The spring rain had lasted for two days, trapping the Li family indoors. For a farming family, rain was usually a blessing—a respite from labor, a time to mend tools and rest. But for Li Wei, pacing the small earthen floor like a caged tiger, it was torture.
Every hour he spent staring at the thatched roof was an hour the weeds on the hill might be choking out his precious, planted seeds.
"Sit down, Third Brother," Li Jun grumbled, shelling peas in the corner. "You're wearing a ditch in the floor. The seeds won't run away."
"They might rot if the water pools," Li Wei muttered, though he forced himself to sit. He picked up a handful of peas, his fingers working automatically, but his mind was on the slope behind the house.
Finally, on the third morning, the clouds broke. The sun pierced through the mist, casting a golden glow over the wet village.
Li Wei was out the door before the rooster finished its second crow. He sprinted up the muddy path to the back hill, his straw sandals squelching in the mire.
He reached the nursery patch. His heart hammered against his ribs.
The straw mats they had laid down were sodden and heavy. He knelt, his hands trembling slightly as he peeled back the wet straw.
There, nestled in the dark, wet earth, were tiny specks of green.
Hundreds of them.
Delicate, pale green needles pushing through the soil, reaching for the light.
Li Wei exhaled, a long, shaky breath he felt he'd been holding for three days.
*Ding.*
**[Quest Update: First Pasture.]**
**[Progress: Nursery Plot Germinated.]**
**[Condition: Excellent (Rain provided natural irrigation).]**
**[New Task: Expand clearing to 0.5 Mu. Fertilize seedlings.]**
"Live," Li Wei whispered, touching a sprout with a gentle finger. "Just keep living."
"Good sprout?"
Li Wei turned. Zhao Hu was standing a few feet away, leaning on his crutch. The ex-soldier looked thinner, if possible, his jacket damp from the mist. He had a habit of appearing silently, like a ghost.
"Good sprout," Li Wei grinned, standing up. "Better than good. The rain helped. Brother Hu, we need to expand. The sheep are hungry."
Indeed, the three sheep in the courtyard were getting restless. The meager supply of roadside grass Li Wei had gathered before the rain was gone. They needed to eat today.
"The ground is soft," Zhao Hu observed, looking at the rocky slope. "Easier to move stones now."
"Then let's move."
***
By midday, the "Ranch" was a hive of activity, albeit a small one.
While Li Wei and Zhao Hu pried loose rocks from the mud and hauled them to build the boundary walls, Li An and Li Hua arrived after school. Li An's bag was heavy with books, but he immediately dropped it by a rock and ran over.
"Third Brother! I brought the bucket!" Li An chirped. He was small for his age, but his energy was boundless.
"Good," Li Wei pointed to a patch of wild scrub about fifty meters away. "We need to clear that area. Don't pull the grass—cut it. We need the roots to hold the soil, but we need the leaves for the sheep."
"I'll help!" Li Hua declared, brandishing a small sickle. She was fourteen, at that awkward age between child and woman, her hair tied back with a simple red string. "But I expect you to buy me a hairpin when you're rich, Brother Wei. A silver one."
"Deal," Li Wei laughed, wiping sweat from his brow. "A silver one with a flower design."
They worked in a line. Zhao Hu moved the heavy boulders with sheer brute strength, his muscles bulging under his scarred skin. Li Wei followed, digging the soil and turning it over to aerate it. Li An and Li Hua dragged the cut scrub brush down to the courtyard for the sheep.
It was during a break, as they sat on a flat rock eating the cold buns Chen Lan had packed, that the trouble started.
A group of boys from the neighboring Wang family was walking along the ridge path. They were headed by Wang Er, a bulky nineteen-year-old known in the village as a troublemaker. He was the nephew of the village bully, Wang the Butcher (no relation to the trade, just a name).
Wang Er stopped when he saw Li Wei and his siblings working on the hill. He nudged his friends and pointed.
"Hey! Look at that!" Wang Er shouted, his voice carrying in the crisp air. "The Scholar's family has gone crazy! They're farming rocks!"
His cronies laughed. "What are you doing, Li Wei? Trying to grow stone melons?"
Li An's face flushed red. He stood up, clutching his small fist. "Be quiet! We are building a ranch!"
"A ranch?" Wang Er sauntered closer, picking his teeth with a twig. "I heard you bought three dying sheep. Is that the ranch? A graveyard for sheep?"
He kicked a loose stone down the slope. It tumbled and hit the boundary wall Zhao Hu had just built.
Zhao Hu, who had been silently chewing his bun, stopped. He slowly turned his head. His gaze was flat, devoid of emotion, like a snake eyeing a mouse.
"Get lost," Zhao Hu said. His voice wasn't loud, but it carried a weight that made the laughter die instantly.
Wang Er froze. He looked at the cripple on the crutch. "Who are you talking to, you lame beggar? This isn't your land."
"It's not," Zhao Hu said, standing up slowly. He balanced on his good leg, the crutch held slightly forward like a weapon. "But it belongs to my employer. And you're disturbing the peace."
"Employer?" Wang Er sneered. "You mean the Li family? They can't even feed themselves, let alone pay a broken soldier."
"Brother Hu," Li Wei said calmly, standing up and placing a hand on Zhao Hu's shoulder. He didn't want a fight. Not yet. He had no power, no influence. A fight now would bring the Wang family down on them, and the Li family couldn't afford a lawsuit or medical bills.
Li Wei stepped forward, facing Wang Er. He didn't look angry. He looked bored.
"Wang Er," Li Wei said, his tone even. "We're working. If you have nothing better to do than watch us farm rocks, maybe your father has too much free time on his hands. I hear the village chief is looking for people to repair the river dam. Should I mention your name?"
Wang Er's face darkened. Laboring on the dam was grueling, unpaid community service. "You think you're clever, Li Wei? Just because you can read a few books doesn't make you a lord. We'll see how long this joke lasts."
"Leave," Li Wei said, his eyes hardening. "Now."
Wang Er spat on the ground, missing Li Wei's boots by an inch. "Let's go. The smell of failure here is too strong."
As the group walked away, jeering, Li Hua kicked the dirt. "Bullies! I hate them! Third Brother, why didn't you let Brother Hu beat him up?"
"Because we can't afford the medical bills for Wang Er, and we definitely can't afford the fine for fighting," Li Wei sighed, sitting back down. "In this world, fists don't win arguments. Silver does. When we have silver, they won't dare to spit in our direction."
Zhao Hu looked at Li Wei with a newfound respect. The boy had held his temper. That was a skill few young men possessed.
"You have a plan for them?" Zhao Hu asked.
"I have a plan for us," Li Wei corrected. "If we succeed, their jeers don't matter. If we fail... well, they were right."
He turned back to the siblings. "Eat up. We have two more hours of work."
***
That evening, the mood in the Li household was tense.
The sheep had been fed, but they were voracious. The scrub brush was poor fodder, and the animals were bleating loudly, demanding better.
"Those sheep are eating us out of house and home," Wang Mei, the eldest sister-in-law, complained as she stirred the pot. She was a practical woman, not cruel, but the stress of poverty wore her patience thin. "They are loud, they smell, and they eat more than Dahu."
"Wife!" Li Qiang hissed, glancing at Li Wei.
"It's true," Wang Mei didn't back down. "I'm just saying. If they don't produce soon..."
Li Wei sat at the table, his head down. He knew she was right. He was draining the family's already meager resources.
"Mother, Sister-in-law," Li Wei said. "Tomorrow, I'm going to town."
"To buy more junk?" Li Jun asked sarcastically.
"No," Li Wei looked up. "To sell."
"Sell what?" Grandfather Li Dagen asked. "We have nothing left to sell."
"The sheep manure," Li Wei said.
The room went silent. Then, Li Jun laughed. "Manure? You mean the dirt the sheep shit out? Who buys that?"
"Farmers," Li Wei said confidently. "The village fields are exhausted. The soil is yellow and hard. Good fertilizer is like gold. I collected the manure from the sheep pen today—mixed it with some straw and ash. It's fermenting. I'll take a cart to town and sell it to the flower growers or the vegetable farmers outside the city."
Manure was a common fertilizer, but usually, farmers just used their own livestock's waste. However, in the city, the wealthy gentry loved their gardens, and the vegetable farms needed bulk fertilizer. Three sheep didn't produce much, but it was a start. It was a revenue stream.
"And while I'm there," Li Wei continued, "I'm going to look for a dog."
"A dog?" Li An's eyes lit up. "A puppy?"
"No," Li Wei shook his head. "A working dog. A ranch needs a dog to herd the sheep and guard the property. Wang Er won't be the last nuisance we face."
"We don't have money for a dog," Father Li Shun grunted.
"I will trade," Li Wei said. "I'll trade labor. Or I'll find a stray. There are always strays in the city."
He stood up, his resolve solidifying. "I will prove that these sheep are not a burden. They are assets. Just give me time."
Grandfather Li Dagen looked at his grandson for a long moment. The old man saw the exhaustion in Li Wei's eyes, but also a strange, unshakeable fire.
"Take the cart tomorrow," the Grandfather said. "And take some of the dried mushrooms we picked last autumn. Sell them too. Every coin helps."
"Thank you, Grandfather."
***
**The Next Day: Qinghe Town**
Li Wei drove the borrowed oxcart, the back filled with sacks of mixed manure and the small bundle of dried mushrooms. The cart creaked and swayed, the old ox moving at a glacial pace.
Beside him sat Zhao Hu. Li Wei had insisted he come along.
"You need to get out of the village," Li Wei had told him. "And I need someone to watch the cart while I haggle."
They arrived at the town gate near noon. The guards, bored and leaning on their spears, barely glanced at the country bumpkin driving a manure cart.
They headed straight for the West Market, where the vegetable farms and flower nurseries were located.
The transaction was difficult. Li Wei was young, dressed in rags, and selling manure. He was laughed at by the first three nursery owners.
"Get lost, boy! We have our own piles!"
Li Wei didn't get angry. He simply moved to the next stall.
Finally, at a small vegetable farm owned by an old woman, he found a buyer.
"Five sacks?" the old woman squinted at him. "That's not much. Two copper coins for the lot."
"Grandmother," Li Wei smiled politely. "This is sheep manure. It's not cow manure. It's hotter, burns better in the soil, and has no weed seeds because the sheep eat clean. Smell it."
He opened a sack. It didn't smell overly foul because he had mixed it with ash immediately.
The old woman took a handful. "Fine. Three coins. Final offer."
"Three coins and a question," Li Wei said.
"Speak."
"Where can I find a dog? A strong one. Not a pet. A hunter."
The old woman pointed a gnarled finger toward the back alleys of the meat market. "Go to the knacker's yard. He puts down the old dogs there. If you want a hunter, look for the ones he hasn't killed yet because they're too wild."
"Thank you."
Three copper coins. It was a pittance. But it was the first money the "Ranch" had earned. It wasn't a loss.
Li Wei clutched the three coins in his hand. They were warm.
He bought two meat buns for himself and Zhao Hu, saving the rest.
"Eat," Li Wei said, handing the greasy paper wrapper to Zhao Hu.
Zhao Hu looked at the bun, then at Li Wei. "This cost money. You should save it."
"Strength comes from food," Li Wei took a bite of his own bun, the grease staining his lips. It tasted like heaven. "Eat. We have a dog to catch."
They walked toward the knacker's yard at the edge of town. The smell here was horrific—blood, rot, and fear.
A burly man with a bloody apron stood at the gate. "What do you want? No free scraps today."
"I'm looking for a dog," Li Wei said. "A live one."
The man laughed. "I got three. Biting dogs. Can't sell them, can't kill them fast enough. You want one? Give me five coins, and take the beast away before it bites my leg."
"Can I see them?"
The man shrugged and led them to a pen in the back.
In a muddy, wooden cage, three dogs were huddled. Two were large, black mongrels, barking furiously at the strangers. They looked strong but manic.
But in the corner, sitting quietly, was a third dog.
It was medium-sized, with a dirty, yellow-brown coat. One of its ears was torn, and it was missing its left eye, the socket healed over into a ugly scar. It wasn't barking. It was watching. Its single, remaining eye was fixed on Li Wei with an intensity that was unnerving.
It looked like a wolf.
"That one?" Zhao Hu pointed to the one-eyed dog. "It looks half-dead."
"No," Li Wei said, stepping closer to the cage. "It looks like a survivor."
The dog stood up. It growled low, a rumble in its chest. It didn't lunge, but it shifted its weight to its hind legs, ready to spring.
"That's the meanest one," the butcher said. "Bit three of my men. I'm going to club it tonight."
"I'll give you two coins for it," Li Wei said.
"Two? Are you mad? It's meat on bones!"
"It's a future corpse," Li Wei countered. "Two coins, and you don't have to risk your hand killing it. I'll take the risk."
The butcher spat. "Fine! Take the demon. But if it kills you, don't haunt me."
Li Wei handed over the coins. He had one coin left.
He walked to the cage. He didn't open the door immediately. He crouched down, bringing himself to eye level with the dog.
"I'm not going to pet you," Li Wei said softly, looking into the dog's single amber eye. "I'm not going to treat you like a pet. I have a hill. I have sheep. I have enemies. If you work for me, you'll eat. If you protect me, I'll protect you."
The dog stared at him. It stopped growling. It tilted its head, listening to the tone, not the words.
Li Wei opened the cage door. He didn't reach in. He just stepped back and left the way open.
"Come if you want."
The dog hesitated. Then, slowly, it walked out. It limped slightly—its front leg was scarred. It walked past Zhao Hu, ignored the butcher, and stopped beside Li Wei. It sniffed his hand but didn't bite.
"Good boy," Li Wei whispered. "I'll call you 'Yellow'."
Zhao Hu stared at the ugly, scarred dog. "That thing will scare the villagers."
"Good," Li Wei smiled, scratching the dog's rough neck. "That's exactly what I want. Let's go home, Yellow. We have a ranch to build."
As they walked back toward the village, the sun setting behind them, the one-eyed dog limped by Li Wei's side, a silent, dangerous shadow. The Li family ranch now had three sheep, one soldier, and a wolf in dog's clothing.
And Li Wei had one copper coin in his pocket.
It was a start.