The Garden Life of a Little Gardener

On the afternoon when Xu Qing and his wife left, the homestay welcomed a new wave of guests.

There were 12 people in total, 5 men and 7 women, all in their 60s and [-]s, and they were some members of the Phoenix Senior Art Choir.

They all came here together after reading the circle of friends of Xu's father and Xu's mother, and they were interested in the homestay.

Xu's father and Xu's mother are the backbone of the elderly choir in the city. Xu's mother sings beautifully and has first-class dancing skills, while Xu's father is good at playing Beijing Hu, and also has accordion, harmonica and other skills.

This time, the team members who had a better relationship with them couldn't hold back their emotions after seeing the pictures they posted and their circle of friends. As soon as they contacted each other, they gathered more than a dozen people.

Xu's father and Xu's mother were of course happy when old friends came. Zhou Quan saw all the acquaintances here, so he simply arranged everyone in the second entrance, and there were still many vacant rooms over there.

After these grandpas and aunts came to the B&B, they quickly got to know each other with Father Yu and Mom. It happened that these two loved operas, so the grandpas and aunts started singing in the courtyard of the B&B.

The uncles and aunts babbled and sang with a certain accent, and they were very disciplined. They only sang for a period of time in the morning or afternoon.

The antique courtyard, the old-fashioned furniture and furnishings, coupled with the Beijing accent and Chu rhyme floating out from time to time, in the current Baojia compound, it really feels like the old days.

Yu's father, Xu's mother, Xu's father and Xu's mother, and those uncles and aunts are said to live here for three or four days, and Zhou Quan will continue to be a guest here. I entrusted the business of the grocery store to my parents, and I concentrated on being the first "professional" tour guide of Baojia Homestay here.

In Bao Erlong's words, the income here is no worse than that of his grocery store, adding up two or three hundred a day in the morning and afternoon is no problem.

It doesn't matter if he doesn't have work every day, as long as he can have four or five days a week, he will be satisfied.

The rest of the time can be counted as a rest, and we also have weekends.

Bao Erlong is contented to be a tour guide, while Zhou Quan also takes care of his own flower shed and spares time to come over as a guest performer.

Chef Bao concentrates on running the homestay. After returning to the second floor, he continues to study and develop new dishes. According to the agreement, he will pass the recipes of new dishes to the company every month, and check the accounts by the way.

The days were on track like this, and day after day passed.

On this day, the village head brought a man in his forties to Baojia B&B.

Zhou Quan, who was resting in the living room, heard a sound from the door. When he went out, he was taken aback for a moment, and then excitedly said, "Uncle Awen? It's really you, you're back?"

Chen Youwen smiled when he heard the words, his simple and honest face was full of joy.

He looked at Zhouquan and looked at Chef Bao who heard the sound, scratched the back of his head and said, "Are you Ah Quan and Ah Huang? It's been so many years since I saw you all grow up, and I don't even dare to recognize you. "

"Uncle Arwen, do you think it's me who has changed the most or brother Baoyan?"

"If you want to say that the change must be the big one, after all, I have seen you when you were in college. But I still feel that he looks familiar when I look at it, too much like the master back then."

This Chen Youwen was, after all, the village chief's next-door cousin.

But his relationship with Bao's family is indeed very close, and he is the first group of people in the village to learn cooking skills from Grandpa Bao.

This Chen Youwen followed the old rules of a craftsman back then, learning art for five years and working for three years.

At that time, he was young and followed Grandpa Bao, and those who lived with the old man followed the old man to learn crafts, and the old man didn't want a penny.

After learning the craft, I went to work for the old man in the restaurant that the old man opened back then. I worked for three years without paying a penny, and then I kowtowed and became an apprentice.

Compared with the students who came to learn how to cook later on, although he had never served the old man tea, nor bowed down to the tablet of the patriarch, he was more like the old man's apprentice than a student.

Even if he went to work in a big city after he became an apprentice, this Grandpa Bao did not stay in the village.

Every time the old man's birthday and New Year's Day, there will always be gifts mailed back from outside.

For Baoyan, this uncle who lived at home since he was a child is a very warm existence in his memory.

"Uncle Awen, big cousin, you go into the house quickly, I'll make tea for you."

Several people in the room were sitting in front of the table drinking tea, the uncle of the Chen family held the teacup and said, "Your Uncle Wen knew from me that you came back to run the homestay and needed help, so he resigned from Fengtian without saying a word. , come back to help you."

Chef Bao, who was pouring tea for the elders, was taken aback when he heard the words, he looked very surprised, and then said excitedly: "Uncle, how can I bear it if you help me like this."

Chen Youwen smiled innocently when he heard the words and replied: "I didn't quit my job just to help you, so don't worry too much. The store where I used to work has changed owners, and the new boss's business philosophy makes me feel a little bit uncomfortable. Too used to it, plus there is our own chef team over there, we can’t eat alone there, I actually wanted to change jobs a long time ago. Later I learned that you converted the old house into a homestay, so let me Brother help me ask, if you are short of people here, I am still willing to come back to work, no matter how good the outside is, it is not as good as home."

"But Uncle Awen, what will Wenchang and Auntie do when you come back?"

Chen Youwen has been working abroad for nearly 20 years, most of which was spent in Fengtian, and his wife and son followed him.

A few years ago, I heard that they bought a house in Fengtian, and Wenchang also finished his university studies there and found a job. Now that Uncle Arwen is back, what will happen to his wife and children?

"Wenchang has a job in Fengtian, so I don't need to worry about how he lives as a young man. Your aunt will come back a few days later than me, and settle things over there, and go back to the village with me to take care of the elderly."

"Great, our homestay is currently short of manpower. Uncle Wen and Aunt Yan will be of great help to us when they come back."

"That's okay, let Ah Wen clean up the house in the village first. If you don't come back this year, no one will live in it. You have to burn the kang to warm the house. Let him go to work at the B&B next Monday. How do you do the work? How will you pay you? Just discuss it yourself."

Having been the village head for many years, Chen Youde knows very well when to speak and when to act stupid.

Taking advantage of the big cousin drinking tea, Zhou Quan came to his side, and said with a smile: "Big cousin, please do me a favor."

Hearing this, Chen Youde put down his teacup and said very vigilantly: "If you have something to say, just say it, don't go around the corner, when will I not help you if something happens here?"

"Actually, it's not a big deal, but recently I found that there are mice in the hotel, and they often appear near the kitchen. We also put mouse traps and mouse traps, but the effect is not very good. Those mice seem to know the cage and the mouse. The trap is as dangerous as it is, and I never get close to it. I have no choice but to think of your old cat and want to borrow it to help the town house."

It's not to blame that Zhouquan hit other people's old cats. The main reason is that the rats in Bao's old house have really become more and more rampant these days.

No one lived in the old house before, so they wouldn't come if they didn't eat and drink.

But now the kitchen is well stocked, and there are often some snacks and lo-mei in the guests' rooms, so they naturally searched for these things by smelling the smell.

The mice in the village are different from those in the city, and they are wilder and more courageous.

A few days ago, when I came here to throw out the garbage in the morning, I found that the packed garbage bags were bitten and shredded by the mice, and the garbage inside was scattered all over the ground. But these days, they can be seen in the yard in broad daylight Ran.

Hand-length mice, fat ones with a long tail, swished around the kitchen, and Zhouquan almost missed them when he served the guests.

This is not acceptable, it is neither safe nor hygienic. If the guests see it and affect the word of mouth, what if they bite a child or damage the guests' things?

But there is no way, those mice are too cunning, and the mousetrap and traps are not easy to use, and they are all defeated in front of wild mice. The rat poison is afraid to use it near the kitchen for the sake of safety. It hit the old raccoon in the big cousin's house with force.

That old cat must have been seven or eight years old at least, and it was brought back from Zhouquan's aunt's home when Zhouquan was just in college.

Since raising this cat, not only have there been no more mice in my uncle's house, but even the neighbors near their house have said that there are far fewer mice.

After realizing how powerful that raccoon cat is, every litter of its kittens has to be taken away by the villagers. It is said that the housekeeping effect is particularly good.

"Haha, what do I think it is? Don't I just want a good cat that can catch mice? It's not difficult. I'll send you the cat in a while, as well as its litter of kittens this year. When I grow up, I will send it to your side, and I guarantee that in the future, there will be no such thing as a mouse in the homestay, or the small second floor of your house."

The cousin did what he said, and he didn't finish his tea, so he called Zhou Quan to come to their house to pick up the cat, saying that he went late and passed the old cat's bedtime, so he could only wait at night.

When Zhou Quan came home with his uncle, the old cat was sleeping on the top of the kang, and its two kittens were playing happily on the kang, jumping, writhing, biting and rolling from time to time into a ball.

Seeing this, Zhou Quan's eyes lit up, and the eldest cousin picked up the sleepy old cat and put it in his arms, saying: "Our cat is fierce and obedient, it never harms the things in the house, and it has a good temper. He doesn’t catch people, but also catches mice to teach the cats, one-third of the cats in the village are his children.”

"The mice have dealt with us every day these years, and they have learned to be smart. Those mouse traps and mouse traps you made are all things we have used before. The mice have been familiar with them for a long time, so they will not be fooled. If you want to catch mice , I still have to find the native cats in our village."

The ignorant old cat was suddenly caught by the owner and sent away. It looked at Zhouquan in a daze, recognized who it was, licked the back of Zhouquan's hand, lay down in his arms, and planned to continue sleeping.

But its two kittens, seeing their mother being hugged by others, immediately jumped from the kang to Zhou Quan's body, clawing at his clothes and crawling towards their mother.

Zhou Quan hugged the old one and touched the young one, feeling very happy in his heart, thinking that it would be great if it was really easy to use and obedient as the big cousin said.

Walking home with the three cats, Zhouquan suddenly received a call from cousin Wen Li on the way.

"Hey, Ah Quan? I'm at the terminus now. Listen to me. There were a lot of people on the bus just now. They seemed to want to stay and play in our hotel. I'll give you the news as soon as I know it." Call, be prepared, there are quite a lot of people, and the bus will leave here in 5 minutes, and we will arrive at the entrance of our village in [-] minutes at most, how do you see so many people greeting you?"

While talking, Cousin Wen Li hung up the phone, and a few seconds later he sent a video to Zhou Quan.

Zhou Quan clicked on it and saw that the carriage was full of people. Most of the people inside wore uniform yellow sun hats, and they seemed to be participating in some kind of activity.

Zhou Quan roughly counted, and there are more than 20 guys wearing yellow hats that can be seen in the video alone. If you can't see clearly, you don't know how many people are there.

Zhou Quan silently recalled the inventory at the hotel in his heart, and felt that it was definitely not enough, and he would definitely have to drive out to buy it later.

While thinking this way, he called Baoyan and told him that a large group of guests were on their way, and at the same time he hurried to the hotel with the cat in his arms.

On the way, I met Chen Youwen who was coming home from here, Zhou Quan stopped him directly and said, "Uncle Awen, we will clean up the house for you later, can you please come to work early?"

It was not only Master Wen, the sous chef, who was hired ahead of time, but also the raccoon cat that had just been brought back from the uncle's house. When the cat entered the old house of Bao's house, it suddenly left the kitten and jumped directly from Zhouquan's arms. jumped out.

Just when Zhou Quan was in a daze, the old cat jumped over the old courtyard wall, and Zhou Quan, who followed closely behind, saw it chasing a fat mouse, running towards the outside of the village one after the other.

A few minutes later, Lao Lihua came back with a dead mouse in his mouth, and threw it in front of Zhouquan's eyes. Just when Zhouquan was dumbfounded, the eldest cousin of the Chen family rushed over after hearing the news, rubbed the cat's head and said, "Ah The flowers are well done."

Then he winked at Zhouquan from the side.

? ? ? ?

"What do you mean, big cousin? Your face is cramp?"

"You're just cramping. I didn't see that A'hua caught a mouse. Hurry up and give him a reward. Our A'hua only catches mice and rarely eats them. When he brings mice over, he must give them a reward, otherwise he won't catch them next time." gone."

"Oh, that's right, wait for me to go to the kitchen."

A few minutes later, Zhou Quan came back with a handful of shrimp skins, and the one fat mouse on the ground turned into two.

"Shrimp skin, good stuff, our Ah Hua likes to eat this."

Under the eyes of the big cousin, Zhouquan stepped forward to pet the cat's head, praised its ability and handed over the shrimp skin as a prize.

Those small shrimps were obviously very fond of the old cat. The lazy old cat immediately cheered up, led the kittens with a high spirit, and began to patrol around the old house of Bao's house.

So when the small yellow hat troop from the forum arrived, preparations had been made for the old Bao's house, and the guests were given the best service with the fullest enthusiasm.

After two days of living in the homestay, the little yellow hat team left with a lot of satisfaction.

In the evening, Zhou Quan drew the curtains early, and crouched on the kang counting the banknotes in his hands with a face full of money.

After a week of trial operation, the B&B has received a total of 43 guests. Excluding the rest of the activities, only the board and lodging, each person’s consumption is about 800 yuan. Carrying 200 or 300 yuan of lo-mei and walking.

After deducting costs and labor expenses, excluding the cost of housing renovation, the net profit is definitely more than 5%, and the higher the occupancy rate of the homestay, the lower the cost. According to this momentum, it will only get better and better in the future.

Smilingly, he counted and counted the banknotes in his hand, bundled up the banknotes carefully and handed them to Chef Bao, and said, "Brother Baoyan, I will order and bundle them for you, and you can take them to the town tomorrow to deposit them." stand up."

Chef Bao, who was working on the computer, looked up and said, "Keep it with you, the homestay always has to buy goods, and it's not convenient to go to the bank to withdraw money."

"Hey, you can't keep it with me all the time, you find a place to store it yourself."

Chef Bao shook his big feet under the quilt and didn't answer.

"Talking to you, how about a reaction?"

After hearing this, Chef Bao finally looked away from the screen, and asked Zhou Quan: "Every time I finish shopping, who do I pay for the food and meat?"

"its me."

"Who pays for electricity, internet, and garbage disposal?"

"also me."

"Who is our housekeeper?"

"still me."

"Okay, you take the money."

"Oh, then I'll put it in the rightmost drawer of the chest. You have the key."

.........

"Uh, what was I struggling with just now? Forget it, I can't remember, let's turn off the lights and go to sleep."