Setting Up Stalls – Chapter 53

First, a bite of sweetness

Su Ruixi wasn’t participating, merely watching as an observer. Her previously foul mood had completely vanished. Looking at the group chat, she only felt cheerful, especially when thinking of those five-spice duck products; she couldn’t help but break into a smile.

Time passed quickly because of this; unknowingly, two hours had slipped by, bringing it to half-past three in the afternoon. During this time, she had also chatted with her assistant for a while, handling some work remotely. Su Ruixi sat in the bustling lobby’s rest area, occasionally noticing others glancing her way.

But because she was in a good mood, she sat there, oblivious to everyone around her, simply staying in her seat, breezy and unconcerned as she did her own thing.

She knew this good mood was thanks to Sun Miao.

Without Sun Miao, what state would she be in right now? Even the most patient person would feel impatient; irritation would bubble up from the bottom of her heart. Especially for someone like her, who had always had smooth sailing, encountering a setback for the first time would surely fill her heart and eyes with unwillingness and resentment. Even if Su Ruixi could suppress it, she knew she would ultimately be unhappy.

Su Ruixi was strong, but she was still young and impetuous. How could she possibly achieve being like “a thousand hammerings and ten thousand blows still leaves it strong, letting the winds from east, west, south, or north buffet it”?¹

Though right now, she did indeed seem “as immovable as a bell”; anyway, in others’ eyes, Su Ruixi was being a bit too composed.

As it neared four o’clock, President Zhang finally seemed to remember Su Ruixi was waiting for her and sent her assistant to find Su Ruixi.

Looking at the assistant before her, Su Ruixi closed her tablet, put away the capacitive stylus, placed everything into her bag, and only then stood up. Her expression was calm; facing the assistant, she merely gave a faint nod. “Alright, let’s go then.”

Following the assistant, she took a sightseeing cart to the inner golf course area. President Zhang was still on the green, hitting balls. A table was set up nearby, with two other people seated beside it, both around President Zhang’s age, a man and a woman. Su Ruixi recognized them both; they were also well-known middle-aged entrepreneurs.

A tier below her father and President Zhang, perhaps, but not by much.

They nodded at Su Ruixi, and Su Ruixi nodded back in greeting. There were only three seats here in total; two were already occupied, leaving only one empty – clearly President Zhang’s, which Su Ruixi couldn’t possibly take. Standing on the grassy field in high heels, her footing wasn’t very stable, and her heels might poke holes in the turf.

She could only apologize silently to the groundskeepers in her heart and then roast inwardly: If I were sticking pins in a little effigy², it’d be President Zhang. After all, she’s the one in the wrong.

Su Ruixi, a person who would absolutely never engage in internal friction³.

After she had stood there for about ten minutes, President Zhang finally walked over from nearby. She plopped down into the seat, took a sip of water, picked up a towel to wipe her sweat, and only after doing all this did she look at Su Ruixi. “Been waiting long? Don’t blame me, though. Young people need to be tempered and trained. Unpolished jade never shines⁴, you know.”

Su Ruixi had no desire to discuss such topics with her and just went straight to the point⁵: “President Zhang, you asked me here today saying you planned to sign the letter of intent. About that…”

“Ai, I’m playing golf, and my friends are here too. Signing a letter of intent like this, it could easily leak. Little President Su, don’t you understand even this?”

Su Ruixi looked at President Zhang for a moment and understood. This person was just messing with her.

She nodded. “Alright. It’s getting late today. Tomorrow, we…”

“Tomorrow I’ve also arranged to play golf with friends.”

“The day after tomorrow…”

“The day after tomorrow too, oh.”

Su Ruixi pressed her lips together. She felt her mood souring again. “Then tomorrow, I will come here again to wait for President Zhang.”

After saying this, she simply added, “I won’t disturb President Zhang any longer. See you tomorrow.”

Su Ruixi turned and walked away, but President Zhang called out behind her, “Little President Su, don’t wear high heels tomorrow! Don’t ruin the grass.” Su Ruixi’s retreating figure paused slightly; she turned her head back to reply, “Okay, thank you for letting me know.” She boarded the sightseeing cart and left the place.

Arriving at the parking lot, Su Ruixi opened the car door, got in, and changed her shoes. After putting on flats, sitting in the car, she felt her mood hadn’t calmed down. Su Ruixi had truly never suffered such grievance. At this moment, a sourness welled up in her heart.

She was a favored child of heaven⁶, having never failed at anything she set out to do since childhood. But at this moment, she truly felt exceptionally defeated. She didn’t even know how she had offended President Zhang to be humiliated like this.

Su Ruixi pressed her lips tightly together, calming her emotions. She drove out of the golf course gate. She had intended to leave directly, but as the car passed Sun Miao’s little stall and she saw Sun Miao was still there, Su Ruixi suddenly slammed on the brakes. She stopped by the roadside without getting out, just sitting in the car.

Only when she saw through the rearview mirror that Sun Miao had leaned out, seemingly looking at her, did Su Ruixi open the car door and get out.

She didn’t even change her shoes back; she really liked wearing high heels. High heels made her legs look longer and also made her taller. She disliked looking up at people; this was her arrogance, but she had always felt she had the right to be arrogant. This was a nasty streak hidden deep in Su Ruixi’s heart, but at this moment, she felt this little bit of arrogance was even somewhat laughable.

Sun Miao was also surprised. She watched Su Ruixi stop the car and dawdle inside for so long, possibly changing shoes, but when she got out, Sun Miao immediately noticed Su Ruixi was wearing flats. Su Ruixi walked towards her stall, and Sun Miao instinctively stood up. It was only just past four o’clock, likely still early for Su Ruixi’s dinner.

But if she got takeout now to bring back, the timing would be about right.

Sun Miao looked at Su Ruixi, just about to ask if she wanted an order, when she noticed Su Ruixi’s expression and state weren’t very good… Sun Miao had a very good impression of Su Ruixi and could read many of her thoughts from her usually reserved face. At this moment, Sun Miao realized she probably wasn’t here to buy food.

But asking Su Ruixi directly would be somewhat awkward. Sun Miao thought for a moment and decided to ask anyway: “Susu-jie, would you like a bowl of duck blood vermicelli soup?”

Su Ruixi paused, her expression shifting slightly. Sun Miao found it hard to describe her expression, but she felt as if Su Ruixi seemed to be thinking: What? Sun Miao, why aren’t you asking anything? Why are you asking me this with the same attitude as always?

And precisely because of Sun Miao’s attitude and words, which were no different from usual, a small smile appeared on Su Ruixi’s face. “Mm, yes please.”

“To go?”

“No, I’ll eat here.”

It wasn’t mealtime yet at just past four, and many people hadn’t finished work, so Miao Miao’s Mobile Food Bar only had one customer: Su Ruixi. Seeing Su Ruixi walk over to the folding table she had set up and slowly sit down, her expression calm and already somewhat different from when she first arrived, Sun Miao breathed a sigh of relief and started making her soup.

After Sun Miao finished making it, she brought it over to her. Just as Su Ruixi was about to start eating, Sun Miao very impolitely called out, “Hold on! Susu-jie, wait a moment, it’s too hot right now.” Sun Miao took out two candies from the small pocket on the front of her apron and placed one in front of Su Ruixi.

“Susu-jie, eat the candy. After you finish the candy, it won’t be so hot anymore.”

Su Ruixi’s gaze fell on the candy on the table. She recognized it; it was the one she had given Sun Miao before. She didn’t stand on ceremony, picked it up, tore open the wrapper, and popped it into her mouth. Beside her, Sun Miao did the same, sucking on her candy.

“Susu-jie, what flavor is yours? Mine is orange.”

“Green apple.”

Su Ruixi was slightly disappointed—it wasn’t strawberry flavor.

This disappointment didn’t last long because Sun Miao beside her started chattering on: “Ah? It’s green apple flavor? That flavor is delicious! When I had it before, my eyes lit up. The taste is sweet but not cloying, and when you finish it, you feel like you want more⁷. Orange is also very good, but I think I still prefer green apple a bit more.”

Originally, Su Ruixi hadn’t thought the green apple flavor was that special, just a very ordinary taste. But hearing Sun Miao say this, she subconsciously felt the candy in her mouth had become delicious too – sweet, but with a certain freshness. Her tongue pressed against the candy, rolling it around in her mouth, filling it with the sweet taste of green apple.

“Mm, is that so?”

“Yeah, it’s really delicious. The candies Susu-jie bought are all super tasty, and those soft gummies too! They really have fruit juice filling inside, yeah! After chewing a few times, you bite down, and the juice inside bursts out. It’s delicious and fun. Just not very easy to share, because the soft gummies are sold loose in a glass jar, you know.”

Sun Miao always had a way of making seemingly ordinary things sound delicious. Listening to Sun Miao, Su Ruixi felt a bit tempted too: Perhaps, I could also buy a box for myself?

Sun Miao chattered away beside her: “But there are flavors that aren’t as good, oh. That grape flavor is a bit strange. Maybe grape just isn’t suitable for candy. Every time I eat grape flavor, I feel the taste is a bit odd, kind of sour.”

After talking about candy, she started chatting about everything under the sun: “Susu-jie, did you know? Jinling duck blood vermicelli soup doesn’t include pea shoots. But pea shoots are in season right now. From May to early June is the best time to eat pea shoots; they won’t be available later because people will be eating the peas themselves…”

Su Ruixi had just learned this in the group chat too, but they hadn’t said as much as Sun Miao. Being clueless about farming⁸, she naturally hadn’t known it was already pea shoot season.

“You can also eat pea shoots in hot pot, oh! Blanching pea shoots in clear broth is the only tolerance people from Chuan-Shu⁹ have for clear broth hot pot.”

Sun Miao spoke very engagingly, making the corners of Su Ruixi’s mouth curve up involuntarily. Once Su Ruixi finished the candy, Sun Miao said, “The vermicelli soup isn’t hot now. Susu-jie, hurry up and eat.”

She wasn’t actually that hungry, but hearing Sun Miao say this, she felt herself getting a bit hungry too. Su Ruixi hesitated slightly, “Eating vermicelli soup right after eating candy, won’t the flavors clash?”

“Then drink some soup first, it can wash away the taste.”

Su Ruixi followed Sun Miao’s advice and took a sip of the soup. As the soup went down, Su Ruixi’s bad mood seemed to be swallowed along with it, disappearing completely.

Su Ruixi didn’t know whether it was the delicious food or Sun Miao herself that had healed her.

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