pjbooks Chapter 21 Eldest Sister
Chapter 21 Eldest Sister
Having his own ranch, Shan Yaowen's joy was genuine and heartfelt.
He spent the entire afternoon riding his horse around his ranch.
The original ranch still had some fences, which Shan Yaowen didn't plan to remove. He would leave them for now and see how things would go next.
After touring the ranch, he went to check out the woods. The woods and ranch he had contracted had a slope of about ten degrees. He found the most suitable spot in his memory to build the shed, and Shan Yaowen dismounted and walked around it.
After forming a plan in his mind, he went to Gou Dan's house.
It wasn't to watch Gou Dan make a fool of himself; it was mainly because his father, Lin Anbang, worked at the forest farm, and if Shan Yaowen needed to repair the sheep pen, it would be most convenient for him to find a lot of materials.
After learning Shan Yaowen's purpose, Lin Anbang nodded. "Repairing the shed is no problem. Approximately how big?"
"My current plan is to build a sheep pen for a hundred sheep."
"For a hundred sheep, stones might not be enough; we'll need some mud bricks..." Lin Anbang thought about the approximate materials and labor, then paused, "A sheep pen? Not a sheep enclosure?"
Shan Yaowen nodded. "Sheep pen."
Actually, both of these terms have the same meaning in everyday language, referring to the activities and resting pens of sheep.
The only difference is in the structure; a sheep pen has a roof, which is better for sheltering from wind and rain and keeping warm than a sheepfold.
Most people are building sheep pens now, but Shan Yaowen wants to build sheep stalls. After all, there was a snow disaster this winter, so ordinary sheep pens don't quite meet his requirements.
After all, with temperatures dropping to minus thirty or forty degrees Celsius, he didn't want his fledgling ranch to end up with sheep freezing to death all winter.
"That would require more materials and manpower. You only have 40 sheep now, is it necessary to build a sheep pen? Or is it for 100 sheep?"
Although Lin Anbang works in the forest farm, he also knows about herding. Is it necessary to put sheep pens directly on a newly opened pasture? There should be more than enough sheep pens.
"It's necessary." Shan Yaowen nodded. "Uncle, I'll have to trouble you."
"That's all." Lin Anbang nodded, not asking any further questions. Shan Yaowen was much more reliable than his own scoundrel. "Have you chosen a location? I'll bring the planks and stones over first."
"I'll take you tomorrow."
After discussing the sheep pen construction with Uncle Lin, Shan Yaowen went back to find his eldest sister.
With accommodation sorted out, the next step is food.
This winter, we can't survive without food.
For cattle and sheep, the cheapest food is straw, but there are better options like corn, bran, and soybean cake, which are not only edible but also more nutritious. Unfortunately, Shan Yaowen doesn't have enough capital to buy these right now.
This year, the cattle and sheep can only eat straw. We'll have to wait until winter to prepare some better food for them.
Straw has many uses. It can be used as fertilizer and feed, as well as as kindling. And if the sheep pen is built, it can be used to line the walls for insulation.
Previously, Shan Yaowen had asked his father where he could buy hay and straw. Later, his older brother told him that his sister-in-law's family and his older sister's family had a lot of farmland and that they had straw there.
We're not going to think about my sister-in-law's family for now, since they're quite far away.
My sister-in-law's family is from Shitou'ao, which belongs to the neighboring county.
My eldest sister married into Zhangjiayan, which is another town, but it's not far away; it only takes half an hour to get there by horseback.
After thinking for a moment, Shan Yaowen told his family and then rode his horse to his eldest sister's house to take a look.
Since his rebirth, he has been busy and has not visited his eldest sister's family except for delivering meat once.
In addition, he remembered that his brother-in-law's family was good at hunting. In his previous life, when he first started learning to hunt, his eldest sister asked his brother-in-law to teach him. His brother-in-law should have some animal traps and snares.
His ranch was connected to the woodland, and there was a lot of wild game on the mountain. Things like pheasants were hard to shoot, so he planned to ask his brother-in-law for some snares to use on the mountain, and also buy some straw to get through the winter.
At the entrance of Zhangjiayan Village, Zhang Du and his companions were leading their dogs up the mountain when he saw his brother-in-law riding up on horseback. He immediately called out, "Awen!"
"Brother-in-law?" Shan Yaowen reined in his horse, looking at his brother-in-law and the group's attire, and asked curiously, "Are you going hunting in the mountains?"
"Someone found a brood of moose on the mountain, let's go try our luck." Zhang Du looked at Shan Yaowen with a smile, "What brings you here?"
"I've come to ask you something." Shan Yaowen dismounted and looked at Zhang Du excitedly.
In his past life, it was his brother-in-law who taught him how to hunt, so Shan Yaowen was quite familiar with him.
"Come on, let me take you to my house for a while." Zhang Du waved to the people beside him, "Your brother-in-law is here, you guys go ahead."
"Alright, I'm off. I'll give you a leg if I fight until tonight."
The acquaintance smiled, greeted Zhang Du, and then led his hunting dog away.
After everyone left, Shan Yaowen gestured in the direction of the hunting party: "Looks like I came at the wrong time, ruining your hunting plans."
"No need, this is the third wave already. It's just something to do when we're bored anyway," Zhang Du said with a smile, waving his hand.
He had a pretty good impression of both of his brothers-in-law, but if he had to choose, he preferred the younger one; the older one was a bit too dull.
Shan Yaowen and he got along very well; they could even urinate in the same pot.
"Honey~ open the door, look who's here!"
"Why are you back again? Weren't you going to hunt moose?" Hearing the familiar voice, Shan Ping put down what she was doing, opened the courtyard gate, and saw her younger brother leading a horse at the gate.
"Oh, what brings you here!" Seeing her younger brother, it would be a lie to say she wasn't happy. Shan Ping immediately pulled Shan Yaowen into the yard, took the horse's reins from her brother and handed them to her husband, "Go and harness the horse."
"Come see my older sister." Shan Yaowen casually took out a bag of fruit candies from his pocket.
"Why did you bring anything? You run your own ranch, why don't you save some money?" Shan Ping patted the snowflakes off her younger brother. "How's Dad?"
Since her father was injured, Shan Ping visited him once, but the family was busy at the time, so she didn't stay long and didn't visit him again.
"It's alright, I can move around a little now, but my bones haven't fully healed yet, so I need to rest." Shan Yaowen handed the things in his hand to his eldest sister. "I bought these before, planning to eat them when you guys came, but we didn't meet, so my younger sister kept trying to eat them. Mom gave her a strict order not to eat them, and then told me to take the rest to my nephew. By the way, where's Xiao Bai?"
"He would run out right after eating and just run around outside all day long."
"Come on, let's go inside and sit down." After Zhang Du harnessed the horse, he pulled Shan Yaowen into the house.
After chatting about everyday things for a while, Shan Yaowen finally started talking about his own story.
"Straw?" Zhang Du thought for a moment. "Not many people farm here, and after the corn and sorghum are harvested, most of them are kept as firewood, and the rest are basically sold to the purchasing station."
At this time of year, straw is a valuable commodity, and purchasing stations mostly use it for animal feed.
"I inquired before I came. The price offered by the purchasing station is one cent per pound, and I can offer about one and a half or one and a half cents."
"Oh, looks like you're planning to invest." Zhang Du chuckled at Shan Yaowen. "How much do you want? I'll help you get it. Besides corn stalks, we also have wheat and rapeseed. Do you want them all?"
"I want them all, ten tons in total."
"Tsk tsk, you only raise forty sheep, why do you need to stockpile so many?"
Shan Yaowen nodded. "This year's snow may be heavier and last longer, so we need to prepare more. And it's not just for food; it'll also be needed for paving and keeping warm."
Actually, they were preparing to sell their sheep when other ranches couldn't hold on any longer.
Otherwise, why would he build such a large sheep pen and buy so much straw?
"Ten tons, twenty thousand catties, at one-and-a-half of a catty, that's 240 yuan. You just contracted the ranch, do you have enough money?" Shan Ping looked at her younger brother with concern. She felt that her brother had taken too big a step.
Buying straw costs 240 yuan, and with the contracting fee and subsequent expenses, it all adds up to over a thousand yuan.
"No problem, I brought 100 yuan with me. Brother-in-law, you can keep an eye on it for me. If you run out of money, just stop or let me know."
Zhang Du watched as his brother-in-law pulled out a hundred yuan without batting an eye, and he immediately looked at him with newfound respect. He had thought his brother-in-law was going to have to pay for it.
He trusted his older sister and brother-in-law; he had already witnessed it in his previous life.
Having discussed the straw, the remaining topic is the lasso.
My brother-in-law's dad could make these himself, so he took out about ten and let Shan Yaowen choose one. Some were made of steel wire, and some were made of straw rope.
"Are you busy?" Zhang Du asked Shan Yaowen after taking it out. "If you're not busy today, your brother-in-law can take you up the mountain to try it out."
"No, I don't think so." Shan Yaowen hesitated for a moment. "I have to take people to repair the sheep pen tomorrow."
"Oh, it's alright, it'll only be a short while. Besides, how can you come all this way without having a meal? I promise it won't delay your trip back. You can even leave tomorrow morning."
Okay, Shan Yaowen was convinced.
Before Shan Ping could say anything, the two of them went out happily.
She knew her man; testing the lasso was one thing, but his main addiction was hunting.
Anyway, Zhang Du is an experienced hunter, so she wasn't worried.