Chapter Summaries

Shi Wen invited Baoye A Sai to the ranch to discuss working together, and Baoye A Sai arrived with a spirited gaited horse as a gift. Over dinner, they talked about raising horses and agreed Baoye A Sai would help when Shi Wen’s mare foaled next month.

• Shi Wen invited Baoye A Sai to the ranch to discuss their proposal in person and planned to make him dinner.
• Shi Wen and Yan Kexing prepared fatty beef in golden broth, and Shi Wen discussed their cattle’s future sale plans.
• Baoye A Sai arrived with a half-grown gaited horse as a gift, and Shi Wen accepted it and fed it hay.
• Baoye A Sai joined Shi Wen and Yan Kexing for dinner and praised the fatty beef.
• Shi Wen asked Baoye A Sai to help when their mare foaled next month, and Baoye A Sai agreed to visit and look at their horses.

Shi Wen agreed to work with Baoye A Sai on breeding horses and brought home a gaited horse to keep temporarily. That evening, the ranch animals played and fought while Chasing Clouds collected their shed fur for its felt nest.

• Shi Wen and Baoye A Sai agreed to discuss their horse-breeding partnership further after the foal was born.
• Shi Wen led the gaited horse to an empty livestock shed, and Yan Kexing explained its unusual gait and comfortable ride.
• Heiwa and the Wolf King led opposing groups in a rough play fight while Shi Wen watched the ranch animals.
• Chasing Clouds carried clumps of shed fur to its nest and used them to make felt.
• Shi Wen warned Heiwa and the Wolf King not to fight to the death, and An Wa barked and wagged its tail to show it understood.

Shi Wen and Yan Kexing prepared dinner while their animals played and ate together. Sikewell examined the pregnant mares and told Shi Wen they would likely give birth in late September or early October.

• Shi Wen prepared vegetables while Yan Kexing explained that the city was planning a project to increase plant diversity next spring.
• Shi Wen filmed Shi Suo and Yan Shi trying to imitate Zou Ma’s unusual running gait before calling the animals over for dinner.
• Shi Wen made Cong Zai a meat soup, and Cong Zai bared its fangs at the Wolf King before Shi Wen and Heiwa intervened in the animals’ scuffle.
• Shi Wen asked Sikewell to examine the pregnant mares, and Sikewell said they would probably give birth in late September or early October.

Shi Wen learned that Jerusalem artichokes could be a hardy, high-yield food for his pigs, so he went with Zhang Deyuan to dig some up. They found the plants growing in an abandoned cultivated valley and began harvesting their tubers.

• After checking the pregnant mares, Shi Wen invited Sikewell inside and heard that his leg had mostly healed.
• Zhang Deyuan stopped by for milk tea while heading to dig Jerusalem artichokes, and Shi Wen learned they could be used to feed pigs.
• Shi Wen researched Jerusalem artichokes and decided they would be suitable to plant for his more than two hundred pigs.
• Shi Wen and Zhang Deyuan rode their motorcycles to a valley where Jerusalem artichokes had continued growing since a family emigrated.
• Zhang Deyuan showed Shi Wen where the plants were, and they began digging up tubers in the soft, fertile soil.

Shi Wen harvested Jerusalem artichokes with Zhang Deyuan and tested them as food for the animals and as a salad for Yan Kexing. He planned to plant them on the mountain for the woolly pigs, and Yan Kexing offered to help contain their spread.

• Shi Wen dug up Jerusalem artichokes rapidly while Zhang Deyuan gathered some and explained that the hardy tubers were easy to plant.
• Shi Wen returned home with a large bag of tubers and let the little fox, White Tiger, Yan Shi, Shi Suo, and Little Zouma try them.
• Shi Wen fed Jerusalem artichokes to the woolly piglets, which ate them eagerly.
• Shi Wen cooked dinner and served Yan Kexing a Jerusalem artichoke salad, which Yan Kexing said tasted good.
• Shi Wen planned to plant the tubers on the mountain for the pigs, and Yan Kexing agreed to help dig a barrier trench.

Shi Wen planted Jerusalem artichokes on the mountain and asked Heiwa and Wolf King to guard them. He picked ripe apples with Laibao and a group of animals, sharing fruit as they went.

• Shi Wen planted Jerusalem artichokes across the mountain and asked Heiwa and Wolf King to keep the animals from disturbing them.
• Heiwa warned a goat away from a tree, then Shi Wen finished planting and headed to pick apples with Laibao.
• Shi Wen tasted a ripe apple and gave one to Laibao, who eagerly ate it too.
• Shi Wen shared apples with Heiwa, Wolf King, and the other animals on the way home, then returned to the mountain with bags and picking shears.
• Shi Suo, Yan Shi, the little fox, White Tiger, and Cong Zai followed Shi Wen to the orchard, where the little fox picked apples and White Tiger caught them.

Shi Wen baked apple pie with their ranch’s apples and shared it with Yan Kexing before telling him about an upcoming trip to help a herding family breed their ewes. The next morning, Shi Wen, Sikewell, and Tang Duohai rode into the Gobi, following Tang Duohai’s lead toward the family’s flock.

• Shi Wen picked apples with the others and made two apple pies, which Yan Kexing praised as the best dessert he had ever eaten.
• Shi Wen told Yan Kexing he would travel deep into the Gobi the next day to help a herding family breed its ewes, with Brother Zhu watching the ranch.
• Shi Wen met Sikewell and Tang Duohai at the village entrance, and the three rode horses into the Gobi carrying ram semen in a cooler.
• Tang Duohai led Shi Wen and Sikewell off the rural road and deeper into the Gobi, where Shi Wen spotted tracks from wild donkeys, wild camels, and goitered gazelles.

Shi Wen and his companions reached a remote herders’ grazing site, where they learned about the family’s way of life and saw a sick lamb being cared for. After sharing lunch with the family, they met the herder as he returned with his flock of more than three hundred ewes.

• Shi Wen, Tang Duohai, and Sikewell rested beside the trail, avoided nettles, and shared food with their horses.
• The group arrived at the herders’ earth shelter, where the woman showed them a lamb with an infected insect bite.
• Shi Wen drank milk tea, looked around the sparse grazing area, and left the family his apples after learning vegetables were scarce.
• The woman prepared lunch for the visitors, and the man returned afterward with the family’s flock of more than three hundred ewes.

Shi Wen and Sikewell artificially inseminated more than three hundred sheep, then returned to the ranch, where Zhu Ji helped the exhausted Shi Wen rest. After waking, Shi Wen reunited with Yan Kexing and teased Zhu Ji over WeChat for scolding his dogs.

• Shi Wen selected ewes for breeding while Sikewell and Tang Duohai inseminated them at the herders’ home.
• The next morning, Shi Wen and Sikewell told the grateful herding couple that the flock seemed fine and needed only proper care.
• Shi Wen and the others rode back to town, where Sikewell and Tang Duohai parted ways with him.
• Zhu Ji cooked Shi Wen lunch and urged him to shower and sleep after his tiring trip.
• Shi Wen woke in the evening, hugged Yan Kexing, and said he had slept poorly without him.
• Shi Wen sent Zhu Ji teasing memes after Zhu Ji admitted he had scolded Shi Wen’s dogs.

Shi Wen discovered that the little ones had stolen Zhu Ji’s phone to send insulting messages and punished those involved. After apologizing, he heard how they had argued with Zhu Ji and promised to discipline them more carefully.

• Zhu Ji went to Shi Wen’s ranch to clear up a misunderstanding about his argument with the little ones.
• Shi Wen learned that the dogs had sent Zhu Ji insulting stickers and used his phone to message his own account.
• Shi Wen, Zhu Ji, and Yan Kexing found the little ones gathered around a phone, with the little fox typing a message.
• Shi Wen caught Le Wa as he tried to escape and scolded the group for stealing the phone and sending messages.
• Shi Wen made everyone except Cong Zai, Laibao, Guaibao, and Shi Suo sit in the corner with apples balanced on their heads.
• Shi Wen asked Zhu Ji about the argument, apologized for the little ones’ behavior, and promised to educate them better.

Shi Wen and the Abnormal Affairs Bureau tested the Variant Beasts at his ranch, whose readings had risen dramatically, and the Bureau’s director brought them gifts. As autumn harvest and lambing season began, Shi Wen prepared the ranch and called Sikewell and the others to help with the first-time mothers.

• Zhu Ji and Duan Kuo tested Heiwa and the others, finding that Cong Zai, Heiwa, the Wolf King, and several others had made major gains in Divinity and Ability.
• Shi Wen signed the test results as the Variant Beasts’ guardian, and Zhu Ji reported them to the Abnormal Affairs Bureau.
• Dang Changming visited the ranch with expensive, personalized gifts, raising the little ones’ favorable impression of the Bureau.
• Shi Wen hired workers to harvest the forage, corn, and backyard vegetables as the weather cooled.
• More than sixteen hundred ewes entered their lambing period, so Shi Wen disinfected and equipped the lambing rooms and asked Sikewell and the others to help deliver the lambs.

Shi Wen and the ranch workers helped his ewes give birth, and every lamb and ewe survived. With a surplus of goat’s milk afterward, Shi Wen suggested reviving his plan to make green juice goat’s milk.

• Shi Wen checked on his pregnant ewes with Sikewell, Tang Duohai, Ban Lei, Zhang Deyuan, and Fu Meng, then divided the birthing area into sections for monitoring.
• As the lambs were born, Shi Wen recorded their health and lineage, while Cong Zai comforted him when he grew anxious.
• Yan Kexing returned early and joined Shi Wen in admiring the newborn lambs, and Shi Wen said he felt accomplished.
• Over four days, all the ewes gave birth safely, though more than twenty weak lambs needed hand-feeding.
• Shi Wen collected excess goat’s milk and discussed with Yan Kexing putting their plan to make green juice goat’s milk into motion.

Shi Wen and Yan Kexing planned to produce green juice goat milk and asked Zhu Ji to help find a factory. Zhu Ji praised both alfalfa and corn versions and agreed to gather factory information and help expedite testing.

• Yan Kexing and Shi Wen discussed asking the Abnormal Affairs Bureau to help them contact a factory for green juice goat milk.
• Shi Wen invited Zhu Ji to taste his green juice goat milk alongside similar market products, and Zhu Ji identified the ranch's goat milk by its rich flavor.
• Zhu Ji tasted the alfalfa and corn versions and said both were good, noting that the corn version was sweeter and fresher.
• Shi Wen decided to send both versions for testing before choosing whether to launch them together.
• Zhu Ji agreed to ask local factory managers about suitable facilities and send Shi Wen a document with information the next day.
• Shi Wen asked Zhu Ji to help follow up on the formal tests and get the results back quickly.

Shi Wen arranged testing for green juice goat milk, then launched it and sold out the first batch quickly. He prepared to sell 156 spiritual lambs and agreed to host a customer who wanted to choose one in person, leaving him to ready the sheepfold with Fu Meng's help.

• Shi Wen asked Zhu Ji to arrange testing of green juice goat milk and discussed keeping the product line simple.
• With help from the Abnormal Affairs Bureau, Shi Wen launched the goat milk, and the first 20,000 bottles sold out in twenty minutes.
• Shi Wen set a limit of ten bottles per purchase and planned more crops to keep green juice production going into November.
• Shi Wen found 156 spiritual lambs among the new flock and planned to sell them as pet sheep.
• A major customer asked to choose a lamb in person, and Shi Wen arranged a Saturday visit.
• Shi Wen asked Fu Meng to help clean the sheepfold and separate the lambs before the visit.

Shi Wen prepared individual pens for the pet lambs and welcomed Wang Changchun and his daughter, Wang Yiyi, to choose one. Yiyi became fascinated with the first lamb and asked to pet it.

• Shi Wen explained to Fu Meng that he had kept the lambs with their mothers because he lacked the help to care for them himself.
• Shi Wen and Fu Meng spent more than half a day preparing clean, heated, ventilated individual pens for the lambs.
• Wang Changchun arrived at the ranch on Saturday with his daughter, Wang Yiyi, to choose a lamb.
• Shi Wen led Wang Changchun and Yiyi through the clean pens, and Yiyi hurried over to admire the first lamb.
• Yiyi asked to pet the lamb, and Shi Wen agreed to let her.

Shi Wen sold a gentle lamb to Wang Changchun and his daughter, who chose it as a pet and gave it a necklace. After sending them home, Shi Wen and Yan Kexing went on a date, leaving the ranch in Heiwa and the others’ care.

• Shi Wen let Wang Changchun and his daughter meet the lamb, and the girl quickly decided she wanted to take it home.
• The girl gave the lamb a necklace, and Wang Changchun and Shi Wen agreed on the sale and signed a contract.
• Shi Wen offered to let the girl lead the lamb around, and the two walked together calmly.
• Shi Wen and Yan Kexing hosted Wang Changchun and his daughter for lunch before seeing them off with the lamb.
• Shi Wen and Yan Kexing planned a movie date and decided to trust Heiwa and the others to watch the ranch.
• Wang Changchun and his daughter took the lamb home aboard their private plane.

Shi Wen’s 156 pet lambs quickly found homes, and buyers praised how easy they were to raise in the group chat. Later, while overseeing the packing of ranch goods, Shi Wen explained that some of the fragrant forage was a new variety grown at the ranch.

• Shi Wen included a week’s supply of goat milk with Wang Changchun’s young lamb, which settled into its new home without trouble.
• Shi Wen sold all 156 lambs through a reservation system, while late customers discussed the lambs’ merits and drawbacks in the WeChat group.
• Shi Wen supervised workers packing goat milk, forage, and eggs for different destinations, including lamb buyers and Zhan Chongyun.
• Shi Wen told the workers that the fragrant hay was not all bought from Qu Jiaojiao and the others, since the ranch had planted other forage, including fritillaria.

After Shi Wen shipped his forage, Yan Kexing told him he would have more free time, and they planned to visit Hu Zai and the others with fresh mutton. They slaughtered sheep together and enjoyed sheep offal soup, while Yan Kexing promised to take Shi Wen to a good soup shop.

• Shi Wen explained that fragrant forage plants gave the hay its sweet scent as the day's shipments were loaded and Fu Meng collected the final batch for his cattle and sheep.
• After the work ended, Shi Wen slept until the afternoon, when Yan Kexing told him he had finished a project and would be less busy.
• Shi Wen and Yan Kexing decided to visit Hu Zai and the others with sheep meat, and Shi Wen said they could slaughter the sheep themselves.
• The next morning, Shi Wen and Yan Kexing slaughtered sheep and carefully removed the skins before making sheep offal soup.
• Shi Wen praised the soup's fresh flavor, and Yan Kexing offered to take him to a sheep offal soup shop sometime.

Shi Wen and Yan Kexing visited the tigress and male tiger, bringing them meat and enjoying their affectionate greetings. After feeding the tigress, they went to find the male tiger, who welcomed them happily.

• Shi Wen and Yan Kexing packed lamb, a chicken, and a goose for the tigress, then added lamb for the male snow leopard.
• Shi Wen and Yan Kexing found the tigress asleep and snoring in her den, then woke her when they brought in the meat.
• The tigress recognized Shi Wen and Yan Kexing, greeted them excitedly, and carried her meat outside to eat beside them.
• Shi Wen and Yan Kexing petted the tigress before saying goodbye and heading to the male tiger.
• The male tiger greeted Shi Wen and Yan Kexing affectionately, and Shi Wen joked about his silly behavior.

Shi Wen and Yan Kexing flew to the male snow leopard’s den, where they waited before searching the mountain for him. They found him with a female snow leopard, leaving Shi Wen unsure whether to approach.

• Shi Wen and Yan Kexing visited the male tiger, then set out for the male snow leopard’s mountain den.
• Yan Kexing transformed into a dragon and carried Shi Wen up the mountain to the den.
• They waited inside the snow leopard’s clean cave, where Shi Wen photographed a felt mat made from the snow leopard’s fur.
• When the snow leopard did not return, Yan Kexing flew low with Shi Wen to search for him.
• They spotted the male snow leopard with a female snow leopard, and Shi Wen asked whether they should still go down.