Kong Feifei said that as long as Jiang Xiaoman nodded, she was willing to bring her dowry, several resettlement houses worth millions, and marry into the family immediately!
Faced with the young lady's enthusiasm, Jiang Xiaoman could only helplessly say that he just wanted to develop his career first, otherwise he wouldn't even have the most basic material security, how would he support his wife and children?
"Can I line up and get a number for love?" Kong Feifei asked with tears in her eyes.
Jiang Xiaoman was speechless.
Just then, the outdoor enthusiast Yuan Ye rushed over, grinning, and said that he hoped Boss Jiang wouldn't be too strict about gender when looking for a wife.
If you feel that raising a girl is too much pressure, then raising a boy is actually not so much pressure.
He doesn't buy bags or cosmetics, doesn't want to drink milk tea or wear diamond rings, and he certainly wouldn't ask Jiang Xiaoman who she would save first if he and Jiang Youliang both fell into the river...
Moreover, although his family is not a household that received compensation for demolition, his father is a senior executive at an insurance company, his mother is a civil servant, and he also has an older sister who owns a company, so his parents have basically no pressure to support themselves in their old age.
If Jiang Xiaoman is willing, he can immediately drive his Land Rover to Langshan to marry into the family...
Jiang Xiaoman: "..."
You should go somewhere else and get your love number!
Worried that Jiang Youliang might overhear the fans' alarming remarks, Jiang Xiaoman quickly exchanged a few pleasantries with them, inviting them to have tea and snacks while she took her father to the kitchen to cook.
In the big pot, the corn rice that the fans had requested was already cooked. Jiang Xiaoman took the saw from home, climbed the ladder, and took down the blackened cured meat from the wall. First, she sawed the long strip of cured meat into three sections, then put it in the stove to burn it, and poured in boiling water to scald it for a while. This way, the blackened parts on the surface of the cured meat could be easily cleaned.
The washed cured meat is sliced or shredded and placed on a plate for later use. Jiang Youliang has a strong hand, so Jiang Xiaoman handed over the task of cutting the meat to his father and stood by the sink to prepare other side dishes.
After the renovation of his new kitchen, it became much more convenient than the kitchen in his old house!
Jiang Xiaoman connected a water pipe to a spring on the mountain and installed a faucet in the kitchen. When the faucet was turned off, the spring water flowing down would flow through the drainage ditch next to it into a small water pit dug in the vegetable garden, which was then used to water the vegetable garden.
When you use it, you can drink pure, unpolluted spring water just by turning on the tap. Most importantly, you don't have to pay a single penny for water all year round.
Wash the water celery and duck feet that everyone picked, cut them into sections, blanch the prickly greens in boiling water, rub them repeatedly to wash away the slime inside the leaves, then chop them up and set them aside. Don't waste the dozen or so small bamboo shoots either; peel them, blanch them in boiling water, and then dice them to use as a side dish. Although the small bamboo shoots don't have much meat this season, they taste especially fresh.
"Dad, help me start the fire, we can start cooking." After preparing the side dishes, Jiang Xiaoman first set up the tripod and pointed his phone at the stove. He didn't want to waste a single moment. He wanted to film today's video while treating people to a meal.
Unbeknownst to Jiang Xiaoman, while he was cooking and filming, fans were also quietly taking out their phones and filming him at the kitchen door.
This is such a rare opportunity!
Jiang Xiaoman's family only has a few guest rooms. As you can imagine, once reservations open, who knows when you'll be able to snag one? If you don't take advantage of this time to film some videos of your idol, are you only going to be able to see Xiaoman in her live streams in the future?
Jiang Youliang also noticed that someone was secretly filming his son at the door. The old man was shy and still not used to facing the camera directly, so he quickly shrank under the stove and made the fire in the stove burn brightly.
Jiang Xiaoman first roasted a chicken. In the countryside, when entertaining guests, it is essential to have home-raised free-range chickens on the table. As soon as Jiang Youliang received the call, he picked out the fattest young chicken and killed it.
Chop the chicken into pieces, add scallions, ginger, garlic, and homemade soybean paste, stir-fry briefly in oil, then sprinkle in a few dried chilies, add salt, pour in the soaked dried wild mushrooms, stir-fry a couple of times, add two ladles of spring water, and just simmer slowly.
Home-raised free-range chickens are always so delicious, especially since Jiang Xiaoman added wild mushrooms to the stew. The kitchen was instantly filled with an exceptionally delicious aroma, making the fans who were secretly taking pictures drool.
While the main dish was stewing in the large pot on the stove, Jiang Xiaoman took the opportunity to scoop out two spoonfuls of cornmeal and one spoonful of wheat flour, stir them evenly, and then stick a circle of corn cakes around the edge of the pot.
He learned this from other food bloggers. The corn pancakes made this way are especially delicious when dipped in the chicken broth from the roasted chicken!
After making the pancakes and covering the pot with the lid, Jiang Xiaoman moved the tripod to a different spot, positioning it towards the induction cooker.
Using gas on the mountain is too troublesome. Carrying such a big gas cylinder up is also very hard work, and it won't last more than a few months. Just then, a brand wanted to discuss cooperation, so Jiang Xiaoman asked them to send over two samples of induction cookers.
Don't think that Jiang Xiaoman is taking advantage of the brand; in fact, the brand is the one making a fortune!
Just by giving away two induction cookers for free, they were able to appear on camera like crazy under the lens of Jiang Xiaoman, a food blogger with more than a million followers. Isn't that practically zero-cost promotion?
If nothing unexpected happens, and the induction cooker Jiang Xiaoman is currently using suddenly breaks down, the brand that sent him the induction cooker for trial use will probably fight tooth and nail to get it...
Moreover, Jiang Xiaoman's cooking is truly a feast for the eyes!
He was naturally handsome, and unlike most rural men, he wasn't sloppy at all; he was exceptionally clean. The proof was that when he cooked, he always had two rags on the cutting board: one clean rag to wipe the pots and pans, and a thicker one to wipe the stains on the gas stove and range hood...
People with OCD online especially love watching Jiang Xiaoman cook. Every time he finishes cooking, everything from the cutting board to the range hood remains clean and tidy, without a trace of grease. He's practically an angel in the eyes of OCD sufferers!
Jiang Xiaoman performed steadily as usual today. He held the wok handle with one hand and kept picking up the plates of ingredients with the other, pouring cured meat, wild vegetables, side dishes and so on into the wok, stir-frying them a few times, and then pouring them out to make a dish.
Then take the pot to the sink to wash it, dry it, and move on to the next one...
When he posted cooking videos before, some people thought he was fast-forwarding to shorten the video length. However, several fans who were watching said, "This is not fast-forwarding at all."
That's how fast Xiaoman cooks, okay?
Chapter 173
After cooking two dishes, Jiang Xiaoman acted as if he had just discovered someone secretly taking pictures of him by the door frame, and without turning his head, he called them over to help carry the dishes.
Now that it's hot, we eat lunch at the big table next to the kitchen.
The layout of the Jiang family's new kitchen is clear at a glance. Although most fans don't cook much, they can still serve dishes and set out bowls and chopsticks.
After they brought out all the prepared dishes, the free-range chicken in the big pot was also stewed.
Jiang Xiaoman took out an extra-large stainless steel basin from under the cutting board and ladled a whole pot of stewed chicken and wild mushrooms into it. She then took a small bamboo sieve and scraped off the corn cakes that had started to burn around the edge of the pot.
When Jiang Youliang served the two dishes, the fans didn't even bother to pick up their chopsticks and start eating. Instead, they forced themselves to swallow hard while snapping photos with their phones, taking close-ups and panoramic shots from every angle of the farm-style dishes Jiang Xiaoman had prepared for them that day...
In the fan group, upon seeing the iconic stainless steel basin in the center of the Jiang family's dining table, the fans burst into laughter, and some even tagged the seller of the stainless steel basin to come and see for themselves.
Indeed, after being propelled to success by Jiang Xiaoman, the stainless steel basin seller, whose sales were far ahead of others, also secretly started paying attention to Jiang Xiaoman.
He was too embarrassed to follow him directly, so he did so secretly. However, some sharp-eyed fans noticed his comments section and recognized his profile picture, so they followed the comments to his homepage.
Upon seeing the stainless steel basin, identical to the one Jiang Xiaoman wore, in his shop window, the fans burst into laughter. After mentioning it to the group admin, the shop owner himself reluctantly joined Jiang Xiaoman's fan group...
Upon seeing his stainless steel basin on Jiang Xiaoman's dining table, the owner said that although Jiang Xiaoman had not asked him for a sample, since it had been incorporated into the product as a gesture of goodwill, it would be unreasonable for him, as the owner, not to reciprocate.
He decided to immediately pack up all the stainless steel tableware in his warehouse and mail it to Jiang Xiaoman!
Of course, if Jiang Xiaoman doesn't have time to receive the package, he can deliver it to her door. He doesn't need to reimburse her travel expenses; he just needs to treat her to two meals...
This statement immediately drew out other family members who run shops and businesses in the group.
Some said their families owned supermarkets and wanted to send Xiaoman some oil, salt, soy sauce, and vinegar over.
Some said their families owned agricultural supply stores and could send Xiaoman some seeds of fruits and vegetables.
Others went even further, saying their family owned a factory making courier packaging, and since Jiang Xiaoman was in e-commerce, they'd definitely give her a friend/family price if she wanted, plus the boss could deliver it to her door…
Hilarious! A big boss, delivering a truckload of cardboard boxes to someone's door?
I bet it wasn't a delivery, but rather someone going to Xiaoman's house for a free meal?
...
The group chat exploded instantly, and several fans were practically dying of laughter.
"What are you laughing at? Eat while it's hot. Take a rest after you finish eating. We still need to go dig for vegetables and make kimchi this afternoon," Jiang Xiaoman called out to them, and then asked a few of the boys if they wanted some beer.
Just kidding! Guys would be crazy to show their drinking side if girls were around!
Even though they usually drink, they solemnly declared that they never drink at home except for unavoidable social engagements!
"Okay! Let's have some drinks then." Jiang Xiaoman went to the refrigerator and got some orange juice and cola that her dad had chilled in advance, and put them on the table for them to choose from.
Unexpectedly, these people stood up and had a drink with their host. After that, they spent almost all their time eating. Actually, there are plenty of farm-style dishes in the city, with small restaurants on every street corner offering flavors from all over the country. But whether it was because they were too hungry from climbing the mountain or because the wild vegetables they picked themselves tasted especially good, the fans thought this was delicious and that was even better.
After a whirlwind of eating, the drinks on the table were barely touched, but the food was almost completely devoured!
They arrived at the mountain after 10 a.m., and the cooking and eating took up a lot of time. By the time they finished lunch, it was already past 2 p.m.
Seeing that they were too full, Jiang Xiaoman picked up a large basket and told the others to rest first, while he went to the vegetable garden to pick vegetables to make pickles.
"Let's go help too..." The group forced themselves to stand up.
"No, no! If you eat too much and then go to work in the fields, you'll get colic." Jiang Xiaoman quickly pressed the person down onto the stool.
He can get the job done faster by going to the vegetable garden alone.
I chopped three large cabbages, picked half a basket of green and red peppers, a few purple eggplants, a bag of purple beans, and cut a lot of sweet potato vines.
He carried these home first and asked his father to help him find a woven bag to pack them up. Jiang Xiaoman then grabbed a hoe and ran to his old house, where his father used to grow ginger. The ginger wasn't old yet this season, but this tender ginger was perfect for making pickles. Unlike old ginger, which was tough to chew, this pickled ginger was crunchy and had a hint of spiciness, making it especially delicious.
I dug up a basket of tender ginger, leaving the mud on it. As long as I don't wash it, I can take it back and put it in a cool, shady place, bury it in some sand, and it will keep for a long time without spoiling.
When he got home, he saw that his father had already packed the vegetables for him. He also took a large woven bag and filled it with several pieces of cured meat, two smoked fish, and some plastic bags of various sizes, which contained dried bamboo shoots and dried wild mushrooms that he had dried himself.
This is why Jiang Xiaoman didn't keep any for herself when selling mountain products.
He always felt that one should not only give to the elderly, but also learn to ask for something from time to time.
As elderly people get older, they sometimes can't help but overthink, feeling that they are no longer useful to their children. Over time, just like new mothers who are prone to depression after giving birth, severe self-doubt can also lead to depression in the elderly.
He saw this passage in a psychology journal when he was in college, and he thought the scholar made a lot of sense at the time!
As it turned out, ever since Jiang Xiaoman showed Jiang Youliang that "she is still young" and "needs her father's help," Jiang Youliang, who had previously looked old and as if he was about to pass away at any moment, immediately felt that life had a new meaning.
Yes! His daughter, Xiaoman, isn't married yet; she's still a child and needs him as her father right now.
Realizing his son needed him, Jiang Youliang immediately and seamlessly switched from "retirement mode" to "struggle mode"!
Just look at how energetic Jiang Youliang is this year, and you'll know.
He even had people decorating the guest rooms at home, yet he still had time to go to the mountains to pick mushrooms, cut bamboo shoots, and dry vegetables!
Seeing his father looking so energetic and capable of fighting for another five hundred years, Jiang Xiaoman chuckled and took a pack of good cigarettes from his backpack, placing it on the coffee table.
Seeing her father's longing eyes fixed on the cigarette box, Jiang Xiaoman smiled and deliberately put on a stern face to warn her father: "I didn't buy this for you. In a few days, I'm going to make kimchi and sell it online. Dad, there are only two of us in the family. We can't finish all the vegetables in the backyard. It would be a waste to feed them to the pigs. When the time comes, you should ask two people to come and help cut down our vegetables. I'll make kimchi when I come back."
"Now that the vegetable garden is cleared, we'll plant more radishes this fall and fewer potatoes, just enough for our own consumption. I plan to sell dried radishes this winter."
"You'll just keep ordering your dad around! What will you do when I'm gone?" Jiang Youliang glared at him and hid the cigarettes in the drawer.
He said he was giving the good cigarettes to the guests who came to help, but did he just stand there watching them eat them?
Hmph! He'll just eat with us then. Anyway, our son won't be home, so what's there to be afraid of?
...
After packing up, Jiang Youliang worried that they wouldn't be able to carry so much stuff, so he took a carrying pole, picked up the prepared cured meat and vegetables, and went down the mountain ahead of them.
"Brother Xiaoman, are you really going to let your dad carry all that stuff down the mountain by himself? Why don't we split it up?" Yuan Ye and the other two boys were getting restless.
After all, Jiang Youliang looked quite old. It didn't make sense for these young people to have an old man carry their things down the mountain empty-handed.
"Don't worry, that's how we mountain folk have always lived. Every spring, my dad can carry two bags of pig feed, each weighing fifty pounds, up the mountain in one go. Don't underestimate my dad just because he's old; if he can carry that much, you might not be able to."
Jiang Xiaoman wasn't looking down on anyone; it was just that people in the mountains were used to carrying things up and down the mountain.