On this day, the autumn sky was clear and refreshing, and the sun rarely came out. Yan Zhengya was lying on the corridor of the main hall sunbathing with the little pig Mao Mao in his arms. Mao Mao found a comfortable spot, leaned against Yan Zhengya’s belly, squinting his small eyes, enjoying the sunlight.
"Sigh, people say children change every day, growing quickly. Why aren’t you growing? If you keep eating like this, even a landlord’s family wouldn’t have extra food. And I’m not even a dumb landlord, just a poor Daoist." Yan Zhengya sighed deeply.
"Oink?" Mao Mao raised his head to look at the sighing Yan Zhengya and stretched out his little hoof to pat Yan Zhengya’s belly, as if trying to comfort him.
"If this continues, we won’t have enough to eat," Yan Zhengya deliberately sighed again, with a bitter expression.
"Snort!" Mao Mao suddenly stood up and dashed out with his four little hooves.
"Where to?" Yan Zhengya didn’t get up as he knew Mao Mao wouldn’t run far. It would just wander around the area, so he wasn’t worried.
After a while, Mao Mao returned, waddling back with his little tail curled up. He had some things in his mouth, snorting as he ran back. And following behind him was a small squirrel.
Hmm? Yan Zhengya looked at this scene with puzzlement.
Mao Mao ran back to Yan Zhengya’s side and spat out the things in his mouth in front of him. They were a few pine nuts! The little squirrel behind Mao Mao gestured unhappily with its paws, seeming to be complaining.
Yan Zhengya was a bit stunned, then regained his composure and asked, "Did you snatch the squirrel’s pine nuts to feed me? Are you worried I won’t have enough to eat?"
"Oink!" Mao Mao pushed the pine nuts closer to Yan Zhengya, then nudged the aggrieved squirrel aside.
"Hahaha, you silly kid. I’m happy, but it’s wrong to steal food from small animals. We don’t have to eat this, I was teasing you, we have enough to eat." Yan Zhengya laughed heartily, though he didn’t know why, he felt a warmth in his heart spilling over.
Mao Mao tilted his head to look at Yan Zhengya, seemingly confirming they really didn’t need this, before nudging the pine nuts on the ground back to the little squirrel. The little squirrel grabbed a few and then quickly ran off.
Yan Zhengya watched as Mao Mao returned to sunbathe by his belly and confirmed one thing for sure. His little wild pig was indeed intelligent, truly could understand human speech.
This was really remarkable. He had seen many dogs understand their owners, and some cats too, but never heard of a pig understanding human words.
Now, his pig could understand human language and even thoughtfully went to find food for him!
Ah, why does he feel an odd comforting feeling of having old age solace?
"Alright, I’ll go make dinner, don’t run around. And stop chasing those chickens, if you keep bothering them they won’t lay eggs, then what will you eat for breakfast every morning?" Yan Zhengya sternly instructed Mao Mao.
One of Mao Mao’s joys was chasing those few hens in the pen every day. Initially, there was a rooster there too, and whenever Mao Mao went in to chase the chickens, the rooster would educate him, pecking a bunch of lumps on his head, leaving him to whimper looking for Yan Zhengya. Yan Zhengya felt heartbroken, so he sold that rooster. The ones remaining were hens with little fighting power.
Then Mao Mao just kept chasing the chickens every day, relentlessly.