Setting Up Stalls – Chapter 9

Where Are You Going to Set Up Your Stall?

Sun Miao has admiration, gratitude, and of course attraction towards Su Ruixi, otherwise it couldn’t be said…

Sun Miao has admiration, gratitude, and of course attraction towards Su Ruixi, otherwise she couldn’t call her the guest who makes her heart flutter.

However, this attraction stops right there. After all, she’s clearly straight, it’s obvious at first glance – she doesn’t have even a hint of lesbian energy. If she were to make a move now, that would just be asking for trouble.

Sun Miao understands this clearly, but if she could see Su Ruixi every day, it would be some consolation to her: If I can’t have her, at least I can look, right?

Even this small consolation is now gone.

The System was still chatting with Sun Miao: 【Host, since you’re attracted to her, why not pursue her? You might actually succeed.】

While waiting for the traffic light, Sun Miao pulled out a pack of candy from the snack bag given by the little nurse, opened it and popped one in her mouth.

I must say, it’s quite sweet, and strawberry flavored too.

Hearing the System’s voice, Sun Miao shook her head: “Eh? No, no, admiration is admiration, but pursuing is out of the question. Never mind that she’s straight, she’s obviously a rich lady. How would I support her, with my electric tricycle? Besides, in life you’re bound to meet many ideal types, you can’t chase after every single one.”

“Moreover, my current goal is just making money, let me get out of that shabby rental place first.”

Speaking so much, but the fundamental reason was that Sun Miao was poor and had been solo since birth, she had never dated anyone before. Asking her to actively pursue a beautiful rich woman? Impossible, goodbye!

The System stopped talking, and just then the traffic light changed. Sun Miao started her electric vehicle and continued heading towards home.

After returning home, Sun Miao began tidying up her tricycle and preparing ingredients needed for tomorrow.

The next morning, which was the fourth day of selling fried rice, Sun Miao didn’t see Su Ruixi while setting up her stall, as expected. She thought that she and Su Ruixi probably wouldn’t see each other again.

This thought flashed through her mind, but she didn’t spend much time dwelling on it, quickly returning to her optimistic, cheerful self – the sunny boss who smiled at everyone. People loved eating her fried rice, willing to pay twenty yuan per portion, not just because the food was delicious, but also because the young boss was pretty, and with that radiating warm smile, everyone loved it.

The nurses and doctors in the hospital had mostly heard about this little stall. Those who had time came to buy themselves, those who didn’t asked colleagues to buy for them. When medical staff showed up, some customers would even give up their spots, waving to the nurses.

“Hey nurse sister, come here, I’ll give you my spot, I’ll queue again.”

Most times, the nurses would feel embarrassed, quickly waving their hands: “It’s fine, I can queue myself.”

“Come on, your lunch break is so short, if you don’t get your food quickly, you might not have time to eat later.” The people in line were so enthusiastic that the little nurse had no choice but to switch places.

Sun Miao didn’t get involved in any of this, but seeing such scenes still made her heart happy, making her smile even broader.

The System’s task for her was to set up the stall for seven days, and before she knew it, it was the last day. Sun Miao felt somewhat reluctant to leave. But the System was very clear about this – she must change locations. If she didn’t, she’d be stuffed into the System space to wash dishes for three days.

Sun Miao had no choice but to tell each regular customer she remembered on the seventh day: “Today is the last day I’m setting up here, tomorrow I’m moving to a different location, don’t come here for nothing.”

The customers were all very reluctant to let her go. When it came to that little nurse whom Sun Miao had helped on the third day, she even held onto Sun Miao’s food cart and wouldn’t let go: “Why? Where are you going? How can you abandon us?”

With her taking the lead, other regular customers also began to wail: “That’s right, how can you leave us?! Can you bear to?!”

“Oh fried rice, fried rice! How can I live without you? No way, where are you setting up your stall? Can you give us some definite information?”

“Yes, tell us, where will you set up your stall? No matter where you go, I’ll follow!”

Actually, Sun Miao didn’t know where the next stall location would be either. The System would only inform her after today’s stall task was completed. So Sun Miao could only shake her head and answer: “I don’t know either, we’ll meet again if fate permits it in this world!”

Sun Miao couldn’t do anything about all these wailing voices. Everyone really loved eating her fried rice, but she couldn’t just make fried rice forever. The System had told her that not only would the stall location be random each week, but the items sold would also be random, and even the working hours weren’t fixed.

It also told Sun Miao to be prepared.

Word spread among Sun Miao’s regular customers, and some regulars who had been staying in the hospital rooms taking care of patients rushed out when they heard it was the last day, planning to buy two portions. Therefore, even though Sun Miao had prepared more rice each day, even bringing two large pots today, everything was sold out before noon.

She cleaned up her food cart, said goodbye to everyone, and under their wistful gazes, pedaled away on her electric tricycle.

Some regular customers who came late, seeing that the familiar “Miao Miao’s Mobile Food Bar” was no longer under the second lamppost west of the south gate, were dumbfounded: “Where’s that big food cart? Huh? Where’s my fried rice? Where’s my little boss? How come everything’s gone when I’m just a bit late?”

A customer who hadn’t left yet, holding fried rice in hand, instantly laughed: “Still waiting for you to come? They sold out of fried rice and quickly left ages ago, see? This is the last portion!”

“Ahhh I’ll kill you! How dare you buy the last portion of fried rice!”

None of this concerned Sun Miao anymore. She returned to her rental room, first cleaned the food cart thoroughly, and then began—counting money. She had an account book where she wrote down daily earnings and expenses, a habit she had developed before transmigrating.

These seven days had been quite fruitful. Except for the first day when she barely made any money, the following days all approached one thousand yuan each. Even after deducting costs, Sun Miao had earned 6000 yuan over these seven days. Her costs weren’t much to begin with – the food cart and its accessories were all provided by the System, including an unlimited battery that didn’t need charging.

Even the vehicle’s gas tank, though small in size, was unlimited too.

Essentially, only ingredients and seasonings cost money.

Fried rice didn’t need many seasonings, and rice and eggs weren’t expensive either, so the costs were practically negligible.

Most customers paid directly by scanning QR codes, but there were many elderly people at the hospital who didn’t know how to use mobile payments, so they used cash. Every day when Sun Miao returned home, she had to organize the cash properly, and prepare change for the next morning when setting up the stall.

Some elderly people really couldn’t bear to spend twenty yuan on a bowl of fried rice, but when their children heard from neighboring hospital rooms that it was delicious, they indulged their children and came to buy a portion. Some elderly people gave money in bits and pieces, some giving five yuan at a time, others giving loose change.

Sun Miao accepted all this money without complaint, never finding it troublesome. As long as it was money, what was there to complain about? Besides, refusing cash payments was illegal.

After counting the money clearly and completing all work, she consulted with the System about the next task. The System gave a detailed task introduction: 【Ding! Hello dear host, congratulations on completing your first stall task. Now we’ll immediately move on to your next task. Please set up your stall the day after tomorrow from 10 AM to 10 PM, at the second lamppost south of the west gate of Cuiting Elegant Garden residential area, selling malatang [麻辣燙 | malatang]. You must sell at least ten portions. (This task will last one week.)】

The moment she received this task, Sun Miao raised a confident smile: It’s just ten portions of malatang, and at a residential complex entrance too, that could be sold in minutes! Though finishing at 10 PM was a bit uncomfortable – she searched the location and found it was twenty kilometers away. Driving the small food cart would take at least forty minutes, meaning she wouldn’t get home until 11 PM.

Basically, she could only get up early the next day to prepare ingredients.

Then she noticed that it would start the day after tomorrow, and she couldn’t help asking the System: “What am I supposed to do these two days?”

【Taking a holiday to rest.】

Huh, the System was quite humane.

Though there were inhumane moments too, like when it threw her into the System space for six months of malatang making practice. Sun Miao became somewhat numb to it all. The entire space only had glowing little person teachers provided by the System and various ingredients and work areas. After making the food, she had to eat it herself and face hundreds of public judges drawn out by the System. If even one person said it wasn’t tasty, she had to start over.

For malatang, the most important things were ingredient freshness and seasonings. The System’s teaching was comprehensive – even fish balls and beef balls were hand-made, and rice noodles were hand-rolled. The System didn’t just teach one method; similar to cooking rice and selecting eggs for fried rice, everything had its unique teaching method.

Only this way could one achieve versatility and make truly delicious food.

After basically learning malatang, Sun Miao felt she could make general boiled or blanched dishes too, and the taste wouldn’t be bad at all. Sun Miao chatted with the System: “In that case, does this mean I’ve learned things like duck blood vermicelli soup too?”

【You’re thinking too much, this is just the malatang category. Duck blood vermicelli soup is completely different, you’ll need to learn that later.】

Sun Miao shrugged: “Then I’ll just learn gradually.”

After finishing learning malatang, Sun Miao was kicked out of the System space. During the two days of rest, she couldn’t be idle as there were many things to do. For example, hand-rolling rice noodles, making fish balls and beef balls, and various side dishes that needed advance preparation. Most importantly, making stock and solidifying it into blocks.

After finishing everything, Sun Miao still needed to figure out how to move to a new place – this cramped rental room was really making her miserable.

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