Early the next morning, Tian Tian took her father to exchange the procurement slip for brown granulated sugar. On the way back, they stopped by a small workshop. Before long, she came out holding several sheets of beautiful wrapping paper.
Curious, Tian Baomin took them and flipped through them casually. His eyes nearly popped out of his head.
“Tsk tsk! Sweetheart! This packaging… isn’t it a bit much?”
It wasn’t that he was inexperienced—it was that he felt his daughter’s ambitions might be a little too grand.
What was all this? “Tian Family Bakery”? “A Century of Heritage”? “Secret Family Recipe”? “Made with Premium Ingredients”?
Since when did their family’s peanut brittle warrant such exaggerated descriptions? Wasn’t it just ordinary peanut brittle? Tian Baomin had always thought he wasn’t exactly an honest man—but his daughter seemed to be even less honest than him!
Now, staring at the exquisite wrapping paper in his hands, Tian Baomin felt a bit dizzy.
Seeing her father’s expression, and mindful that they were out on the main road, Tian Tian held back her laughter and said, “Dad, what’s so exaggerated about it? Let me ask you something. Our family is planning to make peanut brittle, right? And our family name is Tian, right?”
Tian Baomin nodded.
“So then, isn’t it perfectly reasonable for the peanut brittle our family makes to have ‘Tian Family Bakery’ printed on the packaging?”
“Reasonable, reasonable!”
“As for ‘A Century of Heritage,’ ‘Secret Family Recipe,’ and ‘Premium Ingredients’—that’s even simpler. Our family’s peanut brittle recipe was passed down from Grandma. And Grandma learned it from her grandmother. That’s six generations. How is that not a hundred years of history?
Besides, our peanut brittle really does taste better than other people’s. The recipe is a bit different. So ‘Secret Family Recipe’ isn’t a lie either. And as for the ingredients—everything is sourced from the original producers, guaranteeing authentic flavor.”
By the end, Tian Tian couldn’t help but laugh out loud. Her father’s expression was just too funny.
Reform and opening up had only been underway for a few years. People in business at this time were fairly honest—they would state plainly what their product was, without any embellishment. They had none of the wildly exaggerated marketing that would come decades later.
Tian Tian had merely spruced up the description of her family’s peanut brittle a bit. She wasn’t selling an inferior product. And besides, their family’s peanut brittle really was delicious. Otherwise, it wouldn’t have been the first thing that came to mind when she thought about making money.
Even though the peanut brittle didn’t actually exist yet.
Tian Baomin felt that his daughter’s reasoning made a lot of sense. He could do nothing but nod. His mind, always quick, noticed that the fonts on the packaging were in traditional Chinese characters and English. A bold idea occurred to him.
“Sweetheart! This candy of yours… you’re not planning to sell this to the overseas Chinese coming home for the New Year, are you?”
Tian Tian shrugged. “We’ll see. We’ll make some tonight and try to have some samples ready by tomorrow. I’m planning to take them to Smugglers’ Street.”
Smugglers’ Street was a street in the county known for selling smuggled goods. Many of the vendors there openly sold domestic products, but behind the scenes, they peddled all kinds of contraband. The sources of these goods were varied and shady.
But in short, anyone in the county who wanted to buy imported or high-end goods came to this street.
Tian Baomin clicked his tongue in astonishment. “Sweetheart! When your mother said you were making big moves, she wasn’t kidding. But Smugglers’ Street is pretty chaotic. Want your old man to come along?”
Even though he wanted to help, he knew his daughter had a mind of her own.
Tian Tian shook her head. “Niu Zai knows his way around Smugglers’ Street. I’ll have him make an introduction. Tomorrow, you and Mom need to focus on making the candy. Let’s try to get the peanut brittle done in the next couple of days.”
Niu Zai was a friend she’d grown up with. He’d been helping sell goods on Smugglers’ Street for the past two years.
Tian Baomin didn’t press further. Instead, he asked curiously, “Sweetheart, how much did this packaging cost you?”
It was so beautifully designed, with traditional characters and English—it certainly didn’t look cheap.
Tian Tian said, “I designed it myself!”
Ever since deciding to make peanut brittle, she had thought through every aspect—from raw materials to every step of the sales process, making all kinds of arrangements. Of course, she had handled the packaging herself.
But packaging was expensive at this time, and finding the right connections was hard. If it weren’t for the small private workshops in their area, Tian Tian probably would have abandoned her high-end sales plan. The wrapping paper in her hands was just a sample—she had just confirmed it. Next would be mass production, and she expected to have all the wrapping paper by tomorrow.
——
Over the next two days, Tian Tian’s parents stayed busy at home making peanut brittle, while Tian Tian went to work during the day and spent her evenings at home packing.
Everything went fairly smoothly, except for Tian Xin showing up from time to time to snoop around and find out exactly what their family was up to.
Sure enough, that evening, while Tian Tian’s family was putting the finishing touches on the peanut brittle packaging, Tian Xin’s voice rang out from outside the door again.
Tian Tian’s mother wanted to go out and send her away like she had done the previous day. But this time, Tian Tian stopped her.
They had kept her out for nearly two days now. The time was about right.
So Tian Xin, who was still calling out from outside, expecting to be turned away again, was surprised when the door opened and Tian Tian stepped out.
She immediately rushed over and asked, “Sis, why has your family been keeping the door shut the past couple of days? You won’t even let me in!”
Her tone was quite indignant. Tian Tian noticed she looked a bit haggard—though that might have been due to the dim evening light.
“My mom picked up some work. It’s not convenient to let people in.”
Tian Xin thought about the sweet smell that had been coming from her uncle’s house since the day before, and her heart sank.
Who knew! The first time she caught that sweet aroma, she knew something was wrong. She had run off to call He Xiaoming and ask about the procurement slip. He told her the slip hadn’t been redeemed. Tian Xin had been relieved.
So this morning, she had gone to the county and spent the whole day there. Before coming back, she had checked with He Xiaoming again to confirm the slip still hadn’t been redeemed. She had felt very pleased with herself on the way home, thinking that no matter how much Tian Tian had studied, it was useless—she was still being played for a fool.
But then she reached the intersection and smelled that same sweet scent again. Tian Xin knew something had gone wrong.
“What kind of work? Sis, don’t lie to me. Did you redeem that procurement slip?”
Hearing this frantic, angry voice, Tian Tian found it quite amusing.
She had never really understood where Tian Xin’s hostility toward her came from. But in her previous life, right up until her death, when she found out that her aunt had pocketed the 10,000 yuan compensation and that Tian Xin was in on it, Tian Tian finally understood just how deep her cousin’s animosity ran.
And since being reborn, she had seen it even more clearly.
“Tian Xin, why are you so upset? What business is it of yours?”
What business? That procurement slip was obtained through my connections! That means it was mine.
Of course, Tian Xin only screamed this in her head. On the surface, she managed to hold back her anger and kept a smile on her face. “Sis, that’s a bit cold. I used my connections to get that slip. I was just worried it might turn out to be worthless.”
Tian Tian saw that she was still putting on an act and was happy to let her keep bottling it up.
“Oh, no problem. Well, you don’t need to worry. I gave the slip to someone else.”
“What? How could you give it away?”
Tian Tian pretended to look surprised. “Is that not allowed? Wasn’t that slip my hush money?”
“What hush money?”
At some point, several neighbors had gathered behind them, including her uncle and aunt. They had all come out to see what the commotion was about.
Tian Xin saw how many people had shown up—and that her rigid, old-fashioned father was among them. She immediately became very demure. “It’s nothing. I was just talking to my sister about a TV show.”
Without waiting to see what anyone thought, she turned and ran straight home.
Tian Tian knew that Tian Xin would be stewing in her anger for quite a while.
It felt pretty good.
Back inside, Tian Tian told her father what had happened. He slammed the table. “Your uncle being here is perfect. I’m going to have him teach that wayward daughter of his a lesson.”
“Dad, forget it. Things are fine as they are. I actually enjoy watching Tian Xin put on an act, too angry to dare let it out.”
Tian Baomin thought about it and realized that made a lot of sense. Then he asked, “Are you really taking all the goods to Smugglers’ Street tomorrow? Is that all settled?”
It wasn’t that he was being fussy—it was just that the whole family had put a lot of effort into this batch of peanut brittle.
“Yes, it’s all arranged. They’ve even given us a thirty percent deposit.”
“Well then, I’ll go with you tomorrow.”
Early the next morning, father and daughter set off with the goods. They had made a total of 305 catties of peanut brittle. The packaging was one catty per pack, so there were 305 packs in total. They kept 5 packs at home and planned to sell the remaining 300.
Since they were selling them packaged, the price was 4.50 yuan per pack. This batch would bring in 1,350 yuan. After deducting costs and giving her parents a share for their hard work, Tian Tian would make a profit of 1,000 yuan.
Just thinking about it was exciting.
With that 1,000 yuan, her plan to go to Shenzhen and buy that vegetable plot would be one step closer.
But when they arrived at Smugglers’ Street with the goods the next day, the friend who had made the introduction—Niu Zai—brought them some not-so-good news.
TOC | More chapters later
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