Chapter 55: Let’s Hire a Cook
Jian Xingxia had noticed it long ago.
The air in the mountains was clean and highly oxygenated. At night, aside from the chirping of insects and the singing of birds, there was none of the noise that plagued the city. The quality of her sleep here was light-years ahead of what it used to be.
“You’re awake? Go freshen up first. We’re having savory pancakes for breakfast, and I’ve also steamed some corn and eggs,” Jian Xingxia said as she lit the stove, preparing to fry the pancakes.
By the time Liang Chengcheng finished washing up and changed her clothes, Jian Xingxia had already fried several green onion pancakes. The soft batter radiated the rich fragrance of eggs, and the chopped green onions, completely cooked through, blended perfectly with the pancakes, making them savory and delicious.
Liang Chengcheng didn’t stop until she had devoured two massive pancakes that were literally bigger than her face.
“So good! But Xiaxia, cooking like this is just too much hard work for you.”
Liang Chengcheng felt rather guilty. Food cooked on a wood fire tasted amazing and carried a rustic charm, but managing a rural earth stove to cook was simply too difficult. There was a chimney, but its efficiency couldn’t compare to a modern range hood, leaving the kitchen rather smoky.
When Jian Xingxia put out the fire in the stove belly, she was choked to the point of tears.
Liang Chengcheng planned to stay here for a couple of days to properly scout things out, and she didn’t want Jian Xingxia to suffer like this.
“Xiaxia, are there any aunties in your village who would be willing to do some housekeeping work? As long as they know how to use an earth stove. How about we hire someone to cook for the couple of days I’m here?”
Liang Chengcheng craved authentic farmhouse flavors, but she also truly pitied Jian Xingxia.
“Huh? Hire someone?”
Hearing that keyword suddenly, Jian Xingxia thought she had slipped up and was startled.
“Yeah, let’s hire an auntie. I want to try all the things you mentioned—the clay-pot wild chicken soup, the farmhouse cured pork, the mountain-spring big carp, the dried bamboo shoots, the tea-oil stir-fried chicken, the wild mushroom soup, the bamboo-tube glutinous rice… I want to try everything.”
Aside from satisfying her culinary desires, she also wanted to see if she could find opportunities for a collaborative development venture.
Jian Xingxia’s mind began racing furiously.
It wasn’t altogether impossible. She had to visit the village anyway to look for and trade for these ingredients, so she might as well ask around. The villagers didn’t earn a high income, so if there were odd jobs like this to make some money, they would definitely be delighted.
However, if she did this, the ancient temporary workers would have to be “exiled” again.
Jian Xingxia wrestled with the dilemma in her heart—she was equally reluctant to let the villagers miss out on a money-making opportunity just to accommodate the ancient temporary workers.
It seemed that hiding like this forever wasn’t a long-term solution. For the estate to develop and operate, she couldn’t keep the two sides completely segregated forever.
The best approach would be to have the ancient temporary workers who came to work “disguise” themselves as modern people.
After breakfast, Jian Xingxia took Liang Chengcheng out of the mountains toward Lu’an Village.
After walking the two-to-three-kilometer mountain path, Liang Chengcheng finally understood why Jian Xingxia said one wouldn’t gain weight in the mountains. Relying on walking like this every single day was definitely not going to cut it.
Liang Chengcheng hesitated before speaking up. “Xiaxia, I think we should buy a—”
“Stop right there, Chengcheng! I want to buy a vehicle, and I will, but I want to buy it myself,” Jian Xingxia said seriously. “I can’t constantly rely on your financial support. That would make our friendship unequal, and it would make me feel very uncomfortable.”
A friendship lacking dignity could never be sustained for long.
Liang Chengcheng understood this too. Before graduating from university, she had tried her absolute best to invite Jian Xingxia to join her family’s company. If Jian Xingxia didn’t want to live with her, she could have rented a separate apartment for her. But Jian Xingxia had declined.
Even back then, Jian Xingxia had stated that she could not always choose to hide under someone else’s wing the moment she encountered a hardship. Always maintaining the courage to face difficulties without flinching, and possessing the ability to deal with them intelligently, was the very foundation of her independence.
Liang Chengcheng dropped the subject and obediently followed behind Jian Xingxia.
Once they arrived in the village, Jian Xingxia mentioned that she wanted to hire a cook to whip up some of Lu’an Village’s specialty dishes. However, the aunties and sister-in-laws in the village found themselves in a bit of a tight spot.
“Xiaxia, this happens to be our absolute busiest season. As you know, our plots in the mountains are scattered here and there, making it impossible to use agricultural machinery. We’re out in the fields from morning till night.”
Right now, they had to harvest the previous season’s crops and plant the next season’s grain.
Jian Xingxia made some discrete inquiries through Auntie Lu. Liang Chengcheng was offering one hundred yuan a day for a cook. Liang Chengcheng felt this price was a bit on the low side, but the villagers considered it quite substantial—this money was far more lucrative than farming, and everyone wanted to earn it. However, they couldn’t just watch their harvests for both seasons be compromised just for the sake of these few days.
Only two aunties suggested, “Heading into the mountains to cook is out of the question. How about we cook the food here, and you two come out to grab a bite?”
Hearing this, never mind Liang Chengcheng, even Jian Xingxia was unwilling. She had to tend to the work in her fields as well; otherwise, she would either have to thick-skinny borrow a tricycle every single day, or spend three to four hours just commuting back and forth for two meals a day.
Both sides conferred, leaving everyone full of regret. If only it were half a month later—by then, the frantic field chores would be wrapped up and the newly planted crops stabilized. They genuinely wanted to earn this money.
However, securing the ingredients Jian Xingxia wanted proved to be incredibly easy.
“Free-range chickens? That’s simple. My family raised over a hundred of them. How many do you want? I’ll go catch them for you.”
“Big carp? Carp isn’t anything special to eat. We have a type of small white minnow here; they aren’t big, about the thickness of a finger, but they’re incredibly meaty and only have a single main bone. They taste magnificent whether simmered into soup or pan-fried. It just so happens the village is flooding the paddies these past two days, so we’ll throw up a net for you along the way and have the kids deliver them to your place.”
“Wild mushrooms? We haven’t got a spare second to gather them these past few days, but we have some home-dried mushrooms. Take those to eat first.”
“My family has tea oil, freshly pressed. How much do you need, Xiaxia?”
“Xiaxia, my family grows Sichuan peppercorn trees. Do you want dried peppercorns or fresh ones?”
“Do you want steamed buns? The household has been so busy these past few days that we’re terrified of not having time to cook, so I wrapped a whole freezer full of meat buns. Will you two eat them, Xiaxia?”
The mountains were rich in resources, and since Liang Chengcheng was very straightforward with her payments, everyone eagerly brought out their finest specialty mountain goods.
This worked out perfectly—the field chores could continue uninterrupted, and they still made a good amount of money.
In the end, there were just too many goods. Even though Jian Xingxia had said she wouldn’t borrow a vehicle, she ended up borrowing one anyway. Little Hu the Sixth had to make two round trips before he finally delivered Jian Xingxia, Liang Chengcheng, and the mountain of supplies back to the old house.
Liang Chengcheng was thoroughly stunned, feeling deeply impressed by her own foresight. If she hadn’t timely purchased that massive 600L super refrigerator yesterday, she wouldn’t even have been able to fit today’s haul.
“Xiaxia, you are incredibly popular! They wanted to sell you meat buns this massive for just one yuan and fifty cents!”
For a meat bun of this size, even a factory-made pre-packaged one would cost over three yuan, let alone a handmade one made with local mountain pork. In the end, after much cajoling from Jian Xingxia, they compromised on a middle price of two yuan.
Liang Chengcheng looked deeply envious. “Xiaxia, I think I finally understand why you wanted to return to your hometown.”
An ancestral home like this was a place she wanted to return to as well.
Jian Xingxia, however, didn’t have her thoughts on this pile of supplies, but rather on the choice of a cook.
The villagers couldn’t bear to delay their farming season and couldn’t come to the mountains to cook, but there was one person who could! Clean, efficient, and possessing excellent culinary skills—wasn’t that a perfect description of Lin Sanniang?
Jian Xingxia pondered it thoroughly, realizing that out of the four temporary workers she had hired so far, Lin Sanniang was indeed the absolute best fit to “disguise” herself as a modern person. After all, Lin Sanniang was exceptionally well-mannered and respectful of rules; aside from begging for medicine, she never asked an unnecessary question or uttered an improper word. Even if she saw some bizarre, modern gadgets, as long as Jian Xingxia didn’t take the initiative to speak, she could stubbornly suppress her curiosity without letting a single word slip.
An idea began to take root in Jian Xingxia’s mind.
How about she let Lin Sanniang give it a try tomorrow?
