Jiang Xiaoman never expected camellia oil to have such amazing effects. With a dark expression, he promised his senior that he would definitely save a few pounds of the new camellia oil his family made next year. He never expected his senior to patronize his business so soon.
Jiang Xiaoman simply sent the flower patterns and prices to the others, but her senior sister accepted the deposit directly, since they were acquaintances and she agreed to give her priority.
Jiang Xiaoman received three orders in one night. He calculated the profits and realized that if all the orders were delivered smoothly, he could make a net profit of more than 100 yuan from these three orders alone. If he could open up sales channels and receive dozens of orders every day, he could earn more each month than he did working in the city.
Jiang Xiaoman ended up falling asleep with his phone in his arms and had a wonderful dream. He dreamt that he was showcasing Langshan's local embroidery at a national-level fashion show, and his online store was flooded with orders, with customer service staff overwhelmed with them...
When I woke up this morning, I found that my pillowcase was wet. I guess I laughed too loudly in my dream and drooled out.
Jiang Xiaoman quickly pulled off the pillowcase, then went to the bathroom to take the clothes that the father and son had changed out of the night before, to the sink by the door, sprinkled some laundry detergent, poured in the remaining warm water from the thermos last night, and let it soak for a while. Her father also got up.
The father and son worked together seamlessly, one cooking and the other washing clothes. After finishing their meal, they fed the pigs and chickens, picked up their baskets, locked the door, and by the time dawn broke, they had run all the way down the mountain and caught the first bus.
There was no market today, and the shuttle bus was quite empty. When the driver heard that they were going to Banligou, he strongly recommended that they try the mushroom sauce there. Apparently, their village's mushroom sauce was even made into a documentary and broadcast on national television. Even the famous director tasted it and said it was delicious.
There's not much gossip to share in the countryside, but as soon as Banligou was mentioned, the villagers in the car immediately started chattering about it. Jiang Xiaoman learned from them that Banligou not only produces wild mushrooms grown under the forest canopy, but in recent years, with the technical support of experts from the Provincial Agricultural University, they've even started cultivating ginseng and semi-wild Ganoderma lucidum under the forest canopy…
"If you ask me, Banligou used to be just as poor as us. In the end, it's all because they found a powerful backer. I heard that the experts from the Provincial Agricultural University were introduced to them by Tang Xinlan from Shangtang Village. Sigh! When will we have such good luck?"
Everyone on the bus couldn't help but sigh. They were said to have some distant relatives in Banligou, since their ancestors were all mountain people in this area. But in Shangtang Village, they really had no connection whatsoever.
Otherwise, if they could establish some kinship with Tang Xinlan's family, and then have Boss Tang take them under his wing, wouldn't they become rich overnight, just like Banligou?
Jiang Xiaoman and his father exchanged a glance, both feeling somewhat guilty.
Their trip to Banligou was actually a roundabout way of getting to know Boss Tang, especially Jiang Xiaoman. He had looked up Tang Xinlan's information online and studied her online store carefully. He found that she had quite a few projects under her management. Even if they could secure just one, it would be enough to solve their current predicament.
Langshan is really too poor! Even though the country has been supporting impoverished mountainous areas to get rid of poverty in recent years, who is willing to live like this for generations?
Take his family for example. In recent years, his father has been planting improved potato varieties supported by the government, and the yield is twice as high as the potatoes they used to grow!
But what problem would that solve? Potatoes carried down the mountain cost only three cents a pound. Even selling a hundred pounds of potatoes wouldn't earn you a bag of rice! You can't just marry a wife and expect her and the kids to eat potatoes every day, can you?
I heard that the pig farms in Shangtang Village are quite profitable, but that's down in the mountains. Up in the mountains, they only raise pigs once a year, and the pigs they raise aren't even enough for their own consumption. Even if they sell them, based on this year's pork prices, a pig can only fetch a little over a thousand yuan. What can that be enough for?
Ultimately, if Langshan wants to escape poverty and become prosperous, it still needs to develop other industries.
Author's Note:
Thank you to all the little angels who voted for me or watered my plants with nutrient solution between 12:50:48 on November 14, 2021 and 10:39:38 on November 15, 2021!
Thank you to the little angel who threw the landmine: Qingwu (1);
Thank you to the little angels who watered the nutrient solution: Youthful Memories (6 bottles); Hungry Glutton (5 bottles); 23221325 (1 bottle);
Thank you so much for your support! I will continue to work hard!
Chapter 12
The bus from their town didn't go directly to Banligou. The bus stopped at a place called Jinwuling. The father and son unloaded their things and squatted by the roadside for a while before finally getting on the bus to Banligou. They boarded at seven in the morning and it took until almost eleven o'clock to get to Banligou. When they checked the time, Jiang Youliang's face turned red.
Visiting someone's home at this time seems like deliberately timing it to freeload a meal.
Jiang Xiaoman's eyes darted around, and she knew what her father was hesitating about. Just then, there was a large sign and tourist map at the village entrance. Jiang Xiaoman went over to look at it, pointed to a place marked with a knife and fork on the map, and said to her father—
"Dad, I heard that the mushroom sauce noodles in Banligou are really delicious. There's a noodle shop here, why don't we go eat first? After we eat, we can go to Uncle Shanrong's house. I'm hungry."
"Okay! Okay! Let's go eat first!" Jiang Youliang breathed a sigh of relief.
Although he and Shan Rong were related by ancestry, their families hadn't been in touch for many years. He didn't even have Shan Rong's phone number. So, he just showed up at their house without warning, right at mealtime. Wouldn't that make him a laughingstock?
The father and son found the noodle shop with baskets on their backs, only to find that there were no seats available. They were surprised that a noodle shop in the village was so popular. After looking at the menu and price list on the wall, Jiang Xiaoman fell silent.
A bowl of beef tripe noodles costs 25 yuan, a bowl of river shrimp and eel noodles costs 30 yuan, and the cheapest signature mushroom sauce noodles cost 10 yuan... These prices are considered reasonable in tourist areas, considering that ingredients like beef, river shrimp, and eel are not cheap, but his dad probably couldn't bear to eat such expensive noodles.
"Xiaoman, this shop is full. How about we go to the convenience store across the street and buy two bags of steamed buns?" Jiang Youliang could read a few words. He looked at the price list on the wall and his heart was bleeding. A bowl of noodles cost thirty yuan. Was he eating dragon meat?
Across the street, in front of the convenience store, there was a styrofoam box with a cardboard sign that read, "Two steamed buns for 1 yuan each, and one mushroom and meat bun for 1 yuan each." This was what rural people could afford. He could eat two steamed buns and be full, and then buy three meat buns for his son. The two of them would only need four yuan.
Jiang Xiaoman saw the wrinkles on his father's face from worry and felt both heartbroken and amused. He wasn't really picky about food, and he had money; a ten-yuan bowl of noodles wasn't out of his reach. But he worried that if his father ate this bowl of noodles, he'd be distressed for a month. So Jiang Xiaoman quickly ran to the convenience store across the street, scanned the code to pay, and bought six large steamed buns filled with mushrooms and meat. He then borrowed two stools from the owner, and the father and son sat down at the store entrance for their meal, not even bothering to buy water!
Every summer, Jiang Xiaoman works as a sales promoter at the supermarket. The store owner gives away the plastic water cups that are free gifts with minor defects. He has collected a lot of them during his college years and carries them home by hand every year. The various water cups at home are enough for him and his father to use for decades. This time, Jiang Youliang specially dug out two large travel water bottles and filled each of them with a large pot of cooled boiled water, enough for them to drink for a day.
After finishing their steamed buns, seeing that it was still early and assuming most people were still having lunch, the father and son decided to go to the shop and pick out some cigarettes, alcohol, and pastries. Sure enough, things outside the mountains were cheaper than those in their own. Jiang Youliang gritted his teeth and chose two bottles of the kind of liquor they only drank at banquets, and bought a carton of good cigarettes. He had originally wanted to buy some pastries, but the shopkeeper said that those old-fashioned pastries weren't popular anymore, and instead turned around and brought out a large gift bag for him—
"Buy this. It's about the same price as pastries, and it's filled with things kids love, like hawthorn rolls, jelly, and potato chips. It's a presentable and practical gift. By the way, are you visiting relatives? Whose family?" The shopkeeper was genuinely curious. His ancestors were also mountain people, and he could tell from Jiang Youliang's clothes that he was probably related to someone in their Banligou village.
"Hey! It's embarrassing to say, but my ancestors were related to your old village chief Shanrong through marriage. We haven't been in touch for many years. This time, we're here because of the children..."
Jiang Youliang explained his family's kinship with Shan Rong to the boss, leaving Jiang Xiaoman, who was listening, completely bewildered. There were cousins, great-aunts, and other relatives; it was as if a tree diagram was needed to make sense of it all!
Upon hearing that Jiang Youliang had come to see the old village chief Shanrong, the shop owner couldn't help but stand up, looking embarrassed. "Oh dear, we're relatives too! Shanrong is my uncle! Uncle, please come in and have some tea!"
Good heavens! This is like buying something from a relative's house! The shop owner quickly led them inside, made them tea, and offered them cigarettes. Seeing that Jiang Xiaoman didn't smoke, he deftly grabbed an ice pop from the freezer and gave it to him: "Children shouldn't smoke, it's bad for their health! Here, have an ice pop!"
After getting to know the family, Jiang Xiaoman learned that the shop owner was named Shan Qinfu. However, the ancestral relationship between the Shan and Jiang families was too distant to be traced back to the beginning. Judging by their age, Jiang Xiaoman simply called Jiang Youliang "Uncle". Seeing that they were dressed shabbily, he guessed that they were struggling to make ends meet and had come to their relatives for help. He sighed inwardly and ran out to call his uncle Shan Rong to tell him that guests had come to his house.
He couldn't leave the shop to attend to things, and he couldn't let people keep asking around to come to his door, so he had to ask his uncle to send a family member to pick him up.
Shan Rong quickly came to pick them up in person. He remembered the Jiang family as relatives. His father used to always mention it, telling them to visit this great-aunt when they had time, so as not to sever the relationship.
However, the two families live too far apart and are separated by generations. His father's generation used to travel long distances to visit relatives, but in his generation, they are too lazy to travel far. In places where buses cannot reach, relatives basically do not visit each other anymore.
Jiang Youliang no longer recognized Shan Rong, but there were two strangers sitting in the shop. One of them was about the same age as Shan Rong. Shan Rong walked up and grabbed Jiang Youliang's hands, shaking them vigorously. "You're Jiang's cousin, right? Oh my, it's been so many years!"
Actually, the two of them didn't know each other at all. They were probably taken by their parents to visit relatives when they were very young. Later, the elders passed away, and the younger generation didn't keep in touch for a long time. They probably wouldn't even recognize each other if they walked to the other side.
After the initial introduction of relatives, Jiang Youliang pushed Jiang Xiaoman forward and asked him to greet the family. Jiang Xiaoman awkwardly called out "Uncle." Shan Rong looked him over carefully and found him to be a clean and sensible child. Hearing from Jiang Youliang that he was a college student, he immediately had his nephew Shan Qinfu give him a red envelope and gave him one on the spot.
Jiang Xiaoman refused to accept the red envelope, and Jiang Youliang also said that he was all grown up and not a child anymore, so why should he accept a red envelope? But Shan Rong silenced him with one sentence: "Who cares how old he is? It's his first time visiting his uncle's house. As his uncle, how can I not give him a red envelope?"
He then urged them to quickly take their things and come home for dinner.
Needless to say, Shan Qinfu must have tipped off his uncle, saying that the father and son had bought steamed buns at the store and that it was probably too embarrassing to disturb them by coming over at this time.
Shan Rong was also from a humble mountain village. Although mountain people are poor, they have their pride. If he were Jiang Youliang, he would definitely have waited until the other person finished eating before visiting. However, since the other person had already accepted him, how could he let his distant cousin squat at someone else's door eating steamed buns?
The father and son followed Shan Rong home. When Jiang Youliang looked up, he saw that Shan Rong's family had actually built a four-story villa. The garden in front of the house was built like a fairyland on TV, with artificial hills and fish ponds. The koi carp raised in the ponds looked exactly like those in New Year paintings. After looking around, Jiang Youliang was so surprised that he could hardly close his mouth.
His distant cousin has really made a fortune!
Upon receiving the call, Shan Rong instructed his wife to order several signature meat dishes from the village restaurant, stir-fry some vegetables, and send his son to buy some braised dishes from the braised food shop. He prepared a delicious meal and even prepared to open a bottle of good wine to treat the father and son, but Jiang Youliang stopped him by pressing his hand down.
"Brother Shanrong, I'm not just being polite. Xiaoman and I came here to ask you about someone. We weren't even planning on having a meal. We need to go to town to buy a refrigerator after we finish talking!"
"You know how poor Langshan is. My family has never even bought a refrigerator. My Xiaoman is going back to our hometown to start her own business and says she needs a refrigerator. We have to rush to town this afternoon to buy one and we have to go back tonight, otherwise the pigs and chickens at home will starve to death."
Helpless, Shan Rong could only put the bottle away. He knew that Jiang Youliang wasn't just being polite. The reason the two families hadn't been in touch for years was simply because the Jiang family lived too far away. It wasn't easy for him to come out, and he even had to go to town to buy things. It seemed he really couldn't drink, or it would be bad if he caused any trouble.
"Alright, next time you and Xiaoman come to our house and stay for a few more days! I'll ask your sister-in-law to stew a whole old hen for you!" Since they couldn't drink alcohol, Shanrong tried his best to persuade them to eat.
Actually, Jiang Youliang and Jiang Xiaoman weren't hungry anymore after eating three big steamed buns, but since the other party had specially bought such a large table of dishes to entertain them, they definitely had to eat some. While eating, Jiang Youliang explained his request for Shan Rong's help—
Langshan's situation is different from Banligou's. Although Banligou was poor and had no roads in the past, it was not far from the main road. As long as someone was willing to invest, it wouldn't cost much to build a road. But Langshan is different. There is no reason for the country to spend huge sums of money to build a winding mountain road that few people use for the sake of a few families. Therefore, many poverty alleviation projects are not suitable for them.
For example, the new potato and cassava varieties that the township vigorously promoted a few years ago have increased yields, but the villagers don't plant too much. First, there aren't enough people at home; the young people have all gone out to work, and how much can the elderly, weak, women, and children at home plant? Second, the transportation is too poor; no matter how much is harvested, if it can't be sold, it will just rot in the fields, wasting the seeds and fertilizer.
“I heard from others that there’s a very powerful boss here. He’s very knowledgeable and has many connections. He wants to get Brother Shanrong’s phone number. My Xiaoman said she wants to go and learn from this Boss Tang. But without an introduction, I’m afraid he won’t even agree to meet her.”
“What’s the big deal? Our Xiaoman is ambitious! This is nothing! We’re really on the same page! Actually, we’ve been trying to get the villagers to grow shiitake mushrooms with us for the past few years. By the way, the shiitake mushrooms under the trees in our village were invested in by that Boss Tang. She’s a really nice person. She would be so happy if she knew you were willing to join us!”
"I think we should do this: it's getting late, after we finish eating I'll have your nephew drive you to town to buy a refrigerator and then deliver it back to you. When you're back and the refrigerator is empty, have Xiaoman come over by himself, and I'll take him to see Boss Tang. What do you think?"
"That's great! It's just too far to drive there. We'll go to town to buy it ourselves, take it with us to catch the bus, and get home in one transfer." Jiang Youliang firmly refused to trouble his newly reunited relatives.
"Stop nagging! Listen to me! We have a car at home, it's just a trip, what's the trouble?" Shan Rong waved his hand, and his son smiled and said it was no trouble at all. In fact, he was quite interested in going to Langshan to take a look.
Author's Note:
This chapter is also known as: Jiang Xiaoman's First Visit to the Grand View Garden, hahaha~
Regarding the price of the noodles, I referenced the prices of typical farmhouse noodle shops in our local tourist area. I don't know about your area, but the prices here are truly reasonable. A bowl of shredded beef noodles is generously topped with pickled mustard greens, dried bamboo shoots, and shredded beef. The noodles are also very chewy and handmade—it's delicious! A single bowl of shredded beef noodles costs 18 yuan, and adding shredded tripe costs 25 yuan. By the way, is shredded tripe very expensive? I haven't bought it before. Thank you to the little angels who voted for me or watered my plants between 2021-11-15 10:39:38 and 2021-11-16 11:48:03!
Thank you to the little angels who watered the nutrient solution: Ye Zhi Qiu (18 bottles); Mu Mu and Taotie E Le (5 bottles each);
Thank you so much for your support! I will continue to work hard!
Chapter 13
Jiang Xiaoman is a social media master. In the time it takes to eat a meal, he added all of Shan Rong's family as WeChat friends. He also made an appointment with his newly recognized cousin, Shan Rong's eldest son Shan Tang, to come over again this Friday. That day happens to be the day Tang Xinlan comes to inspect the base at the beginning of each month. He won't need to go to Shangtang Village then; he can just wait for them at Banligou.
While he was frantically adding friends with the Shan family, his father was also quietly pulled aside by the old village chief of Shanrong.
"Brother Youliang, you live in the mountains, do you know if the clan's shaman is still alive?"
Well, you can't blame him for being superstitious. It's just that in recent years, tourists from outside have been asking the villagers if they still have any totem culture or sacrificial culture. They did have these things in the past, but then the Cultural Revolution ended.
Those "feudal superstitions" are long gone! Banligou is now a civilized and scientific new rural area! Even professors and experts from the provincial agricultural university come here to conduct scientific research.
The problem is that tourists don't buy it. They think the mountain people sound mysterious. And because the old village chief Shanrong is old, many tourists keep asking him questions. It's okay a few times, but now even Shanrong can't help but start to doubt life: Did they really make a mistake when they "destroyed the four olds" back then?
What ancient treasures did the shaman really hide?
Unfortunately, because the Shan family lineage lived closer to the foot of the mountain and came into contact with modern civilization earlier, all that remains now is the annual mountain god worship tradition, and even that tradition is becoming increasingly rudimentary. When he was young, the village would be bustling for days during the mountain god worship, but not anymore. Everyone has a job, and who would give up their perfect attendance bonus just to sing around a bonfire with the villagers? They'd rather spend that time scrolling through short videos on their phones; those people online dance much better than they do!
In recent years, Shan Rong has been leading people into the deep mountains, claiming that he is driving away wild animals to protect the village's mushroom cultivation base. In reality, he may also be looking into the mountains to see if the villagers living in the old forests still support a shaman.
Seeing his cousin's eager gaze, Jiang Youliang couldn't help but blush, and his eyes flickered.
At this moment, he began to secretly regret it. He should have asked his cousin to open a bottle of wine. If he had drunk it, he could have pretended to be crazy and foolish, and he wouldn't have had to be in such an embarrassing situation now.
But his cousin kept staring at him like that, and he couldn't just stay silent. Just as he was hesitating, Jiang Xiaoman returned from his "relationship building" trip. Hearing his uncle Shanrong asking about the village's shaman, Jiang Xiaoman smiled wryly—
“Where are there any more shamans? Uncle, you don’t know, our Jiang family did have an old shaman in the past. When I was a child, my dad often took me to his house. Later, the old shaman passed away and passed on the clan ritual to his youngest son. My dad said that his youngest son hides in the house all day playing mobile games. Last year, he even helped the village paint anti-feudal superstition slogans on the walls.”
"What?!" The old village chief of Shanrong felt a chill in his heart.
Seeing that his son had already said it all, Jiang Youliang also gave up, "Each generation is worse than the last! When the old shaman was still around, we could still go and have our fortunes told or ask for divine intervention. But now this young shaman, I heard he uses his phone for divination. What can he possibly get out of that?"
Jiang Youliang complained bitterly to the old village chief Shanrong about the unreliability of the young shaman, scolding him for wasting the treasures left by the old shaman. However, he did not expect that his cousin Shanrong only heard the word "treasures".
"What treasure? Is it something used in clan sacrifices? Or is it the old shaman's notes?" Shan Rong's eyes lit up.
“We have them all! There are inscriptions written on goatskin by our ancestors, old books, and even animal bones we used for divination in the old days… They’re just lying there and nobody cares!”
"If no one cares, we can have them!" Shan Rong couldn't help but stand up. "I'll go back with you and take a look!"
What a wonderful relationship! The two families have just become relatives, and it's the perfect time to visit each other more often and strengthen their bond. Jiang Youliang immediately invited his cousin's family to go to the mountains for a visit: "There are plenty of delicious things to eat in the mountains this season, and the potatoes have been harvested. There's nothing to do in the fields right now."
However, it was impossible for everyone to visit relatives. Shan Rong's son and daughter-in-law both had jobs in the village. His daughter-in-law was the village's women's director, and his wife also had to manage a lot of things at home. There were also guests in several guest rooms, so someone had to stay at home. In the end, only Shan Rong, the retired village chief, went to visit relatives.