Several meat dishes were Jiang Xiaoman's specialties: a stew of cured pork with dried bamboo shoots, a braised duck with potatoes, a braised fish with tofu, two plates of steamed pork belly, and a pot of wild mushrooms cooked with some kind of meat.
"This is a wild pheasant that Xiaoman's father specially caught on the mountain, and the mushrooms are dried by our own family. You must try them!" Jiang Yu pointed to the pot of dark stuff.
Wow! This is good stuff!
The cameraman quickly took several close-up shots of the braised wild mushrooms and pheasant.
Aside from these meat dishes, the rest of the vegetables were basically free vegetables that Jiang Xiaoman picked from his uncle's garden.
He prepared a plate of eggplant with hot oil, a plate of tiger-skin green peppers, a plate of cucumber salad, a dish of scrambled eggs with tomatoes, and also cut two plates of his own pickled radishes and bamboo shoots, making a whole table full of dishes.
Faced with such delicious food, the cameraman, who was just moments before captivated by the handsome young man Jiang Yu, no longer cared about filming him. Carrying his heavy camera, he practically wanted to shove the lens right up to the food!
But getting close is also heartbreaking; the food hasn't even been served yet, and just smelling it makes my mouth water...
Fortunately, Jiang Xiaoman finally served up the last dish, "Abundant Harvest".
A bamboo basket contains cooked corn cobs, sweet potatoes, and locally grown red-skinned potatoes.
"Are you all hungry? Come sit down and try our local farm-style dishes. The conditions are limited, so I can't offer you a proper meal. I heard that you in public institutions don't allow drinking on weekdays anymore, so I didn't dare to buy any alcohol..." Jiang Xiaoman set out the bowls and chopsticks and invited the reporters to come and eat.
Everyone sat down impatiently. It's good that they don't drink alcohol; with so much good food, why would they drink alcohol?
There wasn't even enough time to grab the vegetables, okay?
Because pheasants are relatively rare in the city, several pairs of chopsticks simultaneously reached for the dish that looked like a bizarre culinary creation: wild mushroom and pheasant stew. But after tasting it, wow! It was incredibly delicious!
Pheasant meat is actually quite difficult to cook thoroughly, and because it's not as fatty as domestic chicken, it tends to be dry.
But Jiang Xiaoman has her own unique cooking skills.
He cut the pheasant into small pieces, marinated it, then deep-fried it before braising it, which made it easier to cook.
Moreover, after frying, the chicken has a crispy crust on the surface, which can seal in the broth. It looks dark, but that's because the wild mushrooms were boiled and then simmered, which dyed the chicken. In fact, the pheasant meat prepared this way is crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, and the wild mushrooms are also very delicious.
This one dish alone amazed the reporters from the provincial TV station, not to mention the authentic farm-style dishes that followed. Even the cameraman couldn't wait to join the food-grabbing frenzy after filming!
"Phew~ Xiaoman, your cooking skills are absolutely amazing!" After eating and drinking her fill, An Miaomiao felt so full that she could hardly stand up.
"Xiaoman, I heard you're going to open your own guesthouse? That's great! I definitely want to come and stay at your place for a few days during my holidays. Does your guesthouse provide meals?" Yan Xuanxuan wasn't satisfied with just one meal; she wanted to eat there a few more.
"Of course we'll provide meals! There aren't even fast food restaurants in our mountains. If my guesthouse opens, we'll provide three meals a day, including a late-night snack." Jiang Xiaoman took the opportunity to add Yan Xuanxuan on WeChat.
After dinner, Yan Xuanxuan and her assistant went to Jiang Xiaoman's plot of land again to measure the dimensions, planning to make a budget when they got back. Apparently, Jiang Xiaoman's cooking skills had won her over, and Yan Xuanxuan even secretly gave him a little suggestion—
"Xiaoman, listen to your sister, this program is sponsored by several real estate companies, they're not short of money!"
"When you get back, ask Director An for a favor. I'll put in a good word for you and ask the sponsor's design team to come up with an architectural design for you. Just say that this will reduce the cost of renovating the layout later. Director An will definitely agree."
“If you find someone to do these architectural drawings yourself, it will cost you several thousand yuan. But if you ask the program team to do it for you, it won’t cost you a penny. In fact, it’s just a matter of Director An making one phone call.”
"Won't that cause trouble for the developers?" Jiang Xiaoman asked hesitantly.
"What's the trouble? They've already sponsored hundreds of thousands, what's a few thousand more? Besides, they provide the blueprints, and the sponsors can add their names to the project! When your house is finished, everyone will know they provided the blueprints, and that'll build up their reputation, right?"
"Trust me! This isn't going to cause any trouble for Director An. She might even consider giving this great opportunity to the sponsor who pays the most money."
"Then, I'll give it a try. Thank you, Sister Xuanxuan." Jiang Xiaoman looked at Yan Xuanxuan gratefully.
Yan Xuanxuan was right. She hadn't even given them a heads-up yet, but as soon as Jiang Xiaoman brought it up, An Miaomiao agreed after a moment's thought.
"That's good. Actually, when we made this program, we were also worried that if the layout of the houses of the people seeking help was too bad and the cost of renovation was too high, the renovation budget would be exceeded."
"How about this, I'll go back and discuss it with Teacher Yan. We'll have her produce an interior design drawing first, and then find someone to work backward from her design drawing to derive the architectural design drawing, so as to minimize the cost of knocking down walls and changing the apartment layout later."
"Huh? If we calculate it this way, it might even save you the money for two air conditioners." The more An Miaomiao thought about it, the more she thought Jiang Xiaoman's idea was brilliant. She even mentally ranked several major sponsors and secretly compared them.
...
After the TV station staff left, Jiang Xiaoman and Jiang Yu got busy.
The two divided the tea cakes they had collected into half-pound portions and held a limited-time flash sale in their live stream, offering half a pound for 59 yuan with free shipping, a price that left fans in disbelief!
"Hehe~ I mainly wanted to let everyone try our tea cakes first. I hope everyone who receives them will give us a good review! 666!"
Less than a hundred tea cake sample packs sold out in an hour. Jiang Xiaoman wasn't overjoyed. He was very worried about the feedback from the trial. If the feedback was too poor, then the tea cake business they had high hopes for might not be able to grow.
After all, there are so many famous teas in China. Their rustic handmade tea cakes don't even have a brand, and they're not as trendy as milk tea. His biggest worry now is that his fans will buy them and find them unpalatable. If that happens, the tea cake business will probably only be an unprofitable category for his online store.
At worst, we can help the students' parents sell some of their products, which can also be considered as an additional source of income for the mothers left behind in rural areas.
Fortunately, they still have local honey as a reliable source of income.
Shan Yan and his apprentices searched in the mountains for more than a week, and brought back more than 300 catties of rock honey and 20 full barrels of old beehives.
This time, Jiang Xiaoman did not let Shan Yan extract the honey.
During his last live stream, he noticed many fans asking if they could sell honeycomb directly.
This way they can enjoy both rock honey and honeycomb, which is a win-win situation.
Jiang Xiaoman later searched online and found that the so-called honeycomb was actually just honey that was picked from the honeycomb without being extracted!
Isn't that easy to handle?
Selling honeycomb directly saves one step in the process.
Even the usually serious Shan Yan couldn't help but laugh when he heard the fans' request: "Then aren't we getting a good deal? We're weighing the same amount, but rock honey is much more expensive than honeycomb."
Isn't that exactly the point?
Let's say a pound of pure rock honey costs 180 yuan.
A pound of rock honey mixed with honeycomb also sells for 180 yuan.
In other words, selling honeycomb directly is equivalent to raising the price of rock honey to over two hundred yuan!
"Then, how about we lower the price a bit?" Jiang Yu felt they shouldn't take advantage of their customers.
“No, if the average order value drops, some people will suspect that we’re filling empty beehives with fake honey,” Jiang Xiaoman said firmly.
"But didn't Brother Shanyan cut down quite a few old beehives this time?"
"How about this? Let's do a promotion: buy a pound of honeycomb rock honey and get a 100-gram sample pack of old honeycomb for free. What do you think?"
“Even if we don’t weigh the empty honeycomb, a hundred grams is still quite a lot,” Jiang Xiaoman suggested.
“Sure! Send them over! There are still plenty of empty old beehives in the mountains. I’ll tell them to go and pick them whenever they have time.” Shan Yan nodded in agreement.
Jiang Xiaoman has given a heads-up in her latest video about the upcoming new products.
To his amusement and exasperation, as soon as fans saw the preview and heard that a new batch of rock jelly was going to be available, they flooded the comments section with tags for the big star Wei Sheng, strongly urging him to withdraw from the buying frenzy.
"I hereby declare that if @WeiSheng gives up on competing with us for honey this time, I will voluntarily become WeiSheng's (zombie) fan."
"If @WeiSheng is willing to permanently give up his right to steal fans, I hereby promise that my whole family will become WeiSheng's fans, vote for you, and watch whatever you act in!"
"I'm willing to offer my permanent Pinduoduo discount promise for this! @Wei Sheng, as long as you give up grabbing honey, I'll be your (fake) die-hard fan starting today!"
...
Goodness! Wei Sheng was tagged countless times in one night, and instantly rebelled.
Why can't I steal honey? I'm going to steal it anyway!
We don't need those million-plus fake followers!
Zhou Mingxing, quick as a flash, snatched Wei Sheng's phone and coldly announced: From now on, you are not allowed to go to Jiang Xiaoman's live stream and compete with her fans for benefits!
Have you no shame?!
They're top-tier celebrities with tens of millions of fans, shouldn't they have some class?
Wei Sheng rolled his eyes and, after Zhou Mingxing left, secretly took out another spare phone.
Heh... You won't let me use my main account, huh? I'll just use my alt account and grab some!
A few days later, Wei Sheng went out to record a program with his assistant Xiao Bai, completely forgetting about the honeycomb he had secretly snatched from Jiang Xiaoman's live stream.
Then, the two precious bottles of honeycomb were signed for by their own agent on their behalf...
Chapter 115
A few days later, the provincial TV station helped Jiang Xiaoman get the architectural design drawings for his house. However, the project was too small, and it wasn't cost-effective to find a construction contractor from the provincial capital. So, Jiang Xiaoman simply found a foreman in the town and contracted out the project himself, including both labor and materials.
We have no choice but to take on the contract; the honeysuckle seedlings he ordered have arrived.
Previously, he had finally convinced his father to plant honeysuckle in all the open spaces in front of and behind their house in order to raise bees.
Firstly, honeysuckle is a perennial vine, so once it survives the first year, it requires almost no management afterwards.
Secondly, honeysuckle is much more economically beneficial than the soybeans and sweet potatoes his father grows. Dried honeysuckle can sell for seventy or eighty yuan per kilogram, and it is also an excellent source of nectar for bees.
Most importantly, it has a long flowering period!
If properly maintained, it can bloom from mid-May until late October!
Even if they don't sell honeysuckle tea, they've already made a profit just by providing honey for bees.
Jiang Xiaoman had been looking for suppliers online since summer, but since summer is not suitable for transplanting plants, he made an appointment with the supplier to place the order and have the goods delivered in the fall. He planned to plant them this fall and they would bloom in May next year.
As soon as the seller showed that the order had been shipped, Jiang Xiaoman asked her father to find a few skilled farmers in the village.
Once the seedlings arrive, they can be transported directly up the mountain and planted.
Planting honeysuckle is not difficult; it's similar to planting trees. Jiang Xiaoman bought ready-made seedlings with soil around the roots. She simply dug a hole in the ground, applied base fertilizer, and planted the seedling.
Because they were planting trees at home, Jiang Xiaoman went home and helped cook for a few more days.
After filming food videos for several days, making fans incredibly hungry, finally, fans from the province started posting feedback on their tea cake sample packs.
"I'm not a shill, I've been a tea enthusiast for ten years, and Xiaoman's tea cakes are absolutely amazing! The tea soup is mellow with a slight bitterness and a mild aftertaste, which is perfect for experienced tea farmers. For this price, it's definitely great value for money, and I would definitely buy it again."
"I didn't expect to be able to buy a tea cake of this quality for only 59 yuan. What a pleasant surprise! As you can see from the picture, the tea soup is reddish-brown and has a mellow taste. This one should be a newly made tea cake this year, with a good aftertaste. The only drawback is that the heat was a little too high during the frying process, and there are some burnt edges on the tea leaves. But this just proves that this tea cake is definitely handmade. If the tea frying process is controlled properly, it should be able to reach the market price of five or six hundred yuan per kilogram."
...
Jiang Xiaoman's guess was correct. Not everyone could adapt to the taste of this traditionally crafted tea cake. In the subsequent feedback, a small number of people who managed to get their hands on the tea cake said that the tea soup was too strong and bitter, and that it was easy to have insomnia after drinking it.
However, fans are still very supportive of Jiang Xiaoman, saying in the comments section that although the tea cakes don't quite suit their taste, they will still support his other local specialties in the future.
This is normal.
Jiang Xiaoman also sent private messages to these fans, asking if they wanted to return the tea cakes. After deducting the postage, he would refund the difference to the fans.