r18novel Chapter 99 Teaching Su Peixue to Extract Honey
Chapter 99 Teaching Su Peixue to Extract Honey
"Later, he sponsored a pair of orphaned siblings, two children without parents. He supported them from elementary school to high school. Over the years, he was reluctant to eat or wear anything nice, wearing the same cotton-padded coat for more than ten years, even when the cotton was hardened. He used all the money he saved to pay for the two children's tuition and stationery."
Last year, those two kids did great; they both got into good universities. That should have been wonderful. But what about the tuition? What about their living expenses? Honey is a wonderful thing, especially wild honey from deep in the mountains produced by native bees—the quality is undeniable. But how much can they produce in a year? How much money can they make from it?
He went to work on a construction site carrying bricks. He was over sixty years old, carrying cement bags. Later, he fell from the scaffolding and has been limping ever since.
Fortunately, the two children later applied for interest-free student loans, and their tuition was covered. But he still refused to give up. He said the borrowed money would eventually have to be repaid, and if he earned more, the children would have to pay less in the future. So he went back to beekeeping.
The boss stood up, glanced at the hunched figure by the osmanthus grove, and said, "His honey is really good stuff. It's wild honey collected by native bees from deep in the mountains, with a Baume degree of 42. But there's nothing he can do. Guishu Village is remote, and the roads are bad, so it can't be transported out. The selling price is the same as those adulterated honeys, so he doesn't make much money all year round. Even the best honey needs to be marketed."
The charcoal fire crackled in the courtyard, but no one touched their chopsticks. Song Yin, her eyes red, said, "Those guys are really awful. They got off easy by only being stung by a few bees."
Someone suggested buying honey. Everyone agreed, saying that each person could buy a few bottles, which would be a good deed.
He Biqiong suggested helping Grandpa Huang open an online store.
Fang Xun shook his head. Online stores require computers, internet access, and courier services, which elderly people may not be able to use. The operating costs are also high, and the business cannot be established without someone supervising it.
He Biqiong then suggested that they buy all the honey and help sell it at a stall. Lin Ran glanced at her, "If selling honey at a stall is so easy, how could it possibly go unsold?"
He Biqiong fell silent. She stood up and walked towards the osmanthus grove. Fang Xun followed behind her. The others also followed in twos and threes. He Biqiong squatted down in front of Old Huang, pointed to the beehives, and asked how much the honey cost, saying that everyone should buy ten bottles.
Old Huang looked up at her, then at the young faces behind her. He thought for a moment, put down the foundation he was tidying up, stood up, limped back a few steps, and took a glass jar from the wooden box next to the beehive.
The honey in the jar was a deep amber color, so translucent in the sunlight that you could see the bubbles at the bottom.
"Girl, you should try it."
He unscrewed the lid, and the fragrance of osmanthus and honey wafted up. He asked He Biqiong to hold out her hand and poured a small spoonful of honey onto the back of her hand.
He Biqiong took a lick. Old Huang looked at her and asked, "Is it sweet?"
He Biqiong's eyes lit up.
"Sweet! It tastes so much better than what you buy at the supermarket."
A simple smile appeared on Old Huang's wrinkled and thin face.
"We want to buy..."
"Not for sale."
Old Huang waved his hand, "You'll buy so much that you won't be able to finish it all. It's a waste of honey and money. You mean well, but I have nothing else to offer, so please have some honey pomelo water. The pomelo is homegrown, and with honey, it tastes better than just buying honey."
He turned around, plucked a few pomelos from the pomelo tree behind the beehives, and limped towards the farmhouse courtyard.
In the kitchen, he washed his hands several times before peeling the grapefruit, breaking the pulp into a clear glass jar, pouring in cooled boiled water, adding three spoonfuls of honey, and stirring it with chopsticks. He then poured a glass for everyone.
Yao Ziwen put down the empty cup.
"Old Lin, do you have a solution?"
Everyone around turned their attention to Lin Ran.
"Boss..."
Everyone looked at Lin Ran. Although he was a freshman and most of the people here were upperclassmen, he was the youngest among them, yet he was like the backbone of everyone.
Lin Ran placed the cup on the table and turned to ask the owner of the farmhouse inn, "Boss, do you have large bamboo sieves, thin bamboo poles, white cotton cloth about one meter long and wide, and shallow hand-woven bamboo baskets?"
The boss was adding firewood to the earthen stove when he looked up and thought for a moment.
"We have bamboo sieves, for drying osmanthus flowers. There are also thin bamboo poles in the woodshed behind the house. As for white cotton cloth, there's a piece at the bottom of the trunk, leftover from making quilt linings, and bamboo baskets too." She patted the ash off her hands and got up to walk towards the backyard.
Lin Ran continued to arrange: "We also need glutinous rice flour, regular rice flour, dried osmanthus flowers, a bamboo steamer, gauze, a small knife with a wooden handle, and plain ceramic plates."
He listed them off, saying, "The kitchen has steamers and gauze. I saw the owner drying dried osmanthus flowers last year, so there should still be some left. Can I buy glutinous rice flour and regular rice flour in town?"
He Biqiong had already opened the map on her phone. "There's a grain and oil shop in town; it's a 15-minute ride there by tricycle."
"Fang Xun, borrow a tricycle from the boss and take two people to town to buy things according to this list." Lin Ran handed over the list.
Fang Xun took the note, called over two part-time boys, and the three of them left the courtyard. The tricycle engine sputtered a few times as it turned off the village road.
Yao Ziwen leaned over and asked, "Old Lin, what are you doing with all this? Bamboo sieves and steamers."
He Biqiong's eyes lit up. "Are we going to film a video for Xuexue? Like the plum wine episode?"
She clasped her hands together, the wide sleeves of her Hanfu sliding down to her wrists. "The boss absolutely has to let me help!"
Song Yin also came over.
"I've watched that plum wine video at least five times! It has over three million views on Bilibili and over a hundred thousand on Magic Book. The comments are all saying 'I'm watching it on my knees!'"
She turned to a few employees who hadn't seen it before and explained, "There's not a single word spoken, only natural sound effects, and the cinematography is amazing!"
The new part-time workers exchanged glances. They knew their boss was a freshman when they joined, but few of them had actually seen him film videos.
The link to the plum wine was on the homepage of the Magic Book, and they saw it. At the time, they only thought the pictures were nice and the proprietress was beautiful. They never expected that the proprietress herself had taken the pictures.
Lin Ran walked towards the edge of the osmanthus grove. Old Huang was squatting next to the beehives, putting the last comb back in its place. Hearing footsteps, he looked up.
"Sir, I need your help."
Old Huang stood up, dragging his lame leg across the muddy ground. "It's still about buying honey? You college students are still spending your parents' money. I appreciate your kindness, but if you really want to buy some, just one or two bottles will do. Any more would be a waste."
"I'm not buying honey." Lin Ran squatted down to be level with Old Huang. "I'd like to ask you to help me take a video."
"Well... the old man who's filming doesn't know anything about these things, I don't know if he'll film well, but is he any help?"
"All you need to do is teach her how to extract honey."
Lin Ran pointed to Su Peixue, who was standing not far away. Su Peixue was standing under the osmanthus tree, holding a small cluster of osmanthus flowers in her hand. When she heard her name called, she tilted her head and glanced at it, her braid slipping down from her shoulder.