Setting Up Stalls – Chapter 42

Going to buy a gift.

The most crucial thing was that Hip-hop Mei liked spicy food; she was someone who couldn’t live without spice.

Although Su Ruixi hadn’t eaten with Sun Miao before, she could tell that Sun Miao probably liked spicy food. This included the two times she saw her eating stir-fried yellow beef with line peppers¹, and her reaction to the beef chili sauce Su Ruixi had given her, saying it wasn’t spicy at all.

Although Su Ruixi couldn’t handle any spice at all, Sun Miao was clearly very capable of eating spicy food!

In that case, Sun Miao and her distant cousin would have even more in common.

For some reason, a scene suddenly appeared in Su Ruixi’s mind: Hip-hop Mei and Sun Miao chatting happily, and then Sun Miao agreeing to bring soup for her as well, but all the soups she brought for her were numbingly spicy and fragrant², while Su Ruixi couldn’t handle even a bit of spice. Su Ruixi stood to the side with her mouth agape, unable to speak, while Hip-hop Mei and Sun Miao put their arms around each other’s shoulders, giggling and laughing.

“Since you can’t eat spicy food, I won’t bring you any soup~ It’s too much trouble to make two different kinds of soup~”

Su Ruixi tightly gripped her phone, feeling that such a scene was truly terrifying, especially standing to the side with her mouth agape, unable to speak, just like an idiot on the internet who could only say “Aba Aba”³!

No! She absolutely couldn’t just sit back and let this happen!

The fact that Hip-hop Mei had gotten her WeChat first had already happened, but there was still time to remedy the situation. If she really didn’t fight for it, things could very well turn out as she imagined.

Su Ruixi felt that it was time for her to show some initiative. After finishing breakfast, she went straight downstairs, observed Sun Miao, who had no customers in the lobby, for a while, and then went out the back door. She planned to go to a nearby shopping mall to buy something to bribe Sun Miao.

Just like what the little nurse had done before.

Hmph, if such cheap, low-quality candy could capture Sun Miao’s heart, there was no reason why the things she bought for thousands of yuan wouldn’t work.

Sun Miao sneezed, feeling like someone was talking bad about her behind her back. She rubbed her nose and sat on the stool, playing on her phone. As she expected, there weren’t many people today. In one morning, she only sold the pancakes to the little nurse and Grandma Li. But that was pretty good, too; they bought quite a lot, much more than Sun Miao had expected.

If it were an ordinary small stall, selling this much would be enough. After all, it was three batches, which was 300 yuan.

However, there were always some special circumstances. For example, right now, two girls came over hand-in-hand. They were probably like the little nurse yesterday, coming out of the shopping mall next door and preparing to go somewhere else to play. They felt a little hungry, and seeing her cute little food cart, they came over.

Sun Miao was quite satisfied with the small food cart that she designed herself and the system modified. It was cute and adorable, especially attractive.

The two young girls looked very young, probably still in school, and even the bags they were carrying were cute styles.

It’s great to be young…

“Boss, how much are the beef pancakes?”

“Ten yuan each. There are spicy and non-spicy ones, but there aren’t any ready-made ones right now. You’ll have to wait for them to be freshly pan-fried.”

“Freshly pan-fried is good, and the price is okay. Boss, give us one each. I want the spicy one, and she wants the non-spicy one.”

“Okay.”

Sun Miao took out two pancakes and put them in the pan to start frying. Her movements were very skillful, and the flowing movements had a unique beauty. This made the two girls widen their eyes, staring unblinkingly at Sun Miao’s movements.

“So amazing, it feels like the chopsticks have a life of their own in your hands, Boss.”

Sun Miao was stunned for a moment and felt a little embarrassed: “Not really…” Usually, customers also praised her, but they praised her for being delicious and liking it. This was the first time she had been praised like this.

Ten minutes later, the pancakes were ready. Sun Miao wrapped them up and told them, “Be careful, they’re hot.” The two girls took them and didn’t leave, starting to eat them right away. The beef pancakes were indeed scalding hot, but in the girls’ eyes, this was nothing at all. They ate while blowing on them, and also praised Sun Miao for making them so delicious.

“Boss, delicious, it’s really delicious!”

“I’m not very cultured, so I can only think, ‘This pancake can only be found in heaven.'”

They stood to the side, not even finishing one pancake, before they looked at each other and then at Sun Miao: “Boss, give us five more each! A mix of spicy and non-spicy, you can decide!” Seeing that Sun Miao agreed and started making beef pancakes, they continued to eat.

To be honest, the expressions on their faces while eating the pancakes looked really appetizing. Sun Miao glanced at them eating the pancakes from the corner of her eye. It felt like watching a mukbang⁴ online; they ate and ate, their eyes squinting, and their faces beaming with lively smiles.

It wasn’t just Sun Miao who thought so. Some people walking by on the roadside saw the two of them eating and couldn’t help but stop and ask Sun Miao how much the pancakes were.

Some, upon hearing the price and the need to wait, shook their heads and left, but there were also customers who didn’t mind and stayed to wait for the beef pancakes. A woman holding a child looked at the two girls and teased them a little: “Is it really that delicious?”

The clear-headed college students always say what’s on their minds. They immediately nodded and answered eagerly: “Delicious, super delicious! I’ve never had such delicious beef pancakes before!”

Their tone was very convincing, so many customers waited for the beef pancakes to be ready. Some customers were even complaining: “I bought a chive and egg pancake and a preserved vegetable and pork pancake⁵ from a roadside stall before, and they only took two or three minutes to make. Why does yours take so long?”

Before Sun Miao could explain, the two young girls had already spoken for her: “These are beef pancakes, and the filling is very rich and abundant, so of course, it takes more time. Otherwise, how can it be cooked through?”

No matter what complaints the people in line had, the moment the beef pancakes were ready, they all vanished. Sun Miao finished making the beef pancakes and packed them up according to the customers’ requests. It was just around lunchtime, and many customers were impatient, even imitating the two young girls and standing right on the roadside, starting to eat.

The freshly made beef pancakes were scalding hot; you could feel the heat even through the bag. But when you brought it to your nose, you could smell the aroma constantly wafting into your nostrils. How could the long-awaited customers resist? They immediately leaned in and took a bite. The taste of the beef pancake burst in their mouths, making the customers hurriedly endure the heat and take several more bites.

The smart ones, after taking the first bite, automatically went to the end of the line and started queuing up again.

The ones who weren’t so smart, after finishing eating, slapped their thighs and said, “No, I have to buy two more, so my family can also taste this flavor!” Whether they were really buying them to take home to their families or were simply not full themselves, no one could say for sure. In short, they returned to the queue, eagerly waiting for Sun Miao’s next batch of beef pancakes.

The more people lined up, the more passersby would be surprised, wondering what exactly was being sold. So they would also, with curiosity, join the end of the line. The long queue in front of Sun Miao became longer and longer, which was understandable.

Sun Miao thought to herself that her Su-jie hadn’t bought lunch yet today. What if she couldn’t get any later? So, with quick eyes and hands, she secretly hid two pancakes. She didn’t hide two from each batch as obviously as before, but instead hid them separately, skipping a batch or two. This way, no one noticed that two batches actually only had nine pancakes sold.

However, even so, there were sharp-eyed people who almost discovered that she had hidden two pancakes.

Sun Miao was extremely busy this noon. When Su Ruixi returned, this was the scene she saw. When she left, the entrance was deserted, so how could the queue be almost reaching the entrance of the Jinsha Building in just over an hour?

Su Ruixi hesitated for a moment, wondering if she should go and join the queue.

Normally, she wouldn’t hesitate; she would have to go up, otherwise, if she was too late, what would she do if she didn’t get any pancakes? But today, she couldn’t. She was holding a beautifully packaged gift box containing candies for Sun Miao, the important prop she wanted to use to bribe Sun Miao and get a special lunchbox.

Even though Su Ruixi had never given a gift before, she knew that this kind of thing couldn’t be done openly; it had to be done secretly.

Su Ruixi had no choice but to wait for Sun Miao in the lobby, to see when she would be free. This wait was another long time. Sun Miao directly sold out all of her stock for the day. She had originally predicted that she wouldn’t sell much today and hadn’t made much at all.

Now that this group of people lined up, of course, it was all sold out.

Sun Miao could only shout at the top of her lungs: “It’s all sold out. If you want to buy, come back tomorrow. I’ll be here at seven in the morning tomorrow to set up my stall. I usually stay until seven in the evening. If I sell out early, I’ll close up early. I’ll be selling in this same spot.”

She had already said this, and it was indeed all sold out. The customers could only look at each other: “Tomorrow? I’m just here to play; I live far away…”

“I can’t get up at seven o’clock. Boss, prepare more tomorrow so I can buy some when I come at noon.”

They said one thing and another, making Sun Miao’s head spin, but she still had a smile on her face. Only when all the customers were gone did the smile drop. Sun Miao waited for a while, but still didn’t see Su Ruixi. She looked at her phone again, at the contact she had saved as “Su-jie,” and thought, should she take the initiative to talk to Su Ruixi?

But she hadn’t said she was coming over for lunch, and she had already taken the soup. If she was too proactive, it would seem very unprofitable.

While Sun Miao was hesitating, she heard the familiar sound of high heels.

Actually, at first, when she heard the sound of high heels, she only felt a pain in her heels. She rarely wore high heels because she didn’t like them. But Su Ruixi seemed to really like wearing high heels. Except for that time when she suddenly got out of the car, she had never seen Su Ruixi wearing flat shoes.

And it must be said, Su Ruixi looked really good in high heels.

Sun Miao thought high heels were beautiful instruments of torture, but indeed, some people really liked wearing them, especially Su Ruixi, whose steps were nimble and commanding, feeling like a cat, indeed matching high heels. Sun Miao respected every girl’s right to like what they like, respecting others who don’t wear high heels, and of course, respecting others who wear high heels.

She was so sensitive to the sound of Su Ruixi’s high heels because the sound was very special. Su Ruixi walked unhurriedly, with her own unique rhythm, making Sun Miao able to recognize it immediately.

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