126. Three Puppies
126. Three Puppies
They arrived at the right time. At the beginning of the Si hour (after nine in the morning), there were not so many people entering and leaving the city, and the soldiers guarding the city were not so busy.
Although they had lived in Kyoto Prefecture for the past few years, they would occasionally go out of the city, so Lu Mingfei was no stranger to the faces of the soldiers guarding the city. Knowing that the guarding commander was the leader of these soldiers, he went straight to the guarding commander and greeted him with a smile.
Considering their current age, it’s not wrong for him to call him uncle.
"We made some rice dumplings at home and sent some to you uncles to eat." Lu Mingfei explained the purpose of their visit.
Lu Youtian, who was standing by, handed over the basket of rice dumplings.
"No, no, we've accepted your kindness, you can take it back." The garrison commander waved his hand, feeling embarrassed to accept gifts from the people. He also had to be on guard against anyone tasting something in the food they were given. If something went wrong in Kyoto, they wouldn't have enough heads to chop off even if they had ten.
Lu Qingfeng was a little older, so he understood some things better. He casually mentioned, "We're from the sesame seed bun shop and the braised food stall inside. We make these dumplings ourselves, using clean ingredients. They're fresh out of the pot, so they're still warm."
He specifically mentioned the location and origin to dispel the concerns of the lord. At the same time, he also wanted to tell the garrison commander that if there was any problem with the soldiers eating the zongzi, they could go to their place to find them.
As soon as he heard that it was the pancake shop and the braised food stall inside, the guard knew where it was.
In recent years, he and his friends often went to the braised food stall to eat braised pork rice, and occasionally went to the sesame cake shop to buy a sesame cake to fill their stomachs. He had also eaten the rice dumplings sold by the braised food stall and knew that the stall would make and sell rice dumplings every year at this time.
"Oh, you are the owner of that pancake shop?" After taking another look at Lu Qingfeng's face, the guard remembered who this person was.
"Yes, yes, it's me." Lu Qingfeng didn't expect that the garrison commander recognized him.
However, no matter how much they talked, the garrison commander refused to accept the rice dumplings they gave him.
Lu Youtian relayed his eldest son's words to the garrison commander: "Our child said that you lords guard the city gates, protecting the safety of our Kyoto Prefecture and the people. You have worked hard. So, no matter what, you must accept these rice dumplings."
"It's our duty, it's our duty." Upon hearing this, the garrison commander couldn't help but laugh.
Knowing that his father's words touched the heart of the garrison commander, Lu Mingfei continued to say some nice words, which made the garrison commander relent and accept the holiday gifts they sent.
They sent two baskets of rice dumplings in total, one for the garrison commander and the other for the rest of the soldiers.
After collecting the rice dumplings at the South City Gate, they went to deliver the rice dumplings to several other city gates. On the way, they also went to the home of Captain Wang to deliver rice dumplings.
When they arrived at Captain Wang's house to deliver the rice dumplings, he was busy outside. Only an old woman, Captain Wang's wife, and two children were in the courtyard, so they left the rice dumplings and two jars of wine without even sitting down.
By the time they delivered the dumplings and returned to the pancake shop, it was already afternoon.
When they returned to South Street in the afternoon, the morning market had already dispersed, and most of the vendors had packed up their stalls and gone home to celebrate the festival. The streets were deserted, and the atmosphere was suddenly empty, a stark contrast to the bustling morning.
"Woof..."
"puppy?"
Hearing the sound of dogs barking, Lu Mingfei looked down and saw three puppies in a basket. His feet suddenly became unable to move, and he called out to his father and godfather, "Dad, godfather, aren't we going to buy puppies?"
"There are puppies here, three of them!"
Among the three puppies, one is pure black, and the other two are yellow.
It looks like it should be a Chinese native dog, a breed carefully selected by their ancestors!
In his previous life, Lu Mingfei had always wanted to raise a Huang, but he never had the chance. Back then, he could barely support himself, let alone a dog. But now he had the chance! And here were two Huangs and a black one!
"If you like it, take it back. We can take it to the duck farm to see the ducks." Lu Qingfeng also came over and saw the puppy in the basket. It looked like an ordinary puppy, but since his adopted son liked it, it was not impossible for them to buy it back.
Lu Youtian is also a person who dotes on his children, especially his eldest son who has been obedient and sensible since childhood. If he asks to buy something, there is no reason for him to refuse.
"Young Master, if you like them, take them home. These three puppies are from our bitch. If you like them, I'll give them to you at a lower price." The dog seller was an old man who wanted to sell the puppies quickly and go home. Otherwise, if he took three puppies home, he wouldn't be able to afford to raise three more since he already had a dog.
In the end, Lu Mingfei bought two puppies and got one puppy as a free gift with the boss's half-sale and half-gift deal.
The dog seller even gave them the basket that contained the puppies.
"Happy Dragon Boat Festival. These are the rice dumplings we made at home. I'll give you three to eat on your way home." After paying for the puppy, Lu Mingfei picked up the three remaining rice dumplings in the basket and gave them to the old man as a holiday gift.
“No, no.” The old man reached out to push it away, but failed. The boy who bought their puppy stuffed the rice dumpling into his hand.
Lu Mingfei waved to the puppy's original owner and said to his father, "Dad, let's go back."
"Aren't you going to put the puppy in the car?" Lu Youtian looked at the man holding a big basket in his arms.
"I'll just carry them." Lu Mingfei looked at the greasy car, then looked at the three puppies in the basket looking at him with their round eyes, and was reluctant to put the basket down.
Lu Youtian smiled and shook his head, then walked ahead, leading the donkey.
Lu Qingfeng walked beside Lu Youtian and looked back at his adopted son who was carrying the puppies behind him. Seeing that his adopted son's eyes were on the three puppies all the way, he couldn't help but smile.
After walking a short distance, we returned to their stall and pancake shop.
Their braised food had already been sold out by this time, but the stalls had not been completely packed up today, and a table was left here. On the table was a pot of zongzi, which was the zongzi sold here.
Liu Sanniang, who was at the stall, saw her eldest son and husband return and asked, "You're back? What took you so long? Did you have lunch?"
"We have eaten. We ate rice dumplings on the way. There are so many rice dumplings in the car. Are you still worried that we will be hungry?" Lu Youtian asked his wife with a smile.
"Who's worried about you? I'm worried that you'll starve Mingfei." Liu Sanniang glared at the man.
Lu Mingfei watched his father and mother "flirting", greeted his mother, and let her take a look at the puppy in the basket. Then he wisely stopped being a light bulb here and went in through the side door of his adoptive father's house with the puppy.
As soon as he came in, he saw a few kids playing in the backyard, so he called out, "Mingrui Mingcong Xiaobao, look what I brought back."
"Brother, did you bring us any delicious food?" Lu Mingcong's eyes lit up when he saw his brother carrying a big basket. How many delicious things must be in it?!
"What is it?" Lu Mingrui asked while running like a tape recorder.
Zhang Xiaobao didn't ask and ran behind his two younger brothers.
"They're not delicious. Look." Lu Mingfei put the basket on the ground and showed his three younger brothers the puppies inside. "They are three puppies."
"Wow! Puppy!"
Three voices sounded at the same time, all filled with surprise and joy.
Lu Mingcong was a brave man. As soon as he shouted "Wow", he reached out with both hands to grab the puppy in the basket.
“Woof woof woof…”
The three puppies in the basket were frightened and started barking.
"Don't be so anxious, don't be so anxious, go slowly, don't scare them." Seeing that the rude boy had scared the puppies so much that they ran around in the basket, Lu Mingfei quickly grabbed Lu Mingcong's hand for fear that the puppies would bite the boy's hand. He also stopped the other two boys from catching the puppies and said to the three boys, "They just came back to our house and are not familiar with us. We have to talk to them first. Only when we are familiar with them can we touch them. Do you understand?"
“…Oh.” Lu Mingcong’s little face was full of disappointment.
Lu Mingrui looked at his brother and wanted to touch the puppy.
Four words were also written all over Zhang Xiaobao's face: I want to touch the dog.
"Don't let their teeth bite you, otherwise you will have to take bitter medicine." Lu Mingfei was a little worried that the three boys were ignorant and could not control their strength well and hurt the puppies, and then got bitten by the puppies.
Puppies don't get vaccinated these days, and there's no vaccine for dog bites. He's not sure if dogs these days carry rabies, but just in case, he still has to teach the children in the family to get along well with puppies.
When Lu Mingcong heard that being bitten by a puppy was very painful, he didn't dare to catch the puppy anymore.
Lu Mingfei glanced at the boy who was frightened by him, smiled in his heart, and said to the three boys with a serious face: "You just talk to them here, and you can touch them only after they agree."
"How do I know whether they allow us to touch them?" Lu Mingrui looked distressed.
"When they are no longer afraid and wag their tails at you, you can touch them." Lu Mingfei told his brother.
Lu Mingrui looked confused and asked his brother, "They are so small, what do they eat?"
"I'll get some broth for them. You guys stay here and don't touch them." Lu Mingfei saw that the puppy's belly was flat. He probably hadn't eaten since he left his mother. No wonder he kept crying all the way. He must be hungry.
He asked the three boys to guard the puppy here, and asked Zhang Qi to look after the three boys, while he went to find food for the puppy.
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