Song Tan's Notes

Qiaoqiao is very studious.

Having memorized the landlady's words, I carefully tried to fit each scene into my mind, and finally realized—

"It doesn't work in my house."

Huh?
Now it was the proprietress's turn to be surprised: "Is the atmosphere in your village so good?"

Qiaoqiao thought for a moment and said, "Everyone is too busy! They don't have time for these things."

As she spoke, she listed the vegetables: "In winter, we're busy planting cabbages, radishes, cilantro, and many other vegetables. The better we grow them, the more money we make from selling them."

"After the Spring Festival, my family will need to prepare winter fertilizer again on the mountain and in the fields. It will take the villagers and machines working together to make it enough."

Not only do you need to prepare fertilizer, but you also need to pick out and throw away any grass roots and stems that you can't get rid of while deep plowing and furrowing.

When the temperature rises in spring, it will be time to start sowing again.

The wages range from tens to hundreds of dollars, and no one wants to miss out on earning them.

Everyone was envious.

Although he only mentioned the quietest period, winter and spring, the boss's wife and the managers' eyes already lit up—

After all, this is the off-season for farming in the countryside.

Even during the off-season, there is so much work to do. The remaining summer and autumn are the harvest season, so what more needs to be said?
The leader next to him sighed:
"Every household in Baiyu County has land to cultivate. After harvesting grapes in the summer, they go out to work in the fall, so they're not really idle..."

Qiaoqiao knows the answer to this question: "I know, I know! Teacher Tang taught me that!"

"Those who have stable property have a stable mind; a stable income can soothe one's spirit!"

Huh?
The landlady was a little confused by what she heard, but the leaders' eyes lit up.

"Those who have stable property have stable minds"—this has been the guiding principle for national governance since ancient times.

I didn't expect that Qiaoqiao, who looks so young, would be so serious when she said this.

Their surprise and thirst for knowledge encouraged Jojo, so much so that he recalled it after a moment's thought and answered with great enthusiasm:

"When Teacher Tang came to my house last year, she said that too many people from our village went out to work, which proved that the land could not retain people."

Teacher Tang, who was in the economics field, didn't just teach Qiao Qiao the arts of music, chess, calligraphy, and painting.

Those things are fine for children to learn if they are interested in them, just a little bit is enough. Whether they study them in depth or not depends entirely on their interest.

But apart from that, when they taught Qiaoqiao how to be a person and how to learn, they always felt that he was too young and didn't understand things, so they neglected the subtle influence on him in the bigger picture—Teacher Tang had a lot of complaints about this.

Fortunately, Qiaoqiao is a well-behaved person and is like a blank sheet of paper; he learns exactly what he is taught.

He's quick-witted and sometimes has a stroke of genius; even Teacher Tang is amazed by his ideas.

Therefore, this elegant little old lady got along quite well with him, and they said quite a lot, both things they should and shouldn't have said.

Song Tan only found out today that Teacher Tang had told him this because he was busy at home and studied alone in his room.
No wonder last year, I kept asking him to lead the development of the countryside.

Even Lu Chuan was somewhat shocked as he watched Qiao Qiao speak eloquently.

Sure enough, Qiaoqiao spoke fluently, and although her words were straightforward, they were quite profound.

"So, as long as we want to stay in the village, we should develop our hometown if we have the means, so that they will gradually be willing to come back."

"Because when people wander outside, their hearts are unsettled and their spirits are scattered, they are particularly susceptible to being swayed by external forces. When they return and see their hometown in such a state, they will feel resentful."

"The reason I feel uneasy is that I'm afraid others are doing well, and I'm also afraid that others are doing better than me."

What a perfect description of "fearing others to live well, yet also fearing others to live better than oneself." Isn't this exactly the mentality behind the village saying "laughing at others for having nothing and resenting others for having something"?
Several leaders' eyes lit up.

They weren't struck by the profound truth, but the way Qiaoqiao spoke so earnestly did create a vivid image.

And that Teacher Tang, even though his words are just straightforward, people with less intellectual depth wouldn't have come up with them.

Look at this family with such amazing looks! They even managed to hire this unknown big shot to raise their child. This family has such a grand vision!

Song Tan, with his broad perspective, pondered silently:
Summer vacation is almost here, and Professor Song said he would come this year, but it has been postponed repeatedly due to travel restrictions.

What about Professor Tang?
Professor Tang, would it be alright if you stayed here for a while?

Lu Chuan listened attentively and decided to have a proper talk with Qiao Qiao later—some of the principles sound simple, but it is precisely because they are simple that they are universally applicable and can be used anywhere.

"...Furthermore, if there's plenty of free time, but no work and no money, the environment becomes restless and troublesome..."

These seemingly reasonable yet illogical statements were things that Qiaoqiao had only vaguely understood before.

But after a year of training, coupled with the various circumstances in Baiyu County, he suddenly understood everything completely.

Now that I'm telling it out, it leaves a much deeper impression, and I can explain it in great detail.

The owner of the family-run canteen listened to Qiaoqiao's words with utter astonishment.

After the guests left, she went into the kitchen and spoke to the owner, who was busy cleaning up:

“I’m thinking that many people in our village are trying to start their own live-streaming sales, but I’m afraid it won’t work.”

"What's wrong?" the boss asked, somewhat curious.

Aren't many of them listed on the streamer's link? It's better than those who stream without any connections, right?
The proprietress sighed, "That big streamer, although young and not very bright... her family's education is definitely top-notch!"

Don't let her young age fool you; she's incredibly sharp, more so than all my other kids combined. I used to think that since we run a family canteen, my kids would naturally be well-mannered and good at handling people.

Looking back now, it really is...

Can't compare!
She learned Qiaoqiao's way of speaking from her boss: "You didn't see it, he really mastered it! From small things like interpersonal relationships to big principles, he can talk about them off the cuff and make them very easy to understand."

I told you that they didn't achieve such success by chance!

I don't know how much effort they put in behind the scenes.

"Those guys in our village are either so quiet you can't even fart three times, or they're all 'fuck' and 'son of a bitch'..."

Some people only know how to say nice things, but they don't understand what's really on people's minds.

What good would that do?
She considered discussing it with the boss at this moment:

"Old Tao said he'll reduce grape production next year. Our family canteen is still profitable, so why don't we reduce it too?"

The boss didn't know what Qiaoqiao said, but his wife was addicted to making money. Now that she had said this on her own initiative, it seemed that not everyone could do live streaming.

Also.

I heard that in my wife's village, young people are doing live-streaming e-commerce, selling things like cleaning brushes, grease removers, and tissues, and they only earn a few hundred yuan a month.

It's clear that no matter what you do, there are always gains and losses.

He nodded in agreement.

"Don't reduce production. Just ask who has booked it. We can keep a portion for ourselves and use it to supply our customers with some fruit."

He then seemed to be deep in thought: "We run a family canteen, and the grapes are selling well this year. If we say we want to have everything, it would seem a bit too greedy."

"By contracting it out, if out-of-town visitors come in the future, we can also help the villagers sell their fruit. In the long run, we won't lose anything in terms of social connections."

The proprietress nodded, then recalled the grand occasion of the day, unsure whether to sigh or feel a pang of emotion.

"Even though we're all going to lose money this year, with the hype surrounding livestreaming e-commerce, we'll still have plenty of customers next year."

……

After eating and drinking to his heart's content, Yanran yawned and asked first:
"Boss, where are we staying tonight?"

Baiyu County is not a wealthy county, so although it is located on a plain and the villagers live together, the town is still not considered prosperous.

Speaking of this, Tang Xiaodong sighed:
“I went to other counties with my teacher before. The towns there not only had Snow King, but also Ruixin. The brand-new hotels were also very luxurious, no different from the mid-to-high-end hotels in the city. I thought all counties in the world were like that.”

Until we arrived at Yunqiao Village.

There's no need to describe the village of Yunqiao. Just look at the market in Qingxi Town; you can walk back and forth in ten minutes. It's really lacking in everything!
Is this the difference between mountainous areas and plains?

Looking at Baiyu County now, it seems that things aren't quite as they seem.

Although their area is quite flat, it still hasn't developed.

Song Tan then said:
"The town leaders had already made arrangements. We were lucky; their town does have a newly opened hotel, it's quite small, but it's well-equipped."

"We'll sleep there tonight, then set off at 5 a.m. tomorrow, have breakfast in town, and then start broadcasting again here at 5:30 a.m. Can you guys handle it?"

They have actually completed their tasks, but due to a shortage of manpower, they now have to join the review team.

Qi Lin smiled and said, "It's no different from when we were in the mountains. What's there to say about whether it's possible or not?"

There's an extra subsidy for fieldwork.

Only Qiaoqiao stared blankly at the vast, dark plains in the distance, which were no longer clearly visible, before she spoke again:
"Is this what Yang Zhengxin's farm looks like? He said that their land is very flat, and large machines can harvest many acres of land in a day."

Unlike their family, who received only small, sophisticated farm machinery, anything larger wouldn't be able to get into the fields.

This wasn't Qiaoqiao's first time seeing the plains, but it was the first time she had come into contact with the local customs and crops on the plains.

Song Tan's heart stirred:
"Has Yang Zhengxin returned from abroad? Qiaoqiao, would you like to visit his house?"

Qiaoqiao was a little confused: "Like he lived in our house, do I also live in his house?"

Song Tan hadn't yet consulted Yang Zhengxin about the matter of visiting, but she guessed that Yang wouldn't refuse.

He nodded immediately: "I think so. Would you like to see their farm? You can ask them if you want."

Qiaoqiao became excited: "I've never stayed at a friend's house before!"

To be precise, he had no friends before last year.

Moreover, given his current state, even Ulan was hesitant to let him stay at his maternal uncle's or paternal grandparents' house.

The concern isn't that adults can't keep an eye on the child, but rather that the child might cause trouble for others.

Therefore, Qiaoqiao never thought about this matter.

But now, when Song Tan mentioned it, he pursed his lips, his eyes sparkling in the dim car lights, and even his expression became cheerful:
"I wanna go!"

but……

He was still somewhat unsure: "Xiao Yang hasn't invited me yet." (End of Chapter)