"This earns me more than sewing bags in the factory." Lang Guochang put away his phone with satisfaction.
The food factory settles payments on the spot, offering cash or bank transfer options. Lang Guochang always chooses bank transfer because it's more convenient and he doesn't have to go to the bank to deposit the money. He can choose a stable fixed-term product on his phone, which offers slightly higher interest rates than banks.
After leaving the food factory, Jiang Xiaoman followed him into the mountains. Lang Guochang picked mushrooms ahead, and Jiang Xiaoman followed along taking pictures.
Filming alone is quite boring, and thinking about the upcoming program, Jiang Xiaoman consciously steered the conversation towards that topic with Lang Guochang.
"Guochang, if you can find work in the village, will you and your sister-in-law still go out to work?"
"What are you saying! If you could make money right here at home, who would want to leave their hometown? You can't sleep or eat well outside, nothing beats home."
“You’ve never worked in a factory, so you don’t know how tough it is. When the foreman comes to recruit workers, he makes it sound nice, saying that the factory provides food and accommodation. But in reality, we live in dormitories with eight people in one room, and there’s no air conditioning in the summer. It’s so hot that we can’t stand it. Sometimes we’d rather work the night shift than go back to the dormitory because the factory area has air conditioning, it’s cool, and we can earn more overtime pay.”
"The food wasn't good either. The vegetarian dishes were just cabbage, tofu, and bean sprouts, with a few slices of meat added to make it a meat dish. After my night shift, I was so hungry that my legs were weak. Even the cheapest egg fried rice cost eight yuan a bowl, and adding rice would cost an extra yuan."
"But you can't eat meat every day at home," Jiang Xiaoman joked.
“Cooking at home is so much better with all the oil!” Lang Guochang said, his mouth practically watering. “Take last night for example, when I was picking mushrooms, I found a lot of broken ones that didn’t look good, so I washed them and kept them for our family to eat.”
"My wife cut off a piece of cured pork and made a big pot of stir-fried cured pork with mixed mushrooms. She also made a mushroom and egg soup and cooked a pot of corn rice. I took a stainless steel bowl, filled it with a big bowl of corn rice, and topped it with two thick spoonfuls of stir-fried cured pork with mixed mushrooms. After eating, I drank two bowls of mushroom and egg soup. The soup had lard and scallions in it, and it was so fresh and smooth!"
Goodness! Jiang Xiaoman's mouth watered just listening to it, and she decided to make a pot of mixed mushroom and egg soup with rice when she got home tonight.
Recently, there have been a lot of villagers coming out to pick mushrooms. Jiang Xiaoman thought they had come out early enough, but when she passed by a forest, she was surprised to find that someone was already carrying a big bag full of mushrooms back up the mountain!
"Oh, it's Xiaoman! Would you like some mushrooms? Uncle just picked some. Here, grab a handful and try some!"
People in the mountains don't like formalities. When the uncle said he wanted to treat Jiang Xiaoman to mushrooms, he opened his woven bag without saying a word, took out several handfuls of mushrooms, and put them into Jiang Xiaoman's basket.
"That's enough, Uncle. You're going to sell these for money. Just give me a handful to try," Jiang Xiaoman hurriedly declined.
"Hey! If it weren't for you, Xiaoman, leading everyone to do business and make money, where would we be living such a good life now? Eating some mushrooms is nothing! After we're done with this busy period, come to my house for dinner, and I'll have your aunt kill a chicken for you!"
Along the way, we met several people who had come into the mountains to pick mushrooms. Some had picked a lot and were rushing down the mountain to sell them, while others, like them, had just come into the mountains not long ago.
Everyone had a joyful smile on their face. This year, there was a good harvest of wild mushrooms, and the food factory was buying them without limit. Recently, everyone has been earning several hundred yuan almost every day, which was unthinkable in the past.
Moreover, it's not just wild mushrooms. The villagers have already heard that Lang Ying's cooperative will introduce mushroom strains to cultivate wild mushrooms in the mountains.
In the mountains, which family doesn't have a dozen or so acres of forest land?
If we planted all of these wild mushrooms, wouldn't that bring in a huge amount of income?
Someone has already gone to the cooperative to inquire with Lang Ying, and it is indeed true.
However, since the agricultural university hasn't reached an agreement yet and it's uncertain whether they can purchase discounted mushroom strains, Lang Ying's public statement is that their food factory is responsible for purchasing the mushrooms. When the mushroom strains arrive, those who want to grow them can buy them themselves, and the amount they buy depends on each family's financial situation.
If you want to grow mushrooms on several acres of land, you need to save up enough money to buy mushroom spawn!
They no longer doubt whether growing mushrooms can make money.
Hilarious! If this stuff didn't make money, would Lang Ying's food factory be buying up wild mushrooms without any limit?
I heard from people inside that the food factory's production line is running at full capacity 24 hours a day, and the machines are practically sparking. What does that mean? Doesn't it just mean that the sauce made from wild mushrooms is incredibly profitable?
The reason why the men in the village used to slack off and do nothing was ultimately because farming wasn't profitable. If they went out to work, those of them who had no education or skills could only do the hardest jobs and earn the least money.
To put it bluntly, when a person discovers that no matter how hard they try, they cannot change their fate, giving up seems to become their only bargaining chip in resisting fate.
But now, everything seems to have changed.
Thinking of the long line of people waiting to buy mushrooms in front of the food factory, and finding that most of them were men from Langshan, Jiang Xiaoman suddenly had a feeling.
The men of Langshan don't seem to be as unambitious as he thought.
Perhaps he should pay more attention to the daily lives of these men in Langshan as they try to make a living?
At this moment, Jiang Xiaoman had no idea that his impulsive decision would one day bring him countless male fans who would shout, "Brother Xiaoman understands us!"
Chapter 226
After walking with Lang Guochang for a while, Jiang Xiaoman realized that this man was actually quite intelligent.
The reason he came to pick mushrooms after dropping his daughter off, arriving two hours later than others, was not because he was lazy, but because he was "picking up what was already there".
Experienced mushroom pickers in Langshan know a common sense: whether you can have a big harvest in the mountains this season depends on your luck and whether you can find a "mushroom patch". Usually, if you find a "patter", you can find a large area around it.
Once a spot has been visited, it's generally unlikely that anyone will come back.
Lang Guochang was willing to follow these people around and pick up the scraps.
"See this path that's been trodden by people? Walk around it, and you're sure to find mushrooms."
"You can do that?" Jiang Xiaoman was truly amazed.
Then, he followed Lang Guochang all the way to find bargains.
And you know what? These smaller "plots" that grow off the larger ones, though small in quantity, add up quickly, much faster than trying your luck all over the mountains. And sometimes Lang Guochang would even take him to the larger "plots" that had already been harvested to pick up what others had left behind, so they always managed to get something.
And so they walked all the way to Lang Guochang's house, his own basket and woven bag were full, and even Jiang Xiaoman's basket was almost overflowing.
"No wonder you wanted to follow other people's routes; it's definitely much faster than finding mushrooms on your own," Jiang Xiaoman praised.
When he got home, he saw that his wife hadn't returned from picking tea leaves yet. Lang Guochang ran to pour Jiang Xiaoman a cup of tea, smiled apologetically, and then quickly poured out the mushrooms he had picked that day and hurriedly sorted them.
They were incredibly lucky today, picking so many wild mushrooms in just one morning. He planned to pick some delicious ones to treat Jiang Xiaoman to lunch, and then carry the rest down the mountain to sell another batch in the afternoon.
"If only Langshan had mushrooms all year round, I could sell them twice a day and earn over 600 yuan a day. That would add up to 20,000 yuan a month," Lang Guochang said excitedly.
“Then you can also join Sister Yingzi’s wild mushroom cultivation cooperative. I see there are quite a few forests around here. You can plant more mushroom sticks near your home and earn a lot every year,” Jiang Xiaoman reminded him.
“My wife and I think so too. We won’t go out to work anymore. The day before yesterday, I went to see Brother Shanyan and we agreed that if the beekeeping cooperative expands its scale next year, we would like to join the cooperative. There are many wildflowers in our area. If we set up more than a hundred beehives, and in a good year, the money from selling the honey alone will be enough to support our whole family.”
...
After the video was released, Jiang Xiaoman's comment section exploded again.
It started as just an internal fan exchange. Don't be fooled by how many female fans usually criticize those lazy, good-for-nothing men the most; when they find a good man, wow! They get more excited than if they'd stumbled upon a giant panda on the street!
Some people in the comments section were shouting, "The country owes me a Lang Guochang!"
Some quickly tagged their sisters who had been hurt by scumbags to come and see that there are still good men in this world.
Some even urged Xiaoman to dig deeper and see how many more family-oriented men like Qingshan and Lang Guochang were hidden in Langshan.
Actually, they don't really ask for dowries, houses, cars, etc., since they already have those. What they want is a good man who is considerate, knows how to cherish his wife, can earn money, and can do housework...
Hurry! Let's all go to Langshan to buy a "Good Man" product!
Jiang Xiaoman: "..."
After having lunch at Lang Guochang's house, the two returned the same way in the afternoon. This time, because they had a lot of things to carry, they didn't go mushroom picking.
Lang Guochang first took the wild tea his wife had picked to Jiang Xiaoman's tea factory, where they were making summer tea cakes and collecting tea leaves every day. A big bag full of fresh leaves was eventually sold for more than 100 yuan.
Earning so much money just by picking tea leaves right at their doorstep, without even having to take care of their children, is something that rural mothers would love to do all year round.
Immediately afterwards, Lang Guochang went to the food factory again, and sold the mushrooms he had picked in the morning for more than 200 yuan.
So, Lang Guochang was right. The couple could earn more than 10,000 yuan a month in their hometown, which was much more profitable than working in the city.
What impressed him even more was that although Lang Guochang was younger than him, his ability to endure hardship was even greater.
It was already 3 o'clock when he finished selling the mushrooms. There were still two hours before school let out. He couldn't bear to be idle in such a short time, so he actually went to carry express delivery bags for the food factory!
It's currently the peak season for wild mushroom sauce sales. The factory sends out more than a dozen truckloads of packages every day. This kind of work, carrying large bags, is paid by piecework. You can earn two yuan for carrying a large bag onto a truck and piling it up.
Lang Guochang worked there for over an hour, earning a few dozen yuan. He then used the tap in the factory toilet to wash the sweat and dirt off his face and arms before rushing to the school to pick up his daughter.
Jiang Xiaoman was extremely impressed.
Doesn't this person ever get tired?
"What's tiring about it? You won't feel tired if you have something to look forward to in life."
Lang Guochang squeezed into the first row so that his daughter could see her father as soon as she walked out of the school gate.
For the past few years, he has been working away from home and has never picked his daughter up from school. I heard that some mean-spirited people even made fun of his daughter for not having a father.
Hmph! From now on, whenever he has free time, he'll come pick up his daughter from school every day!
Let's see who dares to bully his daughter now!
Seeing that the school was about to open, Jiang Xiaoman quickly took out her phone and took the opportunity to record a video at the school gate.
The current Langshan Primary School is completely different from the dilapidated and dangerous building it used to be. It is estimated that even many old school districts in the city cannot compare with it. Even the school gate is intelligently controlled!
After the school bell rang, from first grade to sixth grade, the class monitor of each class held up the class sign. The first and second graders looked like a group of waddling ducks, carrying their schoolbags and wearing the new school uniforms donated by kind uncles and aunts, and obediently followed their class monitors forward.
Seeing their children come out, the parents couldn't help but rush forward, only to be loudly scolded by their own little ones.
"Dad/Mom/Grandpa/Grandma! We need to line up!"
"Come pick me up at the spot where our class has drawn a circle!"
Good heavens!
Jiang Xiaoman then noticed that there were several large circles drawn with white lime around the school gate!
In this way, each class first takes the students to the circle, and then their parents pick them up. Those who are not picked up by their parents are then sent home by the teachers on duty.
Jiang Xiaoman nodded secretly. This was a good idea; there was no need to worry about anyone taking advantage of the chaos to impersonate a parent.
Lang Guochang's eldest daughter, Lang Zihan, is exceptionally beautiful. She has big eyes, long eyelashes, and two braids that swing back and forth. She also has a small red flower stuck between her eyebrows. All along the way, you can hear the little girl chattering and bragging to her father that she recited another poem today and got a little red flower. She also got a perfect score on her weekly math test and received two new pencils...
Jiang Xiaoman followed and filmed all the way to the entrance of her family's express delivery station.
"Our teacher said that we are able to live in such a good new school thanks to Uncle Xiaoman. Dad, you should buy things here from now on. We should support Uncle Xiaoman's shop!" Lang Zihan said, pointing to Jiang Xiaoman's small shop with conviction.
"Good! My daughter has grown up and is so sensible! That's how you should be: be good to those who are good to you."
"Hmm! My Chinese teacher taught us that this idiom is called 'to repay kindness with gratitude.' Dad, can you write it?"
Lang Guochang was immediately covered in sweat. He did remember the idiom, but was the character "恩" (en) written with "因" (yin) or "田" (tian) on top?
Fortunately, once the daughter arrived at the convenience store, she forgot about testing her father and skipped in. She even knew to check the price tags on the shelves and, within her limited allowance, bought one item for the whole family.
"Dad, get me two lollipops, one for my brother and one for myself. I also need to buy Mom a bag of steamed egg cakes and you a bottle of Coke." As she spoke, the little girl laboriously took out the pocket money she had "earned" from the inner pocket of her schoolbag and handed it to Jiang Xiaoman.
"No need to pay, it's Uncle Xiaoman's treat for you today." Jiang Xiaoman put the money back into the compartment and then grabbed a handful of milk tablets that kids love and threw them in.
"Huh? Is Uncle Xiaoman having a celebration today? Why are you offering us candy?"
Lang Zihan is clearly a professional at attending banquets; she even knows that you get free wedding candy when you have a wedding.