Chapter 142 Newcomers and New House
The peaches, plums and apricots on the mountain have left the stage one after another, and watermelons and grapes have appeared one after another in the long summer.
This is what real seasonal fruits are like. Their ripening period is very short, maybe just one month. Those that can last for three to five months are either early-ripening or late-ripening varieties, or they are cold storage fruits. Not to mention selling them from April to June, they can even be sold from April this year to April next year.
There is no cold storage on Yantou Mountain, so fruits are sold in season. When the orchard is closed, they are gone. The remaining fruits are kept to make jams and preserved fruits, so they are not wasted.
Xia Wu bought a laminator online, specially ordered one with the Taoyuan Villa logo printed on it, to sell preserved fruits.
A bag of dried apricots costs twenty yuan, weighs 300 grams, has no additives and is naturally dried.
When the weather is good, the yard of the small courtyard by the well is filled with bamboo racks, on which slices of dried apricots and peaches are placed. The fruit flesh is dried in the sun to lock in the sugar. The preserved fruit tastes soft and chewy with a full fruity flavor, and the preserved fruit is ready.
After weighing, put them into paper bags, seal them with a laminator, and pack them for shipment.
A bag of preserved fruits costs twenty yuan. Although you don’t make much money from it, one bag can last you a long time and is especially suitable as an office snack.
So after the dried fruits were put on the shelves, they were snapped up again. Many people couldn't even buy them before they were taken off the shelves.
Xia Wu doesn’t sell things based on what customers need. She only looks at what she has. If she has it, she sells it. Once it’s sold, it’s gone.
Many people keep an eye on the groups and forums, fearing that they will miss out on good things being put on the shelves.
Now that watermelons are ripe and on the market, the courier has been unable to negotiate the price, and everyone in the group and forum is urging the watermelons to be put on the shelves.
[Daily Question: Can watermelons be delivered today?]
Xia Wu's account was tagged countless times, and fans said they could accept the price increase of watermelons. They had no other intentions, they just wanted to try how delicious the watermelons from Yantou Mountain were.
Friends who ate watermelon in Tong City gave it very high praise.
It seems like you will regret it in your life if you don’t eat the watermelon from Yantou Mountain once.
Watermelon is a must-have fruit in summer. Who can resist the temptation of eating watermelon while enjoying the air conditioning? The more they can't eat it, the more restless they become. Xia Wu is tagged at least a dozen times a day.
Due to the transportation problem of watermelons and the high damage rate on the road, Xia Wu can only choose a few express delivery companies. Their express delivery is well-known, but the prices are also much higher.
Express delivery costs are inevitable. After considering it for a long time, Xia Wu decided to send a notice.
"Watermelons are now on the market. I'm giving back thanks. To let everyone enjoy Yantoushan watermelons, I've negotiated a shipping price with the courier. We're not raising prices this time! Shipping is included, and compensation will be paid for bad fruit. If there are any big fruit merchants in the group willing to buy, the price is negotiable. We'll set it at 2.8 yuan per catty. I'll ship it myself to Tong City and sell it for 3 yuan per catty. The online price is also 3 yuan, so you can refer to it."
"The watermelons from Yantou Mountain are a bit more expensive than regular watermelons, so please purchase them at your own discretion. I can assure you that the taste of the watermelons is absolutely worth the money, and you won't waste a penny."
The reason why Xia Wu explained so much is because she has a lot of black fans on the Internet.
Those people are slandering her for making money, and the things they sell are extremely expensive, and only her stupid fans would buy them.
If someone insults Xia Wu, she can pretend not to see it, but she cannot tolerate someone insulting her fans.
These people have never tasted what she sells. The quality and quantity are guaranteed, and it also has the added bonus of spiritual spring water. Why isn't it worth selling it at a slightly higher price?
Xia Wu's pricing is not the kind that increases prices without regard for people's lives. Compared with some chain brand fruit stores, the fruits she sells are simply very conscientious.
The last time she saw those negative comments, she wanted to post a video to explain them, but when people in the group found out, they stopped her.
"Let them talk if they want to. If more people find out how delicious Xia Xia's food is, won't it be even harder for us to get it?"
"That's right, others laugh at me for being too crazy, I laugh at them for not seeing through it, don't explain!"
Xia Wu couldn't help but frown when she saw this reason. It made sense, considering she had quite a few followers, already over 500,000 on Kuaishou, and she'd only been running the account for half a year.
The purchasing power of her fans is still very strong. For example, the forum created by Xue Pan has 20,000 people online at any one time.
An ordinary game can survive quite well if it has 20,000 regular online players.
What's more, these people not only like to hang out on forums, but also love shopping.
Just to give you an example, the company orders more than 3,000 vegetable packages every month.
This data is still rising slowly.
Xia Wu's fan base is mostly composed of young people, and about 37% of them are working people. Many of them work so hard that they have no time to cook. Even so, there are more than 3,000 orders, which means that at least several thousand people have changed their lifestyles because of Xia Wu.
Instead of eating takeout, they prefer to buy organic vegetable packages from Xia Wu, cook their own meals and bring them to the company.
This is a very good signal.
A monthly vegetable package costs 298 yuan. Xia Wu's company can earn more than 1.1 million yuan every month just from vegetable package orders.
What are the costs of growing vegetables? Apart from artificial seeds and weeding and pest control, growing vegetables costs Xia Wu nothing at all.
Vegetable package orders are currently her company's largest source of profit, and she relies on this one million yuan to pay her employees' salaries.
There are 57 employees in the company, with an average salary of around 6,000 yuan. After deducting five insurances and one fund, Xia Wu pays out around 350,000 yuan per month.
Then add in the cost of everyone's meals and the wages for temporary workers, Xia Wu's fixed expenses are around 550,000 yuan per month.
Xia Wu did some calculations for the company. Since last month, she has made a lot of money just from selling vegetable packages. This is closely related to the reputation she has gradually built up.
Orders for vegetable packages have surged, and there must be enough vegetables grown on the mountain. Every month, new apprentices are planted with vegetables. At this season, as long as they water the land diligently, they can survive.
Last month, Xia Wu made a profit of about 500,000 yuan from selling vegetable packages. She decided to give the profit on watermelons to her fans. It’s just the delivery fee, she will take care of it!
"Is the shipping really included?" Zhao Jing was a little confused about the accounts. She didn't study accounting in college, and the jobs she found after graduating from junior college were not suitable for her. In the end, she went to work in a factory as a screwdriver.
As a result, she is now looking for a job near her home. She used to work in customer service, but now she is asked to do more and more work. She is not afraid of doing physical work, but she really can't figure out the company's accounts.
Every time she counted the money, she was confused and in the end Xia Wu had to come with her.
Once the shipping costs are reduced, they will no longer make money selling watermelons.
Everyone in the village is worried that the company won’t make money, otherwise where would they find such good jobs?
"Shipping fee included. Don't worry, our company has money in its account!"
Xia Wu swore that she was not doing this just for the money. Besides, even if she sold watermelons at ten yuan a pound, how much could she earn? She could not make it onto the rich list by relying on this mountain.
It would be better to be happy, have a group of fans supporting her, be able to do good things for the village, have enough food and drink, and have so many friends around her, it’s lively and lively, how great it is.
Why do you only pursue money?
Zhao Jing thought about it and said, "That's fine. After all, if we cover the shipping costs, at most we won't make any money, but we won't lose money either. Maybe we can even make a small profit."
Zhao Jing was confused again. She was overwhelmed by the accounts and looked at Xia Wu with a bitter look: "Xiao Wu, how about our company hire a proper accountant who can do the accounting? I can't do this job."
Xia Wu didn't understand either. She never kept accounts of her spending, after all, she had never been short of money.
If you ask her to do the math, she can only do addition, subtraction, multiplication and division at best. The company's accounts are a mess. However, she is not worried about the money being misappropriated, after all, it is all in her card.
It's hard for Zhao Jing, as she is not omnipotent as a secretary.
Xia Wu thought for a moment and asked, "Who in our village can be an accountant?"
"Uncle Mingkai? Wasn't he the one doing it before?"
"No, Uncle Mingkai is in public office and can't do this for us."
Xia Wu's company still has to pay taxes, and Uncle Mingkai can't help them with the billing.
"Is there anyone else in our village who can settle accounts?"
Xia Wu and Zhao Jing stared at each other, "How about hiring someone?"
"Where to go?"
"Post a job posting on the forum?"
"I think so."
Before posting the recruitment post, Xia Wu first talked about this matter with Yang Mingkai. Previously, Yang Mingkai was in charge of the company's finances, and she also paid Yang Mingkai a salary, but matters such as accounting and tax payment required a professional accountant to do, and Yang Mingkai, as a public official, could not interfere.
Xia Wu thought about finding a dedicated accountant, so there was no need to fire Yang Mingkai. The two of them could work together, one for internal affairs and the other for external affairs.
After all, the accountant recruited may not be a local, so it is reassuring to have Yang Mingkai watching over him.
Yang Mingkai agreed immediately. He had been working as an accountant in the village for decades. He couldn't give up his public office just to work for Xia Wu. This was the best solution.
Xia Wu did not delay and went straight to the forum to post a recruitment post.
[We're hiring an accountant, anyone interested?]
"I'm looking for an experienced accountant, both men and women, with food and lodging provided. The base salary is 6,500 yuan, with commissions, holiday benefits, five social insurances and one housing fund, and two days off a week. The location is a bit remote, though, Yanggou Village. Anyone interested in seclusion here? Would you be interested in checking it out?"
As soon as Xia Wu posted the message, it immediately set the forum on fire.
"Am I seeing this right? Who is hiring?"
"Yes, it's me. Do you want to come?" Xia Wu replied.
"I want to go! But I'm not an accountant. Can I learn now?"
Xia Wu: “…”
She no longer had the energy to mess around with these people.
I don't know if anyone will respond to this post. Although the conditions she offers are good, Yanggou Village is not a big city after all. Even if it comes with five social insurances and one housing fund, what's the point of having one housing fund here? Do I still need to buy a house here? What's the point of buying a house here? In the future, I will have to go to a big city to start a family and my children will go to school.
There are many reasons why young people are reluctant to return to their hometowns. In terms of overall prospects, small places, aside from having better natural environments, are far superior to big cities in all other aspects, including transportation, medical care, education, and culture.
Who would be willing to come to such a small place...
That’s quite a lot!
Less than five minutes after the post was sent, Xia Wu’s backstage private messages were almost overwhelming!
She had never expected that everyone's enthusiasm would be so high!
After screening through dozens of private messages with red dots, Xia Wu finally picked out a few more reliable ones.
She asked the three people to send their resumes to her email address. After checking them, she decided to hire a middle-aged woman named Deng Hui.
Deng Hui is 43 years old this year. She has been working in the accounting profession for 21 years. She holds multiple professional certificates and has worked for many large domestic companies. She is currently unemployed.
Deng Hui's predicament stems from her family. Her early life was happy and smooth. As an only child, Deng Hui enjoyed all the advantages that come with being an only child. Her parents nurtured her, allowing her to attend a prestigious university and enter society. She even had a burst of luck, meeting her current husband in college. The two fell in love and enjoyed a harmonious relationship.
A turning point in Deng Hui's life came twelve years ago, when she was 31 and her child was seven. First, her parents fell ill, dying within six years of each other. During that time, her husband's parents, one diagnosed with cancer and the other with Alzheimer's, developed the pain of losing loved ones. The financial pressures, her child entering puberty, and Deng Hui entering menopause—all these stresses took their toll on her health.
She suffered from severe insomnia and even anxiety, so she had to quit her job and recuperate at home. After both sets of parents passed away, Deng Hui's health problems became a sword hanging over the heads of the whole family, which made people extremely worried.
She wanted to continue her social life, but at the age of forty-three she could not adapt to the high-pressure work demands.
This time, it was her husband Jian Feng who helped her submit her resume. He knew his wife's achievements very well. Deng Hui's resume was good enough, and only after Xia Wu decided to hire her did Jian Feng tell her the truth.
Jian Feng wanted to take this opportunity to take Deng Hui to Yanggou Village to recuperate, but he was afraid that Xia Wu would find out and refuse to hire her.
In fact, Deng Hui has applied for many jobs, but many companies do not want to hire her, saying that she is too old and emotionally unstable. Every time she looks for a job, Deng Hui becomes more sensitive and disappointed.
Xia Wu didn't care about these things. She valued Deng Hui's abilities and believed in Deng Hui's professionalism.
"You can tell your wife that she has been hired by Taoyuan Villa. If you have decided to take up the position, please give me an answer within three days."
"Okay, thank you very much for giving my love a chance. I will give you an answer tomorrow at the latest so as not to delay your recruitment."
Jian Feng put down his phone and walked out of the studio a little excitedly.
He was a fine-brush painter, a bit well-known in his circle, so at least he didn't have to worry about making a living. Even though four of his parents had died of illness over the past decade, his family had only a little financial pressure, not the end of their rope.
"Hubby, look at my water lily, another one has bloomed!"
Ever since she lost her job, Deng Hui fell in love with tending to flowers and plants. She was also the first person to pay attention to Xia Wu. She liked watching Xia Wu's videos and regarded her videos as a switch to relieve stress. It was because of paying attention to Xia Wu that Deng Hui's mental state became much more stable.
She always thought that it would be nice to live in seclusion in the mountains and grow vegetables.
The two of them had supported each other for many years as an old couple, so Jian Feng didn't beat around the bush and told Deng Hui the good news directly.
As expected, Deng Huiren was stunned. "I'm going to be hired?"
"How can I take a vacation? If you agree now, we'll move in and start working tomorrow. The monthly salary is 6,500 yuan, plus commissions, and food and accommodation are provided. Isn't this the life you want?"
"So what are you going to do?"
"I'll go too! I can paint anywhere. I'll see if I can rent a house and turn it into a studio. I also like the secluded life. How wonderful!"
After hearing this, Deng Hui was really moved. She asked Jian Feng to reply to Xia Wu. Xia Wu sent her an employment notice and asked her when she could start work.
Deng Hui took a look around the house. If she moved everything, it would take at least a week, right?
A week later, the company had its own dedicated accountant.
Xia Wu was quite satisfied with the forum's recruitment. She had known that there were many hidden talents in the fan group, but she did not expect to find such a treasure accountant.
Xia Wu closed the post after she recruited people. Many people asked her when she would recruit again and whether she needed people in a certain industry. Xia Wu was amused and confused by this. She thought that her small temple had no merit and was almost becoming so popular. Why did she need so many great gods?
I can only politely decline this offer.
Xigua sold links online and sold thousands of orders on the first day.
Xia Wu has more than fifty employees under her. Thinking that the company is starting to make money, she wants to hire more people, otherwise these fifty-seven employees will be busy every day.
I have to cultivate the fields, pick vegetables and watermelons, pack them and make steamed buns. I am so tired.
Xia Wu was recruiting people in the village this time. Yang Guofeng sent a notice in the village group, asking if anyone wanted to come back to work. Many villagers in Yanggou Village were waiting for this opportunity.
People were recruited the night before, and the next day some of them packed their bedding and boarded the train home. They hadn't even received their wages yet, and they were afraid that if they came back too late they would run out of work.
It's a joke. They work so hard outside and only earn four or five thousand yuan a month, but they can earn four or five thousand yuan by going home to farm, and they also have five insurances and one fund. Such a good thing is hard to find even with a lantern. They will definitely choose to come back.
Seeing the village becoming more and more lively and more and more people coming back, Yang Guofeng was so happy that he didn't know what to say. Every day he counted the villagers returning to the village, and his eyes became a little hot.
Yanggou Village has nearly a hundred households and a permanent population of about five hundred, of which more than three hundred choose to work outside. Most of the people left in the village are elderly, and there are fewer and fewer children.
As a result, this year alone, there are 20 to 30 families who have returned from working in other places. These people are definitely reluctant to leave since they can find jobs right at home.
Seeing that the village was becoming more and more prosperous, Yang Guofeng decided to discuss with the villagers and planned to rebuild the village roads.
The last time their village had a road built was six or seven years ago. The government paid for roads to be built in every household, and all the roads in the village were cement roads. Over time, there were always some bumpy sections, which not only made it inconvenient for the villagers to travel, but now that there are more businesses in the village, it is also inconvenient for outside vehicles to transport goods.
First, the road conditions are too bad, second, the road section is too narrow, and there are no street lights on the roadside. Once night falls, the village becomes dark, making life inconvenient for the villagers.
Building roads and installing lights was an idea Yang Guofeng had long had, but it was not easy to implement.
Now that the villagers have just started to earn money, although building the road is for the benefit of everyone, there will inevitably be some disputes when it comes to paying for it.
Yang Guofeng, the HR manager for Xiawu Company, was responsible for recruiting people from the village. He adhered to the principle of equal opportunity, striving to provide at least one job to every household. He knew the villagers intimately, and while every family had their share of problems, he was able to manage them.
One of the benefits of equal treatment is that every household can have a stable monthly income, making it less difficult to donate money for road repairs and lighting installations.
Yang Guofeng thought for a long time before deciding to call all the villagers to the village committee for a meeting.
He explained the benefits of building roads and lighting, but before he could figure out how to ask for donations, someone asked, "Secretary, just tell us how much you want. Let's all contribute and see if we can raise enough!"
"Exactly! Hurry up! We haven't finished our work yet, and the vegetable garden hasn't been watered thoroughly yet!"
Yang Guofeng was stunned. This was a donation! How could these misers in the village be willing to spend money?
As if she could see Yang Guofeng's disbelief, Qiu Lan smiled and said, "Secretary, we were so poor before that we couldn't bear to donate, but we're not stupid. Building roads and installing lights will benefit our entire village. Once the roads are built and we have lights, we can work at night, and won't everyone earn more? The money we donate will be earned back sooner or later, so why should we be reluctant?"
"Exactly. Look at my two plots of land. I make a lot of money just from selling vegetables!"
Every time outsiders come to visit, they always buy some local specialties from the village to take back. The most purchased items are vegetables. The villagers grow their own vegetables, learning from the ones grown on Yantou Mountain. They don’t use pesticides, but only weed and remove pests manually. It’s a bit tiring, but they can sell for a good price.
Some restaurants in the town would come to their village specifically to buy vegetables. The No. 2 Middle School canteen and Ma's Restaurant would buy vegetables from the village if they couldn't buy enough in the mountains.
In the past, their vegetables would go bad and there wouldn’t be many buyers!
The villagers of Yanggou Village all have a generally accepted idea that their current good life is related to Xia Wu's hilltop. Otherwise, how could they have so many opportunities to make money if they relied on themselves alone?
I can earn money working for Xia Wu, and I can also earn money by farming on my own. Where can I find such a good life?
Yang Guofeng was truly amazed and gave the villagers a thumbs up for their common sense. "Okay, everyone go back and discuss this with your families. Once everything is confirmed, I'll have Mingkai calculate how much it will cost to install lights and roads in the village. We can split the bill when the time comes, and it shouldn't be too expensive."
"Okay, Secretary, if you're paving the road, would you like to hire a designer? You see, there are quite a few people visiting our village. We can't just consider convenience, we have to consider aesthetics as well!"
"Yes, city people love to take photos when they come to visit. If we build our village beautifully, they will all come to visit. Wouldn't we be able to make more money?"
Yang Guofeng didn't even need to tell them, the villagers themselves knew how to attract tourists.
Yang Guofeng was so happy. Where could he find so many good people in his village?
"Don't worry, please! Isn't Designer Ma, who designed Xiao Wu's B&B, still here? I'll go ask him for advice tomorrow!"
"That's great! I think the B&B he designed is so beautiful. When I save enough money in the future, I'll ask him to design my own house and then build a new one!"
"Haha, if you build one, I'll build one too. Let's both build new houses and make our homes beautiful!"
"It's almost there. I can save money quickly. Look at Qiu Lan. She's so capable of taking care of two kids by herself. Last month she earned 8,300 yuan in salary. That means she'll have 100,000 yuan this year. I guess she'll even be able to build a new house next year!"
"Uncle Wu, you're still blaming me. If you and Auntie work together, won't you earn more? Save more so that Xiaole can get married and you can have a grandson!"
The villagers laughed happily as they imagined a bright future.
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