Chapter Summaries

Shi Wen visited a planting base with Yan Kexing to assess Yucheng Silage No. 9 and decided to buy seeds for his ranch. After Yan Kexing offered to lend him money, Shi Wen invited him to look around the ranch.

• Yan Kexing recommended Yucheng Silage No. 9 and took Shi Wen to visit its planting base.
• A staff member explained the corn’s yield, nutritional value, growth cycle, and technical support while Shi Wen read the research paper.
• Shi Wen negotiated over the seed price, then ordered enough for his fifty mu of land for 10,800 yuan.
• Yan Kexing asked whether Shi Wen was short on money and offered to lend him some.
• Shi Wen explained that he had received part of a 300,000-yuan subsidy, then invited Yan Kexing to see his ranch.

Shi Wen welcomed Yan Kexing to his ranch, where they spent the afternoon settling in and preparing to watch the sunset. As the dogs returned from herding, An Wa brought back an enormous mushroom, leaving Shi Wen surprised.

• Shi Wen invited Yan Kexing to stay overnight and showed him around the ranch.
• Yan Kexing noticed his team's papers on Shi Wen's desk, embarrassing Shi Wen, and chose a set of bedding for the guest room.
• Shi Wen and Yan Kexing made the bed and spent much of the afternoon quietly working together.
• Shi Wen and Yan Kexing headed outside to watch the sunset as the dogs herded the cattle and sheep back.
• An Wa ran to Shi Wen and dropped an enormous, dirt-covered mushroom from its mouth.

An Wa, Le Wa, and Black Kid brought Shi Wen three large Delicious Mushrooms, which Yan Kexing identified as edible. The dogs stopped Shi Wen and Yan Kexing from going to watch the sunset, so the two took the mushrooms to the kitchen to prepare them.

• An Wa and Le Wa brought Shi Wen two underground Delicious Mushrooms, and Yan Kexing identified them and explained how to distinguish them from poisonous varieties.
• Black Kid returned with a third Delicious Mushroom, and Shi Wen rewarded all three dogs with jerky.
• An Wa and Le Wa clung to Shi Wen's pant legs when he tried to leave for the mountain, so Yan Kexing suggested they watch the sunrise instead and cook the mushrooms.
• Shi Wen and Yan Kexing carried the mushrooms into the kitchen to scrape, wash, and slice them, and Yan Kexing cleaned his mushrooms more deftly than Shi Wen.

Yan Kexing took over cooking at Shi Wen’s house, preparing a meal that delighted Shi Wen and the dogs. After tasting the dishes, Shi Wen praised Yan Kexing’s cooking and felt moved by the domestic scene.

• Yan Kexing took over the cooking while Shi Wen peeled garlic and watched the dogs wait eagerly outside the kitchen.
• Yan Kexing prepared stir-fried mushrooms, beef, and eggplant, along with loofah egg-drop soup, while Shi Wen served the dogs rice and food.
• Yan Kexing set the table and waited for Shi Wen, who was moved by the sight of them sharing a meal.
• Shi Wen tasted the dishes, praised Yan Kexing’s cooking, and compared the Delicious Mushrooms with Bachu Mushrooms.
• Shi Wen finished the meal and soup, feeling so full that he worried his abs might bulge.

Shi Wen accepted Yan Kexing’s help securing a bank loan and gained confidence in developing the ranch. He then tried to give his sheep a medicated bath, but the flock fiercely resisted and overwhelmed him and the dogs.

• Shi Wen showed Yan Kexing around the ranch and explained his three-year plan to build it up.
• Yan Kexing offered to introduce Shi Wen to a friend at a local bank and guarantee his loan, and Shi Wen agreed to consider it.
• Shi Wen accepted Yan Kexing’s help, borrowed seven hundred thousand, and combined it with a three-hundred-thousand subsidy for ranch expenses.
• Shi Wen led the sheep to a pool of medicated water after finding maggots in their wounds, but the flock smelled the insecticide and fled.
• Shi Wen and Black Kid, Le Wa, and An Wa struggled to herd the fierce sheep into the pool; Black Kid managed to intimidate some, while the smaller dogs grew exhausted.

Shi Wen and Skewell treated Shi Wen’s sheep and checked his cattle before Skewell told him about five cows with Mucosal Disease that their owners wanted to sell. They went to inspect the first two, and Shi Wen noticed a sour-milk smell in their shed as a woman milked one of the sick cows.

• Shi Wen and his three dogs struggled to bathe the sheep until Skewell arrived and helped them contain the flock in the medicinal pool.
• After the sheep got out, Shi Wen thanked Skewell and gave the exhausted dogs water and jerky.
• Skewell examined Shi Wen’s four cattle and found them healthy, then told Shi Wen about five cows with middle-stage Mucosal Disease available for sale.
• Shi Wen released his cattle and went with Skewell to inspect the first two sick cows at a large livestock breeder’s home.
• Inside the heated cowshed, Shi Wen noticed a sour-milk scent while a woman milked one of the cows.

Shi Wen bought five pregnant, lactating cows sick with Mucosal Disease after inspecting them and negotiating their price. The next morning, he began treating the cows and milking one of them at his ranch.

• Shi Wen learned that the sick animals were dairy cows and inspected two six-year-old pregnant cows whose owner wanted to sell them.
• Shi Wen negotiated with the owner and bought the two cows for 3,300 each, completing the sale with a written agreement and a local elder as witness.
• Shi Wen toured with Skewell and bought three more sick, pregnant dairy cows, bringing his total to five.
• Shi Wen brought the cows to the disinfected warehouse on his ranch, where his other cattle and sheep had been vaccinated against Mucosal Disease.
• The next morning, Shi Wen brought Black Kid to the warehouse, kept it outside, treated the five cows, and began milking one of them.

Shi Wen expanded his ranch and cared for his cattle, eventually confirming that five dairy cows had recovered and producing the ranch’s first batch of milk. He boiled the milk and ladled out four bowls while the dogs waited outside the kitchen.

• Shi Wen finished milking a sick Local Brown Cattle, kept An Wa and Le Wa from sneaking inside, and cleaned the livestock shed.
• Shi Wen hired Zhang Deyuan’s recommended construction crew to build a new livestock shed at the ranch.
• After the new shed was completed, Shi Wen moved five dairy cows into it, and all five were alive and in good condition.
• Shi Wen invited Skewell to examine the cows, confirmed they had recovered, and used an electric milking machine to collect three buckets of milk.
• Shi Wen boiled the milk as the dogs waited outside the kitchen, then ladled it into four bowls.

Shi Wen woke to find the ranch covered in blooming Wild Chive Flowers, photographed the fields, and accepted Fu Meng’s invitation to eat homemade mutton. He fed the dogs and brought hay to the livestock because the rain had made grazing unsafe.

• Shi Wen woke to rain and discovered Wild Chive Flowers covering the yard and grassland.
• Shi Wen identified the flowers, photographed the dogs among them and the fields, and posted the pictures online.
• Fu Meng called Shi Wen and invited him to come for homemade stewed mutton.
• Shi Wen fed Black Kid, Le Wa, and An Wa milk and mixed rice.
• Shi Wen used a forklift to bring hay to the cattle and sheep because rain-soaked grass could make them sick.

Shi Wen visited Fu Meng's family and enjoyed their mutton stew with homemade chive flower sauce. Chang Qingqing and Fu Meng agreed to come to Shi Wen's ranch the next day to pick chive flowers and make more sauce.

• Shi Wen finished his ranch work and brought pastries to Fu Meng's home.
• Fu Meng and Chang Qingqing served Shi Wen a meal of clear-stewed mutton and mutton soup.
• Shi Wen tried Chang Qingqing's chive flower sauce with the mutton and praised it.
• Chang Qingqing offered to teach Shi Wen how to make the sauce and suggested picking chive flowers at his ranch.
• Fu Meng and Chang Qingqing arrived at Shi Wen's ranch the next day with their children and sacks to gather chive flowers.