My Manor

"Hiss..." Standing in front of the sunny window, Jiang Hai stretched his body. Although the weather outside was a little cold, it was still warm inside. Jiang Hai's room—no, it could be said that all the rooms on Jiang Hai's side—have independent heating systems. Compared to Northeast China, where coal is burned in winter, causing serious pollution, this is much better.

In the winter in the United States, there are basically two types of geothermal heat: one is natural gas, and the other is electricity.

Electricity, in particular, is a newly emerging energy source in recent years. The water and electricity bills in the United States are actually not expensive. Of course, if you multiply everything by six, then everything here is expensive—except for the hamburgers in Kaifeng cuisine. After all, you earn US dollars here and spend US dollars, so you have to calculate it according to US dollars.

Water and electricity bills differ from state to state in the United States. Some places, rich in water resources, have cheap water bills. In contrast, places like California or Phoenix, which are deserts, have naturally high water bills.

As for electricity, the rates are generally the same. It's cheap where there is electricity and expensive where there isn't.

Although living costs in Boston, where Jiang Hai lives, are expensive, water and electricity are not. The fresh water resources here are extremely abundant. While there are no big rivers, there are many small rivers and ditches, and the groundwater is also very plentiful, so the water bill is very cheap. It costs about 0.013 US dollars per cubic foot, which is equivalent to 50 cents per ton. It's indeed not expensive.

As for electricity, it's even cheaper. There are a total of 117 nuclear power plants in the United States, including two in the Boston area. This makes the electricity fee here very cheap—about 8 cents per kilowatt-hour. The government also has a policy on gas. In winter, when many families still use gas, the price is very low—about 0.6 cents per cubic foot. It's slightly more expensive in summer, but it doesn't exceed 2 cents per cubic foot. Overall, the price of these things is indeed very cheap.

When Jiang Hai remodeled his house, he replaced all the gas floor heating with electric floor heating. After all, electric floor heating is safer. If gas leaks, it could be disastrous. While this type of heating is slightly more expensive, safety comes first. It's also odorless and more environmentally friendly. Plus, the electricity bill is very cheap, which is the most important thing.

His entire villa has electric floor heating running 24 hours a day, consuming about 200 kilowatt-hours of electricity every day. Over the entire winter, even if it lasts for three months (100 days), the total consumption is only 20,000 kilowatt-hours, which costs just 1,600 US dollars. This isn't expensive.

If you add the small villas next to his, where Robbins and others live, the total for the winter is about 2,000 US dollars.

But he sleeps very comfortably. Walking barefoot on the ground, Jiang Hai yawned and relaxed in the morning.

"Boom boom!" Seeing Jiang Hai's comfortable look, Xiao Huang and Xiao Bai, who were lying by the door, couldn't help but bark.

Jiang Hai looked at their anxious faces and couldn't help but pat his forehead. It was a bit cold last night, so he closed the door and slept. He realized these guys had probably been wanting to go outside for a while. After drinking Jiang Hai's blood—uh, that sounds awkward, but it's true—these two dogs had become smarter. After just one time, they knew not to go to the toilet inside. Now, even when they need to pee, they hold it.

"Let's go!" Jiang Hai quickly put on a coat and shoes and opened the door. As soon as the door opened, the two dogs rushed out, and Jiang Hai followed them out to prepare breakfast.

However, just as he reached the door and was about to turn into the kitchen, Jiang Hai saw Bell driving an all-terrain vehicle, pulling a large cart of hay toward the cowshed.

Since Jiang Hai moved in, he has only been to the cowshed five or six times. Each time, he braved the stench. He's not really a laborer, but fortunately, he is more at ease. Recently, the lawn of the manor has been mostly improved by him. Whether it's fresh grass or dried hay, the energy in it is quite good.

The cows not only have better meat quality after eating it, but they also become smarter. Although they are not as smart as those directly absorbing blood, at least they are less noisy and won't easily explode. This surprised Robbins and others, who had initially prepared for a difficult task.

It's like when a family with children advises you on how to take care of your own child. They tell you the child is very noisy, sleeps less than three hours a day, and cries all the time, making you 200% prepared. But when the child is born, you find that the child hardly cries, sleeps and rests at regular times, eats normally, doesn't get sick, and doesn't get emotional. This makes all your initial preparations unnecessary.

But anyway, they are very happy that the cattle are so easy to deal with. Now, they are going to observe for two more days before starting the cattle herding.

Although it's almost winter now, the grass on Jiang Hai's pasture is still green and can last for a few more days.

They'll wait until it snows. As for the feed for winter, it has been prepared long ago.

"Boss, good morning!" Seeing Jiang Hai, Bell couldn't help but smile and wave.

"Hey? Bell, wait a minute..." Seeing Bell's cheerful expression, Jiang Hai couldn't help but call out.

"What's the matter, boss?" Bell stopped the vehicle and asked in surprise.

"Bell, weren't you from Delta before? Do you know any fighting skills? Teach me." Jiang Hai quickly asked, knowing that they were busy now and it would be better not to waste time.

"Oh, okay, it's not too busy right now. After lunch, I'll come teach you," Bell said without hesitation, nodding in agreement.

This put an end to Jiang Hai's original idea of spending money. Of course, he knew that in the United States, everything depends on money. Although Bell didn't mention it, Jiang Hai still had to prepare in advance.

"Okay, what do I need to prepare?" Jiang Hai asked happily.

"Don't eat too much, just 80% full, or maybe 70% full. And wear loose sportswear or something like that," Bell said, thinking for a moment. Hearing this, Jiang Hai nodded.

"Then I'll leave first!" Seeing that Jiang Hai understood, Bell waved and drove off.

After he left, Jiang Hai went back to wash his face and brush his teeth. Once he was ready, he casually made some food at home, found a set of sportswear, and changed. Compared to other rich people, Jiang Hai bought much simpler clothes.

After all, he still considered himself an ordinary person at heart. He had no interest in luxury brands or fancy suits.

Even after becoming rich, he only bought three types of clothes: one for wearing at home, one for sports, and one for outdoor activities like hiking. He hadn't dared to buy Nike before because it was too expensive, but now in the United States, he had bought a few. He didn't like UA much, though, as their sizes were too small.

Besides those, he also bought a lot of outdoor clothes—hiking pants, hiking shoes, assault jackets, etc. He enjoyed wearing those. According to Robbins, Jiang Hai should also have a set of denim clothes.

So he bought one, but after wearing it once, he never touched it again. The tassels on the pants and vest looked ridiculous—just too stupid for his taste. He couldn't stand it.

Of course, if it was a party, he wouldn't mind wearing it.

After changing into loose sportswear, Jiang Hai went to the cowshed to check on the animals. When there were 5,000 cows, the stench was unbearable. Now with 20,000 cows, the smell was even worse. Even Robbins, who worked there, was afraid of being poisoned. After all, cow farts contain methane, and cows are among the animals most prone to farting.

Farts are caused by sugar and fiber in the food, which feeds E. coli. After consuming these, E. coli produces gas, leading to more farts. Cows ruminate, and every time they do, they produce even more farts. Global warming and other issues are linked to cows. Even though there's ventilation, the smell is still overwhelming. If the cows were locked up, some might be suffocated.

Jiang Hai was there to check on the cows, but more importantly, he wanted to check on his horses.

When he bought a horse, he specifically chose a Shire horse. Although it wasn't purebred, it was quite large.

Since it arrived at the farm, Jiang Hai had been taking care of it. Every day, whenever he had time, he'd feed it grass and carrots, mixed with some other food. The other horses sometimes shared in the feeding, but it was never a large quantity. As Jiang Hai approached, the large horse was already happy in its stable.

"Okay, okay, okay, come eat!" Jiang Hai walked over, patted the horse's neck, and smiled. He took the prepared food and began feeding the horse. After spending some time with the large Shire horse, Jiang Hai checked the time and returned to the villa to wait for lunch. Afterward, he would call Bell and wait for his arrival.