Rural Farming: My Buildings Can Be Upgraded

Chapter 56: Chapter 55: Medicine House Mission

Standing in front of the Medicine House, Lin Feng realized he had a new problem—he couldn’t just buy things as casually as before.

With more and more people paying attention to Lin Xian Village, buying certain things would always leave a trail.

He’d discovered this while building the greenhouses. He realized it would be especially troublesome if he bought large equipment for the Medicine House, only for it to disappear without a trace.

Small things didn’t matter. He could buy them directly from shops, and no one would pay any attention.

For example, when the Houses were being fitted with air conditioners, he could buy a few extra units and no one would care.

But large machinery was different. Buying it would leave a record.

After much deliberation, he could only add a small pulverizer to the Medicine House, and even then, he had to buy it mixed in with some other machinery.

[Medicine House (Level 1): ..., +10% herb processing speed.]

Still, the effect wasn’t bad. Although it didn’t generate the ideal attribute, it did reduce the time the Pharmacists spent processing herbs.

Lin Feng walked into the Medicine House. Most of the equipment inside consisted of various tools used in traditional Chinese medicine, with only a few modern devices added.

Behind the Medicine House was a courtyard that would be used for drying medicinal herbs. Once the Medicinal Herb Garden was established, they would have to process many of the herbs themselves.

"Are you all getting used to working here?"

Zhao Shiyun, who was preparing herbs, looked up. "It’s much better than the other place. There are a lot of tools here, which makes many tasks simpler."

Feng Ziling, who was processing herbs, added, "This equipment is really great. Back when I was on the mountain with my master, we had to grind all the herbs by hand."

"Good. If you run into anything that needs improvement, feel free to let me know."

Lin Feng looked at the quest that had been triggered after the Medicine House was officially put into use.

[Medicine House Quest: Use Clearing Heat and Stopping Cough Pills to treat 1,000 patients.]

[Quest Reward: Qi Replenishing Soup recipe.]

He was a little puzzled. The Houses hadn’t generated a quest after being used, but the Farmland and Arrow Tower had. It seemed like the other buildings didn’t come with quests.

’Why did the Medicine House generate a quest after it was used?’

Still, a quest was a good thing, as it was a way to obtain some nice items.

Take this recipe, for instance. He had looked it up online and found a formula for Qi Replenishing Soup, which was mainly used to treat spleen-qi deficiency and qi-deficiency fever.

He wondered what ailments the rewarded Qi Replenishing Soup would primarily treat.

Judging from the effects of the Clearing Heat and Stopping Cough Pills, it was clear that recipes from quest rewards all had miraculous effects.

Besides making a fixed amount of Medicinal Tea each day, the two of them now spent the rest of their time producing Clearing Heat and Stopping Cough Pills.

Once the licenses came through, he planned to sell the Medicinal Tea in the village and the Clearing Heat and Stopping Cough Pills to the public.

Leaving the Medicine House, Lin Feng thought about his recruitment efforts. People had applied over the past three days, but the results weren’t great.

For instance, the chef he was looking for—according to Hu Xia, they were completely unwilling to come work here.

He did, however, find two finance officers, both of them locals from Wuyuan County.

The scenic area planner was proving difficult to find. They were only willing to accept a model where he paid, and they provided the plan.

Lin Feng wasn’t against this model. It was just that after he had two teams come and take a look, the designs they proposed didn’t align with his vision.

Later, Lin Feng had an idea: he decided to stop looking for a designer. Instead, he posted the details of Lin Xian Village’s surrounding area online and asked tourists to submit their own proposals. He would then choose the most feasible plans and use them to develop the scenic area.

And it was working. A great number of tourists were participating in the project, and many of their suggestions were excellent.

Of course, there were also absurd suggestions, like one telling him to figure out a way to turn the valley in front of Lin Xian Village into a lake.

Arriving at the greenhouses, he saw that the twenty-mu structures were finally complete, built with the help of many people hired from Mountain Ridge Town. Planting was now underway inside.

They were planting a much wider variety of vegetables this time: bok choy, radishes, onions, celtuce, lettuce, okra, cauliflower, and green peppers, among others. At Hu Xia’s request, he had also dedicated one greenhouse to strawberries.

His father didn’t try to stop him this time, mainly because the vegetables he had planted before were growing so incredibly well.

Anyone who had been inside the greenhouses loved the sight of the lush, green vegetables.

As for the wheat next to the greenhouses, it was so conspicuous that more than one person had commented on how well it was growing, adding what a pity it was that it would never survive the winter.

His father had even suggested putting a greenhouse over the four mu of wheat, saying it would be a terrible waste for it to freeze to death in the winter.

The people inside the greenhouses were busy at work. Lin Feng didn’t go in; he just walked around the area for a bit until he found his father.

"Dad, are there any good chefs around Mountain Ridge Town?"

Since he couldn’t find a chef from outside, Lin Feng had no choice but to try his luck and see if there was anyone in his hometown.

Hearing his son was looking for a chef, Lin Dongyue thought for a moment before replying, "There are quite a few chefs in town who cater rural banquets. As for the best one, that would have to be the Da Guo family on the east side of town."

"Da Guo himself has retired and passed the business on to his two sons. But they have their own restaurant, so it’d be very difficult to hire them."

Lin Feng had eaten at one of Da Guo’s banquets before. Their business reached several neighboring towns, a craft passed down through generations.

"Any others?"

"There’s Ma Sandao. He used to work at a big restaurant out of town. I heard his business hasn’t been doing so well since he came back."

"His skill is undeniable, but the guy has too many ideas. He’s always trying to innovate."

Lin Feng thought for a moment and asked, "Dad, is that the same Ma Sandao who can cook the All-Beef Banquet?"

"That’s him. If that guy just stuck to his All-Beef Banquet, his business wouldn’t be bad. But now he just messes around all day."

Lin Feng understood. The man must have gone out and seen the world, then came back to open a restaurant, only to find his new ideas didn’t quite fit the local tastes.

And as his father said, he had a strange temperament. He wanted to innovate and create new things, but the results were disappointing. His reputation soured, and naturally, no one hired him for banquets anymore.

Still, you had to admit the man was skilled. Lin Feng had heard that he taught himself the All-Beef Banquet just from a cookbook, figuring out all the cooking techniques on his own.

In the past, many people in the county seat would hire him to prepare the All-Beef Banquet. Later, he left to work elsewhere. Lin Feng hadn’t expected him to be back.

"Dad, could you ask him for me? See if he’s interested in coming here to cook."

"Alright. I’ll stop by his place and ask when I head down the mountain later."

Although this Ma Sandao wasn’t a famous chef, his All-Beef Banquet was impressive and, at the very least, highly unique.

’If I pair that with the buff from the Gourmet Menu, the results should be quite good.’

’And let’s not forget, the Restaurant also has special effect bonuses. I can try to find an item that can boost a chef’s skill and add it in.’

’The chef situation is sorted. Now all that’s left are the livestock breeders. That part will be simple; I can find them in town as soon as the Livestock Shed is built.’

Lin Feng walked toward the village in high spirits. Now he just had to wait for all the staff to be hired, and then the village would be ready for an upgrade.

Just as he reached the village entrance, he ran into He Limin and Su Qingqing.

"What brings you two here?"

As soon as Su Qingqing saw Lin Feng, she grabbed his arm. "What on earth did you put in that Medicinal Tea?"

"Qingqing, let go of Xiaofeng!"

Su Qingqing realized she was hugging Lin Feng’s arm and let go, her face turning red. "Sorry, I just got a little too excited."

"It’s fine, it’s fine. Come on, let’s head over to the pavilion first."

Lin Feng thought to himself, ’She doesn’t look like much at first glance, but she’s actually in great shape.’

After the three of them sat down in the pavilion, He Limin spoke up. "That Medicinal Tea of yours... did you put something special in it?"

"Yes, the Medicinal Tea is indeed a bit special. It’s impossible to mass-produce."

He Limin breathed a sigh of relief. He’d been researching it so much he was starting to question his own existence. He had run all sorts of tests and even sent a sample to Sun Yannian, but the results were the same: they couldn’t detect anything.

It had been absolute torture, which was why he had finally come up the mountain today to ask Lin Feng directly.

He had also heard that some major pharmaceutical companies had caused quite a stir over this matter.

The Medicinal Tea was clearly very effective for patients, but they just couldn’t figure out why, leaving them unable to even attempt a replication.

Su Qingqing asked in a low voice, "Can you tell us what the substance is? Of course, it’s okay if you can’t."

She knew that prying about such things was taboo, but she was just too curious.

He Limin shot her a glare. "You shouldn’t tell anyone what’s in the recipe."

Lin Feng smiled and said, "Actually, it would be useless even if I told you. Just think of it as a special substance, like the one in the Jade Grapes."

He didn’t even know the principles behind the recipe himself, so he couldn’t have explained it even if he wanted to.