"Wow! Don't you know Jiang Yuan has a lot of fans? I've been to offline support events many times, and most of the long-time fans recognize me. If someone recognizes you, you're going to go viral!"
"Just showing your face and you can go viral? Is there really such a good thing?" Jiang Xiaoman looked at the phone stand with great interest.
"Don't take pictures!" Jiang Xia covered the camera lens tightly.
"Then you'll teach me how to edit videos tonight?" Jiang Xiaoman negotiated with him.
"make a deal!"
Because Jiang Xia didn't want to appear on camera, Jiang Xiaoman could only have him squat at the kitchen doorway to help pick and wash vegetables. Although she complained, he was, after all, a guest in her home, so Jiang Xiaoman lavishly scooped out two bowls of rice, intending to cook a pot of rice.
I rinsed the rice and put it in the pot, then placed the bamboo steamer rack on top. Next, I chopped off a piece of meat from the large black carp, along with the fillet. I found the biggest plate in the house and planned to make a steamed fish head with chopped chili peppers. I also took two large eggplants from my basket, washed them, and placed them on the edge of the steamer rack. After steaming, I would simply toss them with minced garlic, chili peppers, and sesame oil to make a delicious eggplant dish.
He gave half of the pork leg meat he bought to Jiang Baichuan, and the remaining half weighed more than two pounds. He cut off half of it to make steamed pork with rice flour, so that he would have three dishes in one pot.
Cut the remaining half of the pork leg into slices and stir-fry until the lard is rendered. Then blanch the bracken fern that you picked on the way, rinse it several times, cut it into sections, and braise it with the pork. Finally, stir-fry the water celery and wash and toss the houttuynia cordata. This amount of vegetables is enough for three people.
"Xiaoman, are you sure you want to go back to your hometown to start a business? Do you need any help? How about I come and help you? You can pay me whatever you want, just provide meals."
"Oh, by the way, it's best not to work night shifts, I need to edit videos and do data analysis tonight."
They have quite a few requirements!
However, thinking about how Jiang Xia's video promoting the movie star's account now has nearly 300,000 followers, Jiang Xiaoman felt a little envious.
"Brother Xia, how about this? I haven't made any money yet. Once I've really built up my business, I'll definitely need someone to help me edit videos and maintain my account. How about you help me with that? The hours are flexible. You can work for me during the day and promote Amway to the movie star at night. Earn two salaries, plus room and board included. What do you say?"
"Okay! Then you have to arrange a place for me to stay, preferably not with Jiang Baichuan."
"What did Uncle Baichuan do to you?" Jiang Xiaoman was extremely curious. Her Uncle Baichuan was such a good person. No one in the village had ever spoken ill of him. So why did he seem to dislike Jiang Xia so much?
"Don't even mention it! Jiang Baichuan, that old fogey, he's a terminal OCD patient!" Jiang Xia got angry just thinking about it. "I only stayed at his place for two days, and he made sure I went to bed early and got up early every day! If I was editing a video at night, he would knock on the door eight times! And he would urge me to go to sleep over and over again!"
“I can’t get up in the morning, and he keeps knocking on my door, saying that I’ll set a bad example for the elementary school students. I’m not a school teacher. How can sleeping in corrupt his students?”
Jiang Xia felt that Jiang Baichuan was simply an unreasonable old woman. If a country boy really wanted to study and change his fate, let alone someone sleeping in next door, even if someone slept in the classroom, it wouldn't affect his studying and doing his homework.
On the contrary, if someone is naturally averse to reading, even if the teacher is watching them with a pointer, they will still lose focus. Jiang Baichuan is deliberately targeting him!
Jiang Xiaoman speechlessly placed a piece of steamed pork on his plate. "Fine, let's eat. If I ever go back to my hometown to start a business, I'll definitely build another house far away from the school. I won't let the school let me stay here."
We must also resolutely prevent Jiangxia, who is "not doing his proper job," from corrupting Uncle Baichuan's children.
After two days of eating and drinking at the Jiang family's house, Sunday arrived in the blink of an eye.
She was told to take the train to school on Monday. Since the Jiang family lived too far away and there weren't many trains stopping in their county, Jiang Xiaoman needed to go down the mountain a day early, transfer twice to get to the county, find a place to stay near the station for the night, and then take the train to school the next day.
Jiang Xia also went down the mountain, but instead of going home, he went to the county town with Jiang Xiaoman.
The birthday party for Best Actor Jiang Yuan was just a few days away. After thinking about it, he decided to go to the city where the Best Actor's hometown was located for a few days in advance. He could also find some fellow fans who were going ahead to visit the kindergarten, primary school, middle school, taekwondo gym, and art studio where the Best Actor had attended.
Upon hearing this, Jiang Xiaoman looked at him sincerely and said, "Now I believe that you truly love Jiang Yuan. I wish you a speedy success in getting an autographed photo with the movie star!"
Chapter 22
Upon arriving in the county town, Jiang Xiaoman first found a cheap hotel near the train station to stay in. Then, he went to a nearby wholesale market, picked up a cardboard box, packed all the samples that Tang Xinlan had asked him to purchase inside, and sent them out by express delivery.
It wasn't that he forgot; the main problem was that there were no courier pickup points in their area. If they wanted to send a package, they had to wait for the postal service to come to the countryside to deliver packages. Not only were the delivery fees expensive, but they also didn't know when the service would arrive. Jiang Xiaoman prepared the package and, after thinking about it, decided to bring it to the county town to send it. That way, it might arrive in Shangtang Village faster.
Thinking about it now, if I really want to start a business back in my hometown, this courier service will be a big problem. Since it's still early, Jiang Xiaoman simply squatted down at the entrance of the courier point to inquire.
He was good-looking, had a sweet tongue, and was also very hardworking. He helped the people at the courier collection point with packing and moving packages, and soon he had the shopkeeper smiling from ear to ear. When he asked about courier drop-off services, the shopkeeper asked him where he lived and immediately exclaimed, "Oh dear, Xiaoman, your place is quite remote! If your order volume doesn't meet the standard, you can't run a courier drop-off point. Unless you have a lot of orders, you can apply for your own drop-off point. That way, you can help others receive and send packages, and you can also get a discount when sending your own packages."
Jiang Xiaoman asked her older sister for the phone number of the person in charge of their courier company. She planned to apply for a collection point herself if the number of orders increased. Otherwise, going through the post office again and again would result in high logistics costs and long delivery times.
Jiang Xia left by car in the afternoon. In the evening, Jiang Xiaoman strolled to the night market, but there wasn't much to buy. She ate a bowl of liangpi (cold skin noodles) and returned. At the hostel, she connected to the hotel's Wi-Fi, opened her video account, and discovered that her previously updated cooking videos had actually garnered quite a few views—over 200,000—and over 30,000 likes. Some people even asked in the comments where she lived and if she could drive over to visit her.
Jiang Xiaoman carefully replied to a few of them, especially those who wanted to go there. He added them as friends, as these were all potential future customers!
It seems that continuous updates do indeed improve account traffic.
Jiang Xiaoman quickly edited the video he had just taken at the night market on his phone and uploaded it to a video platform. This time, he learned a trick from Jiang Xia: he added two trending tags and also uploaded it to another platform where he could earn advertising revenue based on the number of views of his short videos.
According to Jiang Xia, if he updates the platform frequently, he can earn a considerable amount of money each month. Since his videos are already prepared, it's just a matter of uploading them to another platform. If he's lucky, he could earn several thousand yuan more each month. He doesn't actually need that much; a few hundred yuan would be enough to buy his dad a down jacket.
Because there are only two trains a day to the neighboring provincial capital, one at noon and one in the evening, by the time Jiang Xiaoman returned to school, it was almost dinnertime.
This is the new campus, and the dorms here are all four-person rooms with air conditioning and private bathrooms. The conditions are much better than at his own home. Back in his dorm, Jiang Xiaoman put down his luggage and rushed to the bathroom for a good shower. He called his dad to let him know he was safe, then quickly called out in their dorm's small group chat, urging his buddies to come back and "divide the spoils"—
He brought a lot of delicious food from home this time: local honey from Langshan Township, mushroom sauce from Banligou, and spiced dried tofu from Hongnigou. His uncle Shanrong gave them to him. His father doesn't like snacks, and he himself rarely eats them, so he simply brought them all to school.
Luo Jingyi, the dormitory head, was the first to return. He had already reached the cafeteria and was in line when he saw the "God of Cookery" Jiang Xiaoman calling him. He immediately gave up queuing and ran back.
For some reason, even when they went to the cafeteria to get food, as long as Jiang Xiaoman was there, their dorm could always pick out the best food of the day from the huge pile of dishes that looked like pig swill.
Zou Yinuo, the third oldest, was playing games in another dorm room. He rushed back as soon as he heard the news. Only Qi Ning, the fourth oldest, was out on a date with his girlfriend. He was out of luck! He didn't deserve to eat the delicious food Jiang Xiaoman brought!
"I knew you must have brought wheat pancakes!" Luo Jingyi's eyes lit up when he saw Jiang Xiaoman take a large plastic bag out of her backpack. "Luckily, I didn't even get any food, otherwise it would have been a waste."
"That's right. I rarely get to come home, so every year I bring you this wheat pancake." Jiang Xiaoman took out the pancake first, and then laid out the dishes he had brought one by one.
The plastic bag contained bracken stir-fried with cured pork and dried chili peppers, which was particularly appetizing. A large glass jar held pickled chili peppers stir-fried in soybean oil, which would also be delicious sandwiched in a flatbread. There were also mushroom sauce, wild mushroom sauce, and dried tofu that Uncle Shanrong had given him.
The three boys squeezed together in front of the desk, each with a wheat pancake in hand. They picked up their favorite dishes with chopsticks, spread a layer of mushroom sauce on them, rolled up the pancakes, and it was a perfect match!
"Anyway, the fourth brother definitely won't be back tonight, so let's eat the rest, otherwise they'll definitely spoil without a refrigerator." The third brother looked at the remaining pancakes with a drooling expression.
The shiitake mushroom sauce and the spicy wild mushroom sauce that Jiang Xiaoman brought back this time are absolutely amazing! He swears he's never had such delicious mushroom sauce in his life! What kind of magical local specialty is this?!
The most crucial thing is this wheat pancake. Originally, it was dry and tasteless, but after being rolled with cured meat, bracken, and mushroom sauce, it became so delicious that he couldn't stop eating it! If he didn't finish the remaining pancakes tonight, he was afraid he would be thinking about them even in his sleep.
"Alright, let's eat first. Let's save some mushroom sauce for Lao Si. If necessary, we can buy some hand-pulled pancakes from the canteen tomorrow so he can try them." Jiang Xiaoman also thought this way of eating was quite satisfying and planned to bring a bag of wheat pancakes back from the county town for his father to try when they went back.
The three strong young men managed to devour more than a dozen wheat pancakes the size of a frying pan, and the mushroom sauce originally intended for the fourth brother was reduced to just a tiny bit at the bottom of the jar...
"Forget it! Love conquers all. Fourth Brother is probably having a candlelight dinner with his sister-in-law right now. How could he possibly care about this mushroom sauce?" Fourth Brother stared at the jar of sauce and pondered. "How about I go buy a few big steamed buns tomorrow morning? I think this stuff would taste great with steamed buns too."
"Then tomorrow morning you go to the second canteen to buy steamed buns, and I'll go to the first canteen to get three bowls of rice noodles. The leftover cured meat stir-fried with bracken will definitely taste good when mixed with the rice noodles." Luo Jingyi, the eldest in the dormitory, tied the plastic bag tightly.
Jiang Xiaoman: "..." Fourth brother, it's not that your second brother doesn't miss you, but who told you to be the first to get out of singlehood? This is what happens when you leave the (single dog) group without permission!
After eating and drinking to their hearts' content, Luo Jingyi's first concern was his second younger brother's future—
"Xiaoman, are you really planning to give up campus recruitment? Although the employment situation for our major is not very good this year, your grades are not bad, and it's not like you can't find a suitable job even if you switch majors..." Luo Jingyi's family has some connections in the provincial capital, and he had already spoken to Jiang Xiaoman privately. If he wanted to stay in the provincial capital, he could ask his family to help him find a job. Although it might not be related to his major, as long as he was capable, it wouldn't be a big deal if it wasn't his major.
"What are you saying, Lao Luo? I think it's good that Second Brother is going back to his hometown to start a business. You've tried all those local specialties before, they're so delicious. I think it's more reliable for him to be his own boss than to stay in the provincial capital and work for capitalists." The third brother was quite supportive of Jiang Xiaoman starting his own business and generously declared that once Jiang Xiaoman opened an online store, he would definitely buy himself a super VIP membership!
"Reliable my foot! How fierce has the competition in rural e-commerce been these past few years? The price wars have been so intense they could be used as lesson plans! The second son's place is so remote that there isn't even a courier pickup and drop-off point. How can he open an online store? Just the logistics costs alone will allow his competitors to crush him!" Luo Jingyi said coldly.
"Hey~ you two rich guys, stop arguing! I know you're both doing this for my own good, can you please listen to me for a bit?" Jiang Xiaoman was touched and hugged her two brothers, one on each side. "Just think of it as me going home to rest for a couple of years and do some things I like, okay?"
"Besides, we should trust the local government's poverty alleviation policies! I've been asking around at home lately, and although our township is a bit remote, there are still quite a few support policies for local youth to return and start businesses."
"Besides, I'm not going to be stupid enough to rush in headfirst. Even if I wanted to throw money in, do I look like a rich person to you?"
“Let me tell you, I found a local tycoon. She’s also an internet celebrity and has been back in her hometown starting her own business for several years. She has a professional team that specializes in discovering and incubating rural entrepreneurship projects.”
“I’ve already made arrangements with them. Once I return from school, they will bring their team to our area for an on-site inspection. If they are satisfied with the results, they will provide the funding. At most, I will just help with management. Think about it, if I were working in the provincial capital, it would take me at least ten years to reach a management position, right?”
"But if the big boss is willing to invest in us, I can join the management team right now!"
"What if they're not willing to invest?" Luo Jingyi wasn't optimistic. Rich people are much smarter than ordinary people. Some even have a special consultant team to evaluate projects. They always evaluate whether a project has a future. Who would invest in a project that doesn't make money or has a slow return on investment?
"If I don't want to, I'll just do it myself~ If that doesn't work, I can do business on WeChat Moments, that'll be enough." Jiang Xiaoman happily opened his phone to show them the orders he had recently received. "Look, I've already found a few people who know how to do traditional embroidery to help me take orders. Plus, with the money from selling local honey, wild vegetables, dried bamboo shoots, and cured meat every year, I should be able to earn tens of thousands of yuan a year, right?"
“The cost of living in our area is not high. My dad and I can't even spend all of our 500 yuan a month. We eat and live at home, so we don't need to pay for commuting. It's a really great life, okay? I can even save tens of thousands of yuan every year.”
"Alright! I know you're reluctant to leave your dad! Go back and try it out first. If it really doesn't work out, you can bring your dad here too. Doesn't the third brother's family own a factory? We can arrange for your dad to watch the warehouse or something. I'll also help you find a job. Putting aside everything else, the living conditions and medical care in the city are much better than in the mountains." Luo Jingyi slammed his hand on the table. "It's settled then!"
Jiang Xiaoman only stayed at school for two days. On the first day, he was busy packing his luggage, sending the inconvenient items to the post office as parcels, addressing them to Langshan Township Primary School, so that the parcels might arrive by the time he got home. He took apart his most valuable computer, packed it in two sturdy cardboard boxes, and stuffed the clothes he wanted to take back into the gaps in the boxes to save space and protect his precious computer.
The next day, Jiang Xiaoman went to see his counselor and the teachers from the Youth League Committee. These teachers had been incredibly kind to him throughout his four years of university, prioritizing him with any financial aid or scholarships he could get, and even helping him find many work-study opportunities. He gave each teacher a bottle of honey he had harvested himself and briefly explained why he had given up on campus recruitment and his future plans.
“Going back to your hometown to start a business is a good idea. When you start your own business, remember to post more on WeChat Moments. The teachers can't help you with anything else, but we can still help you share your posts on WeChat Moments. When your online store opens, just let us know in the class group chat, and I'll ask everyone to support your business. After all, we all end up buying things online anyway.” Counselor Jiang Wu patted his shoulder and sighed slightly.
Actually, he had previously contacted Lao Zhao, who was in charge of campus recruitment at the school, hoping to ask him to pull some strings and see if he could find Jiang Xiaoman a stable job with good pay. However, Jiang Xiaoman had already decided to return to her hometown to start her own business, and Jiang Wu knew that this kid was a person with her own ideas, so he didn't say anything more.
He had inquired about the Jiang family's situation when Jiang Xiaoman enrolled in school. Jiang's father lived alone in the deep mountains and forests, so it was no wonder that Jiang Xiaoman was worried and insisted on going home.
After leaving the office building, Jiang Xiaoman went to the library again with his backpack, returned all the books he had borrowed, and said goodbye to his "old colleagues" that he was going home.
The aunties and sisters at the library were quite reluctant to see him go. Before, when Jiang Xiaoman was there, they didn't even have to clean. Xiaoman was always the last to leave after get off work. Sometimes, if they had an emergency at home, they would tell him, give him the key, and he could go home a little early without any problem.
Those who can get a leisurely job in a university library usually have some connections in their family. During the time Jiang Xiaoman was at home, several of her aunts even discussed whether it would be better to let her work in the library if she couldn't find a job after graduation.
Although the salary for the school's logistics positions is not high, the benefits are quite good. Some city kids might look down on this job, but they all know about Xiaoman's family situation and want to help him out. These days, it's hard to find a suitable job even after graduating from university!
When Jiang Xiaoman said he wanted to return to his hometown to start a business, a group of aunties and older sisters wished they could tie him up with a rope—
"Xiaoman, you're confused! Go online and see for yourself! How many of those who made money and returned to their hometowns to start businesses didn't lose everything? In the end, they slunk back to the city to work for others?"
"Are you worried about your dad's safety living alone on the mountain? Why don't you bring him to the city? How old is your dad? He shouldn't be sixty yet, right? I remember the school's logistics department hires gardeners and cleaners every year. If you're willing, I can talk to Old Xu, who's in charge of logistics, for you!"
“Exactly! I can also ask my husband to put in a good word with Lao Xu.” The person who spoke was a relative of the vice principal. If she said she could put in a good word, then it was basically a done deal.
After all, dirty and tiring jobs like mowing lawns and sweeping floors aren't for professors or lecturers, so many people would be vying for them. Few of the teachers' families at their school are willing to take the job; they're usually recruited from the community. For a vice principal to arrange such a position, it's basically just a matter of making a call.
The aunties were so enthusiastic that Jiang Xiaoman couldn't handle it and had to use Jiang Baichuan as a shield.
I heard that Langshan Township Primary School only has two teachers besides the principal, and one of them is about to give birth while the other is about to resign. The aunties were stunned: This is a great thing to teach and educate people, so they didn't know what else to say.
However, before leaving, Jiang Xiaoman still received two woven bags full of "loving care"—
“These are all leftover materials from last year’s event. They’re useless in the warehouse. We need to buy new ones this year. You can take them back for the students to use. They’re all still unopened.”
The school library holds over a dozen reading events every year, but few students actually participate. To encourage student participation, the library purchases exquisite notebooks, pens, and other items as gifts each year. Unfortunately, few are willing to participate, so a lot of these materials are left over each year. In the past, they would divide them up themselves at the end of the year when no one wanted them. However, the thought of Jiang Xiaoman going to a remote mountain primary school where even chalk had to beg for donations filled the aunties and sisters with pity, and they wished they could take the entire warehouse with him.
"Xiaoman, please leave your address, just the address of your local elementary school. We'll donate anything we don't need to your school in the future."
"Yes! And chalk too. I think you don't need to buy any more. Save the money and buy some meat for the kids. I'll talk to the logistics department and have them sweep up the expired stock in the warehouse. That should be enough for you to use for several years."
"Do you need the children's clothes? I see that every year some charities from outside come to collect them from the residential area. Who knows where they end up selling them? I might as well give them to you, Xiaoman. You wait here, I'll ask in the family group later and tell everyone to collect any suitable children's clothes. Aren't you coming back to get your graduation certificate? You can take them back with you then!"
The aunties were all talking at once, and if you didn't know better, you'd think Jiang Xiaoman had been exiled to some desolate place.
That's a good idea!
Thinking of the students at the school, some with torn shoes and socks, and some still wearing tattered winter coats in May, Jiang Xiaoman didn't stand on ceremony with the aunties. She grabbed a pen and paper from the table and quickly wrote down the age groups and boy-girl ratios of the students at Langshan Township Primary School.
“Our school doesn’t have many students, but there are more girls. As for the boys, as long as they do well in their studies, their families will grit their teeth and send them to boarding schools in the county town. They won’t be sent to primary schools in the countryside.”
"Girls usually lack clothes for all four seasons when they are 8 to 12 years old. It would be even better if they had shoes and socks. Old ones are fine too. I've seen some of them not wearing socks at all in order to save money."
"The boys are about the same age, so there's no need to pick out anything too fancy. Old clothes are fine too. They have to work at home, and they'll be working in tattered clothes."