He's not a child anymore; he'd seen many classmates dating during college, so he naturally understood that Shan Yan was jealous.
Oh no! He only thought that Jiang Yu was a man like him, so giving him some things was nothing, but he forgot that Jiang Yu was a married man... and that "husband" was watching from the side.
Jiang Xiaoman: o(╥﹏╥)o
So what do we do now? This situation is beyond the skill range of a social butterfly, and he's never been in a relationship before!
Fortunately, a phone call saved him in time.
"Brother Xiaoman, could you go to Cancan's house these next couple of days and take a picture of her household registration booklet for us? Oh no! There's a new regulation; all underage contestants have to provide their household registration booklets for record-keeping!"
"Is tomorrow okay? We're going to Can Can's house to deliver something tomorrow." Jiang Xiaoman was speechless at the production team. "Do you have any other rules? Just say them all at once, otherwise don't expect them to take pictures and send them to you after I leave. Can Can's family doesn't even have cell phones."
"Well, you never know now, haha~ In recent years, the country has been protecting minors more and more strictly. After all, as you know, people don't like having children anymore. Baby babies are so precious~" The life teacher chuckled and hung up the phone.
Jiang Xiaoman: "..."
It seems that making money from TV stations isn't easy!
I thought all I had to do was sing in the competition, but I didn't expect that the competition had only just begun and I was already dealing with all this paperwork and paperwork, as well as cooperating with the production team to record various live broadcasts and behind-the-scenes footage. No wonder the production team gave them subsidies during the recording period.
Jiang Xiaoman finally understood: this wasn't a subsidy, it was just wages and overtime pay!
Chapter 62
Although the rocks and fish in the mountains live there, they still have cell phones.
Jiang Xiaoman exchanged phone numbers with them, added each other as friends, and arranged to come over the day after tomorrow to film a video with them in the mountains. Then she hurriedly left with the rock honey she had packed.
If he doesn't leave soon, he'll be worn down by Shan Yan's jealousy.
However, despite fleeing in disarray, Jiang Xiaoman did manage to pick up quite a few mushrooms along the way.
It seems Jiang Yu was right. There are really a lot of wild mushrooms in the Laoshan Aozi area this season. Some of them even grow right by the roadside. Jiang Xiaoman picked them up as he walked, and by the time he got home, his plastic bag was full.
In the evening, Jiang Xiaoman cooked a big pot of chicken with wild mushrooms, made a basket of cornbread, and stir-fried a few dishes. These cornbreads are a bit dry to eat on their own, but if you tear them into small pieces and put them at the bottom of a bowl, and then add two spoonfuls of the wild mushroom and chicken broth, the cornbread will soften and taste especially delicious!
The next morning, Fang Xingchen and Chu Mengluan each carried a basket on their backs and went up the mountain. Fang Xingchen also had a selfie stick in his hand, and he took videos along the way.
They're so experienced now that they hardly need to write scripts anymore. Sometimes, unexpected mistakes happen in the middle of the video, and the video gets more views that day than a carefully shot and edited one.
To put it bluntly, netizens these days aren't stupid. Moreover, what the public prefers to watch isn't a perfect persona, but rather short videos that are close to life and clearly show real-life records of daily life.
Having figured this out, Fang Xingchen has now completely let loose. Unexpectedly, instead of creating a persona for themselves, netizens have started to summarize and organize personas for them.
Because the school's official account was doing well, Fang Xingchen and Chu Mengluan's personal accounts also gained followers very quickly. One of them went from being a slam dunk master to a pig-feeding expert, and the other went from being a piano princess to a master of culinary disasters. Their chemistry was so good that netizens couldn't stop watching. They even dug up their personal accounts, and when they went in, they found that it was even funnier!
It turns out that the two of them were actually the most beautiful girl and the most handsome boy in their department back in school. And when you think about the image of the two of them feeding pigs and collecting eggs while wearing liberation shoes, it's even funnier, isn't it?
“No one’s cooking at Can Can’s house right now, so I brought some vegetables. Let’s make something nice for Grandma Jiang and Xiao Yueyue for lunch.” Jiang Xiaoman carried the full basket on her back and divided the remaining less heavy items among the two of them. The three of them climbed over a hill and walked for another ten minutes or so until they could see the roof of Jiang Can Can’s old house.
"Phew~ I'm exhausted!" Fang Xingchen plopped down on a row of waist-high paddy field embankments by the roadside, feeling like his throat was on fire.
He simply couldn't imagine how Jiang Cancan, such a small child, managed to run back and forth to school twice a day on such a steep mountain path...
"Hang in there! We'll be there in ten minutes." Jiang Xiaoman helped him take the water bottle off the basket, unscrewed it, and let him drink a couple of sips to keep him going. Then she helped Chu Mengluan unload the basket and told her to wait there.
"We're not far from Can Can's house now. Meng Meng, you rest here for a while. I'll take Xing Chen up and then come down to get you."
Fang Xingchen could still manage to gasp for breath and say a few words, but Chu Mengluan was completely exhausted and couldn't utter a single word. She slumped down on the edge of the field, panting heavily like an old, worn-out bellows.
Chu Mengluan waved her hand with difficulty, indicating that she was giving up. Anyway, she couldn't walk another step, let alone carry a big basket on her back.
Jiang Xiaoman ran the mountain path very fast. After sending Fang Xingchen up, he immediately took a bamboo pole and came down to catch Chu Mengluan. The bamboo pole was for Chu Mengluan to use as a walking stick.
"Xiaoman, you're amazing! With that stamina, why didn't you study physical education? Physical education graduates are in high demand these days, everyone's scrambling to hire them! They have no trouble finding jobs." Chu Mengluan couldn't help but feel sorry for Jiang Xiaoman.
Both she and Fang Xingchen had heard from Principal Baichuan that Jiang Xiaoman had to return to her hometown to start a business because she couldn't find a job after graduating from university. In reality, starting a business meant starting from scratch and doing some small business so that she and her father wouldn't starve to death.
This is the tragedy of their generation of college students. Times are changing too fast, and no one can be sure whether the so-called "good majors" of today will suddenly become obsolete in four years.
Families like theirs are alright; at least their parents have some social connections and family wealth. Even if they lose their jobs, their families can help them find work or sponsor some start-up funds so they can run a small business, which might not be worse than working a regular job. But Jiang Xiaoman is different.
According to Principal Baichuan, Jiang Xiaoman went to university with the goal of getting a good job in the future. Who knew that before she even graduated, her major would become obsolete?
Just a few years ago, when people mentioned sports, music, and art departments, they thought that only students with poor academic performance would go there. Who would have thought that in just a few years, the tables would turn and the "popular majors" would fall out of favor, while graduates of these seemingly unpopular majors would suddenly be in high demand... Chu Mengluan felt sorry for Jiang Xiaoman.
"I didn't expect this either. If I had known, I would have applied to the physical education department. Speaking of which, I even broke our school record for the 800 meters in high school." Jiang Xiaoman felt quite depressed thinking about this.
"It's okay! Starting a business back in our hometown is a good idea. Our potatoes and honey are delicious. I'll buy all the honey from you from now on!" Chu Mengluan comforted him.
"Okay! I'll thank you on behalf of the villagers. Once I've got my beekeeping business up and running, I'll donate money to the school to build dormitories! Then when more teachers come to teach, they won't have to live in classrooms anymore, haha~"
After chatting for a few minutes, they arrived at Jiang Cancan's house. Grandma Jiang caught a chicken and was about to kill it for them to eat. Fang Xingchen grabbed the rooster's wing and desperately tried to stop her: "Grandma, we really brought vegetables! You can ask Xiaoman if you don't believe me. It would be a waste if we couldn't finish them and they went bad. If you kill the chicken, we'll have even more food to eat."
"Yes, Grandma, we've been building a house these past few days, so there's always leftover food. I brought what we can't finish at home, otherwise it'll go bad." Jiang Xiaoman quickly ran over. Unlike Fang Xingchen, he wasn't so restrained. He supported Grandma Jiang with one hand and gently pulled the rooster's ankle with the other. The rooster squawked and ran away, leaving behind a few bright red feathers.
"Hey Xiaoman, it's rare for the teachers to come all the way from school, we can't just eat leftovers. There are two pieces of cured pork in the kitchen, could you cut off a piece and stir-fry some vegetables for me, and steam a few eggs with soy sauce?"
"Okay! I'll do whatever you say!" Jiang Xiaoman winked at Chu Mengluan, signaling her to help Grandma Jiang to the side to rest. He then took Fang Xingchen and had Jiang Yueyue lead them to sort and put away the things.
They brought a lot of things this time: a silk quilt, several sheets and covers, and some clothes for Grandma Jiang and her two granddaughters. All of these need to be put in the wardrobe.
The paper, pens, notebooks, and extracurricular books that the school gave to the students were all placed on the only "desk" in the Jiang family. The desk was the same style as decades ago, with rusty drawer handles and cracks all over the desktop. Jiang Cancan picked up a few calendars from somewhere and pasted them on the desk, barely covering half of it so she could write on it. The other half could only be left unattended.
"Yueyue, this jar is for your face, and this long tube is for your hands. Remember to wipe your face and hands after you wash your face in the morning and evening, okay? And your grandma, wipe some for her too." Jiang Xiaoman handed the face cream and hand cream she had brought to Jiang Yueyue, telling her to put them away so she would know where they were when she needed them.
The rest of the rice, flour, oil, and other supplies were all bought by themselves. The Jiang family lived in a single-story thatched house, and to prevent the rice and grains from getting damp and spoiling, Jiang Xiaoman and Fang Xingchen brought in several bundles of firewood from outside. They temporarily set up a moisture-proof platform in the adjacent room and put the rice, noodles, and other food on it.
"Yueyue, remember to tell Grandma that you should eat these as soon as possible. Don't save them, or your big rat will benefit from them," Jiang Xiaoman instructed Jiang Yueyue.
"Can't you leave some for my second sister? She hasn't had rice in a long time either." Jiang Yueyue blinked her big eyes.
"Don't worry, your second sister is participating in a competition in the city. She's eating and sleeping at the TV station. You don't know, the TV station's cafeteria has all kinds of food! Not to mention rice, there are several kinds of staple food in one meal. Your second sister can eat whatever she wants! You and Grandma taking good care of yourselves is the biggest help you can give your second sister!"
As she spoke, Jiang Xiaoman gestured for Fang Xingchen to turn on his phone, intending to have Grandma Jiang and Jiang Yueyue film a video and post it on the school's video account. This would have an advantage: no matter whose phone it was, as long as there was internet access, it could be viewed. He could send the video link to the program's life teacher and ask her to take it to Jiang Cancan so that the little girl wouldn't miss home alone.
Furthermore, they had promised Jiang Cancan's fans (although there weren't many) that they would film more videos of Jiang Cancan for them to watch. Now that Jiang Cancan isn't home, filming some scenes of her home should be fine too.
"Brother Xiaoman, if this video is released, won't people accuse us of playing the victim?" Chu Mengluan asked, a little worried.
"Our Langshan is notorious throughout the country for being poor. It's already bad enough. Do we really need to play the victim?" Jiang Xiaoman couldn't help but complain.
“That’s true,” Chu Mengluan said with a sense of sympathy.
She would never believe it, even if you beat her to death. Now, some developed regions are starting to move towards common prosperity, while Langshan hasn't even gotten close to "prosperity" yet.
Moreover, according to Principal Baichuan, thanks to the strong support of the national poverty alleviation campaign in recent years, their area is much richer than before, as evidenced by the fact that the people can now feed themselves.
I heard that years ago, before Jiang Xiaoman went to university, there were often people here who died from eating sprouted potatoes because they didn't have enough food.
Later, the expert who sacrificed his life on the road to poverty alleviation brought a new variety of virus-free and high-yield potatoes to Langshan, which finally freed the people of Langshan from the poverty of not having enough to eat.
Jiang Xiaoman carried a basket of vegetables to the "kitchen" while Chu Mengluan assisted Fang Xingchen in filming the video. When she looked up, she saw that the other half of the roof had also collapsed, and the Jiang family's kitchen had now been completely transformed into an "open-air kitchen."
They had other things to do in the afternoon and couldn't make anything too complicated, but Jiang Xiaoman was prepared. He told Grandma Jiang that he brought "leftovers," but in fact, all the ingredients were prepared in advance. The meat sauce and pickled green beans were stir-fried at home, and the fish was cut into pieces, marinated, coated with batter and egg white, and then deep-fried. He also cut a few pounds of fresh pork, cooked it until golden brown, and then served it together with the rendered pork fat in an enamel basin. It would keep for a long time without spoiling.
I sliced half a bowl of potatoes, then scooped out several large spoonfuls of rendered pork and lard, added scallions, ginger, and garlic to sauté until fragrant. Next, I added the potato slices, two spoonfuls of soybean paste, and stir-fried for a few moments. Then, I poured in most of a pot of water. Once the water boiled, I added the noodles and cooked them. Finally, I added some chopped leafy greens before serving.
This kind of "one-pot" noodles may look terrible, but it tastes really good. It has meat, vegetables and staple food, and one pot is usually enough for the whole family.
However, since today was a day to entertain guests, and Jiang Xiaoman was worried that Grandma Jiang would feel embarrassed, she asked Jiang Yueyue to bring over four local eggs. She chopped up the washed green peppers, beat them together with the eggs, added salt, lard, soy sauce, and chopped green onions, stirred well, skimmed off the foam, and steamed them. The steamed egg custard made this way was different from the ones sold in restaurants, but it was especially good with rice.
The crispy fried fish pieces are even easier to make. Simply boil a bowl of water in a wok, add the fried fish pieces, a spoonful of soybean oil, and shredded ginger. When the sauce is almost reduced, sprinkle some chopped green onions. Since the fish pieces have already been marinated with salt, there is no need to add any more salt. You can just serve it directly.
Actually, this dish would taste even better if a few pieces of tofu were added, but the Jiang family doesn't even grow soybeans, let alone sell tofu, so Jiang Xiaoman could only make do with this.
"Brother Xiaoman, can we find a way to fix up Cancan's kitchen?" Fang Xingchen couldn't help but ask as he looked up at the Jiang family's open kitchen.
Chapter 63
Fang Xingchen didn't expect that many netizens who saw the video that night, especially fans who liked Jiang Cancan after watching the show, would rush to the video to give her tips.
Everyone had only one goal: regardless of whether a new house is built in the future, let's hurry up and fix the kitchen roof!
Summer brings frequent torrential rains, and netizens can't even imagine what would happen if the Jiang family had an elderly grandmother who was almost blind and a five-year-old child, and the kitchen was unusable due to the rain. How would they cook?
However, some netizens who had been scammed before raised doubts, questioning whether this was a staged photo shoot by a team.
Before Fang Xingchen could even reply, a helpful netizen pointed the way, telling the questioning netizens to go and watch the video account's previous videos.
As a result, the netizens who had initially questioned the video ended up coming back with tears in their eyes to donate money...
In just one night, the amount of money donated in the back-end exceeded three thousand yuan.
With this money, we could not only repair the roof, but also build a brand new kitchen.
Without hesitation, before returning to the TV station, Jiang Xiaoman helped Grandma Jiang contact some bricklayers in the village, paid them, and asked them to help build a new kitchen.
However, considering that the Jiang family's old thatched house would eventually be demolished and rebuilt, Jiang Xiaoman specially had the kitchen built downwind, a little further away from the old house.
"Let's use it here for now. When we build a new house, we'll definitely have a new kitchen. We won't need to modify this kitchen then. It'll be perfect for cooking pig feed, and we can move the pigsty over there too." Jiang Xiaoman helped Grandma Jiang with some planning.
When Grandma Jiang heard that the money was donated by Jiang Cancan's fans, she didn't understand what "fans" meant. After she found out, she finally showed a relieved smile.
"Great! Our Cancan has someone who likes her now, that's wonderful! Her dad is a scoundrel, we can't count on him anymore, but unexpectedly these strangers have helped our family a lot! Hey, Xiaoman, when you see our Cancan, remember to tell her to make sure she thanks these fans properly!"
As she spoke, she groped around in the cabinet and pulled out several tightly tied plastic bags, pushing them towards Jiang Xiaoman—
"Xiaoman, here, take this and eat it!"
"What are these?" Jiang Xiaoman asked curiously, holding a bunch of rustling plastic bags.
"Oh, these are all worthless things! I dried potato chips, dried radish, and dried bamboo shoots myself. Can Can isn't home, and no one's going down the mountain to sell them. You can take them all and eat them! My Can Can has troubled you too much!"
Although Jiang Xiaoman often said that the two families were related by ancestry, Grandma Jiang knew in her heart that the two families had not been in contact for many years.
Besides, visiting her poor relatives would only be a burden, but Jiang Xiaoman never looked down on them. She would even run back and forth to buy rice and flour for them, repair their kitchen, and accompany Cancan to the big city to participate in competitions. These were all favors that she could never repay!
She only regretted that her eyesight was failing, otherwise she could have made two pairs of shoes for Jiang Xiaoman.
“Okay, my dad and I both love this, so I won’t be polite! When I come back from the provincial capital, I’ll bring you and Yueyue some delicious food too.” Jiang Xiaoman hesitated for a moment, but didn’t refuse. She smiled and put the dried vegetables in the plastic bags into her basket, carrying it all the way down the mountain. She then carried it to a big hotel opposite the J Province TV station, where a room cost over a thousand yuan a night.
He came prepared this time, bringing a lot of local specialties from Langshan, including cured meat and pickled vegetables.
Hotel rooms don't allow cooking, but Wei Sheng's apartment does!
That's right, avoiding the assistant Xiaobai who constantly threatens to "hang herself," Jiang Xiaoman and Wei Sheng finally established a secret united front—Wei Sheng provides the venue and cooking utensils, while Jiang Xiaoman brings her own ingredients. They're going to eat alone, behind Wei Sheng's manager and assistant's back!
"Did you bring everything?" Outside the dressing room, Wei Sheng sent his assistant Xiao Bai away, asking him to make two glasses of lemonade for himself and Jiang Xiaoman. He then secretly poked Jiang Xiaoman.