Chapter 206: Black Dog
The shop has been settled, and there are many things to be busy with next.
After dinner, the family sat under the flower stand in the courtyard to enjoy the cool air, and by the way, sorted out the things to do next.
Xiao Huan carried out the large watermelon stored in the well and cut it up to share.
The watermelon is spiritual field produce. Previously, Yuan Yuan had the birds bring back quite a few seeds, and Aunt Shang couldn’t recognize what they were, so she simply soaked them all in spiritual spring water and planted them to try.
Unexpectedly, there were quite a few surprises: melons and fruits, vegetables, flowers, herbs, everything one could wish for.
There were only two watermelon vines, but fortunately the spiritual field isn’t picky about seeds; if planted outside, they definitely wouldn’t survive.
Now there were over ten large watermelons lying in Aunt Shang’s space. She specially exhorted everyone to save the watermelon seeds, so they could continue planting them later.
Chu Xu was very curious about where the watermelons came from. Aunt Shang said without changing her expression, “Yuan Yuan brought them back from the mountains. You go ask Yuan Yuan.”
Chu Xu ran over happily to ask Yuan Yuan.
Yuan Yuan blinked her big eyes, her little baby voice soft and glutinous, “Ah?”
“This one,” Chu Xu pointed to the cut watermelon in the fruit plate, “where did you pick it from?”
Yuan Yuan: “Planted it.”
“Right, where did you pick it from?”
Yuan Yuan: “Planted it.”
Chu Xu thought the little baby girl just wasn’t pronouncing it clearly, so he patiently corrected Yuan Yuan’s pronunciation and asked the same question again.
This time Yuan Yuan didn’t answer. She just tilted her little head to look at him, her little eyes faintly showing disdain.
Chu Xu: “???”
Why was Yuan Yuan disdainful of him?
The little cub Yuan Yuan indicated that she had already answered twice, and the little brother was so dumb!
In the end, Chu Xu still didn’t get an accurate answer from Yuan Yuan.
Watermelons that hadn’t undergone later generations’ selection had thick rinds. They were juicy but only slightly sweet, and there were especially many watermelon seeds.
This actually made it convenient for Aunt Shang to collect seeds.
The spiritual field has an optimization function. After planting a few more times, perhaps they could eat large watermelons that were both sweet and juicy.
These past few days, two more plots were added to the spiritual field in Aunt Shang’s space, making a total of thirty-four now.
This made her increasingly inclined to the conclusion that the growth of the spiritual field was related to saving people.
Everyone ate watermelon while assigning tasks.
The shop’s decoration needed major changes. Aunt Shang planned to oversee it personally, and leave the family matters to Lu Chengjing and the other two.
The matter of processing herbs hadn’t been told to the villagers yet. Lu Chengjing planned to go find Old Man Wu tomorrow to talk about it, then invite the village elders over to hear their opinions.
After all, the elders had been in the village the longest and knew best what reactions the villagers would have.
Shi Tou had to tend to the field and also be responsible for processing herbs, while Xiao Huan was in charge of everyone’s clothing and food, and would help Shi Tou in her spare time.
Chu Xu actively raised his little hand, “What about me? I want to help too.”
“Woo!” Yuan Yuan still had a piece of watermelon in her mouth. Seeing the little brother raise his hand, she hurriedly raised her little hand too. Because she spoke too quickly, the watermelon juice in her mouth sprayed right out.
Fortunately, no one was sitting across, but Lu Chengjing, who was holding her, suffered the brunt. The hem of his clothes was dyed light pink by the watermelon juice.
Xiao Huan let out an “ah,” her delicate brows lightly furrowing.
The fabric of this clothing was good, but precisely because the fabric was good, the watermelon juice stain would be hard to wash out. If rubbed too hard, the clothes would be ruined.
Brother-in-law’s this set of clothes probably could only be worn at home now.
“No harm done.” Lu Chengjing waved his hand nonchalantly, took out a handkerchief to wipe the watermelon juice from Yuan Yuan’s mouth, and said warmly, “No rush, swallow the thing in your mouth before speaking.”
The little baby girl still didn’t know that this one mouthful had cost five taels of silver. She was grinning widely at her own daddy.
Lu Chengjing pinched her soft little face, took away the watermelon rind from his daughter’s hand, and replaced it with a new piece.
Yuan Yuan buried her head and took a big bite. Her little face, which had just been wiped clean, was stained with watermelon juice again. Her pink little mouth pouted as she spat out watermelon seeds into the basin with crisp “pu pu” sounds.
“Aunt Shang, I want to help.” Chu Xu withdrew his gaze from Yuan Yuan, reached out to hold Aunt Shang’s arm, and shook it vigorously.
Aunt Shang handed him a piece of watermelon and asked, “What do you want to do?”
“Anything?”
Aunt Shang nodded, “You say first.”
Chu Xu’s eyes darted around, and he grinned, “I want to follow you.”
The village was too boring. Although the county town couldn’t compare to the capital city, it was at least a fresh place.
Aunt Shang thought for a moment and nodded in agreement.
The Chu Family Army side probably didn’t know what was going on yet. Keeping Chu Xu under her watch, she could feel more at ease.
To put it bluntly, in case assassins came again, with her there, at least the child’s life would be safe.
Yuan Yuan now seemed to understand the words and actively indicated that the cub wanted to follow Mother too.
Aunt Shang’s one-person team instantly gained two kids.
Xiao Huan was worried that Aunt Shang had to supervise the shop’s decoration progress and wouldn’t have time to care for two children, so she wanted to help share the burden and at least keep one behind.
But the two kids clung tightly to Aunt Shang’s arms, one on each side, neither willing to stay.
Even when Xiao Huan tempted them with delicious food, the two kids didn’t waver at all.
Aunt Shang had no choice but to make a three-point agreement with the two: once in the city, they weren’t allowed to run around and had to follow her.
The two children naturally agreed readily.
With matters settled, Aunt Shang began her days of leaving early and returning late, busy with the decoration.
On the first day entering the city, without a mount wolf, Yuan Yuan found herself a mount dog in minutes.
The black dog didn’t know where it came from. Its fur was sleek, jet black and shiny, fat and sturdy-looking, clearly living well.
Aunt Shang rubbed her brow with a headache, “Good cub, where did you trick this from?”
Yuan Yuan tilted her head to look at Chu Xu. Clearly, the little baby girl didn’t know what kind of place she had gone to.
So Aunt Shang also looked at Chu Xu.
The well-informed Young Master Chu straightened his little back, and his little mouth spat out two words, “Casino.”
Aunt Shang: “…”
Good grief, she had only looked away for a moment, how did these two kids end up in a casino?
Weren’t they supposed to just buy sugar figures at the street corner?
“Did you give money?”
The two kids shook their heads together.
Yuan Yuan’s little hand stroked the big black dog that looked very fierce, smiling at Aunt Shang, “Mom, it followed me… came.”
Chu Xu translated and added beside her: “This dog was locked in a big cage, and there were many, many big cages there. This dog was the fattest and best-looking, and Yuan Yuan liked it a lot.”
After hearing the two children’s words, Aunt Shang figured this black dog was probably a fighting dog from the casino. From Chu Xu’s description, it seemed like one of the stronger ones inside.
She said helplessly, “Even if you like it, you can’t steal someone else’s dog.”
“Not steal!” Yuan Yuan waved her little hand at Mother. The doggy had run over on its own, not stolen.
Chu Xu also helped explain that they followed an orange cat and crawled into the casino through the dog hole.
Perhaps because the two children were small, no one at the casino noticed them.
The two followed the orange cat all the way to where the dog cages were. Yuan Yuan used the ointment Mother gave her to treat a badly injured big doggy’s wounds. After applying the medicine, the two left. Only after going out did they discover the big black dog following them, all the way back to the shop.
Aunt Shang: “…”
Don’t randomly pick up roadside dogs.
Yuan Yuan reached out her little hand to hug the black dog’s neck, her big watery eyes looking at Mother, saying softly and glutinously, “Like it!”
The kid-loving Aunt Shang: “If you like it, keep it.”
When she had time, she’d go to the casino and buy the black dog with money.
