Chapter 153 (continued)

Upon Shi Wen this, Shi Wen nodded.

He had previously wanted Heiwa to keep an eye on the horses to prevent them from running away, but now it seems he doesn't need to.

Fine, let them roam freely.

Sikewell is right; the foals born from battle-tested mares are the healthiest and are better able to cope with various challenges after birth.

After relaxing his focus on the horses, Shi Wen began to pay attention to the sheep at home.

His sheep were bred at the end of July, and the due date is at the end of December. Now that the due date is approaching, he has to be extra careful.

If it's rainy or foggy, Shi Wen doesn't dare let the pregnant ewes out, for fear of something going wrong.

That day, Shi Wen was herding livestock on the pasture when Zhou Hongzhong and his men came to visit him.

Shi Wen ran out to greet him, "What a rare guest! Captain Zhou, what brings you here? Is there something you need?"

The two sides have interacted quite a bit, but it's mostly business-to-business, with very little personal interaction.

This time, Zhou Hongzhong brought a gift specifically for the occasion.

Zhou Hongzhong handed the fruit box to Shi Wen: "Yes, I also wanted to ask you for a favor this time."

Shi Wen readily agreed, "What kind of help is it? Just tell me, and I'll help if I can."

Zhou Hongzhong asked, "Do you remember the story about the spotted ephedra?"

Shi Wen: "I remember, last year when I was mowing the lawn I saw a spotted ephedra plant. I felt it was too risky to leave it on the pasture, so I asked you to transplant it. Is there anything wrong with the spotted ephedra?"

Zhou Hongzhong: "After we moved it away, we specially propagated a batch, but it never grew very well. This year it was supposed to flower and bear seeds, but all the flowers withered and no seeds were produced."

Shi Wen exclaimed in surprise, "How could this be? Isn't it supposed to be particularly adaptable?"

Ephedra simonii grows in the Gobi Desert. Although it is a national second-class protected plant, it is not particularly difficult to cultivate. How could it not even produce seeds?

Shi Wen looked at Zhou Hongzhong and said, "How do you want me to help? Move it to the pasture? It'll easily be eaten by cattle and sheep there."

Zhou Hongzhong: "No, no, no, we won't add to your burden. We suspect the lack of fruit is due to insufficient fertilizer, so we were just thinking of asking you to buy some manure so we can take good care of it when we get home."

"That's easy," Shi Wen readily agreed. "We just started a new manure pit at home, so buying it is out of the question. Giving you a truckload or two is no problem."

Zhou Hongzhong: "Thank you so much."

Shi Wen, "We all live in the same place, why be so polite? Come and take it this afternoon. After you take it, I'll use the rest for pasture."

Despite Shi Wen fertilizing his ranch all year round, he actually owns several thousand livestock of various kinds, including nearly three thousand Bress chickens and geese.

With so many animals here, the grassland is being heavily depleted. If they don't take care of it, their ranch may become completely abandoned and useless in two or three years.

Frequent fertilization and maintenance are necessary to promote the sustainable development of the ranch.

Not only the pasture, Shi Wen.

This year, he not only fenced off the mountain and cleared away the dead branches and fallen leaves, but also sowed a batch of seeds, including grass seeds and flower seeds.

The flowers are mainly for the bees.

With these two large mountains, their bee colony size will definitely increase next year. If they don't prepare nectar-producing plants in advance, they'll be at a loss when it comes to beekeeping next year.

His efforts have paid off. For example, even now in December, their bees can still fly out to collect nectar when the weather is nice, so he doesn't need to feed them pollen or sugar.

Shi Wen generously gave Zhou Hongzhong two cartloads of manure, and everyone thought that was the end of it.

Unexpectedly, two days later, Shi Wen a phone call.

The person on the other end of the phone introduced himself, "Brother Shi, this is Jiang Yanhan, the team leader who asked you for help when the wild moose gave birth."

Shi Wen immediately remembered. "Hello. I remember one of the moose was an albino, right? How is that little moose doing now? Has it been released back into the wild?"

Jiang Yanhan: "They've been released. We've been monitoring them, and the little moose is growing very well; it's grown quite a bit now."

"That's wonderful." Shi Wen had a deep impression of the baby moose she had personally delivered, and her mood improved upon hearing this, her voice filled with laughter. "What can I do for you, Captain Jiang?"

Jiang Yanhan: "It's like this, we heard that our brother unit—the one led by Captain Zhou Hongzhong —bought two truckloads of fertilizer from you. Our team has planted many plants and also needs fertilizer, so we specifically asked if it would be convenient for you to sell us some as well?"

Shi Wen, about to give an answer.

Jiang Yanhan added, "The plants our team grows are all used for wildlife rescue, without any personal gain involved. Like the moose incident last time, if we were to take it back for rescue, we would use the team's fodder."

Shi Wen laughed, "Is the grass in your team not growing well either?"

Jiang Yanhan: "No, that's not it. We just heard that the forage grown using your fertilizer tastes especially delicious and is very attractive to wild animals. We were thinking of growing a batch of more appealing forage so that it would be easier to rescue wild animals in the future."

Jiang Yanhan was frank and polite. Shi Wen had a good impression of this squad leader and agreed without much hesitation.

Jiang Yanhan was overjoyed and brought people over the next day to pick up the fertilizer.

He seemed afraid that Shi Wen would change his mind, so he directly gave Shi Wen four thousand yuan, double the market price.

Shi Wen I don't want to accept it.

Jiang Yanhan insisted on shoving the bone into his arms. "Take this and buy big bones for your sheepdogs. Don't you have so many sheepdogs?"

It's remarkable that Jiang Yanhan could still bring so much cash in this day and age.

Shi Wen couldn't refuse, he thanked him and accepted.

The two had such a pleasant collaboration this time, they'll probably work together again sometime.