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Shi Wen: [That's great. I was worried I might have seen it wrong.]

Fu Meng: [Haha, I knew you were worried, so I specifically let you know.]

Fu Meng: [He was just telling me how grateful he was to you. Once he's done being busy these next couple of days, he'll definitely come thank you in person.]

Shi Wen: [There's no need for that. I didn't really do anything.]

Fu Meng: [No, no, no. Let him come. That's the custom around here. You helped him so much, so it's only right that he thanks you.]

Fu Meng: [If he comes, just treat him to a couple rounds of tea. Otherwise, he might feel uneasy about it.]

When it came to social customs, Fu Meng, being a local, understood far more than he did.

After listening, Shi Wen agreed: [Got it. Thanks, Brother Fu.]

Fu Meng: [You're welcome. It'll be good for you to build up some local connections.]

Chapter 12

In the morning, Shi Wen used a handcart to transport the cleared-out cow and sheep manure to the fermentation pit in one corner of the ranch.

His ranch had three large fermentation pits in total. He did not know whether the old man had built them or whether they had come with the ranch, but they were all in the northwest corner, far from the house and water source.

After Shi Wen arrived, he put one of them into use.

As the number of livestock increased, every other day he had to use the handcart to haul manure, urine, bedding straw, and the like cleaned from the sheds over here, dump them into the fermentation pit, cover it, and seal it for fermentation.

This was also an important measure for keeping the ranch safe and clean.

During fermentation, thermophilic anaerobic bacteria in the pit would multiply rapidly and release heat, killing the bacteria, viruses, parasites, parasite eggs, and so on in the manure.

Only after disinfection would the manure no longer endanger the ranch's soil, water sources, plants, and animals.

The weather was hot now, so it would finish fermenting in a little over two months.

He did not grow much on this ranch and could not use so much manure. Once it had fermented, he could simply call people from nearby factories to collect it.

It would not sell for much, but as long as someone collected it, he would not have to worry about so much manure. Shi Wen was quite satisfied with that.

The morning sunlight poured down, heating Shi Wen's back until it burned and bringing a sheen of sweat to his forehead.

He had just finished dumping the manure and had not yet covered the fermentation pit when Black Kid began barking loudly from the other side.

The moment Shi Wen heard the tone and frequency of the barking, he knew someone had arrived.

He hurriedly set the handcart aside and rushed to the ranch entrance to take a look.

From afar, Shi Wen saw two familiar figures. They were none other than Zhang Deyuan and Fu Meng, whom he had met only yesterday.

Recalling the message Fu Meng had sent yesterday evening, Shi Wen guessed that Fu Meng had come along to keep Zhang Deyuan company.

He strode toward them and called out as he walked, "Why didn't you call me?"

Fu Meng said, "I was just about to call you when I saw you walking over from far away."

As he spoke, Fu Meng unlatched the gate and led Zhang Deyuan inside.

When they met up, Zhang Deyuan handed the gift box he was carrying to Shi Wen. His round, dark-yellow face carried an embarrassed expression. "It was all thanks to you yesterday. I had a doctor check them, and he said it was Bluetongue Disease. It's somewhat contagious. If you hadn't told me, my losses would have been huge."

Shi Wen smiled and tried to refuse it. "I just noticed something seemed off and gave you a reminder. I didn't do much."

Zhang Deyuan forcefully stuffed the gift box into his hands. "You still helped me tremendously. My sheep that needed treatment have been treated, and the ones that needed isolation have been isolated. It's pretty much all handled now, and the situation is under control. You're the biggest contributor, so don't stand on ceremony."

Seeing them energetically push the gift back and forth, Fu Meng changed the subject. "Shi Wen, how did you tell that something was wrong with the sheep? Skewell said they were still in the incubation period. If he hadn't examined them so carefully, even he wouldn't have noticed."

Zhang Deyuan was also curious about that and stared at Shi Wen, waiting for an answer.

Shi Wen truly found this question difficult to answer. His ability to tell when livestock was unwell relied entirely on a kind of feeling.

Just as ordinary people might not be able to tell whether livestock was sick, but had little difficulty noticing when another person was ill.

Shi Wen was the same. Sick livestock always seemed somewhat off, and he knew the instant he saw them.

After thinking it over, he said, "I just felt something was wrong. Those sheep looked pretty listless, and their faces seemed a little swollen too. They weren't quite like the healthy sheep around them."

Zhang Deyuan sighed. "Your observations are so meticulous. I could never notice that."

Shi Wen smiled. "I deal with sheep every day, so I've picked up a little experience."

Shi Wen led them home for tea.

After they sat down and chatted for a while, Zhang Deyuan said, "I heard from Brother Fu that you want to buy some sheep? Are you looking for rams or ewes? Meat sheep or breeding sheep? Tell me, and I'll keep an eye out for you."

Fu Meng said, "Old Zhang travels all over the place. He knows the situation around here much better than I do, so he'll definitely be able to find good sheep."

Shi Wen said, "I don't have much money, so I want to buy some half-grown ewes. It would be best if I could get breeding sheep. If not, I can raise them as meat sheep and send them to market this winter or next year."

The old herders were all experienced. Everyone more or less knew which sheep could make good breeding stock.

It was possible to find an overlooked ordinary breeding sheep, but finding an overlooked top-quality breeding sheep was basically impossible.

Those top-quality breeding sheep could sell for tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, or even millions. With Shi Wen's current finances, they were beyond his reach.

Although he could take out a loan and the authorities would give him the green light, there was no need for that given his current situation. He still wanted to proceed steadily, spend a year or two adapting, hone his skills, and then think about expanding.

After Shi Wen explained his goal, Zhang Deyuan fell into thought.

This should not be too difficult, right? Seeing Zhang Deyuan's expression, Shi Wen asked, "Brother Zhang, is this hard to find?"

"No, no, don't misunderstand." Zhang Deyuan came back to his senses. "You just want to pick through ordinary half-grown ewes and see whether you can select some with relatively good qualities, right?"

Shi Wen nodded.

Zhang Deyuan said, "I was thinking, the sheep I buy are also local half-grown ewes. If you want to choose, you can come pick directly from mine. I'll give them to you at wholesale price."