Chapter 12

The sheep were crowded together in the livestock shed. Had they been kept inside because they were being fattened up?

While he was looking closely, Fu Meng had already struck up a conversation with Zhang Deyuan, the man of the house.

Fu Meng introduced them to each other.

Only then did Shi Wen learn that Zhang Deyuan was the biggest sheep dealer in the area, and that he handled every kind of local business involving sheep.

Shi Wen and Fu Meng lifted the wool off the back of the motorcycle.

Zhang Deyuan opened the bags and examined the wool carefully.

Fu Meng said, "Good wool, freshly shorn. It's still warm. I know you're fair, so I brought my young friend here especially to see you."

"I'll just check the quality." After examining one bag, Zhang Deyuan smiled and opened the other. "Shi Wen, this wool of yours is good. It qualifies as first-grade wool."

Shi Wen smiled too. "All the care I put into raising them wasn't wasted."

Once Zhang Deyuan had finished checking, he saw that the wool was clean and dry, consistent in quality, and had little debris in it. He named his price. "First-grade sheep's wool is going for sixty-five yuan a jin these days. What do you think?"

That was exactly the price Shi Wen had hoped for.

He readily agreed. "No problem."

The three of them carried the wool over to be weighed.

It came to seventy-three jin and six liang. At sixty-five yuan a jin, Zhang Deyuan rounded it up and paid Shi Wen 4,785 yuan.

Shi Wen stared at the money that had just arrived on his phone, a jumble of feelings in his heart.

After raising sheep for so long, this was the first money he had earned back.

Once they had settled the account, Zhang Deyuan invited them to have tea and led them to a tap by the corner of the wall to wash their hands.

The sheep pen was right next door.

Shi Wen kept glancing at it, washing his hands rather absentmindedly.

Watching him, Zhang Deyuan couldn't help asking, "Shi Wen, what are you looking at?"

Shi Wen looked up at him, somewhat hesitant.

Zhang Deyuan's heart sank. Half joking, he asked, "What is it? Taken a fancy to my sheep?"

Shi Wen pointed toward the pen. "A few sheep over there seem to have a problem. The ones near the brown-faced sheep that looks like it has a beard."

"No way, right?" Zhang Deyuan's expression changed at once. "These sheep are almost ready to go to market. What's wrong with them?"

Shi Wen said, "They really do seem sick, and it looks like it might be contagious. If it's convenient, you could ask a vet to come take a look."

Zhang Deyuan muttered, "How could that be? I checked all the sheep I just bought."

Hearing this, Fu Meng gave Zhang Deyuan a reassuring pat on the shoulder and tried to smooth things over. "How about asking Sikewell to come take a look? You'll have peace of mind once he's checked. You've been doing business here for so many years. If you were to sell sheep with something wrong with them, wouldn't that ruin your reputation?"

Zhang Deyuan stared fixedly at the sheep. "The thing is, they don't look like anything's wrong. I checked every one of them myself."

Fu Meng said, "Then have them checked, just to be safe?"

Zhang Deyuan said, "I'll take another look."

After that, no one was in the mood for tea.

Fu Meng said goodbye and left with Shi Wen.

Zhang Deyuan didn't say much, but he looked preoccupied, and his face had grown troubled.

Seeing him like that made Shi Wen feel rather bad.

After they left Zhang Deyuan's house, Fu Meng comforted Shi Wen. "I wouldn't have noticed anything wrong with those sheep if you hadn't said so. But once you did, I thought there seemed to be something wrong too. You're probably right."

Shi Wen sighed. "He bought so many sheep. It's only natural he'd be upset when something like this happens."

Fu Meng said, "Buying sheep is bound to involve risks, or everyone would be making it big in business. Don't take it to heart. Sikewell is very skilled, and with an early examination and treatment, it probably won't be anything serious."

Shi Wen nodded. "I was just thinking out loud."

Fu Meng said, "Let's head back first, then. Once he's had time to process it, he'll come thank you in person."

The two went home separately.

Shi Wen kept thinking about Zhang Deyuan's sheep and remained distracted.

After working for a while, he went inside to look through his books, hoping to find a common cattle or sheep disease that matched what he had seen in Zhang Deyuan's sheep.

Evening came.

Fu Meng sent Shi Wen a message on WeChat: [It's confirmed. Zhang Deyuan's sheep have bluetongue disease. Sikewell has already dealt with it, and it's nothing serious. They just need to be isolated and treated, and the place disinfected.]

It really was bluetongue disease!

He hadn't been mistaken.

Relieved, Shi Wen picked up his phone and replied: [Were Zhang Deyuan's losses heavy?]

Fu Meng: [He basically didn't lose anything. Bluetongue isn't a particularly terrible disease. They just need to be cured.]

Fu Meng: [But if you hadn't spotted it, things would have been much more serious once the incubation period passed and it spread.]

Shi Wen: [That's great. I was worried I might have been mistaken.]

Fu Meng: [Hahaha, I knew you were worried, so I wanted to let you know.]

Fu Meng: [He was just telling me how grateful he is to you. Once he's finished dealing with things over the next couple of days, he'll definitely come thank you in person.]

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

Fu Meng: [No, no, no, let him come. That's how things are done around here. You helped him so much; it's only right that he thank you.]

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

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

After hearing that, Shi Wen agreed: [I understand. Thanks, Brother Fu.]

Fu Meng: [You're welcome. It's good for you to build some local connections too.]

Chapter 12

In the morning, Shi Wen used a wheelbarrow to take the cattle and sheep manure he had cleaned out to a fermentation pit in a corner of the pasture.

There were three large fermentation pits on his pasture. He didn't know whether the old man had built them or they had come with the property, but they were all in the northwest corner, far from the house and water source.

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

As his livestock increased, every two days he had to use a wheelbarrow to haul the manure, urine, bedding straw, and so on that he had cleaned out of the shed over here, dump them into the fermentation pit, and put the lid on to seal it for fermentation.