Chapter 152 (continued)

A wind has picked up, carrying a dry scent.

There's definitely a feeling of late autumn turning into winter right now; we'll just have to wait and see when the first snowfall will come.

On this day, Shi Wen's inspection revealed that the new batch of fertilizer had already fermented.

He then pulled Laibao over, intending to carry the fertilizer up the mountain to fertilize the fruit trees for the last time this year.

Just as he was working hard, he saw Shi Suo peeking around nearby.

This guy was clearly watching them the whole time, but he pretended not to care. Every Shi Wen turned his head, he would slip away into the distance.

The little animals also have their own personalities and worries, and Shi Wen and saw this, they didn't pay much attention.

Shi Suo had been wandering around nearby. Its slender legs clattered as it walked.

Shi Wen finished packing the fertilizer and was about to leave, Shi Suo ran over and stood next to Shi Wen.

Shi Wen: "Hmm? Is something wrong with you?"

Shi Suo blinked her long eyelashes, staring intently at Shi Wen, without answering.

The horse, of course, couldn't answer. Shi Wen chuckled and gently nudged its chest, "Go play somewhere else, we need to go up the mountain."

Shi Suo grabbed Shi Wen's collar, preventing him from leaving. "Hissing."

Shi Wen snatched his collar out of its mouth, and it picked it up from the other side.

This Shi Wen confirmed that it was indeed behaving strangely. "Are you trying to take me somewhere?"

Shi Suo stood still, holding onto Shi Wen's collar tightly.

After a brief standoff, Shi Wen and Shi Suo realized that it didn't want to take Shi Wen anywhere; it just wanted to follow them up the mountain.

Shi Wen found this strange and patted its head. "You're interested in going up the mountain again?"

Shi Suo: "Hissing sound."

Shi Wen laughed and said, "Then let's go up the mountain together."

Shi Suo happily trotted up the mountain with Shi Wen.

This time, it didn't complain about Laibao walking slowly, nor did it complain about the smell of fertilizer.

Shi Wen glanced at it thoughtfully, knowing that something must have gone wrong.

However, since I can't guess right now, I'll have to stop guessing for now.

Shi Wen spent a day working on the mountain with Laibao, Shi Suo also spent a day on the mountain.

It ran around, showing none of its usual impatience.

By evening, Shi Wen had brought them back to the vicinity of the main courtyard, Shi Suo was still clinging to him.

Shi Wen was about to stop it to ask further questions, the horses returned.

The stallions entered the pen on their own, but the mares, led by the lead horse, walked towards Shi Suo.

Shi Suo's expression changed, and he was about to run outside.

The mares immediately surrounded it enthusiastically, nuzzling and rubbing against it, saying, "Hee-ho!"

The Shi Suo was a bit bigger than the mares, but it was completely surrounded and couldn't get away.

The mares, in particular, licked and rubbed against it with great enthusiasm.

Shi Suo looked around in a flustered manner, trying to find a way out.

However, it was completely surrounded by nine mares, and it couldn't even turn around.

After trying a few times, it cast a pleading look at Shi Wen.

Shi Wen finally understood why this guy was acting so strangely today; it turned out he couldn't handle the favor of a beautiful woman.

Shi Wen chuckled and led the lead horse away, then used food to lure the other mares away. With the food and the lead horse's guidance, the other mares finally left.

Shi Suo was free, he breathed a sigh of relief and immediately ran off into the distance, hissing as he ran.

Shi Wen, "Look at how pathetic you are."

Shi Suo pawed at the ground with its hooves and rubbed its head against Shi Wen, for the first time not refuting Shi Wen's criticism.

After this incident, Shi Wen realized that something was wrong with the horses at home.

His horse has entered its estrus cycle!

Horses are seasonally polyestrous animals, and their breeding season is generally in spring and summer.

Their gestation period is about eleven months, or about a year. Only babies conceived in the spring and summer will be born into the world the following spring and summer.

Spring and summer offer warm weather and abundant food, which saves newborn foals a lot of trouble and increases their survival rate.

Horses do get pregnant in autumn and winter, but it's quite rare for so many horses to enter estrus at the same time.

Shi Wen speculated that they have reached the age required, and that they did not successfully enter their mating season in the spring and summer due to changes in their living environment. Therefore, now that they have been settled and have sufficient fodder, they are showing signs of mating.

Shi Wen went to observe the horses.

The mares' symptoms weren't actually that obvious; they were just much more enthusiastic when dealing with the Shi Suo.

Shi Suo aren't around, you can't even tell they're in heat.

The other stallions in the herd tried to come over and rub against her, but they were all chased away by the mares.

They are only interested in Shi Suo.

Shi Suo had absolutely no interest in them and simply tucked his tail between his legs and fled.

Shi Wen mocked Shi Suo's cowardly behavior, saying, "I never thought Shi Suo would have a day like this."

Yan Kexing said fairly, "It is indeed a very fine stallion."

Shi Wen, "That's true, he's just a bit of a hothead."

The mare in the house went into heat, and the stallion was affected and also entered its estrus cycle.

Shi Suo, however, the stallions are in the lead, and the mares at home completely reject them.

The two sides remained locked in a stalemate, Shi Wen observing for several days, Shi Wen discovered that the horses showed absolutely no signs of mating.

Some mares, after one estrus cycle ends, enter another estrus cycle because they are unable to conceive.

Perhaps because it's the wrong season, the mares' estrus cycle isn't very obvious.

Given this situation, Shi Wen wanted to entrust Shi Suo and Yan Shi to Baoye A Sai's care for two days.

Baoye A Sai readily agreed, "[Don't even mention taking care of me for a few days, I could take care of me for several months without any problem.]"

Shi Wen: [Thank you, then I'll arrange for a vehicle to deliver the two horses and their fodder.]

Baoye A Sai: [No problem, I promise to use all the fodder for those two horses.]