Chapter 95: The Miraculous Picking Greenhouse
Jian Xingxia absolutely adored the left-behind elders of the village. Without her having to utter a single word, the grandpas and grandmas had arranged everything for her flawlessly.
Over the next two days, sure enough, no one came to cause trouble again.
On the third day, the paving of the road was basically completed. It was even better than Jian Xingxia had imagined—not only was a concrete road laid down, but trees and shrubs were also planted along both sides. There were even streetlights!
Jian Xingxia was utterly stunned.
She had been wondering earlier; out of the three-kilometer reward road, the other two-plus kilometers had been finished in ten minutes. Although that part was a dirt path, it was paved with crushed gravel and featured flowers and grass. This main grand road, on the other hand, consumed three days of time, yet it only laid down concrete—it hadn’t felt particularly extraordinary.
But looking at it now, even the streetlights and green landscaping had been completely done, and both sides of the concrete road featured sidewalks paved with stone slabs. Now Jian Xingxia was highly satisfied.
The construction crew over at the greenhouse had covered it with plastic thin membrane long ago. The construction over the past two days took place entirely inside, and though Jian Xingxia wandered over a few times, she wasn’t able to see the situation within. After the mung bean soup and peaches were returned completely untouched, Jian Xingxia stopped delivering food. However, she still boiled some cooled water and left it over there. Similarly, they didn’t drink it.
On the morning of the fourth day—to be precise, during the final few hours of the $3 x 24-hour window—the construction crew finally vacated the site. The two large trucks quietly drove out of the small mountain village, leaving behind a completely rejuvenated farmstead.
She had already looked over the grand road, so Jian Xingxia impatiently charged into the greenhouse.
A 500-square-meter greenhouse wasn’t actually too massive, measuring 10 meters wide and 50 meters long. The moment she entered the picking greenhouse’s main door, Jian Xingxia felt a wave of slight coolness. The temperature inside the greenhouse was only 22°C, significantly lower than the temperature outside.
The interior of the greenhouse was divided into four aisles, which were only 0.5 meters wide. On both sides of the aisles lay the planting zones. The width of the planting zones adjacent to both sides of the greenhouse was one meter, while the three sections in the middle were two meters wide. It just so happened that there were aisles on both sides, so the width did not hinder picking.
Right now, within the eight planting zones, four common types of pickable plants had already been cultivated: tomatoes, fruit cucumbers, strawberries, and blueberries.
Among them, tomatoes were the most numerous, featuring four varieties—red, yellow, green, and one with purple stripes—each taking up one ridge. There were also two types of strawberries; one variety was large, looking a bit like Dandong big strawberries, while the other variety was slightly smaller but had a more regular fruit shape, looking exceptionally beautiful. The remaining space held one ridge each of fruit cucumbers and blueberries.
Jian Xingxia looked at the fruits inside the picking greenhouse in disbelief—these weren’t even from the same season!
The system issued a notification at the appropriate time:
[Intelligent Constant-Temperature Picking Greenhouse: Powered by solar energy to regulate the interior temperature, humidity, and lighting. The initial plants are selected from common varieties of the current world. The Estate Owner may use Management Points to swap out varieties.]
[The Intelligent Constant-Temperature Picking Greenhouse can adjust the status of the plants ridge by ridge. It can bloom or bear fruit across all four seasons. Regulating it does not require Management Points, but a sufficient supply of fertilizer must be provided.]
Jian Xingxia walked a full loop before she finally spotted a composting pit at the very back of the greenhouse. It actually used ecological organic fertilizer too!
The bright, dripping cherry tomatoes and the large strawberries that were rare to see in this season made Jian Xingxia’s mouth water instinctively. Plucking a strawberry that was as large as a chicken’s egg, Jian Xingxia took a bite.
Heavens above! This was far too delicious!
This texture and flavor tasted even more delicious than the 90-yuan-a-catty large strawberries bought by the university student Liang Chengcheng! The fruit flesh was soft, waxy, and delicate, practically melting the moment it entered her mouth, and the melted flesh was packed with aroma, yielding a sweetness that was rich yet refreshing.
Jian Xingxia plucked three in a row, unable to stop eating. The consequence was that when she ate a blueberry next, she squinted straight from the sourness.
In reality, the blueberries in the greenhouse tasted sweet and sour, with more sweetness than tartness. However, there was no helping the fact that the strawberry’s flavor had been far too fragrant and sweet, causing Jian Xingxia to be caught off guard and dazed momentarily by the sour contrast.
She unscrewed the cooled water she carried with her, took two sips to cleanse her palate, and only then continued to sample the other fruits. Eating the blueberries again, they indeed weren’t sour anymore.
In Jian Xingxia’s memory, blueberries were an expensive fruit. Although Liang Chengcheng frequently shared them with her, she had never bought them herself. This time, she could grab them by the handful to eat.
Jian Xingxia really wanted to invite Liang Chengcheng over again—she could finally treat that silly Orange to blueberries too. However, since the farmstead had undergone such massive changes in a short time, Liang Chengcheng would definitely grow curious. Jian Xingxia didn’t want to lie to Liang Chengcheng, so she wouldn’t invite her over for the time being. Still, since there were so many fruits in the picking greenhouse, she could pluck them and mail a portion to Liang Chengcheng.
Jian Xingxia plucked a small basket of strawberries, eating while attempting to use the virtual panel to adjust the various data of the greenhouse.
“Increase humidity, up, up, up…” Within a few minutes, mist blanketed the greenhouse, looking a bit like a bathroom during a shower, just not that hot.
“Increase temperature, up, up, up…” Now it really resembled a bathroom.
“Increase lighting, up, up, up…” Lights lit up all across the greenhouse, and the sensation felt exactly like standing inside the sun.
Jian Xingxia quickly adjusted everything back to normal. Within a few minutes, the greenhouse returned to its original state. Jian Xingxia set it to a level two gentle breeze, 55% humidity, and 22°C temperature, and it indeed felt far more comfortable.
After playing inside the greenhouse for a good long while, Jian Xingxia’s phone rang. It was Hu Da calling: “Xiaxia, come over to the main gate for a moment. The villagers have delivered things to you.”
The main gate?
Jian Xingxia quickly ran back to the old house, but looking out, there was no one at the front door! Just as she was about to call and ask, she remembered—the main gate Hu Da spoke of couldn’t possibly be the gate barrier at the end of the grand road, could it?
Jian Xingxia immediately opened her phone to check—before leaving, the construction crew had given her a user manual, and through a mini-program, she could view the camera over by the gate barrier. Looking at it, sure enough, there were people standing by the gate barrier.
She quickly hopped onto her tricycle, chug-chug-chug… oh wait, the road wasn’t bumpy anymore, so riding the vehicle didn’t make a chug-chug-chug sound anymore. She arrived at the gate barrier exceptionally smoothly.
At the main intersection, Hu Da, Hu Lin, and a few others were waiting right there. There was also a sheep next to them, and something was moving around inside a woven sack, looking as though there were also chickens. Additionally, there were several tubs of oil and two bamboo baskets. Aside from the timber and fish which hadn’t been fulfilled yet, all the things promised as compensation by the troublemakers yesterday were here.
Hu Da wiped away the sweat brought out by the heat on his forehead. “Xiaxia, the things are all here. Old Chen said he’ll call you when he hauls the fish ponds.”
“Ah, great! Thank you all so much.”
Jian Xingxia opened the gate barrier, and Hu Da, Hu Lin, and the others helped load the items onto Jian Xingxia’s tricycle.
Hu Da asked Jian Xingxia, “Xiaxia, is this railing of yours electrified?”
Mmh? Jian Xingxia was puzzled. “What?”
As a village official, Hu Da had a duty to popularize the rules: “Xiaxia, nowadays, whether it’s a fish pond, an orchard, or a forestry yard in the village, electric fences cannot be installed.”
“I didn’t install one.”
Hu Lin said awkwardly, “Seeing that you weren’t here just now, we wanted to deliver the things directly to your house. In the end, the moment we reached out to touch it, this thing was electrified.”
Jian Xingxia reached out her hand and touched the gate barrier. This gate barrier was a retractable model, two and a half meters high, split into two sides. When closed normally, it looked like an iron fence. After Jian Xingxia opened it, the gate barrier retracted to both sides.
Jian Xingxia touched it; there was no electricity. She tried closing the gate barrier again, and touching it herself, there was still no electricity.
Hu Da also reached out to touch it. “Huh, there’s no electricity.”
Hu Lin and the others also reached out to touch it one by one. “Strange, it’s not electrified now.”
Jian Xingxia already had a guess in her heart—it was likely because she wasn’t present and hadn’t granted transit permission, so the gate barrier discharged electricity. This was simply fantastic.
But on the surface, she still had to say, “What’s going on? I wonder if there’s a current leakage. I’ll find someone to come take a look in a couple of days.”
Hu Lin and the others muttered sheepishly, offered their apologies again, and left.
Hu Da asked at the very end, “Xiaxia, when is your homestay starting its trial operations? You need to come to the village to register and handle some paperwork.”
“All right,” Jian Xingxia accepted. Now that the construction crew was gone, she would set to work renovating the first floor.
