The morning after the storm, the air in Willow Village was crisp, biting at the nose and lungs. The frost that had coated the ground glistened under the pale sun, melting slowly into the mud as the day wore on.
For the Chen family, the mood was considerably warmer.
Chen Yuan sat at the main table, the pouch of copper coins from the militia captain resting heavily in the center. Two thousand five hundred coins. It wasn't the shimmering allure of silver ingots, but copper was the currency of the people. It bought grain, oil, salt, and survival.
Wang Shi sat opposite him, her hands wrapped around a cup of hot tea. Her eyes were fixed on the pouch with a mixture of possessiveness and respect.
"Two thousand five hundred," she murmured, as if saying the number aloud would make it real. "And the Captain wants more?"
"One hundred pairs next month," Chen Yuan confirmed, sipping his own tea. His body ached from the previous night's exertion—the ride in the storm, the adrenaline of turning the bull. "But we need raw material. The wool from our sheep is good, but it's not enough for that volume. I need to go to town today to see that merchant the Captain mentioned."
"I'll get the cart ready," Chen Hu said, entering from the courtyard. He looked tired but eager. The prospect of steady work had energized him. "Father is checking the roof tiles. The wind knocked a few loose last night."
"Good," Chen Yuan nodded. He pushed the pouch towards Wang Shi. "Sister-in-law, you are the treasurer of the house. Count out five hundred coins for the household expenses. Buy some good rice, maybe a little pork for the ancestors' memorial next week. Hide the rest."
Wang Shi's hands trembled slightly as she reached for the pouch. It was a tangible sign of trust. In many families, the mother-in-law held the purse strings, but Liu Shi was too soft, and Wang Shi had always complained about being powerless. By giving her control, Chen Yuan wasn't just buying silence; he was buying loyalty.
"I... I will count it three times," Wang Shi said, her voice losing its usual sharp edge. "Don't worry, San Lang. Not a single coin will be wasted."
* * *
By midday, Chen Yuan and Chen Hu were on the road to the Prefecture City. The donkey cart rattled over the frozen ruts, the sound echoing through the quiet countryside.
They found the wool merchant in a side alley of the textile district. He was a portly man with a face red from the cold, sitting on a stool beside a cartload of burlap sacks.
"Raw wool?" The merchant looked at Chen Yuan skeptically. "Kid, this stuff is coarse. It's from the mountain sheep. Scratches like steel wool. The silk weavers won't touch it. I've been trying to unload it for a week."
"Captain Liu sent me," Chen Yuan said, getting straight to the point. "He says you have a fair price."
The merchant's eyes widened. "Oh! The Captain's friend. Well, well. If it's for the army, I suppose the scratchiness doesn't matter much, does it? They need warmth, not luxury."
He kicked a sack. "Three coins per catty. That's the cost of hauling it here. I just want my cart back."
Chen Yuan did the math. It was incredibly cheap. Good wool usually cost eight to ten coins.
"I'll take it all," Chen Yuan said. "But I don't have my own cart to haul it. Can you deliver it to Willow Village?"
"Willow Village? That's two hours away!"
"Five coins per catty, delivered to my door," Chen Yuan countered, raising the price slightly to sweeten the deal. "And I'll buy you a jug of wine."
The merchant grinned. "You drive a hard bargain for a farmer. Fine! Done. I need the space for new stock anyway."
They shook hands. It was a small transaction in the grand scheme of the city's economy, but for Chen Yuan, it secured his supply chain. He had the market (the militia), the labor (his family), and now the raw materials.
* * *
When they returned to the village in the late afternoon, the merchant's cart followed closely behind.
The sight of a city merchant delivering goods to the Chen household caused a stir. Villagers stopped to stare. First the City Lord's carriage, now a merchant's cart. The Chen family was moving up in the world.
But Chen Yuan's mind was already shifting to the next problem.
He walked up the East Hill. The sun was dipping low, casting long, purple shadows across the pasture. The frost had melted, leaving the grass damp.
He found Xu Tie near the shed, checking the hoof of one of the sheep.
"How is it?" Chen Yuan asked.
"Hoof rot is starting in the ewe," Xu Tie said grimly. "The ground is too wet. We need to spread straw or gravel in the pen, or the whole flock will go lame."
Chen Yuan cursed silently. Another expense. Straw, gravel, labor.
"Add it to the list," Chen Yuan sighed. He looked out over the pasture. The grass was still green, but it had stopped growing. The nutritional value was dropping daily.
"Brother Xu," Chen Yuan said. "Winter is coming."
Xu Tie stood up, wiping his hands on his pants. "I know. The animals can smell it. They are eating more, trying to store fat. But the grass..."
"It's not enough," Chen Yuan finished. "Hope alone needs ten catties of hay a day if the weather gets bad. The bull needs more. We have a month's worth of hay stored. Maybe."
He looked at the bull, who was watching them from his secure pen. The animal was calm now, chewing cud, but its size was daunting. Feeding that engine through a three-month winter would bankrupt them if they weren't careful.
"We need to buy hay," Chen Yuan decided. "Not from the town market—that's too expensive. We need to go to the lowlands. The farmers there harvest rice; they have rice straw. It's cheap, but low nutrition. We need to mix it with bean cakes."
"We need money," Xu Tie stated the obvious.
"I have the sock money. And the monthly delivery to the Manor is in two weeks. But buying feed is a bottomless pit. We need a better solution."
Chen Yuan looked at the black bull again. "He needs to earn his keep. He can't just stand there and eat."
"He's a breeding bull," Xu Tie said. "He breeds. That's his job."
"Yes," Chen Yuan nodded slowly. "But in the meantime... he is a beast of burden."
He walked over to the bull's pen. The Black Bull stood up, snorting.
"I want to try something," Chen Yuan said, his eyes gleaming with a dangerous idea. "I want to train him to pull a sled."
"A sled?" Xu Tie raised an eyebrow. "That beast? He nearly killed you yesterday."
"He's smart," Chen Yuan said. "He respects strength. And we need to haul gravel and wood up this hill. The donkey is too weak for heavy loads. If the bull can work, he pays for his food."
Xu Tie stared at him for a long moment. "You are crazy. But... it makes sense. In the army, we trained war horses to pull wagons when camps moved. A bull is slower, but stronger."
"We start tomorrow," Chen Yuan said. "Tonight... I'm staying up here."
"Staying here?" Xu Tie asked. "The house is warmer."
"The herd is restless," Chen Yuan said, looking at the darkening woods. "The storm pushed the wolves down from the mountains. I heard them howling last night from the north ridge. If they smell the bull's blood or the sheep... they will come."
Xu Tie nodded, his hand instinctively going to his spear. "I'll stay with you. A night watch."
* * *
Night fell on the East Hill.
The temperature plummeted, the mud freezing solid into jagged ridges.
Chen Yuan and Xu Tie sat by the entrance of the shed, a small fire burning in a pit lined with stones. They were wrapped in thick cotton coats, spears leaning against the fence behind them.
The silence of the countryside was heavy, broken only by the occasional snort of the bull or the bleat of a sheep.
Chen Yuan stared into the fire, the flames dancing in his eyes. This was the "cowboy" life he had dreamed of in his past life. The open air, the stars, the bond between man and beast. But the reality was colder, harder, and lonelier than the romance.
"San Lang," Xu Tie said, breaking the silence. He took a swig from a flask of cheap liquor. "Why do you do this?"
"Do what?"
"Push so hard. You have money now. You could buy land, rent it out, live like a rich peasant. Why fight the mud, the wolves, the bulls?"
Chen Yuan poked the fire with a stick. "Because I don't want to just survive, Brother Xu. I want to build something that lasts. Something that my children, and their children, will inherit."
He looked up at the starry sky. "In my... dreams... I saw ranches that spanned horizons. Thousands of cattle. Men on horseback driving them across rivers. It was magnificent. I want to bring that here. I want to change what it means to be a farmer."
Xu Tie chuckled, a low, raspy sound. "Dreams of an empire. And here I thought you just liked cows."
"I do like cows," Chen Yuan smiled. "Especially the ones that make money."
Suddenly, the sheep in the pen stirred. They bleated nervously, huddling together in the corner.
Xu Tie instantly stiffened. He doused the fire with a bucket of sand.
"Quiet," he whispered.
The darkness became absolute. The only light was the faint glow of the moon behind the clouds.
Chen Yuan strained his ears.
*Crack.*
A twig snapping in the woods to the north.
Then, a low, guttural growl.
"Wolves," Xu Tie mouthed.
Chen Yuan felt his heart hammer against his ribs. He reached for his spear. His hand trembled slightly, but he gripped the wood until his knuckles turned white.
He stood up slowly, moving to the fence. He saw movement in the shadows. Pairs of green, glowing eyes.
Not one pair. Not two.
Five.
A pack.
"They are testing us," Xu Tie whispered, moving to Chen Yuan's flank. "They smell the sheep. But they are wary of the bull."
The Black Bull, sensing the predators, let out a tremendous bellow. He pawed the ground, his massive horns catching the moonlight. The sound echoed across the hill like thunder.
The green eyes flickered. The wolves hesitated. They were mountain wolves, scavengers and hunters of deer. A bull of that size was beyond their usual prey.
But the sheep...
One wolf, leaner and bolder, crept towards the fence line. It was testing for a gap.
"Don't let it get close to the fence," Xu Tie hissed. "If they bite through the ropes..."
Chen Yuan took a deep breath. He remembered the lasso. He remembered the training.
"Cover me," Chen Yuan said.
He grabbed a torch he had prepared—a bundle of oily rags wrapped around a stick. He struck the flint against his steel knife. Sparks flew. The rag caught fire.
With the torch in his left hand and the spear in his right, Chen Yuan walked towards the fence.
"Get out!" he shouted, his voice cracking slightly before deepening into a roar. He slammed the butt of the spear against the wooden fence. *Bang! Bang! Bang!*
The fire flared, illuminating the scene.
The wolf by the fence snarled, baring its teeth. It didn't run. It crouched, muscles tensing to spring.
"San Lang, back!" Xu Tie shouted.
The wolf leaped.
It wasn't aiming for Chen Yuan; it was aiming for the fence, trying to scramble over the low post.
Chen Yuan didn't think. He thrust the torch forward.
The fire met the wolf's face. The wolf yelped in pain and surprise, twisting in mid-air to avoid the burn. It crashed into the fence and scrambled back.
At the same time, Xu Tie threw his spear.
It wasn't a perfect throw—he was aiming for the body, but the wolf was moving. The spear grazed the wolf's flank, drawing blood.
The wolf let out a sharp bark of pain.
The rest of the pack, seeing the fire and the blood, and hearing the terrifying bellows of the bull inside, decided it wasn't worth it.
The leader turned tail and vanished into the shadows. The others followed, their green eyes disappearing into the brush.
Silence returned.
Chen Yuan stood by the fence, the torch sputtering in his hand. His chest heaved. The adrenaline made his vision blur.
"Did we get him?" he gasped.
"Just a scratch," Xu Tie said, walking over to retrieve his spear. "But you scared him. Fire is their enemy."
He looked at Chen Yuan, who was shaking uncontrollably now. "You didn't run."
"I couldn't," Chen Yuan said, staring at his hands. "If they got in... the sheep... the money..."
"Fear is natural," Xu Tie placed a heavy hand on Chen Yuan's shoulder. "Courage is being scared and holding the line anyway. You did good, Boss."
Boss.
Not 'boy'. Not 'San Lang'.
*Boss.*
Chen Yuan let out a shaky breath. He looked at the bull. The animal was still snorting, guarding his territory. He looked at the sheep, trembling in the corner.
"We need to reinforce the fence tomorrow," Chen Yuan said, his voice steadying. "Higher. Stronger. And we need dogs."
"Dogs?" Xu Tie asked.
"Herding dogs," Chen Yuan said. "And guard dogs. A ranch this size... we can't watch it all night every night. We need help."
"I know where to find a litter of mongrels in the village," Xu Tie offered. "Good ratters. But training them takes time."
"We have time," Chen Yuan said. He looked at the dying torch. "As long as we survive the night."
* * *
The next morning, the sun rose on a quiet hill.
There was blood on the ground outside the fence—evidence that the night hadn't been a nightmare.
Chen Yuan woke up stiff and cold, curled up in the straw next to the bull for warmth. The bull didn't seem to mind; in fact, the animal seemed to recognize that they were allies now.
"They are back," Little Stone's voice called out.
Chen Yuan sat up, rubbing his eyes. He saw his parents and sisters climbing the hill. They carried baskets.
"Mother?"
"We brought breakfast," Liu Shi said, setting down a steaming basket. "Wang Shi made buns. Meat buns!"
"And," Chen Dazhong added, "we heard about the wolves. The neighbors said they heard howling. We were worried."
Chen Yuan stood up, his joints cracking. He looked at his family, standing in the morning light on the hill that was slowly becoming a home.
"We fought them off," Chen Yuan said simply. He picked up a bun. It was hot and greasy. He bit into it. The taste of pork and scallions flooded his mouth.
It tasted like victory.
"We need to work today," Chen Yuan said, chewing. "We have a lot to do. The fence, the feed, the bull."
"And the socks," Liu Shi reminded him.
"Yes. The socks too."
He looked at the horizon. The road was long. The wolves were real. The winter was coming.
But he had a family. He had a spear. And he had a bull that wasn't afraid of anything.
"Let's get to work."