Farming Games are All About Grinding

Han Qiwu glanced at the TV content and sighed helplessly. Was Old Man Shennong stuck in a thousand-year dream?

As for the content of the almanac:

Good for collecting? Collecting what exactly?

Avoid laziness? That has nothing to do with me.

Alright, I'm outta here.

Since he planned to pick sweet melons shortly, Han Qiwu skipped the umbrella, threw on a raincoat, slipped into rain boots, and strolled leisurely over to the sweet melon plot.

These melon seeds were a reward he received after completing the fifth museum donation, a total of twenty seeds.

Just as the description claimed, the melon vines on the ground bore plentiful fruit—whitish-green with neat stripes. At first glance, you could tell they were sweet.

Even while it was raining, Han Qiwu could smell the sweet melon's fragrance from a distance.

Because sweet melons had the potential to grow into colossal crops, Han Qiwu planned to leave one melon per plot.

Just to keep some hope alive.

As for the rest of the melons, he decided to pick them and enjoy them slowly.

After harvesting from the 20 plots one by one, Han Qiwu ended up with 15 melons. The picked melons were uniformly sized, about the size of an adult's fist.

[Spring Sweet Melon (Normal Quality)]

[Selling Price: 210 Gold]

[Stamina +80]

[Health +40]

[Note: Sweet melons cannot produce sugar]

"The selling price for sweet melons is quite decent. I'll consider planting them on a larger scale in the summer." Han Qiwu nodded in satisfaction. When he first got the spring sweet melon seeds, the note mentioned that melon seeds would be available for purchase at the seed shop during summer.

Grabbing a melon casually, Han Qiwu rinsed off the rainwater on its surface and took a bite.

*Crunch* *Crunch*

The overwhelmingly sweet juice mixed with melon seeds seeped through the cracks into his mouth, instantly sparking a burst of energy for the day.

Chewing twice produced a crisp and pleasing sound.

Aside from the slightly bitter taste near the rind, the rest went straight into Han Qiwu's belly.

The edible rate was impressively high.

*Burp*

Han Qiwu let out a satisfied burp, and thinking about the size of the giant cauliflower, he couldn't help but imagine, "If this turned into a giant melon, wouldn't that be incredible? The sweet juice alone could be used for bathing!"

Feeling a lot better after finishing the melon, Han Qiwu went into the sycamore coop to gather the eggs.

The young peacock still hadn't laid any eggs, but its body had grown significantly round. It should still be developing; no rush.

The situation at Hongyan Tower was similar. Aside from the female fire duck laying double-yolked fire duck eggs every other day, the other little ducks were living carefree lives—eating, playing, and growing.

They just weren't laying eggs.

However, their physical development was quite apparent. Their initial baby feathers had completely shed, replaced by a layer of shiny, stiff feathers.

Judging by the looks of it, they weren't far from laying eggs either.

But over at Jilei Mountain, Han Qiwu received a delightful surprise—

Little Red was going to produce milk!

"Little Red, oh Little Red, of all the cows, you were the first to arrive but the last to produce milk. Truly remarkable." After grumbling for a bit, Han Qiwu crouched down and placed the milking bucket under the red cow.

*Splash splash, splash splash*

The sound of milking resembled the rain outside.

"The little peddler wasn't lying after all." Han Qiwu couldn't help but marvel. When he bought the red cow from the little peddler, it was the note that caught his attention: "Its milk yield exceeds your imagination."

And reality confirmed the claim. Normally, milking the water buffalo would be a quick one- to two-minute affair.

Now, milking the red cow had already taken eight minutes.

And it still wasn't finished.

After waiting another two minutes, the milking process finally concluded. Squatting down, Han Qiwu forcefully pulled out the heavy milking bucket.

[Extra-Large Portion of Red Cow Milk]

[Stamina +600]

[Health +300]

[Note: Red cow milk is an essential ingredient for a certain special potion]

Extra-large portion!

The restorative effect of one portion of red cow milk is equal to that of three portions of water buffalo milk!

"Good job, Little Red!" Han Qiwu specially brought over a bag of purple alfalfa and personally fed it to Little Red.

Beside them, Kui Niu, witnessing this scene, got so excited it started hopping on one leg.

"Behave yourself! Practice your lightning ability properly and strive to let out a thunderous roar every day. If you can do that, I'll let you out to play with Little Red every day." Han Qiwu encouraged while the timing felt right.

Hearing this reward, Kui Niu's eyes immediately lit up as electric arcs surged across its body, and it let out a mighty roar.

[Kui Niu Special Effect – Sound Like Thunder activated: Current crop yield on the farm increases by 7%]

"Only 7%? Forced thunder roars just don't cut it." Han Qiwu shook his head disdainfully but figured crop yield was still improved, so he tossed half a bag of feed over.

Help yourself.

Kui Niu didn't mind—it grabbed the feed, started munching, and kept glancing at the red cow.

Little Red, we eat the same feed!

Look at the way it's savoring its food!

After finishing the feeding, Han Qiwu brought the red cow milk back to the house, ready to boil a small pot to sample the taste.

How nice would it be if he could find some tea leaves at home?

Making pure organic milk tea would be absolutely delightful.

As he simmered the red cow milk over a low flame, Han Qiwu casually pulled up the craft recipe for [Rotating Fishing Float] and checked it out.

[Rotating Fishing Float]

[Materials: [Iron Ingot]×2]

[Effect: When equipped, reduces rod-biting time by 4 seconds during fishing mini-game (Fishing Progress Bar)]

[Durability: 50 uses]

[Note: A great companion for fishing]

"It comes with such an effect???"

Han Qiwu was astonished. He had previously calculated that at fishing level 5, it normally took about 15 seconds to fill up the fishing progress bar. For tougher fish, this time could stretch longer.

This is a gem!

Once equipped, the time saved far exceeds just 4 seconds.

Let's craft one and check it out!

Han Qiwu jogged over to the storage chest, extracted two iron ingots, and used the system function to whip one up.

The finished rotating fishing float resembled a small spinning top, and when placed in water, it spun continuously.

"I'll try it out during fishing later." Han Qiwu was in a good mood—it was equivalent to gaining another treasure for fishing.

The only downside was its limited durability—just 50 uses.

With this thought, he pulled out another two iron ingots and crafted an extra one as a backup.

Better safe than sorry.

After stowing away the two rotating fishing floats, the rich aroma of milk was already wafting into the yard.

Returning to the house, Han Qiwu saw that the boiling red cow milk had formed a thick layer of milk skin.

Letting it cool would turn it into the best snack—neither dry nor greasy, bursting with creamy flavor. During milk tea-making, breaking off a few pieces of this and tossing them in would make the taste heavenly.

Carefully fishing out the milk skin, Han Qiwu ladled the remaining milk, didn't add sugar, blew on it twice, and began sipping it slowly.

This hot red cow milk had an incredibly creamy taste. A single sip warmed his entire body, driving away the chill that had settled in during the rainy outing.

Absolutely delicious.

Good thing he had several cows at home—he could enjoy it every day!