sun Miao nodded, expressing her thanks and confirming that she really did need the link for the Bare Leg Artifacts.

Yabi leaned in and whispered, “Don’t thank me just yet, Little Boss Sun. I’ll have a favor to ask of you later.”

Sun Miao understood immediately. What kind of favor could Yabi possibly ask of her? She agreed without hesitation. “Alright. We can talk about it on our phones later.”

With that settled, Sun Miao began making Jianbing Guozi⁴. The third character in the name isn’t the one for “fruit,” but a more complex character, guǒ. However, as Jianbing Guozi spread across the country, people naturally started simplifying it to the more common character.

Eventually, no one bothered to correct it anymore, and it became cemented as Jianbing Guozi.

In Jin City⁵, however, the word Guozi⁶ has its own original meaning. It refers to the youtiao⁷—the fried dough stick—that is added to the Jianbing Guozi.

The story goes that Jianbing Guozi evolved from Multi-grain Jianbing⁸. Back in the day, merchants from Lu Province⁹ traveled all over, eventually bringing their jianbing to Jin City. But the people of Jin City preferred a softer crepe and loved adding different fillings. In the end, the two diverged, and Jianbing Guozi earned its own name.

Regardless of its origins, Jianbing Guozi is now one of the signature snacks of Jin City and a familiar breakfast for countless households. On a chilly morning, stopping by a street stall for one of these is a comforting delight.

Of course, many stall owners didn’t quite grasp the difference between Jianbing Guozi and Multi-grain Jianbing. Some even sold Jianbing Guozi under the banner of “Multi-grain Jianbing,” and vice versa.

Sun Miao would never make such a mistake. She dared to say that her Jianbing Guozi was among the most authentic.

On this street, at least, no one could claim to make it better than her. That was a fact.

First and foremost, Jianbing Guozi must be made with Mung Bean Flour¹⁰.

She ladled a scoop of the green-tinged batter onto the large, circular griddle. The resulting crepe looked a little uneven, almost pockmarked, but that’s exactly how an authentic Jianbing Guozi from Jin City should be. Even after being spread thin, the batter still had little bumps, which gave it a unique texture.

Once the bottom was cooked, she didn’t flip it. She cracked eggs directly onto it. Sun Miao was generous—her prices reflected it—so she wasn’t stingy enough to use only one egg. Crack, crack! She dropped in two. The sight of her cracking eggs one-handed took her oldest customers back to when she first started selling egg fried rice.

That one-handed technique said it all—whoa, a true master.

After the eggs set on the crepe, she sprinkled them with chopped scallions. Scallions cooked with egg are called “cooked scallions,” and they release a fragrant sweetness. When they were just about done, she added a sprinkle of black sesame seeds. This was optional; if a customer didn’t like them, she’d leave them out.

Only when it was fully cooked did she flip it. This was where Sun Miao’s Ruthless Iron Palm¹¹ came into play. Her hands moved with lightning speed, seemingly impervious to the heat. She pinched the edge of the crepe and, in one fluid motion, flipped the entire thing over perfectly.

She did it all with her bare hands, and not a single customer complained that she should be wearing gloves.

Her regulars had all witnessed how meticulous she was about cleanliness; no other stall owner was as hygiene-conscious as Sun Miao. Besides, with her level of culinary skill, if she said, “Gloves affect my feel for the food,” no one would doubt her.

If you couldn’t trust her on cleanliness and taste, you might as well not come to her stall. Just get out of the way and let someone else have your spot.

Once flipped, she placed a homemade youtiao in the center, folded the sides of the crepe over it, and began brushing on the sauces. The sauces were also crucial and required two types. The first was Sweet Bean Sauce¹², which was both sweet and savory. The second was more unique: a specialty of Jin City, a pinkish condiment called Jiangdoufu¹³.

People outside of Jin City might not recognize the name Jiangdoufu, but if you called it Red Fermented Bean Curd¹⁴, they would know exactly what it was.

The people of Jin City had a particular fondness for Jiangdoufu. During the New Year, they had to eat two kinds of dumplings: one with a pork filling, common throughout the country, and another that was their own specialty—Vegetarian-filling Dumplings¹⁵, which absolutely had to include Jiangdoufu.

Their love for it was so profound that even their most famous snack, Jianbing Guozi, had to be slathered with Jiangdoufu.

It was these subtle differences that distinguished Jianbing Guozi from Multi-grain Jianbing. Of course, because the two were so similar and one had evolved from the other, people from Jin City living elsewhere were particularly fussy about it. “Hey, is your Jianbing Guozi authentic?”

If they encountered an inauthentic one, they might even start an argument.

When Sun Miao announced she was making Jianbing Guozi, someone from Jin City in the group chat had immediately commented: 【Little Boss Sun, let’s be clear. If your Jianbing Guozi isn’t authentic, I’ll have to say something, even if it’s you.】

And later?

Later, that same person came, ate, and was left speechless. All he could do was give Sun Miao a thumbs-up. “It’s been years! So many years I’ve been away from home, and I’ve finally—sob—finally eaten a proper Jianbing Guozi. Little Boss Sun, can we make a deal? From now on, just sell Jianbing Guozi. I promise I’ll come every single day!”

The moment he finished speaking, the people behind him shooed him away. “Get a move on! Always thinking only about yourself! Who can eat Jianbing Guozi every day? Not me! Little Boss Sun, when are you going to make my hometown’s specialty?”

They would never agree to Sun Miao making only one dish; that would be a waste of her talent. Besides, if she kept cooking, she might eventually get around to making their own hometown specialties. And when that happened, who would care about his?

It was probably this glimmer of hope—that maybe, someday, she’ll make my hometown’s food, and it’ll be perfectly authentic—that made more and more people eagerly wonder: what will Little Boss Sun sell next?

Once the Jianbing Guozi sold out, Sun Miao’s announcement of “Sold out” was met with another round of groans from her regulars. She just chuckled. As she was about to pack up her stall, she felt something white, cold, and tiny land on the tip of her nose.

Sun Miao froze for a second, then looked up to see tiny snowflakes drifting down from the sky. This kind of snow was a bit of a nuisance. It was too fine to accumulate, turning into water the moment it touched a person or the ground. If you were driving, the flakes would sting your face with a sharp, piercing cold.

But Sun Miao was delighted, and so were the regulars who hadn’t left yet. It rarely snowed here; snowy days were few and far between. Seeing even a little bit of it, as long as you weren’t in a terrible mood, was enough to bring a smile to your face.

“Wow, is it snowing? The weather forecast didn’t say anything. I wonder if it’ll get heavier. This is the first snow of the year!” a customer exclaimed.

“How wonderful. It’s snowing.”

Without hesitation, the moment she saw the snow, Sun Miao raised her phone. Click. She took a picture of the sky. She’d gotten a new phone recently with a decent camera and good pixels. Though she had no real photography skills, you could still clearly tell it was snowing. She sent the photo directly to Su Ruixi.

Su Ruixi, who had just arrived at the office and was about to start her day, received Sun Miao’s message. She instinctively turned to look out the floor-to-ceiling window. It was easier to see the snowflakes from high up.

Before they could reach the ground, the tiny white dots drifted in clusters, dancing in the air. Su Ruixi never understood what was so great about watching snow, but below the photo was an excited message from Sun Miao: 【Susu-jie! It’s snowing! I didn’t think it ever snowed here.】

Reading that, Su Ruixi couldn’t help but smile.

【Yes, it’s snow. I see it too.】

There’s nothing particularly joyful about seeing snow, but seeing your message brings me immense happiness.

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