The first snow of the Great Liang Dynasty's winter didn't fall gently. It came down in hard, stinging pellets, driven by a northern wind that howled across the barren hills like a grieving ghost.
The Westland, once a sea of gold and green, was now a stark landscape of white and grey. The creek had frozen over, leaving only a jagged scar of white ice slicing through the valley.
Inside the bamboo shelter, the air was crisp, but the mood was warm. The structure Li Wei and Chen Hu had built was rough, but it was tight. The southern exposure caught the weak morning sun, and the deep bedding of straw and dried grass Li Sheng laid down generated natural heat as it composted beneath the animals' hooves.
"Breakfast," Li Wei announced, carrying a wooden bucket into the feeding trough.
It wasn't just grass. It was a concoction born of the [Basic Nutritional Mix Formula] and Li Wei's desperate improvisation.
The base was the last of their dried hay, chopped fine. To this, Li Wei had added the "candy" he had promised. He had taken the pot of honey Qingyu had sent—a small jar meant for tea—and mixed it with hot water, then poured it over a sack of wheat bran he had bought cheaply from a miller who considered it waste.
He stirred the mix vigorously. The smell was intoxicating—sweet, earthy, and warm.
The cows, including the recovering 'Old Blossom', pushed forward, their breath puffing in clouds. They dipped their muzzles into the mash, licking it clean.
"Look at them," Sheng laughed, watching a calf try to lick the sticky sweetness off its mother's nose. "They act like they're eating banquet food."
"It is a banquet for them," Li Wei said, rubbing his hands together to warm them. "The bran provides energy. The honey encourages them to eat when they're cold. It keeps their metabolism up."
He watched the 'General', the Black Bull. The beast was covered in a thick winter coat, looking like a black boulder in the corner. He ate slowly, deliberately, savoring the sweet bran. He had put on muscle. The skeletal look was gone.
**[System Analysis]**
**[Target: "General" (Black Bull)]**
**[Weight: 780 kg (Est.)]**
**[Condition: Good.]**
**[Genetic Mutation Probability: Increasing with high-energy diet.]**
"Good boy," Li Wei murmured. "Eat up. We have a long winter."
***
Later that afternoon, while Chen Hu and Sheng broke the ice on the water troughs, Li Wei retreated to the small room they had partitioned off in the back of the shelter. It was his workshop.
He had a goal. A ranch wasn't just cattle; it was culture. It was an identity. And right now, he looked like a beggar in a torn robe.
On the table lay the wolf pelt. It was thick, coarse, and grey. The hide had been tanned by Chen Hu using a crude method involving brains and smoke, but it was supple enough.
Li Wei picked up a needle and a thick thread he had twisted from sinew. In his previous life, he had watched a documentary on frontier fur traders. He didn't have the fine tools of a hatter, but he had the image in his mind.
He began to cut.
He didn't cut a robe. He cut a broad, circular shape. Then, he cut a strip for the brim.
"What are you making, Boss?" Chen Hu asked, poking his head in. He was carrying an armload of firewood.
"A hat," Li Wei said, biting the thread.
"A hat? It looks... flat."
"It's a wide-brimmed hat," Li Wei explained, shaping the wet leather over a wooden bowl to create a dome. "To keep the sun out of my eyes in summer, and the snow off my neck in winter. And it won't blow off in the wind."
He worked in silence for an hour. When he was done, he placed it on his head.
It was rugged, smelling of smoke and wild animal. The fur was coarse and grey, the shape distinct—a high crown and a wide, flat brim. It looked nothing like the soft cloth caps or the formal black gauze hats of the dynasty's officials. It looked fierce. It looked like the West.
Li Wei stood up and grabbed his new "staff"—a long, straight branch he had shaved down.
"How do I look?" he asked Sheng, who had just walked in with tea.
Sheng blinked. He looked at his brother—standing tall in his dirt-stained robes, the wolf-pelt hat casting a shadow over his eyes, holding the staff like a scepter.
"You look... like a bandit king," Sheng said hesitantly.
"I look like a Rancher," Li Wei corrected with a grin. He tilted the brim down. "Come on. The cows are fed. I want to check the south fence."
***
Stepping out into the snow, Li Wei felt the transformation. The hat kept his head surprisingly warm, and the brim blocked the stinging sleet that drove from the north.
He walked the perimeter. The snow was already drifting against the fences. He needed to clear it, or the cows might try to walk over the drifts and escape.
*Thud. Thud. Thud.*
He stabbed the ground with his staff, marking the spots where the drifts were too high.
As he reached the southern ridge, he paused. A set of footprints crossed the snow. Not animal. Human.
He followed them with his eyes. They came from the main road, circled the ranch, and stopped at a high point overlooking the corral. Then they retreated.
Spies?
Or just curious locals?
Li Wei narrowed his eyes. The ranch was becoming known. If he was going to have visitors, he needed to make a statement.
"Chen Hu!" he called out.
The big man jogged over, his limp less pronounced in the cold. "Boss."
"We need a sign," Li Wei said. "At the gate."
"A sign?"
"A board. Painted. It needs to say 'Westland Ranch'. And below that... 'Private Property. Trespassers Will Be Prosecuted.'"
Chen Hu frowned. "Prosecuted? We are not the law, Boss."
Li Wei adjusted his wolf-skin hat. "Out here, we are the law. I'll talk to Father-in-Law about jurisdiction later. But for now, I want people to know this isn't common land anymore. It's ours."
"I'll cut the board," Chen Hu said, liking the authority in Li Wei's voice. "I have some red paint from marking the timber."
***
That evening, as the wind howled outside, Li Wei sat by the lantern. He wasn't just thinking about signs.
He was thinking about **breeding**.
Spring was three months away. The 'General' was the key. But the five cows were local yellow cattle—small, hardy, but lacking in size and meat quality.
He opened his notebook. He drew a diagram.
*Cross 1: General (Black) x Local Yellow Cow.*
*Result: F1 Hybrid. Black coat (dominant). Better size.*
But he needed more than just hybrids. He needed to stabilize the breed. He needed to create the "Liang Black Mountain Cattle".
He needed more cows.
He looked at his remaining funds. 10 taels of silver and a pouch of copper coins.
"Sheng," Li Wei said, looking up from his notebook. "Tomorrow, I'm going to the city. I need to visit the... 'Red Light District'."
Sheng dropped the teapot. "Brother! You... you are married! If Sister-in-law finds out..."
"Not for that, you little fool," Li Wei laughed, slapping the table. "I'm going to the entertainment district because that's where the butchers and the disposers are. High-end restaurants throw away massive amounts of food waste. Vegetable trimmings, fruit rinds, leftovers."
"We can use that for feed?"
"It's high energy," Li Wei nodded. "If I can contract with a few kitchens to buy their 'trash', we can supplement our hay shortage for cheap. And..." He paused, his eyes gleaming. "I'm looking for something else. Something the butchers usually kill."
"What?"
"A dwarf cow."
Sheng looked confused.
Li Wei leaned back. "Sometimes a calf is born small, a runt. Farmers think it's cursed or useless. They sell it cheap or kill it. I want them. Because in my world, runts sometimes carry the gene for... tenderness."
He closed the book.
"Get some sleep, Sheng. Tomorrow, we start expanding the menu."
***
**System Notification:**
**[Project Initiated: Waste-to-Energy Feeding Program.]**
**[Project Initiated: Genetic Expansion (The Runt Protocol).]**
**[Current Funds: 10 Taels, 200 Bronze.]**
**[Ranch Morale: High.]**
Li Wei blew out the lantern. In the darkness, the sounds of the cattle chewing their cud were rhythmic and soothing. He touched the wolf fur of his new hat, hanging on the post beside him.
The Westland was no longer just a dream. It was a cold, hard, hungry reality. And he was loving every minute of it.