Looking at the wild bees buzzing around outside, Jiang Xiaoman was extremely envious: his family had also made quite a few new beehives this year, and if they brought them all over, they could easily attract a lot of wild bees back home.
However, he was just thinking about it. The two families lived so far apart. They couldn't possibly carry all of their more than one hundred beehives over here, attract wild bees, and then carry them back, could they?
At that moment, he was particularly envious of the beekeepers in the documentary who drove a big truck all over the country chasing after flowers, and they basically went to places that cars could drive to.
Unlike here, where you have to pay porters to transport honey.
Even locals like Shan Yan can only find this kind of porter. If it were someone from out of town, even if you wanted to find a porter, you wouldn't know where to look in this vast mountain range!
The porters carrying loads up the mountain not only brought many empty plastic buckets, but also brought them a lot of supplies.
Fresh corncobs, homegrown vegetables, eggs, and potatoes—these things may not be worth much, but for these people who make a living in the mountains, they are a godsend.
That noon, Jiang Xiaoman stir-fried fragrant cured pork and potato slices for everyone, and also made a pot of incredibly delicious river shrimp and egg drop soup with fresh vegetables. She also roasted corn cobs with their skins on directly in the charcoal fire, which was fragrant and delicious.
"Everyone, just two more days of hard work, and once we've harvested the remaining rock honey and the old beehives inside, we can go home!"
Shan Yan was overjoyed. This was a huge harvest. The first batch of rock honey alone was enough to feed them for three months. In addition, there was the remaining honey and the old honeycomb inside, which was all money!
In addition to food supplies, the porters also brought them replacement batteries and firewood carried from outside the mountain—the firewood in the forest was almost all wet, and it would smoke as soon as it burned, making it impossible to cook.
Jiang Xiaoman watched as they carried things out of the empty plastic buckets bit by bit, and it was truly an eye-opening experience!
He had always thought that harvesting honey in the mountains was a one-day trip, just finding the beehive and picking the honey. He never imagined there were so many complicated things involved. It seems every profession is complex, and he still has a lot to learn...
In her spare time, Jiang Xiaoman couldn't help but ask Shan Yan, "Collecting honey is so hard, why don't you build your own beehives and raise bees?" The fact that so many wild bees could survive in this area of Laoshan Aozi shows that there are plenty of nectar sources in the mountains and forests. Raising bees yourself doesn't require much effort and is not as dangerous as climbing rocks to collect honey.
“Beekeeping isn’t difficult, but the price is high once it’s transported down the mountain.” Shan Yan raised his chin and pointed to the honeycomb they had just harvested that day. “The porters charge a hundred yuan each for a trip up the mountain. If we keep our own bees, hire people to carry the honey down the mountain, and then sell it to honey buyers, they won’t buy it if we sell it for too high a price, and we won’t make any money if we sell it for too low a price. What do you suggest we do?”
Jiang Xiaoman opened her mouth, unsure how to answer.
He recalled the so-called "honey" he used to see on the supermarket shelves when he worked there. Almost 80% of it was fake or simply artificial honey made from white sugar, and the price wasn't high.
Genuine wild honey is carried down the mountain by hired people, then distributed to factories through middlemen. In the end, it's estimated that only the middlemen and factories make money. Ordinary people can't eat real wild honey, and beekeepers don't make money either. No wonder Shan Yan and others don't want to keep bees themselves.
Although harvesting honey in the mountains is hard work and dangerous, true long-time customers know that the honey they buy from them is genuine wild honey harvested from deep in the mountains.
And precisely because it is rare and precious, the rock honey in Shan Yan's hands can be sold at a high price. In this way, if they are lucky, their annual income may actually be higher than that of professional beekeepers who carry beehives around chasing flowers.
"Xiaoman, are you going to raise bees yourself? Then I'll get you some leftover honey from my house later. It's all leftover honey from the honey extraction. Don't be fooled by its appearance; it's a great thing for attracting bees! Much better than honey syrup." Jiang Yu rolled her eyes and knew exactly what Jiang Xiaoman was thinking.
"Okay, then I won't be polite. I'll bring you chocolate next time!" Jiang Xiaoman also let go of the matter, knowing that beekeeping was not suitable for the people in Laoshan'aozi.
However, to his and Shanyan's surprise, after the video was released, over 400,000 people in the comments section strongly urged Shanyan's village to build their own beehives for beekeeping.
"I really can't afford rock honey, but wild honey from farms deep in the mountains is just as good!"
"Yes, yes! My grandma used to buy it for me a lot when I was in school. It's completely different from the honey in the supermarket, it's really delicious!"
"Xiaoman, quickly tell this handsome guy to keep bees! We don't care if it's expensive, we'll buy them!"
"Do I have to kneel down and beg you? Fine, I'll kneel down, Qiuqiu Shanyan, please start beekeeping! Save the babies poisoned by fake honey!"
"Everyone wants wild honey, but I'm different. I want Brother Shanyan..."
"Wait, didn't you guys notice that the other guy named Jiang Yu is even more handsome? He's so good-looking! I want to sleep~"
"Shut up! That guy belongs to another guy! If you don't understand, go watch Xiaoman's previous videos, thank you~"
Netizens are truly like Sherlock Holmes, with sharp eyes. After watching only two videos, they managed to find the sweet moments between Shan Yan and Jiang Yu amidst a bunch of beekeeping jargon... To this, Jiang Xiaoman can only say, well done!
If Shanyan sees these inappropriate comments, he'll probably be blacklisted from Shanyan's homepage.
Chapter 93
Jiang Xiaoman never expected that he would stay in the mountains for six whole days!
If it weren't for the fact that he called his father every day, Jiang Youliang might have been tempted to go into the mountains to look for his child.
Before leaving, Jiang Yu filled two large jars with rock honey, totaling about two kilograms, and also filled a clean plastic bucket with more than half a bucket of rock honey residue.
These were for him to take back to his home to attract bees, and there were also some old beehives for him to take back to his elderly relatives to eat.
"Don't forget to buy me the hot and sour soup base! And a Wi-Fi card! If you don't have time when they arrive, just call me and I'll come pick them up myself," Jiang Yu earnestly instructed him.
"Don't worry, I placed the order yesterday while I was on my way here, and it should arrive next week."
Jiang Xiaoman, carrying large and small bags, followed Ah Hu, who had accompanied him, down the mountain.
The mountain road home passes by the newly built meditation guesthouse. After not returning for a few days, Jiang Xiaoman was surprised to see that the guesthouse had already started repairing its roof. "This is too fast!"
Actually, the most time-consuming parts of building a house in the mountains are laying the foundation and reinforcing the mountain. Once the foundation is laid well, the rest of the construction will be much faster. Moreover, Tang Xinlan hired a professional construction company that specializes in homestays, so the construction will naturally be much faster than if they built their own house.
Moreover, although these two-story buildings are not yet fully completed, their design is already eye-catching.
Tang Xinlan's personal designer was very bold and took into full consideration the actual situation of Jiang Xiaoman's original homestead. What looks like a two-story building is actually more like two staggered buildings.
The first floor was built on the original site, with four and a half rooms facing south. The west side is the guesthouse's service center, restaurant, and kitchen, while the three rooms on the east side are guest rooms. At the far east end, a thatched-roof-style tea room was built, with a wooden railing and a heated kang (a traditional heated platform bed) inside. There is a fire pit in the middle, where you can sit and warm yourself by the fire, drink tea, and enjoy the snow in winter. Just thinking about it makes the scene very vivid.
The second floor is the highlight. The entire building is set back by just over one meter, built directly against the reinforced mountainside, creating a cone-shaped structure that hugs the mountain.
Below is a three-bay scenic suite. The cone-shaped area above is currently empty from the outside, and it's unclear what it will be used for later. However, the exterior features floor-to-ceiling windows, so if it faces south, it will definitely be very warm in winter.
Unlike their house, the top floor is a typical attic.
However, even if he wanted to imitate this design, his family couldn't find anyone to do it. Rural bricklayers can only make common house styles, and they probably wouldn't know how to make this innovative building model.
This creates a huge terrace of several tens of square meters between the first and second floors. I wonder how to utilize it during the later renovation?
Jiang Xiaoman looked up for a while, then carried her things home.
Inside the house, Jiang Youliang was sitting at the doorway, doing woodworking.
After the beehives were finished, there were still some wood and scraps left over. He planned to make a few small stools or small kang tables, and use the rest as firewood, so as not to waste anything.
"Dad, you can even make kang tables?" Jiang Xiaoman asked in surprise as she looked at the four-legged low table that had already taken shape.
"Had enough fun out there? Do you still remember to come back?" Jiang Youliang glared at his son with displeasure.
"Hehe~ I promised to help them, so it wouldn't be right to leave them in the mountains and run away halfway, would it?" Jiang Xiaoman always knew how to appease her father.
Sure enough, upon hearing that his son had postponed his return home to keep his promise, Jiang Youliang nodded in satisfaction. "You did the right thing. A real man should keep his word! If you say you'll do something, you should do it. If you can't do it, don't make promises lightly."
Jiang Xiaoman nodded repeatedly and showed him the rock honey she had brought back and the residue left over from the honey extraction.
"They're too kind. This rock honey isn't cheap, and the rest is good stuff too. It's perfect for attracting bees to our house." Jiang Youliang looked at the remaining honey in the plastic bucket with interest. "The top layer is still edible. Leave it there and don't touch it. I'll scoop it out later so we can keep it for ourselves. We don't need this much to attract bees."
Jiang Xiaoman nodded, unloaded the things, and busied herself looking for a socket to charge her phone.
As soon as he came down the mountain, he was bombarded with calls and WeChat messages. He was on the phone and sending voice messages the whole way, and his phone was almost out of battery. Just as he plugged his phone back in, Jiang Xia called again.
"Jiang Xiaoman! You're really having a good time being a hands-off boss! The finals are almost here, and you promised to fill in for me, where are you?"
"Oh? Sorry, sorry! It's just that Jiang Xia, you're such a reliable person, the production team probably thought you were more suitable than me to be Can Can's temporary guardian..."
This wasn't Jiang Xiaoman deliberately flattering her brother Jiang Xia.
The main reason is that the production team hasn't called him at all during this period, which clearly means everything is going smoothly. Jiang Xia, the substitute guardian, is doing an excellent job, and there's absolutely no intention of asking him to come back and save the day.
There was a moment of silence on the other end of the phone.
"I don't care! CanCan said she wants to invite you to watch the finals, are you coming or not?"
"Come on, come on! I'll come even if it rains knives from the sky! When?"
There was another long silence on the other end of the phone.
Just as Jiang Xiaoman thought his phone had run out of battery and shut down automatically, Jiang Xia's low growl, barely containing his anger, came from the other end of the line: "You haven't even forgotten the time of the finals, have you?"
Jiang Xiaoman's scalp tingled instantly, her little brain racing, while she chuckled and said, "How could that be, hahaha, I was just thinking about which train ticket would be cheaper. You know, there are only two old-fashioned green trains running here every day, and tickets are really hard to get..."
Before he could finish speaking, the call was suddenly disconnected.
Oh no! The substitute guardian seems to be angry.
Jiang Xiaoman hurriedly and frantically opened WeChat, searched for the group chat created by the production team, found the program schedule that had been sent to the group a long time ago, checked the time, and holy crap! The finale is tomorrow night!
Why bother buying a ticket for that old-fashioned green train? Just take the high-speed rail! Maybe you can even make it into the venue in time...
"Dad! I have to leave for J Province right away! Can Can's finals are tomorrow night!" Jiang Xiaoman rushed upstairs to pack her luggage. She hadn't even had a cup of tea when she got home, and she was already hurrying down the mountain to head to the county town.
Because the bus to the county town had already left today, Jiang Xiaoman spent 100 yuan to take a chartered bus to the county town in order to save time.
Sigh, no wonder the older generation always says that a poor family needs to be rich on the road. Once you go out, you have to spend money everywhere!
Unbeknownst to him, while he was lamenting the 100 yuan he had to pay for the bus fare, the fans of the show "Youth" were also wildly envious of them, the family members.
The seats in the family section are right behind the judges' seats!
You can see all the finalists and guest performers up close!
What kind of amazing seats are these? And they're free!
God knows! Ever since this show became an overnight sensation, the limited number of audience tickets released each time have been resold by scalpers for prices comparable to those of top-tier superstar concerts!
Among them, Jiang Cancan's fans are particularly ruthless—they are a group of wealthy and leisurely successful people in society. If they don't have time to fight for tickets, how could they not have money to buy scalped tickets?
If it weren't for the requirement for real-name registration and matching of ID and ticket for family members to enter the family section, many family members would probably have sold their tickets.
Keep in mind that even the front row seats in the audience sold for as much as 8,000 yuan, not to mention the family seats with the best viewing experience...
Of course, when he later heard that his admission ticket was worth at least ten thousand yuan, the stingy Jiang Xiaoman almost cried on the spot.
Jiang Cancan was overjoyed to see Jiang Xiaoman and rushed over to give him a big hug: "Brother Xiaoman, I missed you so much!"
"Listen to this! The child misses you so much she's going crazy, and what about you? You don't even remember her, do you?" Jiang Xia leaned against the door at some point, sarcastically complaining to him.
"No way! I rushed over as soon as I finished my work!" Jiang Xiaoman patted her bulging travel bag guiltily. "Can Can, come quick! Look what goodies I brought you!"
"Wow! Fermented tofu! Pickled cowpeas! Pickled chili peppers! And dried bamboo shoots, peanuts! Honey!" Watching Jiang Xiaoman take out the local specialties she brought from her travel bag one by one, Jiang Cancan couldn't wait to pounce on her.
"Wait! Jiang Xiaoman, are you doing this on purpose? Why did you bring so much food that she can't eat right now? I bet the only thing she can eat in here is the honey. The rest of it is absolutely forbidden!" Jiang Xia said coldly as he took a plastic bag from the entrance. He took away each item that Jiang Xiaoman took out, until only two bottles of rock honey remained.
"Honey shouldn't be eaten in excess either. The nutritionist said that if children eat too much honey, they are prone to precocious puberty!" Jiang Xia added angrily.
"There's no need for so many rules..." Jiang Xiaoman awkwardly zipped up her travel bag, then pinched Jiang Cancan's noticeably thinner face with a pained expression. "The nutritionist on the show is too cruel! Can't we eat any of these? Look how hungry our Cancan has become, she's lost so much weight!"
Her tone was exactly like that of an overindulgent mother who dotes on her child.
"You look better on camera when you're thin. No matter how popular you are, if you're chubby, how will you survive in this industry once the show's popularity fades?"
Jiang Xia casually locked the confiscated snacks and pickles in the cabinet. After thinking for a moment, she grabbed a handful of dried bamboo shoots and peanuts and handed them to Jiang Cancan. "Eat up, a handful every day. Remember to brush your teeth after you finish."
Jiang Cancan grinned and quickly accepted the local specialty food from her hometown, savoring it slowly and carefully, bite by bite.