Jiang Xiaoman truly lives up to his reputation as the village's social butterfly. Ever since he added the woman at the chicken farm on WeChat, he's been liking her posts whenever he has free time. The woman seems to like him too. Last time he went to the chicken farm to buy eggs, he saw the woman using chicken manure and straw to grow oyster mushrooms, which he found quite unusual. He'd never grown mushrooms before, so he asked the woman for some straw substrate mixed with mushroom spawn and planted them in a shady spot against the back wall of the school.
Unexpectedly, a lot of oyster mushrooms would suddenly appear every few days. These oyster mushrooms could sell for several yuan per kilogram when they were on the market. From then on, Jiang Baichuan benefited from his nephew's generosity and was able to eat fresh mushrooms for free very often.
They must have been really exhausted from the weighted cross-country run in the afternoon. In the evening, the two young intern teachers gave up and ate two big bowls of rice with tears in their eyes, and then drank a bowl of delicious mushroom and chicken soup. While eating, Jiang Xiaoman casually mentioned to them that the school had several video accounts to manage.
"Ahem~ Principal Jiang usually has a heavy teaching load, and he also has to take care of the pigs and chickens raised by the school, as well as grow vegetables. I used to manage these video accounts on his behalf, and I may need to trouble the two teachers to help film them next."
It wasn't that Jiang Xiaoman was being lazy; it was because his family's new house site had been cleared, and the construction team would be starting to build the house in the next couple of days. In the countryside, there's no reason to buy food outside when building a house; it's always the family that builds the house who provides the meals. As for Jiang Youliang's cooking skills... if he were to cook, Jiang Xiaoman was worried that the workers would all leave in a couple of days, leaving him to go back and cook.
Jiang Baichuan is fine with cooking for all the things at school, but filming videos will probably have to be done by younger people.
Sure enough, the two student teachers watched the school's previous videos, secretly relieved, and readily agreed. These days, what young person doesn't know how to make short videos? The one Jiang Xiaoman made—not to be critical, but it was actually worse than their own…
Seeing the two student teachers' positive and proactive attitude, Jiang Baichuan nodded in satisfaction and began assigning tasks under the dim light.
For the next month and a half, they needed to divide the work reasonably and catch up on all the art, music, physical education, and moral education classes that students from grades one to six had missed this semester. They also needed to organize a school sports meet and a school games event... All of this needed to be documented for the year-end inspection. They were too busy to keep records during normal times, so they could only catch up by working overtime during the winter and summer vacations.
Jiang Baichuan knew that the policies formulated by the education department were all for the good of the children. After all, in today's society, it is no longer possible to get ahead by burying oneself in books. However, for a rural primary school like theirs with a frighteningly weak teaching staff, it is really too difficult to ensure that the teaching tasks for each of these courses are completed in full!
Because of a shortage of teachers, their curriculum cannot be arranged as scientifically and rationally as that of other schools in the city. Strictly speaking, their curriculum is arranged according to the teacher-to-student ratio.
For example, after Qu Jingjiang left, they lost a math and physical education teacher. So, before the new teacher arrived, the classes that Qu Jingjiang was originally in charge of would have to wait until Jiang Baichuan finished teaching other classes before he could teach their classes.
As a result, because there isn't enough time during regular classes, some courses that can't be made up will have to be moved to weekends and holidays. For example, the art, music, and other moral education courses that they are required to complete every semester, even if Jiang Baichuan and the other two teachers work themselves to the bone during the week, they still can't finish teaching them. So they can only squeeze out holidays to make up for the students' missed lessons...
This put Qu Jingjiang and Jiang Caiyun in a difficult position. They also have families and want to reunite with their families during winter and summer vacations. They could have taken paid leave, but they have to stay at school to make up for missed classes. Who would be happy about that?
Fortunately, Xiaoman was quick-witted and hired two intern teachers for him.
Jiang Baichuan had actually thought of this method before, and even submitted a report to the county, but for some reason, the county kept saying that it was based on the principle of voluntariness and that no one was willing to teach at their village school... After submitting several applications, Jiang Baichuan gave up.
Looking back now, the county must be in a difficult position. After all, the "double reduction" policy is in effect, and the authorities can't just blatantly give you preferential treatment, can they? Oh, other schools in the county aren't allowed to hold extra classes, so why is Langshan Township Primary School allowed to use the winter and summer vacations for extra classes? Even if it's just arts and physical education classes, that's still against the rules!
The fact that the education department turns a blind eye to them is already considered a leniency towards their schools.
"This week, I'll take you to visit the students' homes and distribute their report cards and tutoring notices. There are a few sixth graders who will be going to junior high. I'll also ask them to borrow some junior high textbooks so they can preview the material during the summer vacation. Otherwise, they might fall behind the students in town."
While Jiang Baichuan was rambling on about assigning tasks to the two intern teachers, Jiang Xiaoman had already edited and sent out today's video.
"Finally updated!" Upon seeing Jiang Xiaoman's new video, Jiang Mengyi quickly opened her belated takeout order, intending to eat while watching the video.
Recently, she suddenly became obsessed with this rural guy's videos. Although the video quality of the guy's videos was touching, and some angles were even confusing, perhaps because she had been too poisoned by the so-called slow-paced rural life short videos that were carefully planned and edited, netizens now prefer to watch the works of "newbies" like Jiang Xiaoman. The reason is simple: authenticity.
Especially Jiang Xiaoman's persona as the "male cafeteria auntie" is incredibly trendy! Every time Jiang Mengyi sees his smile when he serves food to the children, she can't help but think of the expression of an old farmer feeding pigs. And don't let his young age fool you, this blogger cooks very well, and he doesn't use any particularly rare ingredients; he just eats whatever's in his garden, which is very down-to-earth!
"Huh? Why are there two newcomers?" Jiang Mengyi's eyes lit up. When she heard Jiang Xiaoman say that these two were college students who came to teach during the summer vacation, she suddenly realized!
Back when she was a sophomore in college, she also went to teach in the mountains. It was really tough, but during that time, Jiang Mengyi vowed that even if her hair turned white and she lost all her teeth, she would never forget it.
Thinking about the awkward situations the two newcomers might face, Jiang Mengyi couldn't help but chuckle.
However, to everyone's surprise, including the two intern teachers, a few days later, with the intern teachers officially taking over, their carefully planned and edited new version of the video was collectively criticized by fans!
Fans waiting to watch the "Trainee Teacher's Mishaps" video series are speechless: We're here to watch the show, not the scenery, okay?
Yes! The scenery of Langshan is indeed beautiful, and the angle of the video is also very accurate. It even makes the vegetable garden look like a documentary, but this is not what they want to see at all!
They want to see student teachers scrambling around in the countryside, burning the food, feeding pigs, carrying manure to irrigate the fields, squatting under the stove eating potatoes... Okay, that's a bit unkind, but that's what they want to see!
If they really want to watch epic rural scenery documentaries, can't they just turn on the TV? Wouldn't the big-budget documentaries on the national television channel be better?
However, out of respect for Jiang Xiaoman, fans were quite tactful in the comments section, advising him to maintain his original filming style, otherwise he might lose fans...
"What should I do?" Chu Mengluan panicked. To make a good video, she had specifically searched online for many short videos from similar bloggers, completely following the scripts, styles, and shooting angles of the big influencers. She even spent a long time choosing the background music. How could it not look good?
"Let's ask Brother Xiaoman," Fang Xingchen said, equally frustrated. He had initially thought making short videos wouldn't be difficult, at least not easier than teaching students, but it turned out to be the other way around!
Jiang Xiaoman went home to help build the house, and he didn't forget to check the school's video account every day. He saw the fans' reactions. Since he needed to go to the market to buy some seasonings the next day, he decided to go down the mountain with the workers in the evening and stay at the school that night to chat with the two teachers.
It's his fault too.
In fact, Tang Xinlan had already reminded him before that he should not "refer to and learn" the scripts and shooting techniques of those big V's online. Only in this way could he find another way to gain fans by relying on the labels of "rustic" and "technically bad".
Jiang Xiaoman's mistake was that she naively assumed Fang Xingchen and Chu Mengluan were also "tech noobs" like her, unaware that Fang Xingchen was a computer expert. As for Chu Mengluan, her family owned an advertising company; she was introduced to cameras by her father before she could even walk, growing up in a photography studio…
Jiang Xiaoman was stunned after hearing this, unsure whether to put on an expression of "wondering something" or "regret".
That's why people say young people today should read more of the works of great figures. No one has the right to speak without investigation!
Jiang Xiaoman, feeling utterly humiliated by her own actions, resigned herself to her fate. She solemnly apologized to the two apologetic intern teachers and quickly pinned a comment to the top of the comments section, stating that the new teachers were still in the adjustment period and asking everyone to wait for the new video tonight…
Chapter 38
Jiang Xiaoman was exhausted after spending the entire night brainwashing two intern teachers; her throat was practically on fire.
Fang Xingchen and Chu Mengluan couldn't help but start to question their own existence: Did they really have to film it the way Xiaoman suggested? Wasn't that just too lacking in artistic pursuit?
“Just shoot it like this! Otherwise, all of Xiaoman’s hard-earned 200,000+ followers will disappear. Where are we going to get them back? Buy them?” Chu Mengluan waved her hand. As the young owner of an advertising company, she could vaguely understand what Jiang Xiaoman meant. Wasn’t it about creating a different persona and competing with other bloggers of the same type?
If Jiang Xiaoman knew what she was thinking, she'd probably be speechless: Honey, this isn't some deliberate persona we're creating, this is just our everyday life~ Guaranteed authentic!!!
They got right to work that very night!
Looking back now, the videos they filmed over the past two days actually had little to do with their school internship. The reality of their rural primary school internship far exceeded their expectations.
During the day, they visited students' homes. On the way back, Jiang Baichuan was also busy, bringing three woven bags of pig feed. The three of them picked a lot of bamboo shoots from the mountains along the way.
These small bamboo shoots are only as thick as a thumb. Don't underestimate their size; once they're picked, processed, and dried, they sell for more than bamboo shoots made from spring bamboo shoots. Jiang Baichuan can earn several hundred yuan a year by selling dried bamboo shoots. Although it's not a lot of money, it's enough to improve the children's meals.
So, after returning home in the evening, Jiang Baichuan went to make dinner, while Fang Xingchen and Chu Mengluan sat on small stools peeling bamboo shoots. They would make a vertical cut along the bamboo shoot husk, then peel off a small portion of the husk from the top, wrap it around their fingers, and quickly rotate it along the bamboo shoot. This was the fastest way to peel bamboo shoots.
At first, the two thought it was too wasteful to peel them like that, because a lot of tender bamboo shoot sheaths would also be peeled off. However, after peeling layer by layer for a short while, seeing the bamboo shoots that were as high as a small mountain, the two intern teachers decided to give up, otherwise they wouldn't be able to finish peeling such a huge pile of bamboo shoots even next year.
"From now on, if I see anyone ordering dried bamboo shoot and old duck soup at a restaurant and they don't finish all the dried bamboo shoots, I'll shove them into the soup bowl!" Chu Mengluan vowed fiercely. After all, she used to do the same thing; she would order a pot of dried bamboo shoot and old duck soup, drink only one bowl of soup, and leave the rest of the duck meat and dried bamboo shoots uneaten.
She felt that these must be the dried bamboo shoots she had wasted coming back to haunt her...
After finishing their meal, Chu Mengluan went to the stove to start a fire. Jiang Baichuan brought in the bamboo shoots they had peeled, first putting them in a large pot with water to boil, then rinsing them in a large basin with cold water. This way, the dried bamboo shoots would look better and fetch a higher price.
"Chuchu, I'm taking the camera to film feeding the pigs~" Fang Xingchen, as expected of a strength-type athlete from the sports department, carried a wooden bucket of pig feed in one hand and held a tripod and phone in the other, recording audio as he walked. "Now I'm going to feed the pigs. I'm a little late coming back today, our pigs must be starving."
Fang Xingchen quite enjoys feeding pigs. He had wanted to keep pets since he was a child, but his mother was allergic to animal fur and couldn't keep any animals with fur. He could only look at other people's cats, dogs, and hamsters with envy.
But now, he doesn't envy his childhood friends at all. No matter how big your villa is, can you raise four pigs at once? He can!
The four pigs were indeed starving. As soon as they heard the familiar footsteps of the zookeeper, they grunted and squeezed to the front of the feeding trough. The largest one even stood up, its two front paws on the low wall, its black bean eyes seemingly watching Fang Xingchen silently, condemning him for being an unreliable novice zookeeper.
"Ahem~ I picked an extra bag of bamboo shoots with the principal today, so I got back late. Here! I specially added a few extra red sweet potatoes for you, eat up!" Fang Xingchen skillfully used the large iron spoon to scoop pig feed into the trough, and the four piglets, which had grown quite a bit, immediately pounced on it and wolfed it down.
"Eat slowly, there's still some left in the pot. I'll feed you before school ends tomorrow, so you don't go hungry." Fang Xingchen looked at the pigs wolfing down their food with a loving mother's smile.
"The principal said that if you get too thin from hunger, the students won't have any cured meat to eat next year."
"Wait! Won't this scare you? Oh well, you wouldn't understand anyway." Fang Xingchen leaned against the low wall of the pigpen, enjoying the unique pleasure of being a pig farmer.
Tomorrow happens to be market day, so Jiang Baichuan decided to take the free-range eggs he had collected over this period to sell and buy some lard.
Speaking of lard, Principal Jiang couldn't help but glare at his nephew: "If it weren't for some people who cook so extravagantly, putting lard into their dishes like it's free, our school wouldn't have gone through so quickly."
"In previous years, one jar of rendered lard could last me a month, but now... humph!"
Jiang Xiaoman looked at her uncle speechlessly: "Not only will you not let us eat eggs, but you won't even let us use lard! Uncle! The children are at the age when they are growing, can you talk to us about science? Will they grow taller if they don't eat well?"
"How can you say we can't eat eggs? I just had scrambled eggs with onions today!" Jiang Baichuan slapped the bamboo basket containing the eggs with a pained expression. "Experts have said that free-range eggs and factory-farmed eggs have the same nutritional value. We can take the free-range eggs to exchange for money, and then buy some factory-farmed eggs wholesale to eat. Isn't that the same thing? You're so wasteful! You're always stealing my free-range eggs to cook with!"
Fang Xingchen and Chu Mengluan were dumbfounded. Just like newcomers in the workplace, they silently lowered their heads, trying to make themselves less noticeable so as not to be caught in the crossfire of the two "seniors'" battle.
However, this time they want to stand on Jiang Baichuan's side.
After all, if the eggs were cooked like the school does, scrambled and stir-fried with onions, chili peppers, and soybean paste, they would be no different from free-range eggs. Why not sell the free-range eggs and buy cheaper factory-farmed eggs instead? The money saved could be used to buy lard.
After experiencing Principal Jiang's "boiled vegetable leaves" baptism, the two intern teachers can no longer live without the delicious pork cracklings.
There's not much good food this season. Apart from the first day Jiang Xiaoman cooked them a nice meal, these past few days have felt like they've been thrown into some kind of inhumane weight-loss concentration camp: boiled sweet potatoes for breakfast, potato rice for lunch, plus two dishes and a soup. The vegetables are basically whatever's in the garden, including water spinach, red amaranth, and cabbage leaves, plus a seaweed and egg drop soup and a stir-fried pickled bamboo shoot...
Thinking back to when she used to make chicken soup at home, Chu Mengluan would always ask the housekeeper to skim off and throw away the chicken fat on top. At this moment, Chu Mengluan felt regret, deep regret!
If God gave her another chance, she would definitely put all that delicious chicken fat in a separate bowl and save it to cook noodles or soak rice. How delicious that would be!
Around 10 p.m., after editing the footage they had just shot, Chu Mengluan cautiously glanced at Jiang Xiaoman: "Brother Xiaoman, should we just post it like this?"
"Send it!" Jiang Xiaoman made the decision.
Anyway, she just posts whatever she sees. Tang Jie said that maybe netizens like to see this kind of real and unpretentious rural life.
Jiang Mengyi has been unable to find any videos to watch while eating these past two days. Ever since this blogger called "Rural Xiaoman Ge" inexplicably started whining and pursuing the art of camera work, she has been feeling terrible. She has been looking for meal replacements everywhere. It was past 10 p.m. when her late-night snack arrived. She skillfully set up her phone and opened the video platform she often browsed. Unexpectedly, the latest video from "Rural Xiaoman Ge," which she follows, popped up immediately.
Looking at the familiar, unadorned, and messy kitchen in the opening sequence, Jiang Mengyi paused for a moment, then couldn't help but smile with relief. Before she knew it, she had opened the food delivery app on the screen…
"Hahahaha, I'm dying of laughter! Stealing free-range eggs to cook, hahaha... What did farmed eggs do wrong? Why are you so disgusted with them, Brother Xiaoman?" Jiang Mengyi slapped the table and laughed. After laughing, she skillfully opened the grocery shopping app and prepared to order a box of farmed eggs to try. After all, like Brother Xiaoman, she was used to eating free-range eggs and didn't know what farmed eggs tasted like.
At the same time, two student teachers were peeling bamboo shoots on small stools, the handsome Fang Xingchen was carrying pig feed to feed the pigs, and there were scenes of Principal Baichuan and Xiaoman bickering, which made fans laugh so hard they almost fell over. They left enthusiastic comments encouraging them, saying, "Yes, yes, keep it up! That's the kind of rural Xiaoman we know and love!"
Fang Xingchen and Chu Mengluan were dumbfounded as they watched the number of likes and comments in the background increase wildly.
They spent half a day meticulously editing a video that no one watched, but this video, which was simply and crudely spliced together, without a script or even careful color grading, has so many people watching it? This is not scientific!
The two intern teachers looked at each other, then grabbed their phones and frantically scrolled through the comments section.
After a while—
"Forget it, let's not bother anymore, let's just film whatever comes up!"
"Yes! Film whatever you see!"
From that day on, the two intern teachers seemed to have their meridians opened by a martial arts master, instantly grasping the "traffic code" of rural life short videos. The videos they shot were both rustic and exciting. Before long, because the two photographers had very different styles, some long-time fans even placed bets under the videos every day, guessing whether Teacher Fang or Teacher Chu would be the cameraman that day...
Seeing that the two of them were getting along well, Jiang Xiaoman didn't interfere any further. After all, he himself had only learned a few basic things from Tang Xinlan, and was still a beginner himself, so there wasn't much for him to teach. He had more important things to do.
Aunt Chen sent a WeChat message saying that the embroidered shoes he had ordered were all finished, and she also picked up the shoes that Grandma Cuiping had made for him. She asked when he would be home, as she was coming to deliver the goods.
"Tomorrow afternoon, please! I'll be back from the market soon. I don't have anywhere to stay at home right now, so you can just deliver it to the school." Jiang Xiaoman had arranged a delivery time with Aunt Chen, but Aunt Chen chuckled unexpectedly.
"What a coincidence! I was planning to visit you, Uncle Baichuan, tomorrow too."
Mrs. Chen's son, Jiang Pan, has loved playing ball since he was little. This time, he heard that a college student from the city was very good at playing ball, so Mrs. Chen thought about it and decided to send her son over early to learn the basics from a teacher. She knew her son well; he wasn't the type to sit still and study quietly. If he really wanted to become a sports student, it would be a good career path, at least much better than going to work on a construction site after graduating from high school.
The next morning, Jiang Xiaoman and Jiang Baichuan hitched a ride on the village's tractor to the market.
After days of continuous rain, the sky finally cleared up, and there were many people at the market that day. Jiang Baichuan was going to set up a stall to sell local eggs. Jiang Xiaoman arranged to meet him at the entrance of town at ten o'clock. She carried a large basket on her back and squeezed into the crowd. She first went to the grocery store to buy some oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, star anise, peppercorns, and the like. When she saw a stall selling fish, she asked about the price. She was surprised to find that silver carp was only four yuan and fifty cents a catty, so she immediately asked the owner to give her four.
I originally wanted to buy some more pork, but when I asked about the price, wow! Pork had jumped to eighteen yuan per jin (500g). After thinking about it, I decided to save the money and go to the chicken farm later to ask about the price of broiler chickens.
I was just thinking about chicken farms when I unexpectedly saw the woman who runs a chicken farm setting up a stall at the market.