Upon hearing that his son was going to help the villagers find timber at the secondhand market to make beehives, Jiang Youliang couldn't help but sigh.
The few beehives his family currently has are practically what they call "the mark of the times" on TV!
His grandfather's generation made beehives from old tree stumps in the mountains that were as thick as two people could hug.
It was made from thick planks sawn from solid wood in his father's generation.
Then, in his generation, they used leftover wood scraps from making furniture to make beehives.
Unexpectedly, by his son's generation, they couldn't even use the scraps of new timber and had to buy second-hand timber!
well!!
The government's policies are good, but the products they produce are becoming less and less durable!
As Jiang Youliang muttered to himself, he dragged out the leftover wood scraps from making furniture, sawed them, and pieced them together, managing to cobble together three more beehives.
This is why Jiang Xiaoman went to the county town to buy second-hand timber.
Although it has not been verified by experts, Jiang Xiaoman always felt that wild bees in the mountains seemed to prefer beehives made of scrap wood and nailed together, probably because the gaps left between the boards made it easier for bees to build their nests on them.
While Jiang Youliang was tinkering and building beehives at home, Jiang Xiaoman had already gone to the county town to bring back the first truckload of secondhand timber.
It's supposed to be second-hand wood, but it looks exactly like new!
"We got lucky this time. The scrap collector said they recently took on the garbage collection for a new residential area. The area is under renovation, and they throw out a lot of leftover wood planks and other materials from furniture making every day. However, some of the composite boards are of poor quality, so they have to pick them out before giving them to us." Jiang Xiaoman was truly delighted by this unexpected turn of events!
He felt he could add another entry to his "Scavenging Notes".
So even in those new neighborhoods that haven't been occupied yet, there's trash to collect?
Another bit of useful knowledge has been added!
The wooden boards cut off during the renovation and furniture making were of various sizes and uneven, so it was impossible to calculate the price by square meter. In the end, Jiang Xiaoman simply calculated the price for them by weight.
So this winter, every household in Langshan Village was busy hammering nails and sawing wood, making beehives.
Some people, lacking the necessary skills or simply wanting to save time, simply make square beehives, just like Jiang Youliang.
The finished beehives and beehives don't need to be painted or coated with tung oil. Just choose a spot, put a few stones or bricks underneath to prevent the beehives from getting damp, and use broken tiles or something similar to block the rain. Some people who aren't good at attracting bees even go to Jiang Yu's house to ask Shan Yan to help them with some guidance.
Because of this, the Shanyan couple quickly became acquainted with the villagers and can now be said to have completely integrated into Langshan Village.
Lang Ying also moved back to the renovated old house with her two daughters.
Jiang Xiaoman spent more than a week running around the county town and brought back enough second-hand timber for two villages. Now her reputation in the village is soaring!
After all, his actions directly cut the cost of making beehives for the villagers by more than half!
In this way, with the same cost, what could originally only produce thirty beehives can now produce sixty.
According to the calculations Jiang Xiaoman gave to the old village chief, a good beehive can earn 1,000 yuan a year, and ten beehives would earn 10,000 yuan!
Sixty beehives, wouldn't that be 60,000 yuan?
This is incredible!
The villagers were thrilled at the thought of sitting at home doing nothing but checking on the bees occasionally, and then waiting for Shanyan and the others to come and collect the honey, earning a net profit of 60,000 yuan a year. They couldn't wait to bring the bees over and make money for them!
However, they built their beehives too late this year, missing the best season for attracting bees. They can only regretfully wait until next spring when all the flowers are in bloom and large bee colonies swarm, at which point they will be able to take advantage of the situation.
While everyone in the village was busy making beehives, Jiang Xiaoman started to take an unconventional approach again. He took Jiang Yu and Lang Ying to the market every two days to buy up all the fish that others couldn't sell at the lowest price, and then brought them back to make smoked fish.
Jiang Yu originally wanted the fish to be delivered to his door, but he didn't expect that the fishermen on the river would be so lazy!
They refused to walk even this short distance, insisting that it wasn't worth the trip for a few fish.
Jiang Yu had no choice; he wasn't influential enough to make someone make a special trip for him. So, he could only ride the borrowed tricycle with Jiang Xiaoman, making back and forth between the town and the village time and time again.
Fortunately, the price of live fish is really cheap this year!
Several times when the market was closing, Jiang Xiaoman personally took charge of bargaining and managed to reduce the price of the fish that were still alive to the price of dead fish, three yuan per jin, and bought them all regardless of the variety!
Actually, even if a fresh fish caught just the day before dies due to lack of oxygen, the taste of the fish meat is not much different from that of a fresh, live fish if you take it home and immediately gut and process it.
That day, the whole family, including Lang Ying and her two daughters, enjoyed a delicious meal of fish stewed with tofu and braised fish tail.
The rest were cut into pieces and made into smoked fish.
Jiang Xiaoman's smoked fish is different from the whole fish that is pickled in the countryside. She first cuts it into pieces and pickles it, then lays it on a bamboo mat and slowly smokes it with pine needles and bamboo charcoal.
The finished smoked fish pieces are golden brown, and when you turn them over, the meat inside the belly is still bright red. Moreover, because ginger shreds and Sichuan peppercorns were added during the marinating process, it doesn't smell too fishy; instead, it has a unique smoky aroma.
It's no exaggeration to say that the aroma of this smoked fish is enough to make your mouth water even before it's cooked.
Jiang Xiaoman specially prepared several dishes for them using the smoked small fish.
When they were buying fish in town before, in order to lower the price, they agreed with the stall owner to pay a fixed price for all the fish, big and small!
So, in addition to the large fish suitable for sale, they also bought a lot of small fish and shrimp.
Shrimp were easy to handle; any that they couldn't finish, they dried into shrimp that same day. These shrimp weren't cheap in local restaurants either. Jiang Yu had already collected quite a few dried shrimp when he went to the river to cast his nets. Shan Yan said that once he had collected enough, he would take them to the city and sell them to a few restaurants that specialize in local dishes.
In local restaurants, a small handful of these dried wild river shrimp stir-fried with chives can sell for 30 to 40 yuan a plate. If you take them from Shanyan, they'd probably sell for 40 yuan a pound.
The remaining small fish, such as crucian carp, are cut open from the back, gutted, marinated, and then dried on small bamboo skewers. They can be kept for later use as dried fish.
However, fresh wild crucian carp is also a good thing. Jiang Xiaoman's method is to first gut and clean the fish, then fry it and use it to heat a pot. She puts a layer of firm tofu at the bottom of the double-eared pot, pours in the cooked crucian carp, and simmers it over low heat. The longer it simmers, the more fragrant it becomes.
There's another type called the yellow catfish. Honestly, if it hadn't died from lack of oxygen, a live yellow catfish could sell for over ten yuan per kilogram. Unfortunately, just like a washed-up celebrity who suffers huge losses even after price cuts and can hardly regain its peak stock, dead yellow catfish can only be sold in bulk for three yuan per kilogram to clear out the stock…
But Jiang Xiaoman doesn't mind!
After buying them, I cleaned and gutted them, then braised them with shredded radishes. Radishes are at their best this season, crisp, tender, and sweet. I shredded them and stewed them with yellow catfish, and they were incredibly delicious!
When Jiang Xiaoman made this dish, she deliberately didn't add any chili peppers. The children ate without even looking up, using large spoons to scoop fish soup and shredded radish to mix with their rice.
“Xiaoman, to be honest, I’ve never had such a good life since I was born. No wonder everyone in our village says that the old shaman praised you as our little lucky star of Langshan!”
"I think my good luck has been coming ever since I met you!" Lang Ying said with a smile.
In just half a month, Sister Langying seemed to have undergone a complete transformation. She was no longer the same as before, always hunched over and with a bitter face.
Without the enslavement and torment of her in-laws, Lang Ying, who was already a diligent person, not only took good care of her two daughters, but also had time to tidy herself up every day.
Although her clothes were still old, she washed them clean every day. For convenience, she cut her hair short to ear length, revealing her smooth and full forehead and a pair of bright eyes. When she smiled, she was completely different from the miserable rural woman she used to be!
However, she wasn't saying this intentionally to flatter Jiang Xiaoman.
Lang Ying is now genuinely starting to believe what the old shaman said.
Because, ever since she met Jiang Xiaoman, she's been doing incredibly well for the past month!
First, she divorced that heartless bastard Jiang Erming, receiving the old house, two plots of land, and 20,000 yuan in cash. With these things as her support, Lang Ying was fully confident that she could raise her two daughters on her own!
After all, back when Jiang Erming didn't care whether she lived or died, didn't she still support her family of five by farming and raising pigs? Now she's even missing those two lazy old geezers!
Then, thanks to Jiang Xiaoman, she found two new jobs—
One job was helping Jiang Yu and Jiang Xiaoman make smoked fish, earning 100 yuan a day. In the countryside, expenses weren't high, so she could save at least 2,000 yuan! With the rest, she could occasionally buy some meat for her two daughters.
Another task was to help install beehives on the rocks at night.
Ever since they discovered that old beehives could be sold for money, Shan Yan's apprentices have finally found the "secret to wealth." They go into the mountains almost every day, and when they accumulate enough, they bring it down the mountain and give it directly to their master.
Anyway, Shan Yan has always treated them well. They bring back the beehives to their master, and when they sell them, their master will give them a share of the profits.
Perhaps out of pity for Lang Ying, a woman raising two children alone, Shan Yan gave her a new job: helping them pack beehives.
The good thing about this job is that it can be done from home.
Shan Yan prepared a whole bucket of old honeycomb and a custom-made glass bottle for her. This way, after Lang Ying settled her two children in the evening, she could still fill the honeycomb at home. It wasn't tiring work; she could earn 50 cents for each bottle and make a few dozen yuan by doing it in the evening.
It may not seem like much, but for a single mother who can't be away from her child, it's a job that's perfect for her.
With these two stable jobs, Lang Ying suddenly felt hope and motivation in her life. She is now full of energy and not afraid of having too much work; she is only afraid of not having any work to do!
And all of this was brought to her by Jiang Xiaoman...
The old shaman was right, Xiaoman is indeed their lucky star in Langshan!
Chapter 132
After Lang Ying and Jiang Erming divorced, with her consent, Jiang Xiaoman and Jiang Yu no longer deliberately avoided her when making short videos as before.
Unexpectedly, this unexpected "follow-up report" brought a sense of satisfaction to netizens who had been following the story.
"Awesome! That scumbag who abandoned his wife and children should just die! Our Miss Lang Ying is the only beautiful one!"
"I suddenly feel a little grateful to that mistress who stole the scumbag from me. If it weren't for her, Lang Ying would definitely still be working like a slave in that house. It's better now; I only realized today that Lang Ying isn't ugly at all."
"Is this what you call not ugly? Let me, a professional makeup artist, tell you that Lang Ying's bone structure is absolutely top-notch among women. Her features are well-proportioned, her eyes are bright, her eyebrows are slightly sparse, but there are almost no other flaws... Anyway, I hope you take good care of yourself. If you want to learn makeup, you can contact me."
"Is there any need for makeup? I feel that what Lang Ying needs most right now is work and making money, after all, she still has to raise two daughters."
"Does anyone know Lang Ying's account number? I don't mean anything by it. I also have two daughters, and I have a lot of clothes, toys, picture books, and the like. If Lang Ying needs them, I can send them to her."
"Oh yeah! I was so angry when I saw the shabby house that Lang Ying's scumbag ex-husband gave her! Is that even a house? It's practically a dangerous building! Little Fish, could you please give me an address? I've sent you a private message. I want to send some things to the mother and her two daughters."
...
Most netizens are kind-hearted. Following Jiang Xiaoman and Jiang Yu's lens, they saw the dilapidated house Lang Ying now lives in, the poverty of the mother and her two daughters, and they didn't miss the old cotton-padded jackets that the eldest and second daughters had long since outgrown...
A divorced woman, raising two children alone, with no stable income, living in a dilapidated house! Most importantly, Lang Ying never plays the victim; she's always smiling and full of energy.
This only made Lang Ying more pitiful to passersby.
Especially for mothers with children, put yourself in their shoes and think about how they would feel if they were in that situation.
...
"Sister Yingzi, why don't you open an account too? I'll teach you!" Seeing that many people were asking about Lang Ying's account, Jiang Xiaoman had a sudden inspiration and immediately decided to seize this opportunity!
He had long been eyeing the short video account matrix of the neighboring Shangtang Village.
It's not unusual for a village to produce an internet celebrity; what's remarkable is that, under Tang Xinlan's careful nurturing, Shangtang Village has now cultivated a group of short video accounts with a relatively stable fan base—that's truly impressive.
Don't underestimate these accounts with only a few hundred thousand followers. These slow-paced rural life accounts have extremely high follower engagement!
These accounts don't even make the sales charts, but it's undeniable that the traffic on short video platforms is terrifying. Even a tiny share is a huge sum for these mountain people who already have very low incomes.
"Sister Yingzi, do you know? There's a divorced woman with a child in Shangtang Village. She makes her own videos and sometimes does some advertising. Do you know how much she earns in a month?"
"How much? Can you make three thousand yuan a month?" Lang Ying asked curiously.