Dawn broke over Willow Village with a chill that bit at the bones. Mist rolled off the hills, wrapping the Li family home in a white embrace.
In the tool shed, Da Niu sat huddled in the corner, his knees pulled to his chest. The rope binding his wrists had been removed, but the memory of the knot was still tight around his psyche. He watched the door with wide, fearful eyes.
When the door creaked open, he flinched.
It wasn't the scary soldier. It was the young master—the one with the calm eyes and the chicken smell.
Li Wei entered, carrying a bowl of thin porridge and a rough-made bun. He set it down on the floor and slid it over with his foot.
"Eat," Li Wei said. "Then we work."
Da Niu stared at the food. His stomach growled, a loud, ugly sound in the quiet shed. He lunged for the bowl, shoveling the porridge into his mouth with shaking hands, barely chewing the bun before swallowing it whole.
Qin Hu appeared in the doorway behind Li Wei, leaning on his crutch. His presence was like a shadow falling over the boy.
"Slow down," Qin Hu's voice was gravel. "You puke that up, you clean it with your tongue."
Da Niu froze, then forced himself to slow down, though his eyes never left the soldier.
"Today we build a fence," Li Wei said, crossing his arms. "The hill needs boundaries. We're marking our territory. You're going to dig post holes. If you dig ten holes by noon, you get lunch. If you run…"
He didn't finish the sentence. He didn't need to. Qin Hu tapped his crutch against the ground. The sound was like a gavel striking a judge's bench.
"I won't run," Da Niu whispered, his voice cracking. "I'll dig."
***
**The Shape of Things**
The concept of a "ranch" was foreign to the locals. Farmers in this region used low mud walls or thorny hedges to keep things out. They didn't have the sprawling, fenced-in pastures of the American West.
But Li Wei wanted that aesthetic. More importantly, he needed the functionality. A fence allowed for rotational grazing. It kept predators out and livestock in. It turned wild land into property.
"We'll start with the southern slope," Li Wei instructed, pacing the perimeter of the cleared area. He held a stick in his hand, drawing lines in the dirt. "We need corners. Corners are the strength of the fence."
He pointed to a pile of rough-hewn wooden posts he and Li Jun had scavenged from the hillside deadwood.
"Da Niu, you dig. Qin Hu, I need you to supervise the placement. The holes need to be deep—thirty centimeters at least, or the wind will knock them over."
"I can dig," Qin Hu grumbled, eyeing the rocky soil.
"Your leg needs to heal for three more days," Li Wei countered, using a tone he had learned from his mother. "You supervise. I'll handle the rails."
For the next four hours, the hill echoed with the sound of iron striking earth.
*Clang. Thud. Clang. Thud.*
Da Niu was a scrawny kid, but desperation gave him strength. He swung the pickaxe with a rhythmic, almost panicked intensity. Sweat poured down his face, mixing with the dirt.
Li Wei worked alongside him, using a shovel to clear the loose dirt from the holes. His hands were blistered, his back ached, but he pushed through. He had to set the pace. If the boss slacked off, the workers would too.
"Post," Li Wei called out.
Qin Hu rolled a wooden post over with his foot. Li Wei grabbed it, hefting it into the hole.
"Hold it straight," Li Wei grunted, using a flat stone to tamp the dirt back in around the base. He packed it tight, layer by layer, ensuring it was solid.
"Why… why wood?" Da Niu panted, pausing to wipe his brow. "Mud walls… last longer."
"Mud walls block the wind and the view," Li Wei explained, grabbing the next post. "Fences let the air through. It keeps the cattle cool in summer. And…"
He looked up at the sky, imagining the scene.
"It looks bigger. A mud wall makes you feel like a prisoner. A fence makes you feel like you have room to run."
Da Niu didn't understand. He just nodded, eager to please, and went back to digging.
***
**The Peeping**
By mid-morning, the first line of fence posts stood like crooked teeth against the hillside.
Li Hua and Li Mei came up the path, carrying baskets of mid-morning snacks—roasted sweet potatoes from the fire.
"Busy little ants," Hua called out, setting the basket down. She looked at Da Niu, who was now shirtless, his ribs visible as he heaved for breath. "Who's the skinny monkey?"
"New worker," Li Wei said, wiping his hands on his pants. "Da Niu. Da Niu, these are my sisters. Hua and Mei. If you look at them wrong, Qin Hu will blind you."
Da Niu didn't even look up. He bowed his head low, terrified of the girls. "Sister Hua, Sister Mei."
Mei, the gentler one, frowned at the boy's condition. She pulled a water gourd from her basket. "Here. Drink. You'll collapse."
Da Niu hesitated, looking at Li Wei. Li Wei nodded. The boy snatched the gourd and drank greedily.
"The neighbors are watching," Mei whispered to Li Wei, stepping aside as Da Niu drank. "Auntie Wang is telling everyone that Li Wei has built a prison camp on the hill and is working a child to death."
Li Wei chuckled dryly. "Let them talk. When the fence is up and the grass is green, they'll just be jealous."
He took a bite of a sweet potato. It was hot and sweet, a burst of energy.
"How are the chickens?" he asked.
"Laying well," Hua reported. "We collected eight eggs this morning. And the old hens are looking at the nesting boxes with envy. They've never seen such luxury accommodations."
"Good. Save the eggs. Don't sell them yet. We need to expand the flock."
He looked at his sisters. "I need your help this afternoon. I'm going to split bamboo for the rails. I need thin strips to weave between the posts."
"We can do that," Hua said, her eyes gleaming. She liked having a task. "I'm good with a knife."
***
**The Hatching Hour**
That evening, the mood in the storage room shifted from industrious to tense.
It was Day 21.
Li Wei knelt by the incubator. The temperature was stable, the humidity (maintained by a damp cloth) was right.
He didn't need the System to tell him what was happening. He could hear it.
*Peep. Peep.*
A faint, high-pitched sound coming from inside one of the eggs.
"They're pipping," Li Wei whispered, a thrill running down his spine.
He called Li Hua and Li Jun into the room. They crowded around the wooden box, their faces illuminated by the lantern.
"Look," Li Wei pointed.
On the shell of one of the eggs, a tiny crack had appeared. A small fragment of shell pushed outward.
"Don't help it," Li Wei warned as Jun reached out a hand. "It needs to struggle. The struggle forces the blood from the veins into the body. If you peel it, it will die or be weak."
They watched in silence.
It was a slow, agonizing process. For an hour, the little chick pecked and pushed, resting every few minutes. The sound of its tiny beak tapping against the shell—*tap, tap, tap*—was the only noise in the room.
Then, with a final, explosive effort, the top of the shell popped off.
A wet, bedraggled head emerged. It looked like a tiny alien—eyes swollen shut, damp feathers plastered to its skin.
"It's ugly," Li Hua whispered, though she was smiling.
"It's beautiful," Li Wei corrected. "It's profit."
Slowly, one by one, the other eggs began to crack.
Out of the ten eggs, eight successfully hatched. Two failed to break through, the life inside them too weak.
By midnight, the incubator was filled with eight fluffy, cheeping yellow balls of fluff. They were dry now, stumbling around on oversized feet, exploring their new world.
Li Wei carefully moved them to a brooder box he had prepared near the stove—a box lined with soft cloth and equipped with a shallow dish of water and crushed corn.
"They need warmth," Li Wei said, watching them huddle together. "This is the most dangerous time."
"Third Brother," Li Jun said, his voice uncharacteristically soft. "You did it. You actually hatched them."
It was a small victory. Eight chicks. In the grand scheme of the Empire, it was nothing. But standing in that dim room, smelling the scent of new life and pine shavings, it felt like a miracle.
**[Quest Complete: Incubation Success.]**
**[Reward: Blueprint - Automatic Water Nipple Drinkers (Primitive version using bamboo and clay pots).]**
**[New Quest: Raise 50 chickens.]**
Li Wei stood up, his knees popping. He was exhausted, but the fatigue felt different now. It was the good kind of tired.
"We start again tomorrow," he told his siblings. "The fence needs to be finished by the day after. Then we let the chickens out."
***
**The First Boundary**
Two days later, the first section of the fence was complete.
It wasn't perfect. The posts were uneven, and the bamboo rails were rough. But it stood. It enclosed the first terrace of the slope—the area where the ryegrass was now ankle high, swaying gently in the breeze.
It was a rectangle of green in a sea of yellow scrub.
Li Wei stood at the gate—a simple wooden frame with a crossbar.
He looked at his team. Qin Hu, standing straighter, the pain in his leg managed by the rhythmic work. Da Niu, still thin, but covered in dirt and sweat, a look of grim satisfaction on his face after earning his third meal. Li Jun, tired but smiling. And his sisters, carrying feed buckets.
And An. The cow stood nearby, watching them with mild interest. Her cough was gone, and her coat was beginning to shine.
"Open the gate," Li Wei said.
Li Jun lifted the crossbar. The gate swung inward.
Li Wei whistled—a sharp, clear sound he had practiced.
"Come on, ladies!"
He ushered the eight new chicks (now in a portable cage) and the six older hens into the enclosure.
The chickens didn't understand at first. They clustered by the gate, afraid of the open space. But then, one brave hen saw the grass.
She darted forward, pecking at a green blade.
Then another followed. And another.
Within minutes, the chickens were scratching and pecking, delighted by the bounty of fresh, tender grass. They were free-range. Truly free-range.
"Look at them," Hua laughed. "They think they're kings."
"They're pioneers," Li Wei corrected.
He walked to the center of the field. He ran his hand over the tops of the grass. It was real. It was a pasture.
Qin Hu limped up beside him. He leaned on his crutch, looking at the fence line.
"It's just wood and dirt," the soldier said quietly. "But it feels… solid. Like a fort."
"It's a fort, Qin Hu," Li Wei said, watching the chickens. "It's a fort against hunger."
He looked down the hill. The village was spread out below them, smoke rising from chimneys. The people down there were worrying about rent and grain.
Up here, on the hill, the air was cleaner.
"We need more posts," Li Wei said, turning back to the team. "We need to expand the fence to the second terrace. And we need to buy more chickens. I want fifty birds by next month."
"Fifty?" Da Niu squeaked, eyes widening.
"Fifty," Li Wei confirmed, grinning. "Get back to work, Da Niu. The sun is up."
"Yes, Boss!"
As the boy scrambled to grab the pickaxe, Li Wei felt the System hum in his mind.
**[Ranch Level: Lv. 1 (Established).]**
**[Next Level Requirement: 5 Large Livestock, 100 Poultry, Permanent Structure.]**
One level down. A long way to go.
But the fence was up. And Li Wei knew, with absolute certainty, that he was never taking it down.