Setting Up Stalls – Chapter 81

I Have a Friend

Sun Miao actually really wanted to say: Even if it’s not my cooking, you still need to eat properly. After all, your own health is more important!

But when the words reached her lips, they turned into: “You… if you want to eat, then come over.”

Su Ruixi felt even more aggrieved: “But I can’t get in line, there are so many people. I just waited for half an hour. I usually have to work and get up so early. I don’t want to get takeout either; reheating takeout doesn’t taste as good as eating it fresh right after getting it.”

Perhaps because she said too much, and too smoothly, Su Ruixi suddenly blurted out what was in her heart: “Besides, I also want to spend more time with you.”

Sun Miao swallowed hard. In Sun Miao’s heart, what was the difference between words like Su Ruixi’s and a confession? But Su Ruixi was a straight woman; she warned herself internally, Su Ruixi just really likes eating my cooking.

Under Su Ruixi’s offensive, Sun Miao was quickly and utterly defeated. She had clearly just been thinking about building high walls, but Su Ruixi gently kicked the city gate, and she opened it herself. Those high walls completely crumbled in an instant, rendered utterly useless.

“I’ll save some for you, I’ll save some for you, alright? You come, just come, I’ll definitely save some for you.”

Hearing Sun Miao’s words, Su Ruixi pressed her advantage: “But now you sell out by noon, and you don’t set up your stall in the evening anymore, so I still can’t eat it.”

“I’ll deliver food to you from time to time in the evening, just like before.”

Only then was Su Ruixi satisfied. It was also because her heart had settled that she noticed the lemon tea boss next to them was still there, and had been watching them the whole time, even showing a somewhat shocked expression. Su Ruixi had always been rather thin-skinned; seeing this, she couldn’t help but suddenly feel shy.

But even if she was shy, she still needed dinner.

“Then tonight…”

“I’ll send it, send it, send it, I’ll send it to you.”

Sun Miao’s words brought a tiny hint of a smile to Su Ruixi’s face. She “mm-hmm’d,” not forgetting to remind Sun Miao: “I took leave today, I’ll be home tonight.”

“I know.”

The two of them chatted for a couple more sentences, then Sun Miao started shooing her customer away: “Susu-jie, you should hurry back and get some good rest. Didn’t your stomach problem act up today? Go home and lie down.” Su Ruixi originally wanted to stay a bit longer, saying she’d wait for Sun Miao to leave together. But Sun Miao insisted she go back quickly, and also reminded her not to drive if she wasn’t feeling well.

Su Ruixi could only call a ride-hailing car right under Sun Miao’s nose. She had originally planned to chat a bit more with Sun Miao before the car arrived, but there were too many ride-hailing cars around the education park, and they came especially fast. In less than two minutes, Su Ruixi had no choice but to get in the car and wave goodbye to Sun Miao.

She even solemnly reminded her: “Sun Miao, I’ll be waiting for you at home tonight.”

—Her saying this really easily causes misunderstandings.

However, the utterly defeated Sun Miao was in no mood to bicker with her about these things. She just hoped to quickly send this ancestor off, to get her to go back and rest properly soon. So she could only nod: “I know, hurry up and go.”

Only after Su Ruixi left did Sun Miao slowly let out a breath, then ruffled her own hair: What kind of mess is this? She was truly wrapped around Su Ruixi’s little finger, completely and utterly.

Sun Miao agonized for a while, then came to terms with it.

Losing out for her crush wasn’t such a big deal. Su Ruixi was a straight woman; she couldn’t cling to her for a lifetime. One day, she’d find other delicious things, feel that she herself wasn’t that important, and wouldn’t be like this anymore.

She could be Su Ruixi’s friend, she could be Su Ruixi’s personal canteen. If it meant she wasn’t valued, then so be it. Who asked Sun Miao to be unable to bear seeing Su Ruixi sad or uncomfortable?

After Sun Miao had come to terms with it, she still had to go back and pack up her little stall. The lemon tea boss next door had seen everything between them crystal clear. She looked at Sun Miao, held back, then held back again, but couldn’t resist: “Changfen boss, that person just now, was that your girlfriend?”

Sun Miao froze, her hands stopping their movements. She shook her head: “No, just an ordinary friend.”

“Oh,” the lemon tea boss replied, saying no more. But after a moment, she suddenly realized: “Wait a minute, you really are a lesbian? When I asked you just now, your main point wasn’t even to refute ‘where do I look like a lesbian,’ but instead you were seriously saying she’s an ordinary friend?!”

Sun Miao stopped packing again and nodded towards the lemon tea boss: “Yes, I’m a lesbian, but between her and me, it’s really just an ordinary friendship.”

The lemon tea boss’s eyes widened: “Who would believe you saying that? Is that how you treat an ordinary friend? And that pretty older sister just now, she was constantly acting coquettishly towards you.”

“She’s not usually like this. She’s probably not thinking clearly because she’s sick and uncomfortable, and also starving, that’s why she’s like this.”

This time, the lemon tea boss immediately noticed that Sun Miao had only responded to the latter question; she hadn’t answered a single word to the earlier challenge about “is that how you treat an ordinary friend.” At this moment, the lemon tea boss perceived the truth: “So, you really like her?”

This time, Sun Miao was silent for a moment.

She pursed her lips and answered the boss: “Maybe.”

To this day, Sun Miao still couldn’t say that what she felt for Su Ruixi was love. That initial spark of attraction, it’s hard for it to transform into love. But if she truly had the chance to be in a romantic relationship with Su Ruixi, she would definitely nod yes a hundred times.

However, the lemon tea boss next to her clearly didn’t believe it: “Then you two are probably close, huh? Just looking at her attitude today, she’s definitely not indifferent to you.”

Although the lemon tea boss said so, Sun Miao shook her head, disagreeing: “You don’t understand. A lesbian can tell at a glance if the other person is also one. She’s clearly a straight woman; she wouldn’t like me.”

“This is what they call ‘those involved are muddled, while onlookers see clearly.’¹ Just watch, within a month, you two will definitely be dating.”

Sun Miao couldn’t say much to this. She could neither bring herself to say “I hope your auspicious words come true” nor directly deny it, because in her heart, there were still those three words—what if?

Sun Miao planned to scan the lemon tea boss’s QR code to pay the one yuan for the water, but the lemon tea boss refused. She said: “I heard from your regular customers before that you all seem to have a group chat, and you don’t plan on letting students join. Can I join then?”

“Okay.”

Sun Miao let the lemon tea boss scan the QR code to join the group, but she still didn’t let the boss off, scanning and paying the one yuan for the water. After that, she packed up her food cart and really drove off.

Su Ruixi returned home in the ride-hailing car. She sat on the sofa, thinking things over and over, still somewhat unable to figure them out. The questions she pondered were none other than: Does Sun Miao really like me? What is Sun Miao’s relationship with that lemon tea boss? Could it be that I’m just having wishful thinking?

Of course, she wouldn’t think she wasn’t worthy of being liked. In fact, if Sun Miao liked her, Su Ruixi would also feel it was a matter of course. Please, she was so good-looking, so wealthy, had such a good personality, and was also generous towards Sun Miao—shouldn’t Sun Miao like her?

Although in terms of paying, uh, Hip-hop Mei was more generous than Su Ruixi, Su Ruixi had also given candy and gifts; she was a cut above! Thinking about the gift-giving, she found Enterprise WeChat² among her contacts and pulled up the shop assistant from whom she had bought candy before.

She ordered another box and asked the other party to arrange for same-city delivery, with all costs included, which she paid in full.

Su Ruixi wanted to press home her advantage, not to fall behind others!

After buying the candy, Su Ruixi still couldn’t figure out those questions. After much deliberation, she decided to seek off-site help. The person she sought help from couldn’t know Sun Miao, otherwise, what if they completely exposed her like Hip-hop Mei did? Nor could it be someone completely ignorant of the situation, otherwise, the accuracy of the analysis would be problematic.

Soon, Su Ruixi thought of her assistant. Although her assistant had mistaken the gender yesterday, she spoke clearly and logically about other aspects and seemed to have a lot of dating experience. Faced with her own little noob³-level problem, shouldn’t that be a piece of cake for her?

Su Ruixi no longer hesitated and directly called her assistant.

“Hello, President Su? Are you planning to come over now? I still have some documents here…”

Su Ruixi pretended not to hear any of her assistant’s words. She even had the thought: Go away, all you damned work tasks, bother me again after I’ve figured out this problem.

In the past, this would have been impossible for Su Ruixi, because Su Ruixi was the woman of women, the female of females, the emperor among kings of involution. How could such a Su Ruixi possibly cast work aside because of her own emotional problems?

“You wait a bit before talking about work.”

One sentence made the assistant fall silent.

However, she was actually screaming internally: No way?! Were those her President Su’s words?! Her President Su actually said: Wait a bit before talking about work?! President Su has been soul-transmigrated⁴, right?! Absolutely!

Before the assistant could reply, Su Ruixi began her questioning. Her opening was very classic: “I have a friend, her situation is like this… She has a same-sex friend, and this same-sex friend is a lesbian. My friend is very troubled, she really cares if this friend likes her?”

Su Ruixi rambled on a lot, changing the background of her and Sun Miao’s situation a bit, but keeping the general circumstances the same, and told it to her assistant. She also mentioned today’s incident with the lemon tea boss: “That lesbian friend’s colleague seems to have a good relationship with her too. My friend is rather conflicted, like, could there be something going on between those two as well?”

These matters were too shocking for the assistant; she couldn’t give Su Ruixi an answer right away. Mainly because, just yesterday she had misunderstood that Su Ruixi had a boyfriend and looked like she had fallen in love, then found out she wasn’t actually dating, and it was actually a female friend.

The assistant had just been rejoicing: Thank goodness, thank goodness, she’s not dating, she’s still our ice-cold President Su. But then today, she heard Su Ruixi say all these things.

The “I have a friend” disguise was completely useless on the assistant. She decoded it in minutes: the so-called friend was Su Ruixi herself, and that lesbian… was the very “boyfriend” she had suspected yesterday! Goodness me, she really is a lesbian⁵!

Moreover, Su Ruixi was so troubled, and adding her own previous observations, the assistant had actually already discovered a truth: Su Ruixi, you yourself are wavering! What “thinking her colleague has something going on with that person”—that’s clearly jealousy!

Because this news was too explosive, the assistant’s CPU couldn’t process it in time, and she blurted out: “This friend you’re talking about, is it you yourself?”

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