Chapter 27: Barbecue Dinner Party

  Huai En took two little ones for a run, and then Ju An took over Tong Tong, continuing to put her in front of his horse, while Huai En continued to take care of the cattle.

  Taking the whole family with him, he went to see the sheep.

  Her brother-in-law noticed that Ju An was uncomfortable sitting on the horse and wanted to take Tong Tong over several times, but Tong Tong was unwilling, so Ju An and his group had to walk slowly.

  They arrived at the sheep's place. Ju An put down the two little guys, and Nancy was adding salt to the sheep's salt trough. Seeing Ju An and his group coming over, she walked over and greeted everyone.

  Hutou ran over at this time, surrounding Ju'an and wagging his tail. Hutou's head was very high, almost reaching Tongtong's chin. Tongtong and Ranyan immediately hid behind Ju'an, with Ranyan covering her face behind Ju'an, while Tongtong stuck out a small head to look at Hutou.

  She pulled out the two little ones from behind, holding their small hands, and went to touch the tiger's head, telling them: "This is a tiger head, it won't bite Tongtong and Ranyan, you guys take a look".

  After petting them for a while, the two little guys lost their fear. Even Rong Rong put both hands on, stroking the tiger's neck. The tiger seemed to be enjoying it, closing its eyes and wagging its tail even more happily.

  My brother-in-law stroked a sheep and said to Dad: "Old Three, these cattle and sheep are quite substantial."

  "Dad said worriedly: 'After looking around, it's indeed much better than the countryside in our country. Every household has such a big place, and on the way here, we only saw about ten households along the road. I don't know what to do if some bad people come.'"

  Sister smiled and replied: "Every household has a gun, are you not afraid of bad people coming in? You've said it all, every household is like this, so who would still steal from others?"

  "Got a gun? Old Three, do you have one? If so, let my brother-in-law go and fire a couple of shots. When I was young, no one confiscated guns, and I even used my grandfather's gun to shoot wild ducks." Brother-in-law said excitedly.

  "Rifles I have, several of them. But you used ** when you were a kid, let's go to the shooting range in a few days and practice again."

  My brother-in-law smiled and nodded: "Alright, alright, I haven't held a gun for over a decade, let's go have some fun in a few days."

  The old mother and sister obviously had no interest in the sheep in front of them, and were pointing at the distant snow-capped mountains, saying something.

  After chatting for a few minutes, they decided to head back. At this time, Tengteng refused to let go and insisted on taking the tiger head back with her. Her uncle then explained to Tengteng: "The tiger head needs to watch the sheep. If it weren't for the big bad wolf, all of Uncle's sheep would be eaten up. If the sheep are eaten up, Uncle won't have money to buy new clothes for Tengteng."

  Tongtong finally let go, and when she left, she said to Huto: "Huto, don't be lazy, or the wolf will eat all of Uncle's sheep." An Jian couldn't help but laugh.

  Back at the small building, sister let brother-in-law go coax the two little ones to take a nap. She also took a short rest herself.

  Then, Ju An helped her parents and sister prepare for the evening barbecue. The lamb chops and beef needed to be cut, and the vegetables needed to be washed. She asked her mother and sister to cut the beef into palm-sized pieces. After a while, she was chased out of the kitchen by her mother, who thought Ju An was just getting in the way.

  Living a carefree life is great, mounting on bean grass, then letting go of the reins and galloping freely.

  It's estimated that for these few days, the bean grass and snowflake didn't scatter wildly. The two horses only stopped after running until they were drenched in sweat. Ju An sat on the horse, closed her eyes, and breathed in the pure air with big gulps, facing the mountain wind, with a clear mind.

  Then, after running for a while, resting for a bit, and continuing to run, they played for about an hour before returning home.

  When I arrived home, my parents had already prepared all the meat and vegetables. The two little ones were awake and sitting under the porch, playing with the computer.

  Jū ān brought her brother-in-law, and they moved the large stove out of the house. They also took out the charcoal that old Thomas had burned from the warehouse. The charcoal was all made from the thick branches of pine and cypress trees that old Thomas had collected from the forest at the foot of the mountain.

  Just as they were ready, two pickup trucks appeared in the distance. It was clear that Tyler and the Andersons had arrived.

  Before long, the car appeared in front of them. Tyler jumped out of the car and gave Ju'an a big hug, followed by the rest of the family getting out of the car one after another.

  Taylor and his wife Vera, with their two grandchildren and his younger brother Sandon and Sandon's wife Vivian, and of course Anderson, who came alone. It was only later that they learned that Anderson had been divorced, his son and daughter-in-law and grandson all working in New York and rarely coming back.

  Everyone hugged each other, and Ju An also introduced his parents, sister, and brother-in-law to everyone.

  After the initial pleasantries, the man sat down in a chair in the courtyard and started chatting, while Vera and Vivian helped Mrs. Guan's mother and sister put the sliced lamb and beef on the grill.

  As for the little ones, they gathered together and seemed to be having a great time. However, I was a bit puzzled - the little ones didn't speak the same language, yet they seemed very familiar with each other.

  After a while, the aroma of meat wafted around, and Thomas, Wayne, Nancy, and Andrew all came back. Everyone took a plate and started serving themselves freely.

  Ate a piece of beef, one bite to go down, hmm, tender beef, juicy and flavorful, with a hint of subtle pine fragrance, extremely delicious.

  Tyler next to him was also holding a plate and took a bite of the lamb chop: "The lamb chops are really well done."

  "By the way, Tyler, I have a friend who has a travel company at home. This time when I go back, I want to set up a route for ranch tourism. What do you think?"

  Taylor replied, "Okay, but in the past Chinese tourists mostly went to cities like San Francisco and New York for tourism. In recent years, I've heard that some Chinese tourists have gone to ranches in California, but not Montana. Which family has had Chinese guests? Maybe it's those big hotel-style ranches."

  Jū ān said: "Didn't you say your ranch was messed up?"

  "Yeah, I used to do it for a while, but now many ranches are doing it, the competition is too fierce. Only in July and August every year do we have some guests, and my ranch is also very small, each time can only accommodate five or six tourists, more would affect the operation of the ranch. In addition, Sandon's ranch can also accommodate seven or eight guests, our three ranches together can accommodate twenty guests, not many more than that." Taylor replied.

  "So how is the price calculated?" Ju An asked.

  Taylor replied, "Every day here is about $400 per person, including breakfast, lunch and dinner. There are also horse riding lessons, horseback riding through the woods, picnics, etc. The total cost for ten days is $4,000. Of course, shopping expenses are not included. Also, you know that horseback riding can be dangerous. If an accident occurs while horseback riding, the ranch is not responsible."

  "Alright then, I'll have my friend come over in two days and you can discuss it with them to see if there's any possibility of cooperation."

  "An, your ranch is so big, why don't you receive tourists?" asked Sandton.

  "Living in peace shook his head and said: 'I like quietness, I don't like noise. Receiving some friends is no problem, but if you let me receive tourists every day, I can't bear it.'"

  Anderson smiled and replied: "Knowing An for this period of time, only this sentence sounds like a rich man."

  The rest of them heard it and burst into a gentle laugh.

  "None of your ranches are worth less than a million dollars. You're all rich men." The crowd erupted into another wave of soft laughter.

  The group then went on to discuss the current difficulties in ranching, with Anderson saying: "This year's hay prices have gone up again, but cattle and sheep meat only rose by a few cents, making it increasingly difficult to operate."

  Sandon nodded in agreement: "Yes, the hay is up a third from last year. That damned Wall Street is just a bloodsucker."

  It's strange how it got dragged into Wall Street: "What does selling beef have to do with Wall Street?"

  Taylor explained, "An, you've never done ranching before. Cattle are sold in the fall and winter, Wall Street makes some kind of indicator based on the market to set the price of beef, and when you sell it, you don't even get the money until a couple months later."

  These guys are everywhere in finance, no wonder they occupied Wall Street earlier!

  Taylor continued, "Actually, I've been discussing with Sandton and Anderson whether we should directly supply lamb to restaurants, cutting out the middlemen and increasing our profits. You know that our sheep are all free-range, much better than those fattened ones."

  Jū ān nodded in agreement with Tyler's words. The beef and mutton Jū ān eats now are basically produced by the nearby pastures, generally free-range, and the meat quality is not comparable to that of farmed animals.

  Just take a bite and you can tell, so this time at the class reunion, Rou Jia just took one bite and really had no interest in eating anymore. The roasted lamb leg hadn't even been eaten yet, but just smelling that smell made Rou Jia lose his appetite.

  After chatting for a while, they had two lamb skewers and drank two bottles of beer, and their stomachs were full. Looking around, everyone else was almost done eating too.

  At this time, Ju An noticed that the four little guys sitting around a small round table, each with a napkin tied to their chest, were eating happily.

  Tongtong was holding a fork in his hand, with a small piece of beef on it, shoving it into his mouth. His face was covered in oil as he ate. Rongrong and the other two little ones weren't much better off. Jerry and Emily were gnawing on corn on the cob, with kernels stuck to their faces. On their plates were half-eaten lamb chops. At this moment, Rongrong finally looked like a child again, tilting his head as he tackled a large lamb chop. He must have bitten into a tendon, because he was shaking his head back and forth, his two small hands pulling downwards with all his might.

  Watching several little guys eating with great appetite, I also got a piece of beef for myself. While eating, I listened to the old guys talking about ranch stuff.

  As the sky gradually darkened, Tyler and his family bid farewell and headed home. As they were leaving, Tongtong invited Jerry and Emily to come play again tomorrow, Ju An translated the message for Jerry and Emily, and Jerry patted his chest to guarantee that he would bring his sister to play again tomorrow.