Setting Up Stalls – Chapter 8

Might Not See Each Other Again

Just thinking about not being able to eat egg fried rice tomorrow, Su Ruixi felt a bit unhappy. But she…

Just thinking about not being able to eat egg fried rice tomorrow, Su Ruixi felt a bit unhappy. But she kept the unhappiness hidden in her heart, not showing any trace of it on her face. Su Ruixi stood up, scanned the QR code, and transferred another fifty yuan to Sun Miao.

Sun Miao said: “That’s too much, it’s only twenty.”

“For the soup.”

Sun Miao still felt embarrassed, but Su Ruixi was a stubborn person, and since she wouldn’t provide her QR code, Sun Miao couldn’t transfer the money back. Sun Miao said a few more words, but Su Ruixi pretended not to hear.

Sun Miao had no choice. At this time, the police officer looking at Xu Ding said: “Small boss, pack up your stall, we still need to go to the police station for further mediation. If you’re not willing to mediate further, you can sign a document then, and proceed with legal action.”

“Alright.”

Sun Miao wiped the table clean and packed everything up. The police officer noticed she had a garbage bin lined with a bag, and after packing everything, she would use water from another bucket to clean the ground – he couldn’t help but nod in approval.

Su Ruixi observed all these actions, and she also felt that Sun Miao was truly a conscientious and responsible good person.

After the young nurse and police officer came out, the young nurse again urged Su Ruixi to quickly go get an IV drip. Sun Miao also joined in persuading her for a while. This time Su Ruixi didn’t insist, but instead asked Sun Miao for her phone number.

“Give me your phone number, I’ll send it to the lawyer. She’s already on her way to the police station, and she’ll help you later, don’t worry.”

“Thank you so much.”

“It’s nothing.”

After Su Ruixi finished speaking, she prepared to leave for her IV drip. Before leaving, as if a ghost making a god err [鬼使神差 | guǐ shǐ shén chāi | meaning: to do something inexplicably], she asked: “Do you regret it?”

Her abrupt question caught Sun Miao by surprise, and she reflexively asked: “What?”

Su Ruixi’s face remained expressionless, appearing cold and detached, but she was still patient with her: “Do you regret helping that young nurse?” The nurse appeared to have just emerged from a thatched cottage [初出茅廬 | chū chū máo lú | meaning: new to the profession], looking only around twenty-one or twenty-two, possibly still an intern.

Su Ruixi and Sun Miao were both older than the young nurse, so they could indeed call her “young nurse” to her face.

Su Ruixi didn’t understand why she asked this question herself; after thinking about it, she attributed it to feeling dejected about not being able to eat egg fried rice tomorrow. But unexpectedly, facing this question, Sun Miao broke into a big smile: “What’s there to regret? Everything turned out fine, didn’t it? Besides, I had your help.”

“I helped you because I have the ability to,” Su Ruixi said truthfully. Today she helped Sun Miao because she wanted to eat egg fried rice and disliked Xu Ding, and tomorrow she could help others for similar reasons. She didn’t need many reasons to do these things because she had the ability.

Su Ruixi had money and social connections; such a small matter was just a matter of moving her fingers and making a phone call. But for Sun Miao it was different – she was just a small stall owner, if she really got extorted…

Five hundred yuan, wouldn’t that mean working an entire day for nothing?

That was all she had to say to Sun Miao. After all, they were just duckweeds meeting on water [萍水相逢 | píng shuǐ xiāng féng | meaning: chance encounter], one a customer buying food, one a vendor selling food – after today they might never cross paths again… Of course, if she needed to come to the hospital again, she would probably visit her small stall to buy some food.

The two bid farewell to each other. Su Ruixi went into the hospital for her IV drip, while Sun Miao rode her electric tricycle, following the navigation to the address the police provided. As for the young nurse and Xu Ding, they got into the police car.

After arriving at the police station, Sun Miao immediately spotted a professional career woman standing in the lobby, wearing formal attire and exuding the aura of an elite lawyer. She walked over and extended her hand to Sun Miao: “Hello, I’m the lawyer Miss Su hired. Are you Miss Sun Miao? Don’t worry, I’ve already heard the details from Director Su, just leave this matter to me.”

Sun Miao shook her hand, and truly didn’t need to say a word about what happened next. Within half an hour, the mediation ended, then the lawyer took Sun Miao to file a lawsuit, wrote the legal documents for her, and had Sun Miao review them.

“This is a small matter, we can resolve it today.”

Perhaps due to different worldviews, litigation in this world was quite fast – indeed, it didn’t take long, and everything was settled by the afternoon. The court not only issued a verdict, but the compensation was also quickly transferred to Sun Miao’s card.

Although she didn’t do business in the afternoon, the compensation plus lost wages amounted to two thousand yuan.

However, Sun Miao felt that this compensation probably couldn’t afford the lawyer standing before her. The lawyer smiled and replied: “Don’t worry about that, I definitely won’t lose out. Besides, I understand this case clearly, I also hate that kind of lowlife man, and I admire what you did, so let’s not mention the lawyer fees.”

Walking out of the court, Sun Miao said goodbye to the lawyer, and while pedaling her electric tricycle, between going home for a good sleep and continuing to set up her stall, Sun Miao chose the latter.

Money, after all, still needed to be earned.

She didn’t encounter Su Ruixi again that evening – by the time she returned to set up her stall it was already past six, and Su Ruixi had finished her IV drip and returned to her company, so naturally they couldn’t meet. Sun Miao was thinking that tomorrow, she would still be able to see Su Ruixi.

Just past six o’clock was dinner time, and Sun Miao could barely keep up with the orders. The young nurse from the afternoon also came to buy food, and after buying her egg fried rice, instead of leaving directly, she stood to the side chatting with Sun Miao.

Most of the time Sun Miao just nodded or made monosyllabic responses, after all, she was cooking, and talking too much wasn’t good. Even with a transparent mask blocking it, it would still diminish customers’ impression. Only when washing the wok could she respond with a sentence or two.

“Are you alright? I went back to the hospital after leaving the police station. That person didn’t give you any trouble, did they?”

“No problem.”

The young nurse didn’t mind her being taciturn, and just kept talking enthusiastically: “Thank you so much, if it weren’t for you and Miss Su, I wouldn’t have known what to do today. Really, thank you both so much.”

Although Sun Miao didn’t say much, her eyes curved into crescents, clearly in a good mood. When in a good mood, her egg fried rice tasted even better than usual. Moreover, her good mood was contagious, and everyone could feel the air was filled with excitement.

The young nurse was happy too, and thanked her again sincerely.

Sun Miao waved her hand when she had a moment, meaning “no need to thank me.”

A customer standing in front waiting for egg fried rice was quite surprised hearing the young nurse’s words and started chatting with her. After hearing about the afternoon’s events, the customer gave Sun Miao a thumbs up: “Wow, little boss is amazing – kind-hearted and makes delicious egg fried rice!”

Sun Miao became embarrassed from the praise, and just then the egg fried rice in her hands was ready. She packed it and handed it to the customer: “You’re too kind, you’re too kind. Here, take your egg fried rice.”

Sun Miao actually had some double standards – she would only stand up for girls who were being bullied. If this afternoon it had been a strong girl bullying a weak man, she would have definitely pretended not to see. Of course, if there was a big age difference between the two, she would definitely help the younger one being bullied.

After talking for a while, the young nurse realized she needed to return to work, and quickly put down a bag: “This is my thank-you gift, it’s not worth much money, just things to sweeten your mouth for when you’re free, Little Boss. I need to get back to work now.”

“Ah… take it back, this is too embarrassing.”

“It’s not worth much money, Little Boss, don’t refuse it, otherwise I won’t know how to thank you. But don’t worry, these definitely aren’t from that weirdo Xu Ding. I picked these snacks myself, they’re really delicious, enjoy them without worry!”

Sun Miao thought about it – well, they’re just some snacks, not too expensive.

As the young nurse was about to leave, as if possessed again, Sun Miao called out to her: “How is Su Ruixi? Did she get her IV drip properly?”

The young nurse answered: “She finished it and went back in the afternoon. Today was her last day of IV therapy, though she can’t be completely cured, she’ll definitely feel much better than before. She has stomach problems, which needs careful nurturing – just relying on IV drips isn’t very effective.”

The young nurse waved goodbye: “I’m heading back now, see you tomorrow.”

“See you tomorrow.”

Sun Miao watched the young nurse’s retreating figure, momentarily lost in thought, until a customer said: “Little Boss, one egg fried rice, slightly spicy without green onions, to go.”

Sun Miao turned back around, breaking into a bright smile: “Alright, coming right up!”

After the dinner rush, by seven-thirty, she had sold out of rice. Some customers still complained: “Little Boss, you need to prepare more rice tomorrow, this isn’t enough! I eat a lot, even two portions aren’t enough for me.”

“Two portions is already 40 yuan, why not get one portion and buy something else to eat?” Sun Miao sincerely advised him, because her egg fried rice was indeed quite expensive.

But the customer wouldn’t listen: “Never mind that, I just love eating from your place. With your cooking skills, I’d say it’s worth even fifty yuan per portion.”

The surrounding customers buzzed with activity: “Don’t say that, or Little Boss might raise prices tomorrow!”

“No, I won’t raise prices, they’ll stay the same.”

Sun Miao smiled and bid farewell to her customers, beginning to clean up her equipment. After about ten minutes, she finally mounted her electric tricycle and headed home.

Her electric tricycle would still be checked on the road, but the System had prepared everything in advance – not only did it have a yellow license plate [黃牌 | huáng pái | commercial vehicle plate] and registration information, but even an electric vehicle driver’s license had been prepared for Sun Miao. So even if checked, her vehicle wouldn’t be impounded.

The past two days on her way home, Sun Miao had been humming songs, but today she wasn’t, which the System found strange.

【Host, are you in a bad mood?】

“Not really, it’s just…” Sun Miao couldn’t continue, it was just that thinking about never seeing her crush again made her feel a bit lost.

But thinking about it, they were just passing acquaintances to begin with, so never meeting again was normal.

“Sigh…”

Sun Miao let out a sigh, which the System took note of.

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