"There aren’t any insects to pollinate them right now. We’ll have to pollinate these plants by hand once they flower," Ren Yuanyang said with a sigh after he finished setting the seedlings at the proper distance.
Hua Lingfang nodded slightly. "I understand. I’ll handle the pollination when the time comes."
"Okay. Have everyone help out," Ren Yuanyang replied. "It’ll be a good learning experience for them, too."
"Got it!"
Ren Yuanyang quickly finished planting in all eight cultivation areas. He also used Duckweed to create a small path that ran through them, making it easier to access each plot.
After all that was done, Ren Yuanyang told Hua Lingfang the growth cycles for all the vegetables so he wouldn’t miss their flowering times.
Even though the edible parts of some vegetables were their stems and leaves, Ren Yuanyang needed to save their seeds, so it was still crucial to pay attention to the flowering period and pollinate them in time.
When Hua Lingfang heard that the growth cycles for all the vegetables were under two days, he was completely stunned.
The shortest cycle was for the bok choy—only 12 hours.
Seeing Hua Lingfang frozen in place, Ren Yuanyang said with a smile, "It might get even faster in the future."
This time, he had only enhanced the bok choy seeds’ growth cycle six times. If he enhanced it nine times, the period would be even shorter.
Ren Yuanyang had put the remaining three enhancements entirely into seed production.
The main purpose of this first planting was to harvest more seeds, and a twelve-hour cycle was already short enough.
Hua Lingfang finally snapped out of it and replied at once, "Right, I understand! I’ll take good care of these crops!"
Ren Yuanyang nodded slightly, then said goodbye to Hua Lingfang and returned to his room to start enhancing the Diesel Tree seeds. Diesel was a consumable, so naturally, the more, the better.
It took about two years for a Diesel Tree to mature and bear fruit, so he needed to enhance its growth speed eight times, leaving one enhancement for oil production quality.
The Diesel Tree Qin Haonan had brought back had evolved naturally, so its seeds were also evolved seeds.
[Evolved Diesel Tree Seed (+9): Growth speed enhanced eight times, reducing time from seed to mature tree to three days. One enhancement...]
After completing the enhancements, Ren Yuanyang immediately planted these seeds in the cleared-out spaces in the Banyan Forest.
Meanwhile, Qin Haonan and the others were pressing the fruit of the Diesel Tree. The existing tree was still continuously bearing fruit.
It was Hua Wen’s first time seeing diesel being pressed from fruit, and he was amazed.
"If you can get diesel this easily, why did the price keep going up before?"
"That’s because the yield for this kind of biodiesel wasn’t high enough back then, and it needed to be processed before it could be used in diesel engines. So the price probably wasn’t too cheap, either," Qin Haonan explained.
It dawned on Hua Wen. "Oh, so that’s how it is. Can we use our diesel directly because the boss made it evolve?"
"Of course. We don’t have the equipment or technology to process this diesel," Qin Haonan replied. "The boss’s ability is incredible, isn’t it?"
Hua Wen nodded, agreeing wholeheartedly.
They kept pressing until it was time for dinner.
"Looks like the Diesel Tree is running out of fruit. The boss will have to plant a few more," Qin Haonan muttered, glancing at the tree outside.
"But we’ve already pressed so much!" Hua Wen said meekly from the side.
"Both speedboats are guzzlers. This might seem like a lot of diesel, but we’ll burn through it quickly. If I have to go out on a mission, it’ll be gone even faster," Qin Haonan said, shaking his head slightly.
Hua Wen paused for a moment, then nodded.
"Come on, dinner should be ready. Let’s go ask the boss while we’re at it." Qin Haonan led Hua Wen toward the speedboat.
When they got to the speedboat, Ren Yuanyang and the others were already sitting at the table.
"Boss, you’re already eating? Why didn’t you call us?" Qin Haonan complained with a smile.
"Aren’t you here now?" Ren Yuanyang retorted, pursing his lips.
Lu Jiamei explained from the side, "Xin Wan just finished cooking. We hadn’t had a chance to call you yet."
"That just means our timing is perfect!" Qin Haonan chuckled.
Ren Yuanyang ignored him and instead asked Hua Lingfang, "Elder Hua, is your house finished?"
"Just about. We’re planning to sleep in it tonight," Hua Lingfang replied.
"So fast?" Lu Jiamei was a little surprised.
Hua Lingfang smiled. "Our materials are limited. We’ve only built a basic frame."
"We’ll have to come take a look later!" Xin Wan said, carrying out the stir-fried shredded pork and Cherry Tomatoes and joining the conversation.
"No problem. Everyone is welcome to come and see it," Hua Lingfang replied before getting up to grab his plastic cup.
The others also went to get their own bowls and chopsticks.
"We have too many Cherry Tomatoes, so I stir-fried some today. There isn’t much seasoning, so we’ll have to make do for now," Xin Wan explained with a smile.
"Sister Wan’s cooking is delicious even without seasoning!" Qin Haonan mumbled as he popped a cherry tomato into his mouth.
"You’re just a sweet-talker," Xin Wan said, shaking her head slightly.
Qin Haonan swallowed his food and replied, "I’m just telling the truth! If you don’t believe me, ask them. Is Sister Wan’s cooking delicious or not?"
Hua Wen immediately nodded vigorously in agreement. "Delicious!"
The others also agreed it was excellent.
"I’m glad you all like it. If we had more seasonings, our food would be even more delicious." Xin Wan still hoped to do better.
"We’ll have peppers to harvest in a couple of days. The other seasonings will probably take some time," Ren Yuanyang said after a moment of thought.
"Yes, I understand," Xin Wan replied.
"It seems we’ll need to trade with the outside world to get more seasonings, and trading will require a lot of diesel!" Qin Haonan immediately offered his suggestion. "Boss, isn’t one Diesel Tree a little insufficient? Shouldn’t we plant a few more?"
"I’ve already planted them. There will be more Diesel Tree fruit in a few days," Ren Yuanyang replied.
"The boss thinks of everything!" Qin Haonan immediately gave a thumbs-up.
Ren Yuanyang rolled his eyes and didn’t reply.
After dinner, the group walked over to the house Hua Lingfang had just finished building.
"Boss, this Duckweed path doesn’t have any railings. It’d be easy to fall into the water. Shouldn’t we put up a rope barrier?" Lu Jiamei asked on the way there.
"You’re right, a barrier would be safer. But let’s wait. Once the bamboo is mature, we can make a bamboo fence," Ren Yuanyang replied with a nod.
"That works too," Lu Jiamei nodded.
They soon arrived at Hua Lingfang’s little house. All four sides were covered with mats woven from aerial roots, the pattern intricate and neat.
The logs supporting the entire structure had clearly been taken from the raft. Their ends rested in the forks of branches, obviously specially treated to be exceptionally stable.
"Elder Hua, your craftsmanship is amazing! Now I’m really looking forward to our bamboo maturing!" Ren Yuanyang said, pleasantly surprised.
Lu Jiamei nodded in wholehearted agreement from the side. "Yes, Elder Hua, you’re so skilled with your hands!"
"I finally understand the saying ’an elder in the family is a treasure’!" Xin Wan remarked with emotion. "If we have the materials, I hope you can help us build a little house like this too, Elder Hua!"

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