The Scenery of the Lake and the Mountain

by Zhou Daxin

  Nuannuan became familiar with showers when working in Beijing, so she finished quickly and waited for the others to finish in her uniform. After the young people came out in their uniforms, Nuannuan had them fall into two lines and stood in front of them. That was how she was trained in Beijing. She spoke up: “Now that we are in the provincial city, no matter what work you do, you must not put shame on yourself, or people will look down upon Chu Wang Village!”

  The next morning after breakfast, Xue Chuanxin arranged for a few departmental heads in charge of different jobs in the hotel to take the young people to start training. Afterwards, he led Nuannuan to the manager’s office. Nuannuan felt nervous again, but she said to herself: “There is nothing to be afraid of! There is nothing that you can’t learn once you put in effort! You have run Chu Di Ju well, in here, the job will be similar, but with a higher standard.”

  A female deputy manager was in charge of Nuannuan’s training. Xue Chuanxin called her Big Sister Han, so Nuannuan did the same. Big Sister Han was quite amicable with Xue Chuanxin present. However, after he left, she revealed her impatience and scorn. She said to Nuannuan: “20 days is not enough to learn the management of a four-star hotel!”

  Nuannuan knew from her tone that she was one of those people who would only show respect to the rich. To deal with such people, you must at least pretend to be rich yourself. She had met many managers in Beijing and she knew that most of them were, instead of sharing the ownership of a hotel, were no more than employees. Therefore, she answered: “Big Sister Han, I am not here to become a manager of a four star-hotel like you in twenty days. My family runs a resort ourselves, maybe one day I can get Big sister Han to help us manage it!”

  The response was quite humble, yet also delivered the message of her ownership. As expected, Big sister Han did not answer quickly. However, after a short while, her attitude changed with a smile: “Hotel management is no rocket science. We just need to make sure that our guests have a good sleep at night, good meals and good time during the day. Let’s begin with the basic standard of managing work in the reception.”

  Nuannuan knew this was her opportunity to learn about useful skills. When she was working in Beijing, she wanted to find such an opportunity to learn, but had failed. Therefore, she was determined to make the most out of the training. She listened to Big Sister Han’s instructions and observed every detail of how she dealt with her job. She took all kinds of notes about things that she found worth remembering and went through every regulation, rule, procedure and assessment standard. She had never been exposed to such knowledge: despite her experience in Chu Di Ju, she found such a technical managing system here incomparable. For example, as a staff member in the hotel, one has to use two different languages: body language and spoken language. When using the body language, one must demonstrate the energetic, modest and amicable style of working; as for the spoken language, special attention must be paid to speak in a perfect pronunciation, intonation, manner and speed, the phrasing must be carefully designed as well.

  To Nuannuan, the training was quite intriguing and she became more curious and interested as it proceeded. Apart from what she had to learn from Big Sister Han, she bought a book Modern Hotel Management from a bookstore, and she regularly visited different departments in the hotel: she would go to the reception and ask about work in concierge, luggage care, check-in/check-out, and cashier; she would go to housekeeping and learn about regular procedures in dealing with frequent situations in the rooms; she would go to finance and familiarize herself with internal settlement, auditing and cash flow; she would go to security and try to understand how to deal with emergencies …

  Big sister Han was happy with Nuannuan’s active learning. She offered her a sincere praise: “You are the best pupil I have ever seen!”

  Nuannuan smiled and said: “I have no choice! If I cannot do well here, I cannot make money through the resort we run. The loss will be all mine!”

  Twenty days passed quickly. In the last two days of training, Xue Chuanxin led Big Sister Han, Nuannuan and the department heads into the hotel to hold an assessment session of the 40 young people. The result was fine. Though some were still not good enough at their job, everyone passed. Xue Chuanxin was pleased: “Good. They can all start working once they are home.”

  Nuannuan was relieved: at least they did not bring shame on the village.

  On the pier of Chu Wang Village, as usual, not many people were around. When Nuannuan and the 40 young people, all dressed up in their new uniform, stepped overboard, Spotty Laosi did not recognize them. He stared at them in curiosity. Nuannuan called out: “Big brother!”

  He cried out in full surprise: “Yikes! It’s you! I thought you were some troops!”

  Xichuan, who ran a small grocery by the pier, also shouted out: “Good heavens, how you have all changed in such a short time outside of the village!”

  Nuannuan had everyone fall into two lines. They walked towards Shang Xin Yuan with perfect synchronization. People in the village, old and young, all went out to look at them in curiosity. At that moment, Nuannuan suddenly had an epiphany: “Changes are possible through training. 20 days ago I took away a group of young peasants. After the training in Zhongyuan Hotel, they have turned into two lines of young professional staff. Next step, I should take the training to those already working in Chu Di Ju.”

  In front of Shang Xin Yuan, Nuannuan announced Xue Chuanxin’s requirements: “8 a.m. tomorrow after breakfast, you must all report to work here. Now you can go home.”

  After the 40 young people left, laughter and praises of amazement could be heard everywhere in the village. As she walked home, Nuannuan felt proud: “It is us Kuangs who brought such happiness to the village!”

  When she arrived at the courtyard, her mother-in-law was trimming vegetables. Dangen was leaning against her knees. He was playing with the long-ear rabbit they kept in the courtyard with a piece of pak choi leaf. Hearing Nuannuan’s steps, her mother-in-law raised her head and asked who the visitor was. Dangen was the first to recognize her. He ran towards her, calling “Mommy, Mommy!” Nuannuan opened her arms and held her son as tight as possible.

  Chapter 40

  In order to put all her attention to the business in Shang Xin Yuan, Nuannuan had put Shallot in charge of Chu Di Ju and raised her monthly salary to 800 yuan. Shallot was very grateful. She said to Nuannuan: “My sister, you have never treated me as the silly peasant’s wife that I am, who knows of nothing but sorghums! Even if you do not raise my payment, I will do my best to work for you! Without your Chu Di Ju, I will be trapped in my fields, and I will never have heard of a hostel! Go do what you have to do in Shang Xin Yuan, I will spare no effort in Chu Di Ju!”

  The third day after Nuannuan and her 40 young staffs started working in Shang Xin Yuan, the first group of guests sent by the PR department of Five Continents Travel Group had arrived, six families in total. Their manners and styles were the most exquisite that Nuannuan had ever seen. Each family took up five rooms: the couple stayed in two main bedrooms and one living room; the child and the nanny each took one bedroom. Three of the six families brought their dogs, so each asked for one more bedroom for the dog. Xue Chuanxin set up the price of 500 yuan for one room, so each family would be paying 2,000 to 3,000 yuan every day. What an extravagant life! Nuannuan asked Xue Chuanxin if he had acknowledged them fully about the accommodation fee. Xue Chuanxin laughed and said: “Don’t you worry about whether or not they can afford this! Tell you the truth, they are all big-time bosses! They earn tens of thousands every day! What is a thousand or two yuan to them? Be assured, Shang Xin Yuan is built to make money from those rich people!”

  The guests were quite selective about food as well, and they specifically asked for delicacies from the mountain and fresh products from the lake. Xue Chuanxin also set up an unbelievably high price for the food: 80 yuan for steamed local chicken with fiddleheads, 90 yuan for red pepper and carp from the Red Lake, 108 yuan for a plate of
lake shrimps, and 280 yuan for wild mushrooms with softshell turtles. But their guests were not hesitant about ordering: each family had at least five to six dishes for every meal. The profit from food was quite high. As the partner of Shang Xin Yuan, Nuannuan was of course happy about making the extra money. However, she felt slightly guilty because the dishes were not worth as much in the village. Knowing about her guilt, Xue Chuanxin smiled and said to her: “With your kind heart, you can never do real business. Remember, the quality of a good businessman does not lie in his heart, but in the revenue he makes! We have provided them food from natural, unpolluted sources; and such food does not even exist in the cities. Of course they should pay us more!”

  In order to extend the guests’ stay in Shang Xin Yuan, Xue Chuanxin carefully planned their visit: on the first day they went to see the Great Wall of Chu; on the second day they visited the Lingyan Temple; on the third day they discovered the excavation shack and the farewell shack with Xue Chuanxin’s two-hour long introduction to the progress of archaeological research, then they examined the replicates of the relics one by one; on the fourth day they saw the mysterious mist in the center of the lake; on the fifth day the male guests went fishing by the lake whilst the females went to pick mushrooms on the hills; on the sixth day they experienced farm life in the fields and purchased green groceries. The six families stayed for six full days in Shang Xin Yuan. Nuannuan could not help admiring Xue Chuanxin’s outstanding skills of detaining and pleasing his guests. Upon their departure, the six families all seemed more than satisfied.

  Nuannuan had the finance office calculate the rough income and the number was close to 80,000 yuan. What a success, and in just six days! At this rate it would be no time for them to earn the investment back. Moreover, to Nuannuan’s surprise, shortly after the departure of the first group, the second group of more than 20 guests had arrived. It was a group of younger wealthy people; all of them worked as mid-level executives in a big company. There was no child in the group and neither of the men and women seemed to have been married, since they asked for one room each. The new group of guests enjoyed singing, dancing and other entertainments. They stayed up almost every night to sing and dance. They spent much time playing poker, Chinese chess and Mahjong as well. Therefore, they would not start sightseeing until 1 p.m. every day. Apart from all the tourist sites, they volunteered to go on many other activities such as adventures in the Old Elephant Ridge in the South Mountain, tours into the forest in the North Mountain to see ancient trees, hiking on the hill to pick up rocks with strange marks, fishing trips in the Red Lake, cooking experience with local sweet potatoes and corns, photography with children and seniors in the village, anything they could think of, they would make sure to enjoy. Xue Chuanxin asked Nuannuan to do everything she could to satisfy their demands, as long as the efforts would extend their stay. Of course Nuannuan understood what he meant.

  The second group stayed for seven days. It was not before their departure had Nuannuan understood that they were here for a special vacation arranged by their company for the mid-level executives. The group brought in an income close to 90,000 yuan. Pleased, Nuannuan said to Xue Chuanxin: “You are such a brilliant businessman! You have sent so many rich guests here!”

  Xue Chuanxin laughed and answered: “I am not the brilliant one here. It’s my company and its brilliant sales department. They are highly professional. They analyzed the market and decided our target clients. Afterwards, they would send letters and visit them in person to make sure that they become our clients.”

  Though the third group consisted of only two guests, Xue Chuanxin paid much more attention to them than to the previous groups. He took a boat to the east bank to welcome them himself. Moreover, he gave Nuannuan a special instruction: “You must make sure the security is perfect; we will not receive any other guest and tell people that the place is in renovation; the two guests will check in without registration of name or any payment; no one except for staffs of Shang Xin Yuan should be allowed inside!”

  “No payment even for food?” Nuannuan did not understand. “Won’t we lose money like this?”

  Xue Chuanxin smiled as he looked at her: “We are doing business here. Will a good business lose money?”

  How to make money by not charging? Nuannuan found herself more than confused.

  Their guests arrived in the late afternoon that day. One was a man in his late fifties. He wore a big pair of sunglasses that covered his face from being recognized; the other was a young woman in her twenties, she was very good-looking and dressed herself in fine clothes, with an exquisite hairstyle. Xue Chuanxin himself took them into a suite: one living room in the center with two bedrooms on each side. He even poured them water himself. Nuannuan guessed that they were a father and his daughter. During dinner, Xue Chuanxin had Nuannuan offer them the menu herself. Much to her surprise, the man did not take off his sunglasses even for eating.

  Nuannuan told Kaitian about the guests at home that night. Kaitian found them quite strange as well: how can they let two guests occupy the whole of Shang Xin Yuan? But he was not bothered: “Following Mr. Xue’s instructions and he’ll bring us money.”

  Kaitian rarely went to Shang Xin Yuan because of his work in the village committee.

  The two guests were very quiet. Most of the time they would stay in the suite and occasionally they would take a walk in the courtyard. But they always went back to the room after a short while. Nuannuan asked whether or not they would like to see the Great Wall of Chu. The young woman thanked her and said that they would rather take a good rest and relax. One evening after dinner, the young woman told Xue Chuanxin that they wanted to take a stroll by the lakeside. Xue Chuanxin hastened Nuannuan to follow them with two security guards: they must walk behind them, yet they must also keep a fair distance. Nuannuan nodded and took the two security guards out. At that time, everyone in the village had gone to sleep so it was very quiet around. The crescent was hanging in the night sky, rendering a moist, dim light over the misty lake. The man and the woman walked alongside the lake slowly; the water of the lake lightly touched the bank from time to time, resonating with their soft words. Nuannuan could not hear what they were talking about, but once in a while she could hear the young woman giggle. She could tell the intimate relationship between the two. She thought to herself: they are not like other fathers and daughters.

  It did not take a long time for the crescent to descend and reveal the stars that filled the whole night sky. The young woman, discovering the change, happily cried out: “Look at all these stars!”

  The man seemed quite pleased, too. He spoke out loudly: “What great beauty! This is how an unpolluted sky looks like! It offers you peace and clarity; it makes you forget about your gains and losses!”

  The two spent some time looking at the night sky. After a while, they sat down by the side of the lake. The man waved a hand at Nuannuan, asking her to come close. She realized that he had eventually taken off his sunglasses. It was too dark to see his face. The man asked Nuannuan in a kind voice: “Young lady, do you have any legends here about Qu Yuan?”

  “Qu Yuan?” Nuannuan did not react for a short while.

  “Qu Yuan, the one we commemorate on Dragon Boat Festival, where everyone eats Zongzi (a traditional Chinese rice-pudding).”

  Nuannuan suddenly remembered Qu Yuan’s story told by Jiuding and Uncle Tan. She answered: “They say that Qu Yuan visited this area before.”

  The man seemed to be speaking to himself: “Yes, I believe so. This is the birthplace of the Chu people. When Qin invaded here, Qu Yuan must have come to the frontline here, an important minister he was. Maybe he had even written some of his poems here.”

  Nuannuan remembered that other tourists also told her about Qu Yuan’s Lament of a Nation. She wanted to share it with him, but she did not speak up, worrying that she would make a mistake.

  “Suppose that this area really had not changed since ancient times. When Qu Yuan took a walk here by th
e side of the lake, his mind half on the war and half on the political affairs at home. What would he have felt?” mumbled the man.

  The young woman patted his head and said: “Alright, alright. Stop talking about a dead man. Let’s think of something nice and fun.”

  It was past midnight when the guests returned to Shang Xin Yuan. Xue Chuanxin was waiting in front of the gate. Nuannuan did not go home until she saw Xue Chuanxin take them back to their suite. When she was at home, both Kaitian and Dangen were asleep. She went into bed, but could not even close her eyes for a long time. She could not help but think of how the young woman patted the man on his head: that was not what a daughter would do to her father …

  After the two guests left, another group arrived and took up all 40 rooms. Everyone in the group seemed to be an official: they called each other by the name of their high positions and acted in perfect manner. The schedule was well defined and everyone followed it strictly. They stayed for five days and brought Shang Xin Yuan an income of more than 20,000 yuan from the accommodation fee alone. On the day of their departure, Xue Chuanxin asked Nuannuan quietly: “See? Are we losing money at all?”

  Nuannuan suddenly started to understand what he meant. She asked him: “Do you mean that without the two guests from last time, we will not have this group of guests? Without the free stay of those two, these guests won’t be paying us all this money?”

  Xue Chuanxin laughed and said: “Great. Our boss Ms. Chu here has learnt to use her head and see things as an inter-related system.”

  The group of guests that followed surprised Nuannuan even more. One afternoon Xue Chuanxin asked Nuannuan to go with him to the pier and welcome a new group of visitors. He gave her a mysterious smile and said: “We must be very careful with this group.”