Setting Up Stalls – Chapter 3

What Are You Eating?

Su Ruixi comes at noon, planning to get her IV drip done during lunch break, and then in the afternoon continues…

Su Ruixi came at noon, planning to get her IV drip done during lunch break before returning to work at the company in the afternoon.

Actually, the doctor recommended hospitalization, but although she registered as an inpatient, she barely stayed in the hospital.

Since this morning, she had been craving the egg fried rice from last night. However, the route between work and hospital wasn’t convenient, and the stall owner had said she wouldn’t set up until eight o’clock.

If she bought it at eight before going to work, she would be late. Though Su Ruixi was indeed a boss herself, as a competitive overachiever, she had to lead by example – how could she be late?

In the morning, the live-in housekeeper prepared bread, fried eggs, and milk for her, but eating the fried eggs, Su Ruixi felt they weren’t as good as last night’s egg drop soup. Too oily, and some parts were burnt – the taste wasn’t good.

When noon came, Su Ruixi drove over impatiently. After parking her car, she walked straight over. Logically, lunchtime should be the busiest, but there wasn’t a single person at the small stall.

Su Ruixi was somewhat surprised – given the owner’s excellent cooking skills, anyone who had tried it would surely become a regular customer like her. But having few customers meant no queuing, so Su Ruixi quickly walked up to the stall.

“Boss, one egg fried rice and egg drop soup, no chili.”

Sun Miao responded, then said: “There’s no egg drop soup today, that was made from yesterday’s leftover ingredients as a complimentary item.”

“Oh, alright then. One egg fried rice to go.”

Su Ruixi had a private room, and she planned to save time by eating directly in her hospital room. Sun Miao nodded and quickly prepared an order of egg fried rice, packed it into a takeout container, and handed it to Su Ruixi from behind the food cart. Just as Su Ruixi was about to scan the code, Sun Miao said: “No need, you overpaid last night, this one’s already covered.”

Despite her words, Su Ruixi still scanned the payment code on the small wooden sign on the cart: “Your cooking skill is worth this much, and I only paid extra yesterday. Today we’ll go by your regular price.”

The notification sound for 20 yuan payment rang out as Su Ruixi walked away with her egg fried rice.

Su Ruixi quickly reached her hospital room, pressed the nurse call button to wait for the IV drip, and while the nurse was preparing, she sat at the small table in the room and opened her lunch box to eat. Just as she scooped up one spoonful, before she could even start eating, the nurse arrived.

She pushed a cart containing prepared medicines and syringes.

Seeing Su Ruixi, the young nurse complained: “Miss Su, you scared us to death leaving the ward without a word. Fortunately we could contact you, otherwise the head nurse would have scolded us.”

“Can’t help it, work comes first…”

The young nurse complained a bit but didn’t continue, since the senior doctor had said “let her be”, and Su Ruixi had signed a liability waiver, there wasn’t much the nurse could say. She efficiently inserted the needle and set up the IV drip, but before leaving couldn’t help asking: “Miss Su, where did you buy that egg fried rice? It smells really good.”

“Just outside the south gate of your hospital, there’s a food cart that only sells egg fried rice. Should be easy to find.”

“Miss Su remembers it so well, you must really like their food, right?”

At this moment, Su Ruixi’s tsundere nature emerged, her expression cold but tone somewhat coy: “Not really, it’s just average.”

After the nurse left, Su Ruixi began eating. Actually, before putting it in her mouth, she had some doubts, wondering if she thought it was so delicious last night only because she was truly hungry. When people are starving, anything tastes good. She was that hungry yesterday, so of course it would taste good.

But with this first bite today, she knew it wasn’t just because she had been hungry – it was truly delicious.

The culinary skill in this egg fried rice reminded her of a high-end restaurant she’d visited before. There was a master chef there who was reportedly a Huaiyang cuisine [淮揚菜 | Huáiyáng cài | traditional Chinese cuisine] master, making Yangzhou fried rice right in front of customers. With premium ingredients and superior craftsmanship, one portion of Yangzhou fried rice cost 1888 yuan.

She wondered how long the small vendor would need to sell her fried rice to match that amount.

Yet Su Ruixi felt that that Yangzhou fried rice wasn’t as delicious as the small vendor’s egg fried rice.

So young, yet such excellent cooking skills – she wondered why the vendor would set up a small stall on the street selling egg fried rice for just 20 yuan per portion.

Su Ruixi quickly finished the fried rice, casually taking out a bottle of mineral water from her bag for a few sips. She ate with complete satisfaction, and though her stomach was full, she still felt somewhat reluctant to finish. But if that young nurse came back now to ask if it was good, she would definitely still say: “Hmm, it’s just average.”

The golden lunch hour had passed, and the once lively hospital back street became quiet again. Sun Miao had only sold one portion of fried rice to her crush. Looking at the 20 yuan payment record, Sun Miao couldn’t help but sigh. She thought to herself, at least she hadn’t made too much rice today.

The System was still scolding her in her mind, calling her a useless host, saying how could it report to the main system when she’d only sold two portions in two days?

But Sun Miao maintained a good attitude: “Being useless is fine too, at least I’ve sold one portion today, so you can’t punish me by making me wash dishes anymore.”

【You!】

The System was about to explode in her head when the young nurse Su Ruixi had referred arrived.

Just as Su Ruixi said, Sun Miao’s small stall was easy to find. The young nurse peered around as she approached, and when she saw that one portion of egg fried rice cost twenty yuan, her eyes widened in surprise. Her first thought was: Could Miss Su be colluding with the stall owner to scam my money?

But then she thought again, no way, really no way – Miss Su was staying in a special care private room costing several thousand yuan per day, she wouldn’t need to scheme for twenty yuan.

Besides, Su Ruixi’s fried rice had smelled really good. The young nurse stopped hesitating and prepared to order.

“Boss, do you have sausage, can I add a sausage?”

“No, just egg fried rice only.”

“…Alright then, one portion of egg fried rice, with a little chili.”

“Okay.”

Sun Miao was extremely excited – her second customer had finally arrived, and wearing nurse’s uniform with a jacket over it, clearly a hospital nurse. If she could become a regular customer, that would mean another stable client for the coming days!

Sun Miao worked quickly – making egg fried rice wasn’t time-consuming, and adding chili just meant sprinkling some chopped chilies. In less than five minutes, the fried rice was ready. Sun Miao packed it and handed it to the nurse. The nurse scanned the code, took the fried rice, and left without looking back.

Watching her run so fast, Sun Miao thought how hard the nursing profession must be – not even having time to properly eat lunch, truly coming and going in a rush.

The nurse ran back to the break room, opened the package there, and started eating. Like Su Ruixi’s portion, it looked plain at first, but with just one stir of the spoon, that heart-penetrating fragrance wafted up, completely captivating her.

She was truly hungry too. The nursing profession might look leisurely, just waiting at the nurse station. But in reality, they were so busy their feet barely touched the ground. Every few minutes, if someone pressed the call button, they had to go check. One hour could rack up their WeChat step count significantly.

By the end of the day, her family would think she’d gone mountain climbing.

Not to mention working night shifts, when you can’t sleep properly all night, constantly on edge. Nurses also had a unique shift type that other jobs don’t have, called “standby duty”. Though it seemed like rest time, you couldn’t go anywhere because you might be called back to work at any moment.

After just one morning, the nurse was starving.

Now, taking a bite of the fragrant egg fried rice with its slight spiciness perked up her entire being. This bowl of fried rice – how could it be this delicious?

Just as she was enjoying her meal, a colleague came in. Seeing her eating with such relish, with the aroma of fried rice lingering in the air, the colleague couldn’t help but come closer: “What are you eating? It smells so good.”

The young nurse hesitated for a moment, then decided to share: “Egg fried rice, want to try some?”

Back in the hospital room, Su Ruixi had also finished her portion of egg fried rice. With a full stomach, even the IV drip didn’t feel as uncomfortable as before. After several hours, when her drip finally finished, Su Ruixi picked up her bag and walked outside.

When she reached the south gate, Su Ruixi thought for a moment and decided to get another portion of egg fried rice for dinner. Although reheating it later wouldn’t taste as good as freshly made, it would still retain some of its deliciousness.

Being picky and selective with food, along with years of busy work and high pressure, it was rare to find food she actually liked. If not for this, she wouldn’t bother reheating cold food.

Su Ruixi walked towards “Miao Miao’s Mobile Food Bar”, then suddenly stopped in her tracks. At first, she thought she’d gone the wrong way, but looking at the sign, it was indeed “Miao Miao’s Mobile Food Bar.”

“……”

But unlike when she came at noon, now the food bar’s entrance was packed with people. A sea of black heads stretched out, looking like it would take a long time to queue. Su Ruixi hesitated, as in her eyes, queuing was an especially wasteful use of time.

With this time, she could have already walked to the parking lot and driven back to the company.

But Su Ruixi became indecisive, thinking again and again, the small owner’s cooking speed was quite fast, and at her pace of serving food, perhaps it wouldn’t take long at all.

Finally, the deliciousness of the food firmly pinned her legs in place.

She thought to herself: I’ll just wait a little while, if it’s still not my turn after waiting a bit, I’ll leave.

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