A few years ago, Aunt Zhang, who lived next door, took in a local dog. The local dog was not very tall, and seemed to be a mixed breed of dog. It was only as tall as a small stool, and its legs were very short.
This dog followed Aunt Zhang to her home when she went to the vegetable market to buy vegetables (because Aunt Zhang happened to buy fried chicken that day, and it was probably attracted by the smell of fried chicken all the way home.) When it first came, it looked very dirty, and its fur was all stuck in pieces. It was the kind of stray dog that had been wandering for a long time.
After Uncle Zhang saw this stray dog, he discussed with Aunt Zhang: This dog seems to be a stray dog that no one wants, and the two of us are very lonely at home. If a thief comes, we can’t hear it in such a big yard, so just leave it and give it a bite of food.
So Aunt Zhang and her family took in this stray dog.
This stray dog is very smart. For example, if there are guests at Aunt Zhang’s house, it will bark a few times symbolically. If it sees Aunt Zhang chatting with the guests, it will quietly lie in the doghouse.
Aunt Zhang often tells us: “This dog is redundant in our house. Your uncle Zhang and I sometimes just have enough food every day, but because of this dog, we have to cook more every day. Let’s call this dog Duoduo.”
Since Duoduo moved in at Aunt Zhang’s house, he has never been picky about food. If there are leftovers, he will eat more. If there are no leftovers, he will just lie quietly in the doghouse, as if he never feels hungry.
I don’t have a dog at home, so sometimes there will be some leftovers at home, so I will bring it to Aunt Zhang’s house and let Duoduo eat it. So Duoduo is very familiar with me. Every time he sees me, he will happily wag his tail and jump up and down.
Later, Duoduo gave birth to a puppy, and Duoduo became thinner and thinner because she had to feed the puppy milk. Sometimes I thought Duoduo was really pitiful, so I often went to Aunt Zhang’s house to feed Duoduo.
About a month later, one day at noon, I went to the vegetable market to buy vegetables and came back. Just as I walked to the gate of my house, I found a tricycle parked in front of Aunt Zhang’s house opposite. The tricycle was obviously a tricycle for collecting dogs.
There were several iron cages on the tricycle, and there were several dogs in them. The dog in one of the cages turned out to be Duoduo. I saw Duoduo lying silently in the iron cage, with a sad face. After seeing me, it did not get up to welcome me. When I looked at Duoduo, I found tears in the corners of its eyes.
I was very surprised and asked Aunt Zhang quickly: “Auntie, why did you sell Duoduo to the dog collector? It’s a smart dog that can guard the house!”
Aunt Zhang smiled bitterly and said: “Duoduo has given birth to another puppy. Since it gave birth to the puppy, there are fleas everywhere in the house, which makes people very uncomfortable. Now the puppy is a full month old, and its puppies are doing well. Besides, there is not so much extra food at home. I really don’t want to feed two dogs, so I had to sell Duoduo.”
Looking at the poor Duoduo, I hurriedly asked the uncle who collected dogs: “Uncle, if I buy the dog you just collected, how much will it cost?”
The uncle said bitterly. I smiled and said, “I have been keeping dogs for such a long time, but I have never seen such a loyal dog. Just now, your lady pointed at this dog and said, ‘Now your puppy has grown up, and I don’t want to feed two dogs anymore. Do you want to go into the cage, you or your child?’ Who knew that this dog seemed to understand what people said? I just took the dog cage off the tricycle, opened the door, and was about to catch it, but who knew that this dog actually walked into the cage silently, which surprised me very much. You know, it takes a lot of effort for me to catch dogs. In all these years, no dog has ever taken the initiative to enter the dog cage.”
“If you want to buy this dog, I paid 30 yuan for it just now. You just need to give me 30 yuan, and I won’t give you any more money because I don’t want this kind of particularly human-like dog. I feel it’s very pitiful to sell it to a restaurant, and I feel bad about it.”
I was just about to take the money out of my pocket when Aunt Zhang, who was standing by and watching, said quickly, “Jing, you were not at home when I sold Duoduo, so I didn’t ask you if you wanted it. In fact, Duoduo has been very obedient in these two years that he has been in our house. Since you like to keep dogs, I won’t sell it today. I’ll give Duoduo to you, and I’ll also return the 30 yuan I got from selling Duoduo to the man who bought the dog.”
So Aunt Zhang quickly handed the 30 yuan in her hand to the uncle who bought the dog. (Because Aunt Zhang had just sold the dog, the money had not yet been pocketed.)
I didn’t want to take Aunt Zhang’s dog without paying, so I took out 30 yuan and gave it to Aunt Zhang. Who knew that she said she didn’t want money no matter what. She kept saying: Our two families have a good relationship, why would I ask for your money?
I saw that Aunt Zhang didn’t want money, and there was really nothing I could do. After thanking Aunt Zhang, I took the cage containing Duoduo off the car with the uncle who collected the dog.
However, after Duoduo saw the cage door open, it still lay in the iron cage and didn’t move, and didn’t want to come out.
The uncle bent over and pointed at me and said to Duoduo: “Come out, your owner has given you to her now, I won’t take you in anymore, and I won’t take your children in anymore.”
Duoduo heard what the uncle said, and it suddenly stood up from the cage. It walked out of the cage quickly, and I didn’t know whether it was thanking me or wagging its tail as usual when it saw me. It wagged its tail happily at me, and then, before I could react, it ran directly to Aunt Zhang’s home.
I was a little surprised: there is such a loyal dog. Aunt Zhang was just about to sell it, but it was not angry with Aunt Zhang. It always felt that Aunt Zhang was the first one to take it in. Maybe in its heart, it must be loyal to Aunt Zhang. No matter how Aunt Zhang treated it, it was still very loyal to Aunt Zhang.
Aunt Zhang, who was standing at the gate, saw Duoduo running to her home again. She picked up the stick at the gate and pointed at Duoduo and said, “You don’t belong to this family anymore. You are full of fleas. I just cleaned the yard. Don’t come home anymore. Your new owner is there. Don’t come to this home again.”
Duoduo looked at Aunt Zhang, stopped, and whimpered softly, as if he was preparing to say something to Aunt Zhang, and seemed to be very sad. The sound he made was like a child crying, but he couldn’t speak.
I hurried forward and called Duoduo. I picked up the fried chicken I had just bought at the vegetable market and called Duoduo. Duoduo then looked back every few steps, slowly left Aunt Zhang’s door and came to my house.
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