Chapter 5.1

The bus was still an old model running on gasoline, and there was no air conditioning on board. Although it was late autumn, the temperature still felt like summer. Luckily, they set off in the morning when the sun was still low and it wasn’t too hot.

After wandering around for over an hour, the bus stopped at the town’s terminal station. They got off and walked a few minutes ahead to the entrance of the big market. Although it wasn’t marked with any special signs, once you saw the lively crowd, you knew you hadn’t taken a wrong turn.

The shouts of sellers and bargaining noises created a noisy, bustling atmosphere. Su Ying hadn’t been to the market in a long time, so at first she felt a little out of place. Li Tangtang grabbed Su Ying’s arm and led her into the crowd. At the front were some snack stalls, offering a dazzling variety of treats that could make anyone with a hard time deciding hesitate.

There were fried cakes, fried dough sticks, tofu pudding, egg meat buns, yogurt twisted fried dough, donkey meat sandwiches, baked wheat cakes, big steamed buns, and even pork stew dishes—you could really start naming dishes endlessly. The aromas kept drifting into their noses, awakening the hunger in their stomachs.

Li Tangtang and Su Ying browsed here and there, and soon their hands were full. Two bowls of tofu pudding cost six yuan, ten fried cakes for three yuan, and three egg meat buns for ten yuan. They found a small table to sit down and eat something warm.

Su Ying’s hometown tofu pudding was savory—soft tofu pudding topped with a big spoonful of savory sauce and cilantro. The first hot bite woke her up completely. She bit into the freshly fried cake, with its crispy crust and sticky melted sugar inside, sweet and delicious. The egg meat buns, also called egg burgers in some places, had golden crispy buns on both sides; biting into one revealed juicy minced meat filling mixed with egg. The two of them ate in silence, focusing solely on their food.

After breakfast, they tidied up their trash bags. Su Ying and Li Tangtang were ready to stroll through the morning market. Since it was still early, and not like the Lunar New Year when you have to stockpile lots of things, they could take their time and browse leisurely. During the New Year, the market was three times as lively and buying things was like a scramble—people crowds so dense you could get pushed miles away without noticing.

Su Ying edited the video she just recorded of the food they bought. The clip was short, just over three minutes, mainly showing the stall owners skillfully preparing breakfast and flaunting the great prices. It didn’t take long to edit and post. Within thirty minutes, the video had over a thousand likes and more than a hundred comments. The phone’s vibrations startled Su Ying—her video had gone viral. Chinese people really are foodies; seeing so much delicious food, one or two commenters were drooling in the comment section, and many were curious about what the market looked like.

Su Ying thought for a moment and said to Li Tangtang, “I want to do a first live broadcast, take fans to tour the market. Are you okay with that?”

Though it wasn’t a formal setting, with so many fans clamoring to see the market, Su Ying felt a live broadcast was the best way to let everyone experience the lively scene.

“Okay! But remember to use beautification filters when filming me,” Li Tangtang said without hesitation. Since Su Ying hadn’t been running the account long, this was her first live broadcast, and she was curious about fans’ reactions. Without further ado, Su Ying adjusted the phone camera, took out a handy mobile handheld tripod, and started the account’s first live broadcast.

The camera showed the bustling crowd at the market. The noisy sounds were captured by the phone. Fans scrolling through videos spotted the live broadcast icon and clicked in. In no time, the online viewers surpassed thirty, and the number kept growing. Su Ying used the rear camera and wore a handy microphone; she herself did not appear on camera.

It was impossible not to be nervous broadcasting live for the first time, but Su Ying’s previous work experience helped her quickly calm down and greet the fans: “Hello everyone, this is Little Mountain Stories. Today I’m taking you to our town’s big market. It only happens once a month, so it’s very lively. Let’s take a look around together.”

After the brief introduction, comments started rolling in the chat.

“Host, your voice is so nice. Can we see your face?”

“Wow, so many people! Is it always this lively?”

“The egg burger is so big! Ours here is thin and costs over ten yuan each.”

“We call it a meat egg bun here.”

Su Ying occasionally replied to fans’ questions in the chat while watching the comments.

The market’s calls of vendors never stopped.

“Fresh small apples, five cents each!”

“Starch sausages, pure starch, three yuan each, five yuan for two!”

“Strawberries, wild little strawberries!”

“Twisted fried dough, fresh out of the oven!”

Su Ying and Li Tangtang followed the voices to a starch sausage stall. How could anyone resist trying a pure starch sausage? The camera focused on the stall owner, who was very enthusiastic. Three yuan for one, five yuan for two seemed like a fixed formula. Each sausage was unwrapped, scored with knife cuts, then placed in the fryer slots, sizzling and turning to ensure they were cooked through evenly with a little oil to prevent sticking. When golden on all sides, the tongs gently scraped the surface to test the crispiness. Done, skewered on a stick.

“Spicy or not?” the vendor asked.

“Spicy, mild,” Su Ying replied, looking at the comment section full of drooling emojis, smiling happily.

The live viewers kept increasing. It was only 9 am, but those working were already at their desks, scrolling live broadcasts and feeling a bit sad they couldn’t enjoy such scenes.

Two starch sausages flipped in the vendor’s hands, while the other hand sprinkled various powders unevenly. No worries about unevenness—that’s how you get different flavors every bite.

Li Tangtang scanned to pay, and Su Ying took the finished sausages to show the camera. They each had one and continued eating and exploring.

Autumn brought a bountiful harvest of many fruits. Along the way, there were autumn moon pears, rose-scented pears, yellow honey pears, soft date kiwis… and many more wild fruits they couldn’t name.

Su Ying immediately spotted a fruit she had admired for a long time—the “Gu Guniang” fruit. As a child, she often mispronounced the name. When Su Ying was only two or three and still babbling, her mother bought a big basket of this fruit, called “Guniang guo” Su Ying stumbled and said “Gu Guniang,” and since then that became their family’s nickname for the fruit.

Guniang fruit is the lantern fruit, with a thin outer membrane. Once peeled, you see the real fruit inside—a yellow-skinned flesh that looks a bit like a yellow cherry tomato, but firmer and sweeter, purely sweet with no sourness.