But Aunt Ying had no time to bother with him anymore. She took an even bigger bite on the third go—just a few more bites and it would be gone. She hadn’t even swallowed the egg tart in her mouth yet when her eyes darted toward the glass display case. Seeing there weren’t many left, she quickly fished out more money:
“Guangzhi, give me four more! My old man at home hasn’t had any yet.”
She didn’t think it was expensive anymore.
At this taste, two-fifty was an absolute steal!
The others, seeing this, all took a bite without a second thought. The moment it hit their mouths, they were stunned too. They looked at each other, speechless.
They had seriously underestimated Tao Guangzhi before. Who knew he had this kind of skill up his sleeve!
Grandpa Zhang was furious: “Say something! All of you talk!”
All they knew how to do was eat!
Why wasn’t anyone proving his innocence!
No one actually had time for him—they simply couldn’t spare a moment to speak, because it was just that good! The crust alone didn’t even need to be bit into; one touch of a fingertip told you how flaky it was. The moment you bit down, it shattered into layer after layer, and paired with the custard center as tender as silken tofu, still warm from the oven, it was twice as delicious. Each bite was full of crispy, buttery fragrance—sweet but not cloying. It truly was a taste that ordinary street stall egg tarts couldn’t begin to match.
With their hands covered in crumbs and grease, they fully believed Tao Guangzhi’s claim now. If this wasn’t a skill learned from an Aocheng bakery, how could he possibly make egg tarts this good, with such a novel flavor?
“That one, that one—I’ll take four more too.”
“I want six!”
“Hey, Old Liu, why are you buying so many? There won’t be enough left for me! Guangzhi, I want three—get mine first, I was standing right behind Aunt Ying!”
The old folks all raised their folding fans and crowded forward, each wanting to buy more.
Zhangxi Town was a peculiar little place. Its streets were lined with all sorts of tea houses, dessert shops, and small restaurants. As long as the food was good, any food-related business thrived. And aside from the coal yard, after the state-owned enterprise reforms, the town had no real pillar industries left. You could say everyone here was a foodie at heart.
Seeing them all change their tune, eagerly buying more—even if they didn’t say it outright, wasn’t that as good as admitting it was delicious? Grandpa Zhang’s face quickly swelled with pride. He shoved his way through the crowd, sticking his wrinkled long face right up to each old neighbor’s: “Is it good or not? Huh? Who was it that said my tongue was numb? Huh? Who was it that said I was full of hot air when they heard Guangzhi made it? Huh?!”
“Oh, get out of here, you! Move!”
They all blushed at his teasing—how could he say that right in front of Guangzhi!
Yu Meizhen had been standing off to the side for a while, and it took her a moment to piece together what was going on. She found it strange, too.
They were selling egg tarts today? And business was this good?
She’d biked all the way there, drenched in sweat, without even a moment to rest. Seeing Yu Luan had already run off to find Tao Tao, she washed her hands and came over to help. Crouching behind the counter, she quickly folded paper boxes, passing one up after another.
“All right, one at a time.” Tao Guangzhi glanced back at Yu Meizhen gratefully. Suddenly everyone was scrambling to buy, pushing and shoving—he was so busy he wished he had eight hands to pack everything.
But the rush ended quickly. This batch of Portuguese egg tarts, aside from the twelve Teacher Luo had reserved plus one extra she was given, left only about twenty-something. In no time, they were all bought up by the old neighbors.
As the regulars filed out with their egg tarts, the shop grew quiet. Both husband and wife leaned back against the wall and wiped the sweat from their brows in unison.
Catching their breath, Yu Meizhen and Tao Guangzhi exchanged a look.
There was a dazed, bewildered look in Tao Guangzhi’s eyes. He simply hadn’t expected that something his daughter had thrown together on a whim last night could sell so well and so fast.
Yu Meizhen, on the other hand, was surprised that Tao Guangzhi had spotted the business opportunity so quickly and managed to sell out in just half a day.
He was a slow-moving man by nature. When Yu Meizhen had met him by chance back then and dated him freely for half a year, she had already realized that though his name was Guangzhi (“Broad Ambition”), he actually had none. He was the type who was easily content and happy with what he had. He never sought great wealth, only wanted to keep a small home steady and live an ordinary, peaceful life.
Sometimes, even when opportunity was handed to him, he couldn’t be bothered to reach out.
So when Tao Guangzhi took early retirement from the food factory, he chose to open this little bakery. Meanwhile, his older brother Tao Guangfa, who was much better at saying the right thing to the right people, had climbed all the way from being an ordinary coal truck driver to the respectable position of production deputy director at the coal yard.
The neighbors also said that Tao Guangzhi just wasn’t cut out for making big money.
But Yu Meizhen didn’t care. What she wanted now was a man who could live a steady, day-to-day life. Her late ex-husband had been a hard worker, but he handed all his earnings over to his mother. He’d go out for work and not come home for ten days or half a month at a time.
In those early years, she had to ask her mother-in-law for money just to buy vegetables at the market, and to buy a little snack for Xiao Luan, she had to beg humbly. She lived without a shred of dignity.
Because of that, she’d taught herself the skills of braiding and perming hair, just to earn some pocket money. Although she didn’t have a shop now, she’d acquired a set of second-hand hairdressing tools—a pair of scissors, a set of electric heating caps, cold perm rods and papers, perm solution, shampoo, hair wax, and more. She’d also learned over a dozen trendy hairstyles: big voluminous Hong Kong-style waves, afros, chin-length flipped curls, wispy perms for women; for men, Aaron Kwok-style pompadours, crew cuts, and woolly perms—she could do them all.
She’d also built up a few regular clients. About ten to twenty days a month, she’d get a call and go to someone’s house to do their hair, earning a little spending money that way.
After marrying Tao Guangzhi, although the bakery business was slow, there was still a steady income. With her small side earnings added in, the two of them worked together and managed to support the household without much difficulty.
Yesterday, Yu Meizhen had already thought that this crispy, flaky egg tart would definitely be a hit. She’d considered suggesting that Tao Guangzhi start selling them, but seeing how he was just happily delighted that Tao Tao had a talent for baking at such a young age, with no realization of the business potential, she held her tongue and didn’t say anything.
Back in the day, she’d once advised her ex-husband to find a job closer to home—even if it paid a little less, at least he could be around for the family and the child.
No sooner had the words left her mouth than her mother-in-law, who’d been eavesdropping at the door, burst in and jabbed her finger at Yu Meizhen’s forehead, cursing her for half an hour: “What did I say—you’re nothing but a long-haired, short-sighted spendthrift! You only care about your own convenience and want the whole family to starve? My son works his backside off in the sun and rain, and you want to cut that off with one sentence? You black-hearted wretch! I’m warning you—if you ever dare to talk your man into changing jobs again, I’ll make your life hell!”
Not long after that, her ex-husband died.
Yu Meizhen never found out if her mother-in-law ever regretted it.
She didn’t care either.
When the compensation money came through, her in-laws’ whole extended family—dozens of them—plotted to drive her and Yu Luan out. She knew it perfectly well but didn’t fight it. She’d wanted a divorce even before her ex-husband died, but she was afraid that without a job, she wouldn’t be able to take Yu Luan with her even if she went to court. Now that they were willing to give up Yu Luan for money, it worked in her favor—they’d always looked down on him anyway.
She took none of the blood money. Meilan called her foolish for that—why should she let them off easy after slaving away for years and giving birth to a child, not even getting a cent? It took her a lot of effort to hold back her eldest brother and Meilan from going to fight for her. Her heart was full of holes back then; all she wanted was to cut ties and leave as soon as possible.
Better to take the loss and leave. Away from that family, no matter how hard things got, at least she could live in peace.
Now, she was living a life completely different from before. She knew things had changed, but somehow, when it came to this kind of situation, she still found it hard to speak up.
Today, Tao Guangzhi had taken the initiative to sell these new-style egg tarts on his own, and Yu Meizhen was quite happy about it—who wouldn’t want their family business to do well?
She also knew that when Tao Guangzhi opened the shop and renovated this old house, he’d borrowed six thousand yuan from his eldest brother. Although they were brothers and no IOU was even asked for, and he’d been told to take his time paying it back, a debt was still a debt. The sooner it was cleared, the sooner they could breathe easy.
Thinking about all this, Yu Meizhen casually smoothed out the small change they’d taken in, stacking the fifty-cent coins together, the one-yuan coins together, piling them into little stacks and binding them with rubber bands. As she sorted, she tallied up the total in her head.
Not bad at all—in that short while, they’d made seventy yuan!
Yu Meizhen was also good at math, but back in the day, the family was too poor to let her finish high school. Otherwise, she always felt she could have gotten into a junior college like Meilan did, and maybe she wouldn’t have had to marry so young—she could have found a job instead.
Closing the cash box, she felt a little wistful.
Maybe it was because no one had ever tried this flavor before—everyone found it novel. These Aocheng-style egg tarts really did sell well.
Tao Tao was thrilled too. Portuguese egg tarts clearly had a market. They’d already sold over twenty before the alley even got busy. Now was the time to strike while the iron was hot and bake another batch!
She peeled Yu Luan, who was clinging to her like a sloth, off her body and hurriedly pushed him inside to watch TV. At first, he wouldn’t let go of her clothes, but the moment the cartoon came on, it was like a switch flipped—he sat down in a flash. Back straight, hands on his knees, he quickly entered his usual world where nothing else existed.
Relieved, Tao Tao rushed back out and slapped Tao Guangzhi on the waist mid-sentence—he was turning around to whine to Yu Meizhen about how tired he was—and excitedly proposed: “Dad, hurry up and bake another batch! By the time it’s done, it’ll be around five o’clock. That’s when the most people are out—we can sell another whole batch!”
Life in a small town moved slowly. Back in this era, most workers kept a nine-to-five schedule. There were no electronic punch clocks, and overtime was practically unheard of. Some even took it further—they were supposed to get off at five, but plenty of people had already bought their groceries and made it home by 4:50.
Tao Guangzhi jolted from the slap and stared at Tao Tao in shock, immediately refusing: “What? Another batch? No, no! No way!”
That would be exhausting!
He’d been on his feet all day—his back ached, his legs ached, his arms ached. Including Teacher Luo’s order, they’d probably made over eighty yuan today. That was enough to cover costs. They had the day’s food and gas money.
Might even have two yuan left over to go to the square and do the cha-cha-cha!
Just the thought of dancing got him itching. He waved his hand dismissively: “Silly girl, people just bought a round. What if we bake another batch and can’t sell it all? All right now, go inside and sit in front of the fan with Xiao Luan—it’s so hot out here.”
Tao Tao was so frustrated she could stomp her feet!
“What do you mean ‘no’? Of course we should! The people who work outside haven’t even come back yet—how is that ‘everyone already bought’?” She looked up at him, arguing her case. “Lily ate three at lunch and said she still wanted more! This is only the first day—there will definitely be people who try it and want seconds. More customers will come!”
Her dad was seriously not cut out for business!
If she weren’t too young to handle making hundreds of dough portions on her own, she’d do it herself!