I love it! Hurry and place your order to grab it!
The rock honey that Shan Yan brought down the mountain this time, besides his own stock, he also asked two other friends, and only managed to gather a total of 300 jin (150 kg). It was all sold out by Jiang Xiaoman in less than one night...
Shan Yan was truly convinced.
Because of Jiang Xiaoman's strong sales channels, Shan Yan had a new idea.
After harvesting this batch of rock honey, they will have nothing to do. He plans to work with his apprentices to make more beehives and place them in various parts of the mountains.
Langshan is rich in nectar sources, making it an excellent production area for high-quality local honey. However, in the past, because the sales channels were controlled by middlemen, local beekeepers could not earn much money, so no one went to the mountains to put beehives.
But things are different now. With Jiang Xiaoman's sales channels, perhaps he can really lead the villagers in the mountains to find a way to get rich.
Chapter 106
They finished work early in the afternoon. Lately, they've been busy collecting honey everywhere. Sometimes they miss mealtimes and just grab a couple of roasted potatoes. They're really exhausted. Finally, they got a break, and Jiang Xiaoman rolled up her sleeves and made a whole table full of delicious food!
In the very center is a large bowl of braised chicken with wild mushrooms.
The chicken was given to him by Chunhua's sister-in-law; it was a big rooster weighing a good seven pounds!
These are not broiler chickens raised on a farm for sale; they are chickens that Shan Chunhua raises for her own family to eat.
Jiang Xiaoman brought back a bag of fresh bee pupae from the honey harvest, which both children loved.
Shan Chunhua felt bad about eating his food for free, so she caught him a big rooster.
The wild mushrooms were picked by him and Jiang Yu on their way to collect honey in the mountains.
A bighead carp weighing about ten pounds was dissected into a large bowl of fish chunks, head and tail included, and braised with firm tofu. The fish was tender, and the tofu was soaked in the delicious fish soup. Jiang Xiaoman also stuck a ring of cornbread around the edge of the pot, which looked especially beautiful and was a perfect match for soaking in the fish soup.
There was also a dish of stir-fried cured pork with green peppers, stir-fried eggs with chives, braised prawns, stir-fried snails with soy sauce, and winter melon and meatball soup... The whole yard was filled with the tempting aroma of food!
Jiang Yu, who had taken the two younger children to pick up Shan Cha from school, started shouting as soon as he entered the door that he wanted to kidnap Jiang Xiaoman and bring her back to be his wife, cooking for him every day!
"Shut up! You're just too lazy to put your heart into it. When it comes to cooking, as long as you put your heart into it, there's nothing you can't do well." Jiang Xiaoman retorted, then told Shancha to take her sisters to wash their hands and prepare for dinner.
"Big sister, the new home is so nice! Can we not go back to our old home?"
“Grandma wouldn’t feed us and she was always scolding us… I didn’t like my old home, I like this home.”
While washing her hands, the second sister, Shan Guo, nestled in her older sister Shan Cha's arms and murmured softly.
"We won't go back. You all need to be good and listen to Uncle Shan and Uncle Jiang. From now on, our family will get better and better." Smelling the aroma of food coming from the kitchen, Shancha couldn't help but smile.
It doesn't matter if Jiang Yu's father doesn't like cooking. She has already decided that after graduating from junior high school, she will go to a vocational school to learn to be a chef. She heard that her brother Xiao Man wants to open a bed and breakfast and a restaurant at home in the future, which will definitely require a chef.
Once she has mastered cooking skills, she can return to her hometown to help Xiaoman, or apply for a job as a cafeteria chef at a school.
Thinking of this, Camellia couldn't help but smile, feeling that her current life was even better than she had ever dreamed of.
"Time to eat!" Jiang Xiaoman called out, and the brightly lit main room was instantly filled with people.
"Principal Dad!" When Shancha saw Jiang Baichuan appear here, her eyes widened in surprise.
“It’s after get off work hours now. He’s not your principal, he’s my uncle!” Jiang Xiaoman said with a smile as she poured Jiang Baichuan a glass of monkey wine.
This time, he and Jiang Yu went to various villages to collect honey. In some unfamiliar places, they were fortunate that Jiang Baichuan called them in advance to find someone they knew to guide them.
Because of his connection to the principal, many villagers were incredibly enthusiastic towards him when they heard that he was the nephew of Principal Jiang of Langshan Elementary School.
Jiang Xiaoman knew that this wasn't because Jiang Baichuan was the school principal, but because he truly considered every student his responsibility.
During the years his uncle served as principal, he visited almost every village within his jurisdiction, and even some villages that were not in the township's jurisdiction but were closer to them.
He found and brought back many girls who had been forced to drop out of school because they had to take care of their younger siblings.
The villagers complained that he was meddling in other people's business, but in their hearts they had great respect for Principal Jiang Baichuan.
With everyone's permission, Jiang Xiaoman placed the tripod and her phone on the table to record this heartwarming family dinner.
The family that rented the house from Shan Yan must have been well-off before, as they used a very sturdy eight-immortal table with a red lacquer finish. At this moment, the table was filled with delicious home-cooked dishes. The two "elders," Jiang Youliang and Jiang Baichuan, sat at the head of the table, with Shan Yan and Jiang Xiaoman on their left, Jiang Yu with their youngest daughter Shan Hua on their right, and Shan Cha with her second sister Shan Guo at the bottom.
Seeing this, Jiang Baichuan couldn't help but smile with satisfaction.
He actually strongly disagrees with many of the traditional customs in Langshan.
For example, when entertaining guests at home, women and children are not allowed to sit at the table, even if there are empty seats. This custom always makes Jiang Baichuan, who advocates gender equality, very uncomfortable.
However, it would be impolite to criticize the host's behavior to their face when visiting someone's home, so he rarely ate at his students' homes, especially female students. It would be very upsetting for him, as the teacher, to sit at the table and watch his students squat on the doorstep to eat like second-class citizens.
However, the way the rocks and the fish cooked suited his taste perfectly.
In Jiang Baichuan's view, children in the mountains, especially girls, need to cultivate self-esteem and self-confidence from a young age. Otherwise, even if they pass the college entrance examination and get into a big city, they will encounter many problems in their future lives.
Jiang Baichuan stood up and toasted Shan Yan with a glass of wine to thank him for taking care of his student.
Originally, Aunt Chen planned to let Shancha stay at her house, but Shancha was worried about her two younger sisters and offered to stay with Jiangyu and the others. Aunt Chen thought that since they were all in the village, it wouldn't be a problem, so she let her stay.
Jiang Yu was a shrewd man. He noticed the implication in Chen Sao's words and immediately changed rooms. The house he was renting now had the three sisters, Camellia, living on the side near the village chief's house, while his and Shan Yan's room was on the side near the river. The two sides were separated by a main room, which was a way to avoid suspicion.
Now, Camellia's food and accommodation are better than at her old home. I heard that she doesn't have to do housework after school; she just needs to help take care of her two younger sisters after finishing her homework.
Her originally thin face has visibly regained the roundness and cuteness that a girl of her age should have, thanks to adequate nutrition.
Jiang Baichuan saw this and felt even more that he hadn't been wrong to take that brick blow back then... He couldn't help but clink glasses with Jiang Xiaoman again.
Jiang Xiaoman stood up nervously when his uncle offered her a toast, her voice trembling with anxiety: "Uncle~ I've been so busy lately that I haven't had time to go to the school cafeteria, and I haven't been able to use up your grain, oil, rice, or noodles..."
"Pfft~" Jiang Yu couldn't help but laugh.
Recently, he has been catching up on Jiang Xiaoman's old videos, so he naturally knows that the most popular joke among Xiaoman's fans is about his feud with the principal.
"I didn't say you ruined my things!" Jiang Baichuan was speechless. "I wanted to thank you for finding such a good family for the three sisters, Shancha and her sister."
Jiang Baichuan sat down, and perhaps because he had drunk too much, he took the initiative to talk about his visit to Shancha's family.
At that time, Shancha was only in the second grade. Her mother was pregnant and had to work in the fields, feed the pigs and cook all day long. She couldn't take care of Shancha at all. Her grandmother said nice things, telling her mother to focus on giving birth to her grandson and that she would take care of Shancha.
But what is the reality? Second-grader Camellia has to get up and make breakfast herself in the morning. Because she is too young to cook, she can only eat a few warm roasted potatoes from the charcoal ash to barely fill her stomach.
At that time, the canteen at Langshan Elementary School had not yet been set up, and students who lived far away would bring their own lunch.
At least other families would bring an old-fashioned aluminum lunchbox with some leftover rice and dishes to school so the teacher could heat it up for them. But Shancha would bring out either roasted potatoes or porridge in a mineral water bottle for every meal.
Sometimes, in the summer, I'd hide it in my schoolbag, and by the time I took it out at lunchtime, it was all spoiled. But I couldn't not eat it, or I'd go hungry...
Now look at it, Shancha can have a hot breakfast at home in the morning, and when she goes to school, she eats in the cafeteria with her classmates at noon.
Jiang Baichuan is now better off financially and has become much more generous with the school cafeteria's purchases, ensuring that the children have a meat dish at every meal. They also get two cornbread buns before school ends in the afternoon. When they get home in the evening, Jiang Yu is said to provide the three children with fish, meat, shrimp, and eggs for every meal to nourish their bodies, and they can even drink a cup of honey water before going to bed.
“Xiaoman, you must do a good job! Make sure the villagers can earn money! With money, the children can go to the city to study and broaden their horizons! Our Langshan can’t continue to be so foolish generation after generation!” As he spoke, Jiang Baichuan, a grown man, actually buried his face in his hands on the table and began to sob.
Well! He's definitely drunk!
Jiang Xiaoman, both amused and exasperated, helped his uncle up and asked Shan Yan for help. The two of them helped Jiang Baichuan back to his school dormitory to rest. When they got home, the three children had already eaten their fill. Jiang Yu had kept several dishes warm in a large pot. When she saw the two of them come back, she quickly brought them out for them to eat and asked if they wanted to save some for Jiang Baichuan.
"No need. My dad and I will be sleeping at the school tonight. If he gets hungry, I'll cook him noodles." Jiang Xiaoman waved her hand and picked up her chopsticks to eat heartily.
Jiang Xiaoman later posted the video online. Fans were initially attracted by the large table of farm-style dishes, but after hearing Jiang Baichuan's words, everyone fell silent.
Many netizens could hardly believe their ears! What era are we living in? How can there still be such a ridiculous rule in China that "women and children are not allowed to sit at the table when guests are invited to the house"?
And then there's Camellia's grandmother, whose statement, "You can have your grandson in peace, I'll take care of the older one," is just another piece of information for those who are afraid of marriage... This old woman is so cruel! Camellia is her own granddaughter, only in second grade, and she doesn't even cook breakfast for her? She even makes the child take spoiled porridge to school for lunch? Is she even human?
"To be honest, when I saw that Brother Xiaoman had found this foster family for the Camellia sisters, I felt a little awkward. I just felt it wasn't quite right. Now I want to apologize to Brother Xiaoman. I was blind!"
"Me too... If my own grandmother treated me like that, I'd rather go out and collect scraps to support myself than be adopted!"
"Hilarious! These days, even the scrap collectors in the city eat better food than camellias!"
"Am I the only one who thinks Shan Yan and Jiang Yu are a really sweet couple? Now they even have three beautiful and adorable daughters. Aren't they the ultimate winners in life?"
"Hey ladies! There's a Jiangshan CP fan group here, could you please join?"
"As expected, handsome guys belong to other handsome guys. I'm just not good enough for them o(╥﹏╥)o"
...
For some reason, the comments section suddenly veered off-topic and started talking about the couple Shanyan and Jiangyu.
Netizens generally believe that, given the current severe gender imbalance, a life like Shanyan and Jiangyu's, where they can find someone they like to live with, and even adopt a few children, is simply perfect!
Let alone men, even the women in the comments section who don't want to get married are incredibly envious.
Many people are asking if this couple has a personal account. Jiang Xiaoman knows the answer to that question!
"After my persistent persuasion, Brother Jiangyu has finally decided to start a video account! Check it out here: @打渔小哥江小鱼 (Jiangyu the Fisherman). Starting tomorrow, our Brother Jiangyu will be live-streaming his fishing trips!"
Jiang Xiaoman took the opportunity to advertise for Jiangyu.
Beekeeping in the mountains is only busy for 1 to 2 months a year, and the rest of the time is just idle. Jiang Xiaoman advised Jiang Yu to join him in making short videos.
This way he can pass the time, since he'll be bored at home all by himself once all three children go to school.
Secondly, although Langshan is located in the mountains, it is actually rich in water resources. Many people in Jiangyu's hometown also make a living by fishing. Since he has this skill, why not pick it up again and earn some money to buy groceries?
"Believe me! Little Fish, you have no idea how many people online enjoy watching people fish! You'll definitely have more fans than me in the future!" That's how Jiang Xiaoman was trying to convince Jiang Yu.
Of course, later events proved that his beekeeping skills couldn't compare to those of fishermen in terms of pollen production. o(╥﹏╥)o
After all, the descendants of the Chinese people had already learned to fish and eat fish before they even learned how to raise bees and extract honey.
The genes from our ancestors are still there; who could resist a handsome guy who is good-looking and knows how to fish?
Chapter 107
Jiang Xiaoman didn't buy a lot of local honey this time. She only visited the villages around Langshan Village. She filled less than 4,000 glass bottles, each weighing one jin (500 grams).
This small amount of local honey almost emptied his savings—unlike other industries, there are no IOUs when buying honey; you pay the exact amount received on the spot, without any installment payments.
To store the honey, he and Jiang Yu rented a house in the village around the same time. However, he rented two small tile-roofed houses near the roadside, and the annual rent was only 1,200 yuan.
This house used to belong to a childless, elderly person living alone in the village. It was very dilapidated. After the old man passed away, the village reclaimed the land because there was no one to carry on his family line.
But the land was too small, and no one else in the village wanted it, so the two dilapidated tile-roofed houses were left there.
Jiang Xiaoman plans to buy the plot of land once she has saved up some more money.
Although this place is small, it is located right at the entrance of the village, on the main road, which is the only way to enter the village. There is a cement road right in front of the door, making it very convenient to use as a parcel collection point.