Chapter 161: Self-awareness

Chapter 161: Chapter 161: Self-awareness

"I’m not worried. Even with the same basic ingredients, some people can make delicious food while others make things that are inedible," Gu Nuan Nuan said, full of confidence. "Mom, there’s also the question of how much of each seasoning to use. Besides, once our brand is established, anyone who tries to copy us will just be making a poor imitation unless their flavor is way better than ours. People won’t necessarily fall for it."

Zhang Minzhen thought about it seriously for a moment, then nodded. "You have a point."

"Mom, and about the meat buns—we won’t just be selling meat buns, you know. For example, we could start our own big farm to grow vegetables and raise pigs, cattle, sheep, chickens, ducks, and fish... Besides being self-sufficient and completely guaranteeing the safety of our fillings, we could also sell vegetables, meat, poultry, fish, eggs, and all that. If we really get it going, the money we make might not be any less than from selling the buns." Gu Nuan Nuan counted on her fingers. ’I also wanted to say that in the future, if we established places like manors or farms, the property and land would become fixed assets. Then we could section off part of the land and develop it into recreational clubs...’

In the end, Gu Nuan Nuan didn’t voice all of these ideas at once. ’I can save these for a few years from now, when people will think of them on their own. Heh, if I said them now, Mom, Grandpa, and my uncle probably wouldn’t get it. They’d have an even harder time understanding the future craze and desire for truly all-natural, pollution-free food.’

"You have so many ideas! It’s not like you have an extra head on your shoulders, so how do you come up with all these things no one else can?" Zhang Minzhen hugged her daughter and gave her a big kiss. After hearing what her daughter said, she realized a business could be run this way. ’My original plan to just sell buns conventionally was really unambitious.’

"Mom, aren’t you proud and honored to have a daughter as smart and capable as me?" Gu Nuan Nuan shamelessly leaned in, fishing for praise.

"It’s more than that. My daughter is smart and capable, but you missed one thing," Zhang Minzhen said, nodding with a straight face before she broke into a laugh. "You’re also much more thick-skinned than other people. How else could you have the nerve to praise yourself like that?"

"..." Gu Nuan Nuan pouted.

Inside the space, Cao Cao also chimed in, bursting into laughter.

"I don’t think that’s funny at all," Gu Nuan Nuan protested. Her unhappy expression successfully stopped Cao Cao’s loud laughter in the space, turning it into quiet snickering. Zhang Minzhen, having had her fill of laughter, managed to compose herself and asked seriously, "Nuannuan, you came up with such a great plan for the meat buns. Do you also have a different idea for selling the fish?"

"We’ll go the high-end, premium route," Gu Nuan Nuan said without a second thought. "The fish from Fish Spring are wild, and their flavor is exceptionally good—they can’t be compared to ordinary fish. Plus, since we can’t reveal the spring’s location right now, both drying and transporting the fish is difficult. That means the supply will inevitably be limited. So I don’t think it’s unreasonable at all to raise its price significantly."

"How high do you think the price should be?" Zhang Minzhen found herself agreeing with the idea almost as soon as she heard it.

"At least ten or twenty times the price of ordinary fish." ’No matter the era,’ Gu Nuan Nuan calculated mentally, ’there’s never a shortage of wealthy people who can recognize quality. The price I’m suggesting is high, but it’s not outrageous. I believe that with the right packaging, people will definitely buy it.’

"..." Zhang Minzhen fell silent, just staring blankly at Gu Nuan Nuan as she continued, "We’ll put extra effort into the packaging, making them into gift boxes. We can start with fifty boxes and find a way to get them into a big department store in the provincial capital to sell on consignment."

"What if they don’t sell?"

"It’s not a loss even if they don’t sell. Alternatively, we can put this on hold for now and just focus on the meat bun business. We have to take things one step at a time, right?" Gu Nuan Nuan smiled. She was confident that once her grandpa and uncle heard her plans for the meat bun business, they wouldn’t have the time to even think about selling dried fish for a while.

After knitting her brow for a moment, Zhang Minzhen understood. She couldn’t help but say, "You’re right, we’re short-handed. We’ll see what your grandpa and uncle think. Maybe we should put the dried fish business on hold for now?"

"Mom, every train needs a locomotive to get it moving. Have you ever thought about being that locomotive?" Gu Nuan Nuan didn’t miss the change in her mother’s expression as she spoke.

At her words, Zhang Minzhen’s eyes widened before she shook her head. "Nuannuan, I don’t think I’m suited to be the locomotive. I can’t handle that much pressure. I’m self-aware enough to know that. Even if I forced myself to act like a lion, I can’t change the fact that I’m essentially a sheep. If it were just a small-scale operation, one or a few meat bun shops, I’m confident I could manage. But the plan you’ve laid out..."

Zhang Minzhen gave a wry, helpless smile. "If I were the locomotive, I’m afraid I’d lead everyone right off the tracks. Wouldn’t that be a waste of your wonderful ideas?"

"I can support you from behind the scenes! Didn’t you want to earn a lot of money and finally hold your head high in front of Dad and his family?" Gu Nuan Nuan said, unwilling to give up.

"I do want to make money, a lot of it, so I can hold my head high in front of your father and grandmother. But even then, I never imagined something on this scale. At most, I dreamed of opening a bun shop in the city. If we could afford a house there someday, people would look at us with so much more respect. Then, when my Nuannuan gets into university, I’d follow you wherever you go and open a shop there. Just achieving that would make me grin from ear to ear." Zhang Minzhen smiled helplessly. "Nuannuan, compared to your vision, aren’t my dreams a bit too small?"

"Mhm, a little, but that’s normal." ’This isn’t twenty or thirty years in the future, when information is everywhere,’ she thought. ’Even the ideas I’m spouting aren’t really my own, are they? I’m just borrowing from the successful experiences of others.’ She knew her mother had never been a woman with grand career ambitions. All she wanted was to be comfortably well-off, the kind of "good wife and loving mother" who would be perfectly content living a small, stable life.

Gu Nuan Nuan thought for a moment and decided that since her mother didn’t have that desire herself, she shouldn’t force her. ’Forcing her would just put her under too much stress, and she wouldn’t be happy. It’s the same principle as those parents in later generations who push their children to become wildly successful—imposing your own ambitions on your kids is actually very selfish. You can’t earn all the money in the world. Whether you’re rich or not, happiness should always come first.’