Chapter 128: Grand Opening of the Guesthouse
The car slowly approached and came to a stop in front of the red rope.
The villagers of Lu’an Village lined up and laid the red rope across the hood of the car. Then, serving as the villagers’ representative, Hu Da cut the red rope with a pair of golden scissors—the ribbon-cutting ceremony was complete!
The villagers presented a fruit basket containing various local specialties from Lu’an Village.
Inside were seasonal fruits, fresh vegetables, sun-dried goods, and wild mountain flowers, with a little bit taken from each variety. On top of that was a handful of freshly harvested golden wheat ears, two small jars of pickled radishes and sour cucumbers made by the villagers, and a small bottle of locally produced tea oil.
Luo Yang and Xiao Ya were surprised. “What is this?”
Hu Da squeezed through with an apologetic smile, explaining, “Hello there, I am Hu Daxing, the Party Branch Secretary of Lu’an Village. On behalf of Lu’an Village and Xingxia Manor, I welcome you!”
“This flower basket is our gift to the very first guest of Xingxia Manor. We hope you have a wonderful time here!”
Xiao Ya was already overjoyed—before they had even set foot inside the manor, they had already received a gift.
Luo Yang was also quite surprised. “It’s for us?”
“Yes,” Hu Da smiled. “Rest assured, in my capacity as the Party Branch Secretary of Lu’an Village, I guarantee you that Xingxia Manor’s operations are legal, fully compliant, and carry clearly marked prices. There will absolutely be no scams or deceptive practices. If any arise, you can file a complaint at Lu’an Village’s Party-Masses Service Center, and we will handle it for you immediately.”
Xiao Ya’s eyes were sharp, noticing that on the red vests worn by Hu Da and the few staff members beside him, there were actually Party emblems pinned.
The comfort level in her heart, which had just upgraded from a trepidatious sixty points to an eighty after receiving the gift, instantly skyrocketed into a two-hundred-percent sense of absolute security!
With even the village Party secretary and the service center getting involved, Luo Yang couldn’t help but feel a wave of respect—now this was the correct way to develop a rural economy!
Entering the mountain was the main priority, so Hu Da had the villagers clear the path. “Ahead lies the immersive ancient-style farmhouse—Xingxia Manor. Please enjoy a pleasant playtime, you two.”
Luo Yang and Xiao Ya burst into laughter, voicing their thanks repeatedly, and drove deeper into the mountains following the directives and road signs.
The distance of over two kilometers took barely a few minutes, and before long, they arrived in front of the barrier gate.
Unlike the bustling scene at the village entrance, only a fourteen- or fifteen-year-old boy stood before the barrier. He had his hair tied in a small topknot and wore an outfit that resembled a waiter from an ancient period drama. He was currently stepping forward with a beaming smile.
“Greetings, honored guests! May I ask if you are travelers heading to Xingxia Manor? Do you happen to have a reservation?”
Luo Yang rolled down the window and scrutinized A-Feng’s attire, feeling intensely surprised and delighted. “Oh! It really is an immersive ancient-style farmhouse! This young lad’s outfit doesn’t show a single flaw!”
Xiao Ya leaned her head out of the car window, showing A-Feng the messages on her phone. “I’ve been in touch with Owner Xiaxia of Xingxia Manor. She said the guest rooms are already fully booked, but she told me to arrive early. If the guests who booked for nine o’clock haven’t arrived by then, she’ll prioritize arranging a room for us.”
This was exactly why Xiao Ya had arrived so early—generally speaking, people visiting an agritainment spot rarely arrived before nine, so she planned to snatch this very last promotional spot.
A-Feng put on a show of glancing at the phone screen a couple of times. In truth, he couldn’t understand a thing on it; he had never used this bizarre little gadget before. It resembled a mirror, able to reflect a person’s image even when dark, and it could actually light up!
Back when Owner Xiaxia was training him, it had thoroughly amazed him.
However, just because he hadn’t used it didn’t mean A-Feng couldn’t recognize patterns. He had clearly noticed that next to a few lines of green and white text, there was an illustration the owner had shown him before. He knew that was the avatar of the young mistress owner—even though it was a big fat cat and looked nothing like her at all.
Seeing the familiar illustration, A-Feng nodded. It appeared this was indeed an honored guest with a reservation.
A-Feng scanned his face in front of the barrier gate’s facial recognition camera, and the barrier smoothly lifted open.
A-Feng directed, “After entering the manor, the open ground on both sides of the path is available for parking. Please park according to the markings.”
Luo Yang and Xiao Ya waved to A-Feng. “Goodbye, little fri… uh, no, little brother!”
Luo Yang quickly slipped into his role for the immersive ancient-style farmhouse, looking even more invested than Xiao Ya.
Xiao Ya was incredibly amused. “How about it? Just based on this service attitude, tell me, is it worth it?”
Luo Yang remained stubborn. “Well, it’s just decent so far. We haven’t even entered the manor proper yet!” But anticipation had already begun to brew in his mind.
As they spoke, the two spotted the open ground on both sides of the path—it truly was open ground, covered entirely in wild grass, with only a few lines and boxes cleared away to indicate parking spaces.
Luo Yang parked the car near the building. Taking their bags with Xiao Ya, they got out of the car and walked into the courtyard of the old house.
Inside the old house, Jian Xingxia had already spotted the approaching guests via the entry log of the barrier gate.
By yesterday afternoon, all six guest rooms had been fully booked. However, single-day visits weren’t prohibited; guests could come play in the mountains during the day and head back at night, and she would be responsible for arranging a vehicle to take them back to town.
But Xiao Ya had been so captivated by the manor that she still sent a message to Jian Xingxia, wanting to vie for a guest room.
Jian Xingxia was also worried about the system’s Operating Mission Three. The deadline was ten o’clock on the morning of the first day of the trial run. If she could ensure that all six rooms were occupied, it would guarantee at least six individual customer revenues.
Therefore, after a brief thought, she had still agreed to Xiao Ya’s request—if a guest with a reservation failed to arrive by nine, she would arrange the room for Xiao Ya. Of course, the guests with reservations had also been informed well in advance that it was best to check in before nine, as the guesthouse would provide a free breakfast and fruit basket.
Jian Xingxia attached immense importance to this first wave of guests, but she still had Lin Sanniang step forward to receive them. Having put forth the reputation of an immersive ancient-style manor, Lin Sanniang was far better suited to serve as the guide and receptionist than she was.
By this time, Luo Yang and Xiao Ya had already entered the old house carrying their bags.
The spacious central hall of the old house was no less grand than a hotel lobby. Built entirely out of solid wood, wooden sofas and tea tables were arranged along both sides of the walls. There were also two small wooden tables, accompanied separately by three high-backed chairs.
Hanging on the walls were dried reeds, dried ears of wheat, dried chilies, and dried corn, brimming with a rich rustic farmhouse atmosphere.
Luo Yang secretly praised it in his heart. The boss of this agritainment farmhouse certainly knew how to save money. This central hall was nearly forty to fifty square meters, and with such massive wall spaces on both sides, using any other decorations would easily cost ten thousand yuan or more.
But using these trinkets like corn, chilies, garlic, reeds, wheat, and rice ears… adding the two walls together probably didn’t even cost two hundred yuan!
Of course, there were still some delicate trinkets on the walls.
Luo Yang and Xiao Ya looked over and saw small bamboo-woven items strung together with hemp rope, hanging directly from wooden pegs. The rare modern decorations consisted of wooden glass photo frames arranged diagonally and spaced apart—and inside the photo frames were neatly displayed ancient-style embroidered handkerchiefs.
Behind the ancient-style solid wood counter stood a young woman dressed in a lotus-pink jacket with light blue trim, reminiscent of Hanfu from the Song Dynasty or later.
At this moment, she was looking at them with a beaming smile, offering a slight, graceful curtsy. “May I ask, honored guests, are you here to dine, to stay, or simply to rest for a spell? Do you happen to have a reservation?”
