In G province, people generally don't make smoked bacon, and ordinary households don't usually keep it on hand. Luckily, Jiang Xiaoman had prepared it in advance: half a pound of dried bracken fern with half a pound of smoked bacon with alternating layers of fat and lean meat. After stir-frying it all, it was so thick that it couldn't fit on one plate, so we divided it into two plates. The cost per plate was only about ten yuan, which was delicious and economical!
There's also that wild mushroom and mixed mushroom pack, each one is a little over two ounces per small packet. You open one packet and soak it for one meal, which is just enough to cook a pot of chicken or ribs. People in G province like to use fresh mushrooms in their dishes, so eating this kind of dried wild mushroom occasionally is really quite delicious.
Having eaten and drunk their fill, the couple looked at the remaining mountain produce and couldn't help but start making some calculations—
"Feifei, look how many mountain products we have at home, we can't possibly eat them all ourselves. Why don't we send some over to your grandma and second uncle's house as well?"
"Yes, yes! And your grandma's and aunt's families too! Your grandma and aunt always think of you when they have something good to eat, so you can't forget them!"
"Hehe~ Mom and Dad, didn't you see how much I bought? Some of these were from my grandma's and my maternal grandma's families, especially this wild honeycomb, it's so expensive! It costs 180 yuan a pound. I heard that eating it whole, including the honeycomb, is really good for your health. I'll get more for Grandma and my maternal grandma, and then I'll go to Xiaoman's live stream to snatch some more!"
"What? These days, you have to fight to buy local specialties?" Mr. and Mrs. Kong refused to believe it.
"Don't believe me? Perfect timing! There's another live stream tonight. Mom and Dad, if you don't believe me, try to snag one yourselves!" Kong Feifei casually shared Jiang Xiaoman's account in their family group chat.
etc!
A family of four?
Oh no!!!
"Were we so busy eating that we forgot to pick up your son from the airport?" After a while, Mrs. Kong nudged her husband guiltily.
"Ugh! How old is he! Can't he just take a taxi home after getting off the plane? Why did you pick him up? Tell him to take a taxi home by himself!"
Mr. Kong firmly refused to admit it, and he also forgot about his youngest son who was away at university and had flown back home for the Qingming Festival holiday.
Concubine Kong: "..."
Forget it, I'll just saw off a piece of the giant ham I snatched from Jiang Xiaoman's live stream tonight and stew it with dried bamboo shoots to make it up to my brother.
...
This Qingming Festival, many of Jiang Xiaoman's fans enjoyed seasonal mountain products from Langshan. Putting everything else aside, their family relationships have genuinely improved.
In the past, parents would always nag when their kids bought random snacks online. But this time, the local specialties from Langshan that my child bought were actually quite delicious!
Most importantly, not only are the products good, but the prices are also cheaper than what they sell at the local market.
To put it simply, most of the fans who managed to snag the goods this time were turned into repeat customers by Jiang Xiaoman... to the point that when he did his second live stream to sell local products, he actually sold them even faster than the first time!
Seeing that Jiang Xiaoman was making a lot of money selling mountain products, the villagers couldn't sit still anymore.
One evening, just as Jiang Xiaoman was about to close up shop, village chief Jiang Youtian came over with a flashlight.
Jiang Xiaoman thought Jiang Youtian was looking for him about village matters, but unexpectedly, Jiang Youtian slowly drank a cup of tea, put down the teacup, and told him something he had never thought of at all.
“Xiaoman, it’s a good thing that you’re willing to go back to your hometown to start a business and help your fellow villagers get rich! But as a person, you also have to consider the consequences.”
“You always think about those poor families in the village who can’t even afford to eat. That shows you have a kind heart, and I have to praise you! But have you ever thought about the village officials?”
What?!
Jiang Xiaoman was completely confused.
As the saying goes, "Even in a poor mountain village, there are a few wealthy people." Although Langshan Village may seem extremely poor to outsiders, not every household in the village is so poor that they can't afford to eat. Take the village cadres, for example; since these families were able to be elected as village cadres, they must have some financial resources.
Otherwise, if families can't even afford to eat, who would have the mind to run for village cadre?
"Hey! You fool!" Jiang Youtian slammed his teacup on the table angrily and said in a low voice, "If you don't win those people over now, what will happen when they get jealous of your business and use their village cadre status to buy your mountain produce from the villagers? They'll make it so you can't get anything in the village and will force you to buy it at a high price, determined to make a profit. Do you think you can fight back then?"
"Surely it can't be that bad? Besides, even if they buy the mountain produce, they still have to be able to sell it. What if I refuse to buy it? Can they force me to buy it?"
Jiang Xiaoman immediately felt uncomfortable.
Seeing that he still hadn't figured it out, Jiang Youtian couldn't help but sigh and stand up.
"I'm getting old, and I won't be able to keep this village chief position for much longer. Xiaoman, as long as I'm in this position, I can protect you. But the day I'm no longer the village chief, you'd better be more careful, understand?"
“You can never earn all this money. You and your father will have to stay in our village for a long time to come.”
Watching the village chief, flashlight in hand, slowly disappear into the night.
Jiang Xiaoman's sunny mood, which had lasted for several days, plummeted into a trough in an instant.
After sitting at the door for a while, Jiang Xiaoman went back inside to get her phone and keys, locked the door, and went to Jiang Yu's house.
Jiang Yu is setting up eel traps in the yard.
This is the season when eels are easy to catch. The three girls have never eaten anything good since they were little, so they are very weak. Whenever he has free time, he sets eel traps to catch some eels and loaches to nourish the three girls.
"Is Yan-ge there? Anyone want to have a couple of drinks with me?" Jiang Xiaoman was feeling incredibly down. Now he finally understood why adults liked to drown their sorrows in alcohol.
Some things, you just can't say without a few drinks.
The river fish was startled.
Since he met Jiang Xiaoman, he had rarely seen him so dejected. He was so frightened that he stopped setting up the eel trap, went inside to instruct Shancha to help take his two younger sisters to the bathroom to wash their faces and feet, and then went to the backyard to call Shanyan, who was cooking pig feed.
After listening to Jiang Xiaoman's rant, Shan Yan and Jiang Yu were speechless.
Although the old village chief's words were harsh, they were indeed well-intentioned.
Whether in the city or the countryside, this is how it is among neighbors: they don't want you to be unhappy, but they also can't stand to see you doing too well.
Especially in their village, where everyone was poor in a very even way, after Jiang Xiaoman returned to his hometown, he started doing e-commerce live streaming and buying up mountain products in large quantities to resell for money. The villagers didn't understand anything about costs and profits, and recently everyone has been saying that Jiang Xiaoman has made millions, which is simply outrageous!
No wonder the old village chief was terrified. He probably heard something and knew that someone was eyeing Jiang Xiaoman's business, so he came to warn them.
Jiang Youtian meant well, worried that Jiang Xiaoman, a young junior, wouldn't be a match for the village's seasoned veterans. So he thought that rather than having those people use their positions as village officials to steal Jiang Xiaoman's business, it would be better for him to be sensible and give up some of the profits so that the village officials could also get a share.
This would also prevent things from falling out and Jiang Xiaoman from being unable to continue working in the village.
Seeing that he kept chugging beer, Jiang Yu quickly went to the cupboard, took out a bag of spiced peanuts, and opened it. She also opened a bag of snail rice noodles she bought online, intending to cook them for him to have with his beer.
"You mean, the old village chief is worried that after he retires, the new village chief will take away his business?" Shan Yan's expression was rather unpleasant.
Because of Jiang Xiaoman's current business deal, he and Jiang Yu also have a stake in it.
Not to mention his apprentices, who are already eager to make this business a long-term venture.
If Jiang Xiaoman's business is ruined, what will happen to his apprentices?
"Yes! I know the village chief meant well and came over to remind me, but I just feel so wronged!" Jiang Xiaoman felt more and more aggrieved and almost cried.
"Who the hell said I made millions? Did I build a house for free? Did I take out a loan to buy mountain products without paying interest? I didn't make money through dishonest means, and I never thought about exploiting my customers. I just wanted to do business peacefully and let the villagers make some money along the way. Are they so jealous of me?"
“Whenever the village officials come to my place to sell their mountain products, I accept even the less desirable ones! I even give their kids drinks and snacks. I’m not being stingy or mean, am I?”
Jiang Xiaoman grew angrier as she spoke, slamming the beer bottle down on the table with a loud bang. Her eyes red, she said, "Fine, I'll just quit the mountain produce business!"
"Why not?" Shan Yan picked up the beer bottle beside him, drank half of it with him, put down the bottle, and a determined look flashed in his eyes. "Xiao Man, do you think I could succeed if I ran for village chief?"
Chapter 162
Shan Yan is actually going to run for village chief?
This news not only shocked Jiang Xiaoman, but also stunned the other village officials.
No, they were just about to peck at Jiang Xiaoman, a complete novice, when suddenly a Tyrannosaurus Rex barged into the henhouse. How were they supposed to peck at her now?
Scatter and run for your lives!
When Jiang Youtian heard that Shan Yan was running for the next village chief, he was so happy that he had his wife kill a big rooster and invited Shan Yan and his wife, as well as Jiang Xiaoman, to his house for dinner.
"Great! This is wonderful! With the Shanyan brothers in the village and Xiaoman outside, our Langshan Village can finally see the end of our poor days!"
Jiang Youtian personally took chopsticks and placed two large chicken drumsticks into Jiang Xiaoman's and Shan Yan's bowls respectively. He glanced at Jiang Yu next to him and, thinking of his merit in raising the three Shancha sisters, also placed a pair of chicken wings in his bowl.
Seeing Jiang Yu's sullen expression, Shan Yan chuckled to himself and, taking advantage of the old village chief's inattention, put the chicken leg from his bowl into Jiang Yu's hands.
Jiang Yu's mother has always favored her eldest son. In the past, when the family slaughtered a chicken, both chicken legs would go to the eldest son, while the younger son would only get the chicken wings. The daughter was lucky if she could gnaw on some chicken bones.
Because of this, Jiang Yu hates nothing more than someone feeding him chicken wings!
Jiang Youtian had actually wanted to step down from the position of village chief for a long time.
Firstly, he was indeed getting too old, and there were many things he was willing to do but couldn't, which made him feel quite sorry for the villagers. In recent years, many villages in the town have benefited from the good policies of poverty alleviation and agricultural assistance, and the villagers have done well in their sideline businesses. Only their Langshan Village has remained stably poor.
Now that Jiang Xiaoman has emerged, and we finally have a leader in getting rich, the villagers are envious and want to get some benefits from him.
Secondly, his daughter-in-law is now insisting on having a second child, and his son has talked to the elderly couple several times, wanting them to come to the city to help take care of their grandson.
My husband has wanted to leave for a long time, but he's been holding him back. Now that his daughter-in-law is pregnant with their second child, he'll have to go to the city to take care of her during her postpartum period in about six months.
He'll be all alone at home then, and he'll have to take care of the pigs, chickens, and ducks, farm the land, and handle all the village affairs. He'll be too busy to manage everything.
He rushed to remind Jiang Xiaoman earlier to give him a heads-up, so that if he suddenly stepped down, the newly appointed village chief wouldn't make things difficult for Jiang Xiaoman.
Now that Shanyan is willing to take on this responsibility, that couldn't be better!
Although Shan Yan has always kept a low profile in the village, Jiang Youtian knows that he knows many big business owners outside and has a wide network of connections.
The villagers might not be afraid of Jiang Xiaoman, but no one was unafraid of Shan Yan.
Most importantly, Jiang Xiaoman and Shan Yan have a good relationship, and the villagers now rely heavily on Jiang Xiaoman. The whole village is counting on Jiang Xiaoman to continue leading them to sell mountain products and honey to make money. With Jiang Xiaoman's support, most people in the village will vote for Shan Yan...
Jiang Youtian is not a heartless person. If any of his old brothers in the village were broad-minded enough to put aside personal interests and support villagers to return to their hometowns to start businesses, he would not have turned around and supported an outsider like Shan Yan.
After a hearty meal, Jiang Xiaoman walked out of the old village chief's house feeling like he was floating on air. It wasn't that he was drunk; it was that he finally had someone backing him up!
"Haha~ Brother Yan, with you protecting me in the village from now on, won't I be able to walk around like a madman in our Langshan Village?"
"Pfft~ You're not a crab, why are you walking sideways?" Jiang Yu mocked him from the side.
"You wish! If I get elected village chief, the first thing I'll do is force you to expand the scale of golden chrysanthemum cultivation and get the village's economy up and running!"
Shan Yan seemed to have figured it out as well.
Now that we've come down the mountain, we have to live according to the rules down here.
Back in the mountains, he could be the boss just by using his fists.
Now that they've arrived in the village, they've heard that village officials are being assessed on the development of the village's collective economy. Shan Yan already has a knack for making money, and with Jiang Xiaoman by his side, he feels that they can at least do better than they are now.
It's just that Jiang Youtian is old and soft-hearted. If it were him, he would have fired these village cadres who occupy positions but do nothing long ago!
You don't want to help ordinary people escape poverty and become wealthy, do you?
Then let's replace it with someone who's willing to do it!
China may lack many things, but it will never lack people. Moreover, a generous reward will surely attract brave men. Jiang Youtian's words to Jiang Xiaoman were well-intentioned, but they may not be entirely correct.
Judging from Shan Yan's consistent thinking, the village cadres' unwillingness to work is partly due to laziness, and partly due to the lack of necessary material incentives.