She’d been desperate to make money since she was little. She knew her daddy didn’t have any, and she wanted to buy him yummy food and fun toys.
Besides, her daddy was so handso.
If he went out by himself, he might get tricked and taken away!
And then she wouldn’t have a daddy anymore!
"Oh no, you can’t!" Jiang Liu said, dotingly ruffling Tongtong’s hair bun. "You need to sleep like a good girl so you can grow up big and strong."
"Hmph, you anie Daddy! I’m mad at you!"
Hearing Jiang Liu refuse, Tongtong’s face fell. She pouted, clenched her little fists, and turned away, refusing to look at him.
Jiang Liu deliberately ignored her, pretending to be engrossed in the TV.
"Hmph!"
Jiang Tongtong scrunched up her nose and huffed, trying to get his attention.
A minute passed, then ten...
Seeing that the silent treatnt wasn’t working,
"I’m not happy, I’m not happy!" Jiang Tongtong threw herself on the floor, flailing her arms and legs.
"I wanna go, I wanna go! I have to go, or I’ll just sleep right here on the floor!"
Wearing her dinosaur pajamas, Jiang Tongtong started rolling around at Jiang Liu’s feet.
"Daddy, I’m begging you! Tongtong is begging you! I want to help you make money!"
Seeing his little girl throwing a tantrum,
"Oh, all right, all right! I’ll take you with tomorrow, okay?"
Jiang Liu’s heart ached as he picked up his daughter.
He really hadn’t wanted Tongtong to go, but he just couldn’t withstand this dramatic display.
"Oh, yay! Daddy’s the best!"
Jiang Tongtong pumped her little fists excitedly and planted two happy kisses on Jiang Liu’s cheek.
"MWAH, MWAH! Hehe."
The two of them leaned against the sofa and went back to watching cartoons.
By nine-thirty, Jiang Tongtong was getting drowsy and had fallen asleep nestled on the couch.
"This girl..."
Jiang Liu casually turned off the TV and carefully carried her to bed.
They both fell sound asleep.
On the wall, the round, white teddy bear clock went TICK-TOCK, TICK-TOCK.
「In the middle of the night.」
Jiang Tongtong, in her light pajamas, was sprawled out on her wooden bed with its safety rails. Her hands gestured as she mumbled in her sleep, "Daddy, I made so much money today... eating fried chicken, eating fried chicken, big pieces... eat up. Daddy, why did you buy so much fried chicken..."
At four in the morning, the sky was still pitch-black. A cool breeze suddenly rushed in through the window screen, making the curtains dance. Jiang Tongtong felt the chill, pulled the blanket tighter, and turned over, her butt now facing Jiang Liu.
Just then,
his phone started vibrating.
His alarm was going off.
"Four o’clock already?"
Jiang Liu was groggily woken by the noise. He quickly reached out and shut off the alarm,
then sat up, remaining in a daze for a mont.
Beside him, Tongtong’s little belly rose and fell; she was still lost in dreamland.
Jiang Liu hesitated. Although he was exhausted,
the need to make money drove him to fight off his sleepiness and get up to quickly wash his face.
’Man, I’m so tired! I’ve never gotten up this early before. Ahhh~ zzz~’
After washing up, he shaved.
Jiang Liu yawned at his reflection in the mirror.
In the mirror was a handso, fair-skinned face with double eyelids and aegyo-sal, soft lips pressed lightly together, and straight eyebrows that quirked slightly over a straight nose.
’You’re twenty-seven and still this handso. It’s just too much.’
Jiang Liu thought with a proud smile at his reflection before heading to the kitchen.
He planned to first buy so ingredients from the Gourt Album to take to the shop.
Otherwise, if he was producing buns all day without any ingredients in sight, wouldn’t people think they were seeing a ghost?
As for the source of his top-tier ingredients,
they were coming from his ho, so he could make up whatever story he wanted.
Even if he said they fell from the sky, what were people going to do about it?
Besides, there was nothing wrong with his ingredients, and he had the right to refuse any investigation.
Even if they did investigate...
Later on, Jiang Liu planned to buy a few freezers to store more ingredients.
’Hmm... For the first day, I’ll make a hundred of each type of bun. What if no one cos? Right, I’ll buy two days’ worth of ingredients and store them, just to be cautious...’
Over the next two minutes,
Jiang Liu, following the filling ratios,
bought enough ingredients for two hundred of each type of bun.
For the shrimp and corn buns, for example, the ratio of shrimp to corn was seven to three. For two hundred buns, that ant 1,400 grams of shrimp and 600 grams of corn.
Jiang Liu did so quick math:
The cost of the filling for a shrimp and corn bun, including flour and seasonings, was about 3.3 yuan. As for the other buns, the filling was also ten grams, but because the ingredients were cheaper, the cost was in the range of a few jiao.
Of course, this didn’t include rent, water, and electricity.
Those costs were about seven thousand a month.
If he sold a thousand buns a day, then the added cost of rent and utilities per bun would only be about two jiao...
A text ssage popped up on his phone: a transaction of 925 yuan had been made from his bank card to the Gourt Album.
’The ingredients for the shrimp and corn buns alone cost over six hundred. Is my price for the shrimp buns too low?’
Jiang Liu tallied up the costs, rubbing the freshly-shaven stubble on his chin as he thought.
After all, he had priced his shrimp buns at only fifteen yuan.
The other buns were priced at six and five yuan.
’Forget it. The profit margin is already huge. I can’t make them so expensive that no one can afford them. Right, a business has to think about its custors... I already bought all the seasonings yesterday. I’ll use those for now and just grab more from ho if I run out...’
Jiang Liu walked briskly back into the bedroom.
He glanced at the clock on the wall. It was already 4:23.
"Tongtong? Tongtong?"
Jiang Liu gently squeezed Jiang Tongtong’s smooth cheek, calling out softly.
’Daddy?’
"Hrmm?" Jiang Tongtong humd, kicking her little legs. She stretched and rubbed her eyes. "What’s wrong, Daddy?"
Jiang Liu asked, "Do you still want to go? If you’re too sleepy, you can sleep a little longer. Dad will be back in a bit."
"Ah! I wanna go, I wanna go, Daddy!"
Hearing she might be left behind, Jiang Tongtong groggily sat up and stretched her arms out pleadingly. "Daddy, huggies, quick, huggies!"
Jiang Liu expertly gave his little girl a hug.
"Daddy, get dressed, get dressed!"
"Get dressed yourself. Don’t you know a grown daughter should keep her distance from her father?"
Jiang Liu patted her on the head, his tone stern.
"Hmph, whatever!" Jiang Tongtong’s attempt at being coddled failed, so she had no choice but to dress herself, her little mouth muttering in dissatisfaction, "No huggies, no getting dressed for ... then you should just run away from ho, Daddy!"
"You don’t love anymore anyway!"
"Xiaotuan said her daddy didn’t love her, so he ran away from ho when she was three."
"Hm? What are you muttering about?"
Jiang Liu’s face darkened as he straightened up the bed.
’Is my daughter trying to be the death of ?’
’All because I didn’t dress you.’
’You want to run away from ho?’
After that, Jiang Liu helped his little girl get ready.
The two of them left the house.
Jiang Liu rode his Phoenix-brand bicycle with Tongtong sitting on the back, clutching his shirt.
The ingredients were tied to the front of the bike. He planned to buy the flour at the shop; otherwise, there really wouldn’t be any room.
"Daddy, when are we going to get a car?"
"It’s going to be very cold in the winter."
Tongtong watched wistfully as cars whizzed by.
She didn’t really care if her daddy had a car or not;
she was just expressing a simple hope.
Jiang Liu pumped the pedals, not turning his head. "It’s okay. Once we make so money, Dad will buy a car. Then I’ll take you wherever you want to go."
He had left the marriage with nothing for his daughter’s sake. The car was bought after they got married, so it naturally went to Yang Yixue.
"Okay, okay!"
Tongtong nodded her head emphatically.
"Then let’s make lots and lots of money! To buy a car, buy fried chicken, and buy ice cream! Hehe."
「Five minutes later.」
Under a yellow sign that read "Number Two Under Heaven Cuisine."
Jiang Liu looked at the sign, feeling reasonably satisfied.
As for the na, he had originally planned to call it "Number One Under Heaven Cuisine."
But then he thought, wasn’t that a bit too arrogant?
So, Jiang Liu took a step back: Number Two Under Heaven.
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