Puppies?

What’s more was that these were locked in a cage.

These type of cages weren’t like the ones that Zheng Tan had seen in those cat and dog meat restaurants, the cage in front of him was much more high-end, it looked like the type that was used for pet dogs.

Zheng Tan remembered that when he ran to the village today from the great Pagoda tree he didn’t hear any noises yet, it probably happened during the time that he went to look for phones. However, he purposely avoided residences with dogs and therefore had no clue who cage and the dogs belonged to.

Moving his ears, there was no sound from other people in the surrounding and no scent of any strangers.

Zheng Tan moved towards the front of the cage and took a look, because the puppies were too small, Zheng Tan couldn’t find out anything and had no idea what breed it was, he didn’t have any knowledge on these things.

The door of the cage wasn’t locked, but there was small notch lodged in there. The puppies didn’t know how to open it, god knows how long they had been trapped there.

The temperatures at night in these mountains were quite low, it wasn’t as cold as the deep winter but still it was nothing that puppies that size can withstand. Dogs like cats have a slightly higher body temperature than humans, in ten degrees temperature in the surrounding environment, who knows if the puppies can make it through this temperature difference.

Noticing Zheng Tan who was standing outside the cage, the puppy that was making the noise moved over to Zheng Tan side and watched him through the cage. Noticing that Zheng Tan hadn’t moved, it continued to hum and gnawed at the cage with it’s new little teeth that had just grown out.

Zheng Tan pulled open the door of the cage with his claw, the puppy hesitated, took a tentative step forward then ran out.

Despite being only a puppy, this kind of dog was probably big in size. Compared to Zheng Tan, these three dogs was not much smaller than he was judging by size.

Taking no heed of the puppy that just ran out, Zheng Tan lifted his paws and pushed the other two puppies that was motionless in the cage. They were still soft. Initially he thought that the two puppies were already dead, he didn’t expect the two to kicked their legs and open their mouth. Too sound asleep?

Zheng Tan looked around. The pit was way too big, it can’t even block out the wind. The wind was quite strong at night time, if the two or three puppies were kept here any longer they probably wouldn’t survive for too long.

Nevertheless, Zheng Tan didn’t want to be involved in this trouble. He’s already in a difficult circumstance, how could he have any more energy to take care of these three puppies? It’s probably more realistic to hurry up and think of a way to steal a phone to return to the eastern courtyard.

However, as Zheng Tan turned around and prepared to leave, the puppy that was wandering around after escaping the cage quickly attached itself to him, rubbing itself against Zheng Tan.

Zheng Tan pushed it aside, but it cheerfully ran back again, probably thinking that Zheng Tan was playing with it.

Zheng Tan simply threw it back into the cage straightaway, he closed the door and didn’t care if it was calling out again. He turned again and left.

He only walked about ten meters before his pace slowed again. Zheng Tan looked over his shoulder at the dog that staring at him while squatting on the edge of the cage. The night sky was filled with stars, with the gentle starlight, Zheng Tan could see that the puppy was overall white, there was a large spot of black around one eye as if it was wearing an eye-patch. It reminded Zheng Tan of Might from the yard, but the appearances of the two was different. Mighty’s big head was too unique, this puppy’s body proportion was no where as extreme, but it wasn’t the typical native dog that was commonly seen in the village. It was probably a mix, otherwise the owner wouldn’t have abandoned it

Zheng Tan had frequently overheard the conversations between those dog-owners before while strolling in the courtyard, he knew that it was the attitude of most dog keepers, if their dog’s puppy doesn’t please them then they would throw it out.

Sahara’s owner said this before, “Wolves travel a thousand miles eating meat while dogs travel a thousand miles eating poo. Knowing that it eats poo but still keeping it, taking care of it everyday regardless of it’s breed or species. Tolerating it’s “revolts” of digging holes in the yard to bury bones, biting chair legs, swinging it’s spit and “demolishing” the house. This must be true love.”

Even mutts have people who loved them, it’s a species that endured thousands, even ten thousand years of nature and human selection. In this species, there was no lack of individuals that understood humanity, were good in comprehension skills, loyal and obeying, and capable in hunting skills.

As to the mixed dogs, most exotic species were made out of inter-breed reproduction.

Therefore, the family that threw away these dogs, definitely ain’t true love.

Before Zheng Tan could return to the reality, he had already walked to the side of the cage. The whines of puppy inside became louder and louder, it even made some sobbing sounds.

Tsk, so annoying!

Since there was nothing to do right now, he may as well lift the cage to somewhere and leave it there, Zheng Tan thought.

He remembered that there were some bushes near the Pagoda tree, it can probably shield against wind and there weren’t many people who goes there often.

Lifting the cage, Zheng Tan headed over to the Pagoda tree. As to the two packs of snacks, he would come back and retrieve them later since no one would take it at this hour of the day .

There was not much foot traffic from the villagers over by the bushes, the plants were quite dense, just enough to block out the wind.

After setting down the cage and adjusted it’s position, Zheng Tan broke off some branches to place on the top of the cage as camouflage, then pulled some vines over to wrap it around, this way it won’t be too easily discovered?

When he finished arranging, Zheng Tan went back to pick up the two packs of snacks, but when he collected the snacks he suddenly had a thought. Will the puppies die of hunger if they were starved a night? Proabably not? It’s only one night…

Despite thinking like that, Zheng Tan felt that if that puppy actually died of starvation then all his work was for nothing, so he dropped the two packs of snacks and ran back to the village. The family of the van driver were already asleep, there were some large pans and food steamers in the yard. Zheng Tan scavenged around and found some congee in one of the steamers, it was still warm and not left here for too long, the family most likely didn’t finish it so they left it here.

Examining his surrounding, Zheng Tan found a disposable bowl that the owner used to serve the guest, and filled it with some congee. In another pan was some boiled eggs, Zheng Tan took a grocery bag and placed a few inside.

When he carried the congee over to the pagoda tree, it was already cold. Zheng Tan couldn’t find anything to heat it, it was all the same since he only carried the congee over to give it a try. He placed an egg inside, Zheng Tan ate the egg white himself, then crushed the egg yolk into pieces and mixed it together with congee.

If it had been the old Zheng Tan, he definitely won’t do this, his behavior now can be temporarily categorized as the derived sentiment of a vagabond.

Looking at the paste like congee in the bowl, Zheng Tan really didn’t have any appetite. He didn’t know if the puppies could eat these, if they can’t it’s not his issue anymore.

He opened the cage and left the bowl in a corner, then locked it again. He retrieved the two packs of snacks, climbed up the tree and rested.

Midnight, Zheng Tan heard the noise of smacking lips from the cages, it was probably the puppies eating, and there wasn’t only one that was eating.

Around dawn, Zheng Tan hopped down the tree and took a look, there wasn’t any congee left in the bowl anymore. The two that Zheng Tan thought won’t survive, now had round tummies, their breath was much stronger, most likely because they woke up at midnight and ate.

It’s so good to have strong vitality.

The next day Zheng Tan continued to go out, learning what activities the villagers would do at a certain time. If the villagers went to the fields or the orchards to work, even if it was during the day, Zheng Tan would still try to steal a phone. However, that day was fruitless, in the end he went foraging at the driver’s house again. He jumped to the second floor and took a look, taking another packet of the type of finger biscuits that children eat.

Before he left, Zheng Tan saw the little girl again, like previously, the little girl hid behind the doors and watched Zheng Tan attentively, she even took out her fingers counting as if determining something.

Zheng Tan didn’t know what she was doing, that moment he heard approaching footsteps, the busy driver and his wife finally went upstairs. Zheng Tan quickly hugged the biscuits in his arms and jumped off the windowsill, escaping.

Retiring after shower, the girl’s mum took out the picture book to teach her again.

The girl answered the first few question greatly, the driver couple was very pleased, but in the end when her mother on a second thought asked “how many legs does kitty use to walk”, the little girl’s response wasn’t that clear anymore.

“Two…Four…” The little girl planned to say “two” then saw her mother’s facial expression suddenly change. She quickly changed, but felt very upset and wronged, so with a “wah” she cried.

This question was seriously too hard! Was it two legs or four legs?

Zheng tan didn’t have a single clue the trouble that he brought, he searched for two days straight but couldn’t find any suitable opportunity. That bunch of villagers, even if they had a phone they would keep it close to them and hidden, afraid that somebody would steal it.

It was actually reasonable, in that era, phone was still a valuable object, not as widely used as compared to few years later. Nevertheless, Zheng Tan went through a lot of suffering because of this.

The three puppies were not in much better spirits, Zheng Tan would let them out during the day to play. The three puppies didn’t run aimlessly, they played around there while Zheng Tan supervised from up the tree not far from the cage.

To be honest, it was much easier if they were kept in the cage, but the three puppies needed to urinate or excrete. If they did it in the cage it would be too troublesome, Zheng Tan cleaned it once and definitely didn’t want to do it for the second time. That’s why he let the three pups out, let them relieve themselves, then threw them back inside the cage again.

Watching the three dogs during the day, finding an opportunity to steal a phone as well as hunting for food in the night, this life lasted for a week.

That day, the three pups were playing outside, the cat that ate the butterfly ran over. The three pups bounced and chased over, Zheng Tan didn’t stop them, according to the condition over the past week, the three puppies would obediently come back if they weren’t able to follow up, they won’t run too far.

However, it was beyong Zheng Tan’s expectation that the cat didn’t run off, but stopped once for a while to play with the puppies.

It was most likely because that cat had been playing with dogs for sometime and was not repelled. They were playing quite happily, one in a while it would jog over and tease them, allowing the three puppies to chase and bite it. Weeny little puppies, even if they had teeth, their bites were not with a lot of force.

Zheng Tan didn’t pay too much attention to them, getting along was a good thing, plus there was a cat as a playmate, there was no need for Zheng Tan to worry.

Just as he was about to snooze for a while, Zheng Tan heard voices sounding.

Peeping out from between the leaves, Zheng Tan saw a man around the age of thirty, carrying a large bag walking towards him. While he was walking he was also holding a phone and talking to someone over the phone.

That man’s accent while talking on the phone didn’t sound like a local, the apparel that he was wearing was a little abject.

Abject or not, Zheng Tan didn’t spend to much energy on that. His eyes were currently eyeing the phone in that person’s hand.