Recaps

Shi Wen and Yan Kexing hired Fu Meng to organize workers to fence their two mountains. Fu Meng began recruiting local laborers, and Liu Changfa’s wife hurried to ask whether she could join the job.

• Fu Meng agreed to manage the mountain-fencing project, and Shi Wen and Yan Kexing explored the mountains before deciding they would develop them for fruit trees and livestock.
• Shi Wen and Yan Kexing showed Fu Meng a detailed contract offering him eight hundred yuan a day as head worker and other workers three hundred and fifty yuan a day.
• Fu Meng agreed to recruit a large crew and aimed to start the work the following week.
• Fu Meng called Liu Changfa, who agreed to join after selling his livestock, and Liu Changfa’s wife asked him to find out whether women could work too.
• When Fu Meng’s line was busy, Liu Changfa’s wife decided to ride her motorcycle to his home and speak with him herself.

Shi Wen agreed to inspect Yao Guocheng’s camels after Zhang Deyuan explained that the herd had stopped following commands despite veterinary examinations finding no illness. At Yao Guocheng’s home, Shi Wen saw that the camels looked healthy and remained lazily sprawled in their shed.

• Shi Wen redirected job seekers to Fu Meng and gave him a 3,888 red envelope for handling the fencing work.
• Zhang Deyuan asked Shi Wen to inspect a herd of thirty camels that had become listless and unresponsive to commands.
• Shi Wen finished tending to his horses with Baoye A Sai, then called Sikewell, who said the camels were healthy but bad-tempered.
• Shi Wen went with Zhang Deyuan to Yao Guocheng’s home and saw the well-cared-for Bactrian camels lying in the livestock shed.

Shi Wen investigated Yao Guocheng’s exhausted camels and discovered that Yao had repeatedly confused them while feeding and assigning them work. After advising Yao to tag each camel, Shi Wen left with Zhang Deyuan, who insisted on seeing him home.

• Shi Wen examined Yao Guocheng’s camels and found that Yao could not reliably tell them apart.
• A camel spat on Yao Guocheng while Zhang Deyuan pointed out the differences between the animals.
• Shi Wen and Zhang Deyuan reviewed surveillance footage and saw Yao leave some camels unfed while feeding others repeatedly.
• The footage showed Yao giving extra feed and rest to camels that had not worked, while making the others carry visitors until they collapsed.
• Shi Wen advised Yao to use tags so he could identify the camels, then headed home with Zhang Deyuan insisting on accompanying him.

Shi Wen discovered that Yao Guocheng’s camels were sneaking out at night to bring fodder and wild rabbits to his ranch as thanks. He warned Yao Guocheng, who agreed to keep the camels penned up, and the deliveries stopped.

• Shi Wen told Yan Kexing that Yao Guocheng had mistaken his camels’ misbehavior for an illness, and Yan Kexing warned him that angry camels could be dangerous.
• Shi Wen found unknown fodder at the ranch and suspected Yao Guocheng’s camels had carried it there as thanks.
• Shi Wen discovered on security footage that three of Yao Guocheng’s camels had brought two wild rabbits into the ranch.
• Shi Wen called Yao Guocheng and urged him to keep the camels penned up so they would not wander off or tire themselves out.
• Yao Guocheng agreed to lock up the camels, and no more strange deliveries appeared at the ranch for several days.

Shi Wen dealt with Yao Guocheng’s camels repeatedly returning to his ranch for food, then discovered six more unclaimed camels among them. He photographed the strays and alerted the local group chat, but no one came forward to claim them.

• Three of Yao Guocheng’s camels arrived at Shi Wen’s ranch with a wild hare, and Shi Wen fed them before asking Yao Guocheng to collect them.
• Shi Wen gave the hare to the snow leopard cub and considered training it to hunt before it went to Sanjiangyuan National Park.
• The next day, nine camels crowded outside the ranch, so Shi Wen called Yao Guocheng to take them away without feeding them.
• Yao Guocheng identified his three tagged camels but said the other six did not belong to him.
• Shi Wen posted photos and a video of the six unclaimed camels in the group chat, but nobody claimed them.

Shi Wen discovered six wild Bactrian camels at the ranch, and tests confirmed they belonged to a previously unregistered population. After officials decided to return them to the wild, Shi Wen prepared to fit them with trackers before their release.

• Shi Wen let six hungry camels into the ranch, and Yan Kexing identified them as wild Bactrian camels.
• Shi Wen called Zhou Hongzhong, who brought a team and a veterinarian to examine the camels and asked Shi Wen to keep them temporarily.
• Zhou Hongzhong confirmed that the camels belonged to a genetically distinctive, previously unregistered population that could aid conservation efforts.
• Yan Kexing invited Gong Jiang and the others to the ranch to study the camels.
• Officials decided to release the camels back into the wild, and Zhou Hongzhong gave Shi Wen trackers to put around their necks.

Shi Wen helped Zhou Hongzhong’s team fit trackers on six wild camels and release them in the Gobi Desert, but the camels turned back toward his ranch. When he went to drive them away, he discovered the Wolf King leading its old pack in a fight against the camels.

• Shi Wen fitted trackers on the six docile wild camels and helped Zhou Hongzhong’s team load them onto a truck for release in the Gobi Desert.
• Zhou Hongzhong told Shi Wen that the tracking app showed the camels heading back toward his ranch, and Shi Wen set out by motorcycle to intercept them.
• Shi Wen heard fighting in the wild and approached, suspecting at first that someone might be poaching.
• Shi Wen saw the Wolf King directing its old pack as the wolves surrounded and defeated the wild camels.
• The wolves dispersed after the camels fled, and Shi Wen wondered who was tending the ranch while the Wolf King was away.

Shi Wen discovered that Heiwa and the Wolf King had secretly coordinated to drive away the wild camels while keeping the flock safe. After learning that Ma Chengfeng wanted him to oversee the upcoming pastoral trade fair as head of the expert group, Shi Wen joked with him about the promotion.

• Shi Wen followed the Wolf King to the pasture and watched Heiwa switch places with Langwa so the Wolf King could rest after their camel mission.
• Shi Wen realized Heiwa and the other sheepdogs had helped the Wolf King support the wolf pack, and he decided to let them handle their private affairs as long as they kept guarding the flock.
• Shi Wen told Zhou Hongzhong that the wild camels had been driven away by his animals, and Zhou Hongzhong called it a territorial dispute.
• Yan Kexing explained that the wild camels threatened the Wolf King and the others, then told Shi Wen that Ma Chengfeng wanted to discuss the trade fair.
• Ma Chengfeng invited Shi Wen to oversee the pastoral trade fair as head of the expert group, and Shi Wen joked that he had been promoted quickly.

Shi Wen agreed to lead the sheep experts at the trade fair for twenty-five thousand, then evaluated livestock and discussed renting out his breeding rams. The chapter ended with an old man asking to rent one of Shi Wen’s rams for a trial.

• Ma Chengfeng offered Shi Wen a five-day team leader job at the trade fair for twenty-five thousand, and Shi Wen accepted.
• Yan Kexing asked Shi Wen whether he had been hired to oversee the sheep section, and Shi Wen confirmed it.
• At the fair, Shi Wen valued a three-year-old fat-tailed breeding ram at twelve or thirteen thousand, prompting its seller to accuse him of bias before the crowd defended Shi Wen.
• An old man asked whether Shi Wen’s breeding sheep were for sale, and Shi Wen said they were not yet mature enough to sell.
• Several people asked to rent Shi Wen’s rams, and Shi Wen explained that natural breeding produced better lambs than frozen semen.
• The old man asked to rent one of Shi Wen’s breeding sheep and try it.

Shi Wen rented out his breeding rams to local herders and oversaw the successful breeding of Zhang Zhouli’s flock. After the rams were worn out, he arranged extra feed and asked Fu Meng where to buy distillers’ grains for them and the cattle.

• Shi Wen set five breeding slots every half month through January, and Ma Chengfeng joined the waiting list after the others had taken the available slots.
• Zhang Zhouli brought over a hundred young ewes that evening, and Shi Wen penned fifty with Eight Treasures and fifty with Wanderer.
• Shi Wen found fewer than thirty ewes mounted the next morning, so he gave the sheep concentrate feed and waited several days for the breeding to finish.
• Shi Wen and Sikewell confirmed that all of Zhang Zhouli’s ewes had conceived, and Zhang Zhouli paid Shi Wen an extra two hundred yuan for the rams.
• Shi Wen noticed Eight Treasures and Wanderer were exhausted and asked Fu Meng where he could buy good distillers’ grains to help them recover.

Shi Wen finished cutting the ranch’s forage grass and considered how to store the surplus. After hearing about a stubborn local brown bull that had been attacking a vehicle and its driver’s home, he agreed to visit it and inspect it for purchase.

• Fu Meng told Shi Wen that the fencing would be finished in another eight or ten days, and Shi Wen promised to treat the workers to roast lamb.
• Shi Wen cut the ranch’s final batch of forage grass and planned to order steel racks to store the surplus outside.
• Qile Moge told Shi Wen about a brown bull that repeatedly rammed a vehicle after it had knocked the bull over.
• Shi Wen suggested that the driver apologize to the bull, and the bull stopped attacking the vehicle and the driver’s home after the apology.
• The bull’s owner, Baha Ayi, offered to sell the 2,800-jin bull to Shi Wen for 15,000, and Shi Wen went to see it in the cattle pen.

Shi Wen bought Baha Ayi’s gentle-looking but unpredictable brown cow for thirty thousand and quarantined it at his ranch. Wolf King tried to dismiss Shi Wen’s warning about the cow, while the little brown calf eagerly watched the newcomer from outside its pen.

• Shi Wen inspected Baha Ayi’s brown cow, learned that it had stopped attacking a vehicle after its owner apologized, and offered thirty thousand for it.
• Baha Ayi signed the sale contract with friends, including Qile Moge, witnessing the deal, and asked Shi Wen not to send the cow to a slaughterhouse.
• Shi Wen brought the cow home, placed it in a separate cowshed for quarantine, and gave it food and water.
• Shi Wen warned Wolf King to stay away from the unpredictable cow and reminded him that Good Temper had once stepped on him.
• The little brown calf repeatedly watched the big brown cow from outside its pen.

Shi Wen and Yan Kexing named the new brown cow Laibao and its calf Guaibao, while the completed fences expanded and organized the pasture. Shi Wen moved the Bresse chickens onto one mountain and hosted a lavish meal for the workers who built the fence.

• Shi Wen told Fu Meng he would hold a farewell meal at the pasture once the fence was finished and discussed adjusting livestock feed for winter.
• Yan Kexing returned, and he and Shi Wen named the brown cow Laibao and the calf Guaibao.
• Shi Wen inspected the completed fence, paid the workers, and established five managed areas across the pasture and two mountains.
• Shi Wen moved the Bresse chickens onto one mountain and considered raising another group after the New Year if they did well.
• Shi Wen hosted a banquet for more than three hundred workers, who praised his generous arrangements.

After a feast left the dogs with too much cooked meat, Shi Wen and Yan Kexing found them constipated the next morning. Shi Wen made amends by preparing a special chicken-soup meal for them.

• Guests praised the ingredients from Shi Wen's ranch and ate them all, leaving some purchased meat behind.
• Shi Wen boiled the leftover meat for the dogs, and the little ones ate so much that he gave them digestive tablets.
• The next morning, Shi Wen and Yan Kexing found the dogs struggling to use the waste hopper and constipated.
• Shi Wen laughed at the dogs, who barked at him, then gave them honey water after they finished.
• To make it up to them, Shi Wen caught a Bresse chicken while Yan Kexing prepared rice soaked in chicken soup with extra vegetables.

Shi Wen explored the family mountains, collected walnuts, chestnuts, and wood ear mushrooms, and brought the mushrooms home to Yan Kexing. The chapter ended with Gong Jiang, Lin Chengqian, and Ge Yue quietly watching the couple while privately envying their affection.

• Shi Wen had Shi Suo carry fertilizer up the mountain, then switched to Laibao because the brown cow was stronger and more willing.
• Shi Wen gathered walnuts, tried unsuccessfully to ripen persimmons, and enjoyed picking chestnuts from the mountain trees.
• Shi Wen spent his free time exploring the vast mountains and rode home with a sack of wood ear mushrooms.
• Yan Kexing identified the mushrooms as edible local brown wood ears and explained why dried ones were safer to eat than fresh ones.
• Gong Jiang, Lin Chengqian, and Ge Yue drank lemon honey water while privately messaging each other about Shi Wen and Yan Kexing's affection.

Shi Wen and Yan Kexing planned to pick wood ear mushrooms with Ge Yue, but Shi Wen discovered the sheep-pigs had wandered up the mountain. He and Yan Kexing rode out to find them, leaving the dogs to herd the other livestock.

• Shi Wen and Yan Kexing agreed to take Ge Yue up the mountain to gather wood ear mushrooms the next day, provided she could keep up with her paper.
• Shi Wen found the sheep-pigs missing from their pen and used the app to see that they had gone into the mountains through an open gate.
• Shi Wen blamed himself for leaving the gate open and possibly underfeeding the sheep-pigs, then told Yan Kexing what had happened.
• Yan Kexing joined Shi Wen for breakfast, and they set out on horseback to search for the sheep-pigs.
• The dogs barked and went to herd the cattle and sheep while Shi Suo carried Shi Wen and Yan Kexing up the mountain.

Shi Wen and Yan Kexing found that the sheep pigs had roamed the mountain and eaten nearly every plant and crop they could reach. After seeing them devour chestnuts, Yan Kexing suggested they might be useful against invasive plants, though Shi Wen was unsure whether they could digest everything.

• Shi Wen and Yan Kexing found sheep pigs grazing across the mountain and discovered they had stripped wild blueberries and greens bare.
• Shi Wen saw the pigs eating nearly all the apples in the orchard and worried that they might get sick from eating so many things, including rotten apples.
• Shi Wen told Gong Jiang and the others in the group chat that the sheep pigs had eaten all the wood ear mushrooms, but invited them to come see for themselves.
• Shi Wen and Yan Kexing found sheep pigs squeezing chestnuts from their sharp husks and eating them with the shells.
• Yan Kexing suggested the sheep pigs might be developed to help deal with invasive plants, while Shi Wen wondered whether they could digest such a varied diet.

Shi Wen and the others struggled to herd 129 sheep pigs down the mountain until Heiwa and the other dogs gathered them and drove them back to the pasture. The next morning, Shi Wen checked their droppings and found the pigs were healthy despite eating everything edible on the mountain.

• Ge Yue, Shi Wen, Yan Kexing, and Gong Jiang tried to herd the sheep pigs down the mountain, but the pigs scattered and resisted them.
• Shi Wen rode down with Shi Suo to explain the problem to Heiwa and Fu Wa, whose howls summoned the Wolf King and An Wa.
• Heiwa and the other dogs rounded up the sheep pigs and drove them down the mountain into their pasture.
• Shi Wen decided the household needed more dogs and asked the dogs to bring home puppies, then sought sheepdog recommendations through a WeChat group.
• Shi Wen inspected the sheep pigs' droppings the next morning and found them normal, with undigested chestnut shells and tree roots.

Shi Wen planted local fruit trees and discovered that Cong Zai had brought home a newborn sheepdog puppy. He wrapped the puppy warmly and asked the group chats who it belonged to, but no one had claimed it yet.

• Shi Wen checked that the woolly pigs were healthy, then cleaned and disinfected their shed.
• Shi Wen planted fruit saplings on the mountain with help from Laibao, while Yan Kexing offered to help over the weekend.
• Shi Wen and Yan Kexing found Cong Zai watching over a tiny puppy outside their door.
• Yan Kexing checked the puppy, and Shi Wen saw that it looked like a healthy, promising local sheepdog.
• Shi Wen wrapped the puppy in a wool towel and sent its photos to the group chats, where people said it was not theirs.

Shi Wen took in a puppy Cong Zai had brought home, then discovered Wolf King, An Wa, and Fu Wa had stolen three more puppies from their mother. When the mother dog arrived and argued with his dogs, Shi Wen went outside and told them to stop barking and deal with the problem.

• Shi Wen borrowed goat's milk from a villager to feed the puppy Cong Zai had brought home.
• After planting fruit trees all day, Shi Wen returned to find Wolf King, An Wa, and Fu Wa with three puppies they had stolen from their mother.
• Shi Wen asked around in WeChat groups whether anyone had lost puppies, but no one claimed them.
• That night, a mother dog arrived and argued loudly with Heiwa, Le Wa, and Fu Wa while the other dogs watched.
• Shi Wen went outside to stop the barking and told the dogs to solve the problem instead of arguing.

Shi Wen and Yan Kexing settled a dispute with a mother dog whose puppies the ranch dogs had brought home, and she stayed to nurse them. Yan Kexing then left for S City to investigate suspected pine wilt disease, leaving Shi Wen concerned that dead pines on their mountain might also be infected.

• Shi Wen recognized that the barking mother dog was likely looking for the three puppies the Wolf King and the other dogs had brought back.
• Shi Wen had Heiwa, Le Wa, Langwa, and Fu Wa bring out the puppies, and Yan Kexing fed the mother dog until the dispute ended.
• Shi Wen made the mother dog a bed under the eaves and prepared chicken soup for her, while she also nursed Cong Zai's puppy.
• Yan Kexing told Shi Wen he would travel to S City for about a week to investigate suspected pine wilt disease.
• Shi Wen researched how pine wood nematodes spread through pine sawyer beetles and worried that dead pines on their mountain might be infected.

Shi Wen helped cut down infected pine trees with Laibao, earning the locals’ praise and a gift of pine nuts. When Yan Kexing returned from a business trip, the two reunited intimately.

• Shi Wen took Laibao into the mountains to chop pines and burn their roots as part of clearing the trees.
• After learning that pine wood nematodes had spread locally, Shi Wen volunteered through a group chat to help an acquaintance cut trees and bring Laibao.
• The workers and pine owner praised Shi Wen and Laibao, and Shi Wen said he was helping because neighbors had supported his family before.
• After a day of work, Shi Wen accepted a bag of pine nuts from the host in addition to his wages.
• Yan Kexing returned after a week away, and he and Shi Wen shared an intimate reunion.

Yan Kexing returned to the ranch, where he and Shi Wen spent a rainy day roasting pine nuts and baking treats for the animals. Fu Meng visited to ask Shi Wen to contribute to the village road repairs.

• Yan Kexing roasted pine nuts while Shi Wen relaxed and talked with him about planting pine trees on the mountain.
• Shi Wen shared pine nuts with the dogs, and Yan Kexing baked pine nut cookies for the ranch animals.
• Shi Wen fed cookies to the dogs, other animals, horses, and cattle around the ranch.
• Fu Meng visited Shi Wen and explained that the villagers were raising donations to repair their rough road.

Shi Wen donated to the village road repairs, then settled into ranch life after the mother dog left and he adopted her puppies. As autumn turned colder, he planted lacebark pines and prepared the ranch and beehives for winter.

• Shi Wen donated five thousand to the village road repairs, and Fu Meng explained how the costs and accounts would be handled.
• Shi Wen noticed the mother dog had disappeared and, after waiting several days, adopted and named the four puppies.
• Shi Wen planted a batch of inspected lacebark pines on the mountain after the weather cleared.
• Shi Wen declined Yan Kexing's suggestion to move or split the beehives because winter was near and the mountain lacked enough nectar plants.
• Shi Wen ordered padded hive covers and prepared the ranch for winter by stocking fodder and firewood and checking the animal sheds and flues.

Shi Wen discovered that the horses at home had gone into heat, and the mares were interested only in Shi Suo, who fled from them. He arranged to send Shi Suo and Yan Shi to Baoye A Sai’s place for a while.

• Shi Suo followed Shi Wen up the mountain and stayed close to him all day, then was surrounded by the mares when they returned home.
• Shi Wen realized Shi Suo had been avoiding the mares’ attention and found that the herd had entered breeding condition.
• The mares rejected the other stallions and pursued Shi Suo, who remained uninterested and kept running away.
• After watching the horses for several days without seeing them mate, Shi Wen asked Baoye A Sai to take Shi Suo and Yan Shi for a few days.
• Baoye A Sai agreed to host both horses and promised to use their fodder for them.