Chapter 83

After the Tong family's house was built, Tong Songming and Tong Shu's two uncles built a high wall around the newly built house and several wooden houses. As a precaution, they also installed an electric fence on the top of the wall.

Qin Xiaoxiao's condition is getting better and better. Grandma Tong often takes her to the chicken coop to feed the chickens. The first batch of chicks have grown up and are laying eggs in broods. The chicks are also hatching one batch after another. Qin Xiaoxiao likes these furry little animals very much, and the smiles on her face are becoming more and more frequent.

That day, Tian Zhaozhao blew a whistle to signal for others. When Tong Shu and the others rushed over, Tian Zhaozhao was holding and playing with a small black dog.

Tong Shu and Wang Jie's eyes lit up when they saw the puppy. The puppy had a round head, dark eyes, and two tufts of bright yellow fur on top, making it look adorable and incredibly cute.

Tian Zhaozhao had been observing the expressions of the brother and sister, and seeing that they were happy, she secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

"Why did you call us over at this hour?" Wang Jie asked, but his eyes were still glued to the little dog. "Your dog is pretty good. Can I hold it?" He then reached out and patted the dog's head twice.

“Sure, sure.” Tian Zhaozhao immediately shoved the dog into Wang Jie’s arms. “I came here to talk about this. This is a purebred Tibetan Mastiff puppy. Our camp recently took in a group of people from the north. A couple had two large Tibetan Mastiffs, a male and a female. They had five puppies on the way, but only two survived when they arrived at the camp. I left one at the camp. This one is in good spirits, so I brought it over to see if you want it.”

"A Tibetan Mastiff? No wonder it looks so majestic." Tong Shu liked it very much, and went over to pinch its little paws and stroke its little tail.

“That’s right. Without those Tibetan mastiffs, it would have been difficult for them to get here from the north.” Tian Zhaozhao said, “The Tibetan mastiffs protected their master and scared away a lot of people with bad intentions along the way. You have no idea how majestic those two adult Tibetan mastiffs are. They look like two little lions. However, they have also suffered a lot along the way and are now very thin.”

Tong Shu had seen Tibetan Mastiffs before. Someone in the neighborhood used to own one, but other residents who were taking their children out for walks reported it, saying that the dog was a dangerous breed and posed a safety hazard in the neighborhood. They insisted that the owner sell the Tibetan Mastiff. The owner was quite stubborn; he didn't sell the dog. Instead, he put his house in the neighborhood up for sale and bought a large villa in the countryside to raise his Tibetan Mastiff in peace.

"This dog will only recognize its owner when it grows up, it's very loyal," Tian Zhaozhao was still promoting it. Tong Shu had pretty much figured out what he meant when she saw him holding the dog, so she didn't try to play games with Tian Zhaozhao this time. She reached out and took the Tibetan Mastiff puppy from Wang Jie's arms, asking, "So, what do you want to trade the Tibetan Mastiff puppy for?"

Tian Zhaozhao lowered her head shyly and chuckled, scratching her head: "...Sister Hua, you know, we have more and more people now, and among the recent groups, there are even a few veteran electricians..."

Tong Shu understood a little, raised an eyebrow, and listened to him continue.

“Even a skilled cook can’t cook without rice… I’m thinking it’s a bit of a waste to leave so many talented people there, not using their expertise, just carrying bricks and digging sand… Sister Hua, do you have any really amazing engineers over there? I saw that lamp you took out last time… You definitely have electricity, right?” Tian Zhaozhao inquired cautiously.

Tong Shu chuckled: "You've had this idea in your head for quite a while, haven't you?"

"No, no!" Tian Zhaozhao hurriedly denied, how could he dare to admit it?

"But you guessed right, we do have engineers here. We were lucky enough to find two generators on the way here, and after repairing them, we started using them," Tong Shu said casually.

Two! Tian Zhaozhao's spirits lifted.

"What? You want it?" Tong Shu glanced at him sideways. Tian Zhaozhao bit her lip and nodded.

"You think you can trade a Tibetan Mastiff puppy for one of our generators?" Tong Shu sneered.

Tian Zhaozhao felt a little guilty. He knew that this deal was really unfair, so he had no choice but to force a smile and apologize to Tong Shu.

"I see you need the generator for more than just daily use, right? Tell me, what are your plans next?" Tong Shu leaned casually against the tree trunk and asked.

Seeing that she couldn't hide it from her, Tian Zhaozhao had no choice but to tell her everything honestly.

It turns out that Tian Zhaozhao wasn't a kind-hearted person who would take in just anyone. At first, most of those who came to seek refuge were colleagues or relatives and friends, and he couldn't refuse them out of courtesy. Later, more people came seeking refuge after hearing that their camp was stable and had a steady source of supplies.

In the past few months, Tian Zhaozhao has raised the standards for accepting outsiders again and again. Those with special skills can be approved to enter the camp, and those with particularly outstanding expertise can bring their relatives at the discretion of the authorities.

The farmland across the river was already quite extensive, and the grain grown was more than enough to sustain their daily lives. Tian Zhaozhao no longer focused on having enough to eat. He and his former secretary worked several long nights to reorganize the people in the camp, categorizing them according to their expertise and preparing to assign them different positions. He wanted to develop the camp into a base, with everyone performing their duties, so that this nascent human settlement could operate in an orderly manner.

After saying all this, Tian Zhaozhao felt a little uneasy. He was afraid that Tong Shu would think he was too ambitious, and he was also afraid that this mysterious organization would suspect their intentions and wipe them out overnight.

However, he was overthinking it. Tong Shu actually supported Tian Zhaozhao's idea. A well-managed and organized group of people is more likely to create order. Under the constraints of order, many of the darker aspects of human nature will be well suppressed, and it will be much safer for them.

"You're definitely a boss; you're always thinking about expanding your business wherever you go," Tong Shu teased with a smile. Seeing that she wasn't angry, Tian Zhaozhao finally felt relieved.

"But like I said, a Tibetan mastiff puppy can't buy a generator," Tong Shu said.

Tian Zhaozhao understood that this was probably the outcome. He sighed and said, "It's okay, Sister Hua. We've found a few generators over there, but they were too badly damaged. After several technicians looked at them, they either had parts that we couldn't get or they didn't know how to repair them. In short, they were just skilled workers, but they were far inferior to the engineers over there... Sigh, you can take this Tibetan Mastiff if you like it. We'll figure out a way to deal with the generators ourselves."

Tong Shu chuckled: "That's easy. I can have our engineers take a look."

Tian Zhaozhao's spirits immediately returned: "Really?! Thank you so much, Sister Hua."

Tong Shu waved her hand, saying that her father was becoming more and more adept at handling various machine problems, and the generator would probably be fixed in less than a day.

"You guys focus on your development. If you need any materials, you can still trade with us," Tong Shu said with a smile, her eyes narrowed.

"Understood, understood. We plan to open a few small food processing workshops first. We'll still need to trade fresh vegetables and fruits with you then. Don't worry, Sister Hua, our relationship is unbreakable!" Tian Zhaozhao immediately pledged her loyalty.

Tong Shu and Wang Jie said goodbye to Tian Zhaozhao and happily returned home with their new family member in their arms.

Upon arriving home, the little Tibetan Mastiff, resembling a black ball, immediately garnered enthusiastic attention from everyone.

"Wow! Is this a Tibetan Mastiff puppy? It's really sturdy!" Wang Jianye picked up the little Tibetan Mastiff, tugged at its hind legs, and flicked its ears, making the puppy bark and howl.

"So cute, it doesn't have any teeth yet." Qin Xiaoxiao leaned over and carefully tapped its wet nose.

“Most puppies this big would already have teeth, but this is definitely a Tibetan Mastiff. It’s not even that old yet, but it’s already as big as a puppy that’s a few months old,” Qin Jiaqiang said as he walked over to his daughter, who was looking at her intently.

Shu Hua was cooking in the kitchen when she saw her family playing with a puppy through the window. Feeling a little envious, she took a knife, cut off a piece of marbled beef, put it on a small plate, and went outside. She smacked her lips twice and placed it in front of the Tibetan Mastiff.

"Mom, it's still small, it can't eat meat yet!" Tong Shu reached out to pick up the plate.

The Tibetan Mastiff caught a whiff of beef, its saliva already dripping. It nimbly lunged forward and swallowed half the beef in the blink of an eye.

"Hey! You can't eat! You're still drinking milk!" Tong Shu pulled at the exposed half of the beef, using her hand to pry open the dog's mouth, trying hard to pry out the other half of the beef.

Everyone was overjoyed and pitched in to help. When Qin Xiaoxiao heard that the puppy could only drink milk, she quickly went to the kitchen to prepare goat milk.

The little Tibetan Mastiff was incredibly stubborn, and the group, fearing they might hurt it, finally managed to pry the beef out of its mouth after a long struggle. The dog smacked its lips, savoring the delicious beef, and let out a pitiful "woof woof" sound.

"Oh my god, that sweet little voice is so adorable, it melts my heart." Wang Jie looked delighted, picked up the little dog wriggling on the ground, and rubbed it against him a few times: "You're so good at being affectionate, I'll call you SuSu."

Tong Shu: ?

"This name is good, it sounds just like my eldest granddaughter's name." Grandpa Tong also approved of it.

"...I don't want to! Don't shout..." Tong Shu protested loudly, but no one paid attention to her. Qin Xiaoxiao came over with the prepared goat milk powder, and everyone gathered in a circle to watch the puppy drink the milk. They made "slurp slurp slurp" sounds to amuse it, and a few words of praise were mixed in.

"Wow, our Susu is so delicious!"

"SuSu drinks so much, good dog!"

"So our SuSu is a male dog. Do boys know how to be so affectionate?"

...

Tong Shu was speechless, looking at the little dog that shared an 80% chance of having its own name, and felt a sense of having shot itself in the foot.