Setting Up Stalls – Chapter 99

A Drawing

With Niuniu causing a ruckus, the cat owner quickly slurped down the entire bowl of bubble mini wontons. After a long battle of wits with Niuniu, she stood up, perfectly content, to pay, not forgetting to take Niuniu’s leftover chicken broth with her.

“Boss, this is so delicious! At first, I thought it was expensive. But what you make is worth it, so tasty. Ai, it’s just that I’m too poor.” She muttered a few words under her breath, her gaze falling on the small basket next to Sun Miao’s table, filled with those perfectly round and incredibly cute crab shell yellow…

No, she really couldn’t afford those.

“Thank you for this broth. With it, my Niuniu can drink a bit more water~”

“You’re welcome.”

The two of them chatted briefly, and then the cat owner left with Niuniu on her electric scooter. Sun Miao watched their receding figures, couldn’t help thinking: Is it really that hard for cats to drink water?

Sun Miao had seen some videos online; some cats really don’t like drinking water, or rather, they don’t like drinking plain water. They might drink from their owner’s cup, from the fish tank, or even from the toilet, but they just won’t drink from their own bowl.

In those videos, owners went to all sorts of ingenious lengths¹ to get their cats to drink clean water. The one that left the deepest impression on her was a blogger who made a two-layered cat water bowl. The top was a transparent glass bowl, and underneath the transparent glass was a fish tank. It looked like the cat was drinking from the fish tank, but it was actually drinking clean water from its own bowl.

Things like that—people really worried themselves sick trying to get their cats to drink water.

That cat owner from just now obviously had the same problem.

Consequently, Sun Miao’s thoughts also started to wander.

She had thought about getting a cat before. After all, in the lesbian community, having a cat is a very normal thing! There was even a funny story online before: some cat owners, when their mother cat had kittens or when they “kidnapped” stray kittens in their neighborhood looking for adopters, would go to lesbian apps to post adoption notices.

Because lesbians just love getting cats after moving in together! They might even have more than one.

Of course, not everyone in the lesbian community is a good person; every group has its good and bad apples. So, posting adoption information on lesbian apps could also attract perverts who abuse cats. But it’s also because lesbians genuinely have a demand for cats that the two sides click² so well.

Having been in the community for a long time, Sun Miao inevitably had thoughts of getting a cat with a girlfriend. Mainly because cats are just so cute—those big, round eyes, a delicate “meow,” and your heart just melts.

Just, she couldn’t raise one to be like that “big shot” tabby cat from earlier.

But you couldn’t say the cat owner was irresponsible for letting the cat get so fat; she clearly doted on her cat and realized it was too plump.

However, the idea of getting a cat had only crossed Sun Miao’s mind; she hadn’t put it into practice. Because before, she simply had no time, no partner, and on top of that, being in the food business, if cat fur stuck to her and accidentally fell into what she was making, that would be irresponsible to her customers.

So, it only remained an idea.

Now that she had Su Ruixi, she still didn’t plan to put the idea into practice. Cats are very cute, but they also represent a responsibility. She and Su Ruixi were both quite busy… they might not even have enough time for each other, so it was better not to get a cat.

While Sun Miao was lost in her thoughts, the little nurse arrived. She drove up with her colleague, pulling a small cart. Seeing the “Limit one per person” sign behind the crab shell yellow, she first exclaimed, “Ah?!” then complained, “Boss-jie, this isn’t very cool of you! Who can get by with just five?”

Then she added, “Then give us twenty servings of bubble mini wontons and two servings of crab shell yellow.” She scanned the code and paid immediately.

Then she opened her camera app, took a picture of Sun Miao’s little sign, and sent it to her colleagues’ group chat with the message: “Don’t say I didn’t buy them for you. There’s a purchase limit, so I can’t buy more.”

Ignoring the deafening complaints in the group chat, she just stared at Sun Miao. Sun Miao first handed them their crab shell yellow, then started packing the bubble mini wontons. The little nurse was still asking, “Those two who were dressed super trendy³, have they been here already?”

She was talking about Hip-hop Mei and Yabi Mei.

Sun Miao focused on her work and didn’t answer, but the little nurse thought, They definitely came, and they ate too! Not only did they eat, but they also took an extra serving of crab shell yellow.

“They actually didn’t share this news in the group chat beforehand! How annoying!”

Her colleague, munching on a crab shell yellow, said indistinctly, “Then you tell everyone in the group chat.”

The little nurse’s eyes darted. “I won’t! Otherwise, when the others come, there’ll be no surprise. I want to keep their surprise intact.”

Her colleague was speechless: Can this really be called a surprise?

But thinking about the “heartbroken” looks of other customers, she also exchanged a mischievous smile with the little nurse.

A moment later, they too left, but then regular customers started arriving one after another. The lemon tea stall owner was among them. Sun Miao was surprised, “It’s Sunday, aren’t you running your stall over there?”

The lemon tea stall owner waved her hand. “It’s fine, it’s just a side gig anyway.” When Sun Miao had a moment, she took a tablet out of her bag, opened an image, and showed it to Sun Miao. “It’s about last time when I saw you and your girlfriend…” As she said the last two words, she looked a bit shifty⁴ and glanced around stealthily, afraid of being overheard.

Once she was sure no one was paying attention, she continued, “You two are so loving, in that moment, my inspiration just flowed⁵. I went home and immediately started drawing⁶ and made this. Since it’s related to you two, I wanted to ask if I could post it?”

Sun Miao was curious, so she came out from behind the food cart. She first wiped her hands on the towel hanging beside the cart, then rubbed them on her apron before picking up the tablet to take a closer look.

The moment she saw the picture, Sun Miao felt a little dazed. The composition, the scene—it was simply too beautiful! Actually, what the lemon tea stall owner had drawn wasn’t literally Sun Miao and Su Ruixi. At first glance, it didn’t seem to have much to do with them, but after looking at it for a while, you could feel it—this was them.

In the picture, a girl in a white T-shirt and jeans, with her hair in a ponytail, was riding a bicycle. Another girl, dressed more elegantly, sat on the seat behind her. The girl riding the bike was carrying the one behind, cycling forward on a tree-lined path, while the girl in the back reached out to hold the corner of her shirt.

Both had smiles on their faces; you could tell they were very happy. The scene was vibrant; in the background, green leaves swayed, and golden light filtered through the gaps, falling onto the two of them.

She had to admit, it was truly professional work; Sun Miao found the drawing flawless. “It’s wonderful! The picture feels so warm and cozy. It looks like summer, with two schoolgirls.”

“Yes.” This was what had formed in her mind after she went back—an imagined encounter between two girls. Although they were different people from Sun Miao and Su Ruixi, the bond between them and the smiles on their faces were so similar.

Especially the girl riding the bike in front—the upward curve of her lips was exactly the same as Sun Miao’s. Just as uplifted and cheerful, like a little sun. The girl behind her had a hint of a pout, as if saying, “Why are you riding so fast?” Her lips were also turned up, but not as much, the curve a bit smaller. Her slightly furrowed brows made her look a little coy, but one look at her eyes and you knew: she was happy.

Indeed, it really was her and Su Ruixi.

“Can I post it?”

“Of course, you can! It’s beautiful.”

Sun Miao then asked, “Can you send it to me? I’d like to save it.”

The lemon tea stall owner immediately agreed. They added each other as friends through the group chat, and Sun Miao successfully obtained the high-definition image. Without hesitation, Sun Miao used this picture to replace her original one. She looked at the “Su Ruixi” in the picture and smiled genuinely.

The lemon tea stall owner didn’t have time to eat there; she got her food to go, planning to post her drawing as soon as she got back. Sun Miao watched her leave and then got busy again for a while. Luckily, it was Sunday, and people weren’t arriving all at once but rather sporadically, so there wasn’t a long line in front of Sun Miao’s stall.

Around lunchtime, more of her regular customers arrived, forming a small queue. Seeing this, some people coming out of the park were taken aback. They had initially thought of getting a bowl of mini wontons too, but seeing Sun Miao’s high prices, they were so shocked they blurted out in dialect.

Sun Miao couldn’t understand the local dialect, but someone translated for her: “Goodness, how can it be this expensive?”

That customer chuckled as they spoke, “It’s their loss⁷ for not trying it. Little Boss Sun, don’t take it to heart. I don’t think it’s expensive at all.” Other regular customers chimed in, “Exactly! With Little Boss Sun’s skills, it’s not expensive at all.”

But because there weren’t many new customers, by noon, Sun Miao hadn’t even sold half of her stock. After a while, Su Ruixi arrived. She was in casual clothes and wasn’t wearing high heels today. The sharp aura she usually had seemed much softer, and she appeared a lot gentler.

“You haven’t sold much today, huh.”

Su Ruixi teased Sun Miao as soon as she arrived, tightening the shawl around her. It was May 21st, and the weather was gradually warming up. However, near the park with its abundance of green trees, the air was fresh, and the temperature was a bit cooler. She was wearing a mid-sleeve top underneath, but the fabric was quite thin, so she had a shawl draped over her shoulders.

But Su Ruixi like this had an added touch of intellectual beauty; she looked lovely.

Sun Miao asked, “Have you eaten?”

“I have. I finished everything you made for me.”

Sun Miao had made quite a lot. She couldn’t help thinking to herself: At this rate, after a little longer, Su Ruixi will definitely get even plumper from my cooking. But she hadn’t expected Su Ruixi’s appetite to have genuinely improved so much. Su Ruixi sat down at a small nearby table and ordered a serving of mini wontons and crab shell yellow.

“The crab shell yellow has chili in it.”

“It’s fine, I won’t eat it. Later, I’ll get a delivery service⁸ to send it to my parents’ place.” She just wanted to boost Sun Miao’s little business, hoping she’d sell out sooner and then go home with her.

Who knew that Sun Miao would hesitate for a moment and then actually say, “If you buy it… you still have to pay.”

——She’s so stingy, it’s infuriating! Oh, whatever!

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