Hua Lingfang waved his hand. "I’ve only scratched the surface of carpentry, but as long as we have the raw materials, I can handle building your houses!"
Ren Yuanyang looked at the perfectly fitted joints where the wooden support beams intersected and exclaimed in amazement, "To do such a good job with the tools we have now... that’s more than just scratching the surface. It’s incredible!"
Lu Jiamei and the others nodded in unison, while Hua Lingfang continued to wave his hand humbly.
"Elder Hua, you should take on an apprentice. In the future, you won’t be able to build all the base’s houses by yourself!" Ren Yuanyang continued.
"Me! I can learn carpentry from my grandpa!" Hua Wen immediately raised his hand, volunteering eagerly.
"I can learn a skill too, then I can help out!" Qin Haonan also spoke up. He felt he couldn’t live on the boat forever and wanted a house of his own.
Hua Lingfang nodded. "Alright. Next time we’re building, come over and help if you have time. You’ll get the hang of it after watching a few times!"
"Okay!" Qin Haonan and Hua Wen replied in unison.
"Alright, let’s head back. We shouldn’t keep Elder Hua from his rest. He has tasks to do tonight!" Ren Yuanyang left a Fluorescent Cactus and gestured for everyone to leave.
"Elder Hua has to be on duty at night too?" Qin Haonan was a little confused.
Previously, he and Lu Jiamei were the ones who took turns on night duty.
"For the vegetables sown during the day, there’s some farm work that Elder Hua needs to do!" Ren Yuanyang replied.
"Oh, is it complicated? If not, I can take care of it when I’m on duty. It’s not like there’s much to do at night anyway!" Qin Haonan asked.
"Some of them need to be hand-pollinated. It’s better if I do it myself. It’s not a lot of work; I’ll be done in a little while," Hua Lingfang replied.
"In the future, let’s check the cycles before planting and try to avoid doing farm work at night!" Ren Yuanyang added. "Thanks for your hard work this first time!"
"It’s no trouble. If we can grow things, what’s losing one night of sleep!" Hua Lingfang shook his head.
"You don’t have to worry about that. We can definitely grow things!" Ren Yuanyang said with a confident smile.
"I have no doubt about that!" Hua Lingfang nodded emphatically.
"Get some rest!" Ren Yuanyang said as he walked out, and the others followed.
Hua Wen looked at the cozy little cabin, his excitement written all over his face.
After drifting at sea for over three months, he finally had the feeling of standing on solid ground.
The floor of this cabin was the original raft. Although a few logs had been removed, the remaining area was still quite large, not only filling the entire cabin but also extending a bit past the doorway.
The bedding and sheets spread on the raft were a bit damp, but Hua Wen didn’t care at all. He flopped down onto it, spreading his limbs out wide!
"Grandpa, it’s so stable here! I can’t feel the waves at all!" Hua Wen said in pleasant surprise after a moment.
After so many days of resting on a raft, he still longed to sleep on a stable bed, not one that swayed back and forth like before.
Hua Lingfang smiled kindly. "Yes. Based on my observations, this Banyan Forest is remarkably effective at breaking the wind and waves. It might really be able to withstand Level 7 gales!"
"The Boss said it could, so it definitely can!" Hua Wen was already a bit of a blind follower.
Hua Lingfang smiled slightly. "Alright, it can. But it’s time to rest now. We have things to do tomorrow!"
"Okay, Grandpa!"
On the way back, Qin Haonan remarked with some emotion, "I never expected Elder Hua to be so good at carpentry. It’s just that we have too few tools right now!"
Ren Yuanyang nodded in agreement. "To improve our efficiency, we’ll definitely need some basic tools."
"Does that mean we’ll have to trade with the Aircraft Carrier Base?" Lu Jiamei’s brow furrowed with a hint of worry.
"No rush. Our raw materials haven’t even matured yet!" Ren Yuanyang chuckled. "You guys can just make do on the boats for now!"
"Boss, you’re not putting it right. How can you call this ’making do’? The wind in the Banyan Forest is Level 1 at most right now. The boats are very stable, not at all like the rocking that those survivors complain about in the regional channel!" Qin Haonan immediately corrected the flaw in Ren Yuanyang’s statement.
"Mm, when you rest, everyone should park their boats a bit deeper inside. The wind and waves will be even smaller!" Ren Yuanyang nodded.
"Okay!" Lu Jiamei and the other two replied in unison.
Ren Yuanyang bid farewell to the three of them and returned to his house. He immediately asked in his mind, ’System, when can I enhance the rabbit?’
[Based on the host’s current rate of Mental Energy growth, it is estimated that you will be able to by tomorrow night...]
"That fast?" Ren Yuanyang was a little surprised.
After enhancing the Iron Melon Tree, it had taken several days before he could enhance the slightly larger Diesel Tree. He had only just enhanced the chicks two days ago, and in another day he would be able to enhance the rabbit.
After all, enhancing animals required more Mental Energy than enhancing plants!
’Looks like the Five Animals Qigong is remarkably effective!’ Ren Yuanyang sighed to himself. Then he immediately began to enhance various seeds and plants.
As the Banyan Forest expanded, the demand for Fluorescent Cacti, bitter grass, Round Duckweed, dizzy fish grass, and so on also grew.
To make full use of his Mental Energy, Ren Yuanyang would exhaust it completely every day before sleeping.
This also helped him sleep better—killing two birds with one stone!
The next morning, Ren Yuanyang was once again woken by the crowing of the rooster.
They had already agreed during dinner yesterday to get up at the rooster’s crow this morning and practice the Five Animals Qigong with Hua Lingfang.
By the time Ren Yuanyang came out of his room, Lu Jiamei and the others were already gathered in the clearing under the banyan tree.
"Morning, Boss!" Qin Haonan greeted with a smile, while the others nodded in acknowledgment.
Ren Yuanyang responded, "Morning, everyone! Elder Hua, let’s begin!"
"Yes, Sir!" Hua Lingfang began to lead everyone in practicing the Five Animals Qigong.
He taught for a full hour and a half before finally stopping.
"When practicing the Five Animals Qigong normally, you just need to continue until your body feels slightly warm. Given everyone’s physical condition, practicing it twice is about right. One set takes about twenty-something minutes, so an hour a day is enough!" Hua Lingfang explained to the group.
Everyone nodded.
"Alright, that’s all for this morning!" Hua Lingfang concluded the lesson.
Xin Wan said a quick word to everyone and hurried toward the speedboat. She still needed to prepare breakfast for the group.
"Xin Wan, wait a second!" Ren Yuanyang called out to her.
"Boss, is something wrong?" Xin Wan stopped, looking puzzled.
"Come with me!" Ren Yuanyang led her toward the shipping container.
Inside the container, Ren Yuanyang reached into the small pond and pulled up a potato plant. Eight fist-sized potatoes were attached to its roots!
Xin Wan’s eyes lit up. "Our potatoes are ripe!"
"Take these eight to improve our meals. I need to keep the rest to expand the crop. And those bok choy over there, stir-fry one of them too!" Ren Yuanyang nodded slightly, pointing to a few heads of bok choy piled to the side.
These bok choy had ripened in the middle of the night, and Hua Lingfang had harvested them and put them here.
But Ren Yuanyang quickly realized a problem. "We don’t seem to have any oil, do we? Then just boil them with a little salt!"

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