Setting Up Stalls – Chapter 79

Came Even Though Her Stomach Was Acting Up

Hip-hop Mei was easily swayed by a single sentence from Yabi Mei. She let out an “Oh,” feeling that Yabi Mei made a lot of sense, and even praised her: “It’s a good thing I have you by my side, otherwise I wouldn’t know how to handle something like this if I did it. If Little Boss Sun really blacklisted me and I could never eat such delicious food again, I’d be devastated.”

Hip-hop Mei genuinely loved eating Sun Miao’s food. She was rich and could eat many dishes made by state banquet master chefs¹, and she admitted that what state banquet master chefs made was delicious. Every top chef, in their own area of expertise, was definitely at a height others could only look up to.

However… state banquet master chefs usually made famous dishes, and when you went to their restaurants, you couldn’t just order one dish, right? You had to pair it with other things. These other dishes didn’t reach that same height; they would more or less be a bit uneven in quality.

Most importantly, Hip-hop Mei liked eating Sun Miao’s food because she made snacks. Seriously, as a young person, compared to formally eating stir-fried dishes with rice, she still preferred eating all sorts of snacks!

Top-tier chefs for snacks weren’t easy to find, because inherently, everyone felt that snacks were a cut below formal cuisine. So, generally, chefs with skill made grand dishes. They went for whatever had complex techniques and precious ingredients.

But Sun Miao’s snacks were the simplest, most ultimate enjoyment, and Hip-hop Mei absolutely loved them.

It was also because she had eaten a lot and tasted a lot that Hip-hop Mei knew just how incredible Sun Miao’s skills were. Take the duck blood vermicelli soup she had last time, for example. She had eaten the version made by the Jinling cuisine master chef specially invited by Yuanfu Lou, and it simply couldn’t compare to Sun Miao’s.

Yabi Mei had also told her an interesting piece of news: during the days Sun Miao was selling duck blood vermicelli soup from her stall, Zhang Qiang had sought out that Jinling cuisine master chef from Yuanfu Lou late at night. As a result, he was invited out again late at night, and even left behind the critique “tastes bad.”

He had been trying to find out who exactly made the duck blood vermicelli soup that could make Zhang Qiang praise it endlessly and yet be so dismissive of his own, but he still hadn’t found them.

It would probably be difficult in the future too, because Little Boss Sun wasn’t selling duck blood vermicelli soup anymore. Although duck blood vermicelli soup was good, if it came to a vote, Hip-hop Mei would definitely vote for malatang. Even a “love-all party”² member would have a favorite… wait, egg fried rice was also an option, she hadn’t tried it; duck parts were also an option, with only one portion limited per day, she hadn’t eaten nearly enough!

Even a rich second-generation kid like her, who didn’t lack money and thought about eating and drinking all day long, was utterly captivated by Sun Miao’s cooking, let alone other people. She had heard those students still complaining that this changfan was expensive.

Please, just see if you took thirty yuan to find a state-banquet-level master chef who makes changfan, would they even bother with you? Thirty? Try three thousand!

While Hip-hop Mei was letting her thoughts wander, Su Ruixi had already told her assistant that she wouldn’t be going in today, directly taking leave as the boss. But strangely, her stomach didn’t hurt as much anymore, and she could even get up and cook herself a pack of instant noodles.

However, it wasn’t cooked in a pot, but tossed into the microwave to heat. The auntie hadn’t come today. Su Ruixi had barely eaten a few bites of dinner last night, and the auntie had also asked for leave, saying she had to go back to her hometown for a few days. Su Ruixi frowned, but still agreed.

Her temper had indeed improved quite a bit. In the past, she would at most approve one day of leave for the auntie; now she could actually let someone take half a month off directly.

Or she would have fired the person on the spot and hired a new auntie.

Fortunately, although Su Ruixi was someone whose ten fingers didn’t touch spring water³, she at least knew how to cook instant noodles. This pack of instant noodles was even left for her by the auntie.

After the instant noodles were done, Su Ruixi took two bites and immediately gave the verdict: “Tastes bad.” The seasoning in these instant noodles was too strong; it was clearly chicken soup noodles, yet she couldn’t taste any chicken soup flavor at all, only the taste of the artificial powder.

Furthermore, the noodles were soft and limp, with a terrible texture, completely incomparable to the rice vermicelli or regular vermicelli Sun Miao made.

She ate two bites and put it aside, then started thinking about what Hip-hop Mei had said. Although that sentence wasn’t fully spoken, it basically said everything that needed to be said. Without a doubt, she was saying: Sun Miao was actually a lesbian.

When she first heard this, Su Ruixi was so shocked she fell silent. Because no matter how she looked at it, Sun Miao didn’t seem like a homosexual… uh, of course, Su Ruixi hadn’t had contact with homosexuals either, or perhaps she simply didn’t have the eyes to spot a lesbian, so she couldn’t be sure if she looked like one or not.

Before she could sort out her thoughts, she heard Hip-hop Mei ask if she had heard what she was saying. Facing this question, Su Ruixi’s first reaction was to deny it: “No.” Actually, she had heard it, and heard it very clearly, but she still denied it and quickly hung up the phone.

After hanging up, she suddenly realized: her face felt a bit hot.

She touched her cheek; it was indeed a bit hotter than before. She thought she was running a fever, but her forehead temperature was normal. At this, how could Su Ruixi not understand? It was just that she… was shy.

The moment she heard Sun Miao was a lesbian, she couldn’t help but think a lot, especially about Sun Miao’s awkwardness in the past two days and her previous special treatment of her. She couldn’t help but think: Sun Miao, could she… like her?

But even if she did like her or whatever… Su Ruixi’s mind was a complete mess, yet she still tidied herself up, took some stomach medicine, and drove out.

Sun Miao, on her end, picked up her phone and looked at it for a while. She wanted to call Su Ruixi and ask how she was doing. Just now, Hip-hop Mei had said Su Ruixi’s stomach bug had flared up, and her voice didn’t sound right. The image of a cotton doll immediately appeared in her mind; it was sobbing, its little expression full of grievance, secretly looking at her, and saying softly, “Sun Miao bad.”

Had she not been eating properly these past two days? Otherwise, how could her stomach bug act up? At this moment, Sun Miao thought again, she really was quite bad. How could anyone suddenly withdraw the kindness they showed to someone else just like that? And to arbitrarily consider someone a crush, arbitrarily be good to them, and then arbitrarily get disappointed and take back that bit of not-so-useful kindness—she truly was a bastard.

Sun Miao still wanted to call Su Ruixi, but with a job like running a stall, you just never knew when customers would arrive. Unconsciously, a long queue had formed in front of Sun Miao again, making it impossible for her to keep looking at her phone.

She put her phone away, and also had to admit, she still had some ulterior motives: she still didn’t dare to call Su Ruixi, because Hip-hop Mei had just exposed her true nature⁴. If she called now, and Su Ruixi asked her, “So you were a lesbian all along?”, how should she answer?

This batch of customers happened to postpone the moment she had to make a decision. Sun Miao got busy. She made changfan portion by portion, then drizzled sauce over them and handed them to the customers across from her. As one customer after another left, Su Ruixi’s figure suddenly appeared in front of Sun Miao.

The moment she saw her, the cotton doll popped up again, floating right on Su Ruixi’s shoulder.

She really didn’t look well. Usually, even a single strand of her hair was exquisite, but now her hair looked somewhat messy. She seemed a bit shorter than usual; she also hadn’t heard the familiar sound of high heels clicking on the ground just now, so she was probably wearing flat shoes.

Most importantly, the corners of her eyes were tinged with red, carrying a distinct moistness, looking so pitiful.

At that moment, Sun Miao’s heart suddenly softened. She hesitated for a moment, then opened her mouth: “Susu-jie, would you like a portion?”

“Mm,” Su Ruixi said, sounding a bit aggrieved. Probably because she wasn’t feeling well, her emotions were magnified many times compared to usual, and her mind was all muddled, making her feel even worse. She had already been feeling much better, but after driving for nearly half an hour, she felt unwell all over again.

After nodding, she added, “I’ll eat here.”

Most students wouldn’t choose to eat at the small table behind Sun Miao, because they were more accustomed to returning to their dorms, opening a TV show on their laptops, and eating while watching something to accompany their meal. If there was a shopfront with seating, then perhaps three or five friends might sit together to eat.

Unfortunately, Sun Miao didn’t have a shopfront, only two small stools, so the students had no inclination to sit there and eat. Thus, even with so many people queuing, the small table behind Sun Miao was still empty.

Sun Miao nodded and had Su Ruixi sit down. The lemon tea stall owner next to them even moved aside a bit to let Su Ruixi walk in.

Sun Miao thought for a moment, then said to the lemon tea stall owner next to her, “A cup of plain water, with just a tiny bit of sugar. Boss, see how much that will be.” The stall next to her sold lemon tea; if Su Ruixi didn’t have a stomach bug, Sun Miao would have ordered lemon tea. But with Su Ruixi’s stomach acting up, she definitely couldn’t drink anything sour. She should also eat less sweet stuff, so she only said to add a tiny bit of sugar.

“Hey, why charge for something like this.”

“You should, the cup and all still cost money.”

“Then just give me one yuan.”

Sun Miao nodded: “Could you please deliver it to the customer sitting behind me? I’ll transfer the money to you later when I’m done.”

“It’s a small thing.”

Sun Miao and the lemon tea stall owner spoke very softly. The small table was still some distance from her, separated by the tactile paving and located by the innermost flower bed. Plus, Su Ruixi wasn’t feeling well, and her hearing was also affected; she just felt that the atmosphere between the two of them was very good. At that moment, Su Ruixi was certain her judgment had been wrong; perhaps… Sun Miao didn’t like her.

This thought made Su Ruixi feel even more uncomfortable all over.

But not long after, the lemon tea stall owner came over with a cup. Su Ruixi paused for a moment before replying, “I didn’t order anything to drink.”

“I know, the changfan stall owner asked me to make it for you. She said your stomach was acting up, so she wanted you to drink some sugar water first. I didn’t put much sugar, just a hint of sweetness. Have a few sips first.”

“Ah… okay, thank you.”

Su Ruixi dazedly took the small cup. She hesitated for a moment before biting the straw and starting to drink. It really was just a cup of sweet water, nothing else. The sweetness was also very faint, almost imperceptible. But after a few sips went down, Su Ruixi felt much better all over.

The sounds that had been somewhat hazy also became distinct at this moment. After a little while longer, Sun Miao came to deliver her changfan. She placed it in front of her. There was still a large crowd queuing at the stall, yet she still took the time to ask her, “Susu-jie, how are you? Are you still feeling unwell?”

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