When Bai Mengmeng prepared for the agritainment restaurant's trial operation, she did not pick an auspicious date; she simply chose a very ordinary weekend.
After all, the vast majority of the vegetables she grew were not yet mature. Only the leafy greens were ready, while the rest were still growing. What would she use to treat guests?
Therefore, in this late spring season, Bai Mengmeng planned to go up the mountain to see if she could dig up some wild vegetables.
Sometimes wild vegetables are far more delicious than cultivated ones.
That being said, a large mountain forest like this must cost a pretty penny to lease, right?
Is Grandpa really that rich? But why leave this mountain abandoned and undeveloped?
Before heading up the mountain, Uncle Xu said with a worried look, "Be careful when you go up the mountain. If anything happens, just shout loudly for Liangzai—he's up in the back mountain all day."
Bai Mengmeng nodded, put a sickle into her bamboo basket, and set off toward the mountain on her back.
Wild grasses grew profusely on the mountain, and originally climbing it would have been extremely difficult. However, because so many people walked here, a small path had been beaten out.
Even so, walking mountain paths like this was still quite strenuous. Even though the mountain was not tall, it required a fair bit of effort.
Fortunately, Bai Mengmeng had awakened her Talent, and her physical fitness had been greatly enhanced, so walking all the way up was not tiring at all.
The mountain was shaded by green trees with fresh air. Bai Mengmeng only needed to glance casually at the vegetation along the way to know what kind of plant it was.
[Bracken: pick the stems and shoots, fresh, tender, and delicious]
This was practically no different from an appraisal skill!
Wasn't this a natural vegetable garden? Bai Mengmeng hurriedly harvested a large handful of bracken before a smile finally appeared on her face.
Before long, she spotted a few small trees on her right side, covered in thorns and bearing tender shoots at the tips.
[Aralia elata: pick the top shoots, intense aroma, nourishes Yin and tonifies the kidneys; already too old, not recommended for consumption]
"I should have come earlier!" Bai Mengmeng felt somewhat helpless. She searched them one by one and found that all the Aralia elata had already grown too large and were unsuitable for eating.
Continuing forward, Bai Mengmeng found a patch of shepherd's purse, but they had already flowered.
Even without her appraisal skill, Bai Mengmeng knew what these were. When her mother was still alive, she often bought meat to wrap wontons for her, mixed with the fragrance of shepherd's purse, which made her mouth water just thinking about it.
However, these shepherd's purses had already blossomed at this point and were only suitable for boiling eggs.
Bai Mengmeng knew she should have come earlier, but she was unwilling to give up. Searching carefully, she eventually found another layer of fresh and tender shepherd's purse.
Before long, she had directly filled a little over half her basket.
Moving further ahead, Bai Mengmeng's eyes lit up.
Although it was already late spring, perhaps because the temperature on the mountain was relatively lower, many wild onions, wild garlic, kalimeris, white celery, and even some locust tree flowers still remained.
Picking as she walked, by the time she reached the top of the mountain, her bamboo basket was packed so tightly that not a single thing more could fit.
Not being greedy, Bai Mengmeng rested at the summit and then headed back down the mountain.
[Chinese mahogany: pick the tender shoots, intense aroma, promotes saliva production and whets the appetite]
A look of pleasant surprise instantly appeared on Bai Mengmeng's face. She hadn't expected such a harvest on her way back down.
If she had to pick her absolute favorite among all the spring wild vegetables, Chinese mahogany would definitely be it. Moreover, this item was quite expensive, often costing dozens of yuan per catty in supermarkets.
"I've hit the jackpot! There's actually such a huge patch of it!" Beaming with joy, Bai Mengmeng hurried over and found that this patch of Chinese mahogany was at its plumpest and most tender. The unique aroma rushed straight into her nose as she picked them.
Knowing that her bamboo basket was already pressed to the limit and couldn't possibly hold any more, Bai Mengmeng directly took off her outer jacket and used it as a pocket, filling it completely with Chinese mahogany.
When she returned to the agritainment restaurant, she was not only carrying a basket full of wild vegetables, but her clothes were also bulging with Chinese mahogany, and she held a large handful in her hands. Uncle Xu teased her repeatedly, saying she looked like she had gone out to stock up on inventory.
Time flew by, and soon the day of the trial operation arrived.
Late spring slipped away quietly, and early summer was about to arrive.
With mild sunshine and all things thriving, Phoenix Mountain took advantage of this opportunity to host a spring outing and excursion event, attracting a large number of tourists.
Although it was just a rural scenic spot, coupled with the fact that admission was free, it really did draw a considerable flow of people.
Yu Yue and her classmates took advantage of the weekend to arrive at Phoenix Mountain bright and early. As art academy students, this trip wasn't just for fun; they could also sketch along the way.
Arriving by the lake early in the morning, the group of eight painted diligently and only stopped around eleven o'clock.
"It's already noon. How about we go get some food? There seem to be a few agritainment restaurants around recently, and it's rare for us to come out like this." Yu Yue took the initiative to suggest.
Qi Cong, another companion who had come along, hurriedly shook his head in refusal.
"Let's go to a restaurant in town to eat. Agritainment places definitely don't have anything good. You can tell just by the name—it's just some home-style dishes, and so tacky!"
This fellow named Qi Cong had low emotional intelligence and didn't know how to get along with people. Because his family background was quite good, he often displayed his sense of superiority, complaining about this and that. If they weren't in the same project group, Yu Yue wouldn't even have bothered talking to him.
"Why don't you go to a fancy hotel yourself, young master Qi? Vulgar people like us find eating at an agritainment place just right."
The others didn't want to pay him any mind either, and walked together toward the agritainment area.
Qi Cong's expression turned gloomy for a moment, and he had no choice but to follow.
Coming out of the scenic area, it was already lunchtime. Coupled with the large crowds around, the better agritainment restaurants were already packed to capacity.
Seeing this, Yu Yue couldn't help frowning. "You guys wait a moment, I'll go check somewhere else. There might be tables further away."
Continuing forward without running far, she spotted a small building with a sign that read something like a restaurant, which looked like an eating establishment.
She had never seen it before; it seemed like a new shop, and perhaps there were empty tables.
Meanwhile, Bai Mengmeng was feeling rather troubled at the moment.
Since it was a newly opened business, she had deliberately arranged tasks for her disciples: simple cooking was handled by Hua Guduo, Wang Hao served the dishes, and she didn't dare order Liang Cha around, so she had him calculate accounts at the front desk.
Worried that he wouldn't know basic addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, Bai Mengmeng even asked him about it, only to be met with an eye-roll from him.
Unexpectedly, though it was already lunchtime, not a single customer had stepped through the door.
"Sect Leader, we definitely need publicity for our grand opening. If you had put out a few flower baskets and set off two strings of firecrackers, people would definitely come. Otherwise, nobody even knows we've opened," Hua Guduo said helplessly.
Bai Mengmeng shook her head. "Didn't they say good wine needs no bush?"
"Sect Leader is right. The food-delivery robot is almost researched and ready," Wang Hao said with a sycophantic expression.
Bai Mengmeng felt her heart skip a beat. "Don't, stop that right now!"
If they failed to make money and had to pay out medical bills for customers instead, it would bankrupt them.
Liang Cha ignored the commotion and quietly read his book.
Bai Mengmeng's eyesight wasn't quite sharp enough right now, but a glance told her that he was reading *The Return of the Condor Heroes*.
"I thought you were a sword maniac, but you read martial arts novels too."
Liang Cha couldn't even be bothered to spare her a glance. "I'm looking for inspiration. Yang Guo also used a heavy sword."
"..."
Truly a lunatic. Damn immortal cultivation—without even a mental cultivation method, it actually forced people to look for one in novels.
As the group joked around, footsteps sounded outside the door.
Bai Mengmeng instantly grew excited. Customers had arrived!