pjbooks Chapter 27 The Puppy
Chapter 27 The Puppy
"Yu Juan, is Yu Juan here?"
Xia Shiyu was close to the courtyard gate, so he got up, walked over, and opened the door. Standing outside was a dark-skinned, thin man.
She wasn't very familiar with the villagers. "Who are you?"
The man glanced at Xia Shiyu and smiled憨厚ly, "You must be Yu Juan's daughter. I'm Xiong Tianhai. Your mom said she wanted puppies, and now my dog Dahuang has given birth. Why don't you come over and pick a few?"
"Oh, Uncle Xiong, is that so? Okay, wait for me a moment, I'll go over with my mom, please come in and have a seat."
After Xia Shiyu finished speaking, she walked into the house. She needed to get a small basket first. After walking a few steps inside, she saw Yu Juan also walking out. She first walked to Xiong Tianhai's side and chatted with him for a few words.
After Xia Shiyu took out the items, the three of them went over there together.
On the way, Xiong Tianhai was still talking about his dog, "My dog, Dahuang, is so obedient and well-behaved. Yes, it's a great guard dog. My house used to have a serious rat infestation, but after I got Dahuang, I haven't seen a single rat in the past few years."
"That's incredibly capable."
"Yes, that's right, that's right."
The three of them walked forward together. Xia Shiyu listened to the two chatting silently along the way. When they arrived at the Xiong family's house, Xiong Tianhai let them in first.
Then the group went to the back of the yard to see the puppies. "These puppies have been raised by my family for a while. They're easy to take home and won't get sick easily. Take a look and see which ones you want to choose."
"Okay," Yu Juan said, then pulled Xia Shiyu forward.
Xia Shiyu curiously approached the doghouse, where there were six puppies and a large yellow dog.
Although their mother is a big yellow dog, the six puppies are all different colors, probably influenced by their father. Two are black, one is white, two are yellow, and one is black and white.
Xia Shiyu looked at them and thought they were all quite cute. Yu Juan squatted down and asked, "Xiaoyu, how many should we take?"
Xia Shiyu looked at the animals and said to her mother, "Let's pick two first." Xia Shiyu thought that they would still need someone to help watch the mountain later, or she would try to find some protective plant equipment to fence off the vegetables and fruits, so that they wouldn't have to rely entirely on animals for help.
"Alright, take whichever you like, just pick two."
"Hmm," Xia Shiyu replied, then turned her gaze to the puppies. Most of them were fast asleep, while a few were playing and being more active. Xia Shiyu picked up two of the puppies after spotting them.
One was yellow, and the other was white. I grabbed one in each hand, and when I lifted them up by the scruff of their necks, I could hear them whimpering.
She picked it up and put it in the small basket next to her, intending to take good care of it when she got back.
Seeing that Xia Shiyu had made her choice, Xiong Tianhai came over and said, "You've chosen? That's good."
Yu Juan smiled and said, "Thank you, Tianhai. How much are these two dogs? I'll give them to you."
"Well, you can't say that. If you take this money back, it's only for two puppies. If you don't want it, I'll just give it away to someone else. You can keep it; you don't need this money."
Xia Shiyu watched as the two of them made another round of traditional refusals, and in the end, Xiong Tianhai still did not accept the money. Xia Shiyu pulled her mother aside and said that she would just send some vegetables to Uncle Xiong later.
After listening to Xiong Tianhai, Yu Juan thought about it and realized it made sense. The two thanked him and took the two puppies home.
Xia Shiyu brought the two puppies home, carefully put them down, and then found a basket, lined it with some cloth, and put the two puppies inside. As for Yu Juan, she went to the field to pick some vegetables to send to the Xiong family.
The two little ones had just left their familiar surroundings, so they huddled together in fear, whimpering softly.
Xia Shiyu's heart melted when she looked at the two dogs. Now she had a dog family of her own. She excitedly petted the two puppies, took a picture, and posted it on her WeChat Moments.
[I also edited the hook ヾ(????)???~]
After sending the message, I didn't look at the pop-up replies. Instead, I looked at the two puppies, thought for a moment, and then went to find some food and put it aside.
These two dogs are purebred Chinese rural dogs, also known as "local dogs." Villagers usually raise them casually, letting them eat whatever the villagers eat. However, Xia Shiyu noticed that the two dogs were still very young and checked, discovering that at this age they mainly drink breast milk and goat milk powder, and can also eat a small amount of meat.
Xia Shiyu went to the house and looked around. A relative had given them goat milk powder when her grandmother was sick a few years ago, but her grandmother and family didn't like to drink it. Now it was a good time to give it to the two puppies.
Xia Shiyu found some goat milk powder and saw that it would expire in two months. She decided to give it to the goats during those two months so as not to waste it.
It found an iron bowl, poured in goat milk powder, soaked it, and placed it in front of the two puppies. After smelling the aroma, the two puppies stretched out their bodies and crawled over to lick the milk from the bowl.
Xia Shiyu thought the two were especially cute, and got up and went out while watching them eat.
When I went outside, I saw my mother coming back with a bag of plums.
Xia Shiyu: "Mom, you're back after delivering the things?"
Yu Juan put the things down and nodded. "I've already delivered the things, and they even gave me a bag of plums they grew themselves."
This has always been the case in the village. He sent his own vegetables to the Xiong family, and the Xiong family thought they should reciprocate with something, so they picked some of their own plums for her to take.
Xia Shiyu took the plum, washed it, and took a bite. "Hmm, it's quite crisp, with a good balance of sweet and sour, and it's delicious."
"As long as it tastes good. Speaking of which, our family used to have a plum tree before your grandfather, but we didn't take good care of it and it was cut down now."
Xia Shiyu ate some and swallowed it, thinking that she could grow plums at home in the future if she had the chance.
"Sigh, let's not talk about that anymore. What should we eat for dinner? How about I make some noodles and a cold eggplant salad?"
Xia Shiyu nodded, thinking either way was fine, "Mom, just cook noodles, it's convenient."
While the two were discussing how to prepare dinner, the Xiong family was also marveling at the delicious meal they were having.
When Xiong Tianhai's wife, Xia Chengchun, returned home, she saw some vegetables in a basket on her back. She took them out and found that they were fresh and looked much better than her own vegetables.
"Old Xiong, where did you pick these vegetables? They look really good."
Hearing the noise, Xiong Tianhai came in and, seeing the vegetables in his wife's hands, immediately explained where they came from.
“I didn’t pick these. Yu Juan brought them to me today, carrying my puppy.”
Xia Chengchun looked at the vegetables in his hand and liked them more and more. "Oh my, they are quite polite. But these vegetables look really good. No wonder the village has been saying that her family has made a lot of money selling vegetables. These vegetables look different from the ones we grow."
"Hey, don't say that out loud. Don't be a gossip like that."
"Okay, okay, I understand, but today I'll just plug in the rice cooker and stir-fry these dishes."
"Okay, you can arrange it as you see fit."
Xiong Tianhai had no objections; his children weren't home, so they could just eat whatever they wanted.
He was processing the harvested grain on the side, while Xia Chengchun went to cook. However, he had only been working for a short while when he smelled a special aroma.
"What's that smell? It smells so good." Xiong Tianhai turned around, following the scent, and found that it was the dish he had cooked in his own pot.
He found it rather strange and couldn't help but stand up and go to the kitchen to watch it intently.
Xia Chengchun was preparing the final step. He casually moved the food a few times, and it was ready to be served.
He twitched his nose. "It smells so good. I need to get some wine out to drink."
Xia Chengchun nudged him, "Come on, hurry up and scoop out the rice. You're such a big guy, standing here blocking the door."
After hearing this, Xiong Tianhai eagerly took two bowls and put two bowls of rice in the rice cooker.
The two sat down, and Xiong Tianhai even divided his beer into two portions. After taking a sip, he couldn't wait to reach for the food with his chopsticks.
Strangely enough, he found the food particularly delicious today and couldn't resist wanting to eat it.
Xia Chengchun shared the same view, and the two of them simultaneously dipped their chopsticks into the dishes. When Yu Juan brought the dishes over, she took a little of each kind, but most families would just stir-fry or make a soup.
She picked up a piece of stir-fried water spinach with her chopsticks, took a bite, and inexplicably felt that her cooking skills had improved by leaps and bounds. However, she also knew that it was not a problem with her skills, but rather with the dish itself.
After taking a bite of the sugar-coated tomato, Xiong Tianhai couldn't help but exclaim, "This is so delicious! My own tomatoes are never that good!"
Xia Chengchun nodded, "Yu is really capable. How can she make such delicious dishes?"
Xiong Tianhai kept eating voraciously, completely oblivious to everything else, only parroting what others said: "It's amazing, so delicious!"
The two of them finished their entire meal with this dish tonight, and even only drank a sip of wine. They decided that they would definitely have to buy groceries from Xia Shiyu's house from now on, it was so delicious!