Learning to Give Up is Also Growth
After seeing the two guests off, Sun Miao returned to the table once more, sitting down beside Su Ruixi and asking, “Susu-jie, can you tell me now?”
Su Ruixi nodded.
She had been given a hard time today too. Even though she had lowered her stance and changed into suitable clothes, the client hadn’t let Su Ruixi off the hook just like that. Today, the client had still arrived very late, making Su Ruixi wait in the lobby rest area from 11:30 until 1:45.
“That’s way too late!” Sun Miao was filled with righteous indignation. Su Ruixi still explained on the client’s behalf, “Actually, the appointment was for 12:30. I was the one who arrived too early.”
“Even so, this client was still an hour and fifteen minutes late, extremely unpunctual! What a bad guy!”
Su Ruixi’s mood improved slightly. When talking about problems encountered at work, having someone on her side, getting indignant for her sake—this feeling was actually quite nice. Su Ruixi took another sip of soup. This place was located halfway up the mountain; at this time, the evening breeze felt a bit chilly when it blew, but the duck soup dispelled the cold for Su Ruixi.
Su Ruixi continued:
“She didn’t do the same thing as yesterday, leaving me hanging1 after meeting. Instead, she took me into the venue…”
After arriving at the venue, Director Zhang still didn’t talk about the contract, saying she was here today to play golf and telling Su Ruixi not to spoil the mood. Then she asked Su Ruixi if she knew how to play golf. Su Ruixi shook her head, stating frankly that she didn’t.
Unexpectedly, Director Zhang started talking about her own early experiences: “I didn’t know how back then either. Who knew how to play this? I’d only seen it in Hong Kong films. Around here, ah, this really wasn’t popular. But back then, bosses from the Hong Kong area came over, and they liked playing this thing, so golf courses big and small started opening up.”
“Me, I wanted investment from those bosses, so I could only cater to their preferences2, learning how to play golf. There weren’t any proper coaches back then, so I could only practice on my own. After practicing, I thought I’d have something to talk about with the bosses, but it turned out I was just mocked by them. Little Boss Su, now that you want this partnership, shouldn’t you also show some sincerity?”
Su Ruixi didn’t really understand what sincerity Director Zhang still needed her to show. She had already made many concessions for this partnership proposal. She had done comparisons; her company already offered the most favorable terms among the competing companies. If this didn’t demonstrate sincerity, then what did?
But Director Zhang’s meaning was already laid bare. Su Ruixi could only frown and go learn how to play golf from a coach.
As a beginner, she spent the whole afternoon learning golf. Right now, her hands hurt and her back ached. She had proven her sincerity through her suffering, yet Director Zhang said she couldn’t endure hardship3.
“It’s just that your generation has had it easy. Back in our day, we relied entirely on starting from scratch4. How could we be as precious5 as Little Boss Su.”
At that moment, Su Ruixi understood the origin of Director Zhang’s malice.
Su Ruixi merely recounted the events plainly, without telling Sun Miao her speculation about the origin of the malice, but Sun Miao had already started fuming indignantly: “That Director Zhang is really so mean! Besides, why should sincerity be demonstrated through suffering like this? Even if it requires suffering, Susu-jie already made an effort!”
“So mean! This Director Zhang just wants to hassle Susu-jie!”
There were some things Su Ruixi found difficult to say herself, but hearing Sun Miao say it like this, she felt a sense of release.
Exactly! Director Zhang really was a mean, mean person!
The two of them chatted for quite a while longer. Sun Miao would occasionally go attend to customers. Su Ruixi didn’t leave either, instead watching her work. When a customer wanted to eat at the folding table, Su Ruixi simply moved. Sun Miao pulled out the built-in table board from her small food cart for her and also gave Su Ruixi the stool to sit on.
Su Ruixi quite liked this spot because when Sun Miao was working, she could also see Sun Miao.
It was a bit cold at night, but it was warm behind Sun Miao’s food cart. Waves of heat radiated from the large pot that was simmering, preventing Su Ruixi from feeling the slightest chill.
As the customers started eating, Sun Miao also got a moment’s rest and continued chatting with Su Ruixi beside her: “Susu-jie, what do you plan to do next?”
Given Su Ruixi’s strong-willed nature, nine times out of ten6 she wouldn’t give up. Sure enough, Su Ruixi replied the next moment, “I still want to try again.”
However, Sun Miao knew very well that sometimes, one simply had to choose to give up on certain things. Perhaps because Su Ruixi possessed too much, she had never experienced proactively giving up on some unattainable desire, which was why she was confident she could ultimately succeed.
But Sun Miao knew that sometimes one must weigh the pros and cons7; there are simply some things that are impossible to obtain. The reasons for not being able to obtain them also varied greatly. Sometimes, reality is just unreasonably cruel.
Sun Miao was younger than Su Ruixi, but her experience in learning to give up far surpassed Su Ruixi’s.
So Sun Miao said directly, “I think it’s better to learn to give up when necessary. Life isn’t always smooth sailing8, Susu-jie. Learning to give up and accept failure is also a kind of growth. Besides, you made it very clear just now; even I can feel that the other party just wants to make things difficult for you and isn’t taking this business seriously at all.”
How could Su Ruixi not know what Sun Miao was saying? But accepting failure was still too difficult for Su Ruixi. She pressed her lips together and said, “I… still want to try again.”
Hearing Su Ruixi say this only made Sun Miao think: Wow, Susu-jie really is such an excellent big sister9.
Actually, for many people, accepting failure and choosing to lie flat10 is the easier path. Those who choose to persist despite knowing it’s impossible, striving even when facing setbacks, are the minority. Sun Miao was actually the same type of person as Su Ruixi; she had never been defeated by setbacks.
Even if her life had failed many times, constantly struggling in the mud, she would still earnestly climb upwards, overcome those numerous difficulties, and achieve success.
Sun Miao admired this aspect of herself, and she also admired Su Ruixi: “Then I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Mm, see you tomorrow!”
When Su Ruixi left, she was in a pretty good mood. Sun Miao tidied up the table. Her Duck Blood Vermicelli Soup for the day was almost sold out, with just a few portions left. She had just become idle for a short while when a customer arrived, and the remaining few portions were all sold. The leftover ingredients were only barely enough to make half a portion, which Sun Miao decided to eat herself.
Just as she was preparing to pack up and go home, she saw a car drive over. Sun Miao found it somewhat familiar, seeming like the one that had stopped to ask her questions yesterday. But this time, a middle-aged woman got out. She looked imposing, clearly a strong, capable woman.
The woman was wearing sportswear, her temples damp with sweat sticking to her forehead, her short hair neat and sharp. She was the type of person Sun Miao would admire.
She walked up to Sun Miao and asked, “Is this Duck Blood Vermicelli Soup?”
“Yes.”
“Where’s it from?”
Sun Miao replied, “Jinling.”
The strong woman’s interest was piqued: “Give me a portion.”
Sun Miao hesitated for a moment, “There’s only half a portion left, do you want it? The price is also half.” Actually, looking at her aura, her clothes, and her luxury car, Sun Miao felt the woman definitely wouldn’t care about this small amount of money. And indeed, that was the case; her focus wasn’t the price, but that there was only half a portion left.
But on second thought, she wasn’t planning to have this as a proper meal, just something to casually fill her stomach.
So she nodded, “Half a portion is fine.”
“Do you want scallions, garlic, cilantro, and chili? Any dietary restrictions? Eating here? One portion is 30 yuan, half is 15 yuan.”
“You sell it quite expensively. Can you even sell it out here?”
The notion that rich people have no concept of money is actually quite rare. Only those who have lived in comfort and ease for years, never worrying about anything, would be completely clueless about money. People like Su Ruixi and the strong woman before her were both quite sensitive to money, quickly realizing that Sun Miao’s price was relatively high for a roadside stall.
Faced with this question, Sun Miao was very confident: “It sells. My skill is worth this price.”
“Haha, then I really must try it. I haven’t had Duck Blood Vermicelli Soup in a long time.”
She added another sentence: “I spent a long time in Jinling back in the day. I couldn’t afford anything then, so I ate the one-yuan Duck Blood Vermicelli Soup from roadside stalls the most. If yours isn’t tasty…”
“If it’s not tasty, I’ll compensate you ten times over.”
Before the woman could state the consequence of it not being tasty, Sun Miao cut her off directly.
The strong woman was slightly taken aback. She glanced at Sun Miao, only to see Sun Miao’s smile: “It will definitely be tasty, trust me.”
Strangely, under Sun Miao’s smile, she actually nodded and said, “Okay.” Then she stated her preferences: “Scallions and cilantro, yes. No garlic. Add a little vinegar, and just a little chili too.” She hesitated for a moment between taking it away or eating here, finally choosing not to bring this roadside stall snack into her car: “I’ll eat here.”
The assistant beside her eagerly wanted to wipe the table and chair for her, but she glanced at them, saw no problem—they were quite clean—stopped the assistant, and sat down herself. After waiting a short while, Sun Miao brought over the Duck Blood Vermicelli Soup and placed it in front of her.
The strong woman told her assistant to leave, opened the disposable chopsticks herself, and began to eat slowly. Actually, the moment she saw the Duck Blood Vermicelli Soup, she was already a little displeased. There were green pea shoots on top. She wasn’t like Su Ruixi or that Hip-Hop Mei, unable to distinguish grains11. Back in the day, she was quite skilled in the fields; it was precisely because she recognized pea shoots that she was unhappy.
Who puts pea shoots in Duck Blood Vermicelli Soup? Isn’t this just messing around?
However, since she had already bought it, and she disliked wasting things, plus it had indeed been a long time since she sat by the roadside eating a bowl of roadside stall Duck Blood Vermicelli Soup like this. She still ate it, bite by bite. The moment the first mouthful entered her mouth, she was stunned. The taste was unfamiliar yet familiar, but it was indeed the taste of Duck Blood Vermicelli Soup from her memory.
As for the pea shoots, after eating a bite, she also found them delicious. They harmonized surprisingly well with the Duck Blood Vermicelli Soup, making one feel as if pea shoots were supposed to be in Duck Blood Vermicelli Soup all along.
This half-portion of Duck Blood Vermicelli Soup quickly reached the bottom. She even felt somewhat unsatisfied… if it had been a full portion, she could have finished it all too.
Even though she ate with such gusto, she still discovered a problem with the Duck Blood Vermicelli Soup.
LP: “Back in my day, I walk through mountains and rivers just to go to school” ahh reason! I’ve been hearing similar things from adults all my life! And this constant comparisons really did a hit on my mental health, sheesh. Why did younger me have to feel guilty to not have experienced what they experienced?
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Different times offer different challenges.
Yeah…FL is a failure if she doesn’t know when tongive up, literally driving herself to death and putting up a strong front despite totally bending to the will of the unwilling client. Mc is also just giving shallow advices and enabling FLs bad habits.
Eh, will see. If Mc solves this via her food, gonna drop cause they ain’t learned anything at all. Same if FL keeps on being a punching bag that’s frustrating to follow.