My Manor

"Wow, there are so many things here," Jiang Hai said with some surprise, looking at the animals stored in the tents around him.

"Of course, young man, but this is only a livestock exhibition in Massachusetts. If it were in the East, it could be nationwide, and then it would be even bigger." Hearing his words, the man who was brushing the horse's mane at a booth next to him also laughed and said.

"Hehe!" Hearing the other party's words, Jiang Hai nodded kindly and continued to walk around.

"Is this your first time attending such a livestock exhibition?" Seeing Jiang Hai's curious eyes, Cindy Clive, who had come in with him, followed him and asked with a smile on her lips.

"Well, yes!" Jiang Hai answered directly, not thinking too much about it. His eyes showed a bit of wonder. Although this livestock exhibition was only in Massachusetts, its scale was a little beyond his expectations.

He had only heard of livestock exhibitions before, but this was the first time he had seen one in person. He had originally thought that a livestock exhibition covering a state would probably have a dozen booths or at least twenty, since Massachusetts itself is a small state.

On the map of the United States, it's hard to even see the small state clearly, but when he got here, he realized that he was a bit too naive.

The entire venue covers an area of about four square kilometers, which is two kilometers wide and two kilometers long.

It's divided into four areas shaped like the Chinese character "田"—namely, the cattle exhibition hall, the horse exhibition hall, the sheep exhibition hall, and the supporting exhibition hall.

Jiang Hai is now entering the horse exhibition hall. As soon as he walked in, he noticed that there were at least thirty or forty separate exhibition halls here. Of course, this wasn't a game or grain price exhibition. Those are indoors and often feature models, but this exhibition was outdoors. The so-called separate exhibition halls were actually just separate stables where many horses were kept, allowing others to choose. Of course, some horses weren't for sale, such as the horse of the man who had just spoken to Jiang Hai. This man's horse was a very good one, a pure white thoroughbred. In the UK, this horse would serve as a royal guard. The pedigree certificates hanging next to it were all quite complete. It had even participated in dressage competitions. There was a TV next to the stable that played footage of the horse's competition performances.

If such a horse were sold in its prime, it would not be uncommon for it to fetch millions of US dollars.

But clearly, the man wasn't interested in "killing the goose to get the eggs." What he was selling were the offspring of this horse. He had found another purebred horse and the offspring were all one-year-old ponies. If they looked good, they could be sold for hundreds of thousands or even more, while those with less impressive appearances could still fetch tens of thousands, which was much more expensive than ordinary horses.

Jiang Hai didn't know much about horses. He was just here for fun. After all, his own big Charles was still being free-ranged. There was no time to tame it after buying the horse. In his opinion, riding a horse isn't easy and requires separate learning. At first, Robbins and others were very busy, and he didn't have the time to learn.

But now, as he looked at these horses, he felt the urge to go back and ride them. Of course, even if he did, he couldn't ride right now.

Jiang Hai plans to learn to ride when spring comes. He believes that after all the time he's spent feeding the horse, plus his bloodline, if he wants to ride, the horse should have no problem.

While thinking this, Jiang Hai and Cindy Clive walked out of the stable.

Although Jiang Hai was very curious about the livestock exhibition, he was mainly interested in cattle. Compared to people with a cowboy complex, horses are naturally great, but for Jiang Hai, horses were just a means of transportation.

He's not a professional cowboy, so he wasn't too interested in horses. The main issue was that the horses here were really expensive.

Walking with Cindy, they passed the stable and entered the largest and most crowded market next to it: the cattle exhibition hall. As soon as he stepped inside, the strong smell of cattle rushed into Jiang Hai's nose.

Even Cindy couldn't help but cover her nose with her hand, let alone Jiang Hai.

"Cough, cough, so choking," Jiang Hai said, turning his head, frowning and speaking cautiously.

Although the smell here wasn't as strong as in his own cattle shed, it was still strong.

"Hehe, you're the owner of the manor, and you can't stand the smell of cattle!" Seeing Jiang Hai's reaction, Cindy smiled and took out a handkerchief from her small bag and handed it to him.

Jiang Hai immediately took the handkerchief and placed it on his nose, breathing a sigh of relief. The handkerchief smelled nice. He knew it was an artificial fragrance, which wasn't good for the body, but it was better than the smell of cow farts.

"Huh, I almost never go into our cowshed. Even if I do, I have to wear a mask." After taking a deep breath, he finally recovered and, with a smile, shrugged and said to Cindy, "I need to get used to it."

"You'll have to adapt sooner or later. Although Uncle Robbins and the others are good people, it's your own business, after all. You need to keep that in mind." Hearing Jiang Hai's words, Cindy chuckled.

"That's natural... By the way, did you know? Some people say that the main reason for global warming is that cows fart too much. Apparently, the farts of just a few cows per year are equivalent to the exhaust gases of a car," Jiang Hai said, smiling a little embarrassedly. Being teased by a beautiful woman made him feel awkward, so he quickly changed the subject. However, this change of topic was rather abrupt.

"Uh, hehe..." Cindy didn't know how to respond to Jiang Hai's words.

Should she talk about cows farting? That would be silly, but fortunately, Cindy understood Jiang Hai's personality and didn't mind.

Jiang Hai wasn't known for his emotional intelligence, and although the True Dragon Spirit enhances his physique and memory, it seemed it didn't do much for his emotional smarts.

Seeing that Cindy wasn't interested in discussing the issue of cows farting, Jiang Hai shrugged. He didn't think there was anything wrong with his comment. Unfortunately, he couldn't show off his knowledge. Then, covering his nose, he walked into the cattle exhibition hall.

As soon as he entered, the smell was indeed very strong, but after walking a little further in, it was much more bearable.

The cattle exhibition hall was much livelier than the horse exhibition hall. There were even hundreds of booths, though most were from private family farms. Each booth displayed a few cows, but the variety was impressive.

In addition to the Angus cattle Jiang Hai was familiar with, there were many other types of beef cattle—Piedmont, Limousin, Simmental, Charolais, Hereford, etc. Along with beef cattle, there were also dairy cows and draft cattle for sale. Although cattle had long been used to plow the land in the United States, some people still enjoyed collecting a few draft cattle. So, the cattle here were quite varied.

While looking at the cows, Jiang Hai continued to follow Cindy, occasionally chatting with her. Suddenly, a single cow caught his eye. Yes, just one cow—there was only this cow in this large exhibition hall. Though this hall was spacious enough to hold more than a dozen cows, this single cow made the place look much smaller.

Jiang Hai slowly walked over to the cow. It was huge, taller than him, with a body length of nearly three meters.

It had thick hair and small horns on its head. Although the horns weren't large compared to its size, they were unusually sharp. Its eyes were full of alertness, staring at everyone around.

"Is this a bison?" Seeing this huge animal, Jiang Hai was stunned and asked Cindy Clive with some doubt. He had seen something like this in a zoo, and with such a look, it couldn't possibly be a regular domestic cow. It had to be a bison!

"It seems so..." Cindy Clive wasn't a cattle expert, but she had been to the zoo with schoolchildren and had to explain what animals were. Looking at the cow, she said uncertainly.

"You have good taste. This is indeed an American bison, but it's not wild. The wild ones are all in Yellowstone Park. This one is a test product raised privately by our school. We're here at the exhibition to raise funds for domesticating this kind of cattle," a young man said, walking up to them. Compared to the other people in suits or cowboy attire, this man looked more ordinary, wearing just a down jacket with a school badge on his chest. Jiang Hai didn't know the badge, but Cindy Clive did. Hearing the man's words, she nodded enthusiastically.

"Are you students from Boston University?" she asked in surprise.

"Yes, we're majoring in ecological evolution, and our research topic is the large-scale domestication of wild animals," the student said, smiling at the honor of answering Cindy's question. (