Zhao Jun and Li Baoyu strolled forward a few steps side-by-side, then Zhao Jun suddenly turned back to ask him, "You’re here, so who’s watching the little ones?"

"Don’t worry, brother," Li Baoyu said. "My mom and my aunt are watching them."

"Good." Only then did Zhao Jun relax.

The two walked on and heard someone up ahead shouting, "Puppies, puppies."

’Is he cursing someone?’

Probably not. After all, it was almost the New Year. Cursing someone out right before the holiday was a good way to get a beating.

Zhao Jun followed the sound with his gaze and saw a middle-aged man under a large willow tree to the east. The man was watching over a wooden box, which was covered with a thick cotton quilt.

Zhao Jun tugged on Li Baoyu’s arm and headed toward the willow tree.

"Selling dogs?" As Li Baoyu got closer, the surrounding noise faded, and he could finally hear clearly that the stall owner was shouting "Puppies."

"Yup," the stall owner replied. "Want to take a look?"

"Sure, let’s see." Li Baoyu could be described as newly rich, so he spoke with confidence.

The stall owner lifted a corner of the quilt and said to Li Baoyu, "Brother, you have to be quick. The dogs are too small, can’t let them get cold."

"Alright, got it." Li Baoyu loved dogs, and even if they weren’t his, he didn’t want anything bad to happen to them.

Li Baoyu leaned over the box, lifted the quilt, and saw three little puppies lying inside. The box was lined with a filthy cushion, and they were desperately huddling together for warmth.

Zhao Jun glanced over from the side and said, "They’re all Qing Gou?"

"That’s right," the stall owner said. "From the same litter."

Zhao Jun’s brow furrowed slightly. "Why are you selling them when they’re so young?"

Hearing this, the stall owner couldn’t help but sigh. "On the third of the twelfth lunar month, I went into the mountains. The mother dog wasn’t tied up, and she followed me. I didn’t realize until we were deep in the mountains."

"We ran into a wild boar, and my dog... she was gored by it."

At this point, the stall owner’s eyes reddened, and his voice choked up. "It gored her right in the neck... She was due to give birth the next day, or the day after at the latest."

Zhao Jun took a closer look at the three puppies. They were likely born two days premature, and having had no mother’s milk all this time, they were probably quite weak.

The stall owner added, "Things are tough at home, so I’ve just been feeding them a bit of rice water. They cry from hunger every day. Brothers, if you want to buy one, you can take it for three yuan."

Li Baoyu reached out, carefully picked up one of the puppies to look at it, then let out a soft sigh and put it back. He turned to look at Zhao Jun.

Zhao Jun suddenly asked the stall owner, "Brother, where are you from?"

"Huh?" The stall owner was taken aback for a moment but quickly recovered. "I’m from Changling."

"And what’s your surname, brother?"

The stall owner looked at Zhao Jun. ’Is this kid trying to find a connection?’ he thought.

’But,’ he considered, ’if we really do have a connection, I’d be willing to just give him a puppy. It’s not about the money. As long as it’s a reliable family that can keep the little guy alive, that’s all that matters.’

"My surname is Qu."

The moment Zhao Jun heard that, he hurried to the wooden box, picked up the three puppies one by one, and turned them to face him.

The puppies were now over twenty days old, and all had opened their eyes. Zhao Jun examined each in turn. On one puppy’s eyelid, he saw what looked like a faint, light-colored dot. It was so tiny you could barely see it without looking closely.

"I’ll take this one," Zhao Jun said, unbuttoning his cotton-padded jacket and tucking the puppy inside.

"Deal." The stall owner, who had expected Zhao Jun to try and find a connection, was surprised he’d bought one so readily.

"Brother, what are you going to do with it once you get it home?" Li Baoyu hadn’t wanted to say anything, as it felt like he was interfering with the man’s business, but he also didn’t want to see Zhao Jun make a bad deal.

This puppy has probably never had a full meal since it was born. It’s a toss-up whether you can even raise it successfully.

Besides, what will you feed it?

In those days, people in the mountains didn’t even know what milk powder was.

There was malted milk extract, of course, but you’d have to be crazy to feed it to a dog.

And if you just boil rice water, isn’t it still going to starve?

"It’s fine. I’ll find a way to keep it alive," Zhao Jun said as he pulled money from his pocket. He took out three yuan and handed it to the stall owner.

After leaving the willow tree, Zhao Jun said to Li Baoyu, "Baoyu, tell my mom for me that I’m heading back early."

"Oh, okay." Li Baoyu knew the puppy couldn’t handle the cold, and Zhao Jun had to get it home as quickly as possible.

With the puppy tucked in his jacket, Zhao Jun hurried all the way home. Upon entering the village, he passed the general store and went straight inside. He called out to the woman behind the counter, "Aunt Wang, get me a tin of malted milk extract."

The shopkeeper pulled a tin of malted milk extract from under the counter and placed it on top. She smiled at Zhao Jun and said, "Zhao Xiao, what are you buying this for?"

"To drink, of course," Zhao Jun answered with a smile. He then said to the shopkeeper, "Aunt Wang, put it on my tab. I’ll settle up with you in a couple of days for everything."

"No problem." The shopkeeper took out a notebook, flipped through a couple of pages, and recorded the purchase. Seeing Zhao Jun holding his jacket closed with one hand, she asked, "What have you got tucked in there?"

"A warm snack," Zhao Jun said with a grin. "Aunt Wang, I’m off now." With that, he left the store, one hand holding his jacket closed and the other carrying the malted milk extract, and headed home.

He rushed home, went inside, and sat on the kang. When he unbuttoned his jacket, he saw the puppy had fallen asleep.

Zhao Jun took off his dog-skin hat, placed the puppy inside it, and then folded a small blanket into a square to cover the hat’s opening.

Then, Zhao Jun went to the outer room, started a fire to boil some water, and mixed a small bowl of malted milk extract for the puppy.

By the time he returned to the inner room, the puppy was trying to climb out of the hat.

Zhao Jun smiled, walked to the edge of the kang with the bowl, and lifted the little Qing Gou out of the hat, placing it on the floor.

The moment its paws touched the ground, the little Qing Gou started to pee.

Zhao Jun chided with a laugh, "Don’t pee in your own nest, huh? You have to pee on my floor instead."

After the little Qing Gou finished, Zhao Jun picked it up and placed it back in the hat. He had decided to give up the hat and let the puppy use it as its nest.

Then, Zhao Jun went outside, scooped up some snow with a shovel, and brought it inside to cover the puddle of pee.

He scooped the snow back out, brought in fresh snow, and after repeating this a few times, he brought in two shovelfuls of ash from the stove pit...

By the time Zhao Jun was done with all that, the malted milk extract he had mixed was no longer too hot.

He placed the bowl on the kang and took the little Qing Gou out again. As the puppy eagerly lapped up the malted milk extract, Zhao Jun squatted by the edge of the kang, watching it quietly.

"Cyan Dragon," Zhao Jun called out softly.

Miraculously, upon hearing the sound, the little Qing Gou stopped drinking and tilted its head to look at Zhao Jun.

Zhao Jun burst out laughing.

Around noon, Wang Meilan returned with Zhao Hong and Zhao Na. When they heard Zhao Jun had bought a puppy, even Li Xiaoqiao came over to Zhao Jun’s house.

Seeing the three girls having a wonderful time playing with the puppy, Wang Meilan pulled Zhao Jun aside and asked, "Son, what are you feeding that dog?"

"Malted milk extract," Zhao Jun answered bluntly.

"What?" Wang Meilan’s eyes went wide. She stared at her son and snapped, "You’re rich now, is that it?"

"Not at all," Zhao Jun said with a grin. "I got it from the general store and put it on the tab. Mom, you can pay it back for me some other day."

Wang Meilan: ...