Although Jiang Xue was present, Jiang Tao and Jiang Yi couldn't exactly be considered a lone man and woman.
Still, in the middle of the night, with two people of the opposite sex spending time together, the atmosphere was inevitably a bit ambiguous.
Jiang Tao didn't wait for Jiang Yi to change her clothes and go wash cherries for him and Jiang Xue.
When she mentioned going back to her room to change, he directly took Jiang Xue, who was pouting with a face full of reluctance, and left downstairs.
By the time the father and daughter returned home, it was around 10 p.m., a bit later than usual.
His parents had already washed up and were waiting in the living room.
Xu Li and Jiang Bing also returned home one after the other.
They had already washed up and didn't need to do so again.
The family chatted briefly before heading to their respective rooms to sleep.
At 11:58 p.m.
As Jiang Tao activated [Sleep Mode] for the whole family, he thought to himself that he hoped Old Third (Jiang Bing) wouldn't stir up any trouble again.
Just past midnight, three new pieces of intelligence refreshed.
**[Daily Intelligence 01]:**
You had contact with Xu Li yesterday, obtaining related intelligence—
Xu Li has been unable to get pregnant for a long time and is worried that there might be something wrong with her body.
In fact, both of your bodies are perfectly healthy; it's just that the timing hasn't been right.
…
Seeing the first piece of intelligence today, Jiang Tao turned to look at Xu Li, who was sound asleep beside him.
"Silly wife, you can't rush these things."
Jiang Tao gently caressed Xu Li's smooth, silk-like shoulder exposed outside the blanket, a happy and content smile on his face.
He was quite satisfied with their current lifestyle and wasn't in a rush to have a second child.
With a thought, he continued to check the second piece of intelligence for the day.
**[Daily Intelligence 02]:**
You had contact with Jiang Bing yesterday, obtaining related intelligence—
Jiang Bing's good friend Li Susu wants to borrow 80,000 yuan from her to open a clothing store but has no intention of repaying it.
…
"What kind of good friend is this? She's trying to fleece Old Third's money!"
"Old Third's taste in friends isn't great."
"80,000 yuan is still money; we can't let an outsider take advantage of it for nothing. I'll have to give her a heads-up tomorrow."
After reading the second piece of intelligence, Jiang Tao grumbled to himself before moving on to the third.
**[Daily Intelligence 03]:**
You had contact with Jiang Yi yesterday, obtaining related intelligence—
Han Mei invited Jiang Yi to a private dinner with a school board member but was refused.
Han Mei is displeased and will make things difficult for her at work.
Helping Jiang Yi resolve this trouble can earn her favor and friendship.
…
"…"
Seeing the third piece of intelligence, Jiang Tao was momentarily speechless.
The three pieces of intelligence that refreshed today were far less impressive than those from the past few days!
Not a single one was high-value intelligence that could be immediately monetized.
"Jiang Yi being targeted by Han Mei…"
After reading the information in the intelligence, Jiang Tao pictured a middle-aged woman with short curly hair and rose-colored glasses.
When he and Xu Li had visited Aidi Kindergarten to check it out, it was Han Mei, who was in charge of admissions, who had received them.
Later, Han Mei arranged for Jiang Yi to assist Jiang Tao and Xu Li.
Jiang Tao still had some impression of Han Mei.
That woman, judging by her appearance, was the smooth-talking, scheming type.
"Inviting Jiang Yi to some school board member's private dinner… she's probably trying to pimp her out to that principal."
"For Jiang Yi to stand her ground and refuse, that's very in line with her character."
"But now she's offended Han Mei, and her days at Aidi Kindergarten probably won't be easy going forward."
"Jiang Yi's favor and friendship… the question is, how do I help her?"
For a moment, Jiang Tao was stumped.
He only learned about Aidi Kindergarten when he was looking for a school for his daughter.
The only person he knew there was Jiang Yi; he had no other connections or resources.
He wanted to help Jiang Yi, but he didn't know where to start.
"Forget it, sitting here racking my brain won't come up with any ideas. I'll take it one step at a time."
"If she really can't stay at Aidi Kindergarten, worst case, I'll help her find another job."
"With Jiang Yi's qualifications, finding a job with better pay than Aidi Kindergarten shouldn't be too hard."
"It's getting late. Sleep, sleep."
After reviewing the three pieces of intelligence for the day, Jiang Tao finally closed the system interface.
He turned over, wrapped his arms around Xu Li's waist, and went to sleep.
The next morning.
After the family had breakfast, they each headed to their respective posts to start the new day's work.
His parents continued to the food factory to pickle Babao (Eight Treasures) sauce, then returned to the vegetable market to give out free samples.
Although they hadn't earned a single cent these past few days, the reputation of Jiang's Babao Sauce had thoroughly spread in the Baigezhuang New Village neighborhood.
The unique flavor of Jiang's Babao Sauce won unanimous praise.
From morning opening to afternoon closing, hundreds of customers came to the store daily to pick up free sample packs.
Following Du Ennan's advice, Jiang Tao created several WeChat groups for Jiang's Babao Sauce.
In just a few days, two groups of 500 people each were filled, gathering over a thousand potential customers from nearby neighborhoods.
Today was the first day of official sales, with the price still set at 99 yuan per jin, as Jiang Tao had decided.
There would be no compromise on the price.
If the price was lowered, raising it again later would be difficult.
However, during the grand opening promotion, all group members could enjoy a buy-one-jin-get-one-jin-free deal to ease the transition.
Once the promotional period ended, the price would return to normal.
This gave customers time to gradually accept the price of Jiang's Babao Sauce.
Some customers, upon hearing Jiang Tao's announcement in the group, chose to leave.
These weren't the target customer base for Jiang's Babao Sauce, and Jiang Tao didn't try to retain them.
The price of Babao Sauce meant it wouldn't have a massive customer base, a fact Jiang Tao had long understood.
Moreover, he didn't need to capture every customer—just a small portion would suffice.
Offline store sales were one aspect, but in the future, Jiang Tao planned to expand into online sales channels, walking on two legs.
The food factory could produce about 500 jin of product every two days, so the production volume wasn't high, and the sales target wasn't large.
To maximize profits, Jiang's Babao Sauce had to—and must—take the "premium route."
Moreover, with the optimized recipe provided by the system and the double boost from the [Delicious Pickle Jar], Jiang Tao wouldn't be happy selling it cheaply.
Jiang Bing, as usual, went to sell blueberries at the greenhouse in Cui Village.
In the morning, Jiang Tao made another trip to Black Bull BBQ.
He tried to see if the system could directly analyze and optimize Black Bull BBQ's secret barbecue sauce to exploit a loophole, but there was no response.
As expected, just like learning the Babao Sauce recipe from Jiang Yi, he would need to first obtain the recipe for Black Bull BBQ's sauce before the system could analyze and optimize it.
It seemed the cost of purchasing the recipe couldn't be avoided.
At 11 a.m., Jiang Tao took the internal employee elevator at Wanxiang Hui to the top floor, the 7th floor.
Led by a staff member, he arrived outside Du Ennan's office and knocked on the door.
"Come in."
Hearing Du Ennan's voice from inside, Jiang Tao gently pushed the door open.
"Hey, Jiang Tao, it's you? Didn't Lili come with you?"
Seeing Jiang Tao enter, Du Ennan stood up with a smile to greet him and asked about Xu Li's whereabouts.
"Haha, am I not welcome if I come alone?"
Jiang Tao didn't treat himself as an outsider. He chuckled, walked in, and plopped down on the guest sofa by the wall.
"You, you never visit the temple without a reason! Spill it, what's up?"
Du Ennan laughed as well, stepping out from behind her desk and sitting on the sofa across from Jiang Tao.
"As expected, nothing gets past you, Ennan!"
"Here's the thing, Ennan. Yesterday, Lili, Old Third, and I went to Black Bull BBQ downstairs, and I found their secret barbecue sauce really tasty."
"Don't you know their boss, Miss Tian? I wanted to ask if Miss Tian would sell their barbecue sauce."
Jiang Tao didn't beat around the bush with Du Ennan and directly stated his purpose.
"Why do you want to buy Black Bull BBQ's sauce? Are you planning to open a barbecue restaurant too?"
Du Ennan looked at Jiang Tao with surprise and curiosity upon hearing his words.
"I'm considering it."
Jiang Tao smiled openly, not hiding his true intentions.
He did want to open a barbecue restaurant for his parents.
It would fulfill their dream of running a shop and could also be developed into a business of his own.
If he could get his hands on Black Bull BBQ's sauce recipe and have the system analyze and optimize it, the sauce's quality would surely reach a new level.
At that point, his barbecue restaurant would be hard-pressed not to succeed, and it would undoubtedly attract as many customers as Black Bull BBQ.
Becoming a viral restaurant would only be a matter of time.
"Since you have this idea, I'll help you connect with Miss Tian and introduce you two."
"As for their proprietary recipe, you know it's proprietary—the core technology of their barbecue restaurant."
"Whether they'll sell it or not is beyond my control."
Du Ennan smiled at Jiang Tao. She admired his ambition and drive.
For her, connecting Jiang Tao with Black Bull BBQ's Miss Tian wasn't a big deal.
She was happy to do him this favor.
Jiang Tao nodded, "Then I'll trouble you to contact Miss Tian for me, Ennan."
"Sure, I'll call her now."
Du Ennan was prompt and enthusiastic about handling this request from her in-law.
She immediately stood up, returned to her desk, picked up her phone, and dialed Tian Wei's number.
*Beep beep beep—*
The call connected quickly, and a woman's crisp, pleasant voice came from the other end.
"Hey, Ennan, the sun must be rising from the west today. This is the first time you've called me first in all the years we've known each other, isn't it?"
"The first time? You must be remembering wrong. I'm pretty sure I've called you several times before. Weiwei, are you at the restaurant today?"
Du Ennan laughed and got straight to the point.
"That's perfect. I have a good friend here who's very interested in your restaurant's barbecue sauce and wants to talk to you in person. Are you free now?"
…
"Giggle, thank you for giving me so much face. Let's go for a spa day sometime."
"Sounds good. I'm in my office. Come up, I'll be waiting."
Du Ennan exchanged a few brief words with Tian Wei over the phone before hanging up, then snapped her fingers at Jiang Tao with a smile.
"Done."
Jiang Tao laughed, "Thanks, Ennan. I'll treat you to dinner another day."
Du Ennan smiled, "Forget another day—how about today? At your place."
Jiang Tao laughed heartily, "Haha, deal, no problem! You're helping me out big time, so I should treat you properly."
"You guys won't get sick of me if I keep coming over, right?"
"I don't know if Lili and the others will get tired of you, but I definitely will."
"Huh?"
"Haha, slip of the tongue, slip of the tongue. I definitely won't."
"I think you accidentally let your true feelings slip."
"Heaven and earth as my witness, it was absolutely a slip of the tongue!"
Du Ennan and Jiang Tao's friendship level had reached 90 points, earning the "Close Friend" title.
Plus, they were in-laws.
Jiang Xue recognized Du Ennan as her godmother, and when Du Ennan's child was born, they would call Jiang Tao and Xu Li godparents.
The two families were as close as could be, joking around freely.
"By the way, Ennan, are you still having trouble sleeping? I've seen you posting on Moments in the middle of the night a lot."
As they chatted, the conversation turned to Du Ennan's long-standing insomnia issue.
"It's an old problem of mine. I'm used to it. When I'm too exhausted to stay awake, I just pass out."
Du Ennan gave a helpless smile. She knew the reason for her insomnia.
After her husband died in the line of duty, she was depressed and anxious for a long time.
Negative emotions plagued her for over two months, and at one point, her depression was so severe that she nearly took her own life.
While hospitalized for depression, Du Ennan discovered she was pregnant.
It was the little life in her womb that helped her emerge from the dark cloud hanging over her life, pulling her out of depression and giving her a new lease on life.
Though she regained hope and no longer sank into despair, her insomnia didn't improve much.
Jiang Tao noticed her heavy eye bags and lack of energy, so he asked out of concern.
As in-laws, showing appropriate care was only natural.
Jiang Tao continued, "Doesn't the hospital have any good solutions?"
"The doctor said I'd need medication for my condition, but for the sake of the baby's health, I can hold out."
Du Ennan smiled softly, caressing her round belly, her face glowing with maternal love.
**[Ding! Congratulations, you have triggered the special mission [A Parent's Heart Under Heaven]!]**
**[Mission Name]: A Parent's Heart Under Heaven**
**[Mission Details]: Help Du Ennan overcome her sleep disorder and improve her sleep quality.**
**[Mission Rewards]: 660,000 yuan in cash, +5 Constitution, +3 Charisma!**
Just as Jiang Tao opened his mouth to say something, the system interface suddenly popped up without warning.
A special mission panel appeared.
"A Parent's Heart Under Heaven?"
"A special mission!"
Seeing the sudden appearance of the special mission panel, Jiang Tao's eyes lit up, and his heart leaped with joy!
Originally, he had just asked casually, out of concern for Du Ennan's sleep quality and health.
Now, he had unexpectedly triggered a special mission with generous rewards upon completion.
This meant he absolutely had to help with this!
And for him, this task was incredibly simple.
All he needed to do was spend 66 yuan to activate [Sleep Mode] for Du Ennan.
If once wasn't enough, he'd do it twice, three times, four times.
This mission was practically a "freebie" for Jiang Tao, with only "easy" difficulty!
Jiang Tao thought for a moment, then looked at Du Ennan and said, "Ennan, have you ever tried hypnosis?"
"I've tried it. It didn't work for me."
Du Ennan shook her head with a wry smile.
With her financial resources, she had naturally tried many methods to treat her insomnia, but none had been effective.
Jiang Tao smiled, "Heh, that's because others weren't skilled enough. Want to try my technique?"
"You? You know hypnosis? Jiang Tao, are you messing with me?"
Du Ennan looked at Jiang Tao in shock, her face full of disbelief.
They had known each other for about a month or two, not long enough to know everything about each other, but they had a decent understanding of each other's character and basic background.
Otherwise, they wouldn't have become close friends.
The fact that Jiang Tao knew hypnosis was completely unexpected.
"Heh, it's a little skill I learned from my master. Even Lili doesn't know about it."
"But, to be honest, I'm still at the theoretical stage and haven't practiced it yet, so the results are uncertain."
As he spoke, Jiang Tao waved his hands in front of Du Ennan.
"So, you're saying you want me to be your guinea pig!"
Du Ennan burst out laughing at Jiang Tao's words, giving him a playful eye-roll.
"It's not like you have anything to lose by trying. Who knows, maybe I can actually help you completely solve your insomnia! Then you'll owe me big time."
The confident smile on Jiang Tao's face seemed to Du Ennan like inexplicable self-assurance.
She had heard some things about Jiang Tao's late master, Old Sun, from Xu Li.
In a sense, Old Sun was a great benefactor to the Jiang family.
Thanks to Old Sun's kindness, the Jiang family gained the capital to settle and establish themselves in the capital.
Old Sun's five properties and over two million in savings saved Jiang Tao and his parents seventy or eighty years of struggle, allowing them to achieve a class leap in a short time.
Du Ennan smiled, "If you can really cure my insomnia without injections or medication, I'll give you anything you want. I'm dying to get a good night's sleep."
Jiang Tao laughed, "Alright, no time like the present. How about tonight? Lili and I will come to your place and take care of it."
"You're serious?"
Seeing Jiang Tao's earnest expression, not like he was joking, Du Ennan was a bit surprised.
She had just been joking and being polite with him.
Even top-tier hospitals couldn't do much about her condition, let alone Jiang Tao, a "barefoot doctor" who was only half-trained.
Du Ennan had always thought Jiang Tao was kidding and didn't take him seriously.
But seeing his demeanor, it seemed he genuinely planned to help her with her insomnia!
"Of course I'm serious. You don't think I'm just messing with you, do you?"
Jiang Tao was amused by Du Ennan's reaction and said, "Come on, Ennan, do I seem *that* unreliable to you? I wouldn't joke about something like this."
"Uh… it's not that. It's just… it's surprising. You're quite the multi-talented guy, haha."
Du Ennan covered her mouth and laughed, saying, "Alright, I'll be your guinea pig this once and let you practice."
Jiang Tao added, "You can rest assured about safety. It's absolutely harmless to both you and the baby in your belly. That much I can guarantee."
"Okay, I trust you."
Du Ennan smiled and nodded.
If she didn't fully trust Jiang Tao, she wouldn't have agreed to be his guinea pig.
*Knock knock knock—*
As they were talking, there was a soft knock on the door from outside.
Du Ennan looked toward the door and said softly, "Come in."
*Creak!*
The office door was pushed open from the outside.
A tall woman with refined, striking features, appearing to be in her thirties, walked in with elegant steps.
She wore a stylish brown plaid lapel shirt-jacket.
Underneath was a light gray base layer.
Her lower half was clad in washed blue wide-leg jeans, and she wore a pair of Bulgari diamond-grid high heels.
Her face was adorned with exquisite makeup, and her medium-short hair reached about chin length.
The hair had a natural, soft curl, with the ends slightly tucked inward, giving a very refined look.
This hairstyle was both fashionable and elegant, perfectly framing her face while adding a touch of gentle charm.
Her dark brown hair color complemented her overall makeup and outfit harmoniously.
*Click clack clack—*
The heels clicked crisply on the floor, producing a pleasant sound.
"Ennan, is this your very good friend?"
Tian Wei smiled as she greeted Du Ennan, her gaze shifting to Jiang Tao, who had just stood up from the sofa to welcome her.
Seeing Jiang Tao rise to greet her, Tian Wei was fairly satisfied with his manners, and his handsome face easily won favor with women.
"Hello, Miss Tian. Nice to meet you. I'm Jiang Tao. Please offer your guidance."
Jiang Tao greeted Tian Wei with a smile, neither overly humble nor arrogant.
Though he really wanted her recipe, he wasn't about to grovel.
"Hello, Jiang Tao. I'm Tian Wei."
Tian Wei walked up to Jiang Tao and extended her hand for a handshake.
Her straightforward personality matched her appearance and style perfectly.
She exuded a refreshing vibe from head to toe.
"Hello, Miss Tian."
Jiang Tao shook her hand briefly, letting go quickly, displaying great poise.
The office's host, Du Ennan, smiled and addressed them, "We're all friends here. Let's sit down and talk."
"Miss Tian, please."
"Mr. Jiang, please."
Jiang Tao and Tian Wei exchanged smiles and sat down almost simultaneously on the sofas by the coffee table.
"Jiang Tao, I've brought her to you. The rest is up to you."
Du Ennan smiled at Jiang Tao. Though her words sounded like she was passing the buck, she was actually helping him.
She steered the conversation straight to the point, skipping the idle chit-chat.
"Miss Tian, would your company sell the recipe for your barbecue sauce?"
Jiang Tao didn't waste words with Tian Wei and got straight to the point.
Hearing that Jiang Tao was after the barbecue sauce, Tian Wei's narrow, phoenix-like eyes blinked slightly.