Chapter 58

Puppy?

Still kept in the dog cage.

This kind of dog cage is not like the one Zheng Tan saw at the dog-and-cat meat shop; the one in front of him is obviously of higher grade, looks like it's for pet dogs.

Zheng Tan remembered that when he ran from the big locust tree to the villagers' houses earlier today he hadn't heard any noise; this must have happened while he was looking for the phone, but he had avoided some dog-keeping households while searching for the phone, so it's unknown whose dog cage and dog these are.

He twitched his ears; there was no other human sound around, nor any stranger's scent.

Zheng Tan leaned over to look at the cage, but because the puppy was too small he couldn't make out anything; he didn't know the breed and hadn't studied it.

The cage door wasn't locked, but had a small catch holding it shut; the puppy couldn't open it, and had been trapped inside for who knows how long.

The nighttime temperature in the wild is relatively low; although not as cold as deep autumn or winter, it's still too cold for a puppy this size to endure. Like cats, dogs have a body temperature slightly higher than humans'; with the ambient temperature around ten degrees Celsius, it's uncertain whether the puppy can withstand such a temperature difference.

Noticing Zheng Tan standing outside the cage, the whining puppy came over to his side, looking at him through the bars. Seeing Zheng Tan unmoving, it continued to whine and nibbled at the cage with its few tiny teeth.

Zheng Tan hooked the cage door open with his paw; the puppy paused, probed twice, then ran out.

Although still puppies, this breed should be fairly large compared to Zheng Tan's current size; in terms of body size alone, these three puppies are not much smaller than him.

Ignoring the puppy that had run out, Zheng Tan looked at the other two motionless ones in the cage, poked them with his paw; they were still soft. He had thought these two puppies were dead, but unexpectedly they kicked their legs and opened their mouths twice. Had they been sleeping too deeply?

Zheng Tan looked around; this pit was too big, offering no shelter from the wind, which was fairly strong at night. If a few puppies continued to be left here, they probably wouldn't survive long.

But Zheng Tan didn't want to invite trouble; he himself was struggling to get by, so he had no energy to care for these three puppies. It would be more practical to steal a phone soon and figure out how to return to Dongqu Dayuan.

But Zheng Tan turned and took two steps; the puppy that had run out of the cage, wandering nearby, immediately came over and rubbed against him.

Zheng Tan pushed it aside; it came running back happily, apparently still thinking Zheng Tan was playing with it.

Zheng Tan simply threw it back into the cage, closed the door, and ignored its renewed whining as he turned away again.

However, after walking about ten meters, his steps slowed again. Zheng Tan looked back at the dog squatting by the cage, staring straight at him; under the starry sky, he could see that the puppy was basically white with a large black patch over one eye, like an eyepatch, which reminded him of Niu Zhuangzhuang in the compound. However, their appearances differed: Niu Zhuangzhuang's big head was too distinctive, while this puppy's body proportions weren't like that, nor did it resemble the common village mutt; it was probably a mixed breed, otherwise its owner wouldn't have abandoned it.

Zheng Tan had often heard dog owners chatting while strolling in the compound before, knowing that many dog owners would simply discard puppies they weren't satisfied with.

Sahara's owner once said, 'A wolf walks a thousand miles eating meat; a dog walks a thousand miles eating feces. Knowing it eats feces yet still keeping it, not caring about lineage or breed, spending effort daily to care for it, tolerating it digging holes, burying bones, chewing furniture and drooling—'demolition' rebellion—that must be true love.'

Even mutts have lovers; they are the result of thousands, even tens of thousands of years of natural and artificial selection, producing individuals who understand human nature, are perceptive, obedient, and strong hunters.

As for mixed-breed dogs, many recognized breeds also originated from crosses.

So, the family that abandoned the dog, that's definitely not true love.

By the time Zheng Tan came to his senses, he had already walked back to the cage; the puppy inside was whining louder and making a whimpering sound.

Tsk, so annoying!

Zheng Tan thought, anyway he had nothing else to do, so he might as well pick it up and drop it somewhere.

He remembered that there were some low shrubs beside the big locust tree, which should block the wind, and few people usually passed that way.

He picked up the cage and headed toward the big locust tree; as for the two bags of snacks, he'd retrieve them later—no one would be picking them up now anyway.

On the shrub side, villagers passed by less often, the vegetation was denser, making it a good windbreak.

After setting down the cage and adjusting its position, Zheng Tan broke some branches and placed them above the cage as cover, then wound some vines around it; this should make it not too easy to spot, right?

After finishing the setup, Zheng Tan went back to fetch the two bags of snacks, but while picking them up he suddenly wondered whether the puppy would starve to death overnight—probably not, just one night…

Although he thought that, Zheng Tan felt that if the puppy really starved to death, his efforts would be wasted; so he left the two bags of snacks and ran to the villagers' side, where the bread truck driver's family had already gone to bed, having set up some big pots and steamers in the yard. Zheng Tan looked and found some porridge in one of the steamers, still warm, left there not long ago—likely the family hadn't finished it and just left it out.

Looking around, Zheng Tan found a disposable bowl the host family used for guests, filled it with some porridge. Another big pot still had some boiled eggs; he found a vegetable bag and put a few in.

By the time he brought the porridge to the big locust tree, it had cooled; he couldn't find anything to reheat it, so he just brought it over with a tentative attitude, added an egg, ate the egg white himself, and mashed the yolk into the porridge.

If this were the old Zheng Tan, he definitely wouldn't have done these things; for now, we'll tentatively attribute his behavior to the emotions arising from being a wanderer abroad.

Looking at the bowl of porridge turned to paste, Zheng Tan felt he had no appetite; he didn't know if the puppies could eat this, and if they didn't, he wouldn't care.

He opened the cage, placed the bowl in a corner, closed the cage, retrieved the two bags of snacks, and climbed up the tree to rest.

In the middle of the night Zheng Tan heard a 'da ba da ba' sound from the cage, likely the puppies eating, and apparently more than one.

Just before dawn Zheng Tan jumped down from the tree and looked; the bowl was empty of porridge, the two puppies he had thought wouldn't survive now had swollen bellies and strong breathing—likely they had gotten up in the night to eat.

Strong vitality is good.

The next day Zheng Tan kept running outward, learning when villagers did what; if they were busy in the fields or orchards, even in daytime he'd try to steal a phone. But that day he got nothing, so he ended up going to the driver's house to forage, jumped to the second floor to look, and once again made off with a bag of thumb-sized biscuits for kids.

Before leaving, Zheng Tan saw the little girl again, just as before; she hid behind the door watching him intently, even flexing her fingers as if confirming something.

Zheng Tan didn't know what she was doing; then he heard footsteps, the busy driver and his wife finally went upstairs, so Zheng Tan hastily clutched the biscuits, jumped down from the windowsill, and ran.

After bathing and settling down, the little girl's mother again took out a picture book to teach her.

The little girl had answered the earlier questions well, pleasing the driver and his wife; but when her mother finally asked, 'How many legs does a kitten walk on?', the girl's answer wasn't so decisive.

'Two… four…' the girl, who had been about to say 'two', saw her mother's face suddenly change, corrected herself, but feeling wronged, she burst into a 'waah' cry.

This question is really too hard! Is it two legs or four legs?

Zheng Tan had no idea what trouble he had brought; he searched continuously for two days, but still couldn't find a suitable opportunity. Those villagers, even if they had phones, kept them on their person, well hidden, afraid anyone would steal them.

Also, in this era, phones were still precious items, not as ubiquitous as they would be a few years later. But this made things hard for Zheng Tan.

The three puppies were now much more energetic; Zheng Tan would let them out to play for a while during the day, and the puppies didn't run around wildly, just playing nearby, while Zheng Tan lay on a tree not far from the cage watching.

Actually, it would of course be better to keep them in the cage all the time, but these three puppies still need to urinate or defecate. Keeping them in the cage is too troublesome; after cleaning it once, Zheng Tan didn't want to do it again, so he simply let the three puppies out, and after they finished their business he threw them back into the cage.

During the day he watched the three dogs, at night he looked for chances to steal phones and also scavenged some food to bring back for the puppies; this continued for a week.

That day, the three puppies were playing outside when the butterfly-eating cat came over; the puppies sprang after it, and Zheng Tan didn't stop them, judging from the past week's pattern, if the puppies couldn't catch up they would obediently return and not run far.

But Zheng Tan hadn't expected that the cat wouldn't just run off; instead it walked back and forth, playing with the three puppies for a while.

Probably the cat was used to being around dogs and didn't mind; it was having fun, occasionally darting over to tease them a bit, letting the three puppies chase and bite. Though the puppies were tiny, even if they had grown teeth, their bite wasn't strong.

Zheng Tan didn't intervene; their harmonious interaction was a good thing, and with the cat keeping them company, he had even less to worry about.

Just as he was about to take a nap, Zheng Tan heard voices approaching.

Peering through the gaps in the leaves, Zheng Tan saw a man in his thirties with a large pack walking this way, holding a phone and talking as he went.

The man's phone conversation accent didn't sound local, and his clothing looked somewhat down-on-his-luck.

Whether the man was down-on-his-luck or not, Zheng Tan didn't have the mind to think further; he was now fixed on the phone in the man's hand. (To be continued..)

ps: Originally supposed to be updated at 6 PM, but some things were delayed, dragging to now. Sorry. There will also be an update tonight, but it will be very late, so everyone go to sleep early, don't stay up late.