Chapter 18 The Old Cowboy and the Expansion,
The next morning...
Chen Ze bought some daily necessities, then went to the used car market to buy a 70% new jeep, and followed the navigation to the ranch.
After driving along the highway for an hour and a half, Chen Ze finally saw a sign with the "Barnard Ranch" on the side of the road.
This Barnard is the surname of the old British couple before. He turned to drive a kilometer forward on the grass. Chen Ze saw several small houses in the pasture and a cowshed not far away.
After parking next to the house, Chen Ze took a look and found that the two houses covering an area of more than 100 square meters were built in a row, with a distinct British style. There was a circle of white wooden fences around three or four hundred square meters. However, when Chen Ze came in just now, the import and exit of the wooden fences were open.
"Hello……"
While Chen Ze was looking around, a slightly older man's voice came.
Chen Ze, who had already sensed it, slowly turned his head and looked at him and saw an old white man who was about fifty years old with a gray beard, wearing a cowboy hat and a pipe in his mouth.
"Hello, you're the new rancher?"
The old white man walked up to him, took off his pipe, and stretched out a hand at Chen Ze with a smile.
"Yes."
Chen Ze nodded, reached out and shook his hand lightly, and asked, "You should be the Marcury Bed that Barnard and his wife mentioned?"
The old white man, Marcusi, responded: "Yes, my name is Marcusi, and I am the last cowboy to stay on this ranch."
When they signed the contract with Barnard and his wife yesterday, they specifically told Chen Ze about the old man named Marcurry Bed.
Marcusi is fifty-eight years old this year. She has been working as a cowboy on this ranch not long after the Barnards and his wife came and has been around until now.
His life can be said to be very unfortunate. He married a wife when he was young, but his wife died of illness after giving birth to a son. He raised his son alone and did not remarry. However, his adult son chose to join the army and eventually died in an external operation.
To put it simply, Marcusi is a model for losing his wife in middle age and losing his son in old age.
Today, Marcusi is no longer as strong as she was when she was young. Although she is still an experienced old cowboy, she can no longer do any other jobs.
So, the Barnards and his wife said yesterday that if possible, I hope Chen Ze can keep Marcusi.
Thinking of this, Chen Ze couldn't help but look at him again. Although he was fifty-eight years old, Marcusi's body looked very strong, and her warm smile seemed very friendly.
But at this time he noticed that Chen Ze was looking at him, and he was a little nervous and unnatural.
"take it easy……"
Chen Ze smiled and patted his shoulder, saying, "I promised the Barnards yesterday that I won't rush you to leave, and I will keep you in the ranch."
"For the first time I met, my name is Chen Ze. I am a Chinese. From now on, I will rely on your help in this ranch."
"Okay... OK." Marcusi was a little stunned. He didn't expect the new rancher to be so easy to talk to.
"Okay, let's go into the house and talk."
Chen Ze waved to him, took out the keys that Barnards and his wife gave him yesterday from their bag, walked to the house on the right and opened the door.
As soon as he entered the room, Chen Ze quickly looked around, including sofas, fireplaces, refrigerators, TVs, etc., which was no different from the arrangements of normal Western homes, except that the furniture was a little dated.
But when Barnards and his wife returned to England a month ago, there was no dust in the house.
"BOSS, I've been staying in the ranch these days, and the cattle have been sold out. I have nothing to do and clean the house every few days." Seeing the confusion on Chen Ze's face, Marcusi walked over and explained.
"Oh, no wonder."
Chen Ze smiled, sat on the sofa, and said, "Sit down, let's talk about your salary."
Marcusi took off her cowboy hat and put it on the clothes hanger at the door, and sat down opposite Chen Ze.
"Tell me, how much salary Barnard and the others paid you before?"
Seeing Chen Ze so straightforward, Marcusi didn't react, and after a while he replied: "The weekly salary they gave me was 600."
"Six hundred dollars?"
Chen Ze smacked his lips and said, "Let's do this, Marcusi, I will add two hundred more to you every week from now on."
"Now, you are the only cowboy in the ranch, and I almost know nothing about the ranch. Most of the things here will depend on you to deal with in the future. You may be a little busier than before."
"It's okay, when the boss and Barnards were there, I was dealing with the ranch. "Macurry smiled.
"That's good……"
Chen Ze didn't say anything more. After asking Marcusi to do his business, he got up and went out to unload some of the things he brought from the jeep.
…………
After finishing the daily necessities, Chen Ze walked to the cowshed not far from the house to take a look. Although Marcusi said that the cows had been sold out, there were still six inferior beef cattle and two pony left in it, which should have been left behind by Barnards and his wife in the end.
Seeing that Macurry was cleaning the cowshed, Chen Ze just said hello to him and rode a pony and ran out.
When he was in China, he had been to Inner Mongolia several times and rode a horse under the guidance of locals, so he still knew some basic things about riding horses. Moreover, this kind of ponies is just a kind of tourist horse and does not run fast.
After spending a few hours, Chen Ze took a little walk through the ranch. There was a small mountain to the east and north of the ranch, and a highway to the west, and nothing to the south, but there was a town with thousands of people more than 20 kilometers.
And there is also a small river several meters wide that runs straight through the center of the pasture.
After understanding the structure of the ranch, when Chen Ze returned, Marcusi had already started lunch in the kitchen.
"BOSS, lunch is ready soon, you can wait a moment."
"OK."
Chen Ze smiled and said, "I'll go upstairs first and call me later. I'll just happen to have some things to ask you."
Marcusi nodded in response.
Half an hour later...
The two sat on the dining table in the hall. Chen Ze tasted the fried steak and vegetable salad. Perhaps because Marcusi took into account his habits, the steak was cooked.
"Macurry..."
After the two had lunch, Chen Ze wiped his mouth with paper and asked, "Do you know which construction teams are slightly larger in Dallas?"
"Construction team?"
Marcusi asked, "BOSS, are you going to build something?"
"Well, I'm going to build some more houses in the ranch." Chen Ze nodded.
"I know a few of the construction teams, but I don't know their person in charge. But I am familiar with an agent. Now these two houses and cowshed in the ranch are built through him."
"Then you go to the city with me tomorrow and we'll find that agent."
"Okay, no problem." Marcusi made an OK gesture.
…………
Time flies tonight...
After a day of contact, Chen Ze got a little bit of acquaintance with Marcusi. This old cowboy looks similar to him, very cheerful, very attentive in his work, and a relatively honest person.
In fact, when he was preparing to buy a ranch at the beginning, Chen Ze only wanted to live alone, after all, this was related to his future practice.
But after listening to the Barnards and his wife yesterday, Chen Ze thought about it and kept Marcurry. The reason was very simple, just like his previous explanation to Marcurry.
He needs someone to help with the ranch, and Marcusi, an experienced old cowboy, just right, but...
Chapter completed!