Chapter 28 Two Little Lives
I couldn't help but feel great pity for them.
At an age when they were just born and knew nothing, they were not only separated from their mothers, but also left to die in sub-zero temperatures.
The heated kang (a traditional heated brick bed) wasn't very hot anymore, so I took out an electric blanket, turned it on, put a towel on it, and wrapped the two little ones inside.
Then cover the chicks with the old clothes that were used to cover them, leaving a gap for them to breathe.
Let's warm up for a while first; whether you live or die depends on your fate.
After saying that, I turned around and went to get down to business.
They started tidying up the meat that had been piled up all over the floor yesterday and moving it to the back room.
Of course, you should put the most expensive one in first.
I put the shrimp and beef on the upper shelf. Even though there wouldn't be any mice in the sub-zero temperatures, I still felt it would be cleaner to put them there.
Then add cooked food.
Finally, place the chicken at the bottom.
The five large shelves were crammed full, barely enough to hold all of these things.
However, there is still space at the back door, enough to put some other things.
Then put all the snacks in the cupboard in the west room.
I've tidied up all the remaining odds and ends and put them back in their proper places. I'm finally done with today's work.
I quickly heated the kang (a traditional heated brick bed), steamed myself a braised pig's trotter, a bowl of steamed egg custard, and a bowl of rice.
Then I went to the front room to see the two puppies.
By this time, the two puppies were warm and fast asleep.
Looking at them, I couldn't help but wonder which heartless person had dumped them in my car.
Perhaps there are special circumstances preventing them from raising it, and they can only entrust it to me.
Not eating for a long time is also not good; what if he faints from hunger instead of falling asleep?
The only food available for them at home is formula.
I went to the basement, took out a bag of milk powder, boiled a kettle of water, brewed it, and let it cool to a warm temperature.
Then I figured out how to feed the formula into the baby's mouth.
If you pour it directly into your mouth, it will spill everywhere and you might choke on it.
Then I found a tutorial online and used a straw to feed him little by little into his mouth.
At first, the puppy was listless and unresponsive when I held it in my hands.
After two drops of milk were put into its mouth, it seemed to taste the flavor and immediately perked up.
It struggled, shaking its head and trying to drink more milk powder.
Netizens said that puppies don't know when they're full and you shouldn't feed them too much, so I only gave them about twenty drops and then stopped.
But those few drops of milk really did completely wake up the two little ones.
They were crawling on the kang (a heated brick bed) with their little legs kicking, squeaking and calling for their mother. I then realized that they weren't sleepy; it was just not time for them to open their eyes yet.
It must have been only a few days old.
"But you have all been abandoned by your owner, and your mother will never see you again."
I muttered to myself that I would stuff them both into a soft towel later.
They became much more docile after being wrapped in a towel, probably because they felt the towel was like their mother.
After settling the two puppies in, I noticed that the chicks were also sleeping soundly.
By this time, my rice should be steamed. I lifted the lid, and a burst of hot steam wafted out, carrying the aroma of rice and the rich fragrance of braised pig's trotters.
I carried the food to the kang table in the inner room, using a rag as a mat, and began to eat, imitating my grandmother's cross-legged posture.
The rice I bought was the best I could get, and it had a particularly strong aroma after being steamed.
The braised pig's trotters have been steamed for so long that they are now so tender that they fall off the bone and melt gently in your mouth.
A bite of pig's trotter and a bite of rice—it's so satisfying!
After eating for a while, I poured all the rice into the steamed egg custard and mixed it well. This is the best combination that I've eaten since I was a child.
I poured in a little bit of the broth from the steamed pig's trotters plate, and the steamed egg custard and rice were fully combined. With the added brown color of the braised pig's trotters, it looked even more tempting.
Scoop a big spoonful of steamed rice with egg and pour it into your mouth; it slides down your throat without you even having to chew.
It's slightly hot, fragrant, and incredibly satisfying.
After finishing the meal, clean up the leftovers and wash them directly. Then, add a honeycomb briquette to the wood-fired stove and block the stove opening.
I went back to my room, changed into my pajamas, and prepared to sleep. I glanced at the indoor thermometer; the room temperature was 23 degrees Celsius.
The newly built doors and windows are really different; the insulation effect is excellent.
Lost in thought, I drifted off to sleep.
I was woken up early the next morning by all sorts of tiny, fuzzy noises.
The chirping chicks and the whining puppy.
Oh, I forgot, I'm a mother now too.
When I was little, my family would keep a cat and a dog every now and then, because my mother was a full-time housewife and happened to like these little things.
She always liked to bring stray cats and dogs home to raise. Besides taking care of me and my dad, she also took great care of the cats and dogs.
I even remember a few times when they argued because my dad yelled at them because he found the cats and dogs annoying.
After my parents passed away, I never dared to keep any living creatures again.
I lack confidence in taking good care of them, and I'm afraid of seeing their adorable faces and missing my mother. I'm even more afraid of their passing and separation.
When I first encountered the two little guys yesterday, I even maliciously hoped they would die; I didn't have the courage to be a good owner.
But since their body temperature gradually returned to normal yesterday, and since they started pawing at my hand for milk, I suddenly felt the power of life and made up my mind to take good care of them.
Lifting the clothes off the two little guys, you can see them still wriggling around messily on the towel.
I tapped one of their foreheads with my finger. "Since you've stayed, you'd better live well."
Then I got up, dressed, and went to make milk powder for the puppy. It was fidgeting and restless, which meant it was hungry.
Half an hour has passed since I clumsily finished feeding the puppy.
As usual, I started heating the kang (a traditional heated bed) every day. And let me tell you, the moment I opened my eyes, all I saw was the kang being heated. The apocalypse hadn't even begun yet, and I was already getting tired of it.
I changed the chicks' bedding with new tissues, poured them fresh water and millet, and then drove my little truck to town again.
I've bought everything, just for the two dogs.
What to do if you're broke? Just take advantage of Alipay's promotions!
He then withdrew another 5,000 yuan from Jiebei and went to town.
There's only one pet store in the whole town, but it's probably been deserted for a long time, and the food is always stale. I don't plan to buy dog food there.
Even if I buy dog food, it will only last for a year or two. After that, they will still have to eat with me. Dogs in the countryside are used to eating leftovers, so it's better to let them get used to eating human food with me from the beginning.
However, we needed to buy medicine. We bought a parvovirus vaccine, deworming medication, and some other common disease medications, which cost a total of 800 yuan.
I bought 10 more leashes, a dog cage, and the only four dog coats and two winter dog beds left in the store.
Online shopping might not be able to deliver now, so I bought five cans of lamb milk powder from a veterinary pharmacy as a substitute.
After buying the goat milk powder, I was starving. It was already noon, so I went straight to that delicious mala tang (spicy hot pot) place.
Who invented Mala Tang (a spicy hot pot dish)? It's so delicious.
Now that I have money, I'll just squeeze some out of the dog's mouth to buy myself a few servings of spicy hot pot ingredients.
Last time I bought soup dumplings, which didn't keep well; this time I'm going to buy some that can last longer.
He resorted to his old trick of playing the victim in the city, saying that he especially loved his family's mala tang (spicy hot pot) and asked if he could pack me extra mala tang ingredients and various toppings.
I specifically requested ingredients that can be stored for a long time, not soup stock.
The proprietress, seeing my pitiful state and considering that she couldn't discern the original recipe for her ingredients, simply agreed.
I spent 500 yuan to buy a large plastic bag of soup base ingredients and the toppings to add after cooking, and left satisfied.
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