Chapter 59

"Meow!"

As soon as Ding Sha walked into the lobby, he heard Egg Yolk's extremely loud panting and furious hissing.

This was followed by a cry of surprise from Du Rourou.

Ding Sha hurried over to the front desk in a couple of steps, "What happened?"

When he got there, he saw a big, dirty dog covered in mud sitting innocently at the entrance.

"Where did this dog come from?" Ding Sha was a little puzzled.

"I don't know. I was just about to groom Egg Yolk when it suddenly squeezed in from the entrance and gave Egg Yolk a fright." Du Rourou said.

Although the dog was very well-behaved. It had been sitting on the doormat at the entrance ever since it came in, dripping all the wet mud on its body onto the mat.

"Oh well, let's take it out back and give it a bath first, it’s too dirty," Ding Sha looked around, somewhat struggling with how to take it out back.

The dog wagged its tail. Ding Sha took a chicken jerky treat for Egg Yolk and led the dog out back.

Gong Sister-in-law was startled by the dog, "What a filthy dog!"

Ding Sha casually explained what happened. Gong Sister-in-law immediately grabbed a mop and hurriedly went to mop the floor.

Ding Sha stuffed the chicken jerky into the dog's mouth, turned on the solar powered hot water tap in the yard, and he and Du Rourou started scrubbing the big dog.

They used a lot of pet shampoo before getting the dog clean. The dog just squatted there, lifting its paws whenever they said, turning around and patting its butt to change position when prompted, extremely obedient.

After washing, Ding Sha could finally see that it was a large Golden Retriever, quite old, with a white face.

Its eyes were bright black, its mouth open panting, looking rather smiling.

Ding Sha couldn't resist petting it over and over.

It looked like a very polite dog... But it really took some effort to blow dry it, the two of them took turns blowing until their arms ached before Xiao Jun finally came to finish up the job.

The sweet-smelling dog walked over to Ding Sha and rubbed against her leg, its grape-like eyes fixed on her.

Ding Sha gave its head and big ears a few delightful rubs that she just couldn't get enough of.

But seeing how polite it was, it must have an owner.

The dog was not eager to move. It just lay down by Ding Sha’s feet and didn’t budge, with its warm furry body and thick fur pressing against her legs. Ding Sha squatted down to pet it.

"Are you lost?"

"Do you remember where your home is?"

"Shall I take you home?"

The dog just opened its mouth wide to yawn lazily, then rested its head on its crossed front paws, glancing up at Ding Sha occasionally, its bean-like eyes extremely docile.

Ding Sha sighed. After waiting a little longer unable to stand the sun, she took the dog to their living quarters.

Once inside, the dog went around sniffing everywhere, then headed straight for Little Ping An's crib.

Ding Sha was shocked and hurried after it, only to see the dog continuously sniffing around the crib.

Little Ping An was in Zhao Auntie’s room. The dog circled around the crib twice before Zhao Auntie came out holding Little Ping An.

"Wow! Where did this huge dog come from?" It was only when Zhao Auntie walked over that she noticed the dog.

"It came over by itself," Ding Sha patted Little Ping An's hand. Little Ping An immediately reached out, wanting to be carried.

Ding Sha picked him up and guided his soft little hand to stroke the dog's head and big ears. It was Little Ping An's first time touching a dog.

The feeling was different from touching Egg Yolk. Egg Yolk was all soft little chubby meat. The dog was not only much thicker to the touch, it also had all those flexor muscles from running around.

Little Ping An babbled happily.

After playing with it for a while, Ding Sha said, “Zhao Auntie, take Little Ping An for lunch and a nap after you’ve eaten. He didn’t sleep well last night and kept fussing around.”

Zhao Auntie took the baby away again. Ding Sha thought for a moment, tied a silk scarf around the dog's neck as a makeshift leash, intending to take it for a walk around the neighborhood to see if she could find its owner.

The obedient dog followed her out the door, walking leisurely beside her the whole way, stopping when she stopped and walking when she walked.

Ding Sha really loved it.

After circling around, she didn’t run into anyone looking for a dog, so Ding Sha could only stop by a pet store to buy a proper leash and collar to put on it before taking it home.

Just as they entered, she saw the lobby filled with firemen in orange red uniforms. Ding Sha asked Du Rourou, "Why are there so many people?" Du Rourou was busy juicing, "There was a fire in the street next door started by a woman who, distressed over her husband's affair, impulsively set her own house on fire in her excitement, and the neighbors on both sides were also affected. They just finished putting out the fires and came here for a meal."

"There are a few young fighters from Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan, just 18 or 19 years old, with baby faces but handsome and shy. Brother Xiao heard their accents and made them a few spicy hot pot back in the kitchen."

As Du Rourou spoke, she asked, "Didn't find the dog's owner?"

"No,” Ding Sha shook her head. “I’ll take it to the backyard and come help out in a minute.”

Just then the captain of the squad glanced at the dog and suddenly shouted, "Heishan!"

The dog joyfully trotted in place, trying hard to restrain its paws because of the leash, extremely excited with its tongue hanging out.

Ding Sha blinked. "Your...dog?"

The captain came over, "Our station dog, about to retire."

He squatted down and ruffled the fur on the dog’s head. Heishan happily rolled around.

"Heishan is officially registered,” the captain said. “We went out on a mission today. We were originally there to rescue people, but on the way back we received a call about the fire so we rushed over. Heishan got all muddy too."

"We were worried his fur would get burnt in a big fire, so we didn't let him come along. It was only afterwards that we realized he was missing."

The captain seemed unconcerned. "Heishan knows the way home, we were just worried that without a collar or a leash, someone might mistake him for a stray."

"Some of the team members have been going around looking for him. Now that he’s here, I can notify them to hurry back for food and rest."

The captain then made a phone call, gave a few instructions, and hung up.

"Heishan was very well behaved. Although he was a bit dirty when he wandered in, he was very polite and didn’t make a fuss at the entrance." Ding Sha said with a smile.

"That’s good to hear. Heishan likes to go visit other people's homes for fun. He probably just thought your place nice." The captain also smiled.

Du Rourou cut in, "Captain, why is it called Heishan?"

"Because when we found him as a puppy, we happened to be watching A Chinese Ghost Story, not only did he stay and watch with us, he got especially excited and kept barking when the Black Mountain demon came out, so we just named him Heishan." Heishan remained docilely squatting at their feet, no superfluous moves without orders, just occasionally glancing up at them. Du Rourou couldn’t resist giving him a few more pats, "So obedient!"

"Heishan is retiring this year. His handler plans to take him home to retire comfortably," said the captain. “He’s very obedient. You can pet him more when he’s off duty like now.”

Du Rourou gave him another good few pats.

Heishan just looked at her placidly.

In the end, the squad got a 50 percent discount. The captain said he couldn’t win against Du Rourou and gave a wry laugh, saying he’d never come again, otherwise how would the boss make any money.

Ding Sha immediately turned to Xiao Jun, "I’d love to have a dog! What do you think about getting one like Heishan?”