pjbooks Chapter 98 Spring Begins
Chapter 98 Spring Begins
Chapter 98 Spring Begins
After the spring pasture at Baixi Ranch was completed, Shan Yaowen did not immediately drive the sheep there.
He planned to wait until spring, because even though Shan Yaowen had made many preparations, several lambs he had bought still froze to death in the spring.
There's no way around it; even though it's cold in winter, cows and sheep don't die.
Those cattle and sheep basically die around the beginning of spring.
Shan Yaowen knew that these two days were when sheep were most likely to die, so he did everything he could to prevent them from dying.
Even after the spring pasture was settled these days, he didn't go home to sleep. He stayed in the sheep pen and even lit a fire to keep the sheep warm in the early morning to prevent them from getting cold.
At this moment, the sheep is more important than sleeping with your wife.
Unfortunately, despite his strict precautions, three lambs still died.
Cattle and sheep fatten up in the autumn, but they lose all that fat over the winter and become skin and bones by spring.
Despite the arrival of spring and the warmer weather, many cattle and sheep, especially sheep, survive the winter only to die in the spring.
Most sheep collapse at this time of year, when food is scarce and a blizzard hits. Once a sheep collapses, it can't get up, convulsing and unable to stand, eventually dying.
That's how Shan Yaowen lost his three sheep.
Eating mutton in winter and spring means eating mutton that didn't survive the winter.
When a sheep dies, it's usually stewed in one pot, but when a cow dies at this time, it's usually made into beef jerky. After all, even if a cow is thin, it's still bigger than a sheep, weighing at least 100 or 200 pounds, which is far too much to eat.
If you can't finish the beef, you can stretch it into strips, rub it in salt, beat it on a pole, and dry it into jerky.
"You're lucky, only three died. I heard the ranch next door is seeing huge numbers of animals die."
"He thought that once he got through the winter, things would get better in the spring, but—" Mr. Shan said, shaking his head.
As far as he knew, many sheep on ranches had died, and there were even dead cows.
They were all herders, and they knew what the death of cattle and sheep meant to them.
He was worried about the second lamb, fearing it might die, but the second lamb proved to be quite capable, managing to kill only three lambs.
In previous years, the death of even one lamb would have been heartbreaking, but this year's snowfall was truly heavy, and compared to other pastures, the fact that only three lambs died here is already quite good.
During the period of snow melting in early spring, even people can't withstand it, let alone sheep. He was surprised that there wasn't a large-scale loss at Lao Er's place.
These are the small sheep we bought in winter, the ones that didn't get much fattening up in the fall.
In Shanfu's opinion, that was already quite impressive, especially considering that none of the larger ones had died.
Shan Yaowen looked at the mutton cooking in the pot and sighed.
He knew his losses were minimal, but he couldn't shake the feeling that any sheep had died.
To him, every sheep was precious, big or small; the death of one meant the loss of another.
As the family comforted Shan Yaowen and talked about the losses of other ranches in the village, Li Baoguo came over in high spirits, but as soon as he entered the house, he sensed that the atmosphere was somewhat sad.
"Awen, what's wrong with you?" This was the first time Li Baoguo had seen Shan Yaowen so listless.
Whenever I saw him before, he was always full of energy.
This is the first time I've felt this down.
Could something have happened to the Shan family? But judging from Da Shan's expression, nothing seemed amiss; he was still happily flipping the mutton in the pot.
"A few sheep died." Shan Yaowen forced a smile as he looked at Li Baoguo.
"Sigh, this year's heavy snow and cold spring have made things difficult for many ranches. Even the state-run ranches have lost many sheep. It's said that the state-run restaurants and supply and marketing cooperatives in town can't even keep up with the demand for mutton." Li Baoguo looked at Shan Yaowen with great sympathy.
"The supply and marketing cooperative still accepts dead mutton?" Shan Yaowen glanced at the village secretary in surprise.
He remembered that the supply and marketing cooperative did not accept dead sheep; herders would drive live sheep there to buy them.
"The government knows that this heavy snowfall has been tough on herders this year, so in order to recover some of their losses, they are buying up any sheep that have frozen to death but are not sick during this spring season."
"That's not bad, we can make some money." Mr. Shan nodded with a sigh. "Our country is so much better. They care about us ordinary people. If something happens, they'll help us out. Look at those capitalist countries, do they care whether you live or die?"
Li Baoguo nodded in agreement. "Indeed, I heard on the radio that it's not just here that's affected by the disaster; many countries are in the same situation. But those governments only care about themselves. I heard the roads are completely covered in snow and no one is shoveling it. What's the use of all their machinery? They still can't leave their homes."
"That's right. Although we are poor, we have a large population and we can still get through this snow disaster."
Watching his father and the Party Secretary chat about national affairs and comment on other countries, Shan Yaowen felt much more at ease.
Although their conversation was a bit rambling, it was actually quite interesting.
After chatting about international affairs for a while and criticizing capitalist countries, Li Baoguo finally remembered that he had come here.
"By the way, this is your pasture application. The town has approved it and will come down to inspect and measure it in the spring. Be prepared."
Shan Yaowen took the document handed to him by the Party Secretary, glanced at the approval and official seal on it, and breathed a sigh of relief. He had finally heard some good news.
"Are the procedures the same as before?"
"Yes." Li Baoguo nodded.
After discussing the ranch contract, Li Baoguo rubbed his hands together and looked at Shan Yaowen, "You caught a group of bandits last time, what's the follow-up story?"
"What happened next?"
"There's still no follow-up."
Shan Yaowen didn't know why the Party Secretary was asking about this, but he hadn't actually received any notification.
Even the original rewards have disappeared without a trace.
He had originally planned to take some time to go to town and ask.
However, he had a few good days after the start of spring, so he focused on getting the pasture and new house ready and didn't ask about it.
He believed that Old Wolf wouldn't hold him back on this matter.
"I heard some new information from the town mayor; they're planning to transfer you to the banner level."
Seeing the Party Secretary's mysterious demeanor, Shan Yaowen's heart skipped a beat. "Is the information accurate?"
"I don't know, but since the mayor said so, it's very likely."
In fact, Li Baoguo had already made up his mind, otherwise, given the town mayor's personality, he wouldn't have said it out loud.
"Awen has become a banner official?" Upon hearing this, Mother Shan was so excited that she accidentally pricked her hand with a needle.
But she didn't care about any of that. She put her fingers in her mouth and sucked on them twice, then looked at the Party Secretary and asked, "Is Awen going to the banner/county?"
Li Baoguo waved his hand, "If I don't become an official in the county, I should just be a specially invited member of the CPPCC."
After saying that, he looked at Shan Yaowen and said, "To be honest, why don't you just get a permanent position? That way, you could pursue a career in politics, and maybe one day our village will produce a county magistrate or a party secretary?"
Shan Yaowen waved his hand, "My ambitions lie elsewhere. Besides, how could I possibly be a competent official? I might offend someone or be used as a pawn at some point. Moreover, with my moral standards, I'm bound to be corrupted, and I might even commit crimes in the future."
"It's better to refuse now than to end up in jail later. We have that much self-awareness."
Having lived his whole life, he knew his own character. If he were to become an official, he would certainly take bribes and demand favors without hesitation.
For the sake of the local people's well-being and my own future plans, I'd better give up on becoming an official.
"You're quite frank." Li Baoguo chuckled upon hearing Shan Yaowen's words.
Li Baoguo originally planned to leave after delivering the application, but Shan Yaowen insisted on having a meal with him.
The Party Secretary couldn't refuse, so he ate there and helped with some work in the afternoon. He also promised to help herd the sheep the next day.