Farm Girl's Manor

The premature "family planning" of the oxen caused Mo Yan great distress, although she had no choice but to agree. Great Chu did have protections for oxen, but they were not strict. For instance, if an ox fell sick and was not treated, or if it worked to death, the owner would not suffer any punishment.

This led to many people exploiting loopholes, treating oxen like cash cows, renting them out to others during peak farming seasons. As a result, the oxen had endless work every day, and sometimes they couldn’t even eat their fill, so they typically had short lives and endured a very tragic existence.

Da Huang, Er Huang, and San Huang had thought of birth control methods, and that was something they had considered.

As for Little Black and Da HongZao, although they were male and female, Da HongZao was older and, despite being healthy and strong, no longer wanted to give birth to calves. Living with Little Black, their relationship resembled more that of mother and son. Little Black, even in heat, would not produce offspring, so the number of horses in the Mo Family did not increase.

The horses kept at the Scholar Mansion for pulling carriages were also male and were rarely at the Mo Family’s residence. With Uncle Sun taking care of them, there was no need for concern.

Both the oxen and horses possessed Spiritual Wisdom, so letting them graze outside on their own, they knew to return. However, it was still better to have someone watch over them, to prevent ill-intentioned people from targeting them. In the neighboring village, there had been an incident where an ox grazing alone was killed and gutted before being dragged away and sold.

The Zhang Family ancestors and grandsons also knelt on the ground and kowtowed to Mo Yan, resolved to take good care of the oxen and horses. As long as they were useful, they wouldn’t be sold again or even driven out to wander.

For the remaining three people, Mo Yan made separate arrangements. The oldest, who couldn’t do heavy labor, became the gatekeeper, the one with some knowledge of plants took care of the flowers and grass in the yard, and the last one, called Mu Bo, was an unexpected joy.

Mu Bo had once been a Medicinal Farmer, skilled in managing medicinal herbs. However, one year, just before the harvest of his medicinal garden, someone plotted against him, and his garden was destroyed overnight.

Having signed a contract with a medicinal hall, Mu Bo, lacking the herbs, was sued and had to sell everything he owned to barely make the hefty compensation. But misfortunes never come singly. While he was bedridden from the shock, his wife couldn’t cope with the drastic fall from grace and left him and their only son.