The agent couldn't move them, so he had to call two security guards to get them carried upstairs.
Celebrities really can't just eat things given to them by others, so Lang Ying specifically mentioned in her handwritten thank-you letter that the bamboo carving was a gift for Jiang Yuan, and the other local specialties could be taken home for their families to try if they didn't mind.
"Sister Yingzi is a really nice person. It's just a pity she didn't sign with a company. It was such a shame she didn't win her Best Supporting Actress nomination last time!"
Looking at the large pile of local specialties sent from Langshan on the ground, Jiang Yuan's agent couldn't help but sigh.
"How do you know that signing a contract guarantees an award? Don't you know what's going on with those film festival awards these past few years?" Jiang Yuan sneered, picking up an intricately carved cigarette case and playing with it. His tone lacked the regret of an agent, only a faint sigh and relief. "I think Sister Yingzi is doing quite well now. She runs a factory in her hometown and does some small business with her family. Isn't it enough that she earns enough to get by?"
"The entertainment industry is not a place for a respectable woman like Sister Yingzi..."
After receiving the gift, Jiang Yuan didn't post it on social media. Instead, he expressed his gratitude to Lang Ying on WeChat. In particular, the cigarette boxes were exquisitely crafted, with simple yet elegant designs. They were practically works of art. Even if he took them out on set, people would assume they were props for filming and would never guess that they contained the cigarettes he used to stay up all night... cough!
Even award-winning actors still have a little bit of an idol image to maintain.
Jiang Xiaoman and her team originally thought that after the first batch of wild mushroom sauce was shipped out, sales would return to normal, with a few hundred servings sold every day, which would be considered quite good among similar products.
After all, they didn't spend a single penny on sales channels.
They didn't hire other internet celebrities to promote or distribute the products, nor did they spend money on advertising on platforms. They relied purely on their own popularity to sell the products. It was impossible to gain followers like before. Moreover, they did a rough internal survey and found that most of the wild mushroom sauce that Lang Ying sold before was bought by Jiang Yuan's fans.
These fans are really adorable. Even though they spent their own money to buy things, they still wanted Lang Ying to remember Jiang Yuan's kindness. Almost everyone wrote in the notes, "Jiang Yuan's fans wish Sister Yingzi success in her business."
However, this time they were all wrong.
A week after the first batch of goods was shipped, sales began to grow steadily. Statistics show that the subsequent growth was basically due to repeat purchases after the first purchase.
In other words, the customer tasted the wild mushroom sauce they bought before and thought it was delicious, or they bought too little and specifically repurchased it to replenish their stock...
"Xiaoman, if this continues, there won't be enough wild mushrooms in the mountains." Lang Ying was both happy and worried.
What's delightful is that their secret wild mushroom sauce has been recognized by customers. What could be a greater compliment than such a high repurchase rate?
The worry is that wild mushrooms are highly seasonal; once the season is over, it's very difficult to find wild mushrooms in the mountains.
Her original plan was to open a food processing plant, process different agricultural products for different seasons and sell them online, so that the factory would not be idle and the products in the store would be more diverse.
In other words, Lang Ying's original plan was to stockpile wild mushroom sauce during the peak season when wild mushrooms are abundant and cheapest. Once properly sealed and stored, this product has a shelf life of up to two years, allowing her to store it in a warehouse and sell it gradually.
But now, she has sold out her original six-month sales target in just one month. What should she do next?
According to the original production plan, their processing plant will stop making wild mushroom sauce and start making dried bamboo shoots and wild vegetables.
But who could bear to watch their hard-earned customers slip away like that?
“The shortage of supplies is indeed a problem.” Jiang Xiaoman frowned and thought for a moment before deciding to take Lang Ying and Shan Yan to Banligou to investigate.
“The mushroom cultivation under the forest started a few years ago in Banligou. Now it has developed a complete mushroom cultivation, processing and sales industrial chain. Let’s go and learn from them. If we can bring this industrial chain to our area, not to mention that every family in our village has a firewood forest. Just growing some mushrooms in their own forest is enough for Sister Yingzi to use.”
"Yes, yes! I've seen many people online who are cultivating wild mushrooms artificially." Lang Ying nodded repeatedly.
Shan Yan also thought this path was good, especially in their old mountain valley. The nearby villages were mostly forested, and the limited mountain land they grew corn and potatoes had to compete with wild boars and rabbits for food. It was precisely because growing grain was difficult that it was so hard for the people to make money.
But if we could really switch to cultivating wild mushrooms, wild boars and rabbits don't really like eating mushrooms, and there are many forests in the old mountain valleys, many of which are unclaimed primeval forests, and the environment is particularly suitable for the growth of wild mushrooms.
In other words, there's no need to spend extra money renting land. You just need to buy some mushroom bags, and once the mushrooms grow, you can harvest them and sell them to Langying's processing plant. All you get is pure profit—it's practically a risk-free business!
Shan Yan himself is no longer worried about money. The beekeeping cooperative alone can earn his family hundreds of thousands of yuan a year. In addition, with the money Jiang Yu earns from doing social media, his family is not short of money at all.
But now that he's rich, he can't just watch his apprentices continue to live a hard life. They follow him to collect honey, and although they can earn tens of thousands of yuan a year, wouldn't it be better if they could also grow mushrooms at home and earn tens of thousands more yuan a year?
There are also the porters from the old mountain valley. As they get older, they won't be able to do this job anymore. Farming will only be enough to make a living. If they could grow some wild mushrooms in the forest near their homes, they could earn at least 10,000 to 20,000 yuan a year and live a decent retirement life in the countryside.
Without hesitation, Jiang Xiaoman called his uncle Shan Rong that very afternoon, asking him to inform the village that they were not visiting relatives on behalf of themselves, but rather representing the villagers of Langshan Village to learn from Banligou.
We all share the same ancestor. Shanrong heard that they also wanted to develop under-forest economy by planting mushrooms, and they were even more enthusiastic than the people in the village.
Not only did they contact the village to invite them to visit and inspect, they also found someone to get the seed company that supplies their village.
This company was started by several retired professors from the Agricultural University. Originally, it was to fight against the monopoly of foreign capital in the seed industry, but unexpectedly, it caught the great opportunity of the national rural revitalization and has developed very well in recent years.
Of course, in addition to having high-quality products, the prices are also very attractive, allowing them to compete head-on with foreign companies.
In particular, their company offers interest-free loan payment deferral policies for impoverished old revolutionary base areas like Langshan, with a maximum of one year.
In other words, if the proportion of impoverished households and families facing special difficulties among the farmers recruited by Jiang Xiaoman and his team reaches a certain level, they can apply for deferred payment of goods.
It's like giving the mushroom bags and substrate to farmers for free, and then the farmers pay the company back once they've made a profit.
"Is the seed industry really this chaotic now?" Jiang Xiaoman could hardly believe that there were such good welfare policies.
"We have no choice but to cooperate. Right now, foreign companies are trying to wipe out our local seed companies! If all our local companies are wiped out, they'll strangle us. If they stop selling us seeds, we'll starve!" Shan Rong sneered on the phone.
"Luckily, the old professors at our agricultural university are tough! Xiaoman, let me tell you, you have even more forests over there than we do in Banligou. You must do your best to grow the mushrooms and not disgrace our native seeds, understand?"
"Don't worry, Uncle, I have a way to make sure they don't dare waste the mushroom bags!"
Jiang Xiaoman's solution was for them to fund the purchase of mushroom bags from the seed company themselves.
Then, a new contract is signed with the growers, stipulating that if the expected yield of the purchased mushroom bags is achieved, no interest will be charged on the payment for the batch of mushroom bags, and the harvested mushrooms can even be used to offset the cost.
However, if production falls short of expectations, or if there is a significant reduction in output due to management negligence, they will charge a certain amount of interest proportionally.
Things given away for free are generally not cherished. This can be seen from the fact that the first batch of poverty alleviation cadres gave away piglets, sweet potato seeds, and potato seeds for free back then.
Many of them were lazy to the bone; they would kill and stew the piglets the moment they got them, and they would even carry sweet potato seeds to the market to sell cheaply, using the money to buy alcohol...
Since it's all free stuff, whatever price I can get in return is a profit.
Jiang Xiaoman would not allow the strains that the old professors had worked so hard to cultivate to be wasted by these people.
Want to grow mushrooms and make money with the cooperative? Sure, considering everyone's actual difficulties, the cooperative is willing to provide mushroom bags on credit. You don't need to pay for the seeds upfront. Just take the mushroom bags home, grow the mushrooms, and pay back the seeds once you've sold them.
But what if they want to use the excuse of reduced mushroom bag production to deliberately slack off and not pay back the seed money?
Sorry, the written contracts are all on file in our cooperative. Are you trying to renege?
See you in court, honey! If you don't come out now, your whole family will be put on the blacklist. No matter how good your child's grades are, they won't be able to get into a good university or pass the civil service exam. Trying to slack off? Ask yourself if you've done right by your child!
Chapter 212
Almost two years have passed since Jiang Xiaoman and his father last visited relatives in Banligou.
Last year, heavy snow blocked the mountain pass during the Spring Festival, making it impossible to go down the mountain to visit relatives.
This year, due to the super flu, not only is visiting relatives out of the question, but the road between their village and Banligou has been blocked off!
Each side dispatched three village officials to keep watch day and night, fearing that the other side might send a small sun person over...
Visiting relatives?
Sorry, your relatives don't welcome you!
Let's come back once this flu season is under control!
Jiang Xiaoman only comes once every two years, and this time she's here to ask for help. She's made thorough preparations this time, bringing not only local specialties from Langshan for her uncle's family, but also for several distant relatives she's added as friends.
Shan Yan drove the small truck that the cooperative had just bought last year. The back of the truck was full of things: homemade ham, dried chicken, dried wild rabbit, cured and smoked wild boar meat, wild tea cakes made by Jiang Xiaoman, wild rock honey and old beehives sponsored by Shan Yan, more than twenty cured grass carp, and several large bags of red-skinned potatoes...
When so many things were unloaded from the car, the neighbors near Shan Rong's house were stunned, and even the tourists staying at their house peered out of their windows to watch the spectacle.
Anyone who didn't know better would think Jiang Xiaoman was a prospective son-in-law going to Shan Rong's house to present betrothal gifts.
"Why did you bring so much stuff when you came to visit your uncle for a few days? Don't bring any next time!" Shan Rong said, feigning anger.
Actually, he was quite pleased with himself.
The younger generation remembers him and sent him so many local specialties from the mountains. This is the greatest honor in the countryside!
Jiang Xiaoman smiled but didn't say anything.
How can we simply refuse to send gifts just because our elders say so?
Just like his father, who says every year that he's too old to celebrate his birthday and that he's not allowed to buy gifts or make longevity noodles... If the son actually believed his father's words, try forgetting his birthday and see what happens?
Not only did he give gifts, Jiang Xiaoman also had a sweet tongue. Seeing that Shan Rong's neighbors had come to watch the commotion, he casually grabbed a large bag he had prepared beforehand from the passenger seat and started handing out candy and cigarettes to the neighbors while exchanging pleasantries—
"The year before last, heavy snow blocked the mountain, and last year the village was locked down. It's been two years since I last visited my uncle to wish him a Happy New Year. My dad said that this time we must invite my uncle to stay at our house for a few more days. When my uncle is not home, please take good care of him, everyone."
"Hahaha! Definitely! Definitely!"
"Let your uncle stay a few more days. Your brother and sister-in-law are looking after him at home."
The neighbors, feeling obligated to help, praised Jiang Xiaoman for being filial and sensible. Shan Rong, sitting nearby, ate the cigarettes his nephew had given him, feeling quite pleased with himself.
This time he called ahead of time, and the Shan Rong family made ample preparations to entertain their guest.
My aunt went to the market early in the morning with a shopping basket. She bought an old duck, a whole pig's trotter, two pounds of fresh beef brisket, and a lot of fish and shrimp. Even the coffee table at home was full of various snacks and nuts. It was obvious that she was treating Jiang Xiaoman like a child.
This shows how much Mr. and Mrs. Shanrong liked their cousin.
My cousin Shantang and his wife also took a day off to stay home. When they heard that they were going to the village to investigate the wild mushroom cultivation project, my cousin's wife quickly stood up. She has a good friend who is one of the partners in the cooperative in Banligou Village that specializes in wild mushroom cultivation.
"You might as well go directly to the cooperative than to the village. Anyway, the village will take you directly to the cooperative for a visit. Come on, I'll take you there!"
"Then let's go to the cooperative with my cousin-in-law first, but we also need to visit the village, otherwise we won't be able to write the report later," Jiang Xiaoman chuckled.
My cousin's wife immediately understood.
Writing a report requires going to the village to find materials.
Those materials gave her a headache. Her cousin was indeed a college graduate; he was probably writing all the materials for Langshan Village now.
The group followed their cousin's wife to the cooperative first.
The wild mushroom planting cooperative in Banligou is located next to the planting base. The three-section wooden house built against the mountain does not look like an office at all. Some people would believe it if it were a guesthouse in the scenic area.
There are indeed several guest rooms here, which the cooperative prepared specifically for the professors from the Agricultural University who are stationed here to provide assistance.
However, the first row of offices was occupied by my cousin-in-law, who was a close friend of the shareholders. She didn't need to make an appointment in advance; she just made a phone call and was taken directly to her friend Tang Qiuhua's office.
Hearing that they were from Langshan and had come mainly to investigate whether they could introduce wild mushrooms, Tang Qiuhua was immediately delighted.
"If we can grow them in our Chestnut Gully, then it will be even more of a problem for you!"
“Years ago, we also went to Langshan to pick mushrooms. The mushrooms there are bigger and plumper, much better than the ones here.”
After saying that, Tang Qiuhua stood up, took out several thick brochures from the filing cabinet behind her, and handed them to Jiang Xiaoman, Shan Yan, and Lang Ying, asking them to take a look at the wild mushroom cultivation brochure jointly produced by the seed company and their cooperative.
“We are now one of the experimental bases for the wild mushroom cultivation project of the Agricultural University. In fact, the ecological environment in Langshan is better than ours. Xiaoman, I heard that the Agricultural University is recruiting new experimental bases. If your village has the conditions, you might as well apply to cooperate with the Agricultural University.”
"Let me tell you, becoming the wild mushroom cultivation experimental base of the Agricultural University actually brings many hidden benefits."
"Take technical support for example. If you're setting up your own planting base, you'll have to spend a lot of money to hire technicians from outside, right? If you don't offer enough money, they might not be willing to come."