After greeting Yu Xueqing, Ansheng grabbed some beef jerky from the delivery box and left home.
When he arrived at the garden, Ansheng didn’t forget to run into the flower bed to take a leak.
The original gentian spear was turned into a showerhead by Yu Xueqing.
A stream of urine soaked into the dry soil; Ansheng shook his body and prepared to climb over the wall to the neighboring house.
But just as Ansheng got on the wall, he caught sight out of the corner of his eye of a green sprout seeming to emerge from the dry flower bed, right where Ansheng had previously buried a doghole.
"Is the iron tree blossoming?"
Perched on the wall, Ansheng looked surprised as he glanced at the newly sprouted green shoot.
There is a rain cover over the location of the flower bed. Since Yu Zhenghong and his family moved to the city, none of the plants in the flower bed have been watered, and the soil has dried up.
And it was where Ansheng previously poured a stream of yellow to block the doghole.
The seed absorbed the nutrients and broke through the soil.
After glancing at it twice, although it was recognizable as some kind of shrub tea tree, Ansheng couldn’t quite identify exactly what type of tea tree the sprout belonged to at the moment.
When Ansheng planned to come back, he decided to water that little green sprout.
"Woof—"
Ansheng jumped into Lai Foo’s home, with a big piece of beef jerky in his little fox mouth and let out an accented bark.
A slim Labrador, streaked like lightning, poked its head out of the house and barked in the direction of the low wall.
"Woof—"
Seeing that Lai Foo was in good spirits, Ansheng jumped straight from the wall into the courtyard to offer Lai Foo yak jerky.
"Woof woof woof...."
Lai Foo saw the food, looked a bit dispirited, barked twice towards Ansheng, his appetite still poor, and sat on the ground, spreading his legs, licking the wound site.
Seeing this, Ansheng felt a twinge of pain from his bell, furrowing his small fox brows and lifting a paw to pat Lai Foo comfortingly:
"It hasn’t grown back yet, but maybe when science advances, you can get two stainless steel ones. Besides, it’s not like you never enjoyed it."
"There’s a whole two months before the mating season to recuperate."
With a sympathetic face, Ansheng comforted Lai Foo.
Lai Foo used to be a big shot on the street, with his heavyweight physique and the iron tail of a Water Hunting Dog, he could sniff any dog’s rear end at will...
But now that he lost the two jingles, Lai Foo developed a social phobia towards those activities.
Thanks to Ansheng’s comfort and the salty aroma of yak meat, Lai Foo regained a bit of appetite, finishing the beef jerky and then munching down two more pounds of dog food.
"Woof—"
Lai Foo barked to Ansheng and the foxy-doggy duo leapt over the wall and took off.
Ansheng moved swiftly, leaping in one bound to land outside the courtyard from the top of the wall.
But Lai Foo, lacking the fox’s agility, simply ran to the main gate, climbing the crossbeam like an escapee breaking out of prison, moving step by step.
But Lai Foo was very skilled, making little noise as he ran out of the house.
"Let’s go! We’re off to patrol the village!"
Ansheng turned over and mounted Lai Foo, who then carried the fox around the village for a stroll.
"Woof—"
When passing a dog-owning household, Lai Foo would pause to greet, asking the dog there if it wanted to come out to play.
But most dogs didn’t come out; they mostly belonged to dirt hounds, instinctively refusing to leave the house at night as night fell, staying to watch over the home instead.
Ironically, a sheepdog accepted Lai Foo’s invitation to roam the streets and quietly snuck out.
The two dogs and a fox wandered the streets at night, occasionally marking a spot on a utility pole to claim territory.
Ansheng didn’t participate in the turf-marking, instead quietly browsing through the wishlist in his mind.
And listening to Lai Foo and other dogs communicating.
Though a red fox belongs to the fox genus, like other dogs, they all classify into the canine family. Ansheng could vaguely hear the inter-dog communications and pheromones.
[I might die... I’m really sorry, I truly am sorry. In the days to come, I won’t appear in your life anymore — he felt awful in his drunken state, yet filled with lust, mind all lingering on No. 69’s allure.]
[Wish Fulfilled: A Glass of Water (Blue Sea Linglong Hotel’s No. 69, pretty appearance, affordable pricing, and considerately offers discounts to clients, you sent him over)]
"When on the brink of death, still thinking about a hotel masseuse."
While strolling the small town, a bizarre task refreshes on Ansheng’s wish list.
After reading it, Ansheng rolled his eyes, barking two commands to make Lai Foo and the sheepdog stop.
Ansheng climbed over a house wall and, following the scent of alcohol, found the muddled young man who had made a wish to him and ran to the kitchen to pour him a glass of water.
[Wish Fulfilled: The chicken and worm feel better.]
[Wish Power +1]
While raiding Chicken and Worm’s refrigerator, Ansheng pilfered some hot dog sausages meant for instant noodles to bring back to Lai Foo and the sheepdog for a makeshift supper.
Lai Foo nibbled a bit, appetite still poor, while the new sheepdog, after feasting, gazed at Ansheng with an admirative subtlety.
Ability to enter a house, steal food, and unwrap packages.
In the sheepdog’s mind, it equated to Ansheng being able to snatch food from humans without defeat, what a hero!
"Woof—"
Ansheng barked, and the Woof Woof Squad resumed forward, marking territory and gathering the village’s gossip.
[So fond... In hindsight, I should have grabbed her hand back then. Sigh, don’t even know how she’s doing nowadays, it’s been eight years — a lonely single middle-aged man twists and turns reminiscing his college time white moonlight.]
[Wish Fulfilled: White Moonlight (The dowry of 800,000 yuan crushed his backbone, and after achieving career success, unachievable past things bring forth beautiful nostalgic filters)]
"Some kind of thief?"
Seeing the refreshed wish, Ansheng glanced at the nearby self-constructed eight-story building, wearing an odd expression.
An eight-floor elevator residence... still worrying about not finding a girlfriend?
Probably climbed more valleys than this single fox has ever seen.
Evaluation complete, purely overstuffed and unable to sleep.
"Woof—"
Ansheng’s eye twitched slightly, gesturing for Lai Foo to keep going, not to stop here to watch the dog display wealth.
[This time there’s real trouble, why has a big wild boar suddenly shown up in Skinny Dog Creek, has Green Mountain Blue Mountain’s restoration gone so well? Although now, wild boars are not on the protection list, private hunting and trapping are also prohibited — Chen Fengshui lay on his bed pondering solutions to the wild boar overpopulation.]
[Wish Fulfilled: Hunt to one’s content, some unauthorized actions dared to act freely in front of a national second? (Initially, the villagers of Changxi Town thought they were just wild boars, yet, wild boars never travel alone... they’ve thrived.)]
"Old Chen?"
During the stroll, unknowingly they arrived at the village head’s house. Ansheng showed a puzzled face and said:
"Xia Dong Region... also troubled by wild boars? That’s indeed quite a peculiar thing."