Going home for Chinese New Year
The sales concept was inspired by a match-3 game where everyone could buy a candy gift box from a food truck. Inside each box were different tiny parts, each only the size of a fingernail.
Each part on the blackboard corresponds to a prize, which is a different flavor of candy.
When two parts are identical, you can spin the Ferris wheel for a chance to win a prize, and these prizes are not all candy.
Everyone gets a participation prize, which is still candy, but you can specify the flavor and style.
The third prize is $100, and each candy truck will have a third prize awarded every day. The second prize is awarded randomly every day, with only five second prizes scattered across the candy trucks throughout the city each day, and the prize is $1,000. The first prize is awarded randomly every day in each city, while the grand prize is awarded only once a month across the entire country, with a prize of up to $10,000 and a lifetime of free $5 worth of candy every day.
This event lasted three months and involved twelve countries, including China.
Furthermore, the prizes for the blackboard and the Ferris wheel are combined.
Candy is a necessity during holidays, and with the added chance of winning prizes, everyone naturally went crazy.
Others who want to follow suit will either miss the opportunity or be unable to bear such a large financial burden.
After the event started, people discovered that the candies here were exceptionally good in both style and flavor, and they gave them the highest praise for the unexpected surprise.
When this activity became a trend sweeping across countries, it was no longer just about buying candy, but turned into a new form of social interaction. Young people would greet each other by asking if you had gone to buy candy or what prize you had won.
When bored and having nothing to do, queuing in long lines to buy candy has become a new trend.
At this point, people's budget for candy naturally increased. It was no longer an everyday item, nor a snack to sweeten one's mouth, but a tool to communicate with friends.
People might only budget five dollars for buying candy, but they could increase their budget to ten dollars for a raffle, or fifty dollars or more for going out with friends.
While marketing campaigns were in full swing around the world, with long queues forming in all directions, Wang Shuitao successfully paid off all her debts.
They also opened an advertising company, registered all the previously signed contracts under the company's name, and then used the current superstition surrounding foreign companies to open up the domestic market.
The first advertisement I worked on was for the Pearl Sugar Factory.
The first person to try the crab didn't have to put in much effort to get the most succulent crab roe and crab paste. Wang Shuitao simply took a few pictures of the production line, then left a message saying that the product was exported overseas, and it became an instant bestseller.
At that time, Pearl Sugar Factory's candies were positioned as high-end products, and then the gimmick of high-end raw materials was used to open up the market for daily necessities such as white sugar and brown sugar.
These basic sugar products are what enter every household. They are sold at low profit margins but in large quantities, which not only earns more money than gift box products, but also has a far greater influence.
The money rolled into the factory's accounts like a snowball.
Wang Shuitao underestimated the vast untapped potential of today's market, thinking that the factory would break even in five years. In just six months, the factory's dividends to everyone had already recouped the investment.
Anyone still working at the pearl sugar factory knows that next year's bonuses will definitely be even higher.
In other words, those who still hold shares will have at least doubled their initial investment by the end of next year.
How can those who sold their shares possibly accept this?
But this time Wang Shuitao didn't tolerate anyone. She had already done everything she could. Anyone who gathered to cause trouble again was dismissed, and no amount of pleading would help.
In addition to the newly opened advertising company, the production of the pearl sugar factory also began to fall behind. Wu Province is neither a major sugarcane-growing province nor a major sugar beet-growing province. After consideration, Wang Shuitao opened new factories in Guangfu and Heilongjiang provinces, which she was more familiar with, not long after she finished paying off her loan.
However, the specific details will have to wait until after the New Year. The festive atmosphere is strong now, so even if Wang Shuitao is in a hurry, she has to wait and see.
She needs to go back home for the Chinese New Year first.
Meng Songying is still without a name or status, and he is all alone. Wang Shuitao can't bear to leave him alone at home eating cold food.
So she took him back to her hometown.
Now she no longer has to worry about this or that, or what will happen to her for messing around with men and women, since dating has become the new trend.
Even parents who used to control their children's marriages could no longer interfere with free love.
She came back by car, driven by Mr. Zhang. Although he was about to retire, his driving skills were still very advanced, and he drove very steadily on this muddy road.
Meng Songying and Wang Shuitao were both in the back seat, looking out the window. Meng Songying wanted to learn about the place where Wang Shuitao had once lived, but unfortunately, Wang Shuitao knew very little about it, probably not much more than Meng Songying.
After discovering that Wang Shuitao had almost no affection for this place, Meng Songying also lost interest in Wangjiazhuang.
Wangjiazhuang, led by the brigade leader, was waiting at the village entrance early in the morning. Their share of the profits was what Wang Shuitao had brought back today.
This year's Spring Festival was exceptionally good. Not only did we get to share meat and fish as in previous years, but after eating the meat, we also received a large sum of money. Although this amount was similar to what we had given out before, everyone was smart enough to understand that this was not a one-time transaction.
This is something else entirely—shares, something completely different from loan repayments.
Moreover, Wang Shuitao is now the most successful person among all the men, women, and children in the village. Except for the elderly and children who have difficulty moving around, almost everyone was present.
Of course, the widow's family, Wang Datong, and Qian Lijuan did not come either.
The former knew he wouldn't get the benefits and didn't want to embarrass himself, while the latter was stopped by Wang Shuitao's grandparents, who were also their parents and in-laws.
The old couple are overthinking things. On such a joyous day, they shouldn't come out and upset Taozi; it's bad luck.
After Wang Shuitao got out of the car, she didn't mention her parents at all. Instead, she handed the money to Wang Jinbu, who had returned a few days earlier, and asked him to share it.
Then, amidst congratulations, he took Meng Songying to visit her grandparents.
Although many eyes were sizing up Meng Songying, no one asked her anything.
Meng Songying was walking side by side with Taozi when she suddenly whispered, "He's really imposing."
Whether in a sugar factory or a village.
Wang Shuitao was amused, and when she smiled, her eyebrows were still curved, her cheeks were pink, and she was as sweet as her name.
However, such incidents have become much less common recently, as there have been far too many disturbances lately, and it's impossible to handle them without a stern face.
Wang Shuitao and Meng Songying were given two small stools to sit in the corner of the courtyard to wrap zongzi (sticky rice dumplings).
The New Year in the 1980s was a busy time. A family could get two or three fish. The Wang family was a combination of three families, so they had eight fish. Half of them were made into fish jelly, and the other half were made into salted fish to eat in the summer.
Besides fish jelly, meat jelly is also indispensable. During the Lunar New Year, all kinds of dishes are served in large bowls, and from the first day of the Lunar New Year until the seventh day, guests are entertained.
Every day, a plate of food is scooped out and heated in the wood-fired stove before being served to the guests. This is a way of showing respect and valuing the guests.
Guests who know proper etiquette will not eat too much fish and meat; it is most common for each person to take only one bite with their chopsticks.
After the seventh day of the lunar new year, all the dishes turned black because they had been heated too many times.
There are also snacks during the Lunar New Year that need to be made at home. Every household grows broad beans and sunflowers on the ridges of the fields. The salty broad beans are hard and can easily break your teeth if you're not careful. The sunflower seeds are fragrant and have no downsides except that cracking too many can cause a small chip in your front teeth.
As for the task of wrapping zongzi assigned to Wang Shuitao and Meng Songying, it was the easiest.
This is when the granaries are fullest all year round. In Wangjiazhuang, zongzi (sticky rice dumplings) are eaten during the Lunar New Year. However, during the Dragon Boat Festival, it's a time of food shortage, so people tighten their belts and live frugally. Nobody cares about zongzi.
Anyway, there's no more glutinous rice left.
However, the indispensable rice cakes and rice cakes can no longer be made by myself; I can only wait for the craftsmen to come one by one in large groups.
At the village entrance, a dark, round iron tube was placed, and the children ran along the country lanes, calling for the adults to come out and fry rice cakes and rice.
The entire village was filled with the clear, sharp voices of children.
The new year is here.
Late at night, a few lights still shone from each household. Inside, two tables were set up, with men playing cards and women playing mahjong. Loud voices occasionally leaked out from under the doors.
Wang Shuitao wrapped herself up like a ball and leaned awkwardly on Meng Songying's shoulder, the large, long scarf binding the two of them together.
"Does the research institute agree to let you open a factory outside?"
"Um."
Meng Songying also invested in the factories in Heilongjiang and Guangdong, holding 50% of the shares along with Wang Shuitao.
They originally wanted to merge with the Pearl Sugar Factory to form a single company, but after thinking it over, they decided against it.
Looking at the starry sky, Wang Shuitao, her eyelids heavy with sleep, murmured, "What name should I choose?"
Meng Songying ruthlessly shook Taozi awake; one cannot fall asleep while on night watch.
This is what the man, who usually deals with machinery, was thinking.
"The character '桃' can be used."
However, Meng Songying did not forget about the peach. He felt that peaches and sugar factories exuded sweetness and were very suitable for the name of the new company.
Wang Shuitao's smile became more sober: "Really? Then should our Chief Engineer Meng add a word to it too?"
She caught Meng Songying's hand, which had accidentally wandered outside, and held it in her hands to warm it.
Meng Songying was very tempted, but after listing them one by one, she still refused: "I'm not worthy."
Wang Shuitao was pinching each finger, which was longer and thicker than her own, and retorted, "What's wrong with that? Let's use homophones, like 'cherry' or 'peach dream,' or 'dream' as in 'beautiful dream,' how about that?"
"Peach Dream is good."
In an instant, Meng Songying made her decision.
The crackling of firecrackers rang out, and a firework rose into the sky—it was something Meng Songying had brought back from the provincial capital.
"Happy New Year."
"Okay, I hope you're happy too~"
The warm yellow light inside the room illuminated the two people nestled together, casting long shadows that resembled one person.
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