Chapter 25 — The dog is very cute, but its master is uncultured.

On the way home, Xia Wei deliberately kept an eye out for Suns.h.i.+ne. It was still trembling with fear as it stayed by the construction site. It was obviously very afraid, but it was reluctant to leave.

Why are you so foolish Suns.h.i.+ne? Your master already abandoned you.

Not knowing if it had eaten lunch, Xia Wei had gone to the supermarket to buy food to feed it. She had been feeding it for the past two days, so Suns.h.i.+ne finally became a bit familiar with her. It no longer seemed to be as guarded.

It woofed at her before eating the food she bought. Xia Wei crouched across from it and began to give her daily, well-meaning preach. "Suns.h.i.+ne, be smart about this. If your master does not want you, he does not want you. Your life could easily be a lot better. Why on earth are you staying here, waiting for him?! When dogs are young, it"s hard to avoid coming across trash masters. You should not hang yourself on a tree to die, right?"

Bark.

"The outside world is so big. You have a lot to learn from Tangeriney. He seems to be good at swindling people. He rolls about acting cute, which softens your heart and makes you want to bring him home."

Bark, bark.

"Ai, it"s not bad now that I"m feeding you, but after I leave in two days, what will you do?"

Bark, bark, bark.

Xia Wei sighed. She talked to it about this every day, but she did not know if it was listening. The ways of the world was so broken nowadays. She didn"t want to see it become red braised pork on the table tomorrow.

"I"m leaving now. I"ll come again tomorrow to feed you, but you have to be careful." Xia Wei clapped her hands and stood up to walk across the street. Suns.h.i.+ne barked loudly and raised its head to watch her walk farther away. It wagged its tail and got up to follow.

Xia Wei was walking across a crosswalk when she faintly heard a dog barking behind her. She looked back and saw Suns.h.i.+ne following her. Xia Wei was surprised and stopped to stare at it. "I have nothing left; you ate it all."

Bark. Suns.h.i.+ne looked up at her, wagging its tail.

"There really is nothing." Xia Wei opened her bag to show it. "If you are not full, I can come back tonight to feed you."

Bark. It kept looking at her, still wagging its tail.

Xia Wei: "…"

She turned around and walked forward two paces before looking back. Suns.h.i.+ne really was following her.

…He seems to be good at swindling people. He rolls about acting cute, which softens your heart and makes you want to bring him home.

Xia Wei: "…"

Did she really look that easy to swindle? First, Tangeriney chose her, and now Suns.h.i.+ne chose her.

She kept walking silently. Suns.h.i.+ne followed her all the way to her childhood home.

Xia Wei: "…"

"Mom, I"m home."

Xia Wei"s mother had just taken a nap. When she heard Xia Wei return, she glanced at the doorway. "You"re back so quickly?" She then stared blankly at the dog behind Xia Wei. "You brought back a dog?"

"No, it followed me back. What should I do?"

Bark. Suns.h.i.+ne stood innocently at the door, wagging its tail at them. Xia Wei"s mother saw its pitiful state and did not have the heart to throw it outside either. "What can you do? Keep and raise it then. Who told you to go and tempt it."

Xia Wei: "…"

Did she not see its pitiful state?!

She frowned and told her mother, "But I"m heading back to A City soon. How about you raise it?"

"No, raising you took a lot of work; I don"t want to raise another dog. This dog followed you. You two are brought together by fate, so bring it back to A City and raise it."

Xia Wei: "…"

She understood her mother"s argument, but…Mom, can you explain what you meant by "another dog?"

She glanced at Suns.h.i.+ne, who innocently sat beside the door as it gazed at her eagerly.

Xia Wei: "…"

Alright, perhaps she was the type of person who was quite easy to swindle in the eyes of animals.

Since it had been decided that she would raise Suns.h.i.+ne, Xia Wei led it to the veterinarian clinic for an examination. After Suns.h.i.+ne was given its vaccines, she then went to a pet specialty store to find things to give Suns.h.i.+ne a bath with. Giving a dog a bath was very troublesome. Xia Wei had never raised a dog before, so she learned from being by the store owner"s side the entire time.

"Ah, it can finally be considered clean." When Xia Wei brought Suns.h.i.+ne home, it had already changed from a stray dog into a handsome Formosan. "A kennel, dog food, and such…I"ll buy after returning to A City."

Bark! Suns.h.i.+ne moved closer to lick her calf.

"Haha." Xia Wei felt slightly ticklish from its actions. She took out her phone and said to Suns.h.i.+ne, "Suns.h.i.+ne, look at the camera. Smile."

Bark!

Xia Wei snapped a photo of Suns.h.i.+ne"s outstanding appearance and posted it on QQ, saying: 「I picked up a stray dog and decided to bring it back home to raise. n(≧▽≦)n Despite Suns.h.i.+ne"s very handsome face, without even a speck of dirt, it"s still nicknamed a "dirt dog" for some reason (ー`ー)」

This post rapidly gained a ton of likes and comments, but there was always someone who was different from the others.

Jiang Zhi Zhou: 「The "dirt" in "dirt dog" is actually referring to "being from this land," not as the adjective "dirt."」1

Xia Wei"s reply to Jiang Zhi Zhou: 「… Oh『smile』」  

Jiang Zhi Zhou"s reply to Xia Wei: 「The dog is very cute, but its master is uncultured.」  

Xia Wei"s reply to Jiang Zhi Zhou: 「So you"re cultured; nice to know. Next 『smile』『smile』『smile』」  

Eight Treasures Congee Female Hero: 「Hahahaha dying of laughter」  

Flight-capable Knife-shaved Noodles: 「Kicking your dog food away and punching you dogs in the face :)」  

Tao Yu: 「You"re bringing it back to A City to raise?」

Xia Wei"s reply to Tao Yu: 「Mn, but checkthrough will be somewhat troublesome. Besides, it was abandoned by its previous master, so it still might be sensitive about this. I"m scared it will be afraid during checkthrough.」

While Xia Wei thought about how to bring Suns.h.i.+ne back to A City, Tao Yu had sent her a private message. 「How about I escort you to A city?」

Xia Wei: 「Ah, that"s unnecessary. It"ll trouble you too much.」  

Tao Yu: 「It"s no trouble. Driving fast, it"ll only take three hours. When do you plan to leave?」

Xia Wei: 「The day after tomorrow, but I"ll still think of another way. This troubles you too much 『smile-cry』」   

Tao Yu: 「The day after tomorrow happens to be Sat.u.r.day. I"ll just spend the weekend at A City while I"m at it 『laughs up sleeve』」   

Xia Wei: 「You don"t have weekend cla.s.ses?」  

Tao Yu: 「There are a few students who take private lessons at my place, but those can be rescheduled to Friday. I have not gone to A City in quite a while either, so it"ll be a fun trip.」

Xia Wei: 「Oh, that"s good then. Thanks 『cute』」   

Tao Yu: 「There"s no need to be so polite with me」

Xia Wei: 「I"ll treat you when we"re in A City 23333」  

Just as Xia Wei sent this message, her group chat began livening up.

Eight Treasures Congee Female Hero: 「@Asking For Suicide At Eighteen This Year, when did you mutually friend Mr. Jiang from downstairs?!」  

Invincible Little Sweetie: [You only found out now? I discovered this two days ago 『laughs up sleeve』」   

Asking For Suicide At Eighteen This Year: 「It"s just to have a convenient way to contact each other. After all, we quarrel often, so it"s not good to always seek out the property management.」  

Invincible Little Sweetie: 「hhhhhhh」 2

Not Losing 5kg Not Changing Name: 「My brows are furrowed. I think this is not simple at all.」  

Eight Treasure Congee Female Hero: 「Hahahahaha+10086」3

Asking For Suicide At Eighteen This Year: 「Don"t furrow your brows; you"ll develop wrinkles 『smile』」  

Eight Treasures Congee Female Hero: 「Twiggy pats her chubby tummy and thinks that this is not simple at all.」

Not Losing 5kg Not Changing Name: 「… 『smile』Eight Treasures, you can choose to leave the group or we can kick you out」    

Eight Treasure Congee Female Hero: 「I choose to excuse myself :)」

Xia Wei laughed as she looked at her phone. Eight Treasures sacrificed herself like this to divert Twiggy"s attention from her; she truly was worthy of the t.i.tle "female hero."

On Sat.u.r.day morning, Tao Yu drove over to her neighborhood. When Xia Wei"s mother saw Tao Yu come to pick her up, she said with an ambiguous tone, "This young man, Tao Yu, I think he"s very good. He has a steady job, and his IQ is high as well. A future child of his will definitely also be very intelligent."

Xia Wei silently lifted her suitcase and led Suns.h.i.+ne out of the house. "Then I"ll just leave first. I"ll come visit you again."

Xia Wei"s mother said, "Don"t return until you find a boyfriend."

Xia Wei: "…"

She felt she needed to check if she was her mother"s biological child.

Xia Wei"s mother walked downstairs to see her off, harping all the while, "I remember that you really liked Tao Yu when you were in school, right? I have a feeling that he is also interested in you, so how about developing something between you two?"

"Don"t you "have a feeling that" me. Since I was small, the people you like never like me."

Xia Wei"s Mother: "…"

How could she feel no shame saying such a thing?!

After seeing her off, Xia Wei"s mother left. Xia Wei carried Suns.h.i.+ne into the backseat and awkwardly told Tao Yu, "My mother always speaks nonsense. Don"t take any of it to heart."

Tao Yu chuckled and said, "It"s alright. My mother also says those things to me often."

Xia Wei originally wanted to say that with his qualifications, he certainly had a lot of girls who liked him, but she suddenly recalled what those two men had said at the school cafeteria the other day. She closed her mouth.

A three hour road trip was not considered very long, but it was not short either. Halfway, Tao Yu stopped at a gas station before driving nonstop to their destination.

Xia Wei was originally afraid that Suns.h.i.+ne would make a mess of Tao Yu"s car. Luckily, it sat obediently and only looked outside the window at the changing scenery with a curious gaze. Xia Wei stroked its head and couldn"t help but wonder where its previous master was. After all, they probably moved to a new city.

"Why did you want to bring a dog back to A City?" Tao Yu asked, glancing at her in the rearview mirror.

Xia Wei replied, "A new department store is being built by my neighborhood, right? The people who originally lived there moved, and it was abandoned there. So pitiful. Obviously, its master didn"t want it, yet it stayed there, keeping watch."

"This master is not very responsible."

"Right. My mom said that Formosans are abandoned very easily. If it was some rare dog breed, its master would definitely take it along."

Tao Yu recalled a previous message of hers and couldn"t help but smile. "Suns.h.i.+ne really is very handsome." He thought for a moment and asked, "The guy you mentioned previously who lived downstairs, is that the Mr. Jiang commenting on your posts?"

"Mn…a very nasty person, right?!"

Tao Yu didn"t voice an opinion of this man"s character and simply asked, "Why do you say you"re in his most disliked category?"

"Hehe, this Mr. Jiang—not only is his character nasty, he is also extremely germaphobic about relations.h.i.+ps. He cannot accept a girl who has an ex-boyfriend. You men, are you all like this?"

"Of course not; I don"t care."

Xia Wei shut her mouth again. Tao Yu, seeing her fall silent, didn"t force her to speak and continued driving in silence. At noon, they finally reached Xia Wei"s residential neighborhood.

Tao Yu stopped the car in front of Building 3 and exited the car after Xia Wei. "I"ll help you carry your luggage."

It was really inconvenient for Xia Wei to carry her luggage while leading Suns.h.i.+ne, so she nodded at Tao Yu. The two of them walked toward the elevator, which just happened to arrive then.

Jiang Zhi Zhou"s gaze coincidentally fell onto Xia Wei the moment the elevator doors opened. He froze for a second before blurting out, "You"re back?"

His happy mood had no time to fester, however, as he then saw an unfamiliar man standing beside her. The corners of his lips stopped rising instantly.

Author"s Note:

Second update will be around eleven o"clock

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