After hanging up the phone, Jiang Tao continued walking toward the village entrance.
He found the Mercedes GLS parked at the village entrance, opened the door, and got in.
*Ding-a-ling-ling—*
Just as Jiang Tao started the car and was about to drive off, the car's phone suddenly rang.
Seeing the caller ID displaying "Jiang Yi," Jiang Tao was somewhat surprised.
"Hello, Teacher Jiang."
"Oh, it's fine, no need to deduct wages. Everyone has inconvenient moments."
"No need to apologize for such a small matter. It's no big deal."
"Alright, you're busy. Bye-bye."
After ending the call with Jiang Yi, Jiang Tao frowned slightly, feeling that something was off about today.
The staff at Eddie Kindergarten didn't work overtime.
But Jiang Yi had just called to say she had to work late.
Combined with the information he came across last night related to Jiang Yi, it seemed she was indeed in some trouble now…
However, Jiang Tao didn't have any connections at Eddie Kindergarten.
He was powerless to help with Jiang Yi's current situation.
Even a place like a school, which should be filled with hope and sunshine, had dark corners untouched by the sun.
Sighing inwardly, Jiang Tao started the car and drove toward the Baigezhuang New Village neighborhood.
In less than ten minutes, he arrived at the Jingkelong supermarket at the neighborhood entrance.
Jiang Tao found an empty parking spot by the roadside and parked the car.
After getting out, he walked toward the supermarket entrance.
It was the afternoon, the busiest time at Jingkelong supermarket.
On top of that, the anniversary celebration was still ongoing.
The supermarket was packed shoulder-to-shoulder, bustling with people, creating a lively scene.
Finding someone in such an environment was quite a test of eyesight.
Fortunately, Xu Li stood out like a crane among chickens no matter where she was.
Jiang Tao spotted her within five minutes of entering the supermarket.
She was wearing a layered striped sweater paired with a light-colored skirt.
The simple outfit kept her warm while perfectly accentuating her gentle temperament.
As if by telepathy, Xu Li turned her head and saw Jiang Tao too.
A heart-melting smile instantly bloomed on her pretty face.
Several guys pushing shopping carts alongside their girlfriends or wives were momentarily captivated by Xu Li's smile.
Xu Li was already very beautiful, and with her 1.72-meter height and model-like figure, she was eye-catching wherever she went.
Her smile was so lethal it practically stunned every male within a 10-meter radius for three seconds.
This drew quite a few eye-rolls from the women around, aimed at their partners.
"Honey~ We're over here."
Xu Li's sweet call of "honey" seemed to shatter countless hearts in the supermarket.
Everyone's gazes followed Xu Li's line of sight to Jiang Tao.
At 1.82 meters tall, with handsome, chiseled features and the changes brought by his recent workouts, Jiang Tao exuded vitality and energy.
Compared to the pot-bellied or balding older men around, the contrast was stark!
Impressive!
Seeing Jiang Tao, the crowd's jealousy turned into envy and admiration!
"Jiang Tao, I heard from Lili that you made your own barbecue sauce? Was it the recipe Weiwei gave you? You learned it that fast?" Du Ennan greeted Jiang Tao with a smile, her tone tinged with disbelief.
She had been there when Jiang Tao bought the secret barbecue sauce recipe from Tian Wei.
It hadn't even been three hours since he got the recipe.
Mastering it and making the sauce that quickly?
Jiang Tao smiled calmly and said, "Sort of. I made some adjustments to Tian Wei's recipe, and the flavor turned out quite different."
"We'll all try it tonight and give some feedback."
"You adjusted the recipe?" Du Ennan was stunned by Jiang Tao's words.
You spent over 200,000 yuan on a recipe, and instead of following it, you tweaked it? What's the point?
Jiang Tao smiled and said, "Yeah, just some minor tweaks, but the result seems pretty good."
"Really? Now I'm kind of looking forward to trying your barbecue sauce!" Du Ennan's interest was piqued by Jiang Tao's words.
"Honey, you're amazing!" Xu Li giggled, giving Jiang Tao a thumbs-up.
Although she hadn't tasted the barbecue sauce yet, seeing the confidence on Jiang Tao's face, she was sure he was proud of it.
She had an inexplicable trust in Jiang Tao, believing he could accomplish anything he set his mind to.
The three chatted briefly before continuing their pleasant shopping trip.
"By the way, honey, the pre-cut beef rolls I bought from a fitness streamer's live broadcast arrived this afternoon. We only need to buy a little more."
"Are things bought online reliable? Don't those streamers just scam their fans?"
"Don't worry! This streamer has a good reputation, unlike those Yang brothers."
"Nannan, is there anything you'd like to eat? Treat our place like your own home—don't hold back."
"When have I ever held back with you guys? Oh, look, there's an Australian lobster over there. Let's get one!"
"Sis, you really don't hold back, do you!"
Jiang Tao's gaze landed on the leisurely swimming Australian red lobster in the tank. That thing weighed at least three or four pounds and would cost over a thousand yuan.
Du Ennan laughed, "Haha, feeling the pinch already? How about I pay for it?"
"Deal! You said it yourself, no one's forcing you." Jiang Tao agreed without hesitation.
"Jiang Tao, you—hahaha…" Du Ennan burst out laughing at Jiang Tao's stingy reaction.
Xu Li quickly covered her face, pretending not to know him.
Of course, in the end, Xu Li paid the bill, using the 4,999-yuan shopping card Jiang Tao had won earlier, which still had some balance left.
By the time the three returned home, it was past 6 p.m. Mom, Dad, and Old Third (Jiang Bing) were already back from work.
Jiang Xue hadn't gone to tutor with Jiang Yi today and was also at home.
After some brief greetings, Xu Li and Mom went to the kitchen to wash vegetables and prepare dinner.
Du Ennan was dragged by Jiang Xue to her room to see her collection of plush toys.
Jiang Bing, clamoring for dessert, volunteered to take Jiang Tao's car keys and go buy a cake.
In the living room, only Jiang Tao and his smiling father, Jiang Wen, remained.
"Dad, looks like you've got some good news to share?" Jiang Tao asked with a smile, noticing his father's expression, which seemed to be waiting for him to ask.
"Son, guess how much today's revenue was at our stall?" Jiang Wen raised an eyebrow, his face showing a hint of excitement.
"Ten thousand?" Jiang Tao threw out a random guess.
If they could maintain 10,000 yuan a day, that would amount to 300,000 yuan a month.
For a newly opened business, that would be a decent achievement.
Jiang Wen smiled and said, "Too low."
"Too low? Twenty thousand?" Jiang Tao boldly doubled his guess.
"Still too low."
"Thirty thousand?" Jiang Tao's expression was already showing surprise.
Today was the first official day of sales for Jiang's Eight Treasures Pickles, and the revenue had exceeded 20,000 yuan.
The pre-launch promotion for Jiang's Eight Treasures Pickles wasn't nonexistent, but it was limited.
They had only given out some free samples, costing very little.
Achieving this result was honestly beyond Jiang Tao's expectations.
"Not quite 30,000—27,800 in total," Jiang Wen said, unable to hold back any longer and revealing the answer himself.
"27,800? Not bad, not bad. If we can maintain this, we could hit seven or eight hundred thousand a month." Jiang Tao was very satisfied with the first day's performance of Jiang's Eight Treasures Pickles.
Although a large part of the success was due to the strong promotional efforts for the opening, it was still a promising start.
For a company that hadn't even been established for a month to achieve sales of hundreds of thousands or even a million was quite remarkable.
"Almost 30,000 in one day—this business is booming! I wouldn't have dared to dream of this before!" Jiang Wen recalled the bustling scene of customers flooding the store today and couldn't help but marvel.
Last year, working odd jobs with a contractor, after covering food, drink, and living expenses, he had only saved about 30,000 yuan for the entire year!
Now, the store's daily revenue was almost catching up to what he earned in a whole year of hard work!
The gap was just too big!
"This is just the beginning. The revenue will only keep growing," Jiang Tao said with a calm and confident smile.
"By the way, Dad, I found two helpers for you and Mom. They'll probably arrive in the next couple of days, so you two can take it easier."
"Oh? You've hired people?" Jiang Wen looked at his son curiously. Honestly, he had been thinking the factory needed more workers.
He and Jiang's mom were running between the food factory and the vegetable market, feeling stretched thin.
Jiang Tao nodded, "Yeah, I asked Jiang Jiaqi's parents to come."
"Jianjun and Wenyan, huh? They're both good workers, honest and reliable." Jiang Wen nodded, approving of their character and having no objections to hiring them.
After discussing the hiring, the father and son talked about the future prospects of Jiang's Eight Treasures Pickles.
In the future, the Jiang Food Factory would need to hire more people.
Dad's idea was to prioritize hiring people from the Jiang clan if possible.
Helping the clan's brothers get rich would boost the prestige of Jiang Tao's family in the village.
Plus, clan members were known quantities, making them trustworthy to employ.
The salary at Jiang's Food Factory wasn't particularly high by Beijing standards.
But for the villagers back in Jiangzhuang, it was an extremely rare and good job opportunity.
Jiang Tao didn't mind. For him, Jiang's Food Factory was just a "side project" of sorts.
Since Dad had spoken up, he'd give him the freedom to run it however he wanted!
With the Eight Treasures Pickles recipe optimized by the system, along with the [Delicious Pickle Jar] and the delicious barbecue sauce as three killer trump cards, as long as they didn't deliberately sabotage themselves, Jiang's Food Factory was bound to have a bright future!
While the father and son chatted, Tian Xiaomei and Xu Li finished preparing the ingredients and began bringing dishes to the table.
Seeing this, Jiang Wen got up to help.
*Ding-a-ling-ling—*
Just as Jiang Tao was about to stand, his phone rang in his pocket.
Taking it out, he saw the caller ID showed "Old Third."
"Old Third, did you drive back to our hometown to buy a cake? It's been so long, and you're still not back," Jiang Tao teased as he answered the call.
It had been almost an hour since Jiang Bing left to buy the cake.
"Second Brother, I… I… I got into a car accident. Come quick!" Jiang Bing's voice came through, tense and trembling with a hint of a sob.
"Where are you? Are you okay?" Jiang Tao instantly became nervous upon hearing her words, grabbing the phone and striding toward the door.
Though Jiang Bing was usually a bit of a mess, she had her limits and wouldn't joke about something like this.
"I'm right at the neighborhood entrance. I'm fine, but the car…"
"As long as you're okay, it doesn't matter if the car's totaled. We have full insurance. I'm coming right now." Hearing Jiang Bing's words, Jiang Tao's heart settled back down.
In his mind, his sister's safety was far more important than any car.
Not to mention a million-yuan Mercedes GLS—even a tens-of-millions Rolls-Royce wouldn't compare to his sister.
"What's wrong, honey?" Xu Li, coming out of the kitchen with a plate of beef rolls, saw Jiang Tao's serious expression and asked with concern.
"Old Third had a minor car accident at the neighborhood entrance. I'm going to check it out."
"Is she okay? I'm coming with you!" Xu Li quickly set down the plate and started untying her apron upon hearing it was about Jiang Bing.
"What's going on, Old Second, Lili? I heard you mention Old Third…" Mom, overhearing Jiang Tao and Xu Li's conversation, asked with a worried look.
"It's fine, Mom. Just a small accident. Lili and I will go handle it and be back soon," Jiang Tao reassured her.
"That Old Third, always causing trouble!"
"Her driving skills are terrible, and she's always trying to show off! Wait till she gets back—I'll give her a piece of my mind!" Tian Xiaomei grumbled, but her heart was clearly worried about her youngest daughter.
That was probably the deep love and strictness of a mother.
"It's okay, Mom. Everyone who drives has an accident sooner or later. As long as she's fine, it's all good. We have insurance."
"You and Dad wait at home. We'll be back soon." Jiang Tao had already changed his shoes and put on his coat while speaking.
"It's fine, Mom. We'll be back soon." Xu Li waved to her in-laws and followed Jiang Tao out the door.
The two took the elevator downstairs and drove the Beiqi EU5 parked below straight to the neighborhood entrance.
From a distance, Jiang Tao saw a large crowd gathered at the entrance, watching the commotion.
"Man, two Mercedes crashing into each other. Fixing those cars will cost at least a hundred thousand."
"That white car looks brand new, hasn't even got plates yet, and it's already had its first crash."
"Talk about bad luck. A new car turning into an accident car—I'd be pissed too."
"The black one looks pretty new too."
"It's obviously the black car's fault. That girl drives pretty aggressively."
Jiang Tao parked the car on the side of the road, and he and Xu Li got out, quickly heading toward the crowd.
Hearing the onlookers' discussions, Jiang Tao remained unfazed about the car damage as long as Jiang Bing was okay.
"Excuse me, please make way."
"Thank you, everyone, please let us through."
Jiang Tao led Xu Li through the crowd to the front, where they saw a black Mercedes GLS and a white Mercedes E300, both with hazard lights on, stopped at the neighborhood entrance.
From the scene, it looked like the GLS had rear-ended the E300 coming from the opposite side of the road while turning into the neighborhood.
Turning vehicles yield to straight-driving ones—the GLS was fully at fault.
"You blind f***er! I just bought this car, and you f***ing crashed it!"
"Saying sorry doesn't f***ing help!"
"My new car doesn't even have plates yet, and you smashed it to sh*t!"
"You f***ing…"
At the scene, a burly man, about 1.9 meters tall, was yelling profanities at Jiang Bing, his words dripping with curses.
It was evening, with temperatures around four or five degrees, but the man was wearing only a black short-sleeved shirt.
His massive biceps were intimidating to look at.
Beside him were two men in sportswear, likely his friends.
The onlookers felt some sympathy for the petite Jiang Bing facing the burly man, but no one dared to speak up for her at this moment.
Everyone had a "mind your own business" mentality, watching the drama unfold.
[*Ding! Congratulations, you've triggered the special mission [Brother Protector]!*]
[*Brother Protector*: Protecting your sister from harm is a brother's unshirkable duty!]
[*Mission Rewards*: 10 Physique Points (pre-claimable), 10 Charm Points, 1 million yuan in cash, System-Level Free Combat! (pre-claimable)!]
The moment Jiang Tao's gaze landed on Jiang Bing, a blue system interface popped up, displaying a new mission prompt!
Without time to read the details, Jiang Tao strode forward, positioning himself between the burly man and Jiang Bing.
When Jiang Bing looked up and saw that familiar figure, her eyes instantly reddened.
"Second Brother!"
Her call of "Second Brother" brought tears streaming down her face.
From childhood to now, every time she was bullied, it was always her second brother who stood up for her.
As long as Second Brother was there, no one could bully her.
"Don't be scared, Little Bing. Your brother will handle this," Xu Li said softly, stepping forward to hold Jiang Bing's hand and comfort her.
"You're her brother, huh? How the f*** does your sister drive? Does she even have a license? Look at what she did to my new car!"
The burly young man, still fuming, continued cursing even after seeing Jiang Tao.
His two companions, however, looked at Xu Li, who was comforting Jiang Bing, with playful gazes, a hint of awe flashing in their eyes.
A top-tier beauty like Xu Li, with her stunning figure, looks, and temperament, stood out even in a city like Beijing, where beautiful women were common.
"Watch your mouth, buddy. An accident happened, so we'll deal with it properly. No need to curse," Jiang Tao said, frowning slightly, concerned about the man's lack of manners.
"You talk like it's so f***ing easy. This is my brand-new car I just picked up today!"
"Deal with it? How? You gonna buy me a new one?"
Wang Tianheng, whose car had been rear-ended just hours after picking it up, couldn't calm down and talk rationally with Jiang Tao.
His words were filled with profanity.
While cursing, Wang Tianheng reached out and shoved Jiang Tao's chest, pushing hard at his left side.
"They're fighting! It's about to go down!"
"Crashing his car was wrong, but it's not like she did it on purpose. This big guy's being a bit too unforgiving."
"The big guy's clearly a gym rat. If it comes to blows, that brother and sister duo won't stand a chance, especially with his two buddies backing him up."
"I don't think it'll come to a fight. It's 3 vs. 3, but the strength gap is too big. They're just out of luck running into this guy."
The onlookers, seeing Wang Tianheng start pushing Jiang Tao, widened their eyes, secretly anticipating something.
"Cat got your tongue? I'm asking you how we're gonna settle this!"
Seeing Jiang Tao stay silent, Wang Tianheng pushed his right shoulder again, escalating from verbal to physical conflict.
Jiang Tao glanced down at the spot on his shoulder where Wang Tianheng had pushed, then looked up at him, his gaze growing colder.
[*Would you like to pre-claim 10 Physique Points?*]
"Yes!"
[*Pre-claim successful! Your current Physique is 73 points (Strong!)*]
[*Would you like to pre-claim System-Level Free Combat?*]
"Yes!"
[*Pre-claim successful! Congratulations, you've acquired System-Level Free Combat skills!*]
The moment he saw the prompt, Jiang Tao felt a *boom* in his mind as a torrent of thousands of combat techniques flooded in.
The information was instantly absorbed, imprinted into his brain.
In that moment, he went from a complete novice to a seasoned combat expert.
The sensation was indescribable, a strange and wondrous feeling.
At this critical moment, having pre-claimed 10 Physique Points and System-Level Free Combat, Jiang Tao felt an instant surge of confidence.
"Cat got your tongue? Speak…"
Wang Tianheng, thinking Jiang Tao was intimidated by his silence, grew even more aggressive, raising his hand toward Jiang Tao's head!
In the next moment, Jiang Tao instinctively grabbed and twisted Wang Tianheng's arm.
Then, with a swift turn, he leaned into Wang Tianheng, aligning his waist, shoulders, and arms in one fluid motion.
*Whoosh!*
*Thud!!!*
The towering Wang Tianheng was thrown over Jiang Tao's shoulder, crashing onto the road in front of him!
"Holy sh*t!!!"
"What just happened?!"
"That shoulder throw was smooth as hell—so damn cool!"
The surrounding crowd was stunned by the scene.
As they recovered from their shock, their gazes toward Jiang Tao changed.
His movements were smoother than those of martial arts stars in action movies.
Though slightly violent, they carried an aesthetically pleasing quality.
"You f***ing dared to touch my bro!"
"You're dead, kid!"
Wang Tianheng's two friends shouted in anger, charging at Jiang Tao from both sides.
With his pre-claimed 10 Physique Points and System-Level Free Combat, Jiang Tao remained unfazed, even a bit disdainful, at their approach.
In his eyes, these two weaklings with only 34 Physique Points were throwing sloppy, flawed punches.
Jiang Tao first kicked one in the stomach.
Then, with a high side kick, he struck the other's nose.
*Spurt~~*
Blood sprayed from the man's nose, painting a vivid red arc in the air.
That's it?
At that moment, Jiang Tao actually felt a bit unsatisfied, like he hadn't had enough.
These guys had impressive muscles, but they couldn't take a hit!
Wang Tianheng and his two buddies were dumbfounded.
Three of them ganging up on one guy, and they got beat?
If this got out, their "tough gym bro" personas would be completely ruined!