Farming Games are All About Grinding-Chapter 155 - 148: The Flower Fairy’s Gift

February 26th Log

Planting XP: +106

Foraging XP: +528

Fishing XP: +1342

Combat XP: +0

Mining XP: +0

Character Affection Changes:

None

Current Money: 22,466 Gold

Total Earnings: 96,071 Gold

"Cluck cluck cluck"

"Bawk bawk bawk"

"Yip yip yip"

"Roar!"

The long-lost animal symphony made its triumphant return to Han Qiwu’s little courtyard.

After hastily glancing at the log, Han Qiwu couldn’t wait to get out of bed, get dressed, and freshen up.

What’s so interesting about looking at logs?

Let’s go check out the cow shed!

After spending so many materials and so much time—taking up 28 plots of land no less—he had to see what it turned out like.

Han Qiwu dashed out of the house, running excitedly toward the cow shed.

Since today was cloudy, patches of sunlight spilled onto the ground, shifting and changing along with the clouds.

As Han Qiwu approached the cow shed, a single ray of light pierced through the clouds, landing directly on the structure.

The cow shed began to glow.

Bathed in the soft morning light, Han Qiwu studied the exterior of the shed closely.

Perhaps it was due to the use of partial [Undersea Sediment Wood], as the shed had two main colors: the ebony hue of the sediment wood and the natural color of regular lumber.

But the color distribution wasn’t an even split, nor was it like a panda’s sharply defined black-and-white patches.

Instead, it resembled the mottled pattern on a black-and-white dairy cow—with a splash of ebony here, a patch of natural wood there.

Honestly, it had a certain artistic charm to it.

Just like the quirky color scheme, the structure itself was equally unique.

Despite being a rectangular cow shed, it had a lofty, cylindrical dome on top, and its walls featured oversized windows as if eager to invite every breeze inside.

"That’s it? Even I could design this," Han Qiwu muttered.

Reaching the doorway, he pushed the door open, triggering a system notification.

[Congratulations on acquiring your second animal building.]

[Please name it.]

"Jilei Mountain," Han Qiwu said, revealing a name he had thought of long ago.

Though the name Jilei Mountain didn’t hold as poetic a meaning as Parasol Tree, it at least had something to do with cows.

Who knows, maybe one day a cow here will mutate into a Thunder Cow?

Thunder Cow Milk? That does sound enticing.

Would it give a tingling sensation when you drink it?

[’Jilei Mountain’ successfully named.]

With the naming complete, the door in front of Han Qiwu swung open automatically, revealing a numerical counter overhead: 1.

"This door keeps track of entries and exits?" Han Qiwu nodded in satisfaction. His university library had a similar feature, and it always gave him a sense of accomplishment.

Just passing through the library regularly made you feel like you’d gained knowledge.

Continuing inside, Han Qiwu caught a faint, pleasant fragrance emanating from deep within the cow shed.

Sheds built with sediment wood were truly extraordinary.

If he scraped off some wood powder later, it might even work as incense!

He looked up to examine Jilei Mountain’s interior, which featured a minimalist design. At each corner stood a cow stall, while the center housed a water trough and a large cutter.

Curious about the stalls’ arrangement, Han Qiwu approached the cutter directly.

[Basic Grass Cutter]

[Purpose: Producing Cow Feed]

[Effect: Turns 10 portions of grass crops into 1 portion of cow feed.]

[Note: Cows eat grass and give milk.]

"What a beastly machine!" Han Qiwu exclaimed, running his hand along the cutter’s handle, itching to bring over ten portions of grass and slice away to his heart’s content.

As a child, Han Qiwu had been fascinated by large cutters ever since he had seen Judge Bao’s execution blade. He had always wanted to try one himself.

Now the chance was finally here.

As he gazed at the cutter, Han Qiwu pondered his current situation.

Unlike omnivorous chickens, cows could only eat either cow feed or fresh grass.

That was a bit of a problem. While the wild vegetables in the yard sometimes sprouted wild grass alongside them,

when Han Qiwu checked yesterday, he noticed the wild vegetables were thriving, but wild grass was scarce.

No feed was available.

"When buying calves, I’ll have to see if Yang Yangyang sells grass seeds or cow feed. If not, I’ll use wild vegetables," Han Qiwu muttered, feeling a bit of relief. Thankfully, he had checked the shed beforehand.

If he’d brought home four cows directly, they might have starved right away.

And in that case... well, he’d end up with beef instead...

Milk-fed beef? That sounds edible, right?

If he grilled it, would it have a milky aroma?

"Stop, stop, stop."

Han Qiwu shook his head to dispel such thoughts.

It was all the meat chickens’ fault—getting him to think about eating meat every day.

Overall, Han Qiwu was quite pleased with Jilei Mountain.

Once he brought in some calves, he could look forward to fresh milk!

The milk he collected could also be used to make butter, cream, and milk pudding!

And with that, the good life would officially begin.

After leaving the cow shed, Han Qiwu grabbed his copper watering can and habitually prepared to water the cauliflower and mixed seeds.

But as he walked toward the cauliflower, he noticed something peculiar—the first batch of 12 cauliflowers he had planted had already matured.

Perhaps it was thanks to the meticulous care of the Spider Puppet, as these cauliflowers had developed full, flawless heads without a single blemish or bug hole.

However!

The twelve cauliflowers hadn’t transformed into the giant cauliflowers Han Qiwu had been hoping for.

"I knew it wasn’t going to be that easy," Han Qiwu said with a resigned sigh, though he had anticipated this outcome.

The four cauliflowers growing beneath them wouldn’t mature until March 6th.

He’d just have to wait and see.

According to the life hacks from February 17th, as long as he didn’t harvest them, the cauliflowers had a chance to grow larger each day.

You can do it!

After psyching himself up, Han Qiwu adjusted the sprinkler’s position so it would only water the four immature cauliflowers.

Returning to Parasol Tree, he collected the chicken eggs, then carried his copper watering can to the area with mixed seeds.

As he walked, Han Qiwu noticed something was off.

Why were these ten plots of land still moist?

As he got closer, a system notification popped up in front of him:

[Last night, the Flower Fairy visited your courtyard to play.]

[As a result of using your courtyard as a playground, the following effects have been applied:]

[Effect 1: The soil for mixed seeds will remain moist for a week, improving flower quality.]

[Effect 2: The germination rate of wild grass seeds in the courtyard has doubled, with a 30% chance of Purple Alfalfa appearing.]

[Note: If enough flowers are planted, the Flower Fairy will frequent your courtyard more often.]

"The Flower Fairy came???"

Han Qiwu felt a pang of regret. Why had he gone to bed so early last night?

If he’d stayed up, he might have caught a glimpse of the Fairy!

How strong was the Flower Fairy’s +10 charm effect?

"I wonder which Fairy it was," Han Qiwu muttered, putting away his watering can. It seemed he wouldn’t need to water the fields for the next few days.

If he got the chance, he’d have to plant more flowers. Besides improving his mood every morning, who knew? He might get to chat with the Fairy next time!

Even if he didn’t, just having the Fairy visit was worth the entry fee.

Take Effect 2 from this visit, for instance—it perfectly resolved Han Qiwu’s concerns about feed for the calves.

And then some.

Han Qiwu had researched Purple Alfalfa before. As a leguminous plant from the alfalfa genus, native to Asia Minor, it was one of the best forage grasses for dairy cows.

With nothing else to do, Han Qiwu decided to check the courtyard’s sprouting Purple Alfalfa to see if it needed any watering or fertilizer.

Before long, Han Qiwu found the Purple Alfalfa near the [Spring Wild Vegetable Seeds]. At this stage, they were just two tender green shoots.