Chapter 189: This Workmanship Is Pretty Mediocre
But the village uncles and aunties were not that easy to cooperate with.
Ever since Jian Xingxia started constructing the road, she hadn’t really let the villagers enter the mountains much. Hu Da and Wei Liang had also issued a notice to the village stating that unless they had business, they couldn’t enter the mountains to disturb Xiaxia’s business operations.
Consequently, aside from Auntie Lu, Auntie Chunhui, and Little Hu Liu, the villagers hadn’t really come up into the mountains. This single visit made it impossible for the villagers to resist scanning their surroundings.
“Hey, I saw this solar equipment being installed with my own eyes last time. Quite a lot of people came!”
“Well, many hands make quick work. This road is constructed quite properly, but why aren’t the reeds over there cut down? They’re blocking everything so you can’t see a thing.”
“Ha, you don’t understand. City folks nowadays find even a single blade of grass in the countryside beautiful. If those reeds are cut down, what will city folks come to the mountains to see? They certainly won’t want to look at bare ground.”
“True enough. But when did Xiaxia renovate the old house? This looks like work that couldn’t be finished in just a day or two.”
As Uncle Wang spoke, he couldn’t resist standing up to feel the wall surface. This single touch allowed him to spot the trick.
“Ha! This workmanship won’t do! They didn’t use a polishing machine; it was just smoothed out by hand. Look here, it’s not even level!”
“This workmanship is a bit better than mine, but not by much.”
The villagers nodded repeatedly, not finding anything amiss at all. “Standardly, just managing to tidy up the facade is already not easy. It looks good at a casual glance, but the timeframe was too short, so they certainly couldn’t tend to the finer details.”
Uncle Wang had spotted a flaw, but it actually made the uncles and aunties more convinced. It would be strange if the old house completely transformed in a mere twenty days. Looking at it now, it was only superficial polish, while there were still tiny flaws in the corners. This made perfect sense.
Ultimately, the uncles and aunties still kept Hu Da’s words in mind, avoiding looking around at random. They just strolled around the yard to satisfy their curiosity, ensuring they would have a bit of gossip to share once they returned to the village.
Everyone settled down to properly attend the lesson.
Strangely enough, the uncles and aunties who had been laughing and joking down the mountain, claiming they couldn’t learn and refusing to cooperate due to their advanced age, actually grew quiet and serious under Lin Sanniang’s gentle words.
Lin Sanniang didn’t even need to deliberately teach the uncles and aunties how to speak. Whenever she spoke to them, her ancient poise and mannerisms naturally flowed out.
Wei Liang quietly pulled Jian Xingxia aside to hide, utterly struck with amazement.
“Xiaxia, where did you dig up such a treasure!”
“Is she a theater major? Doesn’t quite look like it… an acting student?” Wei Liang admired her tremendously. “She doesn’t even need to teach! Just standing there, she looks like a living ancient person!”
Jian Xingxia quietly amused herself inside—Sanniang was exactly an ancient person!
Lin Sanniang’s teaching success took only a few phrases, finishing the lecture in half an hour, while the rest of the time was spent learning through practice.
The uncles and aunties looked at Lin Sanniang as if she were a precious treasure. Previously, they had heard that Xiaxia’s manor hired a few highly capable people who could dress up, perform, work, and speak eloquently. At first, no one believed it—it was a farmhouse restaurant, so everyone knew what to expect!
The village where Old Chai’s daughter had married into had tried it before, and Old Chai’s daughter even wanted to secure some rice and flour supply business for her father. In the end, it didn’t last four months before going under. Everyone knew exactly what kind of capabilities mountain folks running a farmhouse restaurant possessed.
But coming up the mountain to take a look now, everyone had no choice but to believe it.
“Xiaxia truly hired a few capable people. Look at Lady Lin’s poise; she actually acts more convincingly than the people on TV!”
Unlike Wei Liang, Lin Sanniang didn’t force them to memorize the hospitality scripts. Instead, she directly had them act it out.
“Who is willing to step forward and try?”
They had learned it, but the uncles and aunties were still a bit bashful and didn’t dare to step up. Everyone pushed and nudged, ultimately pushing the youngest among them, Hou Jun, forward.
Auntie Hou reluctantly began acting it out with Lin Sanniang.
“Good morning, young lady! May I ask if you are proceeding to Xingxia Manor? Just follow the signs.”
“Or are you here to buy things? Our village has fresh fruits and vegetables, along with hand-dried radish, dried daylily, shiitake mushrooms, and wood ear mushrooms. They are sold at the village headquarters yard ahead. Quality goods at fair prices, treating young and old with equal honesty.”
“Is the young lady thirsty? We have free tea here, would you care for a cup?”
Watching from the side, Jian Xingxia and Wei Liang nodded repeatedly, smiling as they said to Auntie Hou, “Wow! Auntie Hou learned exceptionally well! Your greeting is spot on, and your smile is particularly warm!”
Hearing this, Auntie Hou’s face turned completely red. Just now in the village, she had been laughing and joking when Wei Liang spoke to her, but being praised by Jian Xingxia at this moment actually made her feel a bit embarrassed.
“Ha, I’m just blindly imitating, learning it for fun.” Auntie Hou said self-consciously.
She had married into Lu’an Village. Back when she lived in the city, she enjoyed square dancing and filming short videos, so she was more uninhibited than the other village elders and understood trends.
Jian Xingxia said seriously, “Really, Auntie Hou, you performed exceptionally well. It just so happens that the ancient outfits I ordered online have arrived. Auntie Hou, you came in first place for training. I discussed it with Director Wei and decided to award you a certificate of completion and a set of clothing.”
“Handing out clothing?”
“What kind of clothing?”
“No one said clothing would be handed out!”
Instantly, the uncles and aunties swarmed around them. Wei Liang was also entirely in a fog—when did he say clothing would be handed out? The village Party Secretary hadn’t allocated this budget to him.
But Jian Xingxia had already pulled out a set of ancient clothing. It was a one-piece robe style, where the skirt and top were sewn together. Strictly speaking, it wasn’t a proper hanfu, looking more like something used for photo studio shoots, but this slip-on style was highly convenient!
Jian Xingxia pulled Auntie Hou to the bathroom in the backyard to change. “Auntie Hou, this should be your size. Take a look and see if you like this style.”
The one-piece style was indeed fast to put on. Lin Sanniang followed them over to help Auntie Hou tie up her hair. Auntie Hou’s hair wasn’t long, but it happened to be curly, so loosely brushing it up and binding it allowed it to form the shape of a bun.
Lin Sanniang took the resin hairpin from her own head and slid it into Auntie Hou’s hair—these beautiful hairpins were bought by Jian Xingxia for her, the plump auntie, and Taoya to wear at the manor. They couldn’t carry these items back, as they still wore wooden hairpins back in the Great Liang Dynasty.
A moment later, the newly transformed Auntie Hou made a dazzling entrance.
The uncles and aunties who had been crowding around Wei Liang to ask about the clothes all looked over. The uncles’ eyes held surprise and appreciation, while the aunties’ eyes were filled with envy and longing.
“Oh, Hou Jun, you look absolutely beautiful!”
Auntie Hou blushed. “No, no…”
“Beautiful everywhere!”
Jian Xingxia smiled and said, “Today’s training concludes with Auntie Hou taking first place—”
“What? It’s ending just like that?”
The uncles and aunties grew anxious. “Xiaxia, we’ve practiced well too. If you don’t believe us, come test us!”
“Exactly! How can we rely on Hou Jun alone! We all need to join in! In case there are too many guests, we can’t have only one person giving directions!”
Jian Xingxia didn’t yield on this rule, saying with a smile, “We only have one first place for our daily training. Auntie Hou stood out first today and learned well, so that’s all for today!”
“But don’t worry, everyone. We will continue tomorrow. It’ll be the same—training first and then acting it out. Whoever performs best will be given clothing.”
Hearing this, the uncles and aunties grew excited. “Then I will definitely come tomorrow!”
“Will Lady Lin still be teaching? Is it the same as today, or something new?”
“I’ll practice when I go back today. Hou Jun, help me practice!”
Listening from the side, Wei Liang was practically applauding wildly in his heart. He felt Jian Xingxia shouldn’t be running a business; she should take the civil service exam and become a village official. Her way of handling these stubborn and lackadaisical rural elders was simply masterful!
