Chapter 16
Chen Sheng had no patience at all to take the puppy to the hospital for a check-up. Teacher Xiaomei also knew his mood had been unstable lately, and she was afraid that if they argued over this, he would start driving recklessly again out of spite. So she told him to head back to Changyang Town on his own first, while she took a taxi with the children and the puppy to a pet hospital.
Guanguan’s little face was flushed pink with excitement. Hugely delighted, he handed the little black puppy curled up in the cardboard box over to the doctor.
“This is Guanguan’s puppy!”
“All right, let’s take a look at Guanguan’s puppy.”
“Uncle, is Guanguan’s puppy very powerful?”
“Completely black all over, and even its paw pads are black.” Seeing how cute he was, the pet doctor teased him a little. “It’s the kind of black that’ll grow up to steal cassocks.”
Once the puppy was lifted by the scruff of its neck, it was set down again with its little tail standing straight up, fur all puffed out. Even after being put down, it stayed slightly arched as if ready to attack at any moment. Its dark little eyes darted around restlessly, making it look like it had a few schemes in its head, though not too many.
The pet doctor laughed again. “Guanguan’s puppy is very brave. When it grows up, it’ll be good at fighting and hunting. It’ll be a loyal, protective dog.”
Guanguan had no idea what “fighting” or “hunting” meant, but he still nodded with a little frown. “That’s right!”
Strangely enough, for a puppy that had shown up in a filthy drainage ditch, it had neither bug bites nor parasites on it. Still, the hospital followed procedure and did bloodwork, a full set of examinations, and internal and external deworming. In the end, they concluded that it was a short-haired black wolfdog puppy around forty-five days old.
Because the puppy was so dirty and could not be bathed yet, the nurse carefully wiped it down with a wet towel.
Before long, a pitch-black little puppy with drooping ears was carried back out.
The moment the puppy in the box saw Guanguan, it started whining pitifully as though it had suffered some terrible injustice.
Guanguan hurried over too. “Puppy, what’s wrong with you!”
The nurse instructed them, “Bring the puppy back in seven days for its vaccine. Don’t rush to bathe it after you go home, and since it hasn’t been vaccinated yet, don’t take it outside. Also watch its bowel movements carefully.”
Seven days later?
Wei Cheng glanced at Guanguan, who was happily hugging the puppy. By then, the whole world would already be in chaos. The little black puppy probably would not be getting its shots.
That would have to wait for another chance.
When it was time to pay, Teacher Xiaomei had just taken out her phone when Wei Cheng stopped her.
“Teacher, you don’t need to pay. Use Guanguan’s money.”
Wei Cheng pulled a red envelope out of the little backpack and looked at Guanguan. “Teacher Xiaomei said this red envelope was given to you by a driver uncle. So are you willing to use this gift to pay for your puppy’s medical expenses?”
“Guanguan is willing!”
Guanguan also clenched his little fist and said with complete seriousness, “Guanguan will give Driver Uncle a big red envelope too someday!”
After paying the medical bill, there was still money left from the one thousand yuan, so Teacher Xiaomei also took them to buy a little bed, dog food, and formula for the puppy.
Actually, all of those things existed in the Cloud Mall too. But if the leftover money was not spent now, it would end up not being spent at all. Buying a few more things for the puppy could at least count as not wasting the driver’s kind intentions.
Outside, the air felt like a giant furnace stuffed full of dry firewood. After only a couple of steps, the heat made people feel dizzy. This area was supposed to be Fengshui District’s hottest internet-famous street, yet now hardly any tourists or pedestrians could be seen. The only people still coming and going were delivery riders and sanitation workers.
Teacher and the two children waited more than ten minutes before finally getting a rideshare. The moment they got into the car and felt the air conditioning, they felt as though they had come back to life.
“I don’t know what’s going on this year. First there were those three days of violent storms, and people drowned all over the country, in both rural areas and cities. Then as soon as the rain stopped, here comes some red-level heat warning. A passenger I just drove said there was an old lady in their neighborhood who went out for a walk early in the morning. Then the weather suddenly turned hot before noon. She walked slower and slower, got hotter and hotter, and ended up being roasted to death alive in the park! I’ve been hot and irritated all morning. This damned weather is really trying to kill us working people!” The driver cursed and complained the whole way, clearly furious about the bizarre weather changes.
Teacher Xiaomei deeply agreed. “Huan City has never been this hot before. And the temperature is going to keep rising for the next week. I can’t even imagine how bad it must be in places like Qian City or Lin City, where summers are already especially humid and scorching.”
Teacher Xiaomei and the driver were chatting away, but the little black puppy had sprawled itself flat in the box with all four little paws spread out, like a dog pancake, clearly completely intoxicated by the air conditioning.
Guanguan had been secretly studying his puppy the whole time. He grabbed one of its paws and whispered, “Big brother, look. The puppy’s paw looks like a Chips Ahoy cookie!”
The little paw pads were small and black, and really did resemble tiny chocolate cookies.
Wei Cheng smiled. “A little, yes. But just because you’re craving cookies doesn’t mean you can secretly eat the puppy’s paw.”
Guanguan’s round eyes darted around wildly, like his little scheme had been guessed. “Big brother, how could you think that about your Guanguan!”
“Because Guanguan is a little glutton.”
When they got back to the welfare home, Teacher Xiaomei went off to sort out the things they had bought, while Guanguan carried the puppy around to show it off to his little friends.
“A puppy! It’s a puppy!”
Wang Xiaotiao was thrilled. “Guanguan, Brother Chengcheng, where did the puppy come from?”
Guanguan lifted his chin slightly, looking proud. “Guanguan and big brother picked up this puppy!”
Mingming also crouched down curiously to look at the little black dog.
Guanguan showed off, “Xiaotiao, Mingming, this is a very powerful puppy!”
Wang Xiaotiao tilted his head. “Why? It’s just a puppy!”
“Doctor Uncle said…” Guanguan lowered his voice on purpose. “When this puppy grows up, it’ll steal bean-paste buns.”
Wang Xiaotiao’s eyes went huge. He believed it completely. “Then that really is amazing! I can’t even steal bean-paste buns!”
Guanguan shook his head solemnly. “Guanguan can’t either!”
Mingming secretly pursed his lips in a smile. When he met Brother Chengcheng’s helplessly amused expression, his eyes curved too.
The weather was too hot, so Teacher Xiaomei made an easy-to-digest dinner of tomato and egg noodles for the children.
But when Guanguan saw the little black puppy eating dog food mixed with puppy milk formula, he wanted to copy it and eat noodles mixed with dog food too. Afraid he might really sneak off and eat dog food later, Wei Cheng deliberately scared him a little: “If a child eats dog food, the child will turn into a puppy. And once you turn into a puppy, big brother won’t recognize you anymore.”
Guanguan was genuinely frightened by that, and from then on never again said he wanted to try the little black puppy’s food.
—
Everyone kept hoping that night would bring some relief from the heat. They hoped that, like every ordinary summer evening, all they needed to do was open the window and they would feel a cool night breeze. Yet that simple, ordinary thing never came.
The air stayed damp, heavy, and stifling. At night, the temperature simply would not go down.
Because Guanguan, Mingming, and the others were still little children, Teacher Xiaomei had not lowered the air conditioner very much. But if this kept going, the children would soon have trouble breathing and would literally be cooked alive.
Wei Cheng made a quick decision. “Don’t be scared. Big brother is going to turn the air conditioner down.”
The moment he said it, Teacher Xiaomei appeared, drenched in sweat, carrying bedding. “Teacher’s room doesn’t have air conditioning, and even with the fan on the highest setting, it’s useless. Doctor Chen and the security guard are sleeping in the cafeteria. Tonight, teacher is going to sleep in your room.”
Wei Cheng said, “Teacher, the temperature is too high. People can die from this. We need to turn the air conditioner lower.”
The moment Teacher Xiaomei stepped in and felt the heat in the room, she realized she had seriously underestimated just how strange the temperature had become. She sighed. “All right, then I’ll go find some thick blankets for you.”
After adjusting the air conditioner again, the room finally became a little cooler. But the thick blankets they found turned out to be completely useless.
Late that night, Wei Cheng looked at Guanguan, who was still tossing and turning, unable to sleep, so hot he was practically breaking out in heat rash. Glancing at Teacher Xiaomei, who had finally fallen asleep, he quietly carried Guanguan into the little bed inside the safe house.
The next morning, everyone in Changyang Town woke up as though they had been baked alive.
At that moment, humanity was like food laid out inside an oven, quietly waiting as the extreme heat rose little by little.
The listless children came to the cafeteria for breakfast, and faintly, from all directions, they could hear the sound of suona funeral music and mourning songs.
The security guard shook his head. “Sigh. A few old people died from the heat last night!”
Wei Cheng frowned as he looked at the electronic clock hanging on the wall.
Today was August 20. The wiggle car needed six more days before the upgrade would be complete.
They had to leave.
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