Lang Ying secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
Actually, she wanted to refuse Qingshan from the beginning, but since they were now colleagues in the cooperative, and Qingshan was Shanyan's apprentice, and Shanyan and Jiang Xiaoman were as close as brothers, she really didn't want to offend Shanyan since she was receiving a high salary from Jiang Xiaoman.
Fortunately, the kid gave up on his own.
The vegetables from Jiang Tao and Jiang Feng's families were all harvested. There was a lot of them, so several aunts and sisters-in-law who were used to doing housework helped out, and they pickled them all in jars in two days.
There weren't enough jars, so Jiang Xiaoman frantically borrowed jars from all over the village.
Fortunately, many people have gone out to work in recent years, and many families have locked their doors and left their pickle jars at home unused. Jiang Xiaoman got a phone number from the village and called each household to borrow a pickle jar, until her voice became hoarse.
Lang Ying asked him why he didn't just buy more kimchi jars, and Jiang Xiaoman immediately looked miserable.
"Sister, you can't make kimchi all year round. Think about our village, we only have two crops of vegetables a year, in summer and autumn. They are plentiful and cheap, which is perfect for making kimchi."
“In spring and winter, we don’t even have enough vegetables from our own garden. Greenhouse vegetables are so expensive outside. If we make kimchi to sell, we’ll lose a fortune!”
To put it bluntly, this kimchi business can only be done a few times a year. It's really not worthwhile to spend money to buy a large number of kimchi jars just for such a small amount of business.
Moreover, Jiang Xiaoman had another consideration—
"I don't know if netizens will like our local kimchi. After this batch is finished, I'll have it tested and sell a batch first. If the customer feedback is good, I'll make it every year and buy some large kimchi buckets."
That's true!
They haven't even started selling their kimchi yet. If they buy the kimchi bucket now, what if the kimchi doesn't sell well later? Wouldn't all that money be wasted?
Unexpectedly, while he was still worrying about whether the kimchi would sell, Shanyan had already found him a group of buyers.
“I took some of your kimchi to people for tasting, and five restaurants have already agreed to buy a batch to try it out.”
Jiang Xiaoman was stunned for a moment, then jumped up: "Brother Yan, really? The hotel wants our kimchi too?"
"Wait! My kimchi isn't even pickled yet, where did you get the sample from?"
"Are you out of your mind? We had so many vegetables in my garden that we couldn't finish them all. Didn't you make the pickles for him?"
That's right!
Jiang Xiaoman suddenly realized!
In the countryside at this time of year, all the vegetables in the gardens have sprouted, and there's simply more than enough to eat.
Things like chili beans are okay; if you can't finish them, you can dry them when they get old. But if you don't have time to eat cowpeas, flat beans, or sword beans, they can only be used as firewood when they get old.
A while ago, Jiang Yu mentioned this to him, and Jiang Xiaoman gave him a bad idea, saying that he could harvest all the vegetables in the garden and make them into pickles, or simply dry them into dried vegetables, so that he could save some money on buying vegetables in winter.
As a result, Shan Yan's family ended up with more than a dozen pickle jars...
Kimchi is fine to eat occasionally to change things up, but if you eat it every meal, you'll end up with stomach acid!
In order to get rid of all the kimchi quickly, the cunning Shan Yan took two jars of kimchi with him while Jiang Yu was out filming a video and went to several hotels he knew to sell it to.
Originally, he just wanted to clear out the kimchi at home, but he didn't expect that the purchasing managers of several restaurants would be so amazed by the kimchi that they would grab him and not let him leave.
They insisted on buying more from him.
They even patted their chests and promised that if the customers enjoyed the food, they could sign a long-term supply contract.
However, because Jiang Xiaoman's kimchi had caused him trouble for quite some time, Shan Yan, being petty, decided that he should not tell him the good news for the time being.
You made so much kimchi and ruined my life!
With the restaurant supplying the products, Jiang Xiaoman felt much more at ease when she started selling kimchi via live streaming.
At worst, if we can't sell them online, we can just keep them and sell them offline slowly.
However, what Jiang Xiaoman never expected was that this time, not only fans, but even God himself was helping him sell his goods...
Chapter 176
At the end of the month, just as Jiang Xiaoman had finished writing the script and planned to start a live broadcast to sell kimchi on Friday night, a super flu of unknown origin dealt a heavy blow to the neighboring H province!
They completely overwhelmed H Province's epidemic prevention system!
Because the two provinces are adjacent, Jiang Xiaoman and his group also became tense.
Immediately afterwards, fans from H province began posting requests for help in the comments section and fan groups.
Because of the emergency lockdown, they can't buy vegetables!
"Brother Xiaoman, we're in dire need of help! Do you have any dried vegetables left? While the delivery service is still operating, could you sell us some?"
Fans know that his home is in Langshan, which is only separated from the neighboring province by a river!
In other words, if fans place their orders now, he can send the food to them as early as this afternoon, before the courier service can even deliver it!
At this point, Jiang Xiaoman didn't care about the test report. She found a few big fans who had time to help her and urgently created a grocery shopping group specifically for H Province. While collecting data on the demand there, she quickly called Shan Yan and Lang Ying to a meeting!
"In short, that's the situation. We don't know what's going on over there. I searched the news, and there were only a few short sentences."
"That's it! Generally speaking, the fewer the words, the bigger the problem!" Jiang Yu, a top-level internet surfer, couldn't help but sit up straight.
"Brother Xiaoyu is right. I'm worried that the situation from a few years ago will happen again, where people have money but can't buy vegetables. The city is not like our countryside, where every family has a vegetable garden."
Jiang Xiaoman no longer hesitated and announced her decision—
It's the perfect season for this, and in the village, any family that's diligent has an abundance of fruits and vegetables in their garden.
Even if all else fails, every household still has plenty of kimchi stored in their kimchi jars.
Potatoes from the mountain can now be dug up and eaten.
Sweet potato vines can also be used in cooking.
If all else fails, even a young pumpkin that's just grown to the size of a large bowl can be used to make a dish.
"There's no time to put them on the shelves one by one now, so I plan to release two kinds of fresh vegetables and kimchi gift packs directly."
"One is for people who don't know how to cook, or who live alone in a rented house. They put some of our kimchi, pickles, and potatoes and sweet potatoes that can be cooked and eaten directly in the house."
"Another option is for families who live together. If someone can cook, they can put in two or three pounds of each of the chili peppers, eggplants, tomatoes, and green beans from our garden. At least enough for the family to use for a week."
"This is the price we're looking for. We need to discuss it and decide on a suitable price..."
According to Jiang Xiaoman's wishes, it would be best to donate it at this time.
But these vegetables don't belong to their family. The vegetables are grown by villagers with great effort, and they also need to buy seedlings and fertilizers. Even if he wanted to donate them, others might not be willing.
"Let's try to break even. First, we'll count how many people want to buy vegetables, then we'll find villagers to buy them, and sell them at the actual weight, including delivery and packaging fees, trying to sell them as cheaply as possible."
"I'm afraid this order won't make us much money."
“Then we won’t take any wages. Anyway, when we were starving a few years ago, H Province donated money and supplies to us. We don’t have anything to repay them with, so let’s just consider it a volunteering job.” Lang Ying was the first to stand up and say that she didn’t need any wages.
Immediately afterwards, others also spoke up, saying that they wouldn't ask for wages this time, and would consider it as signing up to be volunteers.
"Alright! Since everyone is willing to help, let's get started."
"Sister Yingzi, you know our warehouse best. Take two people and prepare the things we need for packing."
“Brother Xiaoyu, you get along well with many families in our village. You can be in charge of collecting some pickled vegetables, preserved vegetables, and dried vegetables. Make sure to keep the prices consistent. Just use the prices we usually sell at in town, but give them a 30% discount. That way, they can still make a profit, and we can control our costs.”
"Brother Yan, I'm leaving the moving to you. Thanks for your hard work, brothers. Once this is done, I'll personally cook a feast for everyone, and there'll be plenty of good wine!"
Jiang Xiaoman never imagined that he, a food blogger selling local specialties, would one day become the leader of a vegetable group.
However, they are all selling things, and they are professionals after all.
Soon, several big fans helped to tally up the amount of vegetables that fans in H province wanted to buy.
"So much?!" Jiang Xiaoman felt a wave of dizziness as she looked at the final tallied figures!
Is this an attempt to buy up the entire agricultural wholesale market?
Jiang Xiaoman thought he couldn't gather that many portions in a short time, but the next second, he saw several fans in the group explaining that they each ordered more than a dozen portions, not to hoard for their own consumption, but because there were many elderly people in the community who didn't know how to use mobile phones and didn't usually watch live streams.
These elderly people are usually helped by the community, but now that things are like this, how can the community take care of them?
Fortunately, there are quite a few kind-hearted young people in the community. Everyone helped out, each person working on two buildings, knocking on doors one by one. If they encountered someone who didn't know how to use a mobile phone, they quickly wrote it down.
Upon seeing this, Jiang Xiaoman felt a lump in her throat and suddenly thought of her father.
Jiang Youliang also doesn't know how to use a smartphone.
"Okay! I'll definitely gather them as soon as possible!"
After saying that, Jiang Xiaoman ran towards the village committee.
A dozen minutes later, the loudspeaker at the entrance of the village blared.
Jiang Xiaoman asked villager Jiang Youtian for help and directly notified the whole village that he was going to harvest vegetables today. He wanted all the vegetables in the garden except for leafy greens that were easy to rot!
However, this only applies until 3 PM today.
But I'll take as many as you want, as long as you can pick them and deliver them to Jiang Xiaoman's shop. We'll weigh them and pay you on the spot!
They are short-handed and now they have to mobilize all the villagers.
Moreover, since the situation with this so-called super flu is still unknown, Jiang Xiaoman dares not spread rumors recklessly, otherwise it would be quite amusing to be invited for tea by the police...
So now he doesn't even dare to call on the villagers to donate to charity. He just makes an excuse that he unexpectedly received a big order. Since they don't have time to do it themselves, they can only trouble the villagers. If anyone wants to sell vegetables, they can pick them and deliver them to him.
The villagers didn't have any objections to this.
After all, in the past, when they went to town to sell vegetables, they would pick and carry them themselves to the market.
That means getting up very early to set up a stall in town, and even then, you might not be able to sell everything.
Jiang Xiaoman is now buying as much as she can get and settling accounts on the spot. Although the vegetable prices are only 70% of what they usually are at the stall, the sheer volume is irresistible!
However, what everyone was worried about was not the price of vegetables, but whether Jiang Xiaoman would really take as much as she had.
If that's the case, then not only them, but also their relatives' families, wouldn't they also be able to make more money?
Jiang Xiaoman's phone rang non-stop, with calls asking if he really accepted whatever amount he had.
Some people, unable to get through by phone, simply went to the courier station to inquire.
Jiang Xiaoman was worried that the village might not have enough vegetables, so when someone came to her door, she was overjoyed: "Yes, yes, yes! As long as it can be delivered before 3 p.m., I'll take as much as I can!"
The peaceful little mountain village immediately erupted in excitement.
Anyone in the village who was still able to move rushed to their own vegetable garden to harvest vegetables like crazy.