No. 37: You Think You're Right Just Because You're Holding a Phone? The People Have Sharp Eyes!

Chen Shengfei savored the comfortable feeling and couldn't help picking up another piece of okra.

Food therapy had been practiced since ancient times. Of course, he wasn't talking about the ineffective folk remedies people called food therapy, but the genuine kind passed down through generations of traditional Chinese medicine families.

These days, getting a license to practice traditional Chinese medicine meant taking exams in subjects like English and studying Western pharmacology. There were also rules requiring practitioners to use certain Western medicines in many prescriptions. And often, the people judging whether they were qualified were trained in Western medicine.

But the families with genuine traditions in Chinese medicine had their pride. Skilled old practitioners wouldn't put up with that, so they simply didn't take the exams. They relied on their medical skills to treat only their own families or people they knew well, never outsiders.

Some simply changed careers, using secret techniques passed down to them to start private food therapy businesses. Those didn't require a license.

That was real food therapy, and it truly worked. But ordinary people couldn't even find a way in.

The top-tier food therapy was only affordable to people of a certain status. Each meal cost hundreds of thousands.

Chen Shengfei was an influential figure in Fujian Province, so he'd tried top-tier food therapy before. But its effects hadn't necessarily been as strong as what he was eating now. The feeling of physical ease was especially intense.

Meanwhile.

Other guests who'd stayed at the villa for lunch and ordered Quality 1 Wild Fish or Quality 1 okra had noticed something unusual too. The effects weren't as strong as those of Quality 2 produce, but they were still there.

"Honey, this fish tastes great today. I've never seen you cook this well at home."

"This tastes wonderful, and the texture's great too. I didn't know you were such a good cook!"

"..."

But plenty of people were puzzled. The fish tasted better, but the other vegetables they'd picked from the fields seemed no different from usual. Clearly, it was easy to tell produce from the game apart from ordinary produce.

On the villa's opening day, the first lunch hour was bustling with life.

Qin Lin was naturally pleased, but Lin Fen and Zhao Moqing were even happier. The busy business at the villa had put them at ease, too.

Master Lin had prepared a table full of dishes for the three of them.

They ate in the main hall to soak up the lively atmosphere.

Suddenly, an argument broke out, drawing everyone's attention.

A couple with a child were arguing with a female server. Something seemed to have gone wrong.

"Ma'am, your child grabbed the red strawberries that cost 200 yuan per jin. The price is clearly marked, and he's been eating them without even weighing them." The server was clearly flustered. These strawberries were different.

There were only a few jin of the special 200-yuan strawberries in total. The child had grabbed a whole bunch and had started eating them before they'd even been weighed.

But the woman holding the child's hand indignantly retorted, "What are you implying? Are you saying my child is a thief? You put the two kinds of strawberries so close together. How is that our fault?"

"And why are you making such a fuss over a child at your villa?"

As they argued, the child seemed quite pleased with himself, happily eating the strawberries he'd grabbed. Their delicious flavor had clearly hooked him.

Qin Lin frowned as he watched. From their exchange, he'd more or less guessed what had happened: another misbehaving child had done something wrong, and rather than discipline him, the parents were shirking responsibility and blaming the villa for placing the two kinds of strawberries so close together.

What a ridiculous excuse. But these kinds of people were all too common these days.

The worst part was that when people made a scene over things like this, tourists often came out ahead.

Seeing how flustered the server was, the couple acted even more arrogant.

Qin Lin was about to step in when Gao Yaoyao hurried over. "Sir, ma'am, all the fruit here is clearly priced. The 200-yuan strawberries are clearly marked as a special variety and set apart from the others. If you think we're falsely accusing your child, we have security cameras in the main hall."

The couple's expressions changed at Gao Yaoyao's words.

But they didn't want to pay for their mistake. After all, their child was still young. It was true that the villa had put the two kinds of strawberries too close together, and within their child's reach.

The people around them had clearly figured out what was going on. They stared at the couple in disbelief. Anyone with a shred of common sense would find such shameless behavior hateful.

Parents who stood their ground when their misbehaving children were in the wrong were even more detestable.

Those elderly women who did square dancing in the bus plaza, misbehaving children and their parents, women with fish ponds... They were almost as bad as professional scammers, doing everything they could to corrupt public morals.

With everyone watching, the man still had some pride. He tugged at his wife, trying to leave, but she refused. Her face darkening, she pulled out her phone and started filming Gao Yaoyao, shouting righteously, "Everyone, come take a look! This villa sells strawberries for an outrageous price of 200 yuan per jin, and now they're trying to force tourists to buy them. This is highway robbery!"

The woman was clearly willing to do anything to save face, completely ignoring the child watching beside her.

Wasn't this a society where whoever held up a phone was automatically in the right?

"..." Gao Yaoyao!

"..." Qin Lin was stunned. Gao Yaoyao had mentioned earlier that someone might make a fuss about the fruit's exorbitant prices, so he'd been on guard. He hadn't expected some other lunatic to show up instead. You just couldn't guard against everything.

Chen Shengfei had been happily eating, but he couldn't stand watching any longer. He strode over and said to Gao Yaoyao, "Pack up all these watermelons, strawberries, and okra for me. Not everyone can appreciate a special variety like this. Some people have never even seen what a truly exorbitant price looks like."

Gao Yaoyao looked at him in surprise. "Sir, you want to buy all of it?"

Qin Lin, watching nearby, looked at Chen Shengfei in surprise too.

There wasn't much Quality 2 watermelon, strawberry, or okra, but buying it all would still cost around 25,000 yuan.

"Pack it all up. I'll take everything!" Chen Shengfei couldn't stand people making a scene, and he didn't forget to turn to the woman and add, "Remember you're a mother when you're in front of your child. Don't let him learn to behave the same way."

The woman's face turned ashen.

But the stubbornness of such a shameless person was clearly beyond what Chen Shengfei had expected.

Instead, she turned her phone on Chen Shengfei and filmed him. "Everyone, take a look! This villa doesn't just force people to buy overpriced fruit; they've even hired an actor to mock us tourists for not being able to afford it..."

"..." Chen Shengfei was at a loss for words.

The tourists around them were stunned by the woman's tactics. At last, someone couldn't take it anymore.

"You're a mother. Can't you set a good example for your child?"

"This is ridiculous. That gentleman's wearing a custom-made KItion suit. Even the basic models start at 50,000 yuan."

"And that gentleman's watch is..."

"..."

Clearly, there were still plenty of people who could see what was going on, especially since they'd all watched the whole thing.

At that, the man finally lost his nerve. He knew his wife had made a complete fool of herself, so he grabbed her and tried to drag her out.

"Sir, you haven't paid yet," Gao Yaoyao called after him. "If you leave without paying, we can call the police."

The husband was mortified. Under the contemptuous stares of everyone around him, he could only come back and ask through gritted teeth, "Sorry. How much is it altogether?"

"We'll settle the bill here," Gao Yaoyao replied, clearly fed up with people like him.

The woman glared angrily at everything around her, gritting her teeth as if she were about to explode. She didn't notice that a young man had come up beside her child.

"Good job, little guy. Wherever you are, if you see something tasty, sneak over and grab some. You'll get a reward!" The young man praised the child and handed him the strawberries he'd bought. "Look, this is your reward for today!"

"Okay!" The child happily nodded, holding the strawberries.

A woman beside the young man, apparently his companion, seemed unable to stand it. She subtly kicked him without saying a word.

A moment later, the man finished paying and dragged his grumbling wife away.

But she clearly couldn't let it go.

Inside the main hall.

Chen Shengfei ignored the stares around him and went back to eating. The fish was just too delicious; he didn't want to waste a single bite.

Qin Lin called Gao Yaoyao over and praised her. "You handled that well. Keep up the good work!"

He was satisfied with how she'd handled things. She still had room to improve, but at least she hadn't panicked like the other server.

Qin Lin turned his attention to Chen Shengfei with interest.

The man was clearly a genuine tycoon, and he didn't seem to be from Youcheng. Qin Lin was curious about what had brought him to the villa.

In the afternoon, Chen Shengfei's driver arrived. Chen Shengfei had the driver help load his purchases into the car.

Gao Yaoyao went to report to Qin Lin. "Boss, Mr. Chen spent 31,432 yuan here."

"Got it." Qin Lin nodded, then took a Quality 2 grass carp and a Quality 2 black carp from the pond in the main hall.

He intended to give them to Mr. Chen.

First, to thank him for stepping in. Second, he was a high-end customer. If one visit could bring in more customers through him, that would be far more valuable than ordinary visitors.

The villa needed to attract ordinary tourists, of course, but it also had to try to develop high-end clientele.