Setting Up Stalls – Chapter 61

In the Wind

For the sake of the absolute best beef pancakes in the world, Tong Yuwei made unremitting efforts. Finally, five-plus-four days after the beef pancakes left her, and also the fourth day since discovering the beef pancake stall was no longer setting up downstairs from her company, Tong Yuwei found Xiaoxiao’s post¹ on Xiaohongshu².

She took a deep breath, immediately realizing the stall mentioned was Miao Miao’s Mobile Food Bar. That very morning, she had finally managed to add a relevant contact from the group. The person hadn’t added her to the group itself but had leaked some intel, telling her where Little Boss Sun of Miao Miao’s Mobile Food Bar was setting up her stall.

Tong Yuwei had been thinking day and night about the beef pancakes. She immediately requested leave from work and then, at half-past four, charged straight up³ to Sun Miao.

Her opening line was: “Give me twenty beef pancakes.”

Because she missed the beef pancakes so much, she hadn’t noticed at all that the food cart’s layout had changed significantly; even the large griddle for frying the beef pancakes was nowhere to be seen. Or perhaps she had noticed, but her heart simply didn’t want to acknowledge it. Her love for the beef pancakes had blinded her.

However, Tong Yuwei’s hopes were still dashed…

Sun Miao felt a bit awkward, like she’d been caught red-handed doing something wrong, or perhaps the guilty feeling of a heartless lover being confronted by a wife who had waited like a loyal statue⁴. Even so, she still spoke the words: “I’m not selling beef pancakes. This week, here, I’m selling Jinling Duck Blood Vermicelli Soup.”

Tong Yuwei asked a question Sun Miao had heard many times before: “Why? Your beef pancakes are so delicious, why switch to selling duck blood vermicelli soup?”

It seemed the regulars had said the same thing when she switched from Malatang to beef pancakes previously.

Only when she switched from egg fried rice to Malatang had there been no such comments, apart from Su Ruixi saying something similar. That was because the egg fried rice customers weren’t as smart as the Malatang ones; they hadn’t reminded her to set up a group.

Faced with Tong Yuwei’s question, Sun Miao chose a very ‘scum woman’⁵ silence. Tong Yuwei was a bit stubborn and also sharp-tongued⁶, so even though Sun Miao didn’t answer, she didn’t give up. Instead, her voice took on an affected tone⁷, tinged with a ‘green tea’ vibe⁸ as she spoke: “Jiejie, looks like I came at a bad time. How could you possibly switch when your beef pancakes are so delicious? Jiejie, I’m not asking for much, just twenty beef pancakes!”

“No.”

Iron-hearted⁹ Boss Sun cleanly and decisively refused.

“Why don’t you try this? The Jinling Duck Blood Vermicelli Soup is also very good. Since you’re already here, you can’t just leave empty-handed, right?”

Effectively pinned down¹⁰ by the phrase “Since you’re already here,” Tong Yuwei took a deep breath: It’s okay, it doesn’t matter if I can’t eat beef pancakes today, at least I’ve caught the person. She pressed her lips together for a moment, and although somewhat unhappy, she still ordered a portion of duck blood vermicelli soup.

After ordering, she sat down at the small table nearby and began to lament for the beef pancakes¹¹: “Jiejie, your heart is really biased, isn’t it? Selling duck blood vermicelli soup gets a small folding table, but our dear beef pancakes got nothing.”

—See, this is why group variety shows shouldn’t have solo stans¹², otherwise they’ll fight over every little thing.

Was it that she wouldn’t provide a table for the beef pancakes? It was clearly because beef pancakes could be eaten right after grabbing them, why go through the trouble of sitting down? Sun Miao knew that the more she said, the more mistakes she’d make, so she simply kept quiet. Besides, she didn’t usually chat while working. She sped up, prepared Tong Yuwei’s duck blood vermicelli soup, and then brought it over to her.

Then, Sun Miao witnessed a group variety show solo stan transform into an all-loving fan¹³.

Tong Yuwei ate quite happily, but after finishing, she still felt a bit unwilling to give up, chasing after Sun Miao to ask: “When will our kid— no, I mean, the beef pancakes, make a comeback appearance¹⁴?”

“I don’t know either.”

Tong Yuwei was choked speechless.

There was no other way; Sun Miao could only pull the person into the group chat: “Where I’ll be next week, and what I’ll be selling, I’ll announce it in the group beforehand.”

Tong Yuwei’s eyes widened as she listened to Sun Miao explain the rules, almost dying of anger: “You should have said this kind of thing earlier! If you had told me earlier you were changing locations after May Day, I definitely would have come back early from the holiday just to buy beef pancakes! Unbelievable, I actually missed the world’s absolute best beef pancakes because of a May Day holiday!”

Tong Yuwei ordered another portion of duck blood vermicelli soup to go, planning to have it as a late-night snack.

After Tong Yuwei, the dinner rush began, but Su Ruixi still hadn’t arrived. Sun Miao kept an eye on the entrance while making duck blood vermicelli soup. By half-past five, her stock was gone. Sun Miao saved the last portion, then announced to the remaining customers that she was closing up for the day.

Those who couldn’t buy anything left sighing in disappointment¹⁵; among them were several customers from the nearby golf course.

Sun Miao grew more worried. Even several people from inside the golf course had come out to buy duck blood vermicelli soup, yet she still hadn’t seen Su Ruixi. Although Sun Miao had sold out, she didn’t leave, because she and Su Ruixi had agreed to have dinner together today. The sky gradually darkened. By six in the evening, the streetlights along the road had flickered on, and the wind had picked up.

The weather forecast was quite accurate; it said there would be strong winds today, and indeed there were strong winds.

Many trees were planted on both sides of the mid-mountain road. The wind swept the leaves down with rustling sounds. Fallen leaves on the road swirled, caught by the wind and carried along for a distance. Sun Miao’s hair was tied back tightly, but even so, strands at her temples were blown about slightly.

Finally, at this hour, Su Ruixi emerged from the golf course. Her car was parked by the roadside. As she got out, the wind caught her hair, instantly ruining Su Ruixi’s hairstyle.

Sun Miao knew she shouldn’t laugh at this moment, but seeing this scene, a smile still crept onto her lips. Sun Miao really loved to smile; usually, when Su Ruixi saw Sun Miao, she was always smiling, but today the smile was even more obvious. She couldn’t hold it back, as if she had seen something incredibly amusing.

Su Ruixi felt a little embarrassed. She reached up to tuck her hair back, quickening her steps towards Sun Miao’s food cart. The wind was somewhat blocked by the cart, lessening slightly.

“Why are you still here?”

Sun Miao knew what Su Ruixi was asking: the wind was so strong, why hadn’t she packed up and left instead of staying out on the road with her stall. Especially since Sun Miao was all alone here, her little cart standing solitary and looking quite lonely.

A small lamp hung on Sun Miao’s food cart, swaying in the wind, looking somewhat pitiful. Earlier that day, Su Ruixi had even told her that if the wind got too strong, she should be careful, maybe not set up the stall, and definitely not wait for her. But Sun Miao hadn’t agreed; she had stayed here, waiting for Su Ruixi.

“Well, we have to eat, right?”

With that one sentence from Sun Miao, Su Ruixi gave up resisting: “Alright then.”

Sun Miao pulled the small folding table closer, positioning it against the food cart to block some wind. She had put away the folding chairs, afraid they might blow away. Now, she handed one to Su Ruixi, gesturing for her to sit first, while she herself took out the food container. She opened it, checked that everything looked okay and was still warm, then brought it to the table.

She and Su Ruixi sat side-by-side, not facing each other, so the wind wouldn’t blow directly at them and mess up their hair. Sun Miao thought for a moment, then removed the large clip holding her hair back. Her ponytail fell down her back, slightly loosened without the clip, so she undid the hair tie and retied it.

Seeing Sun Miao also had flyaway hair, Su Ruixi accepted the large clip. She gathered her hair, twisted it into a bun at the nape of her neck, and secured it with the large clip.

A new look, nice.

Sun Miao mused internally, taking a couple of extra glances.

This hairstyle made Su Ruixi seem a touch less proud and sharp, but added a measure of dignified grace. In short, to Sun Miao, it was simply beautiful. But what moved Sun Miao even more were her sparkling eyes. She had thought that after being hassled by Director Zhang all day, Su Ruixi would surely be exhausted, perhaps even very downcast like yesterday.

But there was no confusion, no defeat in her eyes, only a brilliance like the stars in the sky, exceptionally beautiful.

For Sun Miao, it was Su Ruixi’s looks that initially made her heart flutter; humans are visual creatures, the first glance determines the degree of favorable impression. If not for Su Ruixi’s face, she wouldn’t have treated her with special consideration, let alone considered her a crush. But a momentary flutter doesn’t last long; if getting along reveals that the other person constantly hits your sore spots¹⁶, the flutter quickly fades.

Yet, to this day, Su Ruixi remained Sun Miao’s crush, precisely because of her brilliant personality, shining in the darkness.

Even though they hadn’t known each other long, hadn’t met many times, and mostly just exchanged brief words like a customer buying food and a vendor selling it, Sun Miao still felt that the radiance of Su Ruixi revealed in those small incidents made her heart flutter even more.

She also couldn’t help herself, wanting to do more for Su Ruixi.

Perhaps sensing Sun Miao’s gaze, Su Ruixi couldn’t help but tilt her head slightly: “What’s wrong? Not eating?”

“Eating.”

Sun Miao’s heart skipped a beat; Su Ruixi tilting her head just now was too beautiful. The clip was still a bit loose, unable to hold all her hair. Strands slipped from Su Ruixi’s temples, dancing slowly and languidly in the air with the breeze. As dusk settled, the streetlight overhead cast down a patch of light, its warm yellow tone draping Su Ruixi in what seemed like a layer of gauze, making her look even softer and more beautiful.

This scene was so impactful that Sun Miao nearly lost focus, failing even at expression management.

It was just that their surroundings were truly not the best.

On the side of a deserted road, next to a solitary little cart, sat a tiny folding table and low folding chairs, upon which rested two food containers. Sun Miao opened them layer by layer. Beside them were two disposable containers holding old duck soup.

It was all a bit too down-to-earth; even Su Ruixi looked much more plain and simple.

In this environment, Su Ruixi broke apart a pair of disposable chopsticks, ready to begin.

“Try this, I stewed it for quite a while. It’s chestnut braised duck. It’s more of a braised flavor profile¹⁷; I didn’t add chili, you can eat it.”

Sun Miao chattered on, while Su Ruixi listened quietly, though her expression showed she was paying attention seriously. She extended her chopsticks and, between the old duck and the chestnuts, chose a chestnut. Sun Miao understood, a smile touching her lips: Knew it, Su Ruixi likes vegetables more than meat. But Sun Miao was different; she liked meat.

She picked up a piece of duck meat and popped it into her mouth.

Su Ruixi ate slowly and methodically, while Sun Miao was much faster. After finishing the duck meat, she looked at Su Ruixi, waiting until she had finished eating before asking, “How is it, delicious?”

“Mhm, delicious.”

Even though the strong night wind blew, huddled in this little corner, they didn’t feel the slightest chill. Especially Sun Miao’s smile, which looked even gentler under the warm yellow streetlight.

---

---