These are the handmade embroidered shoes! They're so profitable! Last year, during the May Day holiday, he casually took a picture of the market and posted it on his WeChat Moments. To his surprise, several girls in his class messaged him privately, asking him to help them buy a pair of these monogrammed cloth multi-layered sole shoes sold at their market.
Later, Jiang Xiaoman learned that in recent years, girls have liked to wear Hanfu or Republic of China-era clothing for photoshoots. Clothes are easy to buy, and if you're willing to pay a high price, you can even get custom-made clothes. However, those old-fashioned cloth shoes with thousand-layer soles and pure hand-sewn construction are hard to find. Mass-produced shoes always have a cheap industrial feel to them...
Compared to the multi-layered embroidered shoes in the store that cost hundreds of yuan a pair, the old-fashioned cloth shoes that Jiang Xiaoman bought for them for tens of yuan a pair were simply a bargain. The flowers were hand-embroidered and looked a bit old-fashioned on their own, but when paired with the right clothes, they looked better and better.
In the words of my classmate, I don't know why, but it looks a bit old-fashioned, and when paired with clothes, it has a particularly vintage feel!
However, the only downside is that the shoes made by the old lady are all in random sizes. Several students couldn't find the right size and had already reminded Jiang Xiaoman several times. They even wrote down their own shoe sizes for him, asking him to buy them a pair of cloth shoes in the right size next time he came back, even if it meant paying extra for custom-made ones.
Jiang Xiaoman was happy to earn some pocket money by doing personal shopping, but the problem was that after that, he came back several times on his own, and even asked his father to check on him when he went to the market, but the old lady never came to set up her stall again!
Langshan is such a big place. Some of the more remote mountain villages are said to be close to the neighboring provinces. Finding an elderly person whose name and phone number are unknown is like finding a needle in a haystack. Jiang Youliang even worried whether the old man was still alive. After all, based on the age his son described, it was indeed a bit dangerous.
Unexpectedly, even after Jiang Xiaoman had given up, she saw the old woman selling flower shoes at the market again!
Grandma is old, hard of hearing, and seems to have a bad memory. Jiang Xiaoman gestured and talked to her for a long time before realizing that the old lady probably couldn't understand Mandarin, so she quickly switched to the local dialect.
"Shoe size? Oh, that can be made."
"How much? Thirty yuan a pair."
"Come to my house to get it? My house is far away. I don't have a phone. I came with people from my village."
The old woman couldn't explain the name of her place, only that it was called Jiangwan. Jiang Xiaoman was sweating profusely with anxiety. Later, it was only when the old woman's fellow villager came to find her after selling his goods that Jiang Xiaoman finally learned where the old woman's house was.
He actually visited this village!
The village is Jiangwan Village, the home of one of the children he took yesterday, Jiang Pan. The village is built along a river and is a bit far from the town, but it is very close to Jiang Xiaoman's home. You just need to cross a mountain and then the river to get there.
"So it was Teacher Jiang who took Jiang Pan home yesterday? I'm Jiang Pan's aunt. Let's add each other on WeChat. If you need to find Grandma Cuiping in the future, just contact me."
The middle-aged woman who came to pick up the elderly woman took out her phone and added Jiang Xiaoman on WeChat. Her son would be starting elementary school next year, and adding the teacher on WeChat would make it easier to contact her if anything happened in the future.
Of course, she doesn't know yet that Jiang Xiaoman was just temporarily helping out at the school.
Jiang Xiaoman quickly took her phone down, added the other person on WeChat, asked for their name, and added the note "Sister Chen from Jiangwan Village". In case she forgot, she added the words "flower shoes" in parentheses at the end.
The old lady rarely came down the mountain to the market, but her business wasn't very good. She only sold one pair of shoes all morning. Seeing how many pairs were left in her basket, Jiang Xiaoman simply bought them all for her, saving her the trouble of making another trip next time.
The purchase of the floral shoes had delayed Jiang Xiaoman for quite some time. When she rushed to the pork stall, the pork vendors were already preparing to pack up.
"Xiaoman, the May Day holiday is over, why haven't you gone to school yet?" The butcher knew Jiang Xiaoman. There was no way around it; when this kid was still not even as tall as the chopping block he used to cut meat, he knew to come and haggle with him right when the market was closing. Later, when he heard that Jiang Xiaoman had been admitted to university, the butcher even gave him a big pig's head as a gift.
He then boasted to people that Jiang Xiaoman got into university because she often ate his family's pork, and he rode on that popularity for quite a while.
This time, Jiang Xiaoman dared not tell anyone that she had no classes in her senior year. She only vaguely said that she had taken a few days off because of family matters. She was also picking through the leftover scraps on the chopping board, and her intention to find something of value was obvious.
"Hey! There are only two pieces of pig liver left, a few pounds of meat, some scraps of pig caul fat, a few big bones, and a pile of pig skin. If you want them, take them all for fifty yuan!"
Very good!
Jiang Xiaoman was overjoyed and quickly handed over a fifty-yuan note. The shopkeeper smiled and put it in a plastic bag for him. After cleaning up, he saw that there were still two pieces of pig's blood left in the bucket, so he simply gave them to him as well.
"Take this back and stir-fry some pig's blood for your dad; he loves that."
They're all from the same village. Jiang Youliang, who raised a college student, is quite a "celebrity" here. Everyone says that Jiang Xiaoman will definitely stay in the city and do great things in the future. The boss also wants to establish a good relationship with his family. In case his child also wants to go to the city in the future, having an acquaintance to help is much better than being completely clueless.
Author's Note:
Visiting the rural market is so much fun!! And I actually bought these homemade cloth flower shoes before, 35 yuan a pair, and they lasted for years without falling apart. It's a pity they're hard to find now. Thank you to all the little angels who voted for me or watered my plants between 2021-11-09 11:13:45 and 2021-11-10 11:56:35!
Thank you to the lovely angels who threw landmines: Fatty (who can comment) and Qingwu (1 person);
Thank you to the little angels who watered the nutrient solution: 5 bottles each for "European Emperor" and "Fantasy Lover"; 3 bottles each for "Ye Zhi Qiu"; 2 bottles each for "Lemon"; and 1 bottle each for "Taylor" and "Yao".
Thank you so much for your support! I will continue to work hard!
Chapter 7
After buying the pork, Jiang Xiaoman habitually started to scavenge for leftovers at the market. He bought a few white radishes that others had left behind, and two piles of defective carrots that were being sold in heaps. But then he realized he couldn't carry all the stuff from the general store by himself, so he had to give up. He took a huge pig feed bag out of his basket, packed in the loose vegetables and other items, and then took the bus back to the village with the large basket on his back.
The bus back to the village was very crowded. Some people came to buy things, while others were selling things they hadn't finished selling. Jiang Xiaoman even saw someone bring up a big basket, which was filled with chattering ducklings that hadn't been sold yet.
When asked about the price, the shop owner, who had been looking dejected, was overjoyed to hear that he wanted to buy, and immediately said that each one was two yuan and he could pick whichever he wanted.
Jiang Xiaoman picked out about ten ducklings. His family lived in the mountains, where there were many wild animals, so he couldn't raise ducks. But the school could. Jiang Baichuan almost lost his life trying to catch rabbits. Jiang Xiaoman thought about it and decided to buy some ducklings to raise behind the school. Ducks are omnivorous poultry and can eat old vegetable leaves from the garden, leftover food from the kitchen, etc. The teachers don't need to raise them themselves; the students can try feeding them.
One of their roommates' mothers had a second child. His classmate had taken his younger sister to school and came back telling them that nowadays elementary schools even have their own farms where students can raise chickens, ducks, and grow vegetables. In fact, which child in the countryside hasn't done these kinds of chores? Jiang Xiaoman felt that Jiang Baichuan didn't need to shoulder all the responsibility himself.
I returned to school with bags and packages, and the second period had already begun.
Jiang Xiaoman didn't delay any longer. She quickly went to the kitchen, peeled half a basket of sweet potatoes, chopped them into pieces, and started cooking sweet potato rice.
I promised to make braised pork for the kids yesterday, but Jiang Xiaoman was unlucky today. She went too late to buy floral cloth shoes, and in the end, there was less than three pounds of pork left. If she just made braised pork, there would probably only be one piece of meat for each of them. After thinking about it, she simply cut the pork into thick slices and made a big pot of braised pork with radish. The oily broth was especially delicious when mixed with rice.
The pig liver looked quite fresh, but there wasn't much of it. Stir-frying it wouldn't yield much, so Jiang Xiaoman made a pig liver soup and added some chopped Swiss chard leaves. It was delicious and nutritious.
There weren't enough big bones to eat in time, so Jiang Xiaoman planned to take them home for dinner. She rendered the remaining pork caul fat to make lard, and then cooked the pork cracklings and pork skin with potato slices.
Lunch consisted of two dishes and a soup, all with meat. During the third period, the aroma of stir-fried dishes wafting from the kitchen made the kids almost restless. Finally, when the bell rang, they all rushed to the kitchen.
"Aww~ Time to eat meat!"
"It smells so good! What are you having for dinner today, Brother Xiaoman?"
The little ones instantly surrounded the chef, their little heads crowding around. When they saw the oily braised pork with radish and stir-fried potato slices with pork skin in the dish, along with lots of crackling oil, they immediately became excited.
"Line up, line up! All you can eat today! After you finish your meal, come and get a bowl of pork liver soup!" Chef Jiang, like a hardworking old farmer feeding pigs, proudly tapped the large ladle used for serving rice.
Qu Jingjiang glanced at him from afar, then went back to his office with his lesson plan tucked under his arm.
Children get hungry easily, so the school's long-standing rule is that children get their food first, and the teachers only come to get theirs after the children have finished. Jiang Xiaoman finished getting the food for all the students, then called out to the office, and Jiang Caiyun came out first with her lunchbox.
"Where's Teacher Qu?" Jiang Xiaoman asked casually while serving her food.
"Never mind him, just eat your food." Jiang Caiyun's expression wasn't good either.
Jiang Xiaoman looked up at her, then fell silent.
I heard that Qu Jingjiang's family has been urging him to go back home for blind dates. In this remote mountain area, it's really difficult for a college graduate like him to find a partner. The main problem is that he came here to teach voluntarily and has always been paid a substitute teacher's salary of one or two thousand yuan a month. That's barely enough to support himself, let alone a family. What mother-in-law would dare marry her daughter to him?
To put it bluntly, these days, working as a security guard in the city, especially in a decent residential area, can earn you three or four thousand yuan a month.
"Sister, don't blame him. He's different from us. He's an only child. His parents worked so hard to raise him to be a college student, hoping he could have a good life." After thinking for a while, Jiang Xiaoman still tried to persuade Jiang Caiyun.
"I'm not blaming him for leaving at this time, I'm blaming him for not coming at all!" Jiang Caiyun unexpectedly said such a thing.
Now it was Jiang Xiaoman's turn to be puzzled. Teaching in rural areas is a good thing, so why shouldn't they come?
“Oh dear! You don’t know! The county originally thought that there were too few people in our teaching point. Two years ago, they planned to arrange for all students above the fourth grade to board at the public schools in the township. Actually, that would be good. Fourth graders can take care of themselves in the dormitories, and the educational conditions in the township are better than here.”
"Who knew Qu Jingjiang insisted on staying here to teach? Now that's great! We have three teachers here, just enough to teach up to sixth grade! He's moved by his own actions, but he's really messed up your Uncle Baichuan's life!"
"Now look what's happened. He's kicked us all into the pit, and now he's just packing his bags and walking away."
“You know your Uncle Baichuan’s temper. He’s always been a kind man and has never blamed Qu Jingjiang. On the contrary, he advised him to go back and find a good job while he’s still young. Sigh!” Jiang Caiyun didn’t know what to say next. If it were her, she probably wouldn’t stay in this poor, remote place for the rest of her life if her family lived in the city.
“Sister, you’re right. I also think it’s better for the senior students to go to school in the countryside. If Brother Qu goes home, the school won’t have enough teachers, so they’ll definitely have to transfer the senior students to the countryside, right?” Jiang Xiaoman didn’t think it was a big deal for Qu Jingjiang to leave. It would be difficult for him to stay here, and it wouldn’t be a good thing for the students, especially the senior students.
Although educational reforms have been piloted in the past two years, it is said that the pressure to get into a good school is actually greater than before the reforms. Rural families can't afford tutoring classes to begin with, and if the quality of teachers is not good, they will probably only be able to get into a vocational high school and work in a factory.
After finishing her meal, Jiang Xiaoman took the freshly harvested honey from yesterday and hitched a ride to the township health center to visit Jiang Baichuan, who was hospitalized. Unexpectedly, as soon as she arrived, she heard Jiang Baichuan arguing with the doctor about wanting to be discharged.
"I just twisted my arm, it's not a fracture, I can go back to school and rest there."
"That won't do! Your village paid for five days of your hospital stay, so you should at least stay for those five days."
"Five days? That won't do! The students will miss their final exams. How about you give me my money back, and I'll help you refund it to the village?"
The doctor was somewhat acquainted with Jiang Baichuan. Seeing that he was determined to leave, the doctor could only sigh and sign the papers for him. He then let Jiang rest in the room while the doctor went to process the refund.
This Jiang Baichuan is a complete blockhead! You can't persuade him, and you can't hit him, so what can you do?
He can't exactly beat up the teacher, can he?
When Jiang Xiaoman arrived at the health center, Jiang Baichuan had already picked up the medicine and was about to take a car back.
"Alright, it's not a serious injury. It's good for him to go home and recover slowly." Jiang Xiaoman and another villager who was sent to take care of him called a van and took him directly back to school.
"It's Principal Dad!"
"The principal is back!"
The school was having a physical education class when a group of children saw Jiang Baichuan return. They rushed over and surrounded him, some of the more sensitive ones even crying. Jiang Baichuan quickly went up to wipe away their tears and showed them his arm to make sure it was just a sprained joint and not a broken bone. Only then did the children feel relieved and started clamoring to go to the mountains to catch bamboo rats, pheasants, and bamboo worms to help their "principal dad" recover.
"Alright, alright, go to class! Your principal has me. Isn't Xiaoman's cooking delicious?" Jiang Xiaoman quickly rescued his uncle from the group of little kids and took him directly to the dormitory on the second floor.
"Alright, I won't say anything more. You know our local customs, Uncle. People from the village will definitely come to see you later. If you don't want to be nagged, just stay in bed." Jiang Xiaoman smiled smugly. The doctor can't take care of you, but these old folks in the village definitely won't let you off the hook!
Sure enough! As soon as they heard that Jiang Baichuan had been discharged from the hospital and returned home, before school was even over, the village chief and his wife came over. They didn't come empty-handed; they brought an old hen and two pieces of homemade cured meat. The village chief also brought good news: Jiang Xiaoman wasn't a formal teacher at the school, so it was fine to take her home occasionally, but she always had to go back to school. Therefore, the village chief had found several households to take turns, arranging for two people to take the student home each day.
This way, Jiang Baichuan can rest and recover in the dormitory.
"Sigh! I've caused trouble for the village this time." Jiang Baichuan felt a little ashamed. In fact, he was already starting to regret it. He shouldn't have been tempted by that rabbit and taken the risk. He knew the situation at the school better than anyone else. Every teacher was essential; they couldn't afford to lose even one.
"Baichuan, what nonsense are you talking about?" The village chief glared at him. "You're not doing this for your own rabbit meat! Besides, how much effort have you put into this school over the years? Everyone has seen it. What do you mean by causing trouble? We're the ones causing you trouble!"
If it weren't for the fact that these children could go to school, Jiang Baichuan could have easily passed the exam to become a teacher in the county town. Why is he stuck in this remote mountain village, where he hasn't even gotten married yet?
As expected, the people the village chief had arranged arrived early after school that day, all carrying machetes and tung oil torches. Other villagers, returning from work, heard that Jiang Baichuan had been discharged from the hospital and brought chickens, ducks, meat, eggs, and other necessities to offer their condolences. Even the elderly women and men in the village brought some things.
Jiang Baichuan was both touched and relieved. Luckily, he had stayed in bed obediently, otherwise he would have been nagged by the old ladies over and over again...
Author's Note:
Aww~ Pork cracklings stewed with cabbage! My favorite cafeteria dish when I was in school! Thank you to all the little angels who voted for me or watered my plants between 2021-11-10 11:56:35 and 2021-11-11 12:01:16!
Thank you to the little angels who watered the nutrient solution: Xiaoni (30 bottles); Zhenzhenxihuan Tangtang (20 bottles); Lu8mian (5 bottles);
Thank you so much for your support! I will continue to work hard!
Chapter 8
With someone dropping the children off at school, Jiang Xiaoman wasn't in a hurry to go home. Instead, she cooked dinner for Jiang Baichuan first.
When the weather is nice, no students live on campus, so there are only Jiang Baichuan and Qu Jingjiang at school. Usually, Jiang Baichuan cooks more food for lunch, and since it's just the two of them in the evening, he just heats up the leftovers.
However, Jiang Baichuan's arm is now immobile, and Jiang Xiaoman is not as frugal as him. She didn't leave any leftovers at noon, and simply cooked something fresh for dinner.
Just then, the villagers brought over a lot of things. The live chickens and ducks were untied and kept in the backyard for now, while the cured meat could be used to cook dishes.