100 Mastery

“What!”

Standing beside Wu Qingchen, Idra’s surprise far exceeded the joy of the two cattle herder assistants.

“This is the pastor’s instruction...” Wu Qingchen, prepared mentally, immediately leaned close to his elder brother’s ear. “Don’t worry, there won’t be any more cattle herders in the village, nor will there be a second family capable of treating cattle...”

The pastor’s instruction alone dispelled most of Idra’s resistance, and Wu Qingchen’s following words put his mind completely at ease.

—Of course, it also made Idra understand why, in the past few days, Dean and Elmo would find any opportunity to casually join him, often chatting about homesickness.

“Also, if you’re worried about having no one to work...” Wu Qingchen continued quietly beside his ear, “the pastor also said more helpers will be sent soon.”

Naturally, Wu Qingchen didn’t reveal the pastor’s true intention: to have him rapidly mass-produce cattle veterinarians, meaning these veterinary apprentices wouldn’t be expected to contribute labor to their own families like ordinary apprentices.

However, Wu Qingchen didn’t consider this deception toward Idra. After all, according to the staff council’s plan, it wouldn’t be long before Wu Qingchen, and the families of the Middle World, no longer needed to worry about labor—or rather, they wouldn’t have the leisure to tend to their own plots anymore.

“Hmm...” After hearing Wu Qingchen’s rehearsed explanation, Idra completely relaxed, nodding slowly. He swallowed back a series of questions he had never found the chance to voice.

While the Wu brothers whispered, Dean and Elmo stood still, sensing the moment, waiting patiently until Wu Qingchen beckoned them over.

By then, Idra had already composed himself, no longer wearing the stunned expression.

The entrance to the injured draft oxen’s pen was a small passage temporarily blocked off with large bundles of hay and wood piles.

Originally, the lord’s livestock barn had no special area designated for injured draft oxen.

This small passage was a quarantine layer hastily set up by Wu Qingchen and the serfs, following the instructions he received from the agricultural officer and based on Earth veterinarians’ plans.

For this unprecedented facility and measure, the veterinarians had prepared many explanations for Wu Qingchen, but neither the serfs, freemen, nor managers ever inquired. Everyone immediately took this quarantine layer as a secrecy measure for the cattle treatment craft.

Following behind the Wu brothers into this mysterious zone, Dean and Elmo were overwhelmed, unsure where to focus their gaze.

Inside, the scene far exceeded their imagination.

On the first day they arrived at Eckley Village, watching Grace tirelessly clean the livestock barn, the two assistants had already felt this was probably the cleanest livestock barn in the world.

Now, they had a new answer: clearly, it was not.

Despite multiple cleanings, the outer livestock barn still bore the usual impression of an animal shelter.

But stepping into the injured cattle zone, Dean and Elmo’s eyes lit up instantly—not merely a psychological reaction, but a tangible visual effect. The light entering their pupils here was several times brighter than outside.

The walls, made of logs and straw, had numerous “window holes” allowing the morning sunlight to flood in, illuminating the entire room.

Every surface—logs, straw, supports, ceiling—was meticulously cleaned. Not a trace of soot, cobwebs, or rot, common in livestock barns or even ordinary villagers’ homes, could be found, even in hidden corners.

Fresh air flowed through the openings; flies, insects, and fleas were absent. The familiar musty decay scent known to the two assistants was completely gone.

Each injured draft ox was washed immaculately, confined in individual pens with thick straw bedding—changed so frequently that no signs of excrement remained.

A place like this—could it really be an animal shelter?

That was Dean and Elmo’s first impression of the injured oxen area.

Perhaps the nearly two-decade-old image of a “livestock barn” in their minds had been profoundly challenged. While the Wu brothers stepped inside, Dean and Elmo remained at the entrance, still reeling.

Wu Qingchen headed left into the injured cattle area, and the assistants were astonished to find a hearth there, with a pot hanging above it.

What was it for?

Having lived in the livestock barn for several days, Dean and Elmo knew the cooking area was set elsewhere.

With doubtful eyes, they watched as Wu Qingchen bypassed the hearth and approached the wall.

On the wall, two adjacent “window holes” each held a branch, freshly broken off with large leaves, together supporting a polished wooden rod.

Wu Qingchen took several unevenly sized cloth scraps from the rod, examined them, then selected a fairly square piece. He soaked it in the pot above the hearth.

After a short while, he took the cloth out again, scooped a small amount of dark green plant juice with a wooden spoon, and made a tiny herbal pouch.

Having finished, Wu Qingchen grasped the cloth and herbal pouch and moved toward the injured oxen.

At that moment, Idra, who was walking ahead, had already opened the wooden door of the first pen. Turning back, he saw Dean and Elmo still dumbfounded at the entrance and called out loudly, “Come on, what are you standing there for?”

“Yes... yes...” The assistants snapped out of their trance and hurried over.

At the barn door, Wu Qingchen first handed the herbal pouch and cloth to Idra, then signaled the others to stop.

Entering the pen, Wu Qingchen slowly approached the draft ox from the side, gently patting its back. With his other hand, he stroked the ox’s neck. After a moment, the ox—initially uneasy due to the presence of several strangers—gradually calmed.

Only then did Wu Qingchen beckon the three others to enter the pen.

Watching Wu Qingchen soothe the ox, the two assistants were extremely surprised.

Quickly calming an ox was one of the closely guarded skills of cattle herder families.

Dean clearly remembered when he and his elder brother’s necks...