The return to the Chen household was a funeral procession without a coffin.
Chen Dazhong walked with his head down, his shoulders slumped under the invisible weight of the empty money pouch. Xu Tie limped behind, his jaw set in a hard line, his hand never straying far from the knife at his belt—a habit, not a threat. And at the rear, Chen Yuan led the goat.
The animal, a white nanny with a black spot on her ear, was not cooperating. She had sensed the shift in her surroundings, the distance from her old home, and she protested every step of the way with stubborn, planted hooves and loud, mournful bleats that echoed through the village lanes.
"Baah!"
"Quiet, you," Chen Yuan muttered, tugging on the rope. His palms were raw from the friction; the hemp was rough and the goat was stronger than she looked.
"Baah!" The goat threw her head back, eyes rolling, and refused to move another inch.
"They're staring," Chen Hu hissed, glancing around. "Old Man Li is watching from his window. And the baker's wife... she's smiling. She thinks we've lost our minds."
"Let them smile," Chen Yuan grunted, wrapping the rope around his hand for a better grip. "They won't be smiling when we're selling meat in the winter."
He braced his foot against a rock and pulled. The goat slid forward an inch, hooves scraping in the dust, then lunged suddenly, jerking Chen Yuan off balance.
"Whoa!"
"Need a hand?" Xu Tie asked, amused.
"I've got it," Chen Yuan panted. He didn't have it. Not really. But this was his project, his burden. He needed to prove he could handle the physical reality of it, not just the theory. He leaned in, getting his shoulder behind the goat's flank, and shoved. "Move, you stubborn creature. There's fresh grass where we're going. I promise."
Whether the goat understood the promise or just gave up the fight, she finally stepped forward, and the ragtag parade resumed its march toward the Chen family gate.
---
The explosion came the moment they entered the courtyard.
Wang Shi was waiting. She had finished the midday cleaning and was sitting on the steps, shelling beans into a clay bowl. Her face was calm, too calm—the kind of calm that preceded a summer storm.
When she saw the goat, her eyes widened. Then they narrowed into slits as she scanned the group, looking for the money pouch.
"Where is it?" she asked, her voice deceptively soft.
Chen Dazhong stopped in the middle of the yard. He looked at his eldest son, Chen Shan, who had arrived moments earlier. Chen Shan looked away, unable to meet his wife's eyes.
"Where is the money, Father?" Wang Shi stood up, the clay bowl clattering to the ground, beans scattering in the dust like green hail. "You took the Family Fund. Three hundred coins. Three hundred coins we saved for three years! Where is it?"
"It is invested," Chen Dazhong said, trying to sound authoritative. But the defeat in his voice undermined him.
"Invested?" Wang Shi's voice cracked, rising an octave. "In that?" She pointed a shaking finger at the goat. "A beast? A common goat? We could have bought rice for two months! We could have paid the doctor if Little Bao got sick! We could have—"
"Sister-in-law," Chen Yuan stepped forward, positioning himself between his father and Wang Shi. This was his doing. He would take the heat. "The money was used to lease the Wasteland and buy this nanny. She is pregnant. She is an asset."
"An asset?" Wang Shi laughed, a sharp, brittle sound. "It eats, Yuan! It drinks! It needs shelter! That is not an asset, that is another mouth to feed! We are barely feeding ourselves!"
"I will feed her," Chen Yuan said firmly. "I will find the forage. I will build the shelter. I will not take a single grain from the family store for her. I promise."
"Promises!" Zhao Shi, the second brother's wife, emerged from the kitchen, wiping her hands on her apron. Her face was pale with anxiety. "Your promises are made of air, Third Brother! We have nothing! The tax interest is due in three weeks! If we don't pay, the Liu family will take the south field!"
"We will pay," Chen Yuan said, though his stomach churned at the mention of the deadline. "The goat will produce milk. The milk can be sold. The kid, when born, can be sold. We will pay."
"When?" Wang Shi demanded, tears standing in her eyes now. "When the kid is born? That is months away! The interest is due now!"
She turned to her husband, Chen Shan. "Did you know about this? Did you let him spend our lives on a goat?"
Chen Shan looked at the ground, his face twisting with the pain of being caught between his wife and his brother. "I... I agreed. We need to try something different, Wife. The fields... they are not enough."
"Then we starve differently!" Wang Shi cried. She covered her face with her hands and turned away, shoulders shaking.
Silence fell over the courtyard. The goat, oblivious to the human drama, bleated again and tried to chew on the wooden post of the well.
Chen Yuan watched his sister-in-law cry. He felt a knot of guilt in his chest, tight and suffocating. He had done this. He had taken their security—meager as it was—and thrown it into a wild gamble. He believed in his plan, but belief didn't fill bowls.
"Wang Shi," Grandmother's voice cut through the tension like a dry twig snapping.
The old woman stood in the doorway of the main house, leaning on her cane. Her face was impassive, carved from the same weathered wood as her husband's.
"That is enough."
"Mother, they—"
"I know what they did," Grandmother said. She stepped into the courtyard, her movements slow but deliberate. "Your father-in-law told me. I gave my blessing."
Wang Shi froze, her tears stopping in shock. "You... you agreed?"
"I did." The old woman walked to the goat. She reached out a gnarled hand and patted the animal's flank. "This goat is ugly. The land is mud. The boy is dreaming. But..." She turned her sharp eyes to Wang Shi. "Dreaming is better than dying. We have been dying slowly for twenty years. If this dream fails, we die a little faster. If it succeeds..." She shrugged. "We live."
She looked around at the family, her gaze landing on Chen Yuan.
"But the boy made a promise. He will not take from the family store. He will build the shelter himself. He will find the grass himself. And if that goat eats my vegetables..." She narrowed her eyes at Chen Yuan. "I will make stew. Do you understand?"
Chen Yuan swallowed hard. "Yes, Grandmother."
"Good." The old woman turned and shuffled back toward the house. "Now, someone pick up those beans. Waste is a sin."
The storm had passed, but the air was still heavy. Wang Shi silently knelt to gather the scattered beans, her face hard and closed off. Zhao Shi hurried to help her, casting worried glances at Chen Yuan.
Chen Yuan let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. He turned to Xu Tie.
"We need to move her to the land. Now."
"Agreed," Xu Tie said. "Before the widow changes her mind, or your sister-in-law sharpens a knife."
---
The Wasteland was exactly as advertised: a mess.
Located in a bend of the Willow Creek, the plot was low-lying and prone to flooding. In the summer heat, the mud was cracked and hard; after the recent rain, it was a sucking mire. Tall, reedy grasses grew in tangled clumps, interspersed with thorny bushes and the skeletal remains of dead trees.
It was, to the untrained eye, a wasteland.
To Chen Yuan, seeing it through the lens of the System, it was a buffet.
**[Terrain Analysis Complete.]**
**[Dominant Vegetation:]**
**[1. Common Reed (Phragmites) - Low nutritional value.]**
**[2. Thistle (Cirsium) - Invasive. Harmful to livestock if eaten in large quantities.]**
**[3. Hidden Patch: Ryegrass (Lolium perenne) - High yield, high palatability. Located near the water's edge, shaded by willows.]**
**[4. Hidden Patch: White Clover (Trifolium repens) - High protein content. Scattered throughout the eastern sector.]**
"There's food here," Chen Yuan said, relief washing over him. He pointed to a cluster of greenery near the water. "See that? That's good grass. Sweet grass. And there," he pointed to the small, trefoil leaves growing in the shade. "Clover. Goats love it."
"It looks like weeds," Chen Hu said, scratching his head. "Are you sure the System... are you sure you know what you're doing?"
"I'm sure," Chen Yuan said. He dropped the goat's rope. "Let her go. Let's see if she eats."
The goat, freed from the restraint, stood still for a moment. She sniffed the air, her nostrils flaring. Then, with a sudden burst of energy, she trotted toward the clover patch.
She lowered her head and took a bite. Then another. She chewed vigorously, her tail flicking with contentment.
"She eats," Xu Tie observed. "Good. That solves the food problem for today. But what about tonight? Wolves? Wild dogs?"
"The village has dogs, but they usually don't bother large animals unless they're rabid. But stray dogs... or thieves..." Chen Yuan looked around. The plot was isolated, out of sight of the main village. "We need a fence. And a shelter."
"We have no wood," Chen Hu pointed out. "We have no stone. We have... mud."
"Mud is good," Chen Yuan said. "And we have the thorns. And the dead trees."
He turned to his brothers and Xu Tie. It was time to work.
"Here's the plan. We're not building a palace. We're building a survival pen. First, we clear a perimeter. We cut the thorns and pile them up to make a barrier—a dead hedge. It won't stop a determined man, but it will stop a dog or a wolf, and it will keep her in."
"And the shelter?" Chen Hu asked.
"We dig," Chen Yuan said grimly. "A dugout. The soil here is soft. We dig into the side of the bank, use the dead wood for a roof, and pile the mud on top. It will be cool in the summer, warm in the winter, and cheap."
"Digging in the mud," Chen Hu sighed, rolling up his sleeves. "My favorite."
---
The afternoon was a blur of sweat and blisters.
Chen Yuan took the lead, hacking at the thorny bushes with a sickle. The thorns were vicious, tearing at his skin and clothes, but he pushed through. They needed the barrier up before nightfall.
**[System Recommendation: Rotational Grazing requires division of land. Current resources allow for a single, centralized paddock.]**
*One step at a time,* Chen Yuan thought. *We just need one paddock today.*
Xu Tie, despite his injury, proved his worth. He couldn't dig or cut, but he organized. He stood on a rise, directing the brothers to the best spots to clear, using his soldier's eye for terrain to choose the most defensible corner of the plot.
"Bring that log here," he commanded, pointing. "Angle it against the bank. It will act as a brace for the roof."
Chen Shan and Chen Hu dragged a fallen tree trunk, their muscles straining. They were farmers, used to labor, but this was different. This was construction, heavy and raw.
By the time the sun began to dip below the hills, painting the sky in bruises of purple and orange, they had a perimeter.
It was a rough, ugly thing—a waist-high wall of intertwined thorn branches, mud, and rocks. It circled a small area, perhaps twenty paces wide, near the base of the slope. In the corner, they had dug a shallow hollow into the bank and leaned branches over it to create a lean-to shelter.
It looked less like a ranch and more like a hobo camp.
But it was theirs.
"The fence is weak on the north side," Xu Tie critiqued, walking the perimeter with a limp. "The thorns are too loose. If a dog charges, it will push through."
"I'll reinforce it," Chen Yuan said, wiping mud from his forehead. He was exhausted. His back ached, his hands were stained with sap and blood, and he smelled like wet goat.
"No," Xu Tie said. "You go get supplies for the night. A blanket. Water. You're staying here?"
"I have to," Chen Yuan said. "I can't leave her alone on the first night. If she panics and breaks out, she'll be gone by morning."
"I'll stay," Xu Tie said.
"You're injured."
"I can sit," the soldier grunted. "And I can hold a knife. Better than you can. You need sleep to work the fields tomorrow. I'll watch the goat."
Chen Yuan hesitated. Trusting his new "cousin" with his entire investment was a risk. But Xu Tie was right. The soldier was alert, experienced, and had nothing else to do.
"Alright. But I'll bring you food. And a thicker coat. It gets cold by the river."
"Do that."
As the brothers gathered their tools to head back to the village for dinner, Chen Yuan lingered. He looked at the goat, who was now lying down in the center of the pen, chewing her cud peacefully.
*Nanny 01.* The start of the herd.
He walked to the edge of the pen, looking out over the rest of the Wasteland. The scrubland stretched out before him, weedy and wild.
"I'll turn you all into grass," he whispered to the land. "Just give me time."
---
Dinner that night was a solemn affair.
The congee was thinner than ever—Mother had stretched the rice with extra water to make up for the missing funds. There was no fish, no eggs. Just salted radish and hot water.
Chen Yuan ate quickly, his eyes on the door. He had packed a bundle: two cold millet cakes, a few strips of dried radish, and a worn wool blanket from his own bed.
"You're going back?" Father asked, his voice low.
"Xu Tie is watching, but he needs food," Chen Yuan said. "And I want to check the fence one last time."
"The women are angry," Father murmured, glancing at the kitchen. "Give them time. They will come around."
"I know." Chen Yuan stood up. "I'll be back before dawn to help with the fields."
He slipped out of the house before anyone could stop him. The night air was cool, a relief after the humid day. He walked quickly, the bundle under his arm, his mind racing with calculations.
*The fence is done. The shelter is done. Now, I need to think about long-term feed. The natural grass won't last if the herd grows. I need to cultivate.*
He reached the Wasteland. A small fire was flickering inside the lean-to, casting dancing shadows against the mud walls. Xu Tie sat on a rock, his back against the wall, his sword laid across his knees.
"You came back," the soldier noted.
"I brought dinner." Chen Yuan handed over the bundle. "It's not much."
Xu Tie took it without thanks, unwrapping the millet cakes and biting into one with a crunch. He chewed slowly, staring at the goat who was sleeping soundly.
"Your family thinks you are foolish," Xu Tie said, his mouth full.
"They think I am reckless," Chen Yuan corrected, sitting on a log near the fire. "There is a difference."
"Is there?"
"Foolish is hoping for a miracle. Reckless is betting everything on a plan." Chen Yuan stared into the flames. "I have a plan. It's just... expensive."
"Most plans are." Xu Tie finished the cake and licked his fingers. "I was watching the land today. The soil here... it's strange. It's wet, but not swampy. It holds the water."
"The creek overflows in the spring," Chen Yuan explained. "It deposits silt. The soil is actually very rich, just acidic. Most crops hate it. But the grasses... the grasses love it."
"Grass," Xu Tie mused. "I spent fifteen years fighting over land. Men died for inches of dry dirt. And here you are, rejoicing over mud that grows weeds."
"These aren't weeds," Chen Yuan said. He pulled a small pouch from his belt. It was something he had gathered earlier in secret. He opened it, revealing a handful of tiny, dark seeds.
**[Item: Ryegrass Seeds (Wild Variety). Quality: Low. Germination Rate: 60%. System Optimization Available: Yes.]**
"Seeds?" Xu Tie asked.
"I found a patch of ryegrass near the willow. It had gone to seed. I gathered what I could." Chen Yuan rolled the seeds between his fingers. "Tomorrow, I'll plant them in a test plot. With the System's help... I can improve them. Make them grow faster, thicker. By next spring, this whole area will be a pasture."
Xu Tie looked at the seeds, then at the goat, then at the young man across the fire. The firelight danced in his dark eyes.
"You really believe this will work."
"I have to," Chen Yuan said. "If it doesn't, I don't just lose face. I lose my family. I lose their trust."
Xu Tie nodded slowly. He threw another branch onto the fire. The wood cracked and hissed.
"Then we make it work," the soldier said. "I can't farm. I can't cook. But I can guard. I can build. And I can kill anything that tries to eat your investment. You sleep tonight, Cousin. I have the watch."
Chen Yuan felt a wave of gratitude. He hadn't realized how heavy the burden of constant vigilance was until someone else offered to lift it.
"Thank you, Xu Tie."
"Don't thank me. Just make sure you bring more millet cakes tomorrow. These are stale."
Chen Yuan laughed—a short, tired sound—and lay back on the hard ground, using his arm as a pillow. The sounds of the night—crickets, the rushing creek, the goat's steady breathing—surrounded him.
It was uncomfortable. It was dirty. It was uncertain.
But as he drifted off to sleep, Chen Yuan smiled.
*The first fence is up. The first goat is secure. The first seeds are in hand.*
*Tomorrow, we grow.*