During those two weeks, Qing could hardly imagine how she managed to get through it. To be precise, it was the busiest moment in her life so far.

Running a factory, from production to packaging to promotion and sales – everything was a first-time experience for her. Like everyone else, she was often learning through trial and error, progressing bit by bit through failures and drawing lessons from them. Fortunately, she wasn’t fighting alone. Though they were all amateurs, three cobblers could somewhat match the wisdom of Zhuge Liang.

Perhaps because they were all fearless young people with endless dreams about the future, daring to venture and strive without considering consequences, they poured all their passion into this endeavor.

However, Qing still racked her brains over the brand name. The factory was originally called Xie Laosan Food Factory, and she couldn’t bear to print “Xie Laosan” on the food packages – it would be like making Old Xie seem like her father, which was quite jarring to see.

After all, they were selling homestyle snacks – it couldn’t be too foreign-sounding, nor too rustically named after some kid or village. She kept thinking but couldn’t come up with a brand name that could precisely position their products.

Then one day, while Xing Wu was helping her with laundry, he casually said, “Just call it Qing Valley. It’s simple and memorable. The character ‘valley’ relates to farming, and as for ‘Qing’…”

Qing immediately jumped off the bed and ran to the bathroom with sparkling eyes: “Because it’s my surname?”

Xing Wu glanced at her and said with a smile, “The dried fruits are sun-dried by hand – isn’t the character ‘Qing’ perfect?”

Thus, Xing Wu’s casual suggestion struck Qing as brilliant. That very night, she found someone to design the logo, and eventually changed the factory name – Xie Laosan was officially renamed to Qing Valley Food Factory.

Their first batch of new packaging was ready. After Qing confirmed the final version, all the tedious tasks like negotiating prices with printing factories and getting samples were handled by Quan Ya.

Several times, Qing mentioned paying him the advance payment or if he needed a deposit, but Quan Ya always said there was no rush. Even after the first batch of packaging arrived and Qing saw the quality was unexpectedly excellent, especially the three-dimensional “Qing Valley” logo that gave her an indescribable sense of achievement, Quan Ya still didn’t ask for payment, merely saying casually that they could settle it together once the factory started making money.

Qing felt quite uneasy about this. She had classes during the day and sometimes couldn’t even take phone calls conveniently. Quan Ya had to deal with all these contacts and errands – how could she let him advance the money too?

Qing mentioned this to Xing Wu, but he only replied, “Don’t worry too much about it. He doesn’t see you as an outsider.”

Though Quan Ya never asked Xing Wu about his relationship with Qing afterward, they had been brothers for so many years – some things didn’t need to be asked to be understood. Perhaps he had some opinions about Qing at first, whether based on Shu Han’s situation or his belief that a girl from a big city like Qing couldn’t genuinely stay with Xing Wu.

Whether it was him or Da Hei and Hua Bi, they all knew how seriously Xing Wu took relationships. It wasn’t that they thought Qing wasn’t good enough; they just worried that Xing Wu would invest too much and expect too much, only to end up with nothing – not worth it.

But after what happened with Xing Wu’s family, Qing’s attitude gradually won over these brothers’ acceptance from the bottom of their hearts. Their previous concerns became less important as time passed.

Xing Wu had become busier lately. He had talked to Old Yang about sometimes needing to take leave to go to the building materials market and hospital. Old Yang knew about Xing Wu’s family situation and asked if he needed to organize a school fundraiser.

Xing Wu laughed and said, “Discuss that with Qing.”

His tone seemed to suggest it was like discussing household matters with his wife, though Old Yang naturally wouldn’t think in that direction and did go to consult with Qing about it.

Qing felt that openly seeking sympathy like this was like begging. Were they supposed to stand hand-in-hand on the podium one Monday morning and cry dramatically to gain sympathy? She was one hundred percent certain that they would collapse laughing before they could even stand steady. If she agreed to this, either Xing Wu would strangle her, or she would have to strangle him – after all, they were such proud paupers. Thus, Qing firmly declined Old Yang’s kind offer.

Qing returned to the hotel later and later. Recently, rushing production schedules and preparing for tasting event promotions – all sorts of issues kept her working overtime.

After finishing his work in the evening, Xing Wu would wait for her at the factory and take her back together. The night class students had also gotten used to seeing Xing Wu there frequently. Originally, Qing thought Feng Bao would ask her something after that day, but Feng Bao never asked why she and Xing Wu… kissed.

Instead, after that day, he consciously maintained some distance from Qing, especially when Xing Wu came around. Feng Bao would try his best to minimize his presence, and if he accidentally made eye contact with Xing Wu, he would dodge his gaze in various ways, as if afraid Xing Wu would give him trouble.

Sometimes when Qing was teaching, Xing Wu would sit in the last row and listen along with everyone else. Qing amusedly asked him why he never listened in class but came to her tutoring sessions to listen.

Xing Wu seriously replied, “Mainly because of the teacher’s looks.”

“…” Qing wondered if Xing Wu was thinking unhealthy thoughts while staring at her during lessons.

During the day, Qing was like a superwoman once she left the hotel, busy with studies and factory matters, her brain constantly working without rest.

But at night, after leaving the factory, she would instantly deflate like a punctured balloon once she got on Xing Wu’s motorcycle. Many times, she would fall asleep holding his waist and leaning against his back.

Afraid she might fall off, Xing Wu eventually had her sit in front, so he could hold her. During the ten-minute ride to the hotel, Qing would often fall deep asleep in his arms. Sometimes she would hang onto Xing Wu with closed eyes as they went upstairs, sometimes he would simply carry her on his back into the room.

That period was probably the most difficult stage in their lives. They had no money or experience for anything they did, not even time to sleep. All they had was passionate determination for life. At that time, Qing’s most frequent saying was that when they had money in the future, they would find a quiet place and sleep properly for three days and three nights. Yes, sleeping had become the most luxurious thing in their lives.

Though life was hard, they still found ways to enjoy themselves. Xing Wu would occasionally bring her little things from the county town. Looking back, Qing realized Xing Wu gave her many things during that time: a cool baseball cap – matching black and white couple versions; an hourglass-shaped bottle, because they were both Aquarius, and the time-representing hourglass seemed to hold some special meaning for them at that time.

He gradually helped her complete her daily necessities. During that period, even Qing’s clothes, socks, and underwear were bought by Xing Wu – he now knew her sizes by heart.

When Qing was at her most overwhelmed, Xing Wu quietly took care of her daily life. Though in the world she couldn’t see, Xing Wu was also very busy. He told her he needed to practice driving from afternoon to evening, although once at dusk when Qing met Huang Mao at Zhazha Pavilion, she wondered why Huang Mao wasn’t practicing driving with Xing Wu. Huang Mao confidently said Xing Wu’s skills were worse than his, needing more practice, as he was a born driver through family inheritance. Qing just laughed off his nonsense.

The weekend before the tasting event, they worked overtime for two days to finally complete the production with new packaging, and then it was time to set up the tasting venue.

Fang Lei, Shi Min, Xiao Ling Tong, and Pang Hu all voluntarily came to help. They moved all the tables to the courtyard and arranged them in a U-shape, covering them with clean tablecloths. Liu Nian was responsible for arranging the presentation of tasting items. Xing Wu carried the newly made promotional sign to the entrance, then went with Quan Ya to hang the banner at the intersection, so nearby residents and passersby could see there was a tasting event here.

The factory interior was also completely cleaned. Shi Min and Fang Lei specially went to buy some decorative balloons and streamers to decorate the courtyard. Pang Hu called Huang Mao and Lang Dai to help blow up balloons. Later, Da Hei, Hua Bi, and other brothers of Xing Wu gradually came too. Many people Qing had never even seen before – if not for this event, she wouldn’t have known Xing Wu had so many brothers.

They each sent a flower basket, neatly arranged along the pathway at the entrance, over a dozen on each side, exceptionally grand. There was a sense of renewal everywhere.

The turnout on the tasting day was even higher than Qing expected. She originally thought that out of Liu Nian’s group of nearly a thousand people, getting one-tenth to come would be good. But unexpectedly, they brought their families and started coming in large numbers in the early morning. Da Hei also gathered many neighbors from Electronics Street to show support. Even Old Yang brought many teachers. When she and Old Zhu saw their former students now able to handle things independently – some packaging, some introducing – even the usually shy Shi Min was using a loudspeaker to guide visitors around the factory. Though they never felt it at school, seeing the scene before them, the teachers felt for the first time that their students had grown up.

In the afternoon, even Li Lan Fang brought a group of her card-playing friends from Zhazha Pavilion to patronize the business. Although it was a tasting event with all products free to sample, these were small snacks costing dozens of yuan per package, so everyone who came would buy some to take home after tasting.

They had prepared what they thought was ample stock, but it was already running low just past noon, which was completely unexpected for Qing.

So she quickly arranged an emergency plan, having people leave their contact information, with Du Qi Yan and Fang Lei doing statistics, promising to deliver all purchased products within three days. This helped maintain some orders in the afternoon.

At two o’clock, the main group of active sisters and aunties from Liu Nian’s group came together – several dozens of people, some were Liu Nian’s regular customers, some were group administrators, all early members of Xuan Dao.

Qing knew some of them and personally received them. Using the projector temporarily borrowed from Quan Ya, she introduced their online store and products to these core members, then opened the online store to introduce product prices one by one, promising that the group members present could get prices 30% lower than the online store – this was feedback and preferential treatment for their long-term support. Of course, if they were interested, they could also post on their social media and ask if friends wanted anything, and this feedback could be directly returned to them.

Originally, Liu Nian and others thought Qing did this to thank these mothers and sisters for their long-term support, but none of them expected that these people would later become Qing Valley’s first batch of distributors.

The tasting event ended at four in the afternoon. Although everyone was exhausted, they still had many orders to produce, package, and ship. Pang Hu and others hadn’t left, saying they would stay to help.

In the evening, Li Lan Fang brought several pots of food over, and everyone gathered around the messy tables to eat. Qing swore it was the most delicious meal she had ever eaten in her life. Everyone was wolfing down food, laughing and joking.

Huang Mao excitedly asked Qing while shoveling rice: “How much money did we make today?”

“Don’t know yet, I’ll calculate after dinner.”

Just then, Liu Nian’s phone rang. Li Lan Fang took his empty bowl and helped him get some soup. Not sure who called, but Liu Nian excitedly kept saying “No problem, no problem, I’ll arrange it tomorrow” on the phone.

After hanging up, he turned to everyone with sparkling eyes and said: “You know Yan Jie’s sister who’s in the county town market? Her sister just saw our products at her house and wants us to send two boxes of each product over to sell in the next couple of days. She said she’ll transfer the money later. Qing, give her the 30% discount, right?”

Qing nodded: “Right.”

Fang Lei put down her bowl, wiped her mouth, and smiled: “See, business is coming in!”

Li Lan Fang handed the soup to Liu Nian and said: “Oh my, who knew you had such good business skills now? When you worked for me before, we couldn’t get a peep out of you even with eight strikes!”

Everyone burst out laughing. Huang Mao joined in excitedly: “I’d say it’s all thanks to having a good daughter-in-law.”

As soon as he spoke, the entire courtyard fell silent as a chicken. Fang Lei and Pang Hu glanced at Huang Mao, Shi Min lowered her head to eat, Liu Nian and Du Qi Yan acted as if they hadn’t heard, and Quan Ya continued dismantling things without turning around. Li Lan Fang looked at Huang Mao in confusion. Huang Mao instantly realized his mistake and fearfully looked at Xing Wu.

Xing Wu expressionlessly ladled soup for Qing, while Qing’s eyes were fixed on Huang Mao as if they could drip blood.

Huang Mao’s scalp instantly went numb, and he wished he could bite off his tongue and swallow it whole right then and there!