Her Cultivation Diary
Chapter 877: The Dried Camellia and the Capitalist

Chapter 877: The Dried Camellia and the Capitalist

Master Jiang, as a qualified chef, wanders around the mountains every day and has discovered a lot of good ingredients.

Of course, since he arrived too late, many ingredients can only be looked forward to next year. As for this year, just like what he’s talking about now—

"I noticed that the camellias in the Tea Garden have bloomed recently, and I picked a dustpan full of them. Tell you what, after drying them, they make a quite decent tea."

Zhang Yanping was taken aback: You dry camellias to brew tea?

He immediately looked it up on Baidu—

Oh, it’s that kind of tea flower with small white petals and dense yellow stamens. Dried and steeped in water, it can dispel bruises and reduce swelling, and promote beauty and skincare...

His first thought was—this could make money!

After all, the moment you mention "beauty and skincare," no matter what you’re selling, someone will be interested.

Seeing his reaction, Master Jiang immediately said, "Too late, too late, the camellias on the mountain have almost all bloomed, the fruits are already pretty big."

"I meant to ask you to check with Song Tan, if the family wants to eat camellia oil, in a few days they can pick the seeds, dry them, and press some camellia oil."

Camellia oil was popular for cooking for a while, and Zhang Yanping knows this stuff is quite nutritious and has a unique taste.

But...

"Press what camellia oil?"

He gave a look that said "you don’t understand," and couldn’t help but show a nostalgic expression:

"Master Jiang, you’re older, you wouldn’t understand our childhood."

Master Jiang glared: Are you being polite? Who’s old? Look at your burly, uncouth face, and then look at my smooth and tender skin...

But Zhang Yanping was solely focused on the past: "When I was little, I used to play at Tantan’s house during winter break. Each kid held a small liquor cup with two or three camellia seeds inside. They’d cover it with a pen cap and then pound away with the pen. Non-stop all day long, it was so much fun!"

Pounding camellia seeds, that was just something country kids came up with for lack of toys, what’s so special about that?

Recalling Zhang Yanping’s various remarks, Master Jiang became wary: "You’re not planning to promote some kind of traditional handmade camellia oil, are you?"

That stuff, you could pound for days and barely get a dribble of oil! 40 years ago, when oil was rationed, he never had to be so frugal with cooking!

Zhang Yanping was speechless at once, looking at Master Jiang: "Do you think I’m that kind of person?"

Why wouldn’t you be? Everyone in the family says you’re the best at making money. A mouse runs by the door, and you’re still thinking about making them cross their legs to earn a few copper coins!

Zhang Yanping, unaware of his reputation being in such disarray, was quite smug:

"Master Jiang, you’re completely out of touch with us young people."

"Even if that camellia oil could sell for 1000 a pound, how much oil could this whole tea garden produce? Isn’t it more trouble than it’s worth?"

"Me, I’ll go back and write up a marketing piece—[Nostalgic Stress-Relief Bundle]. What do you think? Can you guess what it is?"

Master Jiang was astounded!

Just, wasn’t it about camellia seeds? How did it become nostalgic, stress-relieving, and a bundle?

But then Zhang Yanping gestured: "Later, I’ll order a batch of old-fashioned glass liquor cups, and a box of suitable wooden pestles, just as thick as a pen will do!"

"That shouldn’t cost much, right? A liquor cup, a slender pestle, paired with eight camellia seeds, plus a small gift box."

He looked up, his dark face aglow with golden sunlight as though gold could seep from his pores, and when he smiled, even his teeth looked like they were gilded!

"Master Jiang, young people nowadays are under a lot of pressure. With a gadget like this, they can indulge in nostalgia, learn about the countryside, and even relieve stress—so I’ll sell it for 29 each set, that’s not too much, right?"

After all, these are camellia seeds from Old Song’s family! The oil pressed from them would certainly be wonderfully fragrant! Not enough for cooking, but can’t we still take a sniff?

Master Jiang was stunned!

For some reason, he subconsciously covered his waist and then murmured:

"Thinking about it, the sellers I encountered in my childhood were quite conscientious!"

"What are you talking about?" Zhang Yanping strongly disagreed: "At 29 dollars a portion, including shipping and a gift box, I’m hardly making any money! When has our family ever sold anything so cheap? This is purely to give back to our new and returning customers."

It sounded true, Master Jiang was aware of their family’s pricing.

But... but something still feels off!

However, Zhang Yanping already had an idea, at this moment only regretting that Yan Ran and others weren’t at home. Otherwise, they could upload a few beautiful Tian Yuan tea flower photos for a warm-up.

But it didn’t matter, if one photographer left, there were still a bunch of fishermen.

Thinking of this, he quickly went back down the hill to work.

...

Meanwhile, in the distant Imperial City, Lun Chuan had been back from Beicheng for a month or so, and was still entangled with Director Zhang and the crew.

They performed the ’three visits to the thatched cottage’ perfectly, wishing to invite him thrice a day, just to have him join the team as a scriptwriting advisor and consultant.

But Lun Chuan was well aware.

He was good at writing stories, but different trades have their own expertise, and scriptwriting wasn’t his forte. Moreover, was Director Zhang’s group really counting on him to write scripts?

It was obvious that the drinkers’ intentions lie not in the cup!

He had planned to stay in Beicheng for a week and had flown back in the middle of the week, arriving on Saturday and Sunday to make up for two days. After returning, his improved complexion gave him away, so he was forcibly retained for another four days.

Adding up front and back, it exceeded ten days—it felt like an eternity!

Now, cooped up at home, he refused to be poached for meals at all costs!

However, there were some gains during this period!

At first, they sent sugar-roasted chestnuts, then it was soy sauce.

After that, there were even fresh vegetables!

By the time the little bok choy arrived, it was no longer in its freshly picked crisp state, but it was still adorably green.

A few days later, a Wind Speed Express delivery man huffed and puffed as he brought in a big box!

When he opened it, inside were four big jars of pickled Sweet Potato Vine, thoughtfully marked with the pickling dates, informing him to open them after half a month.

Now, when he opens the door to take the delivery, the Wind Speed Express delivery man opposite him is huffing and puffing and unwilling to leave.

Lun Chuan’s heart skipped a beat, and sure enough, he heard the other party awkwardly ask:

"Um... Mr. Lu... you’ve been receiving their things, can you tell me, how exactly do you snag them every day?"

The delivery man’s face was full of grief: "Their family now has limits on everything, my pregnant wife sits at home and tries to grab every day, but still can’t get anything!"

Lun Chuan: ...

Unfortunately, he hadn’t opened the Taotao Treasure shop at all during this period.

They sent too much, he gently declined, but they ignored the messages, so much so that Lun Chuan became inexplicably nervous and decided to graciously accept everything.

Now, with this question...

He could only dodge the topic:

"This store seems to have gotten big partnerships, exclusively supplying high-end hotels. They’ve signed an exclusivity agreement, so they can’t sell to others."

"Online sales are indeed sneaky and hard to get!"