Jiang Xiaoman chopped off the fish head and innards, picked out the edible parts and processed them. Checking the time, she decided to cook two pots of fish head and offal noodle soup for the children as a late-night snack.
This kind of fish offal soup is quite complicated to make. You have to use a bit of skill to separate the fish head, which is a technical skill that Jiang Xiaoman doesn't know how to do. However, her father is a master at separating fish heads. He can easily cut a large fish head into several pieces by inserting a heavy cleaver into the gaps in the fish head skeleton.
The only edible parts inside the fish are the swim bladder, roe, and liver. Clean these thoroughly and set aside. Heat oil in a wok, add ginger slices, garlic, and a sliced onion, and sauté until fragrant. Then add the prepared fish head and offal, stir-fry briefly, then add half a bowl of soybean paste and a handful of dried chili peppers. Continue to stir-fry, being careful not to break the roe. Finally, pour in most of a pot of water, cover, and simmer over high heat for ten minutes.
While waiting, Jiang Xiaoman tore open the flour bag, filled it with more than half a basin of wheat flour, added water and stirred it into a paste.
Then, boil water in another pot, and slowly pull the batter into it to make noodles. Once the noodles are cooked, use a large bamboo strainer to scoop them into the pot of stewed fish head, and stir well.
He didn't want to throw away the noodle soup next to the fish head noodles. He added a handful of chopped Swiss chard, two spoonfuls of lard, and a large spoonful of salt, and that made a pot of noodle soup. After eating the fish head noodles, he would have a bowl of hot and light noodle soup, and then sleep soundly at night. No matter how big his worries were, they would be gone.
Jiang Baichuan was halfway through his evening self-study session when he smelled the aroma of fish soup coming from the kitchen.
Not only him, but all the kids in the classroom couldn't sit still either. Their eyes were glued to their books, and they were practically drooling on their desks.
Just then, his phone beeped softly. He opened WeChat and, sure enough, it was a message from Jiang Xiaoman—
"Uncle Baichuan, I made fish head noodles. Have you finished class yet? Tell the kids to come over for a late-night snack."
He now understood why the kids at school all looked forward to Jiang Xiaoman's visit; his arrival meant the students could finally have a treat.
Fish head noodle soup? I guess most families only make that during Chinese New Year.
Jiang Xiaoman, on the other hand, even though her house collapsed, she still went to great lengths to make a fish head soup? Should we call her heartless or praise her for being positive and optimistic?
However, since we've already done it, let's go eat. After doing homework all night, the kids will probably have already digested what they ate this evening.
The children were even happier to see Jiang Xiaoman than to see their most beloved principal father.
Although the principal was very kind to them, he only cooked a few dishes over and over again. Unlike Xiaoman, who was a culinary genius!
Since it was a late-night snack, Jiang Xiaoman didn't make much. Each person had a bowl of fish head and offal stew noodles, plus a bowl of light vegetable noodle soup. However, compared to the roasted potatoes, boiled potatoes, and braised potatoes that Jiang Baichuan usually made for the students, this was already a standard Manchu-Han feast.
The children, holding their bowls, ate their late-night snack standing up since there was nowhere to sit in the kitchen. After finishing, they went to wash the dishes and put them back in their place, but didn't leave immediately.
While having supper earlier, Principal Dad told them that because Xiaoman's house collapsed, he and his father would have to stay at the school for a while. When the children heard that Xiaoman no longer had a home, their eyes instantly welled up with tears, and the younger ones even ran over crying and hugged Jiang Xiaoman's leg tightly.
"Brother Xiaoman, why don't you come stay at my house? My parents only come back once a year!"
"Come to my house! My house is the closest to Xiaoman's house! It's just me and my grandma at my house, and no one lives in the three rooms upstairs!"
"Hmph! Brother Xiaoman, don't listen to them. Come to my house. My uncle's house has been empty for two years. The key is still at my house. I'll call my aunt, and you can live in their whole house by yourself!"
Jiang Baichuan, listening from the side, was practically dying of envy. All he did, acting as both teacher and nanny every day, and these heartless little brats had never even offered him a place to live. What did Jiang Xiaoman do to deserve this? She was just a good cook, yet she had these little rascals completely bewitched.
Jiang Xiaoman certainly wouldn't stay at someone else's house. In fact, even at the school, he and his father couldn't stay for too long. He had already planned to stay at the school for a few days first, then ask two people in the village to help build a simple house near his home. Once he had a place to stay, he could hire some builders to quickly build his house before the weather got too hot.
However, it's a good thing that children are kind-hearted, and Jiang Xiaoman wouldn't let them off the hook. She immediately started crying about how difficult things were for her, because she had to build a house and no one was taking care of her pigs and chickens. She coaxed a group of children and managed to make a duty roster on the spot. Everyone agreed that before Xiaoman's brother's new house was built, he could keep his pigs and chickens at the school and take turns taking care of them. Two people would be assigned to cut pig feed to feed the pigs and chickens every day.
Anyway, there are labor classes every day now.
Principal Jiang, who also teaches labor classes: "..."
Did you ask for my opinion, the teacher in charge, before making these unauthorized changes to the class schedule?
The sudden collapse of his house brought Jiang Xiaoman not only financial difficulties, but also forced him to put his unstarted business on hold. He had originally made an appointment with Tang Xinlan to invite her to Langshan for an on-site inspection after he returned from school, but now that his family didn't even have a place to stay, what was the point of inviting her to come and inspect?
After thinking for a moment, Jiang Xiaoman opened WeChat, found Tang Xinlan's profile picture, clicked on it, and carefully explained her family's situation to her.
Unexpectedly, as soon as he sent the WeChat message, he immediately received a text reply from Tang Xinlan: Is it convenient to take a voice call?
So convenient! Convenient anytime!
Jiang Xiaoman sprang up with a quick movement, put on her coat, grabbed her phone, and ran to the balcony. Sure enough, Tang Xinlan's voice call came in very soon.
"Xiaoman! I'm sorry to bother you so late. I heard you say that your old house on the mountain collapsed. It must have to be rebuilt, right? Have you considered building a mountain guesthouse on the original site?" Tang Xinlan's voice sounded a little hurried.
"A bed and breakfast? That must cost a lot of money, right? Sister Tang, I don't have that much money on hand..." Jiang Xiaoman also wanted to build a bed and breakfast right away, but the problem was that her family's conditions were such that they couldn't afford to build even a regular two-story house, let alone a bed and breakfast. Their current savings were only enough to build one story at most.
"Money is not a problem. Could you postpone construction for a few days? I'll take some people to assess it first. If the conditions are met, I can invest. Your family will provide the land and daily maintenance, and I'll fund the construction of the house for you. What do you think?"
How about that? That's amazing!
However, thinking about the mountain road near her home, Jiang Xiaoman hesitated for a moment before explaining the actual difficulties to Tang Xinlan. The environment halfway up the mountain where her home was located was absolutely perfect, but the biggest problem was that there was only one narrow mountain road from the foot of the mountain to her home. Who in their right mind would be willing to walk for tens of minutes to climb the mountain to stay overnight? And then carry a suitcase? Wouldn't that be exhausting?
There was a moment of silence on the other end of the phone, followed by a soft laugh: "Xiaoman, I don't know if you've heard of a new travel trend in the city called secluded meditation?"
"Secluded meditation? Does that mean becoming a monk?" Jiang Xiaoman was taken aback. For someone like him who was busy making a living every day, these four words were simply not in his vocabulary.
"Pfft~ You could call it becoming a monk, but it's more like a vacation-style monastic life. Anyway, just wait for me for two days. Today is Wednesday, Friday at the latest, I'll definitely come to your place. I'll bring our designer with me. If the site inspection is suitable, we can sign a cooperation agreement on the spot. I can guarantee that your annual income from accommodation will not be less than 80,000 yuan, and I'll make up for every penny less!"
"No, no, Sister Tang, that's not what I meant. We're doing business together. You've put in so much money, I can't just take advantage without losing anything. We can talk about profits later. Whether it can be done or not, I'll wait for you to come before I decide."
Jiang Xiaoman knew that this would be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for him, a chance to realize his dream!
After hanging up the phone, Jiang Xiaoman suddenly felt energized and wanted to go for a run. However, after checking the time, she realized that the students on the second floor must be asleep by now. Not wanting to disturb them, Jiang Xiaoman simply put her phone in her pocket and went back to her room to settle accounts with her father.
Don't get me wrong, he really was "doing the math"—he wanted to carefully calculate how much money the family had left. Tang Xinlan had promised to pay for the construction of the guesthouse, but what about the rest?
Since they are tourists coming to visit, they certainly can't just stay at home all day, idling and playing on their phones, right? Thinking back to when he went to Banligou before, he saw that their village had so many fun activities, and Jiang Xiaoman thought that perhaps they could also set up one or two such "projects" near his home.
Even if only a few people come to experience it each day, and each person pays fifty yuan, you can still earn several hundred yuan a day.
His father is getting old and will definitely not be able to do farm work anymore. If this bed and breakfast business can really take off, we can start planning and arrange a stable business for his father. Even if it doesn't make much money, at least he'll have something to keep him occupied, so that his father won't be bored and go and plant crops on the neighbor's abandoned land...
Fresh corn on the cob is delicious, but we planted too many, and harvesting it is a bit of a hassle for my son.
Chapter 26
While Jiang Xiaoman was making a phone call, Jiang Youliang hadn't slept at all; he simply couldn't fall asleep!
The son always tells others that he manages all the money in the house. On the one hand, he's afraid that when Jiang Youliang is at school, he'll be home alone and people will find out he has money, which could lead to trouble. On the other hand, the main reason is that their family really doesn't have much money... The son is just saying this to save face for him.
Don't be fooled by the fact that he planted so many things here and there. Actually, corn and potatoes aren't worth much. Every household in the mountains grows them, and nobody usually pays to buy them. They're only sold to peddlers at the market, and even then, the price is extremely low. A basket of potatoes can only fetch a few dozen yuan. As for corn, it's practically unsellable. People there are supposedly doing large-scale transactions. He grows corn mainly for his own family or to chop up and feed to the pigs.
The only things in the family that could be sold for money were those two pigs. At most, they could fetch a few thousand yuan a year. Jiang Youliang didn't dare touch a single penny of that money; it all had to be saved for his son's schooling. He knew his son was academically gifted, but Jiang Youliang had never left the mountains in his entire life. In his imagination, going to school in the city would mean living on less than a thousand yuan a month.
Based on this calculation, Jiang Xiaoman needs to prepare at least 20,000 yuan for a year of university plus tuition, which would amount to 80,000 yuan for four years. This is a huge sum of money for Jiang Youliang!
So over the years, Jiang Youliang has taken the concept of "saving money" to the extreme. Whenever his son is not home, his daily meals consist mainly of boiled potatoes, roasted potatoes, and stewed potatoes. Apart from the new clothes his son brings him when he comes home for winter and summer vacations, he himself is reluctant to buy even a new pair of socks.
Even so, they haven't saved much money over the years. All in all, they have less than 30,000 yuan. This is all thanks to their son's "good money-making skills"—he managed to cover his university tuition and living expenses on his own. Otherwise, let alone 20,000 yuan, his family would probably be in debt after four years of university!
The thought of the huge sum of money needed to rebuild the house kept Jiang Youliang awake at night.
As soon as Jiang Xiaoman entered the door, she heard her father let out a heavy sigh. Her heart ached, and she went over and sat down on the futon on the floor. She then shook her father up and explained that Tang Xinlan wanted to invest in building a bed and breakfast on the land of their old house, emphasizing the benefits of the deal.
First, they can build new houses without spending a single penny.
Secondly, Tang Xinlan would give them a "guaranteed minimum income," meaning that no matter how many guests they received each year, they would earn at least 80,000 yuan.
“We can’t let them cover our expenses! Eighty thousand yuan a year! How many guests would that be? Can our house accommodate so many people?” Jiang Youliang was startled and immediately forgot to sigh, and started flipping through the books.
He worked himself to the bone for five years and still couldn't save up 30,000 yuan. How could he earn 80,000 yuan a year running a bed and breakfast?
And, most importantly—
"If we rent our homestead to that Mr. Tang to build a bed and breakfast, where will my son and I live?"
That is a problem!
Jiang Xiaoman thought for a moment and immediately came up with an idea: "Didn't Uncle Youjin and his whole family move to the city next door? They're probably going to sell their homestead. Homesteads aren't worth much in the village these days, let alone the ones on our mountain. Dad, why don't you call Uncle Youjin and ask if he's selling his homestead? If the price is right, why don't we buy it?"
“When the time comes, we can use our homestead to build a bed and breakfast to make money, and the two of us can rebuild our house on Uncle Jin’s homestead.”
Jiang Xiaoman could roughly guess that Tang Xinlan would definitely reserve housing for employees when building a homestay. Since their home was so far away, most people probably wouldn't go to the mountains to work. In the end, there would probably only be two "employees," him and his father, who could just stay in the homestay. But he hadn't met Tang Xinlan yet, and he had never run a homestay before, so he didn't know how it worked. He could only make his own plans first.
However, regardless of whether Tang Xinlan would reserve staff dormitories for the father and son at the guesthouse, he wanted to buy the homestead of the Jin family in the neighboring Jiang family. He wanted to start his own small business in the future, like the pickle workshop and sesame seed cake shop in Banligou. Even if he only earned one or two thousand yuan a month, it would be much better than farming.
Most importantly, running a shop is much easier than farming. It's perfect for his father to retire in!
Jiang Youliang was worried about building a house, but now that his son wants to buy the neighbor's land, he feels that his mind is no longer able to keep up with the young man's ideas. He simply lets his son have his way. After all, he only has a little over 20,000 yuan in savings. Even if he loses it all, it won't matter.
The father and son calculated the money they had on hand and found that if they didn't build a reinforced concrete house, but just a simple brick house for themselves, 30,000 yuan would definitely be enough. There were only two people in their family, and a three-room house would be enough for them. They could make the beams and roof themselves, just buy some red bricks and cement, and hire a few people to help. It wouldn't cost much.
The next morning, after feeding the pigs, Jiang Youliang immediately took out his phone and called his old neighbor Jiang Youjin next door.
Jiang Youjin was a lucky man. His wife gave birth to two daughters in a row. The village was very strict about family planning, and many people in the village laughed at them, saying that they would not have a son to support them in their old age.
Who would have thought that the elderly couple's life is now much more comfortable than that of other families in the village with sons! Their two daughters went to work in a garment factory in their early years. Later, they probably became more experienced in the industry. One of them went into wholesale and made a lot of money, while the other went around recruiting workers for garment factories and also made a lot of money. I heard that the two sisters have now bought several houses and shops in the city. A few years ago, because the two daughters had children one after another, the two sisters were too busy with their businesses to take care of their children, so they simply abandoned their houses and land and took the two elderly people to the city.
When Jiang Youjin received Jiang Youliang's call and heard that he wanted to buy his family's homestead, Jiang Youjin was stunned for a moment. Although the two families were neighbors, they were actually several hundred meters apart. Why would Jiang Youliang leave his own homestead unused and want to buy his?
Jiang Youliang could only sigh and briefly explain that his old house had been crushed by a landslide. However, he didn't mention that Tang Xinlan planned to use his family's land to build a homestay. His son had told him that the matter was still far from being settled and that he shouldn't announce it to the outside world, otherwise, if it didn't work out, he would be laughed at by the villagers.
Jiang Youliang was very concerned about his reputation, so he immediately shut his mouth upon hearing this.
When Jiang Youjin heard that his old house had collapsed, and that it was a landslide, he immediately felt sorry for him. The mountain had collapsed, so it was no wonder that his house site could not be used. Landslides are difficult to repair. If a section of the mountain collapses, and the remaining section is not reinforced, it will collapse again every time it rains. There would definitely be no way to build a house on the original site.
The cost of building a slope is much higher than building a house, and ordinary people simply cannot afford it. No wonder Jiang Youliang wanted to buy his family's homestead... Speaking of which, although his family's mountain land was not as fertile as Jiang Youliang's, his family's land was all rocky mountains, making the homestead extremely sturdy.
Jiang Youjin said he needed to discuss it with his two daughters, and they replied before noon—his two daughters would not be going back in the future, and they did want to sell the homestead in their hometown, but they wanted to transfer the family's several acres of mountain land along with it.
Rural homesteads and individual family-owned mountain forests and land cannot be bought or sold, but the right to use them can be transferred. Jiang Youjin quoted a price of 50,000 yuan, including the homestead, his family's bamboo forest, and mountain land.
Jiang Youliang's heart sank when he heard this: "Old Jin, my family also has bamboo forests and mountain land. I just want to buy a homestead. Your bamboo forests and mountain land are useless to me even if I buy them!"
He's getting old, and Xiaoman doesn't like farming. What would he want to do with someone else's mountain land? To feed wild boars?
“We have no choice. If we sell the homestead to you separately, then no one will want the bamboo forest and mountain land.” Jiang Youjin was also in a dilemma. He had a good relationship with Jiang Youliang, but his two daughters were the ones in charge of the family now. His two daughters had started working at a young age and had only a so-so relationship with their relatives and neighbors. They did not intend to waste the money.
“How about this, Brother Liang, why don’t you go and ask if anyone is willing to buy with you? Anyway, my daughter’s idea is to sell all of our homestead and mountain land at once, and she doesn’t care who we sell to,” Jiang Youjin said in the end.
Jiang Youliang was furious. He felt his old neighbor had changed since moving to the city; even his longtime brother had become petty. That was 50,000 yuan! Just to buy a plot of land that nobody wanted? Those bamboo groves and hills that Jiang Youjin mentioned—how many years had they been abandoned? Besides, his hometown was a rocky mountain, and the hillsides were all gravelly. You couldn't grow anything there except sweet potatoes. He didn't even go there to gather pig feed. What was the point of buying it?
"Planting some sweet potatoes wouldn't be bad, Dad, wait a minute, let me ask Sister Tang if she wants some." Unlike his father, Jiang Xiaoman knew that forest resources would become increasingly valuable. He knew about Jiang Youjin's bamboo forest and mountain land, which were even larger than his own. Let's say the homestead is worth 20,000 yuan, and such a large bamboo forest and mountain land would only be worth 30,000 yuan at most. If he weren't so short of money, he would have gritted his teeth and bought it himself.
Sure enough, when Tang Xinlan heard that the total cost, including the house site, bamboo forest, and mountain land, was only 50,000 yuan, she immediately agreed. However, she didn't make any promises, only asking him to stall the other party for a few days.
"We'll take a look at both places on Friday, and if they're suitable, we'll buy them together."
Upon hearing his son say that he would drag things out for a few days, Jiang Youliang immediately laughed: "I hope they don't even want Jiang Youjin's bamboo forest and land. I'd rather build a shack in the mountains and live there! Then their homestead will just rot there and nobody will want it!"
His silence caused Jiang Youjin, who was far away in the city, to panic. He thought about it and realized that his forced "bundled sales" was indeed a bit unfair. However, since his two daughters were the ones earning money to support the family, he didn't dare to argue with them and could only sigh and lament at home.
That made his daughter laugh in exasperation.
Jiang Youjin's daughter never intended to make money from the family's homestead and forest land. The reason she wanted to sell them as a package was to sever ties with her family and prevent her parents from arguing about going back to farm whenever they had a fight. Now that she has sold the homestead and the family's forest land, let's see how they can go back to their hometown.
"How about this, Dad, wait and see. If Uncle Liang really can't come up with that much money all at once, tell him that he can pay in installments over three years. Didn't Xiaoman graduate from university? A college graduate should be able to save up 50,000 yuan in three years, right?"
Jiang Youjin was unwilling to wait. That evening, he made an excuse to take his granddaughter for a walk and ran to the neighborhood to call Jiang Youliang, telling him the good news that he could "pay in installments".
"Hmph~ At least he still has some conscience! If I hadn't gone up the mountain with him to dig for herbs and hunt wild boars back then, where would he have gotten the money to marry a wife? And without a wife, where would these two daughters have come from?" Jiang Youliang proudly told his son the good news, and couldn't help but bring up a few old grievances.