Setting Up Stalls – Chapter 97

I’ll pay double

As soon as these words were spoken, Su Ruixi pressed her lips together, also realizing this. They had both been overly cautious in their interactions with each other.

Sun Miao felt that they were on different levels; Su Ruixi was a high and mighty young lady, a rich woman, while she herself was just a stinky street vendor. Su Ruixi, on the other hand, felt that because she had initiated things and had a difficult personality, and because she often made it seem like she wanted to hire Sun Miao as a housekeeper, she had wronged Sun Miao and thus often felt apologetic.

Perhaps this is what falling in love is like; love often means feeling indebted.

“Okay, no more ‘sorry’s’.”

After these words, they both fell silent for a moment, but an ambiguous atmosphere quietly began to rise. Su Ruixi leaned a little closer to Sun Miao. They were already sitting right next to each other on the sofa, and now, there was no gap between them at all. Sun Miao, however, still felt she smelled a bit and leaned back slightly.

Su Ruixi followed, leaning closer again. In this back-and-forth, Sun Miao momentarily lost her balance and fell backward onto the sofa.

Su Ruixi hadn’t expected this either, so she fell right on top of Sun Miao, and they both went down together.

They were both stunned for a moment. Sun Miao chuckled first, and Su Ruixi laughed along. At this moment, Su Ruixi suddenly became bold. She reached out, her palm pressing on Sun Miao’s shoulder, her sparkling eyes looking at Sun Miao. While the latter was still a bit dazed, Su Ruixi lowered herself, brushed her hair back with her other hand, and then her lips landed on Sun Miao’s.

It was still a peck like schoolchildren give, and they separated after a short moment, but Su Ruixi was very content. Whether it was her heart or her stomach, she was very satisfied.

Sun Miao’s eyes widened: What was going on?! Why was it always Su Ruixi, who hadn’t been ‘bent’ supposed to go?!

She wanted to counter-attack, to pin Su Ruixi down and kiss her properly, but Su Ruixi’s hand was pressing on her shoulder, and because the position wasn’t good when they fell, she couldn’t exert much force, so she couldn’t resist for the moment. Fortunately, Su Ruixi didn’t pin Sun Miao for long and quickly got up, pulling Sun Miao up with her.

Sun Miao wanted to lean in and kiss her back, but Su Ruixi’s satisfied expression made her unable to bring herself to do it.

In the end, the two of them just sat together, changed to a more lighthearted channel, their hands unconsciously found each other, and their heads leaned together. When it was nine o’clock, Sun Miao went upstairs first. She had to get up early to set up her stall the next morning, so Sun Miao needed enough rest to be able to get up early and work.

Su Ruixi understood. She and Sun Miao each drank a glass of milk and then went upstairs to their rooms together.

The next morning, before dawn, Sun Miao was woken up by her alarm clock. She went downstairs and first made Su Ruixi’s portion of crab shell yellow without chili. Along with a serving of chicken soup bubble wontons, she placed them on the food warmer on the dining table. Su Ruixi’s house always had a food warmer because the housekeeper sometimes went home after cooking, and when Su Ruixi returned, she didn’t want to reheat the food herself, so she had bought a food warmer to keep things warm.

Before Sun Miao left, she also left a note for Su Ruixi, telling her to eat this after she got up. She had also made lunch, which was also placed on the food warmer, for her to eat at noon.

Despite yesterday’s sweet affection, Sun Miao didn’t forget to promptly notify the group chat. She even took many beautiful photos in Su Ruixi’s large kitchen and shared them in the group, so yesterday the group chat was buzzing with discussion:

【It’s my beloved bubble wontons!】

【I suggest people who haven’t eaten bubble wontons search up what they are first. Please don’t get Little Boss Sun exposed online.】

【Exactly! Being exposed online and ridiculed by the masses is one thing, but I’m afraid people online will suddenly follow the trend and rush over to eat! We absolutely mustn’t attract enemies for ourselves!】

【I love crab shell yellow too! I absolutely love the red bean paste filling; they’re especially delicious fresh from the oven! I can’t imagine how delicious Little Boss Sun’s are.】

【It’s two items again this time, and two completely unrelated ones! Oh-ho, I can’t imagine what an enthusiastic and cheerful little girl I’ll be.】

【Am I the only one who noticed it’s the second lamppost again this time? Little Boss Sun, how much do you love lampposts!】

【This time it’s behind the park, yay! The morning joggers won’t eat all my breakfast, will they?!】

Seeing these comments¹, Sun Miao couldn’t help but think: No, being exposed online and ridiculed is also a life-threatening matter for me, okay?! Besides, morning joggers wouldn’t eat this kind of breakfast; they care a lot about their figures!

But no matter what, Sun Miao still diligently ran to the second lamppost south of the west gate of a park 6 kilometers[3.73 miles] from her home and started her new round of street vending. Before she even arrived, she saw the hip-hop yabi duo. They were truly her loyal customers, coming every day, and always the earliest.

However, before Sun Miao could even set up her stall, she heard Hip-hop Mei ask in a heartbroken tone, “Little Boss Sun, how could you live with Su-jie? Instead of cooking for her, why not cook for me? Whatever she pays you, I’ll pay double.”

Yabi Mei stood beside her, lips pressed together, silent, clearly not knowing what to say to Hip-hop Mei anymore.

Sun Miao was also surprised. Given that Hip-hop Mei knew she was a lesbian, and now that she was living with Su Ruixi, Hip-hop Mei still naively thought Su Ruixi had simply ‘recruited’ her. Both Sun Miao and Yabi Mei fell silent. Sun Miao decided not to say anything more, just uttering, “Let me set up the stall first.” Then she started to get busy.

After setting up her stall, she took out her small board and wrote down the two food items and their prices.

The hip-hop yabi duo eagerly started ordering, but when Hip-hop Mei saw “(Limit one per person)” written after “crab shell yellow” on the small board, she was instantly dumbfounded. “Wait, Little Boss Sun, why are the crab shell yellow limited?”

“I made them this morning. The equipment is too big to put on the cart, so I just made them all. If there’s no limit, you two would buy them all, and other customers wouldn’t get any.”

…

What she said made sense. Hip-hop Mei could only hang her head and, along with Yabi Mei, order one portion each.

Sun Miao asked, “What about the chicken soup wontons? Same as before, with chili sauce? Want vinegar?”

Hip-hop Mei was about to nod directly, but Yabi Mei beside her spoke first, “Don’t add it yet. I’ll have some soup first, then add it after a few bites.”

“That works.”

Hip-hop Mei immediately copied her, “Me too, me too!”

“The crab shell yellow have a preserved vegetable and meat filling. I added a bit of chili, so they have a natural spiciness, but it’s not very spicy. I don’t recommend adding extra chili, as it will ruin the original flavor.”

“Okay, whatever you say.”

Sun Miao served them the crab shell yellow first. These were prepared in advance, so she just tossed them into a plastic bag. The system provided insulated storage space, so the crab shell yellow were still hot, not much different from when they were freshly made. The steaming hot crab shell yellow were picked up with stainless steel tongs, tossed into a plastic bag, and then handed to the hip-hop yabi duo.

The next moment, Hip-hop Mei’s voice echoed to the heavens, “Little Boss Sun, what are you doing! Don’t just stuff them in a plastic bag! Put them in a disposable container! So stingy!”

Sun Miao paused, “Sorry, I didn’t think of that.” She had initially thought of using oiled paper bags, but the oiled paper she used for beef pancakes wouldn’t fit these. When she watched videos before, she saw that locals also used plastic bags directly, so it didn’t occur to her that she could use disposable bowls.

Hip-hop Mei was so distressed. When Sun Miao gave her a disposable bowl, she immediately poured the crab shell yellow out of the plastic bag.

Piping hot food should ideally not be directly packed in plastic bags; this is an iron rule in the food business. Firstly, plastic bags can easily be damaged or deformed by heat, and they might also release toxic substances when heated. Sun Miao had never made such a mistake before; it was only because she had been spending too much time in a ‘gentle haven’² lately that she made such an error.

Sun Miao had a very good attitude about admitting her mistake. After apologizing, she gave them each another portion of crab shell yellow, this time in disposable bowls.

At this moment, Hip-hop Mei’s eyes lit up. “Alright, for the sake of these crab shell yellow, I’ll forgive you.” After saying that, she quickly picked one up with her chopsticks and took a bite. No one could remain calm in front of freshly made crab shell yellow, especially those made by Sun Miao.

The moment it entered her mouth, Hip-hop Mei felt it was a bit hot, but she couldn’t bear to let go. When Sun Miao initially said there was chili, she was a bit surprised because most local versions were sweet; savory ones were very rare, let alone spicy ones.

With this bite, the subtle spiciness stimulated the savory flavor, making Hip-hop Mei completely unwilling to open her mouth. They were both baked flatbreads, but crab shell yellow were different from beef pancakes. Beef pancakes were both crispy and soft, but crab shell yellow were purely crispy. They took crispiness to the extreme. Hip-hop Mei’s bite was quite large, and she also bit into the parts covered with sesame seeds.

As the pastry skin shattered in her mouth, the sesame seeds also fell in, releasing their unique fragrance, triggering a new round of a feast for the taste buds.

It was no exaggeration to say that Hip-hop Mei didn’t stop, finishing the initial five pieces in one go. After eating, she still felt like she wanted more. But when she turned her head, she saw Yabi Mei already drinking the chicken soup bubble wontons. Hip-hop Mei looked down at the wontons in her bowl, feeling a bit unsure where to start.

She was someone who couldn’t enjoy food without spice, and at this moment, she felt some regret: I shouldn’t have listened to her; I should have added chili and vinegar from the start! This clear and bland soup, even if made by Little Boss Sun, won’t be delicious! With this thought in mind, she first observed it for a while.

The soup was truly clear, with only a faint yellow layer. The bubble wontons, just like their name, seemed like tiny bubbles floating on the surface of the chicken soup. Beside her, Yabi Mei was lowering her head to drink the soup. Her movements caused the small table to wobble, and the soup in front of Hip-hop Mei also swayed gently.

Those bubble wontons, as if stirring ripples in a pond of spring water, drifted like duckweed. A few specks of green scallions adorned them, and the pale yellow, green, and white combined to form the most harmonious picture.

Hip-hop Mei still couldn’t resist. She picked up her spoon, scooped a little, and put it in her mouth.

After eating it, she had only one thought—she shouldn’t have doubted Little Boss Sun.

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