Chapter 52
The sun came out, and the temperature rose slightly.
Zuo Xutong walked out of the hotel. The navigation showed that the nearest shopping mall was 2.3 kilometers away. There was no way to get a taxi on the road. Time was running out, so she could only quicken her pace. The thick snow made it difficult to walk. At this speed, it would probably take an hour to get to the mall. She regretted that she had come out too late.
Just then, a work safety supplies store came into her view. It had a blue sign with red lettering, and below the Chinese characters was a line of Russian text. The store was dimly lit, but... there seemed to be some clothes hanging there, so she went inside.
Half an hour later, Zuo Xutong returned to the hotel carrying an oversized black plastic bag.
The moment Peng Kun saw the black plastic bag, his heart sank. When she took the clothes out of it, he was even more dumbfounded.
Military green, long, double-breasted with yellow metal buttons, brown fur collar—she actually bought a… military overcoat!
"It reminds me of the educated youth sent to the countryside in the Great Northern Wilderness in the 1980s," he couldn't help but complain.
Zuo Xutong smiled awkwardly and said guiltily, "Look how thick these clothes are, they must keep you warm."
Peng Kun picked up the coat and looked it over. If military overcoats were graded, this would definitely be the lowest grade: "It's thick, but wearing it makes me look like a cotton bucket. And it's a green bucket, why don't you give me a green hat too?"
"A hat?" That reminded her. "I do have one." With that, she pulled a green Lei Feng hat out of the plastic bag, with a bright red five-pointed star in the middle.
Peng Kun glanced at it and almost dropped his jaw in astonishment. His expression was incredibly varied: "May I ask where you bought this dress?"
"It's a safety equipment store, very close to the hotel. It only had one item left, and the owner even gave me a discount," she confessed honestly.
"How much?" he asked again.
"89, buy one get one free, the hat is a free gift." Looking at Peng Kun's distorted expression, she pouted and muttered under her breath, "Anyway, you don't usually dress up much, you dress like a peasant entrepreneur."
A farmer-entrepreneur? Peng Kun could hardly believe his ears. This guy had been patting his chest yesterday, guaranteeing that his judgment was spot on, but now that things had gone wrong, he was even turning around and blaming others.
His already displeased expression darkened further: "You mean, this style suits me?"
"No, no, no, what I mean is, you're good-looking and have a great figure, you can pull off any style. This dress looks like an 89 on someone else, but it looks like an 890 on you," Zuo Xutong said against her will.
"This is probably the biggest lie you've ever told in your life, isn't it?" Peng Kun almost laughed. She was willing to say anything to coax him into wearing this incredibly tacky military overcoat. Unfortunately, he wasn't buying it at all and mercilessly exposed her trick: "Even Marlon Brando couldn't pull off this look, could he?"
Marlon Brando? Zuo Xutong tried hard to recall the name, then suddenly remembered a movie of his she had seen. As that face clearly appeared in her mind, she blurted out, "He's nowhere near as good-looking as you..."
Peng Kun was pleased with these words, regardless of whether they were true or not. However, before she could finish her sentence, she added, "Aren't you much younger than him?"
“That’s right, he’s been dead for many years.” Peng Kun frowned. He had a feeling that if he didn’t wear this dress today, she would definitely give him a heart attack.
Zuo Xutong looked at him apologetically, wondering if she had lost her mind. Not only had she messed things up, but her words were also full of holes.
Peng Kun lowered his head and pondered for a few seconds before finally voiced his concern: "Won't I be wearing the same clothes as the security guards outside?"
"The security guards don't dress like that anymore," Zuo Xutong thought, but she didn't dare tell the truth this time. When she lived on Yuanjiang Road, she often saw a disheveled homeless man who wore a similar military overcoat all winter long, carrying a snakeskin bag, rummaging through the trash cans in the community.
Since things had come to this, she could only try her best to comfort him: "It's much better than you going out wearing a quilt."
“Well, at least it frees up my hands,” Peng Kun nodded, as if trying to convince himself. There was no time to lose, and he had no choice but to put on the clothes. After hesitating for a moment, he picked up the green cotton hat and put it on his head.
The first person affected by this outfit was the taxi driver who came to pick them up. The moment he saw Peng Kun, he regretted taking the fare, worrying the whole way that the passenger wouldn't be able to pay. Before even reaching their destination, he was already imagining the difficult scenario of trying to collect the fare. Only after Peng Kun paid did his heart finally settle down, and a "long-lost" smile appeared on his face.
After getting out of the taxi, the two walked for more than ten minutes through knee-deep snow before finally finding the rescue station.
This is a fairly large animal rescue center with over 700 stray cats and dogs, kept in simple sheds enclosed by rows of wire mesh. Yesterday's blizzard blocked the road between the sheds, and in some areas, the snow almost reached the roof.
In the yard, the barking of dogs rose and fell. The temperature inside and outside the shed was not much different. The animals were shivering from the cold and could only huddle together for warmth by relying on each other's body heat.
Looking at the harsh environment, Zuo Xutong asked worriedly, "Won't they freeze to death living in such a cold place?"
“Every year there are people who are weak and sick and can’t make it through, but that’s only a very small number,” said Aunt Chen, the person in charge of the base. “Here, at least there is a place to shelter from the wind and snow and a hot meal.”
As she spoke, she pointed to two bungalows in the distance: "I live in the one on the east side, and the puppies are kept in the other one. There's a stove in the house, so it's much warmer than the sheds outside. There's no other way; they're too small, and I'm afraid they'll freeze to death if I leave them outside."
Upon hearing this, Zuo Xutong's dim eyes instantly lit up. She pushed the junior high school student in front of Aunt Chen and pleaded, "Could you put it in the house too? It's not very old."
Aunt Chen glanced at the dog in her arms. Although it wasn't exactly a puppy, it was definitely a small dog. She readily agreed, and Zuo Xutong said "thank you" several times, wishing she could bow deeply to her.
“There are too many stray animals, we simply can’t save them all. Look, the two rows of sheds behind the building are almost full,” Aunt Chen sighed and said helplessly. “If we don’t save them, with such heavy snow, they won’t be able to find food. They’ll be cold and hungry, and they’ll only have one way out: death.”
"How will the base survive?" Peng Kun asked.
“We rely entirely on the volunteers for relief. They donate to the shelter regularly, but with the number of animals increasing, the food consumption is too high. Sometimes they eat cornflakes every day, and they don’t even know where their next meal will come from,” Aunt Chen frankly stated the shelter’s predicament, but she didn’t expect to receive any help. The moment she saw Peng Kun, she abandoned that idea. In this day and age, for him to be dressed like that, he must be a low-level laborer living in the cracks of society.
When Peng Kun suggested donating to the shelter, Aunt Chen didn't take it seriously at all. After exchanging WeChat contacts, she put her phone back in her pocket, not even bothering to look at it again.
Because the transfer amount was too large, the recipient's full name was required. When Peng Kun asked her what her name was, she casually gave him her name without thinking about the donation.
As Zuo Xutong guessed her age, she secretly worried. This Aunt Chen, with her gray hair and wrinkled face, looked very old. She wondered how long the shelter could last. How could a junior high student like her survive here?
She struggled for a long time before finally steeling herself and placing the third one on the snow. The moment it landed, its eyes were filled with panic and helplessness. Although they had only spent two days together, it had already regarded her as its greatest support. After being put down, it still followed her step by step.
Zuo Xutong looked at the small figure at her feet, her heart breaking.
“Let’s go,” Peng Kun said.
She nodded and walked out of the shelter with him. Halfway there, she couldn't help but look back. The third-year junior high school student was still following behind her, keeping a distance of five or six meters. No matter how much Aunt Chen called to it from behind, it didn't move.
Zuo Xutong could only wave at it and shout, "Go back, don't follow me!"
As if it understood, it suddenly stopped, one front paw still raised, and barked twice at her, as if saying goodbye. At that moment, it finally understood what had happened: it had been abandoned again!
Zuo Xutong clenched her fists and gritted her teeth to keep her tears from falling. She resolutely turned around and walked quickly towards the taxi, not looking back at it once she got into the back seat.
The car slowly started moving, and as she watched the white buildings receding outside the window, tears silently streamed down her face. Fortunately, she was sitting in the back, so no one saw them.
After getting off the bus, she said she wasn't feeling well and didn't go to dinner with Peng Kun, but went straight back to her room.
The next day, she had no desire to go out and stayed in the house alone, staring blankly at the street outside the window. Peng Kun also tactfully did not disturb her all day.
That night, she had a dream. She dreamt that she was walking on a vast, white snowfield, surrounded by utter silence. Suddenly, a huddled shadow caught her eye. As she approached, she saw a small dog that had frozen to death. Its fur was salt and pepper colored, and its eyes were wide open, as if, in its last moments, it was still waiting for a figure that would never appear.
She was startled awake and never fell back asleep.
Daylight broke. Today was their return trip. After breakfast, they packed their luggage, checked out of the hotel, and took a taxi straight to the airport.
At the airport, Zuo Xutong followed Peng Kun absentmindedly. After checking in their luggage and getting their tickets, she stared blankly at the ticket in her hand before realizing that she was really leaving.
"President Peng, can I take two days off?" she suddenly asked, her voice trembling slightly.
"reason?"
“I don’t want to leave it here,” she said quickly when he remained silent. “Don’t worry, I’ll move out when I get back and find a rental that allows pets.”
Peng Kun remained calm, as if he had already anticipated this scene: "I already arranged for its pet transport yesterday, you'll see it soon."
Seeing Zuo Xutong standing there in a daze, he added, "We're usually too busy with work to walk the dog. I've already spoken with Dean Feng, and we'll put it in the nursing home for now. The people there can take care of it."
Zuo Xutong wanted to thank him, but tears welled up more quickly than words, and her thanks turned into a tearful question: "Didn't you say you never wanted to raise a dog again?"
“I said I don’t want to, not that I can’t.” He gently patted her shoulder and looked at her with a smile. “Maybe I can’t change the world, but at least I can change the world within it.”
"You've changed my world too," Zuo Xutong thought to herself.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
