The rooster's crow had barely pierced the morning mist when Li Wei was already up. His body ached from the trek the previous day, his muscles screaming in protest, but the system's pulsing notification in his mind left no room for laziness.
*Quest: Establish the First Pasture.*
*Goal: Clear 1 Mu of land and cultivate Ryegrass.*
He stepped out of the room, careful not to wake Li An who was still sleeping soundly on the *kang*. In the dim light of dawn, the three sheep huddled in the corner of the courtyard looked even more pitiful. Their breath misted in the cold air.
Li Wei approached the ram. The animal watched him with dull, wary eyes.
*Diagnosis Activated.*
*Target: Hill Sheep (Ram).*
*Status: Malnourished. Left foreleg sprain. Parasites (External).*
*Treatment: Warm saltwater soak. Ash rubdown for parasites. High-protein fodder.*
"You're a mess, aren't you?" Li Wei muttered. He grabbed a handful of wood ash from the cold stove and began to rub it into the sheep's wool. The animal flinched, then stilled. It was a crude remedy, but it was all he had until the grass grew.
"You're up early."
Li Wei turned to see his father, Li Shun, standing by the well. The older man was already dressed for work, a hoe resting on his shoulder. He didn't look at Li Wei directly, staring instead at the sheep.
"Father," Li Wei greeted him. "I'm going up the back hill today. I need to clear the rocks."
Li Shun grunted. He reached into his belt and pulled out a small, chipped sickle. "Take this. The grass up there is tough. You'll cut your fingers pulling it."
It was a silent gesture of support. In the Li family, words were expensive; actions were the currency of love.
"Thank you, Father."
"Oh, Wei-er!" Chen Lan bustled out of the kitchen, handing him a cloth bundle. "Two corn buns. Don't starve yourself. And... here." She pressed a small clay jar into his hand. "Salt. Be sparing."
"Mother, I need the salt for the sheep," Li Wei admitted.
Chen Lan paused, looking at the jar. Salt was precious. But she sighed and nodded. "Go on. Just make sure you eat."
By the time the sun was fully up, Li Wei was on the back hill.
It was a desolate place. The soil was yellow and hard, interspersed with jagged grey rocks that jutted out like the bones of the earth. Thorns and dry scrub brush clung to life in the cracks. To the villagers, it was a wasteland good for nothing but gathering firewood.
Li Wei stood at the edge of the slope. He closed his eyes and focused on the system's knowledge.
*Soil Analysis: Low nitrogen, high alkaline. Rocky substrate.*
*Recommended Action: Removal of surface rocks. Mulching with organic matter. Introduction of pioneer grass species.*
"Ryegrass," Li Wei whispered. He didn't have magic seeds. The system hadn't given him a bag of premium seed; it had given him *knowledge*. He had to find the grass in the wild, identify the best specimens, and breed them. That was the hard truth of this "cheat." It was a multiplier, but he still had to provide the base number.
He started walking along the ridge, his eyes glued to the ground. Most of the grass was brown and dead. But near a shaded patch of rock, he saw it.
A clump of grass, greener than the rest, with distinct, narrow leaves.
*Ryegrass (Wild Variant). Quality: Low. Potential: High.*
Li Wei knelt, his heart racing. He took the sickle and carefully harvested the seed heads. He needed to establish a nursery. He would plant these seeds in a protected patch, use the system's "care" knowledge to nurture them, and then use their offspring to seed the pasture.
It was backbreaking work. He spent the morning scouting the hill, marking patches of wild fescue and ryegrass. By noon, his back was throbbing, and his hands were blistered.
He sat on a large boulder, unwrapping the corn buns. He looked down at the village below. Smoke curled from the chimneys. It was a peaceful scene, but Li Wei knew the desperation that hid behind those smoke signals.
"Need a hand?"
A deep, gravelly voice startled him. Li Wei turned.
Standing a few feet away was a man who looked like he had been carved from stone. He was tall, broad-shouldered, wearing a tattered grey military jacket that had been patched a dozen times. One of his pant legs was empty, pinned up at the knee, and he leaned heavily on a rough crutch carved from a tree branch.
It was Zhao Hu. The village cripple. Or as the children whispered, "The Demon Soldier."
"Brother Hu," Li Wei greeted him respectfully, quickly standing up. He knew Zhao Hu's story vaguely—a man who had returned from the border wars with a shattered leg and a shattered spirit. He lived alone in a dilapidated shack at the very edge of the village, doing odd jobs for food, shunned by many who feared his temper and his scars.
Zhao Hu looked at the cleared patch of ground and the small pile of rocks Li Wei had gathered. "You're clearing land? The soil here is trash. Nothing grows but thorns."
"I'm going to grow grass," Li Wei said, offering a corn bun. "For the sheep."
Zhao Hu stared at the bun, then took it with a rough, scarred hand. He took a bite, chewing slowly. "Sheep. I saw you bring them in yesterday. Scrawny things."
"They'll fatten up," Li Wei said with confidence.
"You have money for hired help?" Zhao Hu asked bluntly.
"No," Li Wei admitted. "But I have a plan. And I have a strong back."
Zhao Hu snorted, a sound that might have been a laugh. "Your back isn't strong. You're shaking."
Li Wei didn't deny it. He was exhausted.
"I can move rocks," Zhao Hu said suddenly, looking away. "My leg is useless for walking, but my arms are fine. I need... rice. Or coins. Whatever you can spare."
Li Wei looked at the man. In the eyes of the villagers, Zhao Hu was a beggar, a useless remnant of war. But Li Wei saw something else. He saw a man who had survived the hellscape of the border, a man with discipline and strength, despite the injury.
In the ranches of his modern memory, the best hands were often those who had nowhere else to go.
"I can't pay you daily," Li Wei said honestly. "But I can promise you two meals a day from my family's pot. And when the ranch makes money, I will pay you a wage. A proper wage."
Zhao Hu looked at him sharply. "A ranch? You call this hill a ranch?"
"It will be," Li Wei said, gesturing to the barren slope. "I'm Li Wei. Third son of the Li family. I'm building something new here. I need men who are loyal and hardworking. Not just laborers, but partners. If you help me clear this land, you'll be the first."
Zhao Hu was silent for a long time. He looked at the corn bun in his hand, then at the determined young man before him. He had spent years being pitied or ignored. No one had ever offered him a "partnership."
"The rocks are heavy," Zhao Hu finally said. "I'll need a sledge."
"I'll build one."
"Start tomorrow?"
"Start now," Li Wei said, picking up his sickle again. "I want to finish clearing this patch before the rain comes."
Zhao Hu grunted. He balanced on his crutch, walking over to a large stone that Li Wei had failed to budge earlier. He bent down, gripped it with hands like iron tongs, and with a grunt of exertion, heaved it out of the dirt.
Li Wei smiled. The first employee was hired.
***
The afternoon sun was brutal. Li Wei and Zhao Hu worked in a rhythmic silence. Zhao Hu would pry the heavy boulders loose and move them to the side, building a primitive stone wall that would serve as a boundary. Li Wei followed behind, digging out the roots of thorns and preparing the soil beds for the grass seeds.
Sweat dripped from Li Wei's brow, stinging his eyes. His palms were raw, the blisters from the morning popping and weeping. Every time he bent down, his lower back screamed.
*This is the price,* he told himself. *System or not, grass doesn't grow on wishes.*
Around mid-afternoon, a cheerful voice echoed up the hill.
"Big Brother Wei! Brother-in-law Jun says you're crazy, but Sister Yue packed you some water!"
Li Wei looked up to see Li Hua scrambling up the slope. She was carrying a clay pitcher and a bowl. Behind her, panting, was Li An, holding a basket.
"Put it there," Li Wei called out, wiping his face. He nodded to Zhao Hu. "Rest. Drink."
Zhao Hu leaned on his crutch, eyeing the children but saying nothing. He wasn't used to family warmth.
Li An ran to Li Wei, his eyes wide behind the dirt. "Third Brother! I brought the 'weeds' you asked for!"
He opened the basket. It was filled with wild grasses they had collected from the riverbank yesterday.
"Good job, An," Li Wei said, ruffling the boy's hair. He took the pitcher and drank deeply. The water was cool and sweet.
"Is this your ranch?" Li Hua asked, looking at the cleared patch of dirt. "It looks... empty."
"Grass takes time to grow," Li Wei said, taking the basket of wild grass specimens. He knelt by the prepared soil bed. "Come here, both of you. I'll teach you how to plant."
He showed them how to make shallow furrows, how to space the seed heads, and how to cover them lightly with a mix of soil and ash.
"Will this really work?" Li An asked, his voice filled with the innocent skepticism of a scholar who trusted books more than dirt.
"The books say you need good seeds and good soil," Li Wei said. "We have poor soil, but we have good care. We treat the land well, and it will treat us well."
He looked up at the sky. Dark clouds were gathering on the horizon.
"Rain is coming," Zhao Hu said suddenly, his voice low. "We need to cover the seeds. If the rain is too heavy, it will wash them away."
Li Wei nodded. "Hua, run back and get some straw mats. The ones Grandmother uses to dry vegetables. An, help me dig drainage ditches."
The next hour was a scramble. They worked feverishly, the wind picking up and whipping their clothes. By the time the first heavy drops of rain splattered against the dry earth, they had covered the small nursery plot with straw mats and secured them with stones.
The rain came down in sheets, turning the dusty hill into a river of mud. They huddled under a rocky overhang, watching the water cascade down.
"So," Li Hua said, shivering slightly. "If this grass grows, the sheep eat. If the sheep eat, they get fat. Then what?"
"Then we shear the wool," Li Wei said, wringing out his shirt. "We sell the wool. The ewes give birth. We sell the lambs. We buy more land. We buy cows."
"Cows?" Zhao Hu scoffed softly. "Cows are for plowing. The government forbids killing them."
"These won't be for plowing," Li Wei said, a mysterious glint in his eyes. "They will be for eating."
The silence was deafening. Zhao Hu and the siblings stared at him.
"Eating... cows?" Li An gasped. "But... that's for the Emperor and nobles! And only old cows!"
"Not these cows," Li Wei smiled. "These will be special. You'll see."
He looked out at the rain. The system notification flickered.
*Progress: Nursery Plot Established. 2% of goal complete.*
*Weather Event: Spring Rain. Soil moisture optimized.*
It was a small victory. A tiny patch of mud on a rocky hill. But as Li Wei looked at his little brother, his sister, and the scarred ex-soldier sitting beside him, he felt a warmth that had nothing to do with the humid air.
"Let's go home," Li Wei said. "Mother will have hot water."
***
The evening meal was somber again, but the mood had shifted slightly. The sound of rain on the roof was reassuring—it meant the crops in the fields would grow, and the tax collector might be lenient this year.
"Zhao Hu came down the hill with you?" Li Shun asked suddenly, poking at his porridge.
"Yes, Father," Li Wei said. "He helped me move rocks. I promised him meals."
"He's a violent man," Li Qiang muttered. "Got into a fight with the Wang family last year over a chicken."
"He's lonely," Li Wei countered gently. "And strong. We need strength. I will take responsibility for him."
Grandfather Li Dagen tapped his pipe. "If you can tame a wild dog, it becomes a good guard. If it bites you, it's your own fault. I'll allow it. But keep him away from the children."
"Yes, Grandfather."
Later that night, Li Wei sat by the oil lamp, his hands wrapped in cloth. The blisters were bad. He looked at his hands, then at the system screen.
*Quest Update: Clear 1 Mu of land.*
*Current Progress: 0.1 Mu.*
He laughed softly. 0.1 Mu. And he had thought he could do it in a day. He was still naive to the physical limits of this body.
But as he looked at the sleeping form of Li An beside him, he felt a surge of determination.
"Slowly," he whispered. "One stone at a time."
He closed his eyes, and in his dreams, the barren hill was a sea of green, dotted with black cattle that moved like shadows, their coats shining with health.
The Li Family Ranch was still a dream, but for the first time, it had a foundation—mud, sweat, and a handful of wild grass seeds.