Setting Up Stalls – Chapter 38

It really is you

Su Ruixi had no intention of inviting her assistant to eat with her. The assistant did not continue to ask, but instead prepared to go out and complete her work. Just at this moment, Su Ruixi called out to the assistant. The assistant swore that she absolutely did not smile gleefully, thinking that Su Ruixi was going to invite her.

She simply turned around and heard Su Ruixi say, “Since you’re here, help me wash the bowl later.”

“…Okay.”

The assistant endured it; after all, the salary Su Ruixi gave was generous.

As long as the salary was sufficient, no matter what she did, the assistant was willing.

While Su Ruixi was eating lunch upstairs, Sun Miao was also eating her lunch downstairs. She still had the same insulated lunch box, with a two-tiered design, only the shrimp were packed separately. What she ate herself was even less elaborate than what she had given Su Ruixi; she simply put it in a plastic bag and stuffed it in.

Halfway through her meal, someone came to ask about the beef pancakes. Sun Miao stood up, first put away her lunchbox, and then quoted the price to the person.

“Ten yuan¹ per beef pancake…” It was still the same old line. When the person heard ten yuan, they said, “Huh? So expensive? It’s probably not even this expensive in the mall.”

Even though she was spoken to like this, Sun Miao didn’t get angry at all. She still said with a smile, “I use substantial ingredients, it’s delicious, and it’s worth the price.”

But the person shook their head: “I’d rather go eat in the mall food court.”

Sun Miao didn’t say a word, just waited for the person to leave before continuing to eat her meal. The system, however, started chattering away in her mind: 【Tell him to go buy it in the mall food court. If he can spend ten yuan in the mall food court and get a beef pancake like ours, I’ll eat it live!】

“I think you just want to freeload food and drinks.”

Sun Miao finished her meal, gave the lunch box a simple rinse, put the waste into the trash can, and then closed the lid. She was a little worried: “The weather is going to get warmer soon. This trash can is covered up here in the food truck. Won’t it get smellier and smellier?”

【What are you worrying about? This is a product of the system. Rest assured, the bottom of the trash can has its own built-in odor decomposer, so it won’t smell too bad. If you’re really bothered by it, just use two trash bags. When you’re done at noon, tie up the top trash bag and put it at the very bottom. I guarantee it won’t smell, and nothing will leak out.】

【And our trash can also has self-cleaning capabilities. The key point is that it’s triple non-stick. When you get home, just rinse it with water, and there won’t be any dirt stuck to the inner wall!】

“Now that you mention it, it seems so.”

Sun Miao felt a little relieved and stopped worrying about it.

She finished her meal at only 12:30. Sun Miao felt a little bored, so she played on her phone. But just at 12:45, she had customers, and familiar ones at that.

It was Zhou Ling and Zhou Ling’s mother.

The two of them got out of the car, and the driver stayed in the car. Zhou Ling walked briskly towards Sun Miao. Zhou Ling’s mother followed behind her, telling her to slow down.

Just by watching them walk over together, Sun Miao knew that their relationship must have improved a lot. Zhou Ling came up to Sun Miao and smiled: “Big Boss-jiejie, I’m here to buy beef pancakes.”

“Okay, ten yuan each. We have spicy and non-spicy. How many do you want?”

“Is the spicy one very spicy?”

“No, it’s not very spicy, just a mild spice. If you don’t think it’s spicy enough, you can also add some chili sauce.”

Although Sun Miao said this, she knew that young Miss Zhou Ling wouldn’t want extra chili sauce. She was a local, and the locals here don’t really eat spicy food. At most, they’ll have something mildly spicy. Previously, the young girl had tried a mildly spicy malatang and thought she could handle it, so she said, “Then give me two spicy ones.”

Zhou Ling’s mother caught up. She heard Sun Miao and Zhou Ling’s conversation clearly: “Oh dear, why do you like spicy food? Be careful, your throat will hurt. We want non-spicy ones.”

Zhou Ling pouted and said in a spoiled tone, “Mom!”

Zhou Ling’s mother had no choice but to say, “Then buy one spicy one, and we’ll share it.”

“Okay!”

In the end, the mother and daughter ordered a batch, nine non-spicy and one spicy. While Sun Miao was making the pancakes, Zhou Ling said to Sun Miao, “I saw Big Boss-jiejie’s WeChat Moments post. I pestered my mom to come over. But actually, my mom also wanted to eat one, she was just embarrassed.”

Having her cover blown by her own daughter, Zhou Ling’s mother was a little embarrassed and reached out to lightly punch Zhou Ling: “You have to tell her even that.”

She didn’t punch hard, and Zhou Ling smiled as if she didn’t feel it: “Grandma Li’s granddaughter still doesn’t know that Big Boss-jiejie is setting up a stall here selling beef pancakes. She’s very picky. The day after you moved, she cried so much that her voice became hoarse. Grandma Li was so worried. My mom didn’t know. Today, when we went out, we bumped into them, and after chatting for a while, Grandma Li and her granddaughter found out.”

“We said you weren’t selling malatang anymore, and the granddaughter started crying again. I said I’d bring back two beef pancakes, but the granddaughter kept saying she didn’t want beef pancakes, she wanted malatang.”

Sun Miao listened to her talk, and her eyes and eyebrows also curved into a smile.

“Hehe, I’ll give her two later. If she asks me for more, I’ll ask her what about the malatang, how does it compare to the malatang. Then, if she still wants more, I’ll say there aren’t any. Maybe the little girl will get so anxious that she’ll cry.”

Zhou Ling was so much better than before. When Sun Miao first met Zhou Ling, Zhou Ling was very timid and withdrawn, looking especially pitiful. Sun Miao could tell with just one look that she was in a bad mood and low spirits. But the current Zhou Ling was completely different from that time.

She could even talk to Sun Miao like this, talking about going back to tease the little girl.

Although Sun Miao didn’t answer and seemed very cold, a person’s surrounding aura can’t be hidden. Even if Sun Miao didn’t speak, her eyes and eyebrows were curved in a smile, and her whole being exuded a feeling of kindness. Perhaps it was also because of this atmosphere that many customers could talk to Sun Miao a lot on their own, even if Sun Miao didn’t respond at all.

A batch of pancakes was cooked, and Sun Miao sorted and packed them. She also took out a piece of chenpi tang² from her pocket: “Beef pancakes are quite rich. Don’t eat too many at once. If you feel greasy after eating, have one of these candies to relieve it.” Zhou Ling turned around to look at her mother. Zhou Ling’s mother usually didn’t let Zhou Ling eat such cheap candy.

But Zhou Ling’s mother smiled and nodded. Perhaps because her deeply ingrained beliefs had been shattered, Zhou Ling’s mother re-examined the world and, more importantly, re-examined the relationship between herself and her child. Her relationship with Zhou Ling had improved dramatically during this period, and she had also privately watched many videos about how to interact with young people.

That’s why the mother and daughter could be so close now; it was the result of both of their efforts.

Zhou Ling accepted the candy, and a smile appeared on her face: “Next time I’m on vacation, I’ll come and buy beef pancakes again.”

Sun Miao looked at Zhou Ling’s mother: “You can also let your mom come and buy them, and then when you go home at night, you can have them as a late-night snack or something. It’s better to reheat them in an air fryer. If you use a microwave, the crust is likely to become soft and soggy.”

Zhou Ling’s mother was also a shrewd person and realized that Sun Miao was giving her a hint. Of course, this was also an opportunity to improve their mother-daughter relationship, so Zhou Ling’s mother quickly said, “That’s right, and there are three days of vacation. Mom will take you to buy them every day.”

Zhou Ling’s smile became even brighter. She and her mother said goodbye to Sun Miao together, and then went to the nearby mall to stroll around for a while.

After they left, Sun Miao also thought, it feels really good to have family. Although there will often be friction, as long as the root isn’t rotten, there’s always a way to get back on the right track. Sun Miao had never experienced what it felt like to have family, which was why she especially wanted family.

In the afternoon, Sun Miao thought she would spend it particularly leisurely, but unexpectedly, previous customers came one after another. They were all regular customers who had accumulated when she was at the entrance of Su Ruixi’s residential area. She had clearly not prepared enough. These customers bought half a batch or a whole batch at a time, causing her to sell out all of today’s stock by 5:30 PM.

Sun Miao could only tidy up and prepare to go home early.

Although the system didn’t understand the human heart, it wasn’t an insensitive fellow. Sun Miao ran off early, and it didn’t say a word.

The system had no words, but the customers did. While Sun Miao was tidying up the food truck, she suddenly heard someone call her: “Little Boss?” Sun Miao poked her head out and found that she had met an acquaintance: “Oh, it’s you!”

The person was the young nurse, the one who had helped her a little when she first started selling egg fried rice. The other party was also very surprised to see her: “It really is you!”

She explained: “I’m on my day off today and came to the nearby mall with a friend. We were just about to go somewhere else, and from far away, I saw your sign ‘Miao Miao’s Mobile Food Bar’. But the truck didn’t look quite the same, so I was a little afraid I had mistaken you. I didn’t expect it to really be you!”

As the young nurse was talking, her tone suddenly changed, and her voice was full of grievance: “Why did you just disappear without a trace? Our group of people were waiting for you to come back. You only said you were going to change the location of your stall, you didn’t say you would never come back! Do you know how we’ve spent these days? We ate everything without appetite, drank everything without enjoyment, and all we thought about every day was your egg fried rice!”

“And there are several hospitalized patients who, every day as soon as they open their eyes and look at the ceiling, think about eating egg fried rice. They’re driving us all crazy! You’re good, you didn’t even send a message back, you worried us to death!”

Sun Miao scratched her head. Being accused by the young nurse, she really felt a little guilty. The young nurse looked at her food truck and immediately pressed her advantage: “Little Boss, give me one… no, two servings, to go!”

While they were talking, the young nurse’s friend also ran over. She immediately heard the young nurse ordering two servings of egg fried rice. She pulled the young nurse and said, “What are you doing? We’re going to eat hot pot later. Two servings of egg fried rice? Are you crazy! How can you eat that much egg fried rice?” She looked at the small food truck in front of her with some doubt: “Can this egg fried rice really be that delicious?”

“You don’t understand. This is the best egg fried rice I’ve ever had in my life.”

The young nurse waved her hand and told Sun Miao to hurry up and make the egg fried rice.

Sun Miao was even more embarrassed: “I’m sorry, I don’t sell egg fried rice anymore.”

The young nurse’s eyes widened: “No, why aren’t you selling such delicious egg fried rice? Then what are you selling now?”

“Beef pancakes.”

The young nurse hesitated for a long time, then continued, “Then… give me a beef pancake.”

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