Pastoral Daily Life

The summer rain stops as quickly as it starts.

The wounds on the big dog’s body had not been treated yet when the rain outside had already stopped.

The anaesthesia took effect, the big dog fell asleep, and Lu Lingxi was free to go. Dong Zhi took the time to instruct him to be careful on his way back. Lu Lingxi shook his head, not intending to leave halfway. He wanted to wait until the end of the treatment to ask about the big dog’s condition. When he had just touched the big dog, all he could feel was the thin, bony body under his palm and obvious scars in a few places. He had never seen a stray dog before, and although he wasn’t so naive as to think that all dogs were as shiny and smooth as the golden retriever kept in the Lu family’s main residence, he had never expected it to be this thin and bony to the touch. In order not to add to the mess, Lu Lingxi quietly took a few steps back and stood right next to Yan Yue.

From Yan Yue’s point of view, the young man’s appearance was on the delicate side, and his slender figure was a bit thin. Because it was summer, the teenager had a light blue t-shirt on, and his short black hair was falling softly, making his exposed neck look even more delicate and white.

When the boy was far away, Yan Yue didn’t feel it, but now that he was closer, Yan Yue felt that there was something comforting in the boy’s presence. As he just stood quietly by Yan Yue’s side like this, the violent emotions Yan Yue had been suppressing inside seemed to calm down. He couldn’t help but want to get closer to the teenager, closer still.

As the thought flashed through his mind, Yan Yue was shocked to realise that he had actually taken a step in the teenager’s direction. The moment he returned to his senses, a hint of embarrassment flashed in Yan Yue’s eyes and he retreated back to his original position quietly.

His movement caught Lu Lingxi’s attention; Lu Lingxi turned his head in confusion and smiled at Yan Yue.

The young man’s smile was so clean and clear that it was like a ray of sunshine shining into Yan Yue’s heart. Yan Yue recalled the young man smiling and petting the big dog, and that crazy thought stirred up in his mind again. His eyes darkened and he turned away expressionlessly, leaving the boy with the sight of his cold profile.

Lu Lingxi: “……”

“Alright!” Dong Zhi’s voice re-captured Lu Lingxi’s attention. He wiped his sweat and nodded in the direction of Lu Lingxi and Yan Yue. “The wound is treated. It should be fine after a few days of recuperation.”

Lu Lingxi breathed a sigh of relief and walked over to the operating table, asking, “When will it wake up?”

What the young nurse brought to Dong Zhi was a strong anaesthetic, and the anaesthetic effect would last at least 12 hours. Dong Zhi calculated the time, which was about the time the pet shop would open tomorrow. “Around eight o’clock tomorrow morning.”

Lu Lingxi asked, “Can it eat meat buns?”

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There was a breakfast shop at the entrance of the neighbourhood that had delicious meat buns. Wang Shuxiu had bought them a few times and Lu Lingxi soon fell in love with the taste.

Dong Zhi laughed, “Stray dogs eat everything.”

After answering Lu Lingxi’s question, Dong Zhi turned to Yan Yue and said sincerely, “Thank you, sir.”

With the dog’s injury, had Yan Yue not rescued it, on the rainy day, it would probably have been hit a second time because it could hardly move around. Yan Yue’s actions could be said to have saved the dog’s life.

“No need.” Yan Yue’s tone was concise as he took out some cash from his wallet and handed it over, “This is the cost of the treatment and the follow-up expenses for the next few days.” After saying that, he handed over a business card, “Call me if you don’t have enough money.” When he was talking to Dong Zhi, his eyes always were following the teenager inadvertently, but the boy was busy grooming the big dog’s tangled fur together with the two young nurses and didn’t pay any attention to him. Yan Yue felt a little uncomfortable again.

After suppressing the absurd thought in his mind, Yan Yue quickly left the pet shop. Before driving, he glanced at the name of the gardening shop across the street and remembered the words “ Tiny Garden”.

Inside the pet shop, Dong Zhi pinched the business card Yan Yue had left and read, “Yan Yue.”

This business card was different from the ones Dong Zhi had seen before. There was nothing fancy about it, just a name and a phone number, but it was unexpectedly impressive.

Lu Lingxi’s heart twitched when he heard the words “Yan Yue”. He seemed to have heard this name somewhere. There seemed to be a Yan family in Zhongjing? This thought was only fleeting; Lu Lingxi quickly left it behind and focused on the big dog.

Because he had helped out at the pet shop for a while, Lu Lingxi came home a little late. Wang Shuxiu had left the prepared meal on the table, as she always did, along with a brand new silver and white metal-cased mobile phone. Lu Lingxi’s old mobile phone had been picked up by someone during a fight in the park back then. He was used to not having a mobile phone and didn’t mention it, but Wang Shuxiu found it inconvenient to contact him and took the time to buy him a new one.

Lu Lingxi carefully entered Wang Shuxiu’s number first, and the corners of his mouth curled up unconsciously. He now had only three contacts, including Du Lin. He made up his mind to save Dong Zhi’s and Zheng Tan’s numbers when he went to work tomorrow. These people were his friends, and he would definitely have more and more friends in the future.

After playing with his phone for a while, Lu Lingxi ran to the backyard again. After a week, the tomato seedlings in the backyard had grown to almost a metre high. At this rate, he would soon be able to eat tomatoes. But if the tomatoes grew too fast, would the neighbours around find it strange? Lu Lingxi hadn’t thought about this when he planted the tomatoes, but now he had to think about it. It would be best to find something to cover them up so that they are not too obvious from the outside.

With this thought on his mind, Lu Lingxi sent a text message to Yi Hang before he went to bed at night.

“Lao San, you finally have a phone.” Yi Hang’s text message came back quickly.

“Don’t worry about this, tomorrow I’ll get Lao Er and we’ll make some simple shelters, just cover it up.”

“Thanks.” Lu Lingxi’s heart felt warm; maybe this was what it felt like to have a friend.

That night, Lu Lingxi had a good night’s sleep. Likewise, Yan Yue unexpectedly did not have insomnia and slept until dawn. It was just that when he woke up, Yan Yue’s face was a bit pale and his eyebrows were tightly drawn together. Throughout the night, his dreams were filled with the voice of the boy from yesterday, “It’s alright, it doesn’t hurt, just sleep and you’ll be fine.”

Those words were like magic, soothing the restlessness lurking inside him. Ever since his parents abandoned him alone in the Yan family mansion at the age of six, he had been subconsciously afraid of facing his fear of being alone every night. As a child, he did not know how to resolve this fear and resisting sleep seemed to be his weak way to fight. As he grew older, he was able to hide this fear well, but it had long been imprinted in his bones, tightly entangled with his insomnia.

Yan Yue had heard the saying that the more one stayed in the dark the more one longed for light, an instinctive pursuit. He thought of the strange boy and his almost instinctive desire to get close to him. He couldn’t describe this psychology; it made him sound like a pervert, to say the least. Yan Yue lowered his eyes, suppressing this strange urge, dressed and went downstairs.

Downstairs in the dining room, apart from Yin Yongde, there was also a strange young girl today. The girl looked about twenty, very cute and clean-looking. When she saw Yan Yue, a hint of surprise appeared on her face. She glanced at Yan Yue anxiously and called out in a small voice, “Brother.”

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Yan Yue looked indifferent, as if he had not heard her words.

A trace of hurt flashed in the girl’s eyes, but she still managed to put on a smile and reached out her hand to try to pull Yan Yue. Yan Yue gave her a cold look and the girl’s hand stopped in mid-air, not daring to really touch Yan Yue. She was only making a show of it anyway, so that Grandpa could see her attitude. She was aware of Yan Yue’s character; he was perfectly capable of taking off the clothes she had touched and throwing them in the trash in front of Grandpa and the servants.

The confrontation between the two was only momentary, as Yan Yue bypassed the girl to sit opposite Yin Yongde. With a sigh in his heart, Yin Yongde pretended not to see the undercurrent between the two and talked about other interesting things.

After a breakfast that left Yan Yue in no mood at all, he refused Yin Yongde’s offer to go hiking and drove away from the Yin house alone. Unconsciously, he had arrived at the same street as yesterday. Yan Yue parked his car at the intersection and looked at Tiny Garden from afar. It was still early and Tiny Garden had not yet opened, so Yan Yue did not know whether the teenager from yesterday worked there or was just watching the shop for his family. He remembered that the teenager looked like he was underage and should normally still be in school at that age.

Realising that his behaviour was akin to perversion, Yan Yue was about to leave when the boy, carrying a bag of buns and trotting to the entrance of the pet shop, appeared in the rear-view mirror.

“Brother Dong, Brother Dong.”

Lu Lingxi was completely oblivious to this car parked on the side of the road. His whole mind was on the black dog in the pet shop.

Dong Zhi lived behind the pet shop and opened the door with a smile when he heard Lu Lingxi’s voice.

“Xiao Xi, so early.”

Lu Lingxi smiled shyly and gestured at the buns in his hand, “Have you eaten, Brother Dong?”

Dong Zhi smiled, “Xiao Xi, did you bring me breakfast? Or did you bring it for Dahei?” Dahei (Big Black) was the name they had given to the stray dog from yesterday.

Lu Lingxi curved his eyes, “Brother Dong, you eat half and save half for Dahei.”

While the two of them were talking, Dahei, who had woken up after the anaesthetic had worn off, heard Lu Lingxi’s voice and was already barking in a low voice.

Lu Lingxi walked to the cage where Dahei was locked up. Dahei was obviously very uncomfortable in this small space. He growled irritably, and from time to time he used his front paw that was not injured to pluck at the bars of the cage. Feeling Lu Lingxi’s approach, Dahei stopped growling and squinted at Lu Lingxi.

Lu Lingxi’s expression softened as he carefully reached into the cage and touched Dahei’s head. Dahei didn’t move, letting Lu Lingxi touch him. Yesterday they took advantage of Dahei’s coma to give him a bath. After a night, even though one couldn’t say that Dahei’s fur was shiny, at least it was much cleaner.

“Here, eat the bun.” Lu Lingxi took out a bun and placed it in front of Dahei.

Dahei looked at Lu Lingxi and then lowered his head to sniff the bun, without moving.

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Dong Zhi reminded Lu Lingxi, “Xiao Xi, step back a little.”

Lu Lingxi obediently took a few steps back, and Dahei let out a low growl and lowered his head to bite the bun. After eating two buns, Dahei refused to eat any more. Lu Lingxi was puzzled; he didn’t think two buns would be enough.

Dong Zhi explained with a sigh, “Stray dogs like this are very sensible and good at reading people’s eyes. It is afraid of being disliked if it eats too much, so it usually eats half full.” Dahei also ate only what Lu Lingxi fed him; when Dong Zhi tried to feed Dahei in the morning, Dahei looked at him and turned his head away, with a clear look of caution in his eyes.

Lu Lingxi glanced at Dahei and asked in a low voice, “Will someone adopt him?”

Dong Zhi shook his head. His pet shop often rescued some abandoned puppies, and occasionally people would come to see them and adopt them. But usually the puppies that were adopted were either obedient and sensible, or some more expensive dog breeds. Dahei was just an ordinary dog, who would adopt him?

Lu Lingxi fell silent, looking at Dahei and thinking about Wang Shuxiu, wondering if Wang Shuxiu would be angry if he adopted Dahei.

Yan Yue sat in the car and watched as Lu Lingxi ran happily into the pet shop and came out in a depressed mood. What happened? Did something happen to the black dog? Or…

Yan Yue couldn’t sit still, clenching the steering wheel, hesitating whether to go over and take a look.