Chapter 148 Sending You Jasmine
"Mom, are you guys here yet? How are you feeling? Are you a liar?"
After the welcome dinner, I chatted with everyone in the small courtyard by the well. It was not until eight or nine o'clock that people slowly dispersed.
Deng Hui and Jian Feng went upstairs to rest. The yard was not locked, so they could lock the door.
After turning on the light in the room, Jian Feng walked to the balcony and prepared to close the curtains. Someone downstairs waved to him and said, "We're leaving first!"
Jian Feng recognized the young man as Qi Wei and said, "Okay, go back and get some rest!"
Even after the curtains were drawn, the smile on Jian Feng's face had not faded.
Deng Hui took out her cell phone and found that her daughter had sent her many messages and called her, but she didn't see any of them because she didn't turn on the sound.
Ever since she got sick, Deng Hui hated the message notification sound. She called back, and her daughter answered immediately. She anxiously complained, "Mom, why are you taking so long to answer the phone? I was so worried! I thought you were being scammed!"
Deng Hui couldn't fake the relaxed smile on her face. She sat on a rattan chair by the balcony, crossed her legs, and said, "Don't worry, your father and I are all fine. We haven't been cheated. We've already signed the employment contract today, and we'll officially start work tomorrow."
Jian Manxue asked doubtfully, "So fast?"
"Yeah, this isn't one of those high-rise buildings with cubicles and offices in the city. It's more like a farm stay, but on a much larger scale. The people are all local villagers, so welcoming. We arrived in the afternoon, and they even had a welcome dinner for us in the evening. They cooked all kinds of delicious food, all grown right here in the mountains. Let me tell you, the food here is absolutely delicious, light and sweet, without any unnecessary seasonings, just delicious."
"There are also fruits grown by ourselves. I tried several of them and they were all delicious. Your father and I couldn't help but eat a lot," Deng Hui said while smacking her lips, as if she was savoring the taste.
Jian Manxue had watched Xia Wu's videos, and the comments below all said that the fruits grown in Taoyuan Villa were delicious. She had never eaten them, so she was a little skeptical and thought her mother was lying to her. "Then why don't you take some pictures and show them to me?"
"I'm chatting with people, I don't have time to take pictures."
"I don't care. You and my dad just can't remember that you have a daughter, humph!"
Jian Feng closed the doors and windows and said cheerfully, "It's so quiet here. It's past eight o'clock, and the group of people downstairs in our community are still doing square dancing. The music is so loud that it's deafening. Here you can only hear the chirping of insects. It's great. Come over and look at the sky outside."
Deng Hui walked over, switched the camera, and pointed it at the dark mountains outside. "Did you see that? Your dad and I live in the mountains. Our company has a self-built house on the mountain. The first floor is a workshop with a large kitchen where we can cook and steam buns. There's a long porch outside. The elderly people in the village who work in the mountains rest there when they're tired. Oh! Old Jian, look how beautiful the stars are today!"
The deep blue night sky was dotted with stars. The two stood side by side. Jian Feng put his arm around his wife's shoulders, lost in the beauty of the scene. "Yes, it's really beautiful. Where can you see a starry sky like this in the city?"
Due to various types of light pollution in the city, there is not much difference between day and night, and it is common for people to have a reversed day and night schedule.
But in Yanggou Village, the villagers start yawning at seven or eight o'clock, as if they still adhere to the ancient habit of working from sunrise to sunset.
Life suddenly slowed down.
Deng Hui felt a long-lost sense of relaxation here.
"Thank you for sending me your resume, Jane. I feel very comfortable here."
"As long as you like staying here, I like it too." Although Jian Feng was just a family member who came with Deng Hui for work, the villagers showed no disdain for him and welcomed him warmly. Upon learning that he was a painter, Xia Wu worried that he wouldn't be able to adapt to the chaotic environment of the small courtyard by the well, so she gave him a key to the small mountain cottage.
There is a flower field on the mountain. The jasmine seedlings were planted before the flowering season. Now they have grown buds and are beginning to bloom. There is a small wooden house next to the flower field, with some sundries such as picking baskets next to it, and it can also be used for living.
Jian Feng hasn't been there to see it yet, but just hearing about it makes him very excited.
The two of them were busy chatting about their wonderful life and completely forgot about their daughter on the other end of the video. Jian Manxue couldn't get a word in and was sulking with a pout.
"Dad! Mom! Please pay attention to me! Am I still your daughter?"
Deng Hui asked, "Aren't you guys going to night study? Why aren't you in the classroom?"
There is no need to disturb her while she is in class.
"I'm a college student now, so how can I have so many night self-study sessions? I don't have classes tonight, so my roommate and I went for a walk around the playground and came back. I wanted to buy some fruit, but the fruit supermarket on campus is a rip-off! I haven't eaten fruit in several days~"
As soon as her daughter raised her bottom, Deng Hui knew what she was going to poop. She said helplessly, "I'll send you some fruit tomorrow, and some of the buffalo milk steamed buns here. You and your roommates can share them. There's no refrigerator in the dorm, so I'll send you less."
"Mommy! You're so nice!"
“Thank you, Auntie!”
Deng Hui didn't think about telling everyone in the mountain, so she simply bought some fruits and buffalo milk steamed buns from an online link and sent them to her daughter's school.
The village is building a road, but Xia Wu still refuses outsiders from visiting Yantou Mountain, at least until the road is completed.
The jasmine flowers on the mountain are blooming one after another and need to be picked by hand. Xia Wu has planted several acres of jasmine flowers. When they bloom, the unique fragrance of jasmine can spread to the entire mountain.
Jasmine flowers can only be picked in the afternoon, and the best picking period is from 3pm to 7pm.
Originally, Xia Wu wanted to open the mountain to tourists to experience picking jasmine, but due to road construction, he had to give up temporarily. The task of picking jasmine flowers fell on the villagers of Yanggou Village again.
Fortunately, many villagers returned to their hometowns during this period, and the company recruited some new employees, so the staff is sufficient for the time being.
It is summer now, and in addition to the existing work in the mountains, there are many new tasks to do every day. For example, when cultivating melons and vegetable gardens, you need to clear the vines, turn the soil, and then plant other crops. It would be a good time to plant crops such as pumpkins, winter melons, and sweet potatoes. The area for melon planting is not large, so if you want to change to planting autumn crops, you will definitely have to open up new land.
The land reclamation on the mountain has never stopped, and every piece of land reclaimed has to be put into use.
So after the jasmine blossomed, Xia Wu had to allocate people to pick the flowers.
Jasmine flowers can be dried to make jasmine tea, or jasmine essential oil. Xia Wu previously wanted to preserve the scent of lotus flowers. She searched for many methods of making essential oils, but none of them succeeded in making lotus essential oil. The smell would be distorted, and it would no longer smell like lotus.
Xia Wu had no experience and could only grope her way through it, but she succeeded in extracting jasmine essential oil using the same method as lotus essential oil.
Jasmine flowers can also be used to make perfume. First, dry the jasmine flowers, then soak them in alcohol, filter out the residue, and then dilute them with purified water.
This is the simplest plant soaking method, suitable for novice DIY.
But if you want a better quality perfume, the essential oil infusion method is better.
You can change the proportions according to the different needs of top notes, middle notes and base notes to make the perfume achieve the effect you want.
It was too time-consuming to deal with essential oils and perfumes, so Xia Wu directly threw this task to Ji Yunzhou. In addition to rehabilitation training, he spent a lot of time every day in the laboratory next to the flower field, trying his best to make a perfume that would satisfy Xia Wu.
If Xia Meng wanted to pick flowers, she could not escape the fate of being drafted into the army. Xia Wu drove her away but she refused to leave, so he had no choice but to make her work.
Xia Meng is ambitious and says, "Just do it!"
Wearing the cotton long-sleeved trousers made for her by Liu Guizhen and the straw hat woven for her by Yang Guojun, she was able to patiently stay in the mountains for an entire afternoon.
She didn't work alone. She called all the children in the village together. As long as they worked, she would treat them to meals and buy them snacks. All the children in the village were under her command. She could come when she called and go when she dismissed them.
The junior high school in the town is about to have summer vacation. Yang Mingyue wants to take advantage of this summer vacation to earn some pocket money. She saw someone selling jasmine bracelets on the Internet, and she thought about doing business of jasmine bracelets herself, so she begged her mother to buy a lot of transparent ropes from the Internet.
The flowers for making jasmine bracelets are best half-open, with full and beautiful shapes. Use a fine needle to pass through the flower stems and string the flowers together one by one. They should not be too scattered. Measure the thickness of your wrist, string enough flowers together, and the bracelet is ready.
The jasmine bracelet with white color and hint of green is very beautiful and smells good. After Yang Mingyue made it, she gave it to Xia Wu first.
"Sister, it looks so good on you!"
Xia Wu swung the jasmine flower necklace on her wrist and couldn't help but move closer to sniff it. "Your work is beautiful. How much are you going to sell it for?"
Yang Mingyue thought for a moment and said, "The big ones are eight yuan, and the small ones are five yuan."
A pound of fresh jasmine flowers costs 25 yuan. A pound of jasmine flowers can make at least five large bunches. After deducting the negligible cost of materials, Yang Mingyue can earn 15 yuan from a pound of jasmine flowers.
She had already decided on a place to sell the jasmine flower strings, which was right at the entrance of Haotang Village.
The weather is hot now and summer vacation is coming. Many people come here to play in the water, so Yang Mingyue’s bracelets will have no trouble selling.
After listening to her entrepreneurial ideas, Xia Wu was very encouraging and even gave her some benefits. Yang Mingyue picked jasmine flowers from the mountain herself for only fifteen yuan per pound.
In this way, she can earn twenty-five yuan for making one pound of jasmine bracelets.
Yang Mingyue was so happy that she called her younger brother, Yang Ping, and Yang An to join her entrepreneurial team. They divided the work and cooperated to pick flowers in the hot sun at noon. After picking them, they made jasmine bracelets together, put them in rattan baskets, and took them to the intersection of Haotang Village and Yanggou Village to sell them.
"Big sister, Yang Ping, Yang An, and Yang Mingyuan have all run off with Yang Mingyue. Should we go call them?"
Before Yang Mingyue had her summer vacation, these three kids were always following Xia Meng around.
As a result, as soon as Yang Mingyue came back, the younger brother ran away.
Xia Meng was determined to call them back, but when the younger brother ran to call them, he was rejected.
"They didn't come back because they said they wanted to make money with Yang Mingyue."
Xia Meng was a little annoyed, "What money do you make? Just help me pick flowers and I'll buy you money. Go tell them that picking flowers can also make money."
The younger brother ran over to pass on the message again, this time with more persuasion, "Follow the big sister, and you can eat Uncle Yang's barbecue every day."
Yang Mingyue politely declined: "We can earn our own money and eat."
The younger brother came back and told Xia Meng, "They want to make money on their own and won't come back."
Xia Meng doesn't like being rejected and likes being praised. When she learned that Yang Mingyue was only two years younger than her, her competitive spirit arose again.
He didn't even pick the flowers and ran to see Yang Mingyue.
As a result, Xia Wu was seen squatting in front of Yang Mingyue's stall buying a jasmine bracelet.
"I'm here to support your business. Give me two large bracelets. Please pick good ones for me." Ji Yunzhou was standing next to Xia Wu, looking at Xia Wu with a smile on his face.
Yang Mingyue was a little embarrassed, "Sister, I don't want your money, I'll give it to you!"
"I have some money, so you don't have to pay me," Xia Wu stood up and looked around. There were many people coming and going, but not many people came to buy. The main reason was that Yang Mingyue's stall was too inconspicuous.
"Put your stall higher so that if someone passes by, you can open your mouth and shout. The worst thing about business is silent business. I wish you a prosperous business, little boss."
Xia Wu wore a jasmine bracelet on her own hand and another on Ji Yunzhou's hand. The two held hands and the bracelets touched each other, smelling rich.
Xia Wu waved goodbye and left. Xia Meng, who was watching this scene from a distance, was envious. Damn it, she was her own sister, but her attitude towards her was not as good as towards Yang Mingyue.
However, Xia Meng did not dare to cause trouble. This was not her small circle. If Xia Wu knew about it, she would definitely be beaten badly.
Yang Mingyue followed Xia Wu's advice, brought two stools from home, raised the stall, and started shouting. Finally, the business started to open up and people came to buy bracelets.
Especially for young couples, as soon as the girl stands in front of the stall, looks up at her boyfriend, waves her hands and acts coquettishly, someone will buy not only eight yuan, but even eighty-one skewers will be sold.
A bunch of rich jasmine for eight yuan is totally worth it. It looks good on your hands and smells nice. You can go home to dry it, put it in a sachet, and keep it in the closet for continued use.
Yangmei sells iced drinks not far away. Her business is very good. There are people coming to buy iced drinks every day. When she has free time, she even comes over to buy a string of jasmine flowers to wear on her hands.
I give you jasmine, and hope you won’t leave.
The special meaning of jasmine also made Yang Mingyue's stall business increasingly popular.
Xia Meng folded her arms and looked for a long time, then turned and left.
"Big sister, what should we do? Should we call them back?"
The younger brother followed behind and asked.
Xia Meng scratched her head, "Why ask them to do anything? Let's do it ourselves!"
She suddenly wanted to make money too.
What's the point of relying solely on the family's money to support her younger brother? She also wants to see Xia Wu's gentle attitude towards her, and she must make Xia Wu change his opinion of her!
Xia Meng decided to do something big!
Xia Wu has something to worry about recently.
Before, she negotiated with Chef Zhang about the supply of vegetables, and provided hundreds of kilograms of vegetables to the town’s No. 1 Middle School every day. Later, the owners of other counters at the No. 1 Middle School also found Xia Wu and bought vegetables from her to cook for the students.
Xia Wu agreed.
But now the town middle school is on vacation and the students have gone home, so the middle school does not need to purchase vegetables for at least two months.
All of a sudden, the village had a shortage of several hundred kilograms of vegetables a day.
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