Setting Up Stalls – Chapter 90

Her kitchen is so big ah

“…”

Faced with the driver-shifu’s question, Sun Miao also fell silent; this was rather difficult for her to explain to the driver. She didn’t mind coming out, but there was no need to grab someone and tell them: “That’s right, I’m a lesbian, and I’ve even latched onto a rich woman.”

She could only chuckle and try to brush it off: “Not really, haha.”

She neither answered whether she was earning money nor said how she came to live there. The driver-shifu could see Sun Miao had no intention of saying more, so he didn’t continue asking.

When the car arrived at Villa No. 11, Sun Miao got out of the car first, entered the password to open two doors, and then asked the driver-shifu to help her move things together.

The driver-shifu was responsible for moving things to the entryway; the rest could only be handled by Sun Miao herself. When the driver-shifu moved things in, he couldn’t help but look around, just observing this big villa, this renovation; in any case, it was something he could never achieve through his own efforts.

The driver-shifu sighed with emotion a few times, confirmed with Sun Miao that nothing was missing, and then said goodbye to Sun Miao. After the man had walked far away, Sun Miao rolled up her sleeves and started working. Su Ruixi told Sun Miao which room she would be staying in, and also gave her a floor plan; it was on the second floor.

Sun Miao found her way in by herself, first opened the door to look at the room—it was really quite big, and it was a small suite with its own bathroom. The wardrobe inside was also very large. The room she was staying in was arranged very well, and a place was even provided for Sun Miao’s pots, bowls, ladles, and basins.

Further inside from Su Ruixi’s large kitchen on the first floor, there were two servant’s rooms. The standard configuration was two, but there was only one Ayi¹, so only one room was occupied; the other was left vacant. Now, because it was close to the kitchen, it was given to Sun Miao to store her kitchen utensils.

But Sun Miao took a look inside the kitchen and felt it was completely unnecessary to provide her with a separate storage room.

Because—her kitchen was truly huge ah.

Not only was it large and well-designed, it also had lighting from three sides. The super-large kitchen on the first floor had huge windows on three sides; only the side with the door had no windows. In this kind of weather, directly opening the windows could achieve cross-ventilation throughout the entire kitchen.

She roughly estimated; this kitchen was even bigger than her entire rented apartment.

There was a large island counter in the middle, and the surrounding areas were also very spacious. It was to the extent that Sun Miao exclaimed after seeing it: This is simply my dream kitchen, to this degree.

There was also an oversized refrigerator. Sun Miao opened it and took a look, then fell silent: It was, well, quite empty.

Su Ruixi’s home seemed to have this kind of feeling: large, and also very empty. Its interior was not filled up, feeling even worse than a model home. When many residential communities sell houses, they even stuff some fruits or the like into the refrigerator to decorate the house and make it appear warmer and more inviting.

Su Ruixi’s place, on the other hand, had even less human warmth than a model home.

After Sun Miao finished looking at the room, she started filling it bit by bit with her own things. The kitchen, originally as neat as a model home, now looked a bit messier. Many small appliances were placed on the countertops. Su Ruixi’s high-end kitchenware, the specific price of which was unknown, was also shelved away.

What occupied the kitchen now was Sun Miao’s kitchenware!

After Sun Miao finished all this, it was already four o’clock. She estimated the time, and with the refrigerator being completely empty, she could only go out to buy some groceries. Sun Miao’s small electric scooter had also been transported over. Only her food cart, which the System treasured dearly, it wouldn’t let an “amateur moving company” move it no matter what.

It was simply directly stored into the System’s space. When they arrived at the destination, it would be released for her.

Sun Miao had also thought about the surveillance cameras. Su Ruixi’s garage definitely had surveillance cameras, ah. If this food cart was directly exposed, wouldn’t it be too fake? The System told her not to worry; it would take care of everything. Sun Miao didn’t bother with it anymore. It was just that when she went downstairs to the garage to get her electric scooter, she indeed saw the food cart right next to it.

Su Ruixi’s villa had three parking spaces. Although to create three spaces, each space was slightly smaller, if two large cars were parked, a third one wouldn’t fit. But parking Su Ruixi’s one car and her two vehicles, that was completely fine.

Because Sun Miao’s were a small electric donkey and an electric tricycle converted food cart.

There was more than enough room to park another two small electric donkeys.

Sun Miao studied the electric roller door switch for a bit, pressed the button, and after the roller door opened, she pushed her scooter out and rode off. When she rode her electric scooter to the entrance, she casually asked the security guard: “Do you know where there’s a wet market?”

“I really don’t know about that. Around here, most people have groceries delivered directly to their homes. I’m really not familiar with wet markets. If homeowners get the urge to buy groceries themselves, they also go to the nearby supermarkets.”

The young security guard² told Sun Miao the supermarket address. Sun Miao thanked him and rode her electric scooter over. She was now facing a persistent problem³ again. This wet market had to be found, ah. Otherwise, would she have to drive back to that wet market every day to buy groceries? Moreover, she needed to find a relatively affordable wet market nearby.

She was a conscientious street vendor; she wouldn’t try to pass off shoddy goods as quality ones⁴, but it was also impossible for her to use the home-delivered groceries of the wealthy villa residents⁵ or the organic vegetables from nearby supermarkets as ingredients, ah! When Sun Miao arrived at the place, bought groceries, and was heading home, these thoughts were running through her mind.

Fortunately, this matter was resolved because she ran into Zhou Ling’s mother. When she was returning home, Zhou Ling’s mother also happened to be returning from outside. When she saw Sun Miao, she rolled down her car window and greeted her enthusiastically. Sun Miao had just remembered that she still didn’t know where the wet market was, so she simply stopped her scooter.

Zhou Ling’s mother also had her driver stop the car, got out, and came to Sun Miao’s side: “Are you here to deliver takeout again today, ah? Is it for that same friend as before?”

Sun Miao thought for a moment and decided to just tell the truth, more or less. She would be appearing here frequently in the future; she couldn’t always be delivering takeout, right? Moreover, Zhou Ling’s house was right next to Su Ruixi’s; even if there was a path separating them, Zhou Ling’s family could still see Sun Miao coming and going. However, this “truth,” also had to be half-truth, half-falsehood.

“No, Susu-jie’s stomach isn’t doing too well, so I’ve come over to take care of her directly.”

“Oh, is that so, ah.” Zhou Ling’s mother nodded and said with a smile: “Miss Su is truly fortunate to have such good food⁶.”

The two of them chatted casually for a few sentences. Sun Miao asked about Zhou Ling’s situation, and then began to get to the main point: “Um, Zhou Ling’s mother, do you know if there’s a wet market nearby? Preferably one with more affordable prices.”

Zhou Ling’s mother definitely wouldn’t know the answer to this question. She was stunned for a moment, then turned her head to ask her own driver. The driver thought for a moment before replying: “It’s a bit of a distance; it would take about twenty minutes by electric scooter.”

Sun Miao estimated; 20 minutes was about 8 to 10 kilometers. It still felt a bit far.

As a result, one sentence from the driver-shifu made Sun Miao decide to buy groceries there from now on: “Over there is a very large wholesale market. Even if you buy vegetables individually, it’s at wholesale prices. If you buy a lot, there are also discounts.”

Sun Miao noted down the address and thanked the driver-shifu.

Zhou Ling’s mother was even happier. She was already calculating: if Zhou Ling came back tonight and she told her that Sun Miao had moved in next door, how happy she would be.

After both sides finished talking, they simply walked back together. Sun Miao pushed her electric scooter, chatting with Zhou Ling’s mother all the way back. When they reached the entrance of Villa No. 10, Zhou Ling’s mother said goodbye to Sun Miao.

Carrying the groceries into the kitchen, Sun Miao began to prepare them.

Today, Sun Miao bought a fresh and juicy white radish⁷. That fresh food supermarket was quite good; although it was expensive, the quality of the vegetables was very good. This white radish looked fresh at first glance, juicy and tender, leaving a fingernail mark with a pinch. It was also simple to prepare. Sun Miao had brought her own small rice cooker; Su Ruixi’s house also had a large rice cooker.

She simply took out her small rice cooker and directly stewed the white carrot in it. The large rice cooker was used to cook rice.

The white radish was washed clean, peeled, and cut into large round pieces. Then it was placed into the inner pot of the rice cooker. An appropriate amount of oyster sauce, light soy sauce⁸, and salt were added, a small amount of sugar, a bit of dark soy sauce⁹ for color, and finally, water was added to cover the radish. After placing it in the rice cooker, she directly pressed the “cook rice” button and could then ignore it.

The white radish stewed this way would be tender enough to fall apart with a poke, stewed incredibly soft. And there was an advantage, which was that she didn’t need to watch it. If it were placed on the stove, Sun Miao would have to watch it for at least 20 minutes; how troublesome that would be, ah.

Technology changes life. When it’s time to be lazy, one must be lazy.

While the radish was stewing in the rice cooker, Sun Miao started preparing other dishes. She had noticed that Su Ruixi’s house had a built-in steam oven. At first, she didn’t quite understand how to operate it and only learned how to use it after searching for a tutorial online.

She bought a fish, had the people at the supermarket kill and clean it, processed it a bit more herself after taking it home, directly put it into the steam oven, selected the steam mode, and could free up her hands. Steaming fish was relatively simple, but there was a little trick to it.

That is, after it’s finished steaming, the liquid in the plate should be poured out, then topped with shredded green onions, shredded ginger, and shredded chili peppers, and finally, hot oil is poured over it. Steamed fish made this way, its sauce wouldn’t be fishy and would instead be even more delicious.

Sun Miao also made a stir-fried yellow beef¹⁰. However, it was different from when she cooked for herself; even the chili peppers she chose were the non-spicy kind. For vegetable dishes, she also made stir-fried mustard greens. Because there was no time to simmer soup, she made an egg drop soup with crab meat¹¹.

It was past five o’clock when she got home. By the time Sun Miao was finally making the soup, Su Ruixi arrived home.

Su Ruixi had just opened the garage’s roller door when she saw the familiar food cart and electric scooter next to it. Her purchased helmet was still on the seat of the electric scooter.

Just seeing this scene, the corners of Su Ruixi’s mouth couldn’t help but curl upwards. After she parked her car, she opened the side door from the garage and went in, and heard some slight sounds coming from the kitchen. At this moment, Su Ruixi somewhat regretted that her home’s soundproofing was too good, so she could only faintly hear a little sound.

When she got closer, opened the kitchen door, she finally saw the person inside. Sun Miao was wearing her most common daily outfit, a simple white T-shirt and jeans, with an apron tied around her. Hearing the sound, she turned her head. She opened her mouth and said: “You’re back? It’ll be ready soon, just the last soup left.”

Su Ruixi’s eyes were sparkling and bright; her gaze seemed as if it could melt. Although it was different from what she had heard in her dreams, at this very moment, dream and reality perfectly overlapped; she actually felt an unreal sense of a beautiful dream coming true.

But the aura of everyday life around Sun Miao completely dispelled that sense of unreality.

This was Sun Miao. She was standing right here, right now, in Su Ruixi’s home, transforming a home devoid of human warmth into a vibrant, worldly haven¹².

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