Chapter 40: The Rainy Day Pasture

  This morning, I left New York and got on a plane under the bright sunshine. When I arrived in Lewistown, it started raining lightly. It's been so many days since I've been to Montana that it hasn't rained at all. Today, as soon as I returned from New York, I encountered light rain. Standing at the airport entrance, I felt a little regretful for not letting Old Thomas come pick me up. My plan in New York a few days ago was to take a taxi out of the airport and arrive at the dealership where I bought my first car. The GMC I ordered over the phone had already arrived at the store. I ordered the GMC because of its large space, which can seat eight adults, so I wouldn't have to use two cars like last time when Thomas came to pick me up, just to fit our whole family.

  Waited for a while at the airport exit, didn't see any taxis. Originally Lewis Town's population is not many, taxis are also basically few, good weather can be seen, this rain, like in Jiangnan, China, can't even get one taxi.

  Just as Ju An was about to turn around and go into the hall to get an umbrella, a car stopped in front of him. A white man in his 40s stuck his head out and said: "Hey! Friend, want a ride? It's not easy to hail a taxi on a day like today, I can take you if it's not too far."

  "Thanks, I'll go to the car dealership in town," said Ju An. As he spoke, he opened the car door and got in. Only after getting in did he notice that there was an eighteen or nineteen-year-old blonde girl sitting in the front passenger seat.

  The girl was staring at Wu Song on Ju An's shoulder with a look of surprise.

  "Relax, close the car door. A white man introduced himself: 'I'm Henry, I happen to be picking up my daughter Lucy today, she just returned from a trip. Actually, you were standing at the door and made a hitchhiking gesture, usually people will give you a ride for a segment, you might be new here and not familiar with it.'"

  "Ah, I'm An," said Ahn with a smile. "This is my first time encountering this situation, next time I'll know." Actually, when Ahn first arrived here, he already knew that the people here were just as warm and enthusiastic as those in most rural areas back home, unlike the indifference found in big cities. He hadn't intended to hitch a ride, perhaps it was just a conditioned reflex from living in the city for too long.

  "Would you like to hold it? It's very tame and won't scratch."

  "Really?" Lucy asked happily.

  "Of course," said Gu An with a smile. He then took the Wu Song from his shoulder and handed it to Lucy in front of him. Wu Song let out two snorts, seemingly still unwilling.

  Living a safe and comfortable life, Wu Song was silently despised in his heart: not even a hint of cleverness, it's all because of the good life you've been living, we're hitching a ride on someone else's car, what's wrong with letting them touch it for a bit, where did your cleverness go at this critical moment?

  Wu Song ignored Lucy's words and started arguing with Henry instead.

  It took about ten minutes to arrive at the sales office in town. After getting off the car, I thanked Henry and his daughter again.

  As soon as he entered the store, the white-bearded shop owner came to greet him: "An, long time no see! The car you wanted has arrived, come take a look."

  He led Ju An to a big vehicle, with a black body and shiny chrome-plated metal face with the red letters "GMC" written on it.

  He opened the car door, got in and drove around for a while, didn't find anything wrong, then paid the car payment and insurance.

  Back at the ranch, I found Nancy wearing rain gear, driving a small four-wheeler with a trailer behind her. The trailer was loaded with a lot of hay and she was hauling it into the barn. When I asked, I learned that Nancy had already driven all the sheep into the barn.

  "Where are they?" asked Juan. "Thomas and them," said Nancy, "are down at the cowshed tending to the cattle."

  Jū ān bǎ chē tíng jìn lei cāng kù, ránhòu tuō zhe xíng lǐ xiāng zǒu jìn lei wū zǐ. Jìn le wū zǐ cái fāxiàn sì gè xiǎo jiā hǎo zhèngzài shā fā shàng chī zhe bīng jī líng, kàn zhe diàn shì.

  When the little guy found Wu Song on his shoulder, he immediately exploded and wanted to hug Wu Song. Who knew that Wu Song was frightened and jumped onto the big chandelier on the roof, making a "hiss" sound with his teeth clenched. Apparently, he was scared by the enthusiasm of the little guys.

  The old mother saw a monkey and complained: "What's wrong with bringing something good back home, you bring a monkey back, what about the children?"

  "Hey, this monkey doesn't mess with people and is quite obedient."

  "Mom rolled her eyes and said, 'Don't think you can fool your old mom, there's no monkey that won't be tamed.' Then she turned to the little ones and said, 'All sit down, eat ice cream, don't move, monkeys.'"

  Watching the little guys honestly sitting on the sofa, holding ice cream in their hands and digging into their mouths, but their eyes are still staring at Wu Song on the chandelier.

  Jū ān called out to Wǔ Sōng, and only then did Wǔ Sōng come down from the chandelier. He crouched on Jū ān's shoulder, picked up a holy fruit from the table with one hand, and put it in Wǔ Sōng's hand. Then he put Wǔ Sōng on the sofa. The little ones immediately gathered around, and if Jū hadn't been holding him, Wǔ Sōng might have run away again. After comforting Wǔ Sōng, he said: "Everyone sit down properly, don't crowd around, you're scaring Wǔ Sōng. Take turns hugging one by one, and don't feed ice cream, just feed fruit."

  Then Wu Song was put into Xiaojie's arms, Wu Song struggled for a while at first, but after Ranran gave Wu Song an cherry, he calmed down. After finishing one cherry, someone brought another one, and then thoroughly surrendered to the delicious food. Gradually getting along with the four little guys.

  The old mother on the side also put away her worries: "This little monkey is really good".

  "Going to take a look at the cows in the pasture, mom, keep an eye on these little ones so they don't get into any trouble."

  As he spoke, he walked to the door and changed into high-top riding boots, put on a cowboy hat, wore a raincoat, and went out.

  When he walked into the stable, he found that all the other horses were quietly eating hay in their small compartments, but Doucao had come out of his compartment and was pacing back and forth in the corridor of the stable. As soon as he saw Ju'an, he tossed his head, let out a loud snort, and trotted over to him.

  Then, with a big head, he rubbed against Ju'an's back, gently patted the neck of Dou Cao, combed his long mane with his hand, and said, holding his big head, "I'm back, did you miss me, Dou Cao?"

  Then he said to the bean grass: "Let's go out".

  With the bean grass, walked to the door of the horse stable, put on the water bridle reins, wore a sweat pad, saddled up, tightened the belly band, and the bean grass became excited. Considering the rain, added a triangular chest strap for the bean grass.

  He mounted the bean grass, and with a lift of its front hoof, it leaped forward, immediately charging into the rain.

  Straddling the back of a bean grass, I feel the excitement of the bean grass below. The gloominess brought by New York is swept away. Listening to the raindrops hitting my cowboy hat making a "dada" sound, and the "zizi" sound made by the bean grass being trampled on the rainy ground, my chest feels relieved once again.

  Bean ran at full speed, and before long, he saw the figures of Thomas and his companions, all three wearing rain gear, sitting on their respective horses. The cattle had taken refuge in a small grove to escape the rain, and several cow dogs also took shelter in the grove.

  Seeing Gu An coming over, Old Thomas smiled and said: "Back? This time in New York was quite long ah".

  "Something has been delayed, but how are the cows doing?"

  Andrew said with a smile: "Boss, don't worry, everything is fine with the cattle, and in a few days there may be new calves born."

  "Oh, which one?" asked Ju Anxin with a smile.

  "That one, under the red maple tree, the one that's just lifting its head," said Andrew, pointing to a cow.

  "Hey, you three are all wet from the rain. If you're not busy, why don't you go take turns resting in the house? By the way, is it okay to just leave the cow outside like that?"

  Old Thomas laughed and said, "Ah, cows aren't that delicate, open pastures are all like this, even in winter they're outside, only going into the barn during seasons without grass, to be fed fodder."

  "Then I'm relieved," said Ju An with a smile. "I saw Nanshi driving the sheep into the barn, and thought the cows would need to be put somewhere too."

  Wayne puffed on his cigarette and chuckled, "Nancy's too fond of her sheep. Actually, they're fine outside - this little rain doesn't amount to much, and judging by the weather, it won't last long. I reckon we'll see sunshine by this afternoon."

  "Let me take care of things for a while, you go inside and have a cup of coffee or something to warm up."

  Andrew smiled and said, "No need, this little rain is nothing. If someone wants to drink something, we'll go. Actually, it's just a slight drizzle now, much easier than the ranch I used to work on. Before, we had to irrigate and all that. Here, I feel like people are living in luxury. And such good pastures, it's really my first time seeing this. The previous ranch was always hoping for rain to bring enough water to the pasture, but now there's no feeling at all. At the ranch I stayed before, these days without rain, every day we had to spend a lot of time irrigating. Now it's just watching the cows, much easier."

  Wayne also laughed and said: "Sometimes I feel like I'm on a vacation ranch."

  A few people chatted warmly in the rain for a while, and then Qui An rode his horse to take a look at the geese and ducks by the pond. Old Thomas happened to want to go too, so they went together, leaving Hua En and Andrew to continue watching the cattle.

  When the two people rode their horses to the side of the pond at a slow pace, the geese and ducks had already hidden in the shed.

  The pheasant and another dog, seeing the joyful welcome, jumped off the horse, rubbed the heads of the two guys, and found that neither of them was wet, obviously treated much better than the dogs watching the cattle, happier by far. It wasn't until they reached the poultry house that they noticed a small slope had been set up on one side, presumably where the two guys had taken shelter from the rain.

  Thomas also followed back into the house, boiled a pot of hot coffee and brought it out again. When he sent the bean grass back to the stable, he helped wipe off the rainwater on its body, lest it get sick. Bean grass was always more precious than others in Thomas's heart.