Chapter 81

Ling Yue froze: Damn it!

She had never thought her attitude was that bad; she simply deserved death!

Ling Yue didn't know what to say; even a thousand or ten thousand apologies couldn't make up for the harm she had caused.

Tong Tong shook her head at her, not caring at all.

She reached out a hand, and the Yorkshire Terrier eagerly placed its little paw on hers; feeling the warm dog paw, she faintly startled, an inexplicable urge to confide rising: "Actually, my little star isn't born mute."

The moment she heard those words, Ling Yue froze, a vague thought surfacing in her mind as she looked toward Tong Tong.

The woman smiled faintly, though the curve of her mouth sagged: "I regret it; if I had met my little star earlier, perhaps it wouldn't have suffered so much."

"Pa-da——"

It was the sound of tears falling.

Perhaps at first she could still pretend, but at this moment she could no longer hold back, her eyes full of angry hatred: "I picked up Little Star from the trash bin at the pet hospital; it had just turned one, a backyard dog bred by the pet store, its body should have been healthy, which is why it had endless energy."

"Later, I heard the pet hospital doctor say its voice was especially loud, barking like a small trumpet, a stuffed doll."

"What a pity," she said while wiping her tears: "I can't hear it."

"It's all his fault! That beast of a thing, he cut Star's vocal cords!"

In Tong Tong's halting narration, Ling Yue learned the history of this Yorkshire Terrier.

Because it often barked, the pet shop owner took it for a vocal cord surgery; the young, clueless dog perhaps had no idea what he was doing.

And that beast of a fellow only wanted the dog to stop being noisy, never considering the postoperative side effects.

Sixty percent of dogs suffer postoperative throat swelling, choking to death, and their bodies develop various side effects from the surgery, making swallowing feel like being cut by a knife for a long time.

Star was lucky, being one of the forty percent, yet it was unfortunate, developing side effects before it even realized what had happened to it.

"Thud——"

It was thrown into the trash can, the lid blocking the skylight; the Yorkshire Terrier struggled in the garbage, it might have desperately opened its mouth to bark, but its throat hurt terribly.

It could no longer make a sound.

It also finally realized it had been abandoned.

Tong Tong rubbed Star's little ears: "I'm glad I have the habit of taking out the trash, so I found it; it was really tiny back then, only the size of my shoe."

"It looked at me, and I looked at it."

Tong Tong seemed to recall that scene: a pair of round, big eyes staring at her in the pitch-black trash can; anyone who saw it would be frightened.

She thought she'd cheer up, assuming it was just an abandoned puppy, but later examination revealed its vocal cords had been cut; the owner thought it was too weak to survive and simply threw it away.

Even as an adoptable pet, a dog that can't bark, is sensitive, and prone to depression basically has no human reason to be adopted.

Tong Tong decided to take charge; thereafter came medication, care, injecting meat puree for swallowing difficulties, giving nutrition shots; dogs that have had their vocal cords cut basically don't vocalize but may still whine, and this Yorkshire Terrier Star's voice is a cough.

The cough is soft; if one isn't careful, it's easily overlooked. Though Tong Tong usually sleeps deeply, she has innately developed a skill: no matter how soundly she sleeps, hearing Star's cough will wake her instantly.

The female owner looked at Ling Yue: "Please be sure to tell it I love it." She spoke, finally unable to hold back tears: "I don't want to lose it at all, Star, my Star."

The little Yorkshire Terrier tilted its head, not understanding why its owner suddenly felt sad; its long fur brushed against the owner, as if saying, "I'm keeping you company, don't be sad."

The Yorkshire Terrier's gray-white eyes held no light, yet were full of affection; it is a child raised nourished by the owner's love.

Ling Yue's voice hoarse: "I will."

She spoke to the Yorkshire Terrier, word by word: "You, 's, mom, mom, love, you."

As she spoke, she listened to its heartbeat, hearing it utter each word one by one; the dog's eyes narrowed, the corners of its mouth turned up, and it was smiling.

"Love!"

Ling Yue froze, hearing its dry heartbeat: "Star, star, love, mom, mom."

Star loves Mom very much.

It took about ten minutes to say that sentence.

Only then did Ling Yue realize its slowness was due to unfamiliarity, maladjustment, the silent dog having grown accustomed to a world without sound, and even its remaining thoughts could not focus because of old age and frailty.

So it took a long, long time to think of a single word.

Time passed slowly, yet no one spoke to urge them on; everyone waited, waiting for Ling Yue to recount its heartbeat word by word.

After she finished relaying Star's answer, Tong Tong covered her face and burst into tears, wailing: "Sniff sniff sniff Star, Mom can't live without you!"

She had raised it for nineteen years, nineteen years of companionship; her husband beside her, eyes red, also struggled to hold back tears, patting her back in silent comfort.

Ling Yue's heart softened; Tong Tong looked at her pleadingly: "I know I'm greedy, I still want to say one more thing—could you tell Star that if there is a next life, let her come find me, and I will surely recognize her."

"How could I possibly not recognize it?"

These tearful words made the crowd preparing to watch the spectacle unable to hold back sobs, inwardly accusing: "This is a scam!"

"I came just to watch the spectacle, why are you making me eat a knife!"

"Sniff sniff sniff, I got brick dust in my eyes, how embarrassing!"

"What's embarrassing? Even I, a big man, can't stop crying, sniff sniff sniff."

"Good thing my dog is still young; I can keep it company for many years."

"What about many years from now? So I raised a turtle to support me in my old age, QWQ"

Ling Yue saw her almost going mad, couldn't help but stare, then exclaimed in surprise: "It will! It definitely will!"

Her children's palace had a red star entering her fate; Ling Yue froze, instantly realizing.

This, the Yorkshire Terrier Star suddenly stood up, stretched out its little head: "Cough cough——"

The female owner Tong Tong froze; this motion she knew all too well, she stretched out both hands, thumbs to thumbs, index fingers to index fingers, lightly curved, forming a heart in the air—this was their favorite little game.

The Yorkshire Terrier Star slipped through the fingers, eyes squinting, mouth splitting into a grin: laughter.

Ling Yue automatically filled in the heartbeat she heard, telling her: "It wants you to laugh, owner, laugh."

Tong Tong sniffed, hugged her little treasure: "Star, I'm laughing, look, I laughed."

Ling Yue couldn't stop it in time; the man beside her had already swiftly scanned the code to complete the transfer.

As they were about to leave, Tongtong hugged the exhausted little dog, suddenly turned and asked Ling Yue, "Can we meet again?"

Ling Yue: "What do you think?"

Tongtong didn't speak. Later, about six months, she sent off Xingxing; that night she also gave birth to a very beautiful little princess, with a tiny red star on her wrist.

Tongtong later sought out Ling Yue and asked her, "Has my Xingxing come back?"

Ling Yue didn't give her a definite answer, only saying, "Maybe."

Getting back to the point, after the tear‑jerking Xingxing family left, all sorts of silliness kept popping up; the key is that the poop‑scoopers seem even dumber than the pets.

Ling Yue really wanted to say: "Take them out, they're hopeless!"

Dahei yawned hearing this; those animals were so stupid that even a dog couldn't bear to watch, so he squeezed through the crowd and slipped out—just as he stepped outside, he bumped into a group of neighbors greeting each other.

"Hey, Dahei's out for a stroll again?"

"This time Boss Ling got off work late, so I let you, a dog, out for a walk—watch out, someone might steal you."

Dahei snorted disdainfully at the idea, sneezing, "Stolen?"

Which blind fool would dare steal a police dog?

These humans are really boring, saying things day after day that even dogs don't want to hear.

He strolled down the street, and whenever he saw a lady who was afraid of dogs, he politely stepped aside, lest he scare them.

Moreover, mischievous stray dogs were frothing wildly by the roadside; Dahei immediately went over to stop them—what to do if he scared the humans? They were each a living lunatic.

It wasn't just a casual stroll or walk; in fact, he was patrolling the streets.

From one end to the other, the pet street had been patrolled by him; suddenly Dahei's eyes narrowed—straight ahead, a man in black was about to brush past a lady, and he shot out like a little cannon, shouting loudly, "Woof woof woof, look behind you—he's stealing your bag!"

Before anyone else could react, Dahei leapt agilely, tackled the man with a thud, and a phone flew out of his pocket—a pink rabbit case, with two prominent white front teeth that were especially snow‑white.

The frightened girl frowned after seeing it, still unsure: "Is… this not my phone?"

She had clearly put it in her bag.

She turned and looked at her bag—whoosh, a huge gap!

Dahei pinned the thief and barked at her, "You're so stupid! Hurry up and call for help—don't let him get away!"

Whether it was her imagination or not, she seemed to see contempt in the dog's eyes; the girl picked up the phone and shouted, "Come on, someone help—catch the thief! Catch the thief!"

With a clamor, the crowd gathered around; the thief struggled desperately, then, meeting the stares of the surrounding people, he suddenly burst into tears, clutching his head.

Must it be this awful? All he wanted was to steal a phone!

As for Dahei, he had already run off.

The book says: "When the task is done, brush off your clothes and go; hide your merit and fame." It's just a police dog—serving the people is its duty! No banners or thank‑you notes needed.

Dahei strode down the long street with head high and chest puffed, feeling pleased; the little dogs by the roadside looked at him, their eyes turning star‑shaped, and exclaimed in amazement, "Wow! It's him—it's the police dog Dahei!"

"Ahhh, Officer Dahei is awesome—I just saw it kick the thief over with one jio!"

"It's really so handsome, so handsome—I adore it!" A little Shaggy dog nearby wiggled its chubby butt and couldn't help but sidle up.

Dahei kept stepping back several steps: "You can look, you can talk, but don't get close—I'm on duty."

"But if there's anything important, you can tell me." It was out there drumming up business, relying on Ling Yue to back it up; the poor Ling Yue, clueless, sneezed and thought she'd caught a cold.

Police dog among dogs!

Dahei's reputation spread ten‑to‑a‑hundred, faster than human gossip; this is the police force of the dog world, and the dogs all walk about with heads high, feeling proud to be part of it.

On the camphor tree at the corner of Pet Street, a tabby cat fumed, meowing and scratching: "Look at those silly dogs feeling proud—just a dog police officer, we cats… we cats…"

The big tabby cat was momentarily stumped; it racked its brains but couldn't think of a cat police officer.

"Boss, I know!" the little follower, Pangju, raised a paw: "I know the cat world's police officer—its fame is known worldwide!"

"Who?"

"The Black Cat Chief!"

Xiaolihua nearly died laughing: "Pfft, the Black Cat Chief is just a cartoon—you don't really not know that, do you?"

Pangju scratched his head: "I don't know w⊙w⊙!"

Dalihuah glared at the two foolish lackeys, clawing the tree trunk: "Shut up, both of you! You're driving me nuts!"

In the silence, Dalihuah muttered glumly: "That dumb dog is really lucky—having an owner who treats him so well; I heard he became a police dog thanks to his owner's training."

Xiaolihua: "Boss, I know this!"

"My older sister serves under the Mysterious Cat Queen, and Dahei's owner is also the queen's; I hear they treat them well—the owner is even more capable than Dahei, able to understand animal speech and has helped solve many big cases for little creatures."

It chattered on and on, the cats listened, entranced, and only after finishing did they realize: "Wow, that's really impressive!"

"So Dahei can be so confident because, if he can't figure something out, he can still call his owner for backup."

"Is that really true?"

"Of course it's true!" Xiaolihua's idol is her older sister; hearing her sister's words doubted, she glared angrily, then, seeing who it was, she instantly curled into a ball: "Ju, Ju Mao Ye Ye."

This big orange cat is in a completely different weight class from them; beneath its fluffy fur lies solid muscle—though its mouth is starting to whiten, it's an old cat, yet still vigorous in old age, so much so that even young adult cats dare not provoke it lightly.

After receiving confirmation, Ju Mao Ye Ye sprang down from the tree nimbly; his bulky muscles and fluffy fur made him look like a little tiger.

So when it appeared before Dahei, he immediately went on alert: "I don't interfere with your cat clan's affairs—what do you want?"

Ju Mao Ye Ye stood up, his chubby yet sturdy frame, his sharp cat eyes sizing him up: "I hear your owner is good at solving cases?"

Dahei instantly puffed with pride, his tail almost turning into a propeller: "Of course! My owner is the greatest detective ever!"

Ju Mao Ye Ye looked at him, twitching his whiskers: "I don't believe it."

"Unless you let her come over to help me investigate a case, I won't believe it."

Pet consultation shop.

Ling Yue: "Ah Qiu!"

Tears were about to spill; she wiped them with a wet tissue, then suddenly realized—Dahei was gone!

Fortunately, the last customer had just finished consulting; Ling Yue furrowed her brows, thinking that this inattentive Dahei must have gone out to play again, and she kept her hands busy, ready to tidy up and then go look for the dog.

"Master! Master!"

Ling Yue looked over, the dog hurried over, on its back lay a Daju cat, chubby and hefty, like a little tiger, but from its fur you could tell it was probably already quite old.

The Daju cat jumped down nimbly, looking at her, although looking up, its aura was not inferior to a person's: "Are you Ling Yue, Dahei's owner?"

Dahei hastily interjected: "I told its owner you're especially awesome, super good at solving cases; it refused to believe, so I brought it over. Owner, please quickly help it solve the case, then it will surely believe!"

The dog felt more and more that something was off.

Ling Yue narrowed her eyes: "Want to freeload?",,.