Chapter 108: Honest Man

  After a quiet afternoon, he was treated twice by the female nurse and took a short rest before being subjected to violent treatment by the female pirate and female police officer in turns. As a result, when he and Jasmine were cooking dinner together that evening, his calf muscles were still sore. After finishing dinner, watching Jasmine's red Ford drive away from view, he touched his slightly trembling leg muscles, and An's heart shouted: "Damn it! No wonder young people nowadays like to celebrate Halloween, this is the official uniform temptation once a year, too exciting! However, the aftereffect is not small either. It has been an hour since An walked with a float. He couldn't help but think of an advertisement slogan: Good liquor should not be drunk excessively. Thinking about it, An himself also felt very embarrassed and couldn't help but squat under the corridor to laugh out loud, making Teddy Wu look confused behind him.

  Two days later, after sending Jasmine off at the airport, he returned to the ranch and waited anxiously for the broker to bring over the cattle. When there was nothing to do, he practiced his boxing skills. Now, Ju'an could already go through the five moves of boxing from start to finish, and the number of times he could instantly enter and exit space had increased to eight or nine. He felt that this boxing technique was indeed good, and after practicing it, his spirit was better than before, and his movements were more agile. Now, Ju'an would come into space every morning to practice a few rounds, and after finishing a day's practice, he would feel refreshed and extremely comfortable.

  Early in the morning, Ju An got up from bed, packed everything up, ate two slices of toast with ham, and went out. At this time, there were already seven or eight cowboys standing in the yard, who greeted Ju An as he came out. After exchanging greetings with everyone, Ju An saw Thomas and Lawrence talking about something and walked over to them.

  "They informed us when they can deliver the first batch of cattle today?" Ju An asked.

  Thomas replied, "In about an hour the herd will arrive at the ranch. This time we've decided to open a small gap in the eastern fence, and when the time comes, the herd will head directly east, which will save us some distance." After glancing around, seeing that all the cowboys had almost all come out, he said to everyone: "Everyone get ready, prepare to go pick up the first batch of cattle. Be careful to check if any of the cattle are injured or sick. Keep your eyes peeled! Alright, let's set off!"

  A group of people went to the stable, led out their horses, washed and brushed them, then saddled up. Ju An also led out Dou Cao, brushed its coat, cleaned its hooves, put his own saddle on Dou Cao's back, tightened the girth, wore a cowboy hat, and mounted the horse.

  As they mounted their horses, almost all the cowboys had already done so and were waiting for everyone to get on. Once everyone was on, Ju An followed Thomas and Lawrence, pulling the reins and gently clucking his horse's belly, and the three horses set off towards the east. Behind them, the cowboys' soft whoops of excitement could be heard. At first, when they started trotting, it didn't feel like much, but as they galloped out of the house, the thundering hooves of over a dozen horses pounded the ground, and Ju An looked back to see ten or so cowboys sitting straight up on their horses, closely following the lead three. It reminded him of a scene from a Western movie where a dozen cowboys robbed an armored car, and he felt a little excited.

  The bean grass seems to be very happy to run with so many of the same kind, always keeping a distance of one head from the two horses beside it. The light and steady pace, the long mane fluttering in the wind, occasionally making two loud snorts, telling Ju'an about its own joy. Listening to the sound of the wind and the urgent hoofbeats by his ear, Ju'an feels like he is a general leading cavalry to the battlefield. With over ten horses, there is such momentum, I really don't know how magnificent the sound would be when tens of thousands of horses gallop together in ancient times.

  It took more than a dozen horses twenty minutes to reach the edge of the pasture, where a 7-8 meter long gap had been opened in the originally intact fence. After arriving at the destination, Thomas asked everyone to take a break and wait for the cattle truck. The cowboys dismounted their horses after hearing the order and chatted in groups of three or five, while some of them lit cigarettes from their pockets.

  Ju An looked at the three little brothers gathering together smoking and chatting, and walked over to ask: "How is it, are you used to it?"

  "This time, Du Er Zhuang smiled and said: 'Everyone is very satisfied with us, the atmosphere of the ranch is much better than last time, and the accommodation is also good. There are microwave ovens and other facilities, making it convenient for us to cook our own meals.'"

  Li Dajun took off his blue denim hat with a cigarette in his hand, scratched his hair and said to Ju'an: "An, I've been thinking about Chinese food lately, just wanted to ask you when we can go to the town to buy some back and cook."

  "Hey, I have tofu and stuff in my fridge, why didn't you go get it yourself?"

  Du Hu blinked his eyes and looked at Ju An, saying: "In California's ranches, everyone buys their own vegetables. Each week, the ranch only provides a fixed amount of meat, and the rest is bought by themselves. These two days we've been eating only steak and corn on the cob, without even having any green onions. We didn't think we could take things from your fridge to cook and eat."

  Good grief, this is really my own fault. I knew that many ranches in Montana offer free meat supplies, you can take as much as you want to eat, and what most ranches are not short of is meat: "If you want to eat, just go to my place to get it, and the vegetables in the greenhouse can also be eaten. Our ranch is not so particular, not only you but also other people are the same."

  Jū ān thought for a moment, then turned his head to ask the cowboys next to him. Good guy, others all knew that the vegetables in the greenhouse could be eaten, but these three little guys had to be taught. He turned his head and said to the three little brothers: "Everyone knows to go to the greenhouse to find something to eat, why don't you know?"

  Du Hu looked at Er Zhuang and said, "Er Zhuang brother said that if An Ge didn't say it's okay to eat, then don't go get it. Others are others, we are us." Ju An looked at the three of them and said, "This is my fault, I didn't tell you guys, but from now on, anything in my fridge, you can take out and cook to eat, and all the seasonings in the kitchen too." After finishing speaking, he patted Da Zhuang's sturdy arm and turned around to walk towards Thomas. He thought for a moment and turned back to say, "Come over tonight, I've finished making pickled duck eggs. You can take some to eat, and then come get more when you're done. Old Mei doesn't like eating these things, since you guys are here, we'll make more in a couple of days."

  Three people laughed happily and said, "Hey!"

  Standing beside Thomas, after chatting for a few minutes, I saw in the distance, along the winding road, a red large truck appeared, followed by a second one emerging from view. Upon closer inspection, they were all like Optimus Prime's type of large tractor-trailer trucks, with bright headlights, shiny exhaust pipes, and long trailers behind them, heading towards the direction of the pasture.

  "Alright, partners! Let's get to work!" Thomas yelled out to the surrounding area. The cowboys who were smoking nearby extinguished their cigarettes, stomped them out on the ground, and then picked up the butts and put them in their pockets or special pouches they carried for that purpose. Every ranch had a rule against littering cigarette butts because the filters didn't break down easily and could pollute the land. All the cowboys knew to dispose of their cigarettes properly by putting them in their pockets, and if you looked closely at the toiletries in a cowboy's room, they were all biodegradable. As Thomas would say, taking care of the ranch should be second nature to every cowboy. If a rancher saw one of his hands littering on the range, he'd yell at him without hesitation.

  As the large trucks got closer and closer, Ju An looked at the two layers of cows on top of each other, packed tightly, with many heads sticking out from the gaps in the railing, mooing loudly towards the outside. What a sight! More than 30 super-large trucks, with over a dozen wheels underneath, formed a neat queue and made a dazzling appearance.

  The cowboys cleared the way, Thomas and Lawrence directed the large trucks into the pasture, then turned around, with their butts facing the pasture. When dozens of trucks were lined up in the pasture, Ju An felt that it was too visually impactful, today's loss, next time must bring a camera to take this scene, post it on Moments, also good for show-off.

  Once all the driving was stopped, Thomas and Lawrence led two cowboys to cooperate with the driver to drive the cattle down. First, the lower-level cattle were driven out through a ramp, while Lawrence held a form in his hand, checking the number of cattle. The cowboys on the ranch had already mounted their horses and immediately came over with several cowboys, driving the cattle into a large simple cattle pen on the side.

  Annie rode into the midst of the cowboys, helping to drive the herd, and whenever she saw some half-grown calf trying to escape, she would urge on her pony and chase the mischievous little creature back to the herd.

  After more than 30 cows were driven down, it was already late in the morning. The number of cattle had been counted and cleared up. Ju An, Thomas, and Lawrence looked at the more than 30 forms in their hands, which showed various inspection results, clearly marked with the age of each cow, whether there were parasites, etc. After the three people took a look, they found no problems, so Ju An signed his name on the form. The driver took the form and shook hands with Ju An and the other two, said goodbye, and got on the truck. As the trucks drove out of the pasture one after another, Ju An and the others saw the messy grass that had been trampled by these big guys. Ju An said, "The bigger they are, the more destructive they are."

  Next, Juan and the cowboys drove the unloaded cattle back to the pasture. The first 10,000 were arranged at Juan's place of residence, and from then on, a batch of cattle would come over every morning. Tomorrow night, Thomas was going to pick up Chilean cowboys.