When Zhang Tieshan was fifteen, he went hunting alone in the mountains. He was seriously injured and bled a lot during his first hunt. He almost died and his mother almost fainted from crying. But he survived and was able to get out of bed and move around again within half a month.
Over the years, he had been injured countless times, and during his years in the army, he had been in danger of death countless times, but he never cried out in pain, always silently enduring it, telling himself in his heart that this injury was no big deal. Over time, he really felt that a small injury was no big deal, and never cared about the injuries on his body.
But now, when Li Hehua rubbed the medicinal wine on him and asked him again if it still hurt, looking at her worried eyes, he nodded somehow.
Seeing him admit that it hurt, Li Hehua's face was full of guilt. He had no way to relieve his pain, so he could only bend down and blow on his back, "I'll blow on you, it can reduce the pain."
This breath made Zhang Tieshan's ears turn red and his back stiffened.
Seeing that his back was so stiff, Li Hehua thought he was in pain, and felt guilty and worried. She had no way to make his injury heal immediately, so she could only decide to pay more attention to his diet in the future, to nourish him well and let his injury recover faster.
"Zhang Tieshan, you haven't eaten since noon. You must be hungry. Please bear with me for a while. I will make some chicken soup for you later. I will go to the street to buy a local chicken now. It will be good for the recovery of your injuries." Li Hehua said, and turned to go to the market to buy a local chicken.
Zhang Tieshan grabbed Li Hehua's arm and said, "Don't bother, it's troublesome. Just make something to eat." In fact, he was worried about her going out alone. Even though he knew that the group of people had indeed run away, he was still afraid of the possibility.
Li Hehua shook his head. "No, there is nothing to nourish the body at home. I have to make something good for you. I will be back soon. It is not a problem at all."
Zhang Tieshan wanted to say that this was just a minor injury and he didn't even bleed, so he didn't need to replenish his body at all, and he would recover naturally in a few days. But seeing Li Hehua's worried eyes, he swallowed his words, stood up and said, "Okay, I'll go with you."
How can you crawl around when you are injured? Li Hehua quickly pressed down his shoulders, "You are injured, it's better to rest at home, I can go by myself."
Zhang Tieshan smiled, took Li Hehua's hand that was on his shoulder, and led her out the door. "Come on, I'll go with you. I'm worried about you going out alone. I don't know if those people will come back. I can only feel at ease if I accompany you."
Li Hehua was shocked. She had indeed not thought of this. Thinking about it carefully, that group of people were sent by someone to cause trouble for her. Now that the mission was not completed, they might not give up. If they saw that there was no one to protect her, they might cause trouble for her again.
Then Zhang Tieshan must follow...
Li Hehua was just about to say okay and let's go together when she suddenly found her hand being held by Zhang Tieshan. Her face turned red involuntarily and she quickly pulled her hand out.
Zhang Tieshan seemed not to notice Li Hehua's confusion, so he put down his hand and said calmly, "Let's go, lock the door."
Li Hehua blinked, and seeing that Zhang Tieshan had already walked out the door on his own, he had to try hard to suppress the discomfort in his heart, and followed Zhang Tieshan out the door. However, it took a long time for the redness on his face to fade away.
I don’t know if it was because Zhang Tieshan was there, but nothing happened when I went out, and I bought a chicken and returned home smoothly.
Zhang Tieshan grabbed the chicken with a knife and killed it without saying anything. Li Hehua breathed a sigh of relief. To be honest, she had never killed a chicken by herself before. She was afraid to be forced to kill a chicken. She had planned to bite the bullet this time, but now Zhang Tieshan solved her problem directly.
There was no need to kill the chicken, so Li Hehua went to the kitchen to boil some hot water to scald the chicken and pluck its feathers. As soon as the chicken was done, Zhang Tieshan came in carrying a dead chicken.
"Give it to me, I'll take care of it." Li Hehua reached out to take the chicken from Zhang Tieshan's hand.
However, Zhang Tieshan raised his hand and dodged, "Let me do it. The hot water is too hot. Don't burn your hands." As he said that, he put the chicken in the basin, poured in hot water, and after boiling it for a while, he began to pluck the chicken's feathers neatly.
Li Hehua stood by and did nothing. In the end, he had to go outside to pack up the things on the cart.
Li Hehua was cleaning absent-mindedly, listening to the noise in the kitchen, feeling confused.
She felt that there was something particularly wrong with Zhang Tieshan today. It seemed that his behavior towards her was very... very... how to put it, she couldn't describe it exactly, but it just felt a little abnormal. It would be fine for a man in an ordinary relationship to stand up for you, but why would he hold your hand and then be afraid that you would be scalded by hot water?
Could it be because of gentlemanly manners? But does such a thing exist in this era?
Li Hehua felt that Zhang Tieshan's behavior towards her was quite ambiguous, but when she thought about it, she felt that the idea in her mind was ridiculous. She was now living under the skin of Li Hehua. This woman was simply the definition of hateful. Zhang Tieshan was extremely disgusted with her. How could he possibly like her?
Besides, even if we put aside the original owner's evil intentions, just looking at her current appearance and figure, would a handsome man like Zhang Tieshan be attracted to someone like her? She didn't believe it at all.
So, she was really overthinking it. Maybe Zhang Tieshan took good care of her for Shulin's sake. After all, Shulin liked her and depended on her so much now, and she was also very good to Shulin. It was very likely that Zhang Tieshan was so gentlemanly to her in return for his kindness.
Li Hehua broke his previous guess and felt that his current idea was correct, and the previous one was simply an illusion.
Just as Li Hehua was thinking about this, Zhang Tieshan came out of the kitchen and said, "I've cleaned the chicken."
Li Hehua came back to his senses, his eyes twinkled, and he quickly put away his thoughts, lowered his head and said, "I'm going to make chicken soup, you take a rest, don't be busy."
Zhang Tieshan noticed Li Hehua's discomfort, pursed his lips, and did not follow Li Hehua into the kitchen to help.
Li Hehua breathed a sigh of relief. She was really afraid that Zhang Tieshan would continue to help her with things, and then her mind would be in a mess again. Fortunately, Zhang Tieshan did not do anything else gentlemanly. After dinner, he went to pick up Shulin and then said goodbye and left. However, before leaving, he specifically asked her to lock the door and pay attention to safety at night.
In fact, she would have done so even without Zhang Tieshan telling her. Who knows if that group of people will come to do something bad to her? It doesn't matter if anything happens to her, but Shu Lin is still here, and Shu Lin must not be in any danger.
After thinking it over, Li Hehua still felt that it was not safe for Shulin to live with her, so she said, "Zhang Tieshan, you should take Shulin home. I am not sure if he lives with me. It is safer for him to live with you."
As soon as these words were spoken, before Zhang Tieshan could say anything else, the little guy immediately pounced on Li Hehua's thighs and hugged them tightly.
Li Hehua was helpless. She knew that the little guy couldn't bear to leave her, but safety was the most important thing now. She couldn't joke with the little guy's safety. She had to eliminate even the slightest danger. So she had to hold the little guy in her arms and kissed his face. "Shulin, why don't you go back and stay with daddy tonight? You see, you haven't lived with daddy at home for so many days. Grandma and uncle haven't seen you for a long time. They miss you so much."
The little guy blinked his eyes, still hugged Li Hehua's neck, and shook his head.
This is what unwillingness means.
Li Hehua sighed and continued to coax, "Actually, grandma and uncle love you very much, right? Now they want to see you, but you don't want to go back. Aren't you hurting grandma and uncle's feelings? So why don't you go back and live with daddy for a while, so that grandma and uncle can see you?"
The little guy's shaking of his head suddenly became less intense.
Li Hehua saw that there was hope and was about to continue coaxing the little guy, but the person in his arms was taken away by Zhang Tieshan.
Zhang Tieshan hugged Shulin, looked at him face to face, and said gently but firmly: "Shulin, has your father ever told you that you are a man?"
The little guy blinked his eyes, and his face became inexplicably serious.
Zhang Tieshan continued, "You are a man, you should know that protecting your mother is what a man should do. Now your mother will be scared to sleep alone, so you have to stay and accompany your mother, understand?"
The little guy seemed to have found a good reason not to go home. His eyes suddenly lit up and he turned around and opened his arms towards Li Hehua, asking her to hold him.
Li Hehua glared angrily, "Zhang Tieshan! What are you talking about!"
Zhang Tieshan looked at the woman who was glaring at him with bulging eyes, but he didn't think she was fierce at all. Instead, he found her very interesting. The corners of his mouth curled up, "Let Shulin accompany you. Don't worry, that group of people won't dare to come over. I promise you!"
Li Hehua was still angry. He could have persuaded the little guy to go back, but his words ruined the situation. What if danger really happened, what would happen to the little guy's safety?
Seeing that Li Hehua was still angry, Zhang Tieshan pushed the little guy in his arms into her arms, "Okay, I promise you, you and Shulin will be safe, so don't be angry, okay."
The last sentence sounded like he was coaxing a child, which made Li Hehua uncomfortable again. He had to hug Shu Lin and keep silent.
Zhang Tieshan smiled and waved his hand, "Okay, you two go in, I'm leaving." After saying that, he walked out of the alley and disappeared soon.
Li Hehua pouted and had to carry Shulin back home and lock all the doors. However, she was still nervous at night, afraid that something might happen, so she didn't sleep well all night. She kept waking up and down, and when she woke up, she would listen carefully to see if there was any unusual movement outside.
Nothing happened that night. Li Hehua didn't sleep well, but he still woke up when the rooster just crowed. He couldn't fall asleep in bed, so he simply got up and thought about making some delicious breakfast today. Anyway, there was plenty of time.
She planned to make a soup dumpling and an egg pancake. She had never made these two things for Shulin before. Today, she had plenty of time, so she could make more and let Shulin take them to Master Gu and the little guy Gu Jinzhao. If Zhang Tieshan came, he could also eat them. If not, she would leave some for him.
Li Hehua did it as soon as he said it. He got the flour, kneaded the dough, and started to knead the meat filling, and then made the soup dumplings.
When all the preparations were done and I was about to light a fire, I suddenly heard what seemed to be a dog barking outside the door.
But there was clearly no dog in this alley, so where did the barking sound come from? Did I hear it wrongly?
Li Hehua listened carefully again and found that there was indeed a dog barking. Although it was not loud, she was not mistaken. The sound was coming from outside her house.
Li Hehua was startled. He put down what he was holding, tiptoed to the back of the stove, picked up the fire poker, quietly went to the yard, and then quietly went behind the door.
“Woof woof…Woo woof…”
Yes, right outside the door! Li Hehua swallowed her saliva, tightly grasped the fire stick in her hand, her heart pounding as if it was about to burst, but for safety, she still gritted her teeth and pressed her body against the door, and said sternly: "Who is outside the door!"
As soon as he finished speaking, a response came from outside the door, "It's me."
It’s Zhang Tieshan!
Li Hehua's tense heart suddenly relaxed, and the fire stick fell to the ground. She didn't bother to pick it up, and opened the door immediately.
Zhang Tieshan was standing outside the door, with a big dog half a man's height squatting next to him. It looked very scary.
Li Hehua asked in surprise: "Zhang Tieshan, why are you here at this time?"
Zhang Tieshan smiled and said, "I got up early in the morning."
Got up early? It was just dawn now, and it would take him more than half an hour to walk from the village to the town, so how early did he wake up?
Li Hehua looked at Zhang Tieshan and only then realized that his eyes were red, his eye circles were dark, his beard had sprouted, and he looked inexplicably depressed, and it was obvious that he had not rested well.
"Zhang Tieshan, didn't you get enough rest last night?"
Zhang Tieshan pursed his lips and nodded, "It's true that I didn't sleep well, but it's nothing serious." He patted the dog's head beside his legs and said, "This is the dog I brought you. This dog is very smart and powerful. You can keep it and it will guard your house. This way you don't have to be afraid."
Li Hehua was stunned. She didn't expect that Zhang Tieshan was still concerned about their safety and was so thoughtful that he found a big dog for her overnight.
How come he is as good as her older brother?
Li Hehua really needed a big dog to guard the house. After thinking about it, he finally did not refuse. However, he did not know how to express his gratitude to Zhang Tieshan in his heart. Expressing it verbally was no longer meaningful.
Li Hehua decided to prepare delicious food for Zhang Tieshan every day as a reward.
After welcoming the man and the dog in and closing the gate again, Li Hehua finally took a good look at his new companion. The dog was very big and magnificent, with a very shiny coat and a majestic look. The most special thing about it was its eyes, which were very fierce. Most people would never dare to provoke it because they were scared just by looking at it.
I don’t know where Zhang Tieshan got this dog, it looks really great.
"Zhang Tieshan, where did you get this dog? It looks so fierce."
Zhang Tieshan smiled, "This dog is indeed quite fierce, but it won't bite its owner. Instead, it is very close to its owner. I raised its mother before, and she gave birth to three children. They are also very good at guarding the house, just like their mother. I picked it to bring here, and it will be responsible for protecting the safety of you and your children. You don't have to be afraid in the future."
In fact, this dog is not an ordinary local dog, but a wolfdog, and a very powerful one at that. He raised its mother by himself, but when he went to the war later, the big wolfdog was dying, and his mother couldn't raise so many dogs, so he only kept one, and sent the remaining two to Luo Er's home. But when he came back, the big dog had died of old age, and the little dog at home had disappeared because of Li Hehua. The two dogs sent to Luo Er's home grew up very well, very much like their mother, very tough, and were good at guarding the house.
When that happened yesterday, he thought of the two dogs at Luo Er's house. If he kept one of them with her, it could protect them, and she and Shulin wouldn't have to be afraid. So he rushed back to the village, went to Luo Er's house, and took one of the dogs away. Because he couldn't let go of the mother and son, he didn't rest at all. He took the dog to the town at night and stood guard outside her courtyard. The man and the dog guarded the mother and son in the house until dawn.
It was not until he heard some noise in the house and realized that she had gotten up that he patted the dog's head to make it bark a little. Only then did Li Hehua discover them.
However, he did not intend to tell her that he had stayed here all night last night.
Li Hehua looked at the ferocious big dog but she didn't feel scared. Instead, she felt very friendly. She liked dogs before. In her modern home, she also raised a husky. Although it made people feel frustrated, she still liked it very much. When she came here, she sometimes missed that crazy husky very much.
However, although it was a pity that she could not see the Husky at home again, there was a new one now, which would become her and the little guy's bodyguard in the future. She instantly fell in love with the new member of her family, and she would treat it better than the original Husky at home.
"By the way, Zhang Tieshan, what's its name?" Li Hehua suddenly remembered that he didn't know what the new guy was called.
Zhang Tieshan touched the big dog's head and said, "Its name is Heizi."
As soon as Zhang Tieshan finished speaking, Heizi woofed loudly.
Li Hehua laughed immediately, "Zhang Tieshan, it's so smart, it knows we are calling its name."
Seeing how happy she was, Zhang Tieshan also started laughing.
The more Li Hehua looked at Heizi, the more he liked him. He really wanted to hug him and rub him, so he couldn't help asking Zhang Tieshan, "Can I touch him now? He won't reject me, right?"
Zhang Tieshan smiled and pushed Heizi towards Li Hehua, "It's okay, touch it. Heizi will be your dog from now on and will not reject you."
With Zhang Tieshan's words, Li Hehua reached out her hand with confidence and gently touched Heizi's furry head. As expected, Heizi did not show any resistance. Instead, he rubbed it in her hand, being very well behaved.
"Zhang Tieshan, it's rubbing against me!"
Zhang Tieshan raised his lips, "Yes. It regards you as its master and will be very close to you in the future."
Li Hehua was even happier and immediately patted Heizi on the head, "Heizi, come on, I'll cook you some meat!"
Heizi understood what Li Hehua said and followed Li Hehua.
Zhang Tieshan looked at the man and the dog with a smile in his eyes.
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