Chapter 137: I Want to Form a Complaint!
Almost everyone who came to the fruit and vegetable greenhouse for the pick-your-own activity came as a family unit.
There were several young children in the group, and along the way, Jian Xingxia reminded everyone to be careful when picking so they wouldn’t get hurt or intentionally damage the produce.
“Eating fresh fruits and vegetables is very good for our bodies, so everyone needs to make friends with them, protect them, and cherish them when eating them!”
Jian Xingxia was actually quite good at coaxing children.
Except for the rebellious teenager who was too engrossed in his mobile game to pay any attention to her, all the other children chirped in unison, “Okay—”
The parents were absolutely delighted. Several of them were residents from the Jiahe Garden complex who had purchased Jian Xingxia’s roasted chestnuts and fruits before, so they had deep faith in the quality of her produce.
Although the shaded path wasn’t as dazzling and eye-catching as the Berry and Blossom Pathway, the lush, verdant trees, the wild flowers visible everywhere, and the thick green grass underfoot made everyone feel entirely refreshed in mind and body.
After walking a few hundred meters, everyone was in high spirits and didn’t find the distance long at all.
Arriving in front of the greenhouse, Jian Xingxia stood still, turned around, and officially brief everyone on safety and picking guidelines.
“Everyone is free to sample a reasonable amount, but I don’t recommend eating too much. Otherwise, you might not be able to tuck into our guesthouse’s specialty farmhouse dishes in a little while!”
Jian Xingxia said with a laugh. She knew it was inevitable that some people would want to taste-test. Rather than stressing herself out trying to watch over a dozen people with just her own two eyes, it was better to be completely open and upfront with everyone.
“During our trial run, you can taste-test for free once you step inside. If you want to take anything home, it will be twenty percent off according to our price list.”
“Once the trial run concludes, the greenhouse will be split into two separate options: an all-you-can-eat admission ticket and a pick-by-the-catty option.”
Someone in the group nodded vigorously. “We hurried over precisely because we heard this news, just fearing we’d miss out on the trial run!”
Jian Xingxia glanced at Qiqi’s mother.
She already knew that after seeing the guesthouse’s pick-your-own price list, Qiqi’s mother had immediately posted a status on her WeChat Moments, telling everyone that admission was free for taste-testing during the trial run and that any produce taken home would be twenty percent off.
Then she had added a line—Today’s picking session starts uniformly at ten in the morning. If you miss it, you miss out on this discount!
A great number of people in her social circle were parents of Qiqi’s kindergarten classmates, as well as homeowners from the residential complex.
They had originally wanted to wait for feedback from the first batch of guests, but the moment they saw that the greenhouse picking session had a specific time limit, they instantly couldn’t sit still and hurriedly drove over.
After all, the road wasn’t too long. Though it was a bit remote, it only took half an hour by car.
But a massive bargain like free taste-testing with no admission fee wasn’t something that came around every day.
A heavily built man in the picking group laughed. “Manor Owner, you’re taking a massive loss then. With a big frame like mine, I can easily pack away a few catties even without trying. You’ve got strawberries and blueberries in there—aren’t you afraid I’ll eat you out of business?”
The burly man had a cheerful personality. Following the example of A-Feng and Sanniang, he jokingly called Jian Xingxia the Manor Owner.
“Haha, even the finest wine fears a deep alley. I have absolute confidence in my picking greenhouse, so my only fear is that no one comes! Eat as much as you like, big brother. If you enjoy it, just say a few kind words for our manor and help pull in a few more guests!”
The burly man gave Jian Xingxia a big thumbs-up. “The Manor Owner does business with real generosity! This business of yours is bound to explode!”
Amidst the conversation, Jian Xingxia had already opened the greenhouse door, allowing everyone to scan their faces one by one to enter.
“This is our smart greenhouse system, using facial recognition. During the uniformly open hours of the greenhouse, everyone can enter and exit freely. Today is our trial run, so the open hours are from ten to ten-thirty. After the official opening, it will be extended to one hour.”
If the hours at the greenhouse were too long, it would easily expose flaws. Furthermore, Jian Xingxia didn’t have too many staff members right now and couldn’t spare a dedicated person to stand guard here, so she had set this rule.
There was a minor stir in the group, but no one voiced any complaints. After all, nowadays, whether it was a hotel or an amusement park, everything required opening a card, registering, or scanning a QR code. Parks that allowed re-entry either relied on wristbands or facial recognition… so Jian Xingxia’s greenhouse face-scan wasn’t too difficult to accept.
Thus, everyone lined up to enter one by one.
However, the moment the very first person stepped inside, the line came to a grinding halt—
The people at the back were bewildered. “What’s going on? Why aren’t we moving?”
Meanwhile, the first two or three people who had already seen the sights inside the greenhouse were completely rooted to the spot in sheer shock.
“Mamma mia! So much fruit!”
“Heavens! Are these actually tomatoes? There are more tomatoes than leaves on the vine!”
“People usually say ‘a speck of red amidst a sea of green,’ but this is a speck of green amidst a sea of red!”
“These strawberries! They’re larger than my baby’s fist!”
As the people in front gasped in amazement, those at the back craned their necks, wishing they could literally launch their eyes forward to see things clearly.
“Keep walking! Move along! Let us see too!”
Jian Xingxia hurriedly nudged the first guest along before the line finally started moving again.
Once the entire group was inside, a collective wave of “wows” instantly erupted.
The burly man stayed true to his word. The moment he crossed the threshold, he plucked a few strawberries as large as chicken eggs and began stuffing his face.
“My goodness! So sweet! So fragrant! Why does this taste completely different from the ones I’ve eaten before?”
From another row, a child squealed in surprise, “Mom, look at this tomato, it’s so pretty! I want to eat this one!”
There were also adults secretly nudging their children. “Eat the blueberries, blueberries are expensive! Normally it’s 19.9 for a tiny box. Eat a few more handfuls here and we’ll break even.”
Jian Xingxia caught all of this with her ears, but she didn’t utter a word to stop them.
As long as the food actually went into their stomachs, she didn’t care how much they ate or how they ate it. She had long since activated the greenhouse’s automated monitoring function. If anyone maliciously damaged the plants, the greenhouse would record it, preserve the video, and notify her.
Fortunately, because her manor deep in the mountains was located somewhere remote, it had effectively filtered out a significant portion of idle troublemakers who loved to meddle with things. Those who could specifically drive out to the mountains for a vacation usually appreciated nature, and no one in this batch of guests deliberately damaged the picking greenhouse.
The half-hour window flew by, and Jian Xingxia notified everyone to line up to exit and weigh their harvests.
To Jian Xingxia’s surprise, the picking group of fifteen people had filled all fifteen baskets to the brim. Some people had even used plastic bags or their clothes to cradle a massive amount of fruits and vegetables.
The burly man from earlier, his mouth stained a deep crimson and still stuffed with a mountain of strawberries, placed his small bamboo basket and the fruit cradled in his clothes onto the electronic scale in front of Jian Xingxia.
“I want to complain!”
