Chapter 49

Aside from his own overflowing bowl, the three dogs each had only a shallow amount at the bottom of theirs.

Shi Wen set the milk in front of the kitchen door for the dogs to drink, then picked up his own big, full bowl and started drinking too.

Black Kid and Le Wa both buried their heads and drank.

But An Wa looked at Shi Wen's bowl, then at its own, and unhappily pawed at its bowl in protest. "Woof!"

"Puppies can't drink too much milk."

An Wa tilted its head, its round eyes full of suspicion. "Woof!"

"Really." Shi Wen took a sip of milk. "If puppies drink too much milk, they'll get diarrhea. And if they get diarrhea, we'll have to ask Doctor Skewell to come give them a shot."

As he spoke, Shi Wen made a gesture as if giving an injection.

The three dogs had only just received their vaccinations. The moment Shi Wen made that gesture, An Wa understood.

It hesitated, circled its milk bowl twice, then finally buried its head in the bowl and began lapping it up!

Standing in the kitchen doorway, Shi Wen watched the dogs drink with their heads down and smiled as he took another big gulp of milk.

As expected of the milk produced on his ranch—it was rich and fragrant!

Enjoying the fruits of his own labor really was wonderful.

Chapter 22

Morning came, along with Shi Wen's usual waking time.

His internal clock woke him up. He opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling overhead.

The room was very dim. Turning his head toward the window, he saw tiny raindrops striking the glass, leaving long wet trails as they ran down.

It had started raining in the middle of the night. The noisy rain pattered against the roof and windows. He had woken and fallen asleep repeatedly, and even now, he did not want to get up.

Shi Wen reached beneath his pillow for his phone and set a ten-minute alarm.

He would laze around for another ten minutes.

After that, he had to get up and feed the cattle and sheep.

Ten minutes later, the alarm rang right on time.

With great reluctance, Shi Wen pushed himself upright in bed. Yawning, he pulled his coat over from the foot of the bed, put it on, and got up to wash.

He slowly finished washing up, then heated some milk in the microwave and drank it. At last, the drowsiness faded.

He walked to the door, took out a pair of tall rain boots from the shoe rack and changed into them, then put on a raincoat and prepared to head out.

To his surprise, the moment he opened the door, the whole yard was filled with little flowers, white and red alike, as though the ground had been covered with a floral carpet.

Crystal-clear droplets hung from the flowers. Whenever the wind blew, the entire blossoms swayed.

There were so many flowers!

Shi Wen had never expected the yard to change so dramatically overnight.

With wonder in his eyes, he strode out of the yard.

Standing at the gate, he looked out to see swaying white flowers covering the entire grassland, stretching all the way to the foot of the mountains.

Standing amid the flowers, he wondered whether he was still dreaming.

Otherwise, how could he possibly see such a sight?

It was simply breathtaking!

After standing there in a daze for a while, he took out his phone and searched online to find out what kind of flowers they were.

The internet said they were Wild Chive Flowers.

He crouched down and compared the flowers to pictures online. Sure enough, they were Wild Chive Flowers, the blossoms of Mongolian Chive.

Unlike ordinary cultivated chives, they were smaller and thinner, but they sent up long flower stalks topped with clusters of tiny buds.

Shi Wen crouched down and casually pinched off one stalk.

The Wild Chive Flowers gave off a slightly sweet, pungent scent, along with a distinctive flavor somewhere between scallions and chives.

Hearing Shi Wen open the door, the dogs ran out from the livestock shed. Black Kid and Le Wa enthusiastically wagged their big tails. "Woof woof!"

An Wa could not be bothered to bark or wag its tail.

Black Kid turned to glance at it. An Wa timidly shrank its neck, then finally followed along with a halfhearted, "Woof woof."

Its bark was extremely perfunctory, carrying the air of a working dog just going through the motions.

Shi Wen petted each dog's head. When he got to An Wa, he cupped its head in both hands and squeezed its whole face forward—instantly turning the originally handsome An Wa into something bizarre.

Shi Wen burst out laughing.

An Wa whined in protest and raised a paw to swat at Shi Wen.

Shi Wen let it go, then rubbed its neck again.

Shi Wen took out his phone and snapped a picture of the dogs standing among the Wild Chive Flowers. Then he used the wide-angle lens to photograph the ranch's vast fields of Wild Chive Flowers and posted them to his social feed.

The moment he posted them, Fu Meng gave him a like and commented: The chive flowers on your ranch are blooming beautifully!

Shi Wen was just about to reply when Fu Meng called.

Fu Meng's voice came through. "Hello, Shi Wen? The chive flowers are blooming over here too. Your sister-in-law made some pickled chive flower sauce, and we're slaughtering a sheep for lunch. Come to my place and have some mutton."

Shi Wen thought for a moment. "Sure. What time?"

Fu Meng laughed heartily. "It's homemade stewed mutton, so early or late is fine. Just come around mealtime. You can try the sheep my family raised this year."

The two chatted briefly before hanging up.

Shi Wen went back inside and brought out milk and mixed rice, ready to feed the dogs.

All three dogs had strong stomachs and showed no adverse reaction to fresh milk at all. Whenever Shi Wen fed them in the morning and evening, he added an extra bowl of fresh milk.

Besides fresh milk, Shi Wen prepared vegetables, large chunks of meat, and plain rice for them every day. Their meals were held to a higher standard than his own.

Ever since Black Kid came to the ranch, Shi Wen had stopped being so careless with his cooking. Whether it tasted good was another matter, but every meal had to include vegetables and meat to improve the dogs' nutrition.

Although the dogs were still some time away from adulthood, every one of them had sleek fur and an imposing presence. They were all beautiful young dogs.

After feeding the dogs, Shi Wen drove the forklift to move hay for the cattle and sheep.

When it rained, parasites in the soil could be splashed up and cling to plants. If livestock ate grass wet with rainwater, they risked becoming infected with parasites.

Sheep that ate rain-soaked grass also easily got diarrhea.

So whenever the pasture grass was too wet, herders generally did not drive their livestock out to graze. More often, they chose hay instead.