Chapter 49: Rural Life Chronicles

The car drove along the smooth road; the entire journey from the city to the old home took about an hour.

Qiaoqiao had long since finished every bit of the food he'd ordered at noon, especially loving the egg tarts, red bean pies, and fried chicken wings. Right now, he was buried in playing with his little duck toy that flapped its wings with a 'click-clack' sound, having the time of his life.

As he gradually grew older, most of the time, his family would unconsciously treat him like an adult.

But his heart had always remained at the age of five or six.

Although his family still used a tone meant for coaxing a child when speaking to him, toys were something Qiaoqiao hadn't possessed for many years, as the children in the village had also slowly grown up and moved away.

His only joy was watching cartoons.

If Song Tan hadn't experienced this transformation, he would likely have been rooted in this mountain village for the rest of his life, ignorantly watching his cartoons until his parents grew old.

Perhaps he would slowly learn to cook simple meals in the future, but whenever Song Tan looked at him, she couldn't help but want to bring him more joy.

"Qiaoqiao, once the vegetables are sold out, I'll take you to the amusement park in Ningcheng."

Their city was too small; children could at most go to the park to play on a few simple pieces of equipment. But those facilities were truly aged, and Song Tan still didn't feel at ease with them.

Ningcheng was, after all, a provincial capital city with complete infrastructure and a large amusement park, including water and aerial rides, enough to keep him happy for an entire day.

Qiaoqiao turned his head and asked curiously, "What is an amusement park?"

Song Tan thought for a moment: "It's a place where there are many people and it's very fun; you can play for a whole day!"

Qiaoqiao became joyful: "Really? When are we going?"

Song Tan thought for a moment: "The Chinese milk vetch can still be sold for about ten days; once it's sold out, I'll take you!"

If they went to Ningcheng, it would only take four hours by car. She didn't have to worry about energy issues now; she only needed to free up one day.

Farming was too busy, and there were things to do every day. But Qiaoqiao's happiness was also very precious, and Song Tan was unwilling to give it up.

Qiaoqiao went out often now and understood more, so he asked at this moment: "Then can we eat this when we go?"

He shook the little duck: "The box had four different ones printed on it, and I only have one."

It was evident that what conquered children was not just good food, but also this damned marketing tactic.

Song Tan muttered helplessly: "You certainly have a good appetite."

Boys had big appetites, and since he had also slowly started doing farm work, his consumption was even greater.

Not a single bit of the food from noon was left.

As for Song Tan...

Driving, she had only eaten the top and bottom burger buns that Qiaoqiao had picked out. It had to be said that eating outside food was still quite painful.

The deeper her spiritual energy, the more picky her taste would become in the future; could it be that she would have to bring a packed lunch next time she went out?

Just as she was speaking, Qiaoqiao suddenly pointed to the side of the road:

"It's moving."

What?

Song Tan looked over and saw a large black cloth bag in the grass by the roadside, the rope at the top tied tightly, with something inside arching continuously.

She twitched her ears and faintly heard whimpering sounds. So she stopped the car: "Let's go take a look."

Qiaoqiao ran down to the car quickly, but after pulling at the bag for a long time, he ended up just carrying the whole cloth bag back:

"Sister, I can't untie it."

The plastic rope was wrapped several times and then tied in a dead knot; it was normal that he couldn't untie it.

Song Tan took out a small knife and sliced it open. Even though she had been mentally prepared, she couldn't help but curse at this moment: "What kind of thing is this!"

These were three small local puppies.

Two yellow ones and one black one, each only a little bigger than a palm, their bodies covered in fluff. Their eyes were bright black, and they were whimpering as they crawled toward them.

Looking at them, they clearly couldn't even stand steadily.

Qiaoqiao was also stunned and cheered casually: "Puppies!"

But then he looked at the bag next to them and wondered: "Tied so tightly, how would the puppies get out?"

Indeed, using a sturdy cloth bag and tying it so tightly was clearly not giving these dogs a way to live.

This was a remote main road; apart from the few passing vehicles, no pedestrians would stop here.

Song Tan knew that there was no habit of spaying or neutering animals in the village. Sometimes when cats or dogs gave birth, people would choose to take them and throw them away. To prevent the cats or dogs from remembering the way, they would put them in bags and throw them further away.

But ordinary people didn't throw dogs away in this manner.

The three puppies in the cloth bag were still crawling, continuously arching their noses against Qiaoqiao's hands, making whimpering sounds in their mouths; they were likely hungry.

She took a deep breath, and at this moment, with a flick of her fingertip, a strand of spiritual energy invisibly washed over the skin of the three dogs, killing any lice or insect eggs that might be attached.

After all, Qiaoqiao looked like he really didn't want to let go, and there was no pest control here right now.

Then, she placed the cloth bag on Qiaoqiao's lap: "Qiaoqiao can take these three puppies back to raise, but you have to hold them well first; can you do that?"

Qiaoqiao quickly hugged the bag and promised heavily:

"Qiaoqiao definitely can!"

Afterwards, he became dejected again: "But Mom won't let me raise them."

Song Tan knew.

Wu Lan had the same mindset as most people in the village; raising cats and dogs was for them to watch the house and guard the yard, and if they couldn't do that, it didn't matter.

But once these cats and dogs were raised, there would be feelings after a long time. Not to mention dog thieves, just in case they got injured, sick, or pregnant...

Asking them to spend money was absolutely impossible; they knew in their hearts how hard it was to earn money.

But not spending money didn't mean they weren't sad in their hearts.

It was just that at their age, everything seemed to be taken lightly.

But this lightness didn't mean there were no feelings.

Wu Lan's method was: to prevent future sadness, it was better not to raise them from the very beginning.

But now...

"It's fine!" Song Tan promised: "Aren't we raising pigs and also going to raise chickens and ducks? We just need puppies to watch over them. You go back and coax her well; our Qiaoqiao is so well-behaved and active in working, Mom will agree."

Qiaoqiao blinked, not quite understanding how to coax her, but looking down again at the soft, warm, and fluffy ball of whimpering puppies on his lap, he made up his mind—

It would definitely work!

Song Tan smiled: "These three puppies were found by Qiaoqiao, so Qiaoqiao will take care of their lives from now on!"

Qiaoqiao was stunned: "I can feed them every day!"

Song Tan shook her head, her expression serious:

"That won't do; the things fed to them are all the family's grain and money, and you can't use them randomly."

Qiaoqiao was stunned.

After a while, he came up with a solution: "Then Qiaoqiao will share his own food with them."

Song Tan thought for a moment: "That's not impossible, but they don't eat much when they are small, but when they get a little bigger, the total amount they eat will be like piglets, and how many bowls of rice does Qiaoqiao eat every day?"

Qiaoqiao counted, and then became dejected again.

"Then can I not afford to raise the puppies?"

Song Tan shook her head: "How about this, from now on, every time Qiaoqiao does work for the family, Sister will pay you a wage—accompanying to sell vegetables and carry baskets, 50 yuan each time."

"Doing farm work in the fields, 50 for half a day."

"This money will be in Sister's hands; I'll keep an account for Qiaoqiao, and if you want to buy anything for yourself or for the puppies, you can come to me for the money."

"But once the money is spent, and the family doesn't need work done, you won't have any income, and the puppies will only be able to go hungry."