Setting Up Stalls – Chapter 44

Bringing you a meal.

Su Ruixi indeed knew: “She had a batch of customers arrive around lunchtime today, sold out very early, and didn’t even set up her stall in the afternoon. Never mind coming at five, even if you came at two, you wouldn’t have gotten anything.”

“Ah??!!” Hip-Hop Mei let out a shriek: “Then what am I supposed to do?! What about my beef pancakes? Without beef pancakes, I’ll lose some of my wonderful qualities! I’ll starve to death!”

“You won’t starve. Hanging up.”

Su Ruixi was about to hang up, but Hip-Hop Mei yelled, “Wait, wait, wait! Then why isn’t Little Boss Sun answering my calls? Am I not her favorite cub¹ anymore?”

—You never were, right from the start.

Su Ruixi complained internally, and a tiny voice deep inside silently added the second sentence: I am.

Although this inner voice was very quiet, it was impossible to ignore. Su Ruixi’s face reddened slightly. She pretended to casually tuck a strand of hair from her forehead behind her ear before answering Hip-Hop Mei: “She’s probably riding her electric scooter right now, so she didn’t hear your call, or maybe she didn’t answer because she was driving.”

“How do you know that?!”

Hip-Hop Mei wailed. Only then did Su Ruixi realize she’d let something slip. She pressed her lips together and replied, “Just guessing. Hanging up.”

This time, no matter how much Hip-Hop Mei wailed, Su Ruixi ignored her and hung up the phone. She picked up a plastic bag filled with many disposable bowls, feeling quite cheerful, her steps even lighter. She was at home now, having just arrived. If asked where she had just been, Su Ruixi could only answer: Of course, I went to pick up my own dinner~

Specially made by Sun Miao.

The story goes back to the afternoon. Sun Miao closed her stall particularly early today. After returning home, tidying up the food cart, and recording the day’s accounts, it was only two-thirty. She decided to take a rare afternoon nap, changed into her pajamas, lay down on the bed, and even set an alarm to remind herself to get up and make dinner.

She had prepared some dinner ingredients in advance, but since she rarely had the time, she planned to make a few fresh dishes as well, treating it as a reward for herself.

Anyway, Sun Miao had a large appetite. As someone who ran a food business daily and had to knead dough for an hour every day, her workload was heavy, so naturally, her appetite was large too.

Sun Miao drifted off to sleep without worry, but this nap wasn’t entirely peaceful. In her dream, she thought of something: Su Ruixi might not have dinner tonight. To Sun Miao, this was quite important, enough to surface even in her dreams.

In the dream, this issue materialized: Su Ruixi was accusing Sun Miao of not giving her food.

Even in the dream, Sun Miao felt Su Ruixi was being somewhat unreasonable, but since it was Su Ruixi, Sun Miao could only try to persuade her: “Su-jie, you should go get dinner yourself.”

But Su Ruixi wouldn’t listen at all, because the Su Ruixi in the dream was a Q-version² cotton doll³. Although recognizable as Su Ruixi, this form was just too adorable. Previously, Sun Miao couldn’t quite understand her roommate—why spend several hundred yuan⁴ on just a cotton doll, even having to queue, make reservations, and wait for production times? To Sun Miao, it seemed like being a bit of a sucker⁵.

But when she saw Su Ruixi’s Q-version cotton doll, she gradually understood everything.

Was that buying a cotton doll? That was buying merch of your fave⁶!

Buy it, absolutely must buy it! Several hundred yuan wasn’t important at all; worst case, she’d eat dirt⁷ next month. Not only buy the cotton doll, but also buy clothes for the cotton doll! Seeing the little cotton doll figure clinging to her chest and pounding it with its fists, Sun Miao felt a mix of helplessness and joy at that moment.

“I’m hungry, I’m hungry!”

Su Ruixi’s cotton doll kept repeating this line, adding afterwards: “Make food for me, make food for me!”

Sun Miao couldn’t help but wonder if Su Ruixi’s wish had materialized to harass her in her dreams. On second thought, Su Ruixi really wouldn’t have anything homemade by her to eat tonight. For someone as picky as her, would she just skip eating altogether?

Probably not, right? After all, there was still the soup she had prepared.

Then… maybe just casually have the soup with some bread or something?

That wasn’t impossible either.

Sun Miao considered many things. When she woke up from the dream, her thoughts were still swirling in her head. She shook her head. She’d told herself not to be played by a straight girl, so Sun Miao decided to pretend she knew nothing and forced herself to forget that feeling of heartache for Su Ruixi having no proper meal.

Her phone alarm went off. After getting up and quickly washing up, she borrowed a small electric scooter⁸ from her neighbor to go buy groceries. She only had her food cart, which was too big and cumbersome to ride for this. Usually, when she went early in the morning, there weren’t that many people, and besides, she bought a lot of things, so only the food cart could hold it all.

Now she was just going to buy groceries for her own dinner, no need to take the food cart out.

She borrowed it from a neighbor, a young girl’s electric scooter, and gave the girl a few pieces of candy in return. The little girl smiled sweetly and called her “Jiejie”. What was rather awkward was that the little girl’s mother called Sun Miao “Meimei”.

They each addressed her according to their own perspective; it didn’t matter.

Sun Miao hopped on the little electric scooter and set off. While waiting at a traffic light, she felt: Ah, riding a small e-scooter is so much more comfortable; it’s much easier than driving the food cart. She added this item to her wish list.

The first item on the wish list, always pinned to the top by Sun Miao, was “Buy my own house.” To put it plainly, this wish was actually: I want a home.

The second item was: Find a girlfriend.

Perfectly reasonable. How could Sun Miao not want a girlfriend? However, although the second item on the wish list was important, it wasn’t urgent. Sun Miao felt she could take her time with it.

The third item, conversely, was what she wanted most in the near future: Get a new phone.

The starter phone the system gave her was a bit too crappy. Never mind taking photos, it couldn’t even run games properly, and it would lag if she scrolled through videos too much. Sun Miao really wanted to replace it… When her next break came, she would go get a new phone!

Her break wasn’t actually far off. She had started her stall two days before May Day, so including today, she had been working for four days. Three more days, and after this May Day holiday ended, she could happily take a two-day break.

She’d think more about the electric scooter later. Her savings⁹ weren’t that much yet; she’d save up some more and maybe buy one next month.

Sun Miao arrived at the wholesale market and started picking out vegetables. As she was choosing, the image of Su Ruixi’s cotton doll kept popping into her mind, making Sun Miao absentminded while selecting produce.

Su Ruixi’s cotton doll was over there accusing her of being mean, not making food for her.

Sun Miao picked up a carrot, only to see the little Su Ruixi cotton figure hugging the carrot, saying she wanted to eat it too. Sun Miao paused. She really couldn’t do anything about this; she couldn’t continue picking vegetables like this. She could only put down the carrot and walk out of the vegetable market.

At the main entrance, she made a voice call to Su Ruixi.

It connected quickly. Su Ruixi didn’t start with “Wei”¹⁰, but said directly: “It’s me. Little Boss Sun, what’s up?”

She’s so direct.

Sun Miao wanted to smack herself again. The other person just answered a question; why was she getting all love-struck¹¹ here?

This wild herb¹² really needed digging; who made her like digging it so much?

“Um…” Sun Miao’s gaze drifted for a moment. The cotton doll popped up in her mind again. Urged on by the cotton doll, she could only ask: “Su-jie, have you decided what you’re having for dinner tonight?”

“No, haven’t decided yet.”

Sun Miao lowered her voice slightly: “I mentioned before about having you come over for dinner. I closed up early today, so I probably won’t set up the stall tonight. But since I promised you, I should keep my word. If you don’t mind, how about I bring a meal over to you?”

“…” Su Ruixi on the other end was silent for a moment. At this instant, Sun Miao’s toes curled¹³. She thought, What am I being stupid for? She’s a rich lady; does she really need me to prepare dinner for her?

Just as she was about to continue with, “If you have other plans, just pretend I didn’t say anything,” she heard the voice from the other side.

“Okay, sure. Where are you? I’ll come pick it up.”

Sun Miao subconsciously didn’t want Su Ruixi to come over. The place she lived was remote and the environment was poor. Sun Miao said, “No need, I’ll deliver it to you. Su-jie, where will you be around five-thirty?”

“I’m at home now, in the Cui Ting complex. Won’t it be too much trouble for you to deliver it here?”

“No trouble, it’s fine. Besides… Su-jie gave me candy today, so consider this my thank-you gift.”

Through her own low-quality phone, Sun Miao somehow felt that Su Ruixi’s voice sounded a bit happier. She said, “Okay, I’ll wait for you.” To Sun Miao’s ears, it sounded like raindrops falling gently, making her heart feel soft¹⁴.

“Okay, I’ll head over later.”

After hanging up, the Su Ruixi cotton doll never appeared again. Sun Miao wiped her face and then walked back into the vegetable market to pick out ingredients. This time, she was very successful, gathering everything she needed in just a short while.

Actually, when she hung up the phone, Sun Miao was still a bit hesitant about what to make. But walking into the market and facing the dazzling array¹⁵ of vegetables, she quickly formed a plan: Stir-fried yam with wood ear mushrooms¹⁶, cold-tossed lettuce stems¹⁷, and steamed cabbage rolls with meat filling¹⁸.

The dishes she made were mainly light in flavor, because Su Ruixi didn’t like strongly flavored food to begin with, and she also had stomach problems, so the choices were relatively mild. Yam is just a bit troublesome to prepare, but fortunately, Sun Miao was experienced with these things, and her home was fully equipped with all sorts of¹⁹ peelers, making the preparation relatively simple.

The steamed cabbage rolls were also easy to make. She had been trained extensively by the system in seasoning, so the basic methods for removing gaminess and enhancing aroma were more or less the same. After marinating the meat until flavorful, she wrapped it in cleaned cabbage leaves and simply steamed it on the stove. Done.

The alarm she set was for three-thirty. She got back from buying groceries just after four. These dishes didn’t take too much effort to make; they could be done in an hour. After finishing everything, Sun Miao carried the items and rode her neighbor’s little electric scooter straight to Su Ruixi’s residential complex.

To be honest²⁰, the battery life of current electric vehicles is quite impressive, and they’re fast too. However, this type of electric scooter is classified as an electric motorcycle, requiring license plates and a driver’s license. Regarding the license, Sun Miao didn’t need to worry; the system had arranged everything clearly for her, including a motorcycle license.

Although the neighbor felt getting the license plate was a bit troublesome, she was afraid the electric scooter might be impounded and she’d have to pay a fine, so she had gotten the yellow plate²¹. While riding on the road, Sun Miao saw several unlicensed drivers being stopped; she was also randomly checked.

They looked at Sun Miao’s helmet, then at her driver’s license, confirmed everything was in order, and let her go.

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