Song Tan’s Chronicle - Chapter 41

The chef busily organized a box of vegetables and then ran off with the box in his arms.

Dr. Zhang’s face turned bright red. Seeing the wild vegetables were about to disappear, he hadn’t even mustered the courage to think of his lines. In his excitement, he directly rushed to the office:

“Director, I bought some more wild vegetables. Let’s all go to the cafeteria at noon—”

He choked on his words.

Because in this office, in the most prominent position, sat a middle-aged man familiar yet not so familiar to the local people.

The man looked at him and smiled cheerfully, “Are we all going to the cafeteria to eat wild vegetables? Would it be convenient to add me and Secretary Wang?”

Whether this meal was convenient or not, Dr. Zhang didn’t know. He only knew that he felt like he was floating on clouds, and by noon, he didn’t even know what he ate.

Later, many people came to talk to him, but he only remembered mechanically sharing Song Tan’s WeChat, and then he was in a daze again.

Fortunately, the chef was considerate and, seeing him in this distracted state, packed a thermos of porridge just for him.

Dr. Zhang sat in his office, touched his shoulder, and thought: The leader patted me!

Then he happily opened the lid.

In an instant, the rich aroma of vegetables spread throughout the office and wafted through the open door for everyone passing by to smell.

By the time the meal was over, even the patients could smell it.

…

Dr. Zhang’s dramatic life changes were completely unknown to Song Tan.

She only knew that since this afternoon, friend requests on her phone came one after another, and the notes were very strange.

One was from someone named Secretary Wang—good heavens, who would send a friend request saying, “Hello, I am Secretary Wang. Are you Miss Song, who sells wild vegetables?”

There was also someone named Bed 46.

Some of the requests were from people Song Tan knew—they had notes like “Provincial People’s Hospital,” probably colleagues of Dr. Zhang Yuan.

However, Song Tan was busy working at the moment and didn’t have time to think about it. She simply added them all to her vegetable-selling group.

For a while, no one spoke.

Only the man who called himself “Secretary Wang” sent three question marks and then quickly retracted them.

But he was clearly the one with the most potential to buy, as he immediately asked:

“Hello, do you still have the same quality of wild vegetables you sent to Dr. Zhang? I want fifty pounds.”

As soon as he said that, the aunts in the group attacked him.

“Hey, young man! Don’t be so greedy. We only dare to buy ten pounds of wild vegetables at most.”

“Wild vegetables are no longer for sale, only Chinese milk vetch is left. It’s delicious stir-fried but not great for dumplings. If you want to buy, get a pound or two to try. Fifty pounds is too much.”

“Don’t worry, the boss said there’s plenty of Chinese milk vetch, no need to rush.”

Most of the aunts sent long voice messages. In the provincial office, Secretary Wang patiently listened to each one, feeling more and more puzzled.

Did this vegetable-selling boss… really not care about him?

Didn’t he ask Dr. Zhang to introduce him? Why was the other party still so indifferent?

Lost in thought, he suddenly realized the group was now sharing recipes for shepherd’s purse dumplings and purslane buns, followed by photos of stir-fried pork with chili and Chinese milk vetch…

It really was a proper vegetable-selling group.

He, Wang Qing, the big secretary of the provincial government, now had to join this group to snatch vegetables?

Secretary Wang missed the meal at the hospital cafeteria, feeling dazed again—

Actually, if it all tasted like that, joining the group queue wasn’t that bad!

Remembering the leader’s endless praise, Secretary Wang gritted his teeth:

“Boss, I want ten pounds of Chinese milk vetch. Please ship it as soon as possible.”

Thank goodness, when it involved money, the boss finally appeared:

“Ten pounds? Do you need it today?”

Secretary Wang was overjoyed: “Yes, today, as soon as possible!”

Song Tan was pleased with this new big customer: “Alright, I’ll go pick it later and ship it this afternoon. But you’ll have to cover the shipping cost!”

Thinking about it, she couldn’t help but ask: “Are you all Dr. Zhang Yuan’s colleagues?” Dr. Zhang was really nice! The twenty yuan worth of wild vegetables he gave out wasn’t a loss.

Sure enough, the group responded in unison.

The number of people in the group had now reached 61, but Secretary Wang didn’t say anything, and no one cared.

Song Tan glanced at the shipping list but couldn’t recognize what level the “family compound” was, so she just put it aside.

…

Old Man Li’s cow had officially entered the field, munching on the tender Chinese milk vetch to the point where it couldn’t lift its head. If Old Man Li hadn’t forcefully pulled the reins, the old cow might have wanted to sleep in the field at night.

After all, being surrounded by a faint spiritual energy felt really good.

On the other side, Qiao Qiao was picking vegetables, while Song Tan filmed Old Man Li and the cow, capturing a video full of pastoral charm.

Although the Chinese milk vetch hadn’t bloomed yet, she finally had enough material for her first video.

Relying on casual customers to buy vegetables was tiring and inefficient. Although Song Tan wanted to make money, she also enjoyed seeing people happy with her vegetables.

So, she had been planning to sell online for a long time.

Originally, she intended to rely on the blooming Chinese milk vetch to make a stunning video and go viral.

But the Chinese milk vetch was best eaten when it was just sprouting. Once it bloomed, it would be too old.

So she had to edit and compile videos of herself picking, cleaning, and selling vegetables at the market to warm up her audience.

Nowadays, with the fast pace of life and high stress, more and more people liked pastoral videos.

Though Song Tan’s video was shot on a phone with simple filters and compositions, it had the charm of her family genuinely working on the farm, and the vegetables and Chinese milk vetch looked so fresh they seemed to jump out of the screen!

She simply added some music, attached the link to her newly opened Taobao store, and titled it directly:

“Waiting for the nameless wildflower of childhood memories—Chinese Milk Vetch”

Below, she added: “Fresh and tender Chinese milk vetch seedlings are now on sale nationwide with free shipping during the promotional period! Live picking available!”

Free nationwide shipping was the limit for Song Tan, so the price was not reduced, still twenty yuan per pound.

Putting a sales link in the first video was unprecedented online. Song Tan was the only one. She didn’t know if anyone would buy it.

But, she had to try step by step.

The tender period of Chinese milk vetch was just ten days to half a month, so she’d sell as much as she could. If it didn’t sell, she’d turn it all into green manure, which was still useful!

After all, they initially planned to use the Chinese milk vetch as green manure! Selling vegetables was just a bonus.

This was about sticking to her original intention.

As for whether online shopping would work… that was uncertain.

Song Tan believed that as long as someone tried buying it, she could definitely retain customers!

That was her biggest advantage.