The autumn wind carried a biting chill, a stark reminder that the benevolent days of autumn were fading into the harsh reality of early winter. The leaves on the trees had turned from gold to a brittle brown, crunching underfoot like broken pottery.
Li Wei stood at the gate of Cloud Hill Ranch, checking his gear. He wore the heavy canvas boots Old Man Chen had made, the soles thick with pine pitch. His tunic was layered with a vest made of sheepskin—a recent purchase from the market, warm but rugged. On his head sat the wide-brimmed straw hat, now reinforced with leather strips to block the wind.
Beside him, Qin Hu looked less like a cripple and more like a mountain goat herder. He had fashioned a walking stick from a sturdy oak branch, and a rusty but sharp machete hung at his waist. Ranger, the yellow dog, sat alert, his nose twitching at the scents of the coming season.
"We take the cart to the edge of the flood zone," Li Wei instructed, his breath misting in the air. "After that, we walk. The roads in River Village are still torn up from the summer floods. We'll lead the cattle back on foot."
"Walking is fine," Qin Hu grunted, adjusting his bad leg. "Carts break. Legs just hurt."
They set out as the sun crested the horizon. The urgency of the landlord's demand hung over them like a storm cloud. They had thirty days to turn a cheap, starving animal into a prize fit for a landlord's table. It was an impossible task for a normal farmer. But Li Wei had the System, and he had the Gen II grass.
***
**The Village in the Mud**
River Village lay in a low-lying basin three valleys over. It had been a prosperous place once, known for its rice paddies and fish ponds. But the summer floods had changed that.
As Li Wei and Qin Hu crested the final ridge, the devastation became clear. The fields were still covered in a layer of grey silt. Houses were collapsed, their walls caved in by the pressure of the water. The smell of damp rot and decay was pervasive.
It was a landscape of despair.
"This is bad," Qin Hu muttered, his soldier's eye assessing the terrain. "The topsoil is gone. It will take years to recover."
"And that's why they are selling," Li Wei said grimly. "They have no feed for the winter. They have to sell their stock or watch them starve."
They drove the cart down the rutted track into the village. The mood was somber. People sat on the porches of surviving houses, staring blankly at the mud. There were no children playing, no merchants shouting.
Li Wei stopped the cart near the communal well, which was surrounded by a makeshift corral of broken fences.
Inside the corral were about a dozen head of cattle. They looked miserable. Their coats were matted with mud, their ribs protruding sharply. Flies buzzed around their eyes. A group of men stood near the gate—farmers, looking defeated, and a slick-looking man in a blue coat who was clearly a middleman.
"No, no, no," the middleman was saying, shaking his head. "Look at that one. It's coughing. And that one is too old. I'll give you two hundred coins for the lot. Take it or leave it. My cart leaves in an hour."
"Two hundred?" one of the farmers, an elderly man with a trembling voice, pleaded. "They are worth ten times that! They are good stock!"
"Not anymore," the middleman sneered. "Good stock needs good grass. You have mud. Sell them to me for meat, or keep them and let them die. I don't care."
Li Wei dismounted. He walked towards the corral, his boots squelching in the mud. He could feel the desperation in the air. It was thick, suffocating.
He approached the corral and looked at the animals.
**[System Scan Initiated...]**
His eyes swept over the herd.
*Cow 1: Broken leg. Reject.*
*Cow 2: Pregnant but infected. Reject.*
*Cow 3: Old. Teeth worn down. Reject.*
Then, his eyes landed on two animals in the back corner.
One was a reddish-brown steer, young, with long legs and a surprisingly straight back despite the hunger. The other was a black-and-white spotted bull, also young, with a nasty look in its eye. They were huddled together, sharing body heat.
**[Target 1: Red Steer.]**
**[Age: 1.5 Years.]**
**[Health: 60% (Severe Malnutrition).]**
**[Hidden Trait: Fast Metabolism.]**
**[Potential: High.]**
**[Target 2: Spotted Bull.]**
**[Age: 1.5 Years.]**
**[Health: 65% (Parasites).]**
**[Hidden Trait: Aggressive.]**
**[Potential: Good muscle structure.]**
Li Wei stepped forward, ignoring the middleman.
"I'll take those two," Li Wei announced, pointing to the red steer and the spotted bull.
The middleman spun around, annoyed. "Who are you? I'm negotiating here."
"I'm a buyer," Li Wei said calmly. "And I'm not interested in the lot. Just those two."
The farmers looked at Li Wei with hope. The middleman looked at him with anger.
"I was about to buy the whole herd!" the middleman snapped. "Don't interrupt my business, boy."
"You were lowballing them," Li Wei countered, loud enough for the farmers to hear. "Two hundred for ten head? You're robbing them in broad daylight."
The farmers murmured. The slick man's face turned red.
"This is River Village business! Get out!"
Li Wei ignored him. He walked up to the elderly farmer. "Grandfather, how much for the red one and the spotted one?"
The old man blinked. "The… the red one is my son's. He wants three hundred for him. The spotted one is fierce, hard to manage. Two hundred."
"Five hundred," Li Wei said, pulling out his pouch. "Five hundred coins for the pair. Right now."
The crowd gasped. Five hundred coins? That was more than the middleman was offering for the whole lot!
The middleman sputtered. "Are you crazy? They're skin and bones! You can't make money on them!"
"I have grass," Li Wei said simply. He counted out the coins—five heavy strings of copper. He placed them in the old man's calloused hand.
The old man's hands shook. He looked at the money, then at Li Wei. He fell to his knees. "Thank you, benefactor! Thank you! My grandson needs medicine… thank you!"
"Get up," Li Wei helped him up. "It's a fair trade. You raised them well. The floods weren't your fault."
He turned to the corral. "Qin Hu, Ranger. We're moving out."
Qin Hu limped forward, his presence silencing the middleman who looked like he wanted to cause trouble. Ranger growled low, sensing the tension.
Li Wei entered the pen. The spotted bull lowered its head, ready to charge.
Li Wei didn't flinch. He made eye contact, projecting dominance. He tapped the rail with his stick. *Tap. Tap.*
"Up," Li Wei commanded.
The bull hesitated, confused by the calm authority. Li Wei slipped a rope around its neck. He did the same for the red steer.
He led the two animals out of the mud, past the stunned middleman, and onto the road.
"Good luck getting them home!" the middleman shouted after them, trying to save face. "They'll drop dead before you cross the ridge!"
Li Wei didn't look back.
"We'll see."
***
**The Drive**
The drive back was a grueling, twelve-hour marathon.
The two young cattle were weak, stubborn, and terrified. The spotted bull, true to his nature, tried to bolt into the woods every time a bird flew overhead. The red steer was lethargic, stopping every few minutes to rest.
"Come on, boy," Li Wei coaxed, nudging the red steer with his stick. "Just a little further. I have sweet grass waiting for you."
Qin Hu took the lead with the spotted bull. He didn't use force. He used presence. He walked in front of the animal, and if it tried to veer off, he simply blocked the path with his crutch and his bulk.
"Ranger, bring him in!" Li Wei whistled.
Ranger would dart out, nipping at the bull's heels, turning him back towards the road. The dog was tireless, running back and forth, keeping the herd together.
As the sun began to set, painting the sky in bruises of purple and red, they reached the main road. But the animals were flagging. The red steer stumbled and went down on its knees.
"He can't go any further," Li Jun said, who had met them on the road with the cart. "He's too weak."
Li Wei checked the steer. Its breathing was shallow.
"System, status."
**[Critical Energy Level.]**
**[Risk: Collapse.]**
"We can't stop," Li Wei said. "It's getting cold. If he lies here, he'll die. We have to get him to the pasture."
Li Wei did something that surprised everyone. He took a piece of dried beef jerky from his pocket—the last of his own rations. He chewed it up himself, mixing it with saliva to make a paste.
He knelt by the steer's mouth. "Eat. Come on."
He forced the paste into the animal's mouth. The taste of salt and meat sparked a reaction. The steer licked its lips and swallowed. A small burst of energy.
"Get behind him, Jun. Qin Hu, pull the lead. On three. One, two, three—HEAVE!"
They pushed, pulled, and cursed. Slowly, the steer scrambled to his feet.
They walked through the night. Li Wei's boots were rubbed raw, his back ached, and his hands were blistered from the ropes. But he didn't stop. Every step was a step closer to the ranch. Every step was a step closer to paying the landlord.
***
**The Feast**
It was well past midnight when the lights of the Li family compound came into view. But Li Wei didn't head for the house. He headed for the West Slope.
They pushed the two exhausted animals into the quarantine pen near the bunkhouse.
"Feed them," Li Wei ordered, his voice hoarse.
Li Jun and Qin Hu brought armfuls of the Gen II Ryegrass. It was the lushest, greenest grass the animals had ever seen. It smelled of sugar and life.
The reaction was instantaneous.
The red steer buried his nose in the grass. He didn't just eat; he inhaled it. The spotted bull did the same. The sound of tearing grass and loud chewing filled the silent night.
Li Wei mixed a bucket of warm water with the special electrolyte and probiotic powder the System had formulated. He placed it in the trough. They drank greedily.
Li Wei leaned against the fence, watching them eat. His legs were trembling.
"You did it," Qin Hu said, sitting down on a rock. "You got them here. That middleman owes you an apology."
"They're home," Li Wei said softly. He looked at the spotted bull. "I'm naming you 'Patches'. And you," he looked at the red one, "'Red Cloud'."
"Now the real work starts," Li Wei said, pulling out the System interface.
**[Quest Complete: River Village Cattle Drive.]**
**[Reward Unlocked: Rapid Fattening Formula.]**
**[Formula Details: Mix Gen II grass with 10% crushed corn, 5% urea (controlled), and herbal digestive aids. Effect: Increases daily weight gain by 200% for 30 days.]**
"Two hundred percent," Li Wei whispered. "If we can keep them healthy, they'll put on enough weight to look like yearlings in a month."
He looked at the sky. The stars were bright and cold.
"Go to bed, Qin Hu. Jun, you too. I'll take the first watch. They need to be monitored. If they bloat from eating too fast after starving, we lose them."
"Are you sure?" Jun asked, swaying on his feet.
"Go."
Li Wei sat on a stool in the pen. He watched the animals eat. He was exhausted, broke again (down to his last hundred coins), and facing a deadline that could crush him.
But he had cattle. He had a plan. And he had a family counting on him.
He pulled his hat down over his eyes and dozed, the sound of cattle chewing acting as a lullaby. The race for the Winter Solstice had begun.