Poverty Alleviation C29

Chapter 29

Jiang Siyuan and Fang Chen had just finished taking photos and videos of the kids planting flowers when two teachers approached them, politely asking if they could take a look at their work.

Coincidentally, Jiang Siyuan and Fang Chen were also worried that their footage might not meet the school’s labor class assignment requirements. Seeing the teachers’ interest, they quickly opened the camera to review the shots, taking the opportunity to ask for guidance.

The two teachers chuckled sheepishly.

To be honest, their own photography skills weren’t great. When taking selfies, they could still rely on beauty filters and automatic touch-ups.

But if they had to shoot and edit photos like professional photographers?

Sorry, we simply can’t do it! o(╥﹏╥)o

Opening Jiang Siyuan’s Canon camera, the two teachers scrolled through the pictures, getting more excited as they looked!

Even though they weren’t professional photographers, they could still tell at a glance whether a photo was good or not, okay?

Jiang Siyuan had taken at least four different angles for each child—close-ups of them working earnestly, shots of them using farming tools, their joyful smiles after planting the flower seeds, and warm moments of them conversing with their classmates…

The angles were a bit repetitive, but these were exactly the materials they needed for the school’s media posts and short videos!

“These are amazing!”

“Amazing? This is beyond amazing! I think we could even submit these to the education bureau’s official WeChat account.”

“Mr. Jiang, after the event, could you send us these photos?”

Jiang Siyuan grinned. “Of course! This is one of the value-added services of our Houzhai Village labor practice program. Any qualifying group can apply for it free of charge. Oh, by the way, you might want to check out our mini-program and WeChat official account—we regularly update them with our latest package offerings.”

Just like that, Jiang Siyuan discreetly pulled in a few new followers for their newly registered account.

Meanwhile, Fang Chen’s videos turned out to be on par with the ones their school usually paid professional photographers to take during events.

After a bit of questioning, they found out that before coming to work in Houzhai Village, these two had struggled to find jobs. To make ends meet, they had partnered as freelancers for a wedding photography company—one specialized in photos, the other in videos. They had done wedding shoots for quite some time…

No wonder!

If they could satisfy even the pickiest brides, their skills couldn’t possibly be bad.

Thinking about it that way, the Houzhai Village study tour package was actually quite a bargain~

After all, it was only 100 yuan per student, which covered lunch and two to three labor experience classes. Just the photography and videography service alone was worth it—wedding photographers usually charged per head, and these two alone would cost over a thousand yuan in booking fees.

Realizing this, a few teachers secretly decided that once they got back, they would make sure to praise Houzhai Village’s labor class study program in front of the school administrators.

If they could get future labor practice classes held in Houzhai Village, it wouldn’t just be the teachers who’d benefit—parents would also have their hands freed, wouldn’t they?

At noon, the village had prepared boxed lunches with three dishes and a soup: braised chicken with dried string beans, pork belly with kelp, and spicy sour shredded potatoes, accompanied by a small bok choy and egg soup.

There were also a few homemade side dishes—sweet and sour shallots, spicy pickled radish strips, minced pork with pickled long beans, pickled ginger with chili, and sweet and sour wild vegetables… Surprisingly, the visitors weren’t that interested in the pre-packed meals and were far more drawn to these homemade pickled side dishes.

Meanwhile, in the program’s official livestream—

“Ahhh, these pickled dishes look so good!”

“Mr. Wei, are you there? If you are, say something—are these pickled snacks for sale?”

“Forget it, if Mr. Wei doesn’t answer, that means they are for sale—hurry up and put them in the shopping cart!”

“Wuwuwu~ As a single dog, I have zero interest in elementary school labor classes—I just want to try those pickled dishes.”

Wei Sheng had never expected this.

He had spent so much time carefully planning the livestream, revising the script eight times!

In the end, the viewers weren’t the least bit interested in their meticulously designed study tour package. Instead, they were all crying out to buy Houzhai Village’s homemade pickled dishes?!

Wait a minute!

Hadn’t the two-child policy been in place for a few years now? Weren’t most families supposed to have two kids on average?

Logically speaking, their labor class study tour package should have a huge market, especially considering how affordable it was!

So why was everyone only focused on the pickled dishes?

Did none of them have kids?!

Feeling utterly betrayed, Mr. Wei frantically tried to rally fans in the livestream, urging parents with young children to check out their study tour package.

Unexpectedly, the viewers clapped back without mercy.

“Mr. Wei, how do you have the nerve to diss us for not having kids?”

“Exactly! You’re still a single dog yourself—at least I have an ex.”

“I’ve had three exes already, and I’ve completely given up. No marriage, no kids, a lifetime of happiness!”

“Just got divorced—thank goodness I don’t have kids. Not planning to remarry or have any, either. I can barely figure out my own life, why bring a kid into this mess?”

The barrage of comments was filled with people who feared marriage and parenthood.

Thankfully, a few moms in the audience showed interest in the Houzhai Village study tour package. After the livestream ended, Wei Sheng managed to sell over a hundred experience passes—a pretty decent opening sale.

Wiping the sweat from his forehead, Wei Sheng pulled the village elder aside.

“Can we mass-produce these pickled dishes?” he asked.

“Well… We’ve never grown vegetables specifically for pickling,” Hou Tianbao hesitated.

If pickled vegetables could make money, that would certainly be great.

But the problem was that in the mountains, land was scarce. Farmers needed to grow grains and regular vegetables—who would specifically plant crops just for pickled vegetables?

“Not necessarily,” Wei Sheng countered. “Uncle Tianbao, let’s do the math. If you plant wheat, the net profit per mu of land per year is around 500 yuan, right? Now, if we switch to radishes, with an estimated yield of 5,000 jin per mu, that’s not too much, is it?”

“Not at all!”

“From 5,000 jin of fresh radishes, after processing them into spicy dried radish, factoring in loss and shrinkage, we’d get around 2,000 jin of dried radish. Based on the current market price of dried radish, let me calculate… Even at a wholesale price of 5 yuan per jin, that’s 10,000 yuan in revenue.”

“Uncle Tianbao, what’s the approximate cost per mu for growing radishes in our village?”

Hou Tianbao pondered for a moment and provided some numbers:

“The land belongs to the villagers, so no rent. Labor isn’t counted either. Fertilizer costs about 300 yuan per mu, seeds 100 yuan, pesticides another 100 yuan—so the total cost is around 500 yuan per mu… Wait a minute! Xiao Wei, based on your calculations, switching from wheat to radishes, we’d be making at least 7,000 to 8,000 yuan per mu?”

The more Hou Tianbao calculated, the more excited he became.

He almost wanted to rush home immediately and replace all his wheat seedlings with radishes!

Unfortunately, it was already past the ideal planting season for radishes. Even if they planted them now, they wouldn’t grow properly.

Village Chief Hou stomped his feet in frustration.

At first, Wei Sheng also found it a pity. If Houzhai Village could plant radishes or other crops for pickled vegetables on a large scale, they could take advantage of the online trend and turn this into a thriving business.

Wait!

“Uncle Tianbao, who says we have to use our own homegrown vegetables for pickling?”

Wei Sheng thoughtfully stroked his chin.

Hou Tianbao immediately sprang up like a carp flip, as if he had springs in his feet, almost bouncing into the air!

“That’s right! I know a few villages nearby that grow vegetables. We actually considered doing the same, but they said it’s best to be near the main road for easier sales, so we didn’t join them.”

“I heard that this year, restaurant businesses in the city aren’t doing well, so vegetables over there aren’t selling either! Heh heh~”

Hou Tianbao and Wei Sheng exchanged glances, grinning like two cunning foxes.

“What? Wait! You plan to buy vegetables from nearby towns and turn them into pickled farm vegetables?” Director Wang Qun was momentarily dazed after hearing Wei Sheng’s plan.

Since when did his peaceful, slow-paced rural variety show turn into a business startup documentary?

Aaaaaah! This wasn’t the aesthetic he wanted!

“Director Wang? Paw Patrol?” Wei Sheng waved his hand vigorously in front of Wang Qun’s face.

“Huh? Oh—helping farmers is a good thing. Let me have the production team plan it out and see if we can add a side mission.”

Wang Qun left in a daze.

So… should they go ahead with it or not?

“Of course, we should!”

“Not only should we do it, but we should go big! Contact the local government and turn this into a major rural assistance initiative!” The old station director immediately gave Wang Qun his orders.

“With your approval, I feel relieved.” Wang Qun hesitated for a moment before deciding to complain a little about Pu Xiangdong. “Actually, we all want to continue this public service project, but Director Pu… his view is that our J Province TV should focus more on content that appeals to young audiences. He thinks producing too many rural-themed shows makes our variety programs seem less fashionable.”

There was a brief silence on the other end of the call.

Just when Wang Qun started to worry that he had said too much, the old station director finally sighed meaningfully—

“Xiao Wang, have you read Dream of the Red Chamber? There’s a saying in it: ‘The higher you climb, the harder you fall.’ The higher your position, the more cautious you must be. Otherwise, the higher you stand now, the more painful it will be when you fall!”

“Don’t worry about what the higher-ups are doing. Focus on your work, keep a steady course, and your rewards will come in time.”

Wang Qun’s heart stirred.

The old station director’s words…

No matter what, with the old station director’s support, Wang Qun finally felt he could move forward with confidence.

Taking advantage of their show’s rising popularity, Wang Qun and Wang Yang, along with Wei Sheng and the village chief, went straight to the county’s publicity department. Just like the old station director said—if they were going to do it, they should do it properly and make a big impact!

Sometimes, working within the system was like this—the more hesitant and cautious you were, the easier it was for others to control you.

On the other hand, if you acted boldly and publicly, waving the banner of rural revitalization, no one would dare to challenge you.

The county’s publicity officials were overjoyed when they heard that they wanted to help local farmers sell excess vegetables!

They had been struggling with this problem for a while.

Encouraging farmers to consolidate land and scale up organic vegetable production was originally the county’s initiative. Some farmers lacked startup capital, so the county even helped arrange small business loans through local credit cooperatives.

But now, with the downturn in the overall market, the restaurant and food delivery industries were suffering, and their vegetable farms were hit hard as well.

A huge surplus of vegetables was piling up. Previously, they could still sell at a discount, but now, even wholesale buyers weren’t coming anymore. So many vegetables—who were they supposed to sell them to?

Originally, the county planned to launch a campaign encouraging local residents to buy homegrown vegetables to help farmers sell off their surplus. If the vegetables were left to rot in the fields, farmers wouldn’t be able to repay their loans from the credit cooperative, and many would likely face immediate bankruptcy.

Unexpectedly, just as things seemed bleak, a sudden turn of events brought hope—J Province TV, which was currently filming a show in their county, had voluntarily extended a helping hand!

“Minister Han, here’s the situation. You’re probably aware of Houzhai Village’s economic condition—it’s likely even poorer than the towns struggling with vegetable sales. So, when it comes to purchasing prices, we may need the suppliers to offer an even more favorable rate.”

Since Hou Tianbao was just a subordinate within the publicity department’s hierarchy, he couldn’t say such things outright, so Wei Sheng, as an “outsider,” stepped in to speak on his behalf.

“Don’t worry about that. Given the current situation, just being able to sell the vegetables is already a relief for the farmers—pricing is negotiable,” Minister Han reassured them.

He then inquired about the quantity they needed. At this point, he almost wanted to keep Wei Sheng and his team in the county permanently, fearing that such a valuable client might slip away.

“Then we’ll have to trouble you, Minister Han,” Wang Qun said, also satisfied with the outcome.

With official backing from the county, their program could now confidently promote the initiative as a legitimate public welfare campaign for farmers.

However, at that moment, none of them realized that their well-intentioned efforts to help local farmers sell their surplus vegetables would end up dragging them into a storm of trouble…

(End of Chapter)