Song Yan wasn't really familiar with dog behavior, but she remembered hearing things like, "Animals can get depressed, especially intelligent animals like dogs." Song Yan carefully considered how to phrase it. If she said Bai Shuang seemed to have depression, would they believe her? These days, people rarely hear about people suffering from depression.
A carton of luncheon meat was opened, and half of it remained. Song Yan cut off a small piece and handed it to Xiang Zhoushan, "Do you want to feed it to Bai Shuang and let her eat it?"
Bai Shuang didn't like it and turned her head away. This is meat, and Bai Shuang doesn't even like it?
"Bai Shuang doesn't even like eating meat anymore?" Shen Dongqi was also surprised.
"White Frost is probably a problem with its emotions. It has not only physical trauma, but also psychological trauma. It needs more companionship, and you shouldn't do things it dislikes. Discover what it likes and try to satisfy it."
"You mean dogs can have mental illnesses too?" Shen Dongqi found this utterly unheard of.
Xiang Zhoushan said, "Perhaps my sister-in-law is right. Bai Shuang is smart; it knows it can no longer perform its duties. It can only retire now."
"Bai Shuang's current activity range and daily routine are completely different from before, right?" Song Yan asked.
“Of course. Before, every day was spent training, and if we weren’t training, we were going on missions. Now, Bai Shuang spends most of her time indoors.” Xiang Zhoushan’s tone was tinged with sadness.
Song Yan: "Before, Bai Shuang could run around and play freely, but now she can only be kept indoors. She can't accept it."
“The training ground is for training military dogs, so Bai Shuang can’t go there anymore. Retired and elderly military dogs will be well taken care of. But their activity area is just one big yard. Is that why Bai Shuang isn’t used to it?” Xiang Zhoushan asked in surprise.
Song Yan: "Maybe."
Shen Dongqi: "If Bai Shuang doesn't want to be kept in captivity, she can only be adopted. The adopter can take her out every day, or in the countryside, she can simply roam freely."
I'm a little uneasy about handing Bai Shuang over to someone else.
Moreover, the conditions for adopting a military dog are very strict, and most people cannot meet the requirements.
Besides, Bai Shuang has a huge appetite when it's in good health, and nobody has that much food to feed it! Xiang Zhoushan was worried.
Feeding is indeed a problem. We have a dog named Hei Zai at home, who is only half a year old but has a big appetite.
Xiang Zhoushan and Shen Dongqi left dejectedly…
Song Yan doesn't go into the mountains much anymore, but he does wander around the mountainside when he goes for his morning run.
The wind and rain had been strong before, and many thick tree branches had broken. Song Yan picked up a few of them.
Wei Aiguo watched through the window as Song Yan chopped a tree branch as thick as an arm into pieces with an axe. He thought to himself, "If I hadn't been injured, why would I have let her suffer like this?"
Wei Aiguo sat in his wheelchair and slowly turned it to the door. "Didn't we buy coal briquettes? Why are you bringing so much wood?"
"Don't we have sweet potatoes? I'd like to try and heat some charcoal so we can roast them." Song Yan continued working.
"Smothering charcoal isn't that easy! Don't overdo it..."
Is anyone home?
"They're here!" Song Yan happily opened the door, where a middle-aged man was carrying a bundle of bamboo strips. "They've brought them for me! Come in!"
The man gave a simple, honest smile. "I was afraid of delaying your use." He tried his best to speak Mandarin, but his voice still sounded strange.
Song Yan was about to take the bamboo strips from him.
“It’s very heavy. Tell me where to put it and I’ll bring it to you. I’ve also inserted bamboo strips into the bamboo strips; they can be used as edges when weaving things,” the middle-aged man said.
Song Yan: "Thank you!" Song Yan opened the door to the storeroom and put the bamboo strips inside. "Wait for me here."
Before the rain, Song Yan went to the bamboo forest and met this middle-aged man cutting bamboo. He was a local, so Song Yan struck up a conversation with him. The man said he wanted to weave some household items and needed bamboo strips.
The bamboo belongs to their village, and the villagers can use it. It's fine for military dependents to go into the bamboo forest to pick some things, but cutting down the bamboo is really not allowed.
Song Yan wanted to buy some bamboo strips, but the man said five cents would be enough. Song Yan said, "Then I'll buy five cents' worth." He really hadn't expected that five cents could buy such a big bundle.
Song Yan went inside, took out fifty cents, and handed it to the middle-aged man. But he hesitated to speak.
Why do you complain that it's not enough? But that's what we agreed on back then.
"Is there anything else?" Song Yan asked.
"I overheard you saying outside the door that you wanted to smelt charcoal. Smelting good charcoal isn't easy." The middle-aged man was hoping to earn a few cents, and he also thought Song Yan didn't seem like the type to do such rough work.
Wei Aiguo didn't want Song Yan to suffer! "Brother, we have charcoal at home."
"Yes, it's made of fruitwood. Do you...do you have any?"
The man wasn't asking for a high price, and Wei Aiguo wanted to buy it too. Ten pounds of charcoal for five cents—both of them were quite happy.
The man left happily.
"Alright, no need to go through all that trouble. Return the axe later!" Wei Aiguo turned the wheelchair around...
Wei Aiguo was reading in the outer room, while Song Yan was weaving in the inner room. That morning, with some space to help, she wove several bamboo steamed bun baskets. They could be used to hold steamed buns, to rinse vegetables while washing them, or to store other things—they were quite practical.
"With so many bamboo strips, how many things will you have to weave? We won't be staying here for long, will we be able to use them all?" Wei Aiguo felt sorry for Song Yan, whose hands were cut by the bamboo strips.
"The things we use are things we borrow from this family because they have an extra stool, or from that family because they don't need a ladle. Although we have to return them in the end, it's not good to use other people's things for free. So I put in a little effort to knit something and give it to them. That way, I won't feel indebted to them, right?"
The things Song Yan's family used came from Sister He's house and the two courtyards on the east and west sides, plus Instructor Tian's house.
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