Chapter 187: The Hustle and Bustle of Lu’an Village
Jian Xingxia raced against time, securing several more certificates and permits with the help of Hu Da, Qi Shan, Lin Shuang, Cai Wei, and the others.
She, Auntie Lu, and Auntie Chunhui all obtained health certificates, which were mandatory credentials for food service workers.
Various departments, including Fire Safety and the Bureau of Industry and Commerce, also visited the manor for inspections and sign-offs.
The fire safety inspector even praised Jian Xingxia, saying, “The first floor is basically up to code with extinguishers and smoke detectors, but the second floor is exceptionally well done. Aside from the extinguishers and detectors, there are fire hydrants and an automatic sprinkler system. Every room is equipped with fire masks and fire blankets, and the balconies even have emergency descent gear. Excellent job!”
The fire safety staff suggested to Jian Xingxia, “It would be even better if you could upgrade the configuration on the first floor to match.”
Only then did Jian Xingxia realize that the six second-floor guest rooms provided by the system were even better than she had imagined. However, her own work wasn’t bad either; she had prepared all the fire safety equipment on the first floor herself, and it had passed inspection.
Jian Xingxia continued to learn and look for improvements. She made a list and decided to set up a miniature fire station under the solar greenhouse outside the main gate, equipping it with fire masks, fire blankets, and other gear.
Everything else went smoothly as well.
Over the past two days, the residents of Lu’an Village were flying around with busyness.
Hu Da, Wei Liang, and Qi Shan went everywhere to audit the inventory of dried goods in each household, patiently persuading the village elders one by one:
“Oh, Grandpa! This dried radish was sun-dried last year, you can’t sell it! If you want to sell some, you have to bring out this year’s batch!”
“Old Chai, can you guarantee that this oil-pressing equipment is washed every single day? If not, we can’t grant you the pressing certification for this camellia oil, and it will have to go back to the processing plant in town.”
“Grandma, this is the quarantine inspection certificate for your family’s chicken coop. Remember to take it back and keep it safe. All the chickens we sell later on will need to be quarantined.”
When Little Hu Liu wasn’t shaking up milk tea, he helped Jian Xingxia fetch her delivery packages. They ranged from large to small, sometimes filling two or three truckloads a day.
The same went for the refrigerators, freezers, and water purifiers Jian Xingxia bought; the delivery trucks never seemed to stop.
It was bustling, busy, and filled with hope.
However, Wei Liang ran into a bit of trouble. He had spent the last two days frantically trying to train people in the village.
The Party Secretary had handed down a strict rule requiring the village to fully cooperate with the operations of Xingxia Manor. Since Hu Da and Qi Shan were busy with the unified purchase and marketing of agricultural products, the task of training the villagers fell squarely on Wei Liang’s shoulders.
But Wei Liang didn’t know the first thing about ancient etiquette. He didn’t even understand it himself, so how was he supposed to train others?
He had finally managed to find a few videos online, but the village uncles and aunties took one look and didn’t treat it as serious training at all. Laughing and joking, they began playing dress-up under the big banyan tree, acting out the roles of Madam White Snake, Xiao Qing, Xu Xian, and Fahai.
They were having a grand old time acting, but it didn’t help with the hospitality work at all!
Wei Liang couldn’t get through to these elderly folks, so he called Jian Xingxia in a state of sheer exasperation. “Xiaxia, you need to come down to the village and take a look. Hu Da said we have to match the manor’s operational standards, so come see what kind of setup will actually work.”
Jian Xingxia felt deeply touched. This team of hospitality staff wasn’t requested by her, so they weren’t drawing any wages; they were coming purely to help out. The fact that they were willing to show up for training was already a huge sign of support.
However, since they were doing it, they had to do it right.
But when it came to training, Jian Xingxia was also at her wits’ end. Although she interacted with a lot of ancients, she was, after all, a thorough modern person. The only things she could teach were the routines from online videos.
But the village elders clearly weren’t buying it!
Over the phone, a village uncle’s booming voice carried over directly: “Oh, Little Wei, this phone screen of yours is so tiny, how do you expect us to watch it! We can’t even see it clearly, so how can we learn!”
An auntie was equally uncooperative: “What’s the use of learning this? We might as well learn square dancing so we can film a video and post it online.”
In short, their consensus was: it’s useless, we’re not learning.
The elders had their own logic—they weren’t getting paid anyway, they just needed to sit at the edge of the village and give directions to tourists while chatting, so what was the point of training? It was just a waste of time.
Yet Hu Da and the other young cadres took it very seriously. They knew that the benefits brought by the development of the farmstead were far greater than what could be seen on the surface. Furthermore, the one thing Jinmen Town didn’t lack was mountains; with dozens of villages underneath, which village couldn’t claim a mountain peak to start a farmhouse restaurant?
If they were going to do it, they had to be the best! They had to charge right to the front lines and not let anyone overtake them. The hospitality work formed the first impression, so the training had to be thorough to make the tourists feel right at home.
Listening to the complaints from Wei Liang and the village elders, Jian Xingxia actually caught an idea—there might not be wages, but there could be benefits!
She opened her mouth to call out, “Sanniang—”
To her surprise, before she could voice her idea, Wei Liang on the other end of the line eagerly piped up.
“Ah, right, right, right! When Auntie Lu and Hu Ming came back from the mountain, they both said the employees you hired up there are incredibly well-trained, carrying themselves with proper poise, looking just like ancient people on TV!”
“It just so happens you’re not open for business these two days, and we’re short on teachers here. Could you please send someone down to teach us?”
“Huh?” Jian Xingxia stared at the phone, completely dumbfounded.
But she quickly recovered. “Brother Wei, hold on a moment, let me think about it.”
“Oh, what is there to think about… Alright, alright, you think it over, and call me back when you’ve decided!” Wei Liang hung up the phone with a throbbing headache.
Regarding the village-wide mobilization, where the elderly took up the mantle of hospitality and gave directions, Hu Da had already briefed the village cadres and Jian Xingxia. He noted that the village now had several operational plans in motion, and the projected income was quite good. Therefore, when it came to other minor details, they shouldn’t bring up money for absolutely everything.
Sometimes, the enthusiasm of the grassroots masses was spontaneous, stemming more from emotion and awareness. If they relied solely on piling up money, poverty alleviation work would only become harder and harder to implement.
Thus, Wei Liang had gloriously received this task that offered no pay but required total effort. One could easily imagine whether these old folks in the village would listen to him.
As Jian Xingxia hung up the phone, Lin Sanniang walked in. She had just been examining the newly arrived “sterilizer cabinet.”
Xiaxia had said that moving forward, the washed four-piece bedding sets delivered by the villagers would still have to go through the sterilizer cabinet once, and could only be swapped in after being disinfected. Even though Lin Sanniang had already learned how to use the electric rice cooker, the electric kettle, and even the refrigerator and freezer, she still held a profound sense of awe toward this large machine that glowed with blue light.
Tell me… what kind of world is this mistress living in, to have so many miraculous objects?
Hearing Jian Xingxia’s call, Lin Sanniang emerged from the storage room, walking through the small hall toward the front lobby. She could just catch a distant glimpse of the newly constructed road outside the front gate’s woods—
Although it was called a road for horses, she had never actually seen a horse walk on it.
Looking at that road, Lin Sanniang was filled with immense curiosity about what the scenery down the mountain looked like, and what the “village” spoken of by the young mistress owner was actually like.
A pity that she carried no opportunity to go down the mountain.
