Reborn in 1985: Starting from Contracting a Ranch

After taking Shi Fang into the house, Lin Nian stayed inside to take care of her.

The mother came out to pack her things.

"Mom, how long does it take to give birth?" Shan Yaowen sat by the stove, craning his neck to look into his older brother's room.

However, the doors and windows were tightly closed at the moment, and only sounds could be heard.

"This is Fang's first pregnancy, it'll take some time, probably until tonight." Mother Shan scooped hot water from a pot with a bucket. "You three grown men, tidy up the house, prepare the meal, boil extra eggs, and get the brown sugar out too..."

Considering that her daughter-in-law might give birth around the end of the year, the single mother had already prepared all these things.

At this time, most babies are born at home with a midwife.

The single mother had given birth to four children on her own, so she was quite experienced. In addition, the midwife had just checked on the baby, and the baby was in the correct position.

So she wasn't too worried and prepared for all the work step by step.

"Mom, should we still kill the chickens at home? Or should I go kill a sheep?" Shan Yaowen glanced at the four old hens huddled in the basket, trembling.

We don't have many chickens at home to begin with, and one of them froze to death in the dead of winter. If we kill another one, we'll only have three left. My sister-in-law might not even have any eggs to eat during her postpartum period.

"That won't do. Your sheep are so expensive. You could sell them and buy a lot of eggs instead." Shan Yaowu put the eggs in a basin and rejected his brother's suggestion.

He knew all about the sheep on his brother's ranch; apart from a few half-grown sheep, they were all plump and healthy adults.

He would be heartbroken even if a sheep got sick, let alone slaughtering it.

Despite having a large flock of sheep, the herders don't actually eat them regularly; they save them to sell for money.

Cattle and sheep are generally not eaten by herders; they can only eat dead animals.

Those that die unexpectedly or cannot be sold can only be eaten by oneself, and even then, it is extremely painful.

Resources were far less abundant at that time than they are today. During the Lunar New Year, it was considered good if three families in a village with so many people could slaughter sheep.

As for beef, that was something only wealthy families could afford to eat.

"Keep your sheep. Don't you still have some meat from your hunting trip? Use that meat. And don't kill the chicken."

"So what do you eat for Chinese New Year?"

"What's wrong? Do you really have to finish it all in one meal? It's the eve of the Lunar New Year tomorrow, let's eat some together. We can just eat less during the New Year. You spendthrift, you can't seem to let go of something until it's all wasted, can you?"

In the end, Shan Yaowen's suggestion to kill the sheep was rejected by the whole family.

Even the label of spendthrift son reappeared on him.

After thinking about it, Shan Yaowen stopped insisting. At that time, his family's conditions were indeed not as good as they were now.

"Second brother, you go ahead and do your work, I'll start the fire."

Seeing that his father had taken his place, his older brother and mother were busy, Lin Nian was taking care of his sister-in-law giving birth, and Shan Yaowen would wander out whenever he had nothing to do.

He hasn't settled accounts with the Chu family yet.

However, he had arranged to meet Gou Dan and the others in the evening, so he was wandering aimlessly around the village, listening to gossip.

Today, most of the news in the village is about the Chu family.

We strolled over and arrived at the third brother's house.

As it turned out, his family was slaughtering a sheep at that moment.

"No, what day is it?" Shan Yaowen leaned closer.

The third brother was initially quite depressed because he had already sold a lot of sheep during the heavy snowfall of winter, but then that bastard Chu Er killed one of them, and today he was even brought here to cause trouble.

He was initially waving his hand impatiently to shoo the person away, but when he saw it was Shan Yaowen, he quickly waved back, "Oh, it's Yaowen."

"Hey old lady, get me a pack of cigarettes."

The third brother wiped his hands, but they still smelled a bit. He looked at Shan Yaowen apologetically and said, "Ah Wen, come inside and sit down. I'll be there as soon as I'm done with this."

"I won't sit down. Are you slaughtering a sheep for the Lunar New Year?" Shan Yaowen took out a cigarette, gave one to the third brother, lit it for him, and pointed to the sheep in the basin.

"No, I can't even bear to kill a sheep for the New Year, let alone for a small festival." The third brother exhaled a puff of smoke. "It's all because of that bastard Chu Er. This is the one he stole yesterday."

"Dead?"

Shan Yaowen remembered that the sheep had been rescued, hadn't it?

"Yeah, it was alright last night, but it lay there motionless early this morning. I killed it when it was about to die."

"What's the reason?"

"Only after killing him did they realize his neck was broken. That bastard Chu Er..."

After the third brother finished speaking, he started cursing.

He truly hated that thing.

After listening for a while, Shan Yaowen thought for a moment and said, "These aren't sheep that died of disease, so you can sell them, right?"

"They can't get a good price. I heard recently that many disaster-stricken ranches around here are selling their sheep. The supply and marketing cooperatives can't even keep up with the demand, and their employees are desperately trying to drive down the price, finding all sorts of reasons to classify the sheep as low-grade."

Shan Yaowen clicked his tongue. He thought the supply and marketing cooperative could guarantee the livelihood of the herdsmen, but it turned out that some people were greedy.

Those employees must have gotten wind of the fact that the herders were going to sell a large number of cattle, horses, and sheep this winter, so they lowered the price, then submitted the goods and quoted a high price, making a lot of money in one go.

"Do you sell it individually?" Shan Yaowen looked at the sheep and found it to be quite good.

After all, he had seen yesterday that this thing was indeed well-cared for, and Chu Er's stolen items were definitely of good quality, so Shan Yaowen was really planning to buy some.

Besides his sister-in-law giving birth, he also got a craving for food.

"Selling in bulk? Sure, I'll sell." As soon as the third brother heard that Shan Yaowen was interested in buying, he stopped scolding Chu Er and immediately put on a smiling face. "If you want, I'll give you a discount. You pick first."

However, after saying that, he instructed Shan Yaowen, "Don't tell anyone that you bought it."

"Afraid of being seen as a speculator?" Shan Yaowen knew what the third brother was worried about.

The third brother nodded. "There's no other way."

"It's just one sheep, it shouldn't be a big deal." After saying that, Shan Yaowen added, "Um, I'm going back to get the money, please save me some lamb bones and lamb spine for soup."

The third brother waved his hand, "It's better to avoid trouble, and besides, that kid from the Chu family likes to report others."

After chatting with his third brother for a while, Shan Yaowen went back to tell his family.

When they heard that there was mutton to buy, no one in the family objected.

Since this is Shi Fang's first pregnancy, and the chicken wasn't killed, we'll buy two pounds of mutton to help her recover.

However, it wasn't Shan Yaowen who bought it; Shan Yaowu took the money. How could he let his younger brother pay for his wife's childbirth?

After buying the mutton, another long wait ensued.

Although the pregnancy started around noon, my sister-in-law still hadn't given birth by evening.

This made Shan Yaowu half-hearted when he was making mutton soup, and he had to use the fire tongs to knock on the bottom of the pot several times when he was putting firewood into the stove.

"Ah Wu, be gentle, don't break the pot before the baby is even born."

The single mother glanced at her eldest son and said, "This is Fang's first pregnancy, so it's bound to take longer. Ten or more hours is normal, so don't worry."

"oh."

Dan Yaowu responded absentmindedly.

Lin Nian and her mother took turns caring for her sister-in-law, while the midwife stayed in the yard, checking on her every now and then.

Dan Yaowen's eyelids were starting to droop, and he couldn't help but lean against the door to doze off for a while when a loud cry startled him.

Shan Yaowu jumped up and hurried into the house.

"It's born! It's born..."

Those who were guarding the area breathed a sigh of relief.

"Mom, let me see, is it a boy or a girl?"

Shan Yaowu had just pushed the door open when he was kicked out again.

"What's the rush? The house isn't ready yet, just wait."

"Then tell me first if it's a boy or a girl!" Shan Yaowu said anxiously, wringing his hands at the door.

"It's alright, you'll know soon enough." Mr. Shan looked at his son with a broad smile.

Whether it's a boy or a girl, at least I'll have grandchildren to hold.

I'm so tired of listening to the radio every day.

"You should hurry up and try to have one next year too."

Shan Yaowen never expected that his father, in his excitement, would urge him to have children.

However, he did not refute it. He and Lin Nian were just letting things take their course and they were not in a hurry.

"Sigh, it's past midnight, the Little New Year." Shan Yaowen raised his hand to check the time in the dim light. He thought it was only around eleven o'clock, but he didn't expect it to be past midnight.

"Hello, Little New Year! The little one's nickname is Little New Year."

"And what is your full name?"

"I haven't decided yet."

"..."