Vegetables grown by the family

“How much money is needed to start a life in a village?” she is often asked by her ex-coworkers. She thinks it can be much or little. If a person wants to make money in a village, the village life can be as stressful as urban existence. But she just wanted an easy and simple life and she made it.

Village Life Can be Idyllic and Hard 

In June, Zhang Ping returned to his home village after 6 years in Hangzhou, the capital of Zhejiang province. He started to work for two years in Huawei after graduating from a prestigious university in 2016. Later, he worked in finance for three years.  Last year, Zhang started his own company. Things looked good.

However, air quality, traffic congestions and crazy struggles for fame and wealth made him anxious.  He had rhinitis, which affected his normal life significantly.  

His hometown is in Chun’an, Zhejiang province, known as “a lake of a thousand islets.” The air is much fresher. He recovered gradually from rhinitis.

Before high school, he lived in the countryside. “I was so used to a life of rising with the sunrise and resting with the sunset,”he said. Now he has two to three hours for planting flowers and farm plants, two to three hours for cooking and four hours for reading books every day.  He has finished reading 10 books.  His monthly spending in Hangzhou, which was 10,000 yuan, is enough for one year of expenditure in a village.  “I grow my own vegetables and buy some meat. Other than that, I have no consumption, “ he said

However, after the 30-year-old university-educated guy came back to his home village, her parents felt disgraced. He frankly told his parents how stiff the competition in a city was.     

He had though short videos brought noises to cities but to his surprise, they were almost the primary source of entertainment for villagers.  

Many short videos idealized the rural life. In the past summer, the rice field became dry due to the draught. The harvest would not look good.

“I think of returning to a city, but not a big city. I may go to a city in Yunnan or Guizhou or live in the suburb of Hangzhou. I want to get close to the field and stay away from the downtown,”he said.

Selling Tea Leaves From Home Village

Chunsheng’s first job was a writer in an advertising company in Guangzhou after graduating from university. Her first job required much overtime and he started to feel ill after half a year. She had gastritis.  Her best-paid job was 9,000 yuan a month after tax but he could save only 2,000 yuan a month.

“My hometown is known for its white teas. In 2020, I started to sell tea leaves online through livestreaming. My side business started to take off,” he said.  His earnings from selling tea were about 10,000 yuan per month, surpassing his salary. The idea of returning to her home village occurred to her.

“If I livestream in my home village, it would attract more followers,” she wondered.  Long hours of commuting, low salary and little savings prompted her to return to her roots.

Now she made 20,000 to 30,000 yuan per month from livestreaming. “I was not used to livestreaming at the beginning. I would turn off the livestreaming once my friend shows up. Now I am used to it,” she said.

Financial pressure was lessened. “I spend a maximum of 1,000 yuan per month. If I buy something online, it would be 2,000 to 3,000 yuan a month,” she said.  

“I sleep very well now. I don’t feel a burden on my shoulders. When I was in the city, I felt sleep-deprived even if I napped after lunch sometimes,” she said.

But she had to ensure loneliness. In the village, there was no person on a road after 8 p.m. All her childhood friends are living in the seat of the county. “All I see are my dad, my mom and the delivery man. My parents urged me to get married. We often quarreled over this,” she said.

763人已贊賞 >

敬原創(chuàng)，有鈦度，得贊賞

贊賞支持

0

0

0

掃描下載App