Setting Up Stalls – Chapter 48

No setting up stalls allowed here.

The duck seemed to sense death was coming; it stiffened its neck and fluttered its wings. Sun Miao had originally planned to do the deed¹ right there in the courtyard, but then she saw the neighbor’s little girl² nearby.

During this time, Sun Miao had also learned the little girl’s nickname. The little girl’s parents both called her Kai Xin³; her formal name certainly wasn’t this, but this simple name represented her parents’ most simple wish—for her to be happy and joyful her whole life.

With Kai Xin standing nearby, Sun Miao couldn’t bring herself to deal with⁴ the duck directly. She could only take out some candy to coax Kai Xin to go back home, also promising to treat her to something delicious tonight. Only then did Kai Xin happily take the candy and walk away. Sun Miao carried the duck and a basin to a spot behind the house where no one was, and only then did she swiftly get to work.

Sun Miao didn’t waste this bit of blood either, collecting all of it. Then she skillfully plucked the feathers and cut the duck into pieces. After finishing everything, she put the remaining waste from processing into a thick plastic bag, planning to throw it in the garbage station later.

After this, Sun Miao began the next step: making duck soup.

This soup was for the Duck Blood Vermicelli Soup. You could say whether a serving of Duck Blood Vermicelli Soup is savory⁵ or not depends entirely on how well this pot of broth is rendered⁶. Sun Miao’s knife skills were superb. She took out a razor specifically for deboning provided by the System, and in three strokes down and five divided by two⁷, she cleanly stripped the duck meat, leaving only the bones.

Sun Miao put these duck bones directly into a large pot and started stewing them.

After this, time was needed to do its work. After a long period of stewing, it would be filtered, seasonings added again, and simmered further; only then could an enticing high-stock⁸ be produced.

Sun Miao wasn’t idle during this process either, instead doing other tasks, such as the project of making vermicelli⁹. The final step in making vermicelli requires a very long time, which is—sun-drying. Even in good weather, it needs twenty-four hours, and Sun Miao simply didn’t have that kind of time to wait for it to dry.

Modern technology, however, greatly shortened this process. The System provided Sun Miao with a drying oven¹⁰, although it would take the drying oven back after this week of street vending ended.

The vermicelli used in Jinling¹¹ Duck Blood Vermicelli Soup is locally produced sweet potato vermicelli. After drying, sweet potato vermicelli is slightly yellowish and has a faint sweet and fresh aroma. Sun Miao bought sweet potatoes, washed them, ground them into powder, doing everything step by step.

She bought a lot of sweet potatoes because, for the next seven days, it would be impossible for her to get up early every morning to make vermicelli, so she had to prepare all the vermicelli in advance.

Only by getting every little step right could the final product reach a master-level standard. Sun Miao got up in the morning to work, ate something simple at noon, and continued working in the afternoon. In between, she also prepared the braising liquid¹² for the duck parts… It was fortunate that after six months of training, she was already an experienced hand; otherwise, it would be impossible to multitask like this.

Sun Miao didn’t finish work until the sun went down in the afternoon.

Having done so much work, when Sun Miao stood up, she felt her back aching. She rubbed her sore lower back and smelled the aroma of the braising liquid coming from the small kitchen at home. The old duck soup was actually very fragrant too, but the braising liquid’s smell was stronger and overpowered the scent of the duck soup.

At this moment, the duck parts were simmering in the large pot indoors, and the aroma wafted straight out. Sun Miao kept estimating the time, occasionally going inside to take a look. Once she determined they were about ready, she took the duck parts out of the braising liquid, placed them on a stainless steel plate, covered it with plastic wrap, and put it in the refrigerator to chill.

Around this time, neighbors in the compound¹³ were either just getting back from work or getting ready to wake up for their shifts. The braising liquid Sun Miao made was so fragrant it completely overpowered the cooking smells from all the surrounding households. Especially Kai Xin’s family; other people might be too embarrassed to ask, but since Kai Xin and Sun Miao had a good relationship, her mother had the courage¹⁴ to come over and inquire.

“Yo, Little Sun, what are you making? It smells really good.”

“Made some braised duck parts. I promised Kai Xin this morning. They taste better chilled for a bit, I’ll bring some over to you all later.”

“Oh, how could we accept that?”¹⁵

“It’s nothing, just consider it helping me taste-test first.”

Kai Xin’s Mom didn’t refuse in the end. The enticing aroma still hung in the air, and smelling it, she couldn’t help but swallow hard. She nodded and thanked Sun Miao.

For dinner, Sun Miao ate the Duck Blood Vermicelli Soup she had made herself. The taste was still slightly different from the one in the ‘space’; after all, the ducks provided by the System were truly good. Even if some ducks were of uneven quality, that was also to train Sun Miao’s ability to select ducks.

Later on, she could always pick the best ones, and the Duck Blood Vermicelli Soup she made got better and better. The ones sold by vendors in the wholesale market were definitely not as good as those from the System’s space.

Around 9 PM, Sun Miao felt the duck parts were braised enough. She took some out and delivered them to Kai Xin’s family, keeping the rest to sell tomorrow. When Kai Xin heard Sun Miao had come to deliver food, she was overjoyed¹⁶. She climbed down from her chair, hopped over to Sun Miao, and even gave her a lollipop.

“For me?”

“Mhm!” Kai Xin nodded her head emphatically. Sun Miao couldn’t help but smile, “Thank you, Kai Xin.”

After tasting it, Kai Xin’s parents specially sent Sun Miao a message, praising in detail how delicious the duck parts were this time and saying Sun Miao would definitely sell loads¹⁷. Sun Miao expressed her thanks, then received a message from the landlord.

She was always cooking in the courtyard, and this time someone had reported her to the landlord. Sun Miao thought for a moment, then typed a reply to the landlord: “Sorry, I’ll be careful and try my best not to disturb others. I have some leftover duck meat from boiling the duck today; it’s boiled very soft and doesn’t have much flavor left, definitely not suitable for people to eat. I remember seeing you have a dog. If you don’t mind, I can give this duck meat to the dog to eat.”

Sun Miao thought again and specifically added: 【It was set aside at the beginning before adding seasonings, no salt was added either, it’s fine for dogs to eat.】

As the saying goes, ‘taking from others makes your hands short, eating others’ food makes your mouth soft’¹⁸. With this move of pleasing the little dog, Sun Miao also skillfully handled¹⁹ the landlord. The landlord loved dogs quite a bit and immediately took the bait²⁰ upon hearing this: 【Oh, that’s very kind of you²¹, sorry to trouble you.】

【No trouble, I’ll put it in a plastic bag and leave it at your doorstep when I go out tomorrow.】

After settling things with the landlord, Sun Miao couldn’t help but sigh, “Renting is just like this. If only I had my own place.”

The System encouraged her: 【You’ll have a house. If you successfully pursue Su Ruixi, you might even get a big villa²².】

Before Sun Miao could say anything to it, the System, as if guessing Sun Miao was about to retort, preemptively issued a task. The tasks were always more or less the same; this time the vending hours were also 7 AM to 7 PM, only the address had changed.

The place was called ‘Under the second lamppost west of the south gate at 188 Lingshan Road’²³. Sun Miao couldn’t even be bothered to complain anymore; she had no idea why the System liked this particular lamppost so much. After receiving the task, Sun Miao also posted this message on her Moments and in her group chats:

【Starting tomorrow, setting up stall for one week, 7 AM to 7 PM, address is beside 188 Lingshan Road. This time selling Jinling Duck Blood Vermicelli Soup and braised duck parts. Duck parts are limited supply~】

After sending this message, Sun Miao thought for a moment, then still tapped on Su Ruixi’s profile picture and sent it to her individually.

She also asked: “Are you coming over tomorrow? This place looks quite far from your company.” When Sun Miao first received the task, she had opened her phone and searched the address to see how long it would take to get there from her place and from Su Ruixi’s place.

She realized this location was very far from Su Ruixi’s workplace.

After a while, Su Ruixi replied: 【It’s okay, what a coincidence, I need to go over there to discuss business during this period anyway. Perfect timing.】

Seeing this message from Su Ruixi, Sun Miao couldn’t sit still anymore and sat up in bed. Her little brain²⁴ wasn’t brilliant, but she wasn’t a complete idiot²⁵ either. Once or twice could be a coincidence, but three or four times wasn’t necessarily so. She immediately realized the System must be doing this intentionally.

“What are you doing? There’s no need for this.”

【I don’t understand what you’re talking about.】

“System!” Sun Miao was a little angry. Although the System meant well, there was really no need to do things this way. If Su Ruixi also read too much into it, wouldn’t she think Sun Miao was investigating her, deliberately getting so close?

Seeing Sun Miao was angry, the System fell silent for a moment before explaining: 【The first time wasn’t intentional; that location was random. It truly was fate between you two. Later, you said you liked her, so I wanted to help out a bit.】

At that moment, Sun Miao detected a hint of grievance in the System’s tone. She sighed, feeling the System was like a child who meant well but ended up causing trouble. Sun Miao couldn’t say too much to it either, because… it really did mean well for her.

After thinking, Sun Miao could only say: “Forget it. Just don’t do this again next time. Otherwise, Su Ruixi might think I’m some kind of pervert, following her around every day and secretly stealing her business information.”

The System agreed. Only then did Sun Miao lie back down on the bed. After playing on her phone for a while, she fell asleep.

Early the next morning, Sun Miao got up, prepared her ingredients, did some prep work, and then drove her small food cart straight out the door.

She followed the navigation all the way to 188 Lingshan Road. When she arrived and took a look, she discovered it was actually a golf course.

She arrived at exactly 6:55 AM. The golf course staff hadn’t arrived for work yet. She set up her food cart by herself, took down the old duck soup, and started heating up another large pot for cooking the vermicelli.

She checked the time and saw that no one seemed to be coming around, so she brought out a chair and sat down.

Occasionally, people rushing to work passed by. Seeing Sun Miao, they stopped to ask the price, but most left, finding it too expensive. Sun Miao’s Duck Blood Vermicelli Soup sold for 30 yuan²⁶ per serving. Even the duck parts cost fifty²⁷, and customers couldn’t pick their own pieces; it was a fixed portion.

Under these circumstances, passersby busy heading to work would certainly not buy breakfast from her little stall.

A few younger people asked the price and were too embarrassed to leave immediately. Sun Miao could see they were reluctant to spend the money, just too thin-skinned to turn around and walk away. If it had been Sun Miao herself, she definitely would have bolted²⁸ without hesitation.

Compared to her face²⁹, her precious money³⁰ was more important.

Sun Miao didn’t want people buying her food for this reason either, so she said straightforwardly, “It’s okay not to buy.” As soon as these words left her mouth, the person opposite her clearly breathed a sigh of relief and then quickly left.

Sun Miao sat on her chair playing with her phone for quite a while, but still, no one came to buy her vermicelli soup. The security guard from the adjacent golf course, however, had started his shift. Sun Miao watched helplessly³¹ as he walked towards her, opening his mouth to say: “No setting up stalls allowed here.”

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