Chapter 30

Houzhai Village was finally about to launch its selection of homemade pickled vegetables!

As soon as this announcement was made, the comment section of the program’s official account exploded with excitement.

Wei Sheng could only sigh in amazement.

Originally, they had planned to sell an experiential package for labor practice lessons in Houzhai Village. Who would’ve thought that after just one meal, the package barely sold, while a bunch of food lovers cried and begged to buy the simple country-style pickled vegetables that the children ate for lunch?

Thinking about it, it was actually a stroke of luck that Houzhai Village was poor enough that people were unwilling to spend money on store-bought pickles. The homemade salted vegetables they ate daily were all made by their own families, and nearly every household had the skill to make them.

However, since this involved food safety concerns, they couldn’t risk outsourcing the production to individual farmers.

So, Village Chief Hou Tianbao stepped up and rented two vacant farmer’s houses.

The program team then used their connections with the TV station to help the village procure a second-hand vacuum-sealing machine.

Next came hiring workers.

The moment the villagers heard that they could earn 100 yuan a day just for making pickled vegetables, anyone who could still move their legs came running to sign up!

The old village chief drove away a few people known for poor hygiene and persuaded some elderly folks to step aside. The program team only recorded the hiring process without interfering—this was something Wei Sheng had specifically reminded Wang Qun about.

After all, if this business was going to be sustainable, it had to be handled by the village itself. It was like teaching a child to walk—if you kept holding them up and never let them fall a few times, they would never learn to walk on their own.

Starting a business in a rural area was no easy task.

Just look at the neighboring towns where vegetables weren’t selling—was it because they didn’t want to work hard to improve their lives?

Even with low-interest startup loans from the county and farmers willing to put in the effort, their carefully grown, pesticide-free organic vegetables still struggled to sell, even at wholesale prices.

Beyond market conditions, Wei Sheng suspected that too much outside “help” was also part of the problem.

Loans came from others. High-quality seedlings came from others. Even when the vegetables wouldn’t sell, they waited for others to step in.

Over time, the farmers stopped thinking for themselves.

How could you run a business if you constantly relied on others to carry you forward?

Wei Sheng was determined to make the villagers of Houzhai take an active role in their own venture from the very beginning. When difficulties arose, they had to figure things out themselves. The program team could point them in the right direction, but the village had to find its own path.

Sure enough, once the program team made it clear that they wouldn’t interfere with factory operations, the old village chief and other village officials became noticeably more cautious.

They finally started treating this as a serious village-wide endeavor.

The program team left a few people behind to film content with the village officials, while the rest had to return to work at the TV station.

Before leaving, Wei Sheng bought a chicken and a basket of vegetables from a local farmer and personally cooked a meal for his old classmates, Jiang Siyuan and Fang Chen.

At the same time, he forcibly detained them in the kitchen, making them learn how to cook with a traditional wood-burning stove.

“You guys can’t keep mooching meals off Hou Pengfei’s family forever, right? He’s running a factory now. Even if his cafeteria shares meals on workdays, what about during holidays?”

Jiang Siyuan wanted to say they could just eat out in town during the holidays, but then he thought about the mountain roads and fell silent.

Resigned, the two obediently followed Wei Sheng’s lead and learned to cook.

Thankfully, Wei Sheng didn’t make things too hard for them. Knowing that stir-frying over a wood-burning stove would be too difficult for beginners, he started with a simple one-pot braised dish.

First, he chopped the free-range chicken into small pieces, rinsed off the blood, and drained it.

He cut potatoes into chunks, soaked dried mushrooms until soft, then tore them into smaller pieces. Heating oil in a wok, he stir-fried ginger and garlic until fragrant before adding the chicken pieces, searing them until golden brown. Then, he seasoned them with a spoonful of vinegar, two spoonfuls of light soy sauce, one spoonful of dark soy sauce, and three spoonfuls of homemade farmhouse soybean paste, stirring everything well.

“Why aren’t you using the sponsored soybean paste?” Fang Chen asked.

Wei Sheng’s hand froze mid-stir.

Why? Did that even need explaining?

With a chance to eat naturally fermented farmhouse soybean paste, who would willingly settle for mass-produced factory paste?

Are you dumb?

Of course, saying that would be too harsh on their corporate sponsor, so Wei Sheng refused to answer.

He was a professional brand ambassador, okay?

As long as there was a camera rolling, he would absolutely use Li’s Soybean Paste~

After the chicken was evenly coated with sauce, he tossed in the mushrooms and potatoes, stirring everything together. As he cooked, he explained:

“You can adjust the ingredients based on your taste or whatever you have on hand. Carrots, celtuce, zucchini, bottle gourd—they all work well with chicken.”

“You don’t have to stick to this braised style either. If you like curry, you can make a curry version too.”

Once the potatoes and chicken were done, he set them aside and rinsed some rice. He put the rice into a large wood-fired pot with water, letting it cook until most of the water was absorbed. Then, he uncovered the lid and poured in the braised chicken and potatoes along with their sauce.

“Now, you can use a spatula to spread the chicken and potatoes evenly over the rice. If you want crispy, golden rice crust at the bottom, drizzle a ring of soybean oil along the edges of the pot.”

As he spoke, Wei Sheng lifted a small oil jug and poured a bit of oil around the edges. The pot instantly sizzled with a mouthwatering aroma.

The rich fragrance of chicken, mushrooms, and rice filled the air, making Jiang Siyuan and Fang Chen swallow hungrily.

Before long, the one-pot braised chicken and rice was ready.

When Wei Sheng lifted the lid, the combined scents of tender chicken, earthy mushrooms, and steaming rice wafted out, along with the irresistible crispy aroma of the golden-brown rice crust.

The three of them, now starving, eagerly grabbed their stainless steel bowls, each piling on a generous serving of braised rice, topped with a thick, crunchy, golden piece of rice crust.

Wei Sheng had already moved the small dining table directly to the firepit. On the table, there was a plate of homemade pickled vegetables, a plate of steamed dried loach and small dried fish, and a bowl of freshly made seaweed and egg drop soup.

The three of them sat around the warm firepit, happily digging into their big bowls of food.

The free-range chicken raised by the villagers was incredibly flavorful!

Not to mention the addition of wild mountain mushrooms—dried wild mushrooms had an even richer taste than fresh ones. The potatoes were soft, fragrant, and slightly sweet.

The mountainous terrain of Houzhai Village was particularly suited for growing potatoes. Every time Wei Sheng came here, he would buy a large sack of locally grown red-skinned potatoes from the villagers to take home. Stir-fried shredded potatoes, mashed potatoes, or stewed potatoes—everything tasted great.

His mother had been on a strict diet lately and sometimes even steamed potatoes to eat as a staple food.

The day after Wei Sheng and his friends left, Village Chief Hou Tianbao received a notice from the county, asking their village to send representatives to attend a meeting.

The county had also invited several vegetable farmers who were struggling to sell their produce.

Hou Tianbao knew this meant they were going to discuss pricing and sign contracts.

Feeling both nervous and secretly a little proud, Hou Tianbao took Jiang Siyuan, Fang Chen, and the village accountant with him to the county.

Thinking back to the past, it was always other townships looking down on their impoverished village. But now? Now it was their turn to extend a helping hand to these wealthier townships… Heh! Just thinking about it made Hou Tianbao feel smug.

No, wait! He couldn’t be too smug. These farmers had worked hard to grow their vegetables, and now they couldn’t sell them. They must be feeling awful. How could he laugh at them in this situation?

Hou Tianbao secretly pinched his thigh and forced himself to put on a pained expression.

However, what he hadn’t expected at all was that after both parties sat down, the farmers indeed expressed their gratitude to them—only to follow it up with a demand that left him utterly speechless:

“Brother Hou, look, the TV station has so much money, and this initiative is all about helping farmers. It’s not easy for us to grow these vegetables, so why don’t we just sell them at the current market price?”

Hou Tianbao was dumbfounded.

The current market price?

How could they even say that with a straight face?

Did they think he didn’t keep up with market trends just because he rarely went to the marketplace?

He had already looked into it!

Take radishes, for example. Right now, if you set up a stall at the market, you could sell them for 1.5 yuan per jin (500g) in the countryside and over 2 yuan per jin in the city. But when they sold to vegetable wholesalers, the best they could get was 0.8 yuan per jin, right?

Oh, so you sell to wholesalers for 0.8 yuan, but you want to sell to us for 1.5 yuan? Do I look like I have “sucker” written on my forehead?

And let’s be clear—these vegetables weren’t being bought by the TV station. But even if they were, why should the TV station have to be taken for a ride just because they had money?

Selling at retail prices for wholesale transactions? If the TV station really sold these vegetables as part of a farmer support initiative, how much would they have to charge?

After deducting logistics costs, storage fees, packaging, shipping, and the spoilage rate of fresh produce, the radishes would have to sell for at least 4 yuan per jin just to break even!

Or did these farmers think that online shoppers’ money just fell from the sky?

Why would customers pay double the usual price for their radishes when fresher ones were available at the market for just 2 yuan per jin?

If this had been before, Hou Tianbao would’ve been furious.

But now, he was no longer the same old Hou Tianbao!

After spending so much time around Wei Sheng, he had picked up a few tricks for handling situations like this.

Steadying his shaken mindset, Hou Tianbao forced a stiff smile and said,

“Sorry about this—seems like I wasn’t clear earlier. These vegetables aren’t being bought by the TV station; they’re for us at Houzhai Village. We want to make some pickled vegetables to sell, but we don’t grow enough of our own.”

“I’m the kind of guy who can’t help but be soft-hearted. When I heard your vegetables weren’t selling, I figured, if we’re going to buy from the wholesale market anyway, why not support our fellow farmers instead?”

“But you all know the situation in Houzhai Village. We’re not exactly rich! The price you’re asking is just too much for us to afford. Never mind, never mind—I’ll just go check out the wholesale market instead.”

Saying this, Hou Tianbao got up and made a move to leave.

The farmers panicked.

“Wait, Brother Hou! If we’d known it was you buying, we wouldn’t have said that! We’ll definitely give you a better price than outsiders!”

“Yeah, Brother Hou, we thought outsiders were buying our vegetables, so we were hoping to make a little extra. But since it’s you, we’ll definitely give you a better deal!”

“Exactly! Brother Hou, sit down and have some tea. Let’s talk this through!”

The group of farmers hurriedly pulled Hou Tianbao back to his seat.

Hearing them repeatedly say “outsiders,” Hou Tianbao was absolutely fuming.

Outsiders?

The J Province TV station had spent money and effort to help Houzhai Village develop its rural economy and lift the villagers out of poverty.

When they heard about the farmers’ unsold vegetables, they immediately tried to find a solution for them.

And yet, these ungrateful fools—

Not only did they fail to appreciate the help, but they even tried to exploit their benefactors?

If the officials from the publicity department weren’t sitting right there, Hou Tianbao would’ve spat in their faces and walked out!

Oh, so they wanted to sell at market prices?

Fine, let them sit on their unsold vegetables and see how long they could last. He wasn’t playing along!

Suppressing his anger, Village Chief Hou crossed his arms and sat back down, no longer smiling like before. His expression was cold as he waited to see what price these people would come up with.

This time, their bulk purchase mainly included long beans, young ginger, carrots, small chili peppers, white radishes, green-skinned radishes, and cabbages.

As the weather gradually turned colder, the vegetables grown in farmers’ home gardens were almost gone. Aside from radishes and leafy greens, if they wanted to eat other fresh vegetables, they had to buy them.

Seeing him sit down, Minister Han, who was presiding over the meeting, secretly breathed a sigh of relief. At the same time, he felt somewhat dissatisfied with these township growers.

What exactly were these people thinking?

The TV station saw that their painstakingly grown vegetables weren’t selling and were about to rot in the fields, so they kindly offered ideas and tried to help them sell their surplus produce. This was a favor to them!

Yet instead of being grateful, they were trying to take advantage of the situation and make a huge profit?

If it weren’t for the county leaders’ strong interest in this meeting, Minister Han would have been tempted to wash his hands of the matter.

But now that everyone was already here—and considering that several of these growers had taken out low-interest loans from the credit union, loans that ordinary people couldn’t easily obtain, with interest rates they could only dream of, all thanks to the county acting as a guarantor—if these people really went bankrupt, who would be responsible for repaying those bad debts?

Thinking of this, Minister Han shot a subtle warning glance at the dozen or so growers before turning back and speaking in a gentler tone to persuade Hou Tianbao.

“Village Chief Hou, don’t be too hard on them. They’re in a tough spot too. Their entire livelihood is tied up in these vegetable greenhouses. Some of them owe the bank large sums of money. According to their contracts, once this season’s vegetables are sold, they have to repay their credit union loans. If they can’t sell at a good price, they won’t even be able to pay back the loans—won’t that mean this whole year’s work was for nothing?”

Hou Tianbao let out a cold chuckle, crossing his arms. “These days, who isn’t struggling? At least they can still get loans from the credit union. If our Houzhai Village tried to apply for a loan, I bet we wouldn’t even be allowed through the door!”

Trying to play the pity card in front of Houzhai Village?

If they had the guts, why not compare public account balances instead~

Hou Tianbao refused to believe there was a village within dozens of miles poorer than theirs!

No matter how poor other villages were, they could at least scrape together some savings in their public accounts.

But Houzhai Village? Different story. No savings—just debt…

To purchase equipment and establish a pickle processing plant, they had just borrowed 500,000 yuan in startup funds from a program guest—specifically, that exceptionally beautiful young woman, Chen Mengjie.

Everyone was carrying debt. No one should think about playing the pity card in front of him!

(End of Chapter)