Setting Up Stalls – Chapter 96

Don’t say sorry

Sun Miao took a bite first and came to a conclusion: it wasn’t as good as the finished product from the system space.

This couldn’t be helped. The system had provided a thousand high-quality old hens, and then let her choose the best from among them. Selecting the best from the best, compared to the chickens sold by a roadside stall vendor, was like night and day¹.

There was a difference in the raw ingredients, so naturally, the taste would be slightly different. If she used the kind of old hen provided by the system, Sun Miao definitely wouldn’t feel the slightest bit guilty selling it for 20 yuan a bowl. Never mind feeling guilty, she’d even think she was purely losing money.

She saw Su Ruixi’s eager look and asked her, “Susu-jie, do you want to try some?” She also explained, “This chicken isn’t made particularly well; the raw ingredients aren’t good enough.” She then thought of the few sturdy old hens at her landlord’s place, thinking she must buy them later. Susu-jie clearly loved chicken soup.

Sure enough, after Sun Miao’s question, Su Ruixi immediately nodded and reached out to take the chicken soup from Sun Miao. She didn’t quite hear what Sun Miao said, just opened her mouth ready to drink it.

The chicken soup was a bit hot. Only after Sun Miao’s reminder did Su Ruixi puff out her cheeks and blow on it a few times before taking a sip. The first sip felt unremarkable, but gradually, the unique flavor of the chicken soup began to spread. It wasn’t an overpowering taste, unlike regular chicken soup; it was light, elegant, and pure, like a Tianshan snow lotus².

The first one or two sips barely tasted like chicken soup, extremely light. But by the third or fourth sip, the chicken soup flavor gradually intensified. Towards the end, it felt as if one could truly sense an old hen leading a few chicks, running happily on a farm under a blue sky with white clouds.

Su Ruixi loved chicken soup, but she was also very picky about it. In many restaurants, even large ones, the chicken soup would be a golden yellow. It looked fragrant, but if you got a mouthful of fat, it just felt greasy.

It wasn’t that there weren’t well-made ones, clear and pure like this, but such culinary skill was truly rare.

Moreover, many restaurants now cut corners by using pressure cookers; those that truly simmered slowly over a gentle heat were almost extinct. But a seasoned foodie could tell with one taste who the real champion was.

By the fourth or fifth sip, the deliciousness of the chicken soup began to layer, and the saltiness gradually increased. But after a few more sips, as the small bowl of chicken soup was finished, the taste returned to that clear, pure feeling. After finishing a bowl of chicken soup, there was no greasy feeling in Su Ruixi’s mouth; instead, it left her with an endlessly pleasant aftertaste.

Nowadays, there were fewer chefs who made chicken soup like this. Even her own parents found it hard to taste such chicken soup. Everything was about speed; who would spend so much time simmering it slowly? What’s more, some restaurants directly passed off inferior goods, using various seasonings to make concentrated soup bases³.

While Su Ruixi was savoring the chicken soup, Sun Miao took out her tools, preparing to make soup stock cubes. Su Ruixi saw her actions and was a bit confused. Sun Miao explained. She blinked, feeling like her world was collapsing.

She had just been thinking about concentrated soup bases, and now Sun Miao was going to make soup stock cubes. However, she quickly reasoned for Sun Miao: for bubble mini wontons that cost only twenty yuan a bowl, you couldn’t stew chicken soup every day, right?

Yes, twenty-yuan chicken soup bubble mini wontons wouldn’t work, but thirty-yuan duck blood and vermicelli soup could. This was mainly because the old duck soup for the duck blood and vermicelli soup wasn’t as troublesome to make as this chicken soup. Because duck soup primarily relied on the duck frame⁴ and bones for stewing, it naturally didn’t have much duck fat; the duck fat was rendered separately.

But chicken soup was different; it was too troublesome, and it took longer to simmer than old duck soup. It was better to just make soup stock cubes directly.

Besides, her soup stock cubes were authentic. Although freezing would affect the taste a little, it would be more or less the same. Moreover, Sun Miao used real chicken soup, not something concocted from chicken essence⁵ and various flavorings.

“Next time, I’ll stew some for you. Keep your voice down.”

Sun Miao felt a bit embarrassed, but not because of what Su Ruixi said, but because of her action. Sun Miao hadn’t thought about it when she passed the bowl over, but now, seeing her finish it, she realized: she hadn’t switched bowls, which meant—Su Ruixi and she had indirectly kissed.

They had clearly kissed before, but Sun Miao still felt a bit shy this time. Because it was her first time having an indirect kiss. She had realized she liked girls as soon as she hit puberty and had absolutely no feelings for boys. After realizing this, she had, on the contrary, kept a bit of distance from ordinary girls. For typical best friends, sharing a drink from the same cup was a very normal thing, but Sun Miao had never done it.

Su Ruixi didn’t know these reasons; she was only satisfied after hearing there would be a “next time.”

As someone with a particularly picky palate, Su Ruixi had actually also noticed: the quality of this chicken didn’t match Sun Miao’s cooking skills. No, she had to go nudge her parents later and ask where to buy exceptionally good quality old hens, and get a couple for her.

Both of them were thinking about getting some good old hens, but this didn’t stop Sun Miao from continuing her work. After she finished, she said goodbye to Su Ruixi and went upstairs for a nap. Su Ruixi didn’t really have the habit of taking afternoon naps, but seeing Sun Miao go upstairs, and having nothing else to do herself, she decided to take a nap too.

What was rather unfortunate was that they slept separately.

After resting well and getting up in the afternoon, Sun Miao continued to busy herself preparing dinner for Su Ruixi. She had also bought some vegetables that could be eaten after a little cooking. However, the chicken was no longer edible. After being simmered so many times, the chicken meat had become dry and stringy, with a terrible texture. Humans couldn’t eat it, but it could still be used to feed a small dog.

“Susu-jie, do any of the neighbors around here have dogs?”

Asking this question was like asking the right person, as Su Ruixi truly knew nothing about such things.

After hesitating for a moment, Sun Miao found Zhou Ling’s mom in the group chat and asked. It turned out that Sun Miao probably knew more people in this neighborhood than Su Ruixi did.

Zhou Ling’s mom indeed knew. She replied directly: “Grandma Li’s family has a dog, and it’s a Samoyed! It’s quite cute and friendly with people. What’s up?”

Sun Miao made a voice call directly and immediately asked, “Then do you know where she lives? It’s like this, I made chicken soup at home, and the chicken meat is quite stringy. It’s probably not good for people to eat, but if I process it a bit, it can become chicken jerky, which dogs should like. It was stewed before any seasoning was added, so dogs can eat it too.”

Hearing Sun Miao’s words, Zhou Ling’s mom couldn’t help but swallow. It wasn’t her fault; it was just that everything Sun Miao made was so delicious, so she subconsciously thought: that chicken soup must be delicious too.

“Her house is at Number 6, two rows ahead.”

“Okay, thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” Zhou Ling’s mom hung up the phone, but felt a bit unwilling: This Sun Miao, she can’t just thank me verbally. If she could bring some chicken soup to thank me, that would be even better!

Turning back, she started looking for her family’s aunty (housekeeper/cook): “Can we have chicken soup tomorrow?” On second thought, tomorrow was also a rest day. Zhou Ling was finally home, so she’d take her to eat at Sun Miao’s stall!

Sun Miao found Grandma Li in the group chat again. She sent a message, but Grandma Li hadn’t replied yet, probably would take some time. So, she first had dinner with Su Ruixi. Halfway through the meal, Grandma Li finally replied, sending back a voice message: “Ah? Oh, this is so kind of you. Then on behalf of our Big White⁶, thank you first!”

“It’s nothing, it just happened to be extra.”

Sun Miao really didn’t want to waste food, which was why she came up with this idea. After finishing their meal, Su Ruixi decided to go with Sun Miao. Anyway, it was just two rows ahead, a short walk. Sun Miao carried a large bag, and Su Ruixi carried a small one. The two walked side by side, passed through the central walkway, and soon arrived at Grandma Li’s house.

As soon as Sun Miao rang the doorbell, she heard a dog barking from the yard. She looked inside and saw a large white dog wagging its tail at her.

It… really was very friendly. This was their first time meeting, yet it wasn’t wary at all. Its bark wasn’t the sound of driving people away, but rather like it was acting cute. Grandma Li heard the doorbell, came out, and then opened the gate to let them into the yard. After chatting with Sun Miao for a few sentences, she went to play with Big White.

“Big White, look, the sister from before has come to bring you yummy food.”

Grandma Li unfastened its leash, and the Samoyed came over, wagging its tail and trying to jump on Sun Miao. Halfway through its pounce, it smelled the chicken meat and started nudging the bag. Sun Miao quickly handed the bags she and Su Ruixi were holding to Grandma Li: “This is all chicken meat, no salt added, it can eat it.”

After chatting for a while longer, Sun Miao and Su Ruixi went home together.

Sun Miao went back to take a shower first. She smelled of cooking all day, and when she napped in the afternoon, she didn’t dare touch the quilt much, just spread out a blanket and dozed off for a bit. Now that she had nothing to do, she had to quickly take a shower. After her shower, she even blow-dried her hair and came downstairs enveloped in a cloud of steam. She originally intended to get some water to drink, but then she saw Su Ruixi watching TV.

Su Ruixi was watching the finance channel.

The channel logo in the top left corner of the TV was particularly obvious. Sun Miao couldn’t help but sigh inwardly: As expected of a CEO.

Seeing Sun Miao come down, Su Ruixi greeted her. They sat together. Sun Miao looked like she was watching the finance channel with Su Ruixi, but she had actually been spacing out for a while. Only when Su Ruixi finished watching did she realize that Sun Miao next to her didn’t seem interested in it.

Su Ruixi felt a bit annoyed with herself: “I’m sorry, was it a bit boring?”

Sun Miao noticed a problem. How long had the two of them been living together? The number of times “I’m sorry” was said today was more than in a whole month. Realizing this, she directly shook her head: “No, it was okay.” She tilted her head, looked at Su Ruixi who still seemed a bit troubled, and then reached out her hand, holding hers.

Su Ruixi was stunned for a moment, then heard Sun Miao say, “Today, I also made you do many things you weren’t interested in. We are just like this, we don’t even have many common topics. But as long as I’m with you, I’m very happy. Although watching this program was a bit boring, because you were by my side, I felt very comfortable.”

Sun Miao noticed that Su Ruixi’s ears had turned red. She nodded: “Mm, it was the same this morning. Although I’ve never done those things before, being with you, I was happy to do them.”

“Then don’t say ‘I’m sorry’ anymore, okay?”

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