Zhang Jiaming had just opened the door when Rao Lili’s mother, Luo Shufen, came up the stairs. Startled, he snapped to attention and quickly called out, “Hello, Teacher Luo!”
“Finished your homework?” Luo Shufen smiled and kindly offered, “Don’t rush off—stay and have lunch with us.”
“No, no, thank you—my mom already made something. Thank you, Teacher! Goodbye, Teacher!” Zhang Jiaming felt a chill run down his spine at the invitation and hurriedly hugged his backpack and fled.
Even a top student like Zhang Jiaming couldn’t handle having lunch with his homeroom teacher.
Taotao quickly turned to look.
Luo Shufen had gentle features and wore glasses. She was somewhat short and round, dressed in a dark green striped dress with short permed hair. Watching Zhang Jiaming’s hurried retreat, she called out for him to slow down and not run, her fair face always wearing a warm smile.
It had been so long. Taotao looked at her, her eyes growing moist.
In all those years without a mother, through a long school life where she’d never been favored by teachers because of her poor grades, only Teacher Luo had treated her fairly and never looked down on her for dragging down the class average.
Every year on her report card, Teacher Luo would dig through the corners to find her strengths, writing things like “cheerful personality, good with classmates, fought hard at the sports meet to bring honor to the class.”
In her past life, Luo Shufen had been the homeroom teacher for Taotao, Yu Luan, Rao Lili, and Zhang Jiaming from first through third grade. She remembered clearly—after they were split into different classes in third grade, she never had Teacher Luo again, and Taotao ran wild like a runaway horse, her grades getting worse and worse.
Now, seeing a much younger Teacher Luo filled her with warmth and nostalgia. She stood up and couldn’t help calling out, “Teacher Luo.”
Luo Shufen laughed at that. “Taotao, why are you being so formal today? Are you staying for lunch? I’m making braised pork ribs—you and Lili both love those.”
Taotao’s mouth almost watered at the thought.
Teacher Luo wasn’t just a good teacher—she was an amazing cook, good enough to run a restaurant. As a kid, Taotao had eaten at Lili’s house all the time, so often that even Tao Guangzhi—shameless as he was—felt embarrassed and would always send Taotao over with fresh-baked pies for Lili.
But today, she stood firm in her refusal. “No thank you, Teacher. We’ve got a new egg tart at our shop today, and I need to go help my dad. I won’t stay.”
Luo Shufen looked at her gently and said, “Then when the ribs are done, I’ll have Lili bring a bowl over for you and your dad.”
“Thank you, Teacher Luo.” Taotao really did miss Teacher Luo’s cooking. After she grew up and moved away, she could never have it again, so she shyly accepted.
“Don’t mention it!” Luo Shufen waved her hand.
Taotao was actually a very likable child—fair-skinned with smiling eyes. Sometimes Luo Shufen thought even those child stars on TV weren’t as pretty as Taotao!
She was playful and mischievous, and her studies weren’t quite up to par, but she was only in first grade. There was still a long road ahead. Luo Shufen wasn’t like other teachers who liked to write kids off after just a year or two.
Besides, Taotao never bullied weaker children. She often helped her dad with the shop—kneading dough, minding the store, weighing and selling pastries. How many kids this age in the south had ever even set foot in a kitchen, let alone knew how to knead dough?
Luo Shufen had always believed Taotao was a good kid at heart. And on top of that, she didn’t have a mother around… Sigh. The divorce between Tao Guangzhi and his wife back then had caused quite a stir—most neighbors in the alley knew the story.
How pitiful—Taotao was barely two months old when her mother got the divorce papers and left. Before she went, she took all three thousand yuan Tao Guangzhi had saved over the years of working.
A lot of neighbors had urged Tao Guangzhi to call the police and get the money back. He was silent for a moment, then shook his head. “She’s Grape’s mother after all. Consider that money the price of a clean break.”
He’d said it like such a man, but that first month, Tao Guangzhi couldn’t even afford a bag of formula.
Rao Lili was only a few months older than Taotao. Luo Shufen had plenty of milk at the time, so she’d helped feed Taotao for about a month, just enough to tide them over until Tao Guangzhi’s next payday.
The director and factory manager at the food factory had been pretty supportive too. When they heard about his situation, the women’s union director—a real go-getter—reported it to the factory manager and got approval for Tao Guangzhi to bring the baby to work.
Female workers got ninety days of maternity leave. Tao Guangzhi didn’t. So when Taotao was just a hundred days old, she went to work with her dad, sleeping on a giant unused scale by the assembly line.
But even those ninety days of maternity leave weren’t really enough. When many female workers saw that this miraculous dad could bring his baby to work, they all started applying too. Later, the women’s union director took the opportunity to approve a policy allowing all factory workers to bring their few-month-old babies to work. They even set up a nursery room where nursing mothers could feed their babies, change diapers, and rest.
With help from the women at the factory, Tao Guangzhi quickly learned how to take care of a child—and picked up a ton of gossip about mother-in-law-daughter-in-law and marital drama along the way, becoming a full-fledged friend to women everywhere.
Though his parenting skills improved, raising a child was expensive in every way—especially since Taotao needed formula.
Back then, formula was such a precious commodity that it was rationed—only in 1988 did the market open up for pricing. Zhangxi Town had little farmland and no dairy cows, so beef and milk were expensive, let alone formula. You had to ask someone to buy it from the department store in the county seat, and three tins cost nearly a hundred yuan back then. And Taotao was a hearty eater—she could eat up most of her dad’s monthly salary.
With no savings and a tight budget, Taotao grew up wearing hand-me-downs from factory workers, her uncle, and her second uncle’s kids—even her shoes were castoffs. She didn’t even have a proper crib.
But Tao Guangzhi remained optimistic. At the time, Huanhuan Food Factory produced a special extra-large tin gift box for export. These boxes had a low yield rate, and rejects with flaws were common. He got a few, had a factory master cut and weld them into a larger one, polished the edges smooth, laid down a mattress, tied sturdy net ropes around all sides, and hung it up as a cradle bed for Taotao.
One time, Luo Shufen was walking Lili in the alley and saw the child lying in that big tin box stamped with “Huanhuan Food,” kicking her feet and sucking her fingers, happily amusing herself. It broke her heart.
But with everyone’s help, she’d grown up.
It really hadn’t been easy.
“You’re doing homework? How well-behaved!”
Luo Shufen, lost in memory, walked in and saw the mess everywhere—balls of candy wrappers and empty AD Calcium Milk bottles littering the floor. But instead of scolding her daughter in front of Taotao, she took an unexpected angle and praised Rao Lili instead. “Lili, you took the initiative to bring out so many snacks for your little friends today. You’re very good at sharing with your friends—that’s wonderful.”
Rao Lili puffed out her little chest with pride—of course she was!
“Hey, where did these egg tarts come from? Taotao brought them, right?” Walking a bit further in, Luo Shufen noticed the open cardboard box of egg tarts on the table and asked curiously, “Oh, these have that flaky puff pastry crust too.”
How novel.
Taotao seized the opportunity to promote them. “My dad and I made these—they’re a new product we learned from a bakery in Macau. Teacher Luo, please try one and give my dad some feedback.”
“Alright, I’ll give it a try.”
They were old neighbors after all, so Luo Shufen didn’t stand on ceremony. She picked one up and took a bite.
By now the tart had cooled, but it was still delicious—the custard had set like pudding, smooth and sweet, and the crust was flaky and fragrant. It was so good that Luo Shufen paused for a moment, looking at Taotao in disbelief. “Your dad really made this?”
Taotao smiled sheepishly and nodded. “Really. Do you like it, Teacher Luo? If you do, my dad will bake another batch this afternoon, and I’ll bring some over for you and Lili.”
Her dad’s skills were… well, distinctly “factory-trained.” He could only follow provided recipes with precision and had no creative flair. His baked goods weren’t particularly amazing, but they weren’t bad either—depending on the situation. Things made by recipe were passable; things he improvised were terrible.
That’s why business had never really taken off.
But people like him had their advantages too—they never had sudden “brilliant” ideas that turned into kitchen disasters. As long as the recipe was good enough and he practiced it, he could replicate the flavor one-to-one!
Take the Portuguese egg tarts this time—Taotao told him what to add, and he added it without question. He was especially humble about it, accustomed to strictly following factory procedures, so he never doubted the instructions from his eight-year-old daughter. The final result tasted almost exactly like what Taotao had made in her previous life.
“These are really good—the flavor is quite unique.” Luo Shufen finished one in just a few bites, but found herself unable to describe it further. The tart wasn’t very big, yet somehow she’d eaten it all without even savoring it properly, bite after bite!
Hearing Taotao speak like a little adult, she laughed. “How can I just have one and then ask for more? Actually, I’m meeting a friend for tea this afternoon. When the time comes, set aside a box for me—a dozen of them. Consider it a pre-order. These tarts can’t be cheap to make, right? Your family runs a business, so I’d hate for you to lose money. Remember to let me pay for them when the time comes.”
And just like that, she’d secured an order. Taotao’s eyes curved into happy crescents. “Got it, Teacher Luo! Since you’re my teacher, I definitely have to give you a discount. I’ll have my dad throw in an extra one for free!”
Oh, this kid really knew how to do business.
Luo Shufen burst out laughing.
Rao Lili rushed over and shook her mother’s hand. “Mom, don’t take them all when you go out this afternoon—save two for me! I haven’t had enough yet—I still want more.”
“How many have you already eaten?” Luo Shufen finally thought to ask.
“Just three.”
“Just? You’ve already eaten three and you still haven’t had enough? Aren’t you afraid of getting heaty?! Don’t even think about it—this afternoon, you’re going to drink a bowl of herbal tea first, and I’m watching you finish it. No sneaking it out.” Luo Shufen’s face immediately turned stern.
Rao Lili instantly wilted and dared not make any more requests.
She absolutely hated herbal tea.
Taotao was scared of it too—that stuff was basically traditional Chinese medicine in liquid form.
It felt like, in every parent’s eyes, herbal tea was some magical cure-all. Whether it was a sore throat, a canker sore, a cold, cough relief, or heatstroke—no need to see a doctor, just “drink a few bowls of herbal tea and you’ll be fine.”
But Rao Lili had always been like that with food.
If she found something she liked, she’d eat it all at once until she got sick of it. That’s how she’d gotten her chubby little body as a kid. In high school, when they were at boarding school with a snack street outside, Taotao remembered Rao Lili once ate the same clay pot rice from the same shop every single day for a month before finally getting tired of it. Taotao had been absolutely stunned.
Taotao made sure to ask Teacher Luo what time she’d be leaving so she could prepare with her dad in the afternoon.
Starting from making the tart shells from scratch, it would take about an hour for a full batch. That meant they’d need to start right away. Just as she was calculating, she heard the rolling shutter door of their own shop next door rattle open—someone was unlocking it from outside.
That must be Tao Guangzhi back!
Happily, she packed up her backpack, said goodbye to Teacher Luo and Lili, and hurried back over the wall from the terrace. Rushing downstairs, she saw Tao Guangzhi walk in, drenched in sweat from the heat.
Taotao eagerly pulled out her hand-drawn sign. “Dad! Teacher Luo needs a dozen egg tarts around 2:30 this afternoon! And look what I drew! You can mix up some glue and stick it at the door!”
“What’s this—wow, you drew this for the shop?” Tao Guangzhi took it in surprise. The strokes were simple and childish, but the slogans were actually pretty good. He read them out loud: “Good egg tarts, handmade, freshly baked daily, new product launch, authentic Portuguese egg tarts from Macau…”
He was overcome with emotion and looked up at his daughter. “Girl, you’re really growing up.”
“I’ve always been grown up!” Taotao proudly wobbled her head.
“Yeah right, I know you too well—staying good for three whole days would be a miracle!” Tao Guangzhi scoffed, but quickly turned serious. “Still, thank you for helping Dad with ideas and business. But school’s starting soon—you’ve got to remember to work hard, you hear me? Don’t end up staying after class every day
like last year.”
Taotao immediately whipped out her completed character and pinyin workbook. “I finished all my character and pinyin homework today!”