Extra: Shuofeng Returns Home
Zhou Wu squatted outside the specially made iron cage, feeling distressed when he saw the big dog inside with a fierce look on its face and dry fur.
The servant in charge of taking care of him looked embarrassed and whispered, "Wutou, Shufeng has been getting more and more irritable since he was injured. We who are responsible for feeding him don't dare to get close to him. Do you think we should send him to the farm outside the city?"
Zhou Wu reached out to touch the big dog in the cage, but was forced back by the dog's growl. He felt a little unhappy, but he didn't immediately agree with the servant's opinion. He sighed and said, "Forget it, it's normal for it to have a bad temper at its age. I promised to take good care of it when I took it away."
The servants could not understand Zhou Wu's thoughts. He was just a dog.
Zhou Wu liked dogs and built a house outside the city to raise dogs. The place was spacious, and it was obviously more suitable to raise a dog with a bad temper and a weird temper like Shufeng there, but as servants, they naturally had to do whatever their master said.
But before Shufeng was injured, he was famous for his bravery and aggressiveness among all the dogs raised by Zhou Wu. These servants were also afraid of being bitten. Moreover, Zhou Wu was very busy now and might not visit the kennel for ten days or half a month. Gradually, no one paid special attention to an unpleasant dog like Shufeng.
Another day passed, and Shufeng rushed around in the iron cage as usual, until the old wounds on his back, waist and abdomen were broken and bleeding, and then he slowly stopped.
At first, it just wanted to attract Zhou Wu's attention in this way, hoping that he would let it out of the square iron cage. When Zhou Wu heard the news, he came to see it several times. Seeing the wounds on its body, he was so distressed that he kept calling a veterinarian.
When he had some free time, he would sit outside the cage and chat with Shufeng. He couldn't understand why Shufeng had become so irritable and had such a weird temper. At the end, he would sigh and add, "You used to be the most humane person. Well, I don't blame you. Just stay here and take good care of yourself. I will come to see you when I have time."
Shufeng would look at him expectantly when he got up and left, but unfortunately many times he never got to wait for Zhou Wu to open the chains of the cage.
Later, as the number of visits increased, Zhou Wu stopped coming in person and simply told the servants to pay more attention and left him alone. He had a new fierce dog with him, which was said to have an excellent pedigree and was a top-notch hunter, whether it was tracking criminals or hunting.
And Shufeng also realized his fate of being abandoned in the day-to-day waiting. Oh, maybe it cannot be said to be abandoned, but in Zhou Wu's eyes, it has reached the age to retire.
Retirement means being locked up in a square cage like this, and having two meals a day at regular times and fixed amounts, but life is actually pretty good.
But it is the north wind. Even if I die, I should die in the biting wind, not die without dignity like this!
The servants in the kennel were shocked when they first discovered that Shufeng had somehow opened the latch on the iron cage and escaped. Fortunately, the outer wall of this house was built high because of the need to keep dogs, and the servants quickly blocked Shufeng from climbing over the wall in the southeast corner.
Shufeng was dragged back to the kennel with a collar around his neck. In order to prevent him from escaping again, this time, in addition to the latch on the cage, an extra chain was added.
Even though Shufeng had a mouthful of steel teeth, he couldn't break through the cage and get out. Perhaps because his hope of escaping was slim, Shufeng became frustrated and began to mutilate himself day after day, and finally went on a hunger strike.
The servant in charge of feeding the dog couldn't bear it, so he held the food bowl and tried to persuade the dog earnestly: "Why are you so stubborn, you dog? We have good food and drink."
In a blink of an eye, Cui Qingyi had been in the capital for two months. When the autumn wind blew, it was time for her and her caravan to set off for home.
Taozhi and Amu were arranged to go out and buy some special products from the capital. Cui Qingyi had already made an appointment with Han Jingyi a few days ago to bring the children to visit her.
Little Yunjuan, with his hands behind his back, checked the gifts he was going to bring to the Zhou residence. After a while, he pointed at the dried meat in the bag and asked, "Mom, why are you bringing Wangcai's dried meat?"
Cui Qingyi has three big dogs and a black wolf at home. In addition to the daily meat, she often bakes some dried meat with unique flavor as snacks for the dogs. Over time, Yunjuan and Yunshu can tell that the dried meat is for the dogs just by smelling it.
Because she was going out to visit guests, Taozhi specially combed the same flower-bud hairstyle for the two little masters today. This hairstyle was once done by Cui Qingyi for the two little guys when she was free. Taozhi thought it looked good and learned it carefully. After her skillful hands improved it, it looked so adorable on the two little ones' heads.
As Cui Qingyi spoke, she wanted to reach out and touch it. Fortunately, the children were very generous and didn't mind that their mother had messed up their hairstyle.
"Have you forgotten what mother told you? Besides Black Fang, Big Wolf, and Little Wolf, Wangcai has another child. He's in the capital, and this dried meat is for him."
After Cui Qingyi's reminder, Yunjuan suddenly realized and became a little excited. "Yunjuan knows, it's Shufeng."
In the hearts of Yunjuan and Yunshu, the three dogs of the Cui family are no different from their family members. Knowing that this time they will not only be able to meet the little fat boy Zhou Chengze, but also meet Big Wolf and Little Wolf's other brother, the two sisters who have been rolling around with the puppies since they were young are a little excited.
Cui Qingyi was also a little excited. Ever since Zhou Yanxiu returned to the capital a few years ago, Shufeng was taken with him. It had been many years since they last saw each other.
This time when she came to the capital, even if Han Jingyi did not take the initiative to come to her house, she would find a way to meet Shufeng, after all, he was Wangcai's first child.
Knowing that Cui Qingyi and her child were visiting today and Zhou Yanxiu had stayed home, Han Jingyi packed up herself and Zhou Chengze, had the maid take him to the study and hand him over to his father, and went to the kitchen to oversee the lunch. Before leaving, she pinched her son's chubby face and told him, "Tell your father to change into clothes for meeting guests, otherwise your sisters will laugh at you."
Zhou Chengze remembered his mother's instructions and took his father back to change clothes when he arrived at the study.
Zhou Yanxiu was in a very complicated mood. After all, he had not yet digested the fact that Mr. Nancheng, whom he had been thinking about for so many years, was Cui Qingyi.
So, when Cui Qingyi arrived with her two children, the Zhou family of three were neatly welcoming the guests in the main hall. Standing on someone else's territory and in front of the children, this time Cui Qingyi greeted Zhou Yanxiu openly.
In fact, after so many years, the frictions between them have long been forgotten. Or maybe it’s not that they have been forgotten, but that there are new interests involved between them, and everyone can sit together and talk quietly again.
Zhou Yanxiu looked serious when he looked at Cui Qingyi, but he didn't show any dignity when facing the two little girls, one tall and one short, who looked exactly the same. Yunjuan and Yunshu have been afraid of crowds since they were young, and the three children surrounded Zhou Yanxiu and refused to leave.
There was only one child, Zhou Chengze, in the Zhou Mansion, so it wasn't very lively. But today with two more children, there was a lot more laughter for no reason.
After lunch, Cui Qingyi met Zhou Wu in the front yard. The man had a short beard, but Cui Qingyi recognized him at a glance. However, the big dog beside him was obviously not Shufeng.
Zhou Wu was also very happy to see Cui Qingyi. After all, when he followed Zhou Yanxiu in Dongping County, he often disturbed Cui's mansion. Now he was naturally happy to see his old friend.
After a brief greeting, Cui Qingyi pointed to the package held by the servant. "This is the dried meat that Konjac made herself. She was thinking of Shufeng and told me to bring it to the capital when I come. I wonder where Shufeng is right now?"
When mentioning Shuofeng, a hint of helplessness and even guilt flashed across Zhou Wu's face. After all, he was now facing Shuofeng's original owner, and the last time he saw Shuofeng, it didn't look well.
But Zhou Wu knew Cui Qingyi's personality and knew that the more he refused to let her meet Shufeng, the worse it would be. Fortunately, he did not treat Shufeng badly.
"In reply to the county lady, Shufeng was injured not long ago and is now recuperating at a farm outside the city. I'll take you there to see him."
Cui Qingyi did not miss the expression on Zhou Wu's face. She had some bad guesses in her heart, but did not express them immediately. She just asked the servants to bring Yunjuan and Yunshu over.
Han Jingyi was bored staying at home and wanted to go too. Zhou Yanxiu was also thinking of finding an opportunity to talk to Cui Qingyi about Mr. Nancheng. So everyone hit it off and decided to go together to Zhou Wu's kennel outside the city.
Until the last second before entering the manor, Cui Qingyi was still able to maintain a polite smile on her face, but when she saw the bloodstained Shufeng in the cage, huge regret and hatred instantly overwhelmed Cui Qingyi.
Shufeng was in a particularly bad mood today. Long-term blood loss and hunger strike had left him with no strength at all. He seemed to have foreseen his own death, but the pride in his bones would not allow him to die in such a cowardly way. He stubbornly believed that he should die in the chasing wind, or die under the sharp teeth of the enemy.
Just as it was struggling to get up and use its body to knock over the iron cage that trapped it, a figure that had long disappeared from the dog's life quickly ran towards this place. Shufeng paused in his action of getting up, and couldn't believe that he died so soon, otherwise how could he see that person?
Zhou Wu really didn't expect that when he asked people to take good care of Shufeng, these servants actually pretended to obey and were blocked by the guards with Cui Qingyi. Zhou Wu couldn't stop Cui Qingyi and could only shout: "County Lady, be careful."
But to everyone's surprise, and also as everyone expected, the big dog, which had been extremely irritable since it was injured, stared with its two big watery eyes, and licked Cui Qingyi's hand with its tongue in a daze. After a moment, it seemed to finally confirm something, and let out one wailing after another towards the sky.
Yunjuan and Yunshu also squatted in front of the cage. Yunshu emotionally pointed at the big guy covered in blood in the cage and cried breathlessly.
Shuofeng smelled a scent that was the same as Cui Qingyi's, and anxiously wanted to stretch out his paw to comfort the crying little person.
Zhou Wu felt embarrassed and angry after seeing this scene, and he wanted to turn around and beat those servants to death.
Cui Qingyi didn't even greet Zhou Wu's men. The guards who followed her stepped forward and chopped open the iron cage that locked Shufeng. Cui Qingyi didn't mind the dirt and reached out to hug the big guy with dirty and tangled hair. Shufeng didn't struggle at all but kept wailing.
Before turning around and leaving, Cui Qingyi said coldly to Zhou Wu beside her: "When I gave it to you, I thought you would take good care of it and would not throw it aside just because it was old and useless. Now it seems that I was wrong." After that, her eyes swept over Zhou Yanxiu vaguely.
After a bumpy journey, Shufeng returned to his hometown after being away from it for half a lifetime.
Shufeng never thought that there would be a day in his life as a dog that he would return to his biological mother. Although Wangcai despised him for being useless and coming back with injuries all over his body, he still licked his fur from head to toe after roaring at him a few times.
Shufeng seemed to have returned to his childhood, following Wangcai closely every day, but this time Wangcai never drove it away.
A few years later, the old Shufeng passed away peacefully on a warm snowy night, covered with a quilt made by Yunjuanyunshu.
The end of the Shuofeng extra chapter~
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