Chapter 148

“Xiaomange Local Cuisine Restaurant” Opens to Massive Popularity!

At first, most of the people coming to check in at the restaurant were Wei Sheng’s fans. Some had stumbled upon the video online and heard that all the ingredients used in the restaurant came from impoverished mountain villages in Langshan. After all, food is food no matter where you eat it, right? Dining at this rustic restaurant not only filled their bellies but also helped support poverty alleviation efforts in Langshan. That idea struck a chord, and soon many local netizens came by to show their support.

But after just one visit, customers were hooked. The restaurant’s freshly made Langshan-style country dishes, along with its uniquely flavored mugwort rice cakes, glutinous rice meatballs, and crispy rice dumplings, had foodies coming back for more. They were so obsessed that some wished they could eat there three times a day!

Less than half a month after opening, Lang Caihua could no longer keep up with the demand for pastries on her own. Tang Siyou immediately arranged for two assistants to help her out. Even so, the daily supply of pastries still couldn’t meet the overwhelming demand.

And who could blame them? The meatballs and mugwort rice cakes weren’t just delicious in the restaurant. Many customers would order extra to take home. Reheated in a steamer the next day, they were still just as tasty. Plus, the fillings were made using Lang Caihua’s own secret recipe—completely different from anything sold online. You couldn’t find these flavors anywhere else. Almost every customer who dined in would grab a few extra portions to go before leaving.

One particularly over-the-top moment came when an elderly regular placed an order for two hundred glutinous rice meatballs and mugwort rice cakes in one go. He even asked if they could deliver. When Tang Siyou asked why, she found out the old man was celebrating his birthday. He thought the desserts his family had ordered were too bland and insisted on replacing them with the restaurant’s pastries.

If the dine-in scene was wild, the online orders were even crazier. The restaurant had already built a loyal fanbase. Some customers would place weekly bulk orders online, freeze them at home, and simply steam them when ready to eat—convenient and delicious.

Lang Caihua, along with her two apprentices, was working her fingers to the bone just to keep up with the daily pastry demand.

At the end of the month, when manager Tang Siyou did the books, was stunned to find that the sales from the specialty pastries alone accounted for a full third of the restaurant’s total monthly revenue.

Even Wei Sheng took notice.

This kind of performance definitely deserved a hefty reward!

So, when payday rolled around on the 10th of the following month, Lang Caihua’s salary plus bonuses easily surpassed that of manager Tang Siyou. Her base salary was 5,500 yuan, with an 800 yuan attendance bonus and a 2,000 yuan innovation award. But the real kicker was the sales commission. Thanks to the pastries flying off the shelves, Lang Caihua earned over 20,000 yuan in commission alone last month!

Earning this much working for someone else?

Lang Caihua stared at the salary notification on her phone, barely able to believe her eyes.

In her memory, the wealthiest person in town was the owner of the small supermarket. She’d heard that during the New Year season, their family could make over 30,000 yuan in a single month—about the same as what many mountain households earned in an entire year.

But now, she had made 30,000 yuan in just one month, all by herself!

“Haha, that’s nothing! Caihua, keep up the good work. Follow our Boss Wei, and you’ll never have to worry about food or money for the rest of your life,” Tang Siyou said with a grin. Then he glanced around, lowered his voice, and whispered conspiratorially, “You guys probably don’t know this, but I heard that a bigshot from the provincial capital hired a master to read Boss Wei’s fortune. Guess what the master said?”

“What did he say?” Lang Caihua’s heart raced as she looked at Tang Siyou in disbelief.

“The master said Boss Wei is the God of Wealth descended from the heavens. Everything he touches turns to gold!”

Lang Caihua gasped.

No wonder!

She thought back to her old life, waking up at 3 a.m. to steam mugwort rice cakes, carrying them down the mountain to sell at the market, and not getting back until almost noon. If she made 100 yuan in a day, she was thrilled.

But now? The restaurant provided room and board. She didn’t have to worry about a thing. She could sleep in until 7 a.m., grab a bite to eat outside, and be at the restaurant by 8 to start making pastries. After the lunchtime rush, she could go home and nap for three hours.

She’d return to work at 4:30 p.m., finish up by 10 p.m., and head back to sleep.

To her, this kind of schedule was already a dream job, especially with a monthly salary of over 5,000 yuan and no living expenses.

But who would’ve thought Wei Sheng would pay her 30,000 yuan in a single month?

Tang Siyou just smiled, saying nothing.

Thirty thousand? That was just the beginning. From what Wei Sheng had said, he and Jiang Xiaoman were planning to mobilize the people of Langshan to make use of idle hillsides and mountain land to grow mugwort on a large scale.

Every part of the mugwort plant was valuable. The tender leaves could be harvested as food to make mugwort rice cakes. The mature leaves could be dried and used for herbal baths or made into moxa sticks for moxibustion therapy.

The roots could be used in soups or medicine, helping to dispel cold and dampness, warm the meridians, and nourish the blood. In Tang Siyou’s hometown, nearly every household grew a small patch of mugwort in their yards. In summer, it repelled mosquitoes. If someone caught a cold and the symptoms weren’t too severe, they rarely went to the hospital. They’d boil dried mugwort from the previous year for a bath, follow it with a moxibustion session, get a good night’s sleep, and usually feel much better the next day.

According to Jiang Xiaoman, many areas in Langshan had even more rugged terrain than Nine-Bend Slope. Planting fruit trees there would be too costly due to transportation. After some discussion, the two decided to start by partnering with two villages to grow mugwort.

This way, the fresh mugwort leaves could be used to supply the restaurant for rice cake production. The older leaves wouldn’t go to waste either—they could be dried and processed into herbal bath packs or moxa sticks, creating new income streams for local families.

Moreover, Tang Siyou had heard from Wei Sheng that with how popular the mugwort rice cakes were selling, once the mugwort supply increased in a couple of years, they might even open a food processing factory dedicated to producing these kinds of all-natural, healthy snacks. When that time came, Lang Caihua, as the master behind the craft, might even get a share in the company just so Wei Sheng could keep her on board.

So what if she was making 30,000 yuan a month now?

If Wei Sheng really gave Lang Caihua equity in the factory, then this girl’s good days were only just beginning. Tsk, it was a pity his own son wasn’t more promising. If he could marry a daughter-in-law like that, their family would truly be on the rise.

If even Lang Caihua, a pastry chef, was earning over 30,000, then there was no need to mention Jiang Xinfeng, the head chef.

Last month, business at the restaurant was booming. Between his salary, bonuses, and overtime pay, Jiang Xinfeng brought home nearly 50,000 yuan!

When he got the text message confirming the deposit, his heart nearly jumped out of his chest.

Back in the village, when he was secretly learning from the master chefs, his biggest dream had been to learn a dozen or so signature dishes, save up some money, buy his own tools, and start taking on banquet jobs in the countryside. Earning a thousand yuan per event would’ve already been considered a great income.

So when he first agreed to work at Wei Sheng’s restaurant, he hadn’t planned to stay long. His goal was to work for a while, save up a bit of capital, and eventually return home to become a banquet chef.

But who could have imagined that this unassuming little countryside restaurant would be so profitable? Even he, the head chef, was making 50,000 yuan a month! Just think how much Wei Sheng, the owner, must be earning…

Still, no matter how much Wei Sheng was making, Jiang Xinfeng didn’t feel the slightest bit envious. On the contrary, the more Wei Sheng earned, the happier he was!

Jiang Xinfeng had worked under other master chefs before. He knew that many bosses, no matter how much they made, were stingy with their staff’s pay. It made sense—after all, you weren’t the only one who could cook. Even head chefs at five-star hotels might not make 50,000 a month. So what made a guy like him, who’d never even been to culinary school, think he deserved that kind of salary?

Jiang Xinfeng didn’t know what Wei Sheng was thinking. He only knew that this boss was a decent man. Working for him meant you’d never go hungry.

So what was there to hesitate about? Fifty thousand a month meant six hundred thousand a year! If he was careful with his spending, he could build a three-story house back home in just one year… Wait a minute!

Then he remembered that ridiculous matrilocal marriage custom back in Langshan, and how he’d been kicked out by his “wife.” Jiang Xinfeng immediately gave up on the idea of going back home to build a house.

He couldn’t go back!

He needed to take advantage of the time he could still earn money, figure out a way to buy a house in the city, and bring his two sons here to study. That way, they could go to college, earn their own money, and find wives on their own terms—never again ending up like their father, forced into a matrilocal marriage because he couldn’t afford a dowry, only to be thrown out for not producing a daughter…

Jiang Xinfeng hadn’t had much schooling.

He didn’t really understand what “changing your fate” meant. But at that moment, the idea suddenly took root in his mind. He thought that if he stuck with Wei Sheng and worked hard, maybe by next year, he could bring his two sons to the city for school.

While Tang Siyou and the staff were working their hearts out to make money for Wei Sheng, Wei Sheng himself had already returned to Houzhai Village with Wang Qun and the others.

In less than two years, Houzhai Village had changed dramatically from the first time Wei Sheng had visited.

The village road that had been widened before seemed to have been expanded again. It was now nearly as wide as a county road, enough for two large trucks to drive side by side.

The once-abandoned land on both sides of the road was now neatly fenced off with beautiful bamboo railings. At the entrance stood a large signboard: Houzhai Village Primary and Secondary School Research and Practice Education Base.

Through the bamboo fences, you could faintly see neatly arranged vegetable plots. Signs stood along the ridges, likely marking the “responsibility fields” rented by schools bringing students here for hands-on labor classes. Ahem… hopefully the kids wouldn’t end up resenting him.

The production crew’s large vehicle drove straight into the village committee courtyard, where Village Chief Hou Tianbao and the village officials were already waiting. The moment Wei Sheng stepped off the vehicle, Hou Tianbao’s eyes welled up with tears. He pushed through the crowd and grabbed Wei Sheng’s hand tightly.

“Teacher Wei! We’ve been waiting for you!”

Wang Qun, following behind: “…”

Great. As the director, he was now completely stripped of dignity.

But then again, considering that Wei Sheng was already in the process of terminating his contract with the TV station, and that apart from their show, only the neighboring “The Wage Earners” program had any hope of keeping this little money magnet, Wang Qun couldn’t help but feel smug.

Good thing he’d always taken a hands-off approach with Wei Sheng during filming, never micromanaging. Otherwise, with that kid’s temper, he would’ve used the contract termination as an excuse to cut ties with them completely. There’s no way he’d be here filming a New Year special during such a lucrative time.

However, what Wang Qun and the rest of the crew hadn’t expected was that the villagers’ enthusiasm for Wei Sheng wasn’t just because he had helped them during the show’s filming. It was because—

“Teacher Wei, it’s a good thing you helped us connect with the J Province Cultural and Creative Industry Park. We’ve already collaborated with them several times now. The teachers over there have been incredibly enthusiastic. They’ve provided us with tons of design ideas for free and even organized enterprise partnerships to support us. Thanks to their help, we were able to launch the ‘Bamboo Charm Cultural Creative Product Exhibition.’ None of us expected it, but that little exhibition ended up bringing in enough orders to cover our entire village’s income for the year!”

“Exactly! And about the mugwort planting you mentioned—those useless, barren hills in our village? We’re planning to plant mugwort all over them. You wouldn’t believe it, but as soon as we started preparing the land, several schools reached out asking us to reserve batches of dried mugwort for them. They plan to buy it and use it to make sachets for the kids during the Dragon Boat Festival.”

As the villagers eagerly crowded around Wei Sheng, all talking at once like they were giving a progress report, the production crew exchanged bewildered glances. Now they finally understood why this guy was so popular in Houzhai Village.

So even after the show wrapped up, he never stopped helping the villagers find a path out of poverty?

(End of chapter)