Chapter 139: This Dog Has Become a Spirit

For dinner she stir-fried pickled sour cabbage, millet porridge, and two-flour steamed buns.

Mother Liu's cooking was quite good, and even Liu Chuxue, who had come from the future, took to it well.

The grain divided up when the family split was naturally not enough to feed them; the ration coupons obtained in the city had all been exchanged for fine grain on the way back, and after returning to the village they privately traded with the villagers for some coarse grain, just enough to last until the end of the month when the wheat would be harvested.

Still, she wasn't anxious — hold out a few more months, and the grain in the space should be ripening; by then she'd figure out a way to channel some back home.

Once everything was tidied up, Chunxiao clamored to go too, so the three of them — mother and daughters — headed out together.

When they arrived at the new house, they saw someone sitting by the foundation smoking a dry pipe.

Mother Liu stepped forward: "Uncle Lao Wu."

"Shanliang's wife, what brings you here?"

"We found a little puppy at home and thought to bring it over for you — first, to keep you company; second, if anything happens, it can give a warning."

Uncle Lao Wu laughed: "That's wonderful."

But the moment he saw the puppy in Chunxiao's arms, he was dumbfounded: "This dog can't have been weaned a full month yet, can it?"

"That's right, the owner said it's almost fifty days."

"That's way too small — what good could it possibly do?"

But the moment his words fell, the little puppy let out a "Woof, woof, woof!" right then and there, and its antics made everyone burst out laughing.

Chunxiao spoke up first: "Look, my Zhuifeng is something else — he must have known Uncle Lao Wu was talking about him just now, this is a protest."

What no one expected was that the moment Chunxiao finished speaking, the puppy barked "Woof, woof!" twice more, as if answering her.

This time Liu-Lao Wu also grew interested: "This dog has become a spirit."

Chunxiao set the puppy down: "Uncle Lao Wu, my dog here is called Zhuifeng — how about that, isn't the name pretty imposing?"

Liu-Lao Wu laughed: "Every dog in the village is called Dahuang or Erhei — your name is quite the rarity."

Chunxiao led Zhuifeng on a lap around the house foundation, and said in all seriousness: "Zhuifeng, this place is our new home — at night you have to help Uncle Lao Wu keep an eye on things for me."

But what they didn't expect was that the little fellow raised its head and let out a few more "Woof woofs."

Chunxiao said excitedly: "Did you see that? Zhuifeng definitely understands what I'm saying."

Liu Chuxue also felt this dog had a certain spiritual quality — once or twice could be coincidence, but she had been watching the whole time.

She crouched down: "Zhuifeng, come here."

The puppy wagged its tail happily, trotted on its little short legs over to Liu Chuxue, nuzzled the hand she had stretched out, and whimpered coquettishly — anyone could see from its excitement that it was trying to curry favor with Liu Chuxue.

Liu Chuxue patted the dog's head: "You behave yourself."

As she said this, she thought to herself: tomorrow I'll find a chipped bowl, pour some of the water from the space's pool into it — that will surely make it the most dashing dog in Willow Village.

After the group walked a lap around the foundation, Liu-Lao Wu spoke up: "At this pace, the walls should be up before noon tomorrow."

Chunxiao, who had been running around energetically for a while, heard this and asked: "When can we move into the new house?"

Mother Liu's face was all smiles: "It'll take at least a month no matter what — once it's built it has to be aired out, and the walls have to be plastered with white lime and left to dry before anyone can move in."

After chatting for a while, the three of them — mother and daughters — finally headed back.

What they didn't expect was that this dog really was miraculous.

In the middle of the night, a village ne'er-do-well tried to sneak over and steal bricks, but before Liu-Lao Wu even heard any noise, Zhuifeng started barking.

Uncle Lao Wu grabbed the stick he'd prepared and shouted toward the other side: "What are you doing?"

The ne'er-do-well, hearing it was Liu-Lao Wu's voice, panicked on the spot — he didn't even bother with his basket, turned and fled; after all, Uncle Lao Wu had killed Japanese soldiers in his youth, and the villagers all said he knew martial arts.

(End of chapter)