Chapter Summaries

Shi Wen and his friends finished grilling food with the little ones before Zhu Ji urgently collected variant ingredients from the ranch by helicopter. After Zhu Ji left, everyone packed up and headed home as the weather worsened.

• Shi Wen and Yan Kexing served grilled food to the little ones while Ge Yue and the others ate and chatted.
• Zhu Ji called Shi Wen and asked for sheep-pig meat and honey-soaked lingzhi, saying he would arrive by helicopter to collect them.
• Shi Wen prepared the ingredients, and Zhu Ji landed, took the sack, and flew away almost immediately.
• Shi Wen and the others resumed grilling, but their appetite had faded and the dogs soon lay down to rest.
• Yan Kexing urged Ge Yue and the others to leave early because of the bad weather, and Shi Wen packed them grilled meat and a watermelon.

Zhu Ji told Shi Wen that the honey-soaked lingzhi had helped save a famous scientist, and offered Shi Wen a one-million bonus. Shi Wen was surprised by the amount as Zhu Ji said the payment would be transferred after approval.

• Zhu Ji called Shi Wen to say that his business trip had ended successfully and thanked him for the useful supplies.
• The next morning, Zhu Ji visited Shi Wen and explained that the honey-soaked lingzhi had stabilized a famous scientist who was near death.
• Zhu Ji said the scientist had been saved and that he had turned away others curious about Shi Wen's lingzhi.
• Zhu Ji told Shi Wen he had applied for a one-million bonus, and Shi Wen protested that the amount was too large.

Zhu Ji arranged for Shi Wen to lease the two mountains beside his ranch, giving the ranch room to expand. Shi Wen and Yan Kexing reviewed and signed the forty-year contract, which would take effect on October 1.

• Zhu Ji told Shi Wen that he had secured the two unused mountains north of the ranch for him.
• Shi Wen considered ways to use the expanded land, and later told Yan Kexing how grateful he was to Zhu Ji.
• Zhu Ji and Duan Kuo brought the contract to Shi Wen, and Shi Wen and Yan Kexing carefully checked its terms.
• Shi Wen signed the forty-year lease, which the Abnormal Affairs Bureau would help pay for in a lump sum.
• Zhu Ji congratulated Shi Wen and took the contract to obtain the local authorities' signature and file it.

Shi Wen and Yan Kexing explored the newly acquired mountains with their family and discovered an old orchard full of apples. They tasted the fruit and found it pleasantly tart and sweet, leaving them with a potential resource to develop.

• Shi Wen and Yan Kexing took the family up the mountains to inspect the land they had acquired.
• The little ones ran ahead and marked their territory as Shi Wen and Yan Kexing explored trails, streams, and woodland.
• Shi Wen spotted a patch of apple trees, and Yan Kexing identified them as an old orchard.
• Yan Shi bit into an apple, spat it out because it was sour, then ate it anyway.
• Shi Wen and Yan Kexing picked and tasted apples, finding them flavorful with a mix of tartness and sweetness.

Shi Wen and Yan Kexing gathered apples from the neglected trees on their newly incorporated mountains and learned from Fu Meng that the trees had belonged to a family that had emigrated. They decided to arrange fencing for the ranch and asked Fu Meng to help oversee the work.

• Shi Wen and Yan Kexing collected sound apples, and Shi Wen planned to find out who owned the trees before gathering more.
• Shi Wen asked the group about the apple trees, and Fu Meng explained that Azhebieke's family had abandoned them after selling the good fruit.
• Shi Wen and Yan Kexing discussed replacing the ranch's oldest fencing and decided to arrange the job rather than delay it.
• Shi Wen asked Fu Meng whether he could help oversee and arrange the fencing work.

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.