"This way, when spring comes next year, these roots will sprout new shoots, and those new shoots can be sold for money."
Upon hearing that it could be sold for money, everyone's expressions turned serious, and they remembered this point firmly.
Jiang Xiaoman took the opportunity to educate them on the science of growing chrysanthemums. In addition to providing support for the seedlings, they also needed to add soil when the chrysanthemums entered their vigorous growth period and their roots began to spread outwards.
This can prevent the chrysanthemums from dying. Secondly, covering the roots with soil can effectively nourish them, especially with soil containing manure. When the soil is covered with manure, the roots absorb nutrients, resulting in larger and better-looking chrysanthemums that can fetch a higher price.
Many online shops sell Chrysanthemum morifolium, especially the premium large-flowered varieties. They don't sell it by weight, but by the flower, and each flower costs more than a dollar! But it really looks beautiful when brewed.
Jiang Xiaoman is really good at brainwashing the simple mountain people.
Upon hearing that adding soil would allow them to sell each of their chrysanthemums for one yuan, some of the more forgetful individuals, worried they might forget, even took out their phones to write it down.
Lang Ying secretly decided that once the new house was built, she would catch two pigs to raise. The pork was secondary; her main goal was to collect pig manure, which she would then mix with garden soil to use as fertilizer for her seedlings… and that would bring in a lot of money!
To show her fans how chrysanthemums are grown, Jiang Xiaoman brought a tripod with her and filmed the scene while everyone was busy in the field.
The phrase "planting flowers" sounds quite poetic and romantic at first glance, inevitably bringing to mind Tao Yuanming's "Picking chrysanthemums by the eastern fence, I leisurely gaze at the southern mountains."
But in reality, once you actually get to work in the fields, you realize that growing flowers is just as hard as growing rice. In fact, since it was the first time growing this stuff, everyone was a bit cautious, afraid of breaking the chrysanthemum seedlings they had bought.
A ridge about 90 centimeters wide can be used to plant three chrysanthemum seedlings side by side. The two on the sides are fine; you can just squat down to plant them. But the one in the middle is a nightmare; you almost have to lie down on the ridge to plant it.
After planting, they had to use bamboo strips and bamboo wires to build a frame. After building the frame, they had to carry soil to mound soil around the roots... Lang Ying and Jiang Xiaoman each took a pair of scissors. After they finished planting, they went up to cut off the leaves below the seedlings and removed the tops. They were busy from afternoon until dark.
"Why don't you all stay here tonight? It's getting dark, and it's not safe to walk at night, especially with the children with you," Jiang Xiaoman earnestly urged the guests to stay.
They definitely couldn't go back to Laoshan Aozi. Not to mention the wild beasts roaming the forest after dark, the journey itself was long. After having dinner at Jiang Xiaoman's house, if they set off from here, it would probably be almost dawn by the time they got home.
Since they were all single men, they could make do with sleeping on the floor in any room they found, and they all said they would stay at Xiaoman's house for the night before going back.
Jiang Yu and Lang Ying were in a bit of a dilemma.
Jiang Yu said that his family raised pigs and chickens, and if they didn't go back, there would be no one to feed them.
Lang Ying hadn't planned to stay overnight when she arrived; she only left lunch for Grandma Jiang and Jiang Yueyue. If she didn't go back tonight, the two of them would probably go hungry.
"What's the big deal? I'll call my uncle and ask him to help feed your pigs and chickens. As for Grandma Jiang, I'll just ask my uncle and the others to make a couple extra bowls when they cook dinner tonight."
As she spoke, Jiang Xiaoman began to boss her uncle around without any qualms.
Jiang Baichuan never expected that while other people's children would cause trouble for their fathers, Jiang Xiaoman was the one who couldn't bear to cause trouble for her own father, but instead came to cause trouble for her cousin!
However, thinking that the kid was busy planting that golden chrysanthemum, which was ultimately for the sake of helping the people of Langshan get out of poverty and become rich as soon as possible, Jiang Baichuan went to help feed the pigs and take care of the elderly and children without complaint.
After a tiring afternoon, Jiang Xiaoman's back ached and she didn't want to move at all, let alone cook.
Fortunately, he still had some instant noodles he had stocked up on before. He took out a box, counted the number of people, and ordered half a box of braised beef noodles. He asked Sister Lang Ying to help him fry two plates of poached eggs on the gas stove. Each person had a big bowl of instant noodles, plus two poached eggs and a big piece of cured meat. They barely filled their stomachs.
That evening, Jiang Xiaoman gave up his room. There were two beds in his room. Lang Ying slept in the larger one with Da Niu and Er Niu, and Shan Guo and Shan Hua slept in the smaller one.
The others split into two groups, sleeping on the floor in Jiang Youliang's room and his living room, respectively.
There was a small heated floor in the living room. When it was lit at night, the floor was warm and cozy, even more comfortable than sleeping in the bedroom. There was also a TV over there, and a bunch of boys noisily crowded over there.
Jiang Xiaoman was left alone, looking at Shan Yan and Jiang Yu with an awkward and conflicted expression.
Those two are a couple! No wonder those brats ran away so fast. It feels weird to sleep in the same room with them...
"Ahem~ Yan-ge, you guys should go to sleep early. I suddenly remembered that I bought a blockbuster movie that I haven't finished watching yet. I'll sleep in the living room tonight."
As he spoke, the light bulb automatically packed up and ran away.
...
The next morning, after seeing off the people who came to help, Sun Zheyuan arrived with his luggage. Hearing that they had just planted the chrysanthemum seedlings the day before, he immediately slapped his forehead in annoyance: "I forgot to tell you, we also need to take some photos and videos for our records! If we need to participate in any selection process, we'll have to write additional materials."
"Brother Zheyuan, have you forgotten what I do? I make short videos!" Jiang Xiaoman laughed. "I made a lot of videos yesterday. I can even take screenshots for you if you want."
Sun Zheyuan then remembered that Jiang Xiaoman was not only a college student who returned to his hometown to start a business, but also a popular influencer with millions of followers.
"I'm so busy I'm completely confused, haha~" Sun Zheyuan laughed as well.
After putting down his luggage, this impatient poverty alleviation cadre hurriedly urged Jiang Xiaoman to take him to see the beehives that his family had placed in the woods.
Before he left, the town's propaganda officer specially gave him the only SLR camera in the town, telling him not to forget to take many good photos and to help the town complete a publicity report later...
Being a grassroots cadre is tough!
While working on poverty alleviation, I also need to write an article.
Jiang Xiaoman's family has made more than 50 beehives from last year to this year. In addition to these beehives, Jiang Youliang also used some wood scraps to build many natural beehives by taking advantage of the protruding rocks on the mountain. Fearing that others might accidentally knock them down, he even wrote his family's name on them with wood and ink.
Looking at these simple "beehives," Sun Zheyuan fell silent.
He had always known why the people in Langshan were so resistant to the idea of "returning to their hometown to start a business".
Sun Zheyuan would not admit that they were short-sighted; who doesn't want to get rich? The poorer the place, the more people want to defy fate and change their destiny.
The most crucial reason is that ordinary families lack the capacity to bear the risks of starting a business.
Jiang Youliang's family was considered relatively well-off in Langshan because they could afford to build a two-and-a-half-story house, yet they still had to scrimp and save to use scraps of wood to make beehives. One can only imagine how much worse off other families were...
Thinking of this, Sun Zheyuan felt as if a bucket of ice water had been poured over his head, instantly sobering him up.
On the way here, he was full of ambition, thinking that since the people in the mountains also grow their own trees, they could cut down a few more trees, make a hundred or two hundred beehives for each family, and then put them in the mountains. The beehive owners would be responsible for collecting the honey, and the people could just sit at home and wait to collect the money.
After seeing Jiang Xiaoman's simple beehives, Sun Zheyuan had to admit that if more rural youth were to return to their hometowns to start businesses and help local people escape poverty and become prosperous, the road ahead was still very long...
Chapter 151
Unlike Sun Zheyuan's sighs and lamentations, Jiang Xiaoman thought her dad's idea was awesome.
"Brother Zheyuan, look, there are already two honeycomb cells inside this beehive!"
Jiang Xiaoman squatted down in front of a simple beehive, pointed to the white honeycomb inside and said with delight, "When I went into the mountains with Brother Shanyan and the others to harvest honey before, I found that many wild bees like to build their nests on top of these semi-open caves, or under some rock crevices and beams where the bees face the sun."
"Later, when I came back and told my dad about it, he slapped his forehead and said he should have thought of it sooner."
“Look, if all the beehives are made of wooden planks, even cheap second-hand wood, each beehive would cost at least thirty or forty yuan. One hundred would cost three or four thousand yuan. Ordinary people might not be willing to spend that much money to start a business.”
“But if we use outdoor beehives made from scrap wood, we can take advantage of the terrain and find places where wild bees like to build nests. We can build such a beehive at a very low cost!”
"And my dad and I discovered that these dilapidated-looking beehives are actually more effective at attracting bees than the beehives we make from wooden planks."
"Really?" Sun Zheyuan perked up instantly upon hearing this.
"Of course it's true! Why would I lie to you? Come and see for yourself! My dad built this outdoor beehive less than half a month ago, and there are already two honeycomb cells inside! Look closely, some of the honeycomb cells already have honey, it's the light yellow area." Jiang Xiaoman pointed to the honeycomb cells hidden inside.
Sun Zheyuan squatted down, turned on his DSLR camera, and snapped several close-up photos of the simple beehive and the honeycomb inside. He was so excited that his palms started to sweat.
This is truly a case of finding a new path after a seemingly hopeless situation!
Jiang Xiaoman is right!
Why were the mountain people in Langshan able to support their entire families by going into the mountains to find honey in the past?
It's because there are so many kinds of nectar-producing plants in these mountains that wild bees have no shortage of food and water. So even in the wild, if they find a suitable place, wild bees can build nests and collect nectar...
In this sense, they can completely change their entrepreneurial approach. They don't have to be like before, where starting a business always meant expecting people to put in tens of thousands of dollars of their savings, or to rush around soliciting sponsorships and throwing money into it all at once.
And the result? The money was all spent, and there was no follow-up. Some projects just disappeared without a trace...
However, if Jiang Xiaoman's family did it this way, there would be almost no cost of trial and error.
As long as the honey collection channels are kept open, people who want to make money by beekeeping don't need to spend extra money to buy wood to make beehives. They can just go to furniture factories to find some scraps and scraps and build dozens of such simple beehives on their own hilltops.
Even without planting honeysuckle and chrysanthemum like Jiang Xiaoman's family, relying solely on the flowers and grasses in the mountains, harvesting two batches of local honey a year, a family can still earn several thousand to tens of thousands of yuan.
According to Jiang Xiaoman, as long as you find the right place for wild bees to build their nests, you can bring a considerable income to your family every year with just a little cost. Who wouldn't be tempted by that?
Sun Zheyuan became more and more excited, wishing he could run back right now, open his laptop, and start typing like crazy!
He now has countless creative ideas and concepts in his mind!
He also needed to persuade the town to hire local mountain people like Shan Yan, who regularly go into the mountains to collect honey and are knowledgeable about the habits of wild bees, to guide local families who had never kept bees before on how to build these low-cost outdoor beehives using the terrain and environment...
As for the claim that these beehives are like dilapidated buildings and not durable?
Haha... If ordinary people think it's not durable enough, and they have the financial means, they can simply spend money to buy better quality wood to make beehives.
Thinking about the future, with outdoor beehives covering the entire Langshan area, every household earning money and building new houses through beekeeping, and children no longer having to drop out of school early to work because of poverty, Sun Zheyuan became happier and happier as he thought about it, and he laughed on the spot.
Seeing how happy he was, Jiang Xiaoman smiled too.
Look! Even the poverty alleviation officials think their beekeeping cooperative has made a good start. It seems like there's potential for the entrepreneurship poverty alleviation subsidy!
Sun Zheyuan followed Jiang Xiaoman all the way to the two hills near his home and was surprised to find that the beehives were not placed on the ground as he had thought.
The Jiang family's beehives and beehives were placed in the woods, hung on tree branches, or tucked into rock crevices. Most of them were well hidden and could hardly be found without careful observation.
Sun Zheyuan originally thought this was to prevent theft and keep honey from being stolen, but he later learned that Jiang Youliang placed the honey in this way mainly to take into account the habits of wild bees, and specifically chose a place where wild bees like to build their nests...
"It seems that if we want to develop this cooperative, technical talents like Shanyan and your father are really invaluable!" Sun Zheyuan couldn't help but sigh.
Then, out of curiosity, she asked him, "Langshan Village is so far away from Laoshan Aozi, how did you get along so well with Shanyan and his group?"
江小满尴尬一笑，把自己当初去找山岩买岩蜜送人、差点被他当成情敌给揍了的糗事简单回顾了一下，孙哲远哈哈大笑，觉得他和山岩这“不打不相识”的故事，也可以写到以后的长篇新闻报道里，作为这段创业故事中的一个小插曲。
If Jiang Xiaoman knew he planned to write her and Shan Yan's story in the news, she definitely wouldn't tell him this "dark history"...
As the two strolled along, Sun Zheyuan took hundreds of photos, while Jiang Xiaoman's basket was filled with wild vegetables she picked along the way. Today, she also brought a small hoe and dug up a lot of houttuynia cordata.
If Jiang Yu were here, he'd definitely be amazed by his good friend's stinginess again.
Jiang Xiaoman is the kind of person who can't bear to dig up the houttuynia cordata growing in front of her own house. Every time she eats it, she only pinches off the tips of the green leaves.
Once they reached the unclaimed land outside, they wielded the little hoe with incredible gusto, almost digging up the entire field ridge!
Looking at the white and tender houttuynia cordata, Jiang Xiaoman chuckled. He first took it to the mountain spring flowing down from the mountain, washed off the mud on the houttuynia cordata, and then stuffed it at the bottom of his basket. On top of it were two handfuls of small bamboo shoots he had cut along the way, a small pile of ba cai (also known as cudweed), some newly sprouted ferns, and bitter lettuce, which every household in Langshan loves to eat.
It's a pity the wild rapeseed has already bloomed.
Last winter, Sun Zheyuan went to the countryside with the town's cadres. On the way back, he dug up a lot of wild rapeseed. This stuff is really good!
The outer leaves and stems can be used to make sauerkraut, while the tender inner shoots are more flavorful than ordinary green vegetables, whether stir-fried or used in hot pot!
Jiang Xiaoman also dug up a lot of wild scallions with a small hoe, saying that she would stir-fry wild scallion stewed eggs for him that night.
Sun Zheyuan couldn't help but swallow.
After returning from the mountain, Sun Zheyuan quickly went into his room to grab his laptop and then sat down on the small kang (heated brick bed) in Jiang Xiaoman's living room. The height of the kang table was just right for him to sit cross-legged and type.
Jiang Xiaoman only heard a series of light and rapid tapping sounds from the laptop keyboard. Just by listening to the sound, she could imagine Director Sun's ten fingers flying across the keyboard as he frantically typed words.