However, thinking about her recent poor appetite, Jiang Xiaoman couldn't help but ask her father, "Dad, do we still have any new soybeans at home this year? We're free today anyway, so let's make some fermented tofu. We finished the ones we made last year a long time ago."
Jiang Youliang loves to eat fermented tofu, but he doesn't know how to make it himself. When Jiang Xiaoman was little, she didn't know that there was such a delicacy as fermented tofu. Later, she went to visit relatives with Jiang Youliang. That morning, the relatives were eating sweet potato porridge. The relatives brought out a plate of fermented tofu, and Jiang Xiaoman watched as her father ate one piece after another, almost half a plate of fermented tofu.
Later, Jiang Xiaoman secretly learned how to make it. At first, it didn't taste good; it was either too salty or the fermentation was unsuccessful, turning into stinky tofu. But he kept getting better and better at it. A few years ago, when he was in college, he would come back every May Day to make a whole jar of fermented tofu for his father, enough to last him a year.
Jiang Xiaoman was too busy today and forgot to make it during the May Day holiday. Later, his old house collapsed, and the jars containing the fermented tofu were crushed underneath. He then forgot about it himself.
Fortunately, he remembered today. He can stay at home for more than a week, which is just enough time to ferment the fermented tofu and pickle it in the jar.
"We still have several bags of soybeans left to eat. In another two months, the new soybeans will be ready to be harvested. This afternoon, you can make tofu at home, and I'll go and dismantle that shed over there. We can dry them and use them as firewood."
Jiang Youliang couldn't stand seeing arable land being occupied. Before, his family had no choice but to temporarily build a shack on the land before their house was completed.
Now that he has finally moved into his new house, the first thing he wants to do is to tear down this eyesore of a shed!
The weather isn't too hot yet, so they can scatter some mung bean seeds on it. Although the area isn't big, the harvested mung beans will be enough for the father and son to eat for the whole winter.
The shed was only about a person's height, so it wasn't difficult to dismantle. Jiang Xiaoman helped his father push down the large bamboo poles that served as supports, and his father dismantled the rest by himself while he went back to make tofu.
The family's grain was temporarily stored in the unfinished house on the second floor. Jiang Xiaoman went up and carried half a bag of soybeans down, soaked them in warm water, and then went back to her room to get the tripod, gimbal, fill light, and mobile phone for filming.
Today he plans to film a nice video to fully document how to make fermented tofu in a rural setting.
While the tofu was still soaking, Jiang Xiaoman tidied up the leftover ingredients from yesterday.
Some of the cooked or soaked duck parts that are not easy to store have already been given to the people who came to help. As for the rest, there are some frozen duck parts. Jiang Xiaoman plans to braise them all tonight, leave some for his father, and send the rest to the school for the children to try something new. After all, it is rare to eat braised food in the countryside.
Some dried vegetables that hadn't been soaked yet were sorted and put back into clean plastic bags, then placed in the kitchen wall cabinets for future use in cooking. There was also the preserved pig's head for ancestral worship, which the family could eat after the ceremony.
Jiang Xiaoman placed the cured pig's head in a pot and steamed it for more than ten minutes. After the steam dissipated, she took it out and placed it in a large basin. After thinking for a moment, she ran to get the equipment she had set up, turned on the camera function, and held up the cured pig's head, which was as big as a washbasin, to the lens.
"Hello everyone, I'm Xiaoman. Today I'm here to show you how to eat the sacrificial offerings, hehe~ Do you remember the cured pig's head that my family used for the ancestral worship the day before yesterday? After the ancestral and mountain god worship, we can eat it. Today I'm here to show you how we mountain people eat the sacrificial offerings."
As she spoke, Jiang Xiaoman pointed the camera at the large wooden basin containing the pig's head, and while using a cleaver and scissors to dissect the pig's head meat, she chatted with the camera—
"The pig's head we bought this time is big and has a lot of meat. I estimate we can get at least several pounds of pig's head meat, enough to make several dishes."
"I'll slice these pig ears and stir-fry them with local chili peppers from my garden, along with garlic slices. It'll be fragrant, spicy, and perfect with rice."
"This pig's tongue is also very delicious. Here, we usually boil it, slice it, and eat it as a cold dish, or we make some dipping sauce to eat it with."
"The remaining pig's head meat, skin and all, can be removed. Large pieces can be braised with dried bamboo shoots or konjac tofu, or sliced and stir-fried with chili peppers, garlic sprouts, or dried tofu."
"And we can't throw away this remaining bone. I'll put it in a pot and make a big pot of salty soup. This soup is absolutely amazing for making noodle soup!"
"Oh right, I also left some scraps of meat and pork skin. I plan to soak some soybeans and stew some salted pork and soybeans. This dish is absolutely delicious with porridge. I love pork skin jelly in winter. Before, we didn't have a refrigerator at home in the summer, so we couldn't make it even if we wanted to. This year, we finally have a refrigerator at home."
Jiang Xiaoman's family used to have a freezer, but the new double-door refrigerator in the living room was a gift that Tang Xinlan ordered online and had delivered directly to the village after seeing his video the day before yesterday and learning that his family had moved into their new house.
Jiang Xiaoman was quite embarrassed when she received the gift.
Because his family and the Tang family had no direct kinship, they didn't know each other when Tang Xinlan got married and had a child, and they didn't give any gifts. According to their local custom, families who are not good at reciprocating gifts will not send out invitations to banquets when they have happy events.
Jiang Xiaoman never expected that Tang Xinlan would give such a big gift, and that he couldn't refuse it at all—Tang Xinlan placed the order directly on JD.com, and he couldn't possibly transfer the money for the refrigerator to her, could he?
Thinking of this, Jiang Xiaoman decided to go to the mountains in a couple of days to pick more jelly fruits, dry them, dig up some large konjac, and also dig up a basket of taro from his own garden. Oh, and he also needed to ask Brother Shanyan to buy a few more kilograms of rock honey to send over. He also happened to have something he wanted to ask Tang Xinlan in person.
He wondered if Langshan could be like Shangtang Village, where even if they couldn't make a lot of money, at least the women in the mountains could live a slightly easier and freer life than they do now.
Chapter 73
All afternoon, Jiang Xiaoman was busy grinding soybeans and making tofu. She also hung two thin bamboo poles at the door to dry a lot of tofu skin that she had taken out while making tofu. The whole yard was filled with the unique aroma of soy products.
The father and son ate breakfast late, so lunchtime was awkward.
I'm not hungry, so I'll cook.
If I don't cook, I won't be able to hold out until dinner.
Luckily, Jiang Xiaoman was making tofu in the afternoon. The second batch came out around 3 p.m., and guessing that her father was also hungry, she simply stir-fried some pork head meat, eggs, and chopped chili peppers as a topping. She took out two large enamel rice bowls, filled them more than halfway with tofu pudding, and poured a thick layer of topping on top. Eating the whole bowl of fragrant tofu pudding was incredibly satisfying.
Most importantly, tofu pudding is easy to digest. Even though they eat a lot, it digests quickly and doesn't interfere with dinner at all.
“Your uncles are right, I’m starting to enjoy the blessings of having a son!” Jiang Youliang wiped his mouth with satisfaction and went to the eaves to get a hoe for tilling the land. “I’ll go dig up the plot of land near the shack, bury some pig manure in it, and try to plant the mung beans before dark. We’ll have dinner a little later tonight.”
"Okay, Dad, you go ahead and get busy. I'm making tofu right now." Jiang Xiaoman waved his hand; he was even busier than his father.
Having not made tofu himself for so long, Jiang Xiaoman didn't quite get the amount of soybeans right and soaked too many. After thinking about it, he decided to make all of them. Apart from keeping some for making fermented tofu, he cut the rest into small pieces, put them in the freezer and froze them solid. He could then take them out and eat them whenever he wanted to stew meat or make hot pot. This was much more convenient than going down the mountain to the market to buy tofu.
While making tofu, he didn't forget to film a video. As a food blogger who was forced into the role, Jiang Xiaoman's short food videos are actually more like him rambling about the trivialities of life.
"When I was a child, my family was really poor and couldn't afford meat. My dad came up with a solution: he would go to a braised food shop, spend a dollar to buy a teacup of leftover braising liquid, and then buy two pieces of tofu. He would cut the tofu into pieces, soak them in the braising liquid for half a day, and then cook them. The tofu would have the aroma of braised meat, and it was especially delicious!"
"My dad is terrible at cooking, haha. He couldn't make tofu himself, but I learned how, and now our family doesn't even have to spend money on tofu anymore!"
"Yesterday I took you to see where we dig konjac. Underneath that patch of konjac is the dry land where my family grows soybeans. It's so hard to grow soybeans in the mountains. When they're young, hedgehogs and rabbits come to steal them. And when the soybeans finally ripen, wild boars and other animals come down from the mountain to steal them. Even the squirrels near my house like to come to my field to steal soybeans!"
"But these local soybeans I grow myself, though they don't look big, taste really good, especially when used to make tofu. It's a pity you can't smell them through the screen. My whole yard smells of soybeans right now. I also bought a lot of braising spices online. Tonight I'll take out the leftover frozen chicken legs from the banquet, add some dried tofu, and make a pot of braised dishes, hehe..."
I can't take it anymore!
Fans who saw the video flooded the comments section with angry comments like, "If you're so capable, why don't you build a new house and open a bed and breakfast?"
I can't eat it through the screen, but if I stay at your house, I can at least eat the homemade tofu you made, right?
And that tofu pudding, oh my god~ Just looking at the topping makes it look so delicious, it's completely different from the toppings made with seasoning packets at breakfast shops, okay?
I want to eat there! Please open a shop there!!!
Jiang Youliang planted mung bean seeds on that plot of land, and then washed a handful of houttuynia cordata that he had casually picked from the ground in the water basin by the door. When he went inside, good heavens! The basins and buckets were full of tofu!
"You don't want this arm anymore, do you?" Jiang Youliang walked over to help his son move firewood and start a fire, both amused and exasperated.
Jiang Xiaoman was exhausted after a long afternoon and really didn't have the energy to cook, so she simply stir-fried the pork head meat she had prepared during the day with a bowl of potato chunks, making a pot of potato rice with the dish.
The pig's head meat was already marinated, the rice had the unique saltiness of cured meat, and the potatoes were soft and glutinous, making it especially delicious.
A pot of potato rice, a plate of cold houttuynia cordata salad, and a dish of cooked and sliced pig ears—that's how the father and son made do with their dinner.
After finishing his meal, Jiang Youliang went outside and brought in a bundle of grass. He cut off the ends, leaving only the middle section, and placed it on the bamboo tray.
Jiang Xiaoman boiled the tofu in water for a while, took it out and drained the water, cut it into pieces the size of mahjong tiles, and arranged them on a bamboo tray with five centimeters between each piece. Finally, she covered it with a bamboo mat. The weather is just right for making fermented tofu now. After a few days, when white mold grows on the tofu, it can be pickled.
Jiang Xiaoman didn't make frozen tofu with the remaining fresh tofu. Instead, she put it in a clean wooden bucket, poured in spring water, and kept the tofu in the water overnight because the temperature was low in the mountains at night.
"Dad, come down the mountain with me tomorrow. Let's take this tofu and the konjac tofu we made before to Uncle Baichuan. We've run out of eggs at home. I heard that the price of eggs has dropped a lot recently, so let's buy more. I'll pickle two jars of salted eggs for you."
"Okay!" Jiang Youliang nodded readily.
Eggs are not expensive to begin with, and salted eggs can be preserved for a long time. Sometimes when my son is not at home, he cooks a pot of sweet potato porridge, takes out two salted eggs to boil, and eats them with pickled vegetables, which is enough for a day. It is economical and convenient.
There was still part of the pickling process that hadn't been filmed for the video of making fermented tofu. When Jiang Xiaoman returned to her room that evening, she only edited the video of herself making tofu that day, added background music, and uploaded it to a few video platforms. After finishing her work, she also checked yesterday's earnings.
This sight surprised and delighted him!
"Seventeen thousand nine hundred yuan! Holy crap! That much?"
Jiang Xiaoman quickly flipped to the homecoming videos she had filmed over the past few days and found that the first day's video had already reached over two million views, and the second day's video had the highest number of views, over four million, more than double.
The third day, which was the day when netizens were arguing in the comments section, was the most terrifying video. This long video, which almost caused Jiang Xiaoman to crash and burn, was eventually edited and posted on the video website by him. Because of the controversy, some netizens who couldn't win the argument even called on their friends to help him argue. In the end, the number of views reached an astonishing ten million!
This is just the beginning. As long as these videos are not taken down, and people keep seeing them, these will all count as his views and can be monetized.
In other words, although he didn't go out for the past three days and stayed home helping with chores, he earned three months' salary from just these three videos, which is what a recent graduate might earn working outside the home...
Jiang Xiaoman, clutching her phone, childishly rolled around on the bed a few times. She had originally intended to share the good news with her dad, but the sound of his signature, earth-shattering snoring came from next door. Suppressing her excitement, she began to do some calculations for her family's finances—
They can collect money as a gift when they build a new house and hold a housewarming party. Although it wasn't much, they still collected more than 6,000 yuan. He gave the money directly to his father so that he could keep it for future use in the village to repay gifts.
The construction of the house, the renovation of the first floor, and the addition of a separate kitchen and dining room cost nearly 100,000 yuan in total. This was almost all of their family's savings over the years. When they were decorating, because they didn't have enough money, his father reluctantly took out all the money he had saved for his future wife. The money for the housewarming party, including the ingredients and drinks, was also from the more than 10,000 yuan that Jiang Xiaoman had earned by making videos and selling things recently.
Fortunately, once the house is built, the township officials can come and inspect it. After the inspection is passed, there will be a subsidy of about 20,000 to 30,000 yuan. Jiang Xiaoman would never touch this money. His father is so old, and he doesn't know when he might get seriously ill and need the money. So from now on, he will try to save a sum of money for his father's life every year.
Therefore, this income of over 17,000 yuan from short video views is truly a timely help for this family.
With this money, Jiang Xiaoman and his father can make more beehives.
His online store didn't invest much in promotion; it relied solely on posting videos to attract traffic. Although he only got a dozen or so orders a day on average, the problem mainly lay with him. Whether it was local honey or handmade embroidered shoes, the quantity was too small. Fans often asked in the comments when he would restock, and some couldn't wait and even went online to search for the same items from other stores. This couldn't go on.
The ten thousand yuan was not enough for renovations, and their place couldn't open before Tang Xinlan's Zen retreat guesthouse opened.
Jiang Xiaoman thought about it and decided that he and his father should live frugally for the next two years and try to expand their beekeeping business. He couldn't say for sure about other things, but the sales of their semi-wild local honey were really good.
His family had the wood to make beehives—beams salvaged from an old house. Although the wood was old, the beehives made from it were actually better than those made from new wood. Wild bees also preferred beehives made from this kind of old wood, which greatly increased the success rate of attracting bees. However, even with the wood, his father alone certainly couldn't manage the work.
not to mention……
Jiang Xiaoman sighed. His father was truly living up to his name. The thing he could never let go of in his life was farm work. Every available space on the hillside around their house was planted with all sorts of grains, vegetables, fruits, and the like. As a result, his family had no worries about food and drink all year round. However, there was just too much work to do in the fields. If Jiang Youliang were to make the beehives all by himself, his father would never get any sleep.
If you hire a carpenter to make beehives and provide the wood yourself, the market price a few years ago was 20 yuan per barrel. I don't know what the price is now, but even if it has increased, let's say the processing fee is 30 yuan per barrel. Making 100 beehives would only cost 3,000 yuan. Add to that the cost of accessories such as wire and nails, as well as honey for attracting bees, and the cost of just over 10,000 yuan is definitely enough.
With these 100 new beehives, and following their traditional free-range beekeeping method, each beehive can produce 30 to 50 catties of honey per year. If this local honey can be sold at the current retail price, after deducting losses and logistics costs, the net profit per year can be at least tens of thousands of yuan, enough for his and his father's daily living expenses.
There aren't many places to spend money in the countryside. The father and son can earn 50,000 yuan a year for living expenses, which is enough to ensure a very good diet at home.
Most importantly, Langshan has abundant wildflowers and fruits all year round, making it a rich source of nectar. He plans to purchase a batch of high-quality honey-producing flowers to plant along the mountain roads near his home, such as honeysuckle and hibiscus. These flowers can be dried and sold for money, and also provide nectar for bees. Moreover, they are perennial plants, so if managed properly, they can be harvested for many years.
After carefully calculating the costs in her mind, Jiang Xiaoman felt that beekeeping was the most stable source of income at this stage, with lower costs and no worries about sales channels.
He'd already decided that if all else failed, he'd just consign it to the visitor center in Banligou.
Anyway, selling an item online costs ten yuan for shipping, and consigning it at the visitor center would cost about the same in service fees. At most, you'd make a small profit, but it's unlikely you'd lose money.
Chapter 74
When I woke up the next day, the sky was overcast and looked like it was going to rain.
Jiang Youliang moved all the firewood drying in the yard to the eaves to shelter from the rain, and couldn't help but feel fortunate: "As expected of the old priest's son, the young priest chose a really good day! The three days of moving into the house were sunny, and it started raining right after the housewarming banquet."
Jiang Xiaoman laughed as he listened. If it really came down to choosing a day based on the weather, he could do it too. Not to mention three days in advance, some weather forecasts these days can even predict the weather fifteen days in advance.
However, the weather in the mountains is unpredictable, so choosing a date will most likely depend on luck.
The weather was gloomy in the morning, so Jiang Xiaoman took out the soup from yesterday's stewed pork head and cooked a big pot of broken noodles.
They always prepare handmade noodles for banquets here, and no matter what dishes are served at dinner, the last bowl is always a steaming bowl of shredded pork noodles.
These noodles are different from the noodles sold in supermarkets. They are particularly brittle, and at least a third of a box of noodles is broken. But there's no way around it, these noodles are really delicious, especially when made into chicken soup noodles.
When new mothers in their area are in confinement, they bring home boxes and boxes of these noodles.