Chapter 119: The Greenhouse Begins Construction

“Brother, have you been supplying native chickens and eggs to Huarui?”
On the other end of the line, Sun Miaomiao’s voice carried a hint of anxiety.

Zhong Di was baffled.

Supplying native chickens and eggs to Huarui? That was simply absurd! Entirely impossible! He knew perfectly well whether he’d supplied eggs or not. Maybe Shao Hong or his parents had done it?

“Wait a moment, I’ll ask,” Zhong Di decided to check with Shao Hong and the others.

“Brother, I’m not blaming you—I just wanted to ask. Recently, Huarui launched a menu quite similar to ours, and apparently, the reviews are pretty good. We sent different people to try it out, and found some serious inconsistencies. Some people had native eggs that, although tasty, didn’t measure up to yours, while others got eggs identical to yours.

“After gathering the data, we noticed something was off, so I wanted to ask if you had supplied Huarui with native eggs. If you did, then it’s just fair competition. That’s something Dongyang is willing to face. But the quality of these eggs varies so much—it’s deceiving customers. There’s been a lot of negative buzz, not just about Huarui’s eggs, but it’s dragging our reputation down as well.”

Sun Miaomiao spoke quickly, as if afraid Zhong Di would misunderstand her.

After listening, Zhong Di finally understood what was happening. He had been about to ask his parents, but gave up; this wasn’t something they could have missed. It wasn’t that his parents had sold eggs to Huarui. Rather, Huarui had likely sent people to buy eggs from them as regular customers—most of their stock went to Dongyang, but there were always a few leftovers, easily stockpiled.

It was highly likely Huarui was using this method, and from Sun Miaomiao’s description, it seemed to be a recent development.

But where were the ordinary eggs coming from?

Could it be that new picking garden? That was the only possibility.

There had been a cash infusion, a familiar pattern, and even people in white lab coats—were they researching something about their products?

Suddenly, everything clicked for Zhong Di, though he silently thought to himself that it didn’t really matter.

There was a reason why the native chickens and eggs from their orchard tasted superior to ordinary ones—it wasn’t just a matter of normal farming methods.

Zhong Di shared his suspicions with Sun Miaomiao. This matter didn’t affect him much; if someone really wanted to cause trouble, they could only accuse him of using unconventional methods.

Otherwise, they’d have to resort to force—but what would that accomplish? They had all the necessary permits and paid their taxes. What more could be done?

If someone tried to attack them based on the food itself, it would be even more futile. Plenty of people had already sent their products for testing—there was nothing wrong, they were certified green foods.

Ultimately, this issue impacted Dongyang the most.

“Alright, thank you, brother.” With that, Sun Miaomiao hung up.

There was no idle chat; it seemed she understood the seriousness of the matter.

After hanging up, Zhong Di went to find his father.

After weighing everything, he concluded that the greenhouse and fish pond were the most urgent matters. It was already late August; when October came, the temperature would plummet, and the greenhouse would be essential.

That left just over a month to build and perfect everything—there wouldn’t be time for delays. The goal was to complete it by October twentieth, just before the frost set in, to ensure a smooth transition.

The advantage of their farm was that they served what they grew, and customers chose from their menu.

“Dad, here’s what I’m thinking—we should focus on the greenhouse and fish pond next. What do you think?”

Zhong Di wanted to consult his father; after all, his father had some knowledge of construction and could offer advice.

“Alright, let’s get started! I’ll contact people today and get the materials delivered. But as for the design plans, I don’t know much—you’ll have to handle that.”

“Dad, I was hoping for your suggestions.” Zhong Di was a little frustrated—his intention had been to seek advice, but his father offered none.

“What’s there to suggest? If it needs to be built, build it. I’ll go call the contacts now. You just make sure you have the plans ready—if you make it too complicated, I won’t be able to do anything.” With that, Zhong Tian went off to make his calls.

Zhong Di didn’t dwell on it, and turned his attention to designing the plans. As his father had said, without blueprints, even if the materials arrived, nothing could be done.

There were two options: pay someone to design it, or do it himself. He had the basics for a greenhouse; with a bit of research, it shouldn’t be too difficult.

Since there wasn’t much else to do, he decided to try his hand at it.

Once he had made up his mind, Zhong Di fetched paper and pen, sketched a rough draft, then filled in specific data based on real-life measurements and some online research.

He was planning a simple solar greenhouse—a structure that harnessed sunlight.

There were also glass greenhouses, heated greenhouses, multi-span greenhouses, and intelligent greenhouses, but the last two were far more expensive and complicated.

The rough sketch was easy enough—a solar greenhouse oriented north-south, running east-west; whether slightly northeast or northwest could be decided later.

The plan consisted of two main parts: the greenhouse itself and an anteroom. The greenhouse was for growing, and the anteroom, attached to it, could serve as temporary lodging or storage.

But its primary purpose was isolation. In winter, when the temperature dropped, opening the door would let in a rush of cold air. The anteroom would act as a buffer.

Crops growing in the greenhouse could suffer greatly from a gust of cold wind, which was why the anteroom was so important.

It made sense to put the anteroom on the west side—there was already a line of poultry pens there, and a road could be built along the edge, making access easy for visitors, too.

Zhong Di quickly sketched the anteroom’s structure—his drawing skills were decent, and soon the basic outline was done.

Next came the greenhouse itself: the back wall, roof ridge, east and west walls, and the top rear section.

There was a lot to consider—if the ridge was too low, it would be hard to work inside; too high, and it would lose heat. The thickness of the back wall was also crucial for insulation.

Zhong Di consulted various sources and, based on their actual situation, calculated the dimensions—length, width, height, and so on—expending quite a bit of brainpower in the process.