Coming Out on the Spot
It was hard to tell how Sun Miao had braised this duck neck, but the meat tore off easily, yet it wasn’t the type that was stewed until mushy and lacking chewiness. It hit just the right spot between the two, allowing diners to retain that tearing sensation of gnawing on a duck neck without struggling with it for ages only to end up sucking on nothing1; instead, you could really and truly feel yourself pulling meat off the duck neck.
This point seemed quite incredible to those who often ate duck goods.
Fortunately, Su Ruixi ate them infrequently and only thought they were delicious, without realizing how rare this quality was.
The five-spice duck goods had a rich and varied flavor profile; the savory aroma of soy sauce carried a hint of rock sugar, an ultimate fusion of seasoning flavors where none overshadowed the others2, yet they all served to accentuate the presence of the duck meat within. Many duck goods primarily involved gnawing on the seasoning flavor, with the ingredients merely playing a supporting role, but Sun Miao’s creation was different—the duck meat was also an indispensable part.
The aroma of the seasonings also provided completely different flavors at this point. As Su Ruixi ate, not only did she not find the taste heavy, but she actually wanted to eat more and more.
There wasn’t much meat on a single duck neck to begin with, and Su Ruixi felt like she’d finished it after just a short while. Being in her own home with no one around, Su Ruixi’s prideful streak wasn’t as strong. She reluctantly put the duck neck piece back into her mouth, sucked on it a bit for flavor, and was about to spit it out and switch to the next piece.
But just then, she accidentally bit down on the duck neck bone. The bone, surprisingly crispy and soft, shattered directly, crumbling into bits in Su Ruixi’s mouth. At the same time, the marinade trapped inside also flowed out, making the flavor even more intense.
Su Ruixi chewed a couple of times but still spat out the bone fragments, then moved on to another piece without stopping3.
The duck neck was quickly finished. Su Ruixi then turned her attention to the duck gizzard and other offal. She first took a bite of the duck gizzard. Duck blood vermicelli soup also contained duck gizzard, but the sensation now was completely different from back then. Although the gizzard soaked in soup was very chewy, its flavor was milder. This current gizzard, however, had a flavor so rich it was impossible to ignore.
As she picked up the second piece with her chopsticks, she saw the gizzard’s beautifully cut surface. The inner ring of the gizzard was brown, with a layer of deep red on the outermost part, clearly indicating it had been thoroughly braised. To the eyes of someone who often ate braised goods, this gizzard looked beautiful, meaning its taste definitely wouldn’t be bad.
Su Ruixi lacked such awareness but still eagerly swallowed this beautiful gizzard.
After eating the gizzard, her psychological barrier against eating offal also crumbled. Su Ruixi didn’t pass up the subsequent duck liver and duck heart either.
It proved that there are no bad ingredients, only bad cooks. The duck goods made by Sun Miao truly had not a hint of gaminess, yet they hadn’t lost the duck’s original flavor either. Simultaneously, the marinade she concocted had surprising layers of flavor that unfolded one after another, making the taste even richer. The most amazing part was that there were quite a few types of duck goods, each possessing its own unique flavor; the marinade combined with each of them brought Su Ruixi completely different experiences.
Even the textures were different.
The duck neck had bones, and biting them at the end resulted in a sandy, granular texture; the duck gizzard was chewy but not tough; the duck heart felt even more peculiar to eat; the duck liver looked flat but melted in the mouth shortly after being eaten, feeling almost like eating foie gras…
In short, it was just delicious.
Without realizing it, Su Ruixi ate all the duck goods. She rubbed her belly, went to drink some water, and then rested for a while before going to take a shower.
She also remembered seeing people chat in the group before, saying duck goods paired best with alcohol. Su Ruixi didn’t like drinking, and besides, she had stomach problems and couldn’t drink anyway. If she couldn’t pair it with alcohol, having it with a beverage would surely be good too. If she bought more tomorrow, Su Ruixi would likely buy some drinks to bring back as well; eating it dry did end up being just a tiny bit salty towards the end.
In the group chat, everyone was also posting pictures one after another. Quite a few people, like Su Ruixi, had saved their duck goods to eat as a late-night snack.
This thoroughly annoyed Hip-hop Mei, because she had already eaten her duck goods as afternoon tea.
【Why can we only buy one portion? Little Boss Sun, cancel this limit, okay? Tomorrow I’ll buy out your entire stock, then you can go home early too.】
【?】
【?】
A stream of question marks and related emoji stickers instantly flooded the screen. Many people replied below: 【This is the episode where I support Little Boss Sun the most. If you bought everything, what would we eat? Drink the northwest wind4?】
However, Sun Miao couldn’t see any of these messages because, unlike these night owls, Sun Miao had gone to bed early. She was someone who had to set up her stall at seven the next morning; if she didn’t sleep early, how could she possibly rush over to set up on time?
When Sun Miao woke up the next day, she scrolled through the group chat messages while washing up, then headed out, ready to set up her stall. Her next-door neighbor, Kaixin, was just leaving for kindergarten and even cheered her on: “Sun-jiejie, you can do it!”
“Okay, thanks Kaixin, you too!”
Sun Miao rode her electric scooter, and before she even reached her stall location, she saw people. They were all regular customers, five in total: four women and one man. The Hip-hop Mei and Yabi Mei duo had brought along their male rich second-generation friend, and the other two were Man Man and Xiao Xiao.
She was astonished when she saw these five. She usually arrived ten minutes early, around 6:50, and started setting up. But now, at 6:50, five people were already here waiting for her5. And among them was Hip-hop Mei, notoriously unable to wake up early, plus two university students.
“You guys… aren’t you way too early?”
Sun Miao stopped and pushed her cart up from the sidewalk to her spot. As she spoke, she began setting up. Seeing her, the five gathered around, chattering away: “We’ve been waiting for a while, but don’t worry, we were waiting inside the golf course earlier. We only came over when we saw it was about time.”
“What time did you guys get up this morning?”
Faced with this question, all five smiled: “It’s not about what time we got up; we never slept at all.”
“I can’t manage waking up early, but if it’s staying up late, that’s absolutely no problem,” Hip-hop Mei said, patting her chest as if she were very impressive. Sun Miao was speechless. She looked towards Man Man and Xiao Xiao: “You two as well?”
“Yeah, we pulled an all-nighter last night, so we came straight over to buy duck goods.”
Sun Miao’s expression froze, then turned serious: “You can’t do this. I’m not saying pulling an all-nighter is bad… well, you shouldn’t do that either, but I mean you can’t come to this place at such an hour. It’s too remote here, and you two are young women, university students. It’s better safe than sorry6. If something really were to happen, what would you do?”
The two girls shrank back after being scolded. Man Man still seemed a bit unwilling to concede, continuing, “But Boss-jiejie, don’t you also come to such a remote place so early in the morning?”
“I’m here to work, and I come fully equipped. I have knives on my cutting board, so at the very least I can defend myself. Most importantly, it’s already daylight when I arrive. What time did you guys get here? Don’t you have any sense?” Sun Miao’s words left Man Man and Xiao Xiao speechless.
With things like this, you had to be safe rather than sorry. If they really encountered some pervert, it would truly be a shadow looming over their entire lives. The two of them knew Sun Miao was concerned about them, so they nodded: “We understand. We won’t come to such a remote place late at night anymore.”
After that, the atmosphere finally relaxed. Sun Miao took their orders one by one and packed up the duck goods they wanted.
Watching her movements, Hip-hop Mei suddenly asked: “If I come back later and queue up again, can I buy another portion?”
“No, there’s no way to exploit bugs7 like that.”
Hip-hop Mei grumbled indignantly, “That’s because you recognize me! If it were an unfamiliar face, someone you didn’t know, queuing up two or three times, you definitely wouldn’t notice.”
Regarding this point, however, Sun Miao was very certain: “I would definitely notice, and I wouldn’t let that person succeed in buying again.”
“Are you that sure?” Hip-hop Mei was exasperated, but she saw Sun Miao smile slightly: “Yes, I’m sure I’d notice.”
Are you kidding me? Sun Miao thought. I’m using cheats8, I have the System! I’ve already arranged these things with the System. It doesn’t matter if I can’t remember; the System remembers, and it even has facial recognition. If someone really tried that, the System would directly tell me what time that person bought what item today, eliminating any possibility of exploiting this BUG.
This topic was dropped, and soon the second topic began. After finishing his food, the rich male friend couldn’t help but sigh: “It’s really delicious. If Little Boss Sun stops setting up her stall in the future, what will I do?”
“How could Little Boss Sun stop setting up her stall? Don’t jinx it9.”
The rich male friend pouted, seeming intent on arguing with Hip-hop Mei: “Why couldn’t she? What if Little Boss Sun gets married or goes back to her hometown? Besides, there are quite a few wealthy people who like Little Boss Sun’s snacks. I came late yesterday afternoon, and several regulars from the golf course also came over to buy some and were praising Little Boss Sun.”
“What if some guy catches Little Boss Sun’s eye and whisks her straight back to his home to get married? If Little Boss Sun becomes a rich man’s wife, wouldn’t we be left with nothing to eat?”
Hip-hop Mei and Yabi Mei’s expressions froze; they both started considering this possibility.
Hey, don’t dismiss it, it really was possible.
Hip-hop Mei grew anxious. She turned to Sun Miao, eager for confirmation: “Little Boss Sun, that won’t happen, right? You won’t stop setting up your stall just because you marry some rich second-generation guy, right?”
Hearing her words, Sun Miao smiled: “No, that won’t happen.”
Just as Hip-hop Mei breathed a sigh of relief, she heard Sun Miao say: “I won’t be getting married.” She said this with extraordinary certainty, even more certainty than when she had just claimed she could definitely spot someone trying to buy a second time. Hip-hop Mei paused, stunned: “Little Boss Sun, are you against marriage?”
Sun Miao thought for a moment. She probably didn’t count as being against marriage. She did want to fall in love and get married, it was just that the domestic situation wasn’t one where same-sex marriage was possible. Getting married would require emigrating, which would be very troublesome. However, if possible, she still wanted to gain legal recognition with her lover, to become legal partners.
So she shook her head: “No, I’m not.”
“Then what…”
Sun Miao didn’t hesitate and stated her situation directly: “Because I like girls. In this situation, I definitely won’t be getting married, and getting married is rather complicated anyway.” Sun Miao came out nonchalantly10; she didn’t hide the fact that she was gay. She wouldn’t proactively bring it up, but since the topic had arrived here, there was no need for her to conceal it.
Hip-hop Mei was stunned for a moment, but only said: “Oh, I see.”
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