Setting Up Stalls – Chapter 41

Why the Latecomer Surpasses the First

Sun Miao should be fond of money, otherwise she wouldn’t refuse to give a discount, even when Hip-Hop Mei was joking, and she sternly refused. Such a stingy person clearly valued money highly.

But her actions didn’t seem to align with this. She went out early and returned late every day to set up her stall, just to earn one or two thousand yuan a day.

Su Ruixi found it a little unbelievable. She decided to ask Sun Miao about it tomorrow.

While she was lost in thought, she saw her own father reach for the third beef pancake. Su Ruixi took a deep breath and stopped him: “Dad, you said yourself, everything in moderation. You’ve already eaten two beef pancakes. Beef pancakes are quite rich, and you’re getting on in years, you shouldn’t eat too much.”

“…”

“Child’s father, Xixi is right, put it down.”

“Alright then, I’ll eat it tomorrow.”

But the next day, Father Su discovered that Su Ruixi had taken all the beef pancakes away last night!

Yes, Su Ruixi had gone back on her word and hadn’t left a single one.

He was almost furious. How could Su Ruixi do this! She had no filial piety at all!

Early the next morning, before Sun Miao even arrived, she saw someone standing under the streetlight. Sun Miao took a closer look, and it was… the Little Nurse?

The Little Nurse saw Sun Miao arrive and immediately called out: “Quick, quick, Little Boss Sun, hurry up, I need to buy the beef pancakes and rush to work!”

Sun Miao parked her cart and, while setting up her stall, said to the Little Nurse: “Then you’ll have to wait a bit, I have to cook these fresh.”

“It’s okay, I can wait for this amount of time.”

Sun Miao finished setting up the stall and took out a drawer full of pre-made beef pancakes from the stall, ready to put them on the pan to cook. She also casually asked: “How many do you want?”

“Twenty.”

“?” Sun Miao glanced at the Little Nurse: “You’re buying so many?”

“It’s not just for me, it’s for the medical staff and some patients in our department, they all want some. And I’m actually buying relatively few, they all just want one. I feel like I definitely won’t have enough, I’m going to eat two!”

The Little Nurse laughed, sounding quite proud of being able to eat two pancakes for breakfast.

“Two batches will take more than twenty minutes, will you have enough time?”

“Yes, I came early on purpose.”

Sun Miao confirmed that the Little Nurse had enough time and stopped chatting. After clarifying how many spicy and non-spicy pancakes were needed, she focused on cooking. After the Little Nurse left, Sun Miao had nothing to do again. Yesterday, she sold out early, but Sun Miao didn’t think she could do the same today, after all, it was the May Day holiday, and there were fewer people.

After a while, close to eight o’clock, another familiar face arrived. Sun Miao recognized her from afar, it was Grandma Li. Previously, when buying malatang, Grandma Li always came with her little granddaughter, but this time, Grandma Li was alone.

Sun Miao was stunned for a moment. She hesitated about whether to go and help Grandma Li, but thought it was better to stay put. Grandma Li was in good spirits, and if she ran over to help her, Grandma Li might think she looked down on her.

Grandma Li was full of vigor and arrived in front of Sun Miao in no time. She first smiled and greeted Sun Miao: “Oh, Little Boss Sun, you’re selling beef pancakes here.”

“Yes, Grandma Li, do you want to buy some?”

“Yes, give me ten, all non-spicy.”

“Okay.”

Sun Miao quickly got to work. Grandma Li, with a gentle smile, said: “Yesterday, my little granddaughter ate the beef pancake that Zhou Ling from next door gave her, and she couldn’t get enough. But her stomach is so small, she can’t eat much, I ate most of it.”

“But she kept fussing last night, saying she wanted to eat beef pancakes again today.”

“I had a few bites yesterday, Little Boss Sun, your beef is good, it’s fresh.”

Sun Miao nodded, and when there was a break in the cooking, she replied: “I buy it fresh from the market every morning, the cow was slaughtered the night before.”

Grandma Li was also happy to hear this: “I wouldn’t dare buy from other roadside stalls, but I trust yours. Malatang shouldn’t be eaten too often, but my little girl likes it. The same goes for the beef pancakes… Little Boss Sun, you’re so skilled, everything you make is delicious.”

“You flatter me.”

Sun Miao was polite, and when she needed to cook, she lowered her head and didn’t say a word.

Grandma Li waited for the beef pancakes to come out fresh and ate one, chatting with Sun Miao, who had no other customers: “These beef pancakes are best eaten right when they’re made, that’s when they taste the best. It’s a pity my old man and my little granddaughter are missing out. One went to exercise with the other old men in the neighborhood, and the other can’t get out of bed.”

“They, oh, they can only eat them cold.”

Sun Miao smiled: “If they’re cold when you get home, you can heat them up in an air fryer, it’s better than a microwave.”

“I really didn’t know that, I’ll ask the auntie at home to figure it out.”

They chatted for a while before Grandma Li left. The third customer was Su Ruixi.

She returned the soup bowl from yesterday to Sun Miao, and then received a new soup bowl from Sun Miao. But this time she didn’t buy beef pancakes, and Sun Miao was a little surprised: “Not eating beef pancakes today?”

Su Ruixi hummed in agreement, with a slightly proud expression. Sun Miao felt a little strange seeing her like that, but she didn’t dwell on it, just nodding to show she understood. After taking the soup, Su Ruixi didn’t leave immediately, but looked at Sun Miao with her bright, watery eyes.

This made Sun Miao even more puzzled. She was stunned for a moment before asking: “What’s wrong?”

Su Ruixi pursed her lips, her slight pride and happiness instantly disappearing. Sun Miao didn’t understand what was going on at first, but later realized belatedly—could it be that Su Ruixi wanted the lunchbox she brought yesterday?

Sun Miao hadn’t made Su Ruixi’s portion today. The soup was agreed upon in advance to be available every day, but there was no such agreement for the lunchbox! Occasionally was fine, but Sun Miao felt she was being too accommodating if she made it every day. Besides, Su Ruixi had never indicated that she wanted it, which made it difficult for Sun Miao to offer it proactively.

Su Ruixi’s awkward personality meant she couldn’t express her inner thoughts. She just shook her head lightly and said, “Nothing.”

When Su Ruixi returned to her office with the soup, she slammed her fist on the table in frustration.

Her hatred wasn’t directed at Sun Miao, but entirely at her own unhelpful mouth.

These days, you have to fight for what you want. She could engage in verbal battles with people in the business world, but in front of Sun Miao’s small stall, her mouth was like it was glued shut, unable to utter a word.

Sometimes, Su Ruixi knew her mouth was quite difficult.

After much deliberation, Su Ruixi didn’t know what to do… Since it had come to this, she might as well eat breakfast first. Su Ruixi took out the leftover beef pancakes from yesterday. If she had known she would be coming here early in the morning, she would have left the beef pancakes for her parents.

When she woke up this morning, she hadn’t actually planned to come, wanting to spend a rare leisurely day at home. But after getting up, Su Ruixi’s mind was filled with the possible lunch that Sun Miao might have prepared. She had already started to speculate: Would there be a lunchbox today? If so, what dishes would be in it?

Su Ruixi didn’t consider herself someone who cared much about food, and she never expected that one day she would get up and drive to the company building just to know the answer to today’s lunch one second earlier.

The result, of course, was nothing.

Su Ruixi took out the beef pancake. This beef pancake had been heated up by the hourly auntie she employed. Ever since Su Ruixi had set up camp in front of Sun Miao’s stall, the number of times the auntie cooked had been drastically reduced to zero, and she usually only had to clean. After Su Ruixi realized that heating beef pancakes in an air fryer was indeed better than a microwave, she quickly ordered one with one-hour delivery and received an air fryer last night.

However, she wasn’t very skilled at using these kitchen appliances, so it was fortunate that she had an hourly auntie at home who could help.

At this moment, Su Ruixi, guarding the empty company, ate the beef pancake and suddenly felt that her life was very miserable. She wondered if she should just open her mouth and honestly state her request.

While Su Ruixi was brooding in the company, she suddenly received a call from Hip-Hop Mei, who asked her: “Su-jie, did you go to Little Boss Sun’s place to buy beef pancakes today?”

“Didn’t go.”

She wasn’t being stubborn, she was telling the truth. Su Ruixi just went to get soup in the morning, but she didn’t buy beef pancakes. Hip-Hop Mei exclaimed: “You didn’t go?”

“Little Boss Sun should be setting up her stall today. I’m going back tonight, and I was thinking of asking you to buy some beef pancakes for me first, so I can eat them when I get back.”

“Coming back so early?”

Su Ruixi was a little surprised. She knew Hip-Hop Mei’s personality well. To be precise, the two were distant relatives and often saw each other when they were young and in school. Hip-Hop Mei was a bit of a party animal, and she wouldn’t easily return unless she had partied her heart out.

She had only left yesterday morning, and to return today, Su Ruixi felt something was amiss.

“Don’t mention it, the traffic was terrible. By the time we got there, the beef pancakes were already sold out. We walked around last night, and there was really nothing fun to do. The return trip might be congested in the next two days, so everyone decided to drive back this afternoon.”

Whose fault was that? Insisting on driving out during the May Day holiday, wasn’t that just asking for trouble?

Hip-Hop Mei continued: “Then I’ll just send a voice message to Little Boss Sun to see if she can save some for me.”

“…Don’t.”

Su Ruixi didn’t know what she was thinking, she suddenly blurted out this word. Hip-Hop Mei on the other end was obviously puzzled: “What’s wrong?”

Su Ruixi didn’t know how to explain, so she replied: “Nothing, she’s very busy, don’t disturb her.”

“Okay, then I’ll figure something else out.”

The phone call ended. Su Ruixi held her phone, looking at the beef pancake in front of her, and remembered that Hip-Hop Mei had added Sun Miao as a friend during the malatang episode… At this moment, a phrase suddenly popped into her mind: Why does the latecomer surpass the first? Because the former doesn’t fight or grab.

Su Ruixi pursed her lips. She then thought that if Hip-Hop Mei also asked for soup in the future, would she be left without soup?

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