Chen Han finished reading the two tasks and immediately got up to chase in the direction the little dogs had run, wanting to investigate the Dog Demon's gathering. To do that, he first had to know where the little dogs were gathering.
Unfortunately, by the time he stepped out of the pavilion, the little dogs were nowhere to be seen, and even after running some distance forward, he didn't catch sight of them. Instead, his body started to feel unwell, and he was panting heavily.
His current physical condition was indeed a big limitation for him. In the past, even if he ran around the mountain several times, he was still full of energy.
But now...
He decided to go back to the Chen Family to have some breakfast. He hadn't eaten much last night, and if he didn't replenish a bit, his physical condition would worsen.
On the way, he looked at the other task: finding the Work Hall Elder to build defensive facilities for the Special Spiritual Acupoint.
Instantly, the image of his Little Uncle appeared in his mind.
According to the shameless nature of the game system, even his aunt, who was in charge of the incense at the Demon-Vanquishing Celestial Venerable Hall, was made a clan elder. So, it's probably not a problem for his Little Uncle, who is responsible for water and electricity, carpentry, masonry, breeding, and planting for the Chen Clan Ancient Building Complex, to be the Work Hall Elder, right?
Before long, he arrived at his Little Uncle's courtyard.
Chen Lin greeted him as he arrived, "Xiaohan, you're here. The porridge is just ready for eating."
Chen Han nodded, and after sitting down, he found an excuse: "Little Uncle, the three old elm trees are now marked as ancient trees. Xiaoyu mentioned that recent promotions have gained some momentum, and a lot of tourists might come eventually. If too many people come and damage the three old elm trees, that would be illegal."
"It wouldn't be good if such situations occur, so I think it'd be best to build a protective barrier around the three old elm trees, preventing tourists from getting too close."
Chen Lin didn't think too much about these matters. If his nephew wanted to do it, then it should be done.
So he said, "Then let's build a fence around the three old elm trees. Later, we can plant some green vines and flowering vines around the fence as well, turning it into a scenic spot."
"However, I still have to lead some people to plant the new vegetable plot in the vegetable garden first. You should prepare the bamboo first. The bamboo grove on the west side of the village belongs to our Chen Family's private grove, so you can go and cut some there. But be sure to find the resilient old bamboo."
[You've discussed with the Work Hall Elder about constructing defenses for the Special Spiritual Acupoint. The Work Hall Elder has decided to use Thunder Bamboo to build a defensive formation for the Special Spiritual Acupoint. Please head to the Thunder Bamboo Forest on the west side and collect mature Thunder Bamboo!]
"..." Chen Han was quite pleased that he had guessed right—that his Little Uncle was the Work Hall Elder. It showed that he had some understanding of the game's shameless nature.
But this setup of Thunder Bamboo and the Thunder Bamboo Forest truly made him unable to hold it together.
Can this even work?
The key problem was his physical condition: collecting Thunder Bamboo and constructing a fence around the three old elm trees required more than just one or two pieces; at least dozens of bamboo poles were needed.
With his current condition, even cutting down and carrying back one piece would be difficult, but there are always more solutions than problems. After eating the porridge, he pulled out the Chen Family WeChat group.
Because he is the Patriarch, he is also the group owner.
So he directly @everyone:
"I need 2 people to help me cut dozens of bamboos, 200 yuan per person as wages. Come meet at my Little Uncle's place."
Chen Lin opened the WeChat group and couldn't help but say, "Xiaohan, you're such a spendthrift. Can't you cut the bamboo yourself? It's a waste of money."
Two people cutting dozens of bamboo, and 200 per person was already quite a high wage.
Sometimes, rural labor could work hard all day and only earn 200.
Chen Han really wanted to say he couldn't do it, he couldn't even cut down one, and even if he did, he wouldn't be able to carry it back.
However, he didn't want his Little Uncle to know about his physical condition, so he pretended and said, "Little Uncle, I'm the Patriarch. There's no need for me to do such things myself. It's a good chance to let everyone earn some extra money, and when the Chen Clan Ancient Building Complex develops as a tourist spot, there will be many such opportunities for extra earnings. You should get used to it first."
"..." Chen Lin was somewhat speechless, but since Xiaohan, the Patriarch, had already sent this message to the clan, there was nothing more he could do.
Seeing the lively responses in the group, he also sent a message: "Be sure to cut mature, resilient bamboo, and don't mess around and screw things up. Chen Dagou and Chen Shuisheng, you two come over, cut the bamboo, and help me build the fence."
Chen Han smiled when he saw the message from his Little Uncle.
This was an exploitation of labor.
However, his Little Uncle still had prestige in the Chen Family, and the two uncles quickly responded.
They were from the collateral lines, and their fathers were cousins with his Little Uncle and father. They knew how to identify bamboo and had skills in crafting bamboo tools.
The Chen Family's private grove also produced bamboo shoots, which they processed into dried bamboo shoots to sell or keep for themselves.
Not long after, the two uncles arrived at Little Uncle's place, their skin dark from years of work.
Chen Dagou, with his sturdy build, looked quite intimidating and said as he arrived, "Xiaohan, we're here. Shall we head out now?"
"Uncle Dagou, we should head to the bamboo grove now," Chen Han didn't want to waste time and led the two out of the Chen Family's area.
Their bamboo grove was on the west side of the village, requiring them to pass through half the village.
Shangyuan Village was not small; it was a diverse village with several surnames, peaking at over a thousand households. However, many people moved to the town to build houses or bought them in the county, leaving many houses in the village uninhabited.
Moreover, most of the young and able-bodied had gone out for work or to find jobs, with only the elderly and a few middle-aged individuals remaining.
As the three of them passed by the village office, the village chief, Guo Zhen, greeted them warmly: "Chen Han, what are you up to?"
The Chen Family was not only the largest surname in the village but also held great reputation, with their ancient building complex being private property.
In the past, the entire village followed the Chen Family's lead.
Even now, during festivals and ceremonies, the village would go to the Chen Family's place to participate in the rituals honoring the Demon-Vanquishing Celestial Venerable.
At least the older generations still strongly believed in these traditions.
As the current Patriarch of the Chen Family, Chen Han naturally had to be polite and not act ostentatiously.
"Village Chief, we're off to cut some bamboo," Chen Han politely replied to the village chief, given the respect owed to an elder.
Entering the Chen Family's private bamboo grove, Chen Han was already out of breath.
This body...
Just as expected, not a single one could be cut.
However, he was quickly drawn to the game prompt that reappeared:
[You have led two family experts into the Thunder Bamboo Forest, please lead them to harvest enough mature Thunder Bamboo to bring back to the Clan Workshop!]
"..." Chen Han was at a loss for words regarding the game's setting of the Thunder Bamboo Forest, but he looked at the bamboo forest in front of him with surprise, noticing that individual bamboo trees were emitting a special guiding glow in different places.
Having played many games, he naturally knew this was a game indication; these bamboos should be the mature Thunder Bamboos required for the task, ready to be harvested and taken back.
"Uncle Dagou, Uncle Shuisheng, I'll mark the bamboos that need to be cut, and you just need to cut them and bring them back," Chen Han said while beginning to mark the bamboos indicated by the game.
Chen Dagou and Chen Shuisheng looked at his actions in surprise.
The reason Chen Lin called them was because they could identify the bamboo, able to cut down the mature bamboos with the best resilience.
Did Xiaohan understand this as well?
Watching Chen Han marking each bamboo, the two also went over, knocking on the bamboo with their hands, and were stunned for a moment.
Chen Dagou even tried to cut one with a knife, looking at the notch in disbelief.
Chen Shuisheng then took the machete to another bamboo marked by Chen Han, tapped it twice, and then cut it once, expressing his amazement to Chen Dagou with a thumbs up.
Xiaohan really understands.
The two were quite surprised.
Younger generations basically don't understand bamboo identification at all, they can't even find where the bamboo shoots are if they haven't sprouted.
Chen Han didn't realize that marking the bamboos according to game instructions would surprise his two uncles.
After marking dozens of them, he felt it was about enough and was surprised at how fast Uncle Dagou and Uncle Shuisheng's speed truly was, matching his pace of marking them.
However, once the bamboo was cut down, tidying up took some time, so he found an excuse: "Uncle Dagou, Uncle Shuisheng, something came up on the Chen Family's side, I'll head back first, I'll leave these bamboos to you."
"Go ahead, leave it to us." Chen Dagou said with a smile.
Chen Han returned to the Chen Family, panting heavily, and went straight to the courtyard, lying down on a lounge chair, wondering when days filled with exhaustion like this would end.
After resting for only a short while, his junior sister arrived with a smile on her face: "Senior brother, I've edited yesterday's video, come and see, it's much better than before, the entire video shows off the building scenery more aesthetically, even I can't take my eyes off it."
Saying this, she proudly handed over the phone to play a video.
Chen Han's eyes lit up as he watched the video.
He could obviously see that yesterday's architectural scenery in the video was much better than before.
The video conveys an ancient elegance and aesthetics that current domestic ancient architectural sites simply cannot compare to.
He knew this was the Sect's Base attribute effect.
Ancient +2, Aesthetics +2 are not only visually perceivable, but are also apparent in the video, which will definitely attract a lot of attention, potentially drawing in many tourists.
Xiaoyu suddenly suggested, "Senior brother, that ancient technique you showed Mr. Zhao was amazing, when did you learn it?"
Chen Han joked with a laugh, "My dad can teach you those Daoist Swordsmanship and Fist Techniques, as the heir of the Chen Family, don't you think I'd have at least a couple of tricks up my sleeve he taught me?"
"That makes sense." Xiaoyu thought it was reasonable, then suggested: "Senior brother, today's video is a bit short, how about I shoot another one of you demonstrating the ancient technique, it will definitely draw tourist attention."
Chen Han didn't refuse her.
After all, upgrading the Sect's Base requires reputation, currently, it only has 14 reputation points, far from the 500 required, needing new tourists to boost the reputation points.
The money needed for upgrades is also significantly lacking, so tourists would increase the income.
Though, he said, "Xiaoyu, I don't have props right now."
"Leave it to me," Xiaoyu said and then left the courtyard, returning shortly with a basin of apples, handing them to him: "Senior brother, here you go!"
The basin contained more than 10 apples, filling it to the brim.
Chen Han took the apples, then was dragged by his junior sister to an eight-immortal table in the courtyard.
Letting him stand in position, she found her own spot, holding the phone pointed at him: "Hello everyone, at the end of today's video, 'Xiaoyuzha' will let senior brother perform an ancient technique to extend the duration."
As she said this, she gestured for Chen Han to start performing.
Chen Han smiled, and in front of Xiaoyu, he stashed away over ten apples into the storage in his mind, while pretending to rotate his palm for each apple to conceal this action.
This left Xiaoyu dumbfounded, astonished and gaping.
Even though she had prepared by bringing a basin of apples, she never imagined her senior brother could make more than ten apples disappear.
No matter where he hid them, he couldn't possibly hide that many apples.
So, staring at the now-empty basin left her truly astonished, even instinctively glancing at a certain area on her senior brother, but being blocked by the table, she couldn't see there.
Surely she wouldn't lean over to check inside her senior brother's pants?
Moreover, how did he manage to stash away all ten so quickly?
As she was lost in thought, she saw her senior brother make the apples reappear one after another, quickly filling the basin again.
"Senior brother, how did you manage to stash so many?" Xiaoyu couldn't figure it out, but when she watched the video's effect, she was even more shocked.
Even when played slowly, no flaws could be seen.
Such a presentation of ten apples, with this effect, it will surely go viral once uploaded!