The dawn broke over the Westland not with the crow of a rooster, but with the low, rumbling bellow of a beast.
Lin Wanshan woke up shivering. The makeshift shack he, his brother, and their new hired hand had constructed was little more than a lean-to made of branches, mud, and tarp. It leaked. But as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes and stepped out into the crisp morning air, the discomfort vanished from his mind.
Down in the valley, mist curled around the legs of the cattle. And there, standing tall on a small ridge, was the black bull.
"Greetings, Captain," Lin Wanshan whispered.
The transformation was nothing short of miraculous. Overnight, the bull had shed the aura of a dying animal. He stood squarely on all four legs, the swollen joint now smooth and strong. His coat, once matted and dull, gleamed with a blue-black luster in the morning light. He held his head high, his dark eyes scanning the horizon with a regal air. He no longer looked like a broken plow ox; he looked like a king.
**[System Alert: Genetic Integration 15%. Subject: "Captain". Breed Transition: Native Scrub -> Aberdeen Angus (Early Stage). Health: 95%.]**
"He's… he's healed?" Lin Wen stumbled out of the shack, blinking in disbelief. "Brother, the leg! It's straight!"
Zhao Tiezhu followed, stretching his massive arms. The former soldier had slept on the bare ground without complaint. He looked at the bull, his eyes narrowing. "That beast was fit for the glue pot yesterday. Today, it looks like it could charge through a city gate. What did you feed it?"
"Grass," Lin Wanshan said, pointing to the lush green carpet that had sprouted overnight. "And hope."
He walked down to the water trough they had dug near the muddy stream. The system had granted him the **Spirit Spring Water Well**, but it wasn't a magical fountain that appeared out of thin air. It was a modification to the existing water source.
Lin Wanshan knelt by the water's edge. The water here was usually murky. But now, it ran clear and cold, carrying a faint, sweet scent.
**[Spirit Spring Water Active. Effects: Accelerates minor healing, boosts immunity, improves nutrient absorption in livestock.]**
"Lin Wen, bring the buckets," Lin Wanshan ordered. "The cows need to drink."
The ten scrawny cows, usually slow and lethargic, perked up at the scent of the water. As they drank, Lin Wanshan watched closely. He didn't use the expensive serum on them—he only had five vials and needed to save them for the best calves. The water would have to do the work for the mothers.
As the cows drank, their dull coats seemed to brighten slightly. They moved with less stiffness. It wasn't a dramatic transformation like the bull, but it was a start.
"Alright," Lin Wanshan clapped his hands, turning to his small workforce. "We have the livestock. We have the grass. Now we need boundaries."
"Boundaries?" Zhao Tiezhu asked, picking up a heavy axe.
"In the wild, cattle wander," Lin Wanshan explained, grabbing a coil of rough hemp rope he had purchased. "If they wander into the neighboring farms and eat a peasant's wheat, we'll be sued into poverty. We need a fence. But not just any fence."
He looked at the rugged terrain. Wood was scarce. Stone was plentiful but hard to move.
"Tiezhu, you and Wen gather stones from the ravine. Build a waist-high wall along the northern ridge. It doesn't have to be perfect, just a barrier."
"And you, Boss?" Lin Wen asked, struggling to lift a medium-sized rock.
"I'm going to make sure we don't lose our investment," Lin Wanshan said. He picked up the hemp rope and began to fashion a loop.
***
By midday, the sun was beating down on the Westland. Lin Wanshan sat on a boulder, weaving the thick rope into a specific shape. He remembered the western movies from his past life, the cowboys swinging loops over their heads.
*Ranching isn't just about growing grass,* he thought. *It's about control.*
He stood up and whistled sharply. It was a sound he hadn't known he could make, but the system's "Basic Husbandry" skill seemed to include lung control.
Captain, the black bull, raised his head.
Lin Wanshan approached the horse they had bought—the sturdy, unglamorous stallion he named "Old Hei" (Old Black). He adjusted the makeshift saddle. It was a rough thing, nothing like the polished leather saddles of the capital, but it held.
He mounted up. It had been twenty years since he rode a horse in his previous life during a vacation ranch trip, but muscle memory, aided by the system, kicked in.
"Heeyah!"
He urged Old Hei forward. The goal wasn't to run, but to herd. He needed to teach the cattle that this valley was home.
As he rode around the perimeter, guiding the straggling cows back toward the center, he practiced his swing. The lasso whirled above his head. He missed. He tried again. He missed.
"Ha!" Lin Wanshan laughed at himself. "Easier in the movies."
After an hour, he finally snagged a branch. It wasn't a cow, but it was progress. He rode back to the construction site where Zhao Tiezhu was heaving boulders into place with terrifying strength.
"Boss," Tiezhu wiped his brow, looking at the rope. "What is that for?"
"It's called a lasso," Lin Wanshan said, coiling it on his saddle horn. "In the West—far across the ocean—men use this to catch cattle, to doctor them, to brand them. It is the tool of a free man."
"A free man," Tiezhu repeated the words, tasting them. He looked at his scarred hands, hands that had only known the shaft of a spear or the grip of a sword. "And this... ranching... it makes a man free?"
"It makes a man his own master," Lin Wanshan said, looking out at the land. "You work for me, Tiezhu, but the work you do is yours. If you build this wall, it stands because *you* built it. Not because a general ordered you to die behind it."
Zhao Tiezhu looked at the wall he was building. It was sturdy, straight. A sense of pride, alien to him for years, flickered in his chest.
"I like this work," Tiezhu grunted. "No one shooting arrows at me."
"Exactly," Lin Wanshan smiled. "Now, take a break. It's time for lunch."
He dismounted and pulled a bundle from his saddlebag. It was simple food—hard biscuits and dried pork strips from the market. But Lin Wanshan had a surprise.
He walked over to a pit he had dug earlier, lined with stones. He had gathered dried brush and thorny branches—the very scrub they had cleared.
"Lin Wen, the spices."
Lin Wen handed him a small pouch. Lin Wanshan took a strip of pork, rubbed it with a mixture of salt, crushed peppercorns, and a wild herb that tasted faintly of rosemary he had found on the hill. He skewered it on a green branch and held it over the fire.
As the fat sizzled and popped, the aroma drifted across the valley.
Zhao Tiezhu sniffed the air. "That... smells different. Strong."
"It's the smoke," Lin Wanshan said. "And the rub. This is called Barbecue."
He pulled the meat off the flame and sliced it. He handed a piece to Tiezhu and one to Lin Wen.
"Eat."
Tiezhu took a bite. His eyes widened. The crust was salty and crisp, the meat inside tender and smoky. It was a flavor profile he had never encountered—bold, primal, satisfying.
"This is..." Tiezhu chewed slowly, savoring it. "This is soldier's food. Food that makes you strong."
"This is ranch food," Lin Wanshan corrected, taking a bite himself. It wasn't beef—beef was still a long way off—but it was a start. It tasted like freedom.
As they ate, a sound drifted from the direction of the city road.
*Clippity-clop. Clippity-clop.*
A carriage cresting the hill.
Lin Wanshan stood up, wiping his hands. "We have a visitor."
The carriage was elegant, bearing the Su family crest. It stopped a distance away, the driver looking distastefully at the mud.
The door opened, and a small figure stepped out. It wasn't Su Qingya. It was a maid, holding a basket covered with a cloth.
"Young Master Lin," the maid said, her nose wrinkled. "The Eldest Miss sent me to check if you were still alive."
Lin Wanshan leaned on his lasso, his demeanor calm. "As you can see, we are thriving. What is this?"
"Clothes," the maid said, setting the basket down but refusing to step closer to the 'filth'. "And some books. The Miss says you should not waste your time playing with animals. You should study for the autumn exam."
She looked at the lean-to, the rock wall, and the black bull standing majestically in the distance. She suppressed a giggle. "The Miss says if you return the silver now, she will pretend this madness never happened."
"Take the basket back," Lin Wanshan said, his voice dropping.
The maid blinked. "What?"
"I said take it back. I don't need old clothes. And I don't need books on how to govern a province. I am building an empire here."
The maid scoffed. "Empire? Of broken cows?"
"Tell my wife," Lin Wanshan looked her in the eye, "that in three months, I will send her a gift. A gift that will prove she didn't marry a good-for-nothing."
"Hmph!" The maid turned on her heel. "You are delusional. I will tell the Miss exactly what I see: a madman playing in the dirt."
The carriage rattled away.
Lin Wen looked worried. "Brother... did you just refuse the Miss's help? She will be angry."
"Let her be angry," Lin Wanshan said, turning back to his cattle. "Respect isn't given, Wen. It's earned. And we are going to earn it with the one thing this dynasty has never tasted."
He walked over to the black bull, Captain. He ran a hand over the sleek, muscled flank. Under his hand, the bull felt like a coiled spring.
"Quality beef," Lin Wanshan murmured. "And we start with the grass."
He looked at the lush, vibrant grass swaying in the wind. It was time to expand.
"Tiezhu! Wen! Lunch is over! We need to clear the southern slope. I want another twenty mu planted by sunset!"
"Aye, Boss!" Tiezhu roared, slamming a boulder into place with renewed vigor.
The sun set over the Westland, casting long shadows across the growing ranch. In the distance, a wolf howled. But inside the fence, the black bull lowered his head and grazed, guarding his herd.
The ranch was born.