Chapter 22: The Filial Dog Son

  Liu Handong only had two cents left on him. If he didn't hurry up and make some money, he would have to go hungry at noon. He pushed out the rickshaw, ready to start work, and said to Wangcai: "You stay home and watch the door, wait for me to come back."

  Wangcai seemed to understand and sat down, but as soon as Liu Handong left, it stood up again and followed him.

  "Sit down." Liu Handong ordered.

  Wangcai sat down reluctantly, feeling resentful and whining pitifully.

  "With you around, it's hard to get any business done." Liu Handong softened and patiently explained.

  Wang Cai's eyes sparkled brightly.

  "Right, I forgot, I'm supposed to send you home today." Liu Handong patted his head, this dog isn't an ordinary stray, it must have accidentally gotten lost, its owner must be very worried, might as well take it to the city and walk around a circle, maybe it will recognize someplace and Wangcai can go back home by itself.

  Thinking of this, he clapped his hands: "Come on up."

  Wangcai was overjoyed and jumped onto the vehicle.

  Liu Handong drove a rickety cart carrying dogs down Tiegu Street, and when he passed by the dog meat restaurant, a burly man was unloading dog cages from a small truck. Suddenly seeing the dogs on Liu's cart, he narrowed his eyes as if lost in thought.

  "Stop! Stop for me, are you deaf?!" The big man rushed over and grabbed the steering wheel, staring fiercely at Liu Handong.

  "Damn you, thief of my dog!" The big man cursed, pointing at Wangcai on the car.

  Wangcai recognized this person and was so scared that he trembled with fear, lying motionless in the carriage.

  Liu Handong didn't extinguish the fire, got down from the car, and looked down at this axle man who was less than 1.7 meters tall.

  "Speak cleanly, your dog? You don't even know where you stole it from." Liu Handong said.

  "I paid two bucks a pound for this dog meat, and it still has the iron wire mark on its mouth!" The man had a fiery temper and a loud voice. Two small workers came out of the dog meat restaurant at the sound, each holding a knife used to skin dogs.

  "Damn it, you still don't admit to stealing the dog!" The man threw a punch, Liu Handong raised his hand to block it, feeling a surge of pain in his arm, and was forced back two steps. He immediately counterattacked, throwing a fake punch, but followed up with a real move, kicking the man's calf and almost making him fall over. A hungry tiger pounced forward, trying to get in close and grapple.

  This man was born with great strength, Liu Handong didn't dare to get entangled with him, so he came up with a shoulder throw, throwing the big guy out three meters away, heavily slamming onto the cement floor, like a wall falling down, almost creating a pit on the ground.

  The small workers in the dog meat restaurant were not ambiguous, holding sharp blades and rushing over. Liu Handong hastily jumped onto the motorcycle, twisted the throttle, and escaped like a wolf smoke.

  The little workers helped up the dog meat restaurant owner who was jumping wildly like thunder, and the distant figure that had been rushing away turned back to curse loudly.

  Liu Handong burst out laughing, and Wangcai also barked excitedly.

  Someone on the side of the road waved his hand to stop a car: "Taxi!"

  Liu Handong pulled over and asked the woman who had flagged him down: "Sister, where are you headed?"

  "Help me pull a load of tiles from the building materials market to Lishui Yaju." The woman was dressed in gold and silver, and her family was quite well-off.

  "Twenty yuan a trip." Liu Handong said, this is a clear conscience price, no more.

  "Help me move it upstairs and I'll give you an extra 5 yuan per floor." The woman agreed immediately.

  "No problem." Liu Handong also readily agreed.

  The building materials market is nearby, and the woman rides an electric tricycle to lead the way. They arrive at a large shed selling ceramic tiles, where several boxes of ceramic tiles are already piled up. Many three-wheeled vehicles and small trucks are parked nearby, with drivers smoking and chatting, but they don't come to take on work. Instead, they let outsiders on three-wheeled motorcycles snatch the business, which is a bit abnormal.

  Maybe it's because of the price, after all, pulling people and goods are different, Liu Handong thought to himself.

  "Driver, help me load these tiles onto the vehicle." The woman directed Liu Handong to move box after box of tiles onto the tricycle, the tiles were very heavy and flattened the tires.

  The goods were loaded, the woman rode an electric bicycle in front to lead the way, Liu Handong started the motorcycle behind, because there were too many goods, they couldn't run fast, Wangcai limped and ran behind, sticking out his tongue and running happily.

  There was a long uphill road ahead, and Liu Handong was just about to accelerate when the motorcycle suddenly shook and stopped. After restarting, it wouldn't move. Upon inspection, there was nothing wrong with the vehicle, but it had simply run out of gas. It wasn't that Liu Handong had forgotten to refuel, but rather the oil gauge needle was broken.

  "Hurry up, what are you dawdling for?" The woman urged from the slope.

  "We've run out of oil." Liu Handong said.

  "No gas? You still have to take me to my destination, we agreed on it." The woman was insistent and unhappy, pulling a long face.

  Liu Handong got off the car and wanted to push it up, but the three-wheeled motorcycle loaded with ceramic tiles was extremely heavy and couldn't be pushed.

  Wangcai was running around the car, excitedly barking.

  Liu Handong took out a hemp rope, tied one end to the car and was about to tie the other end around his waist. Wangcai ran over, jumping up and down, using his mouth to bite the rope.

  "Are you going to help me?" Liu Handong patted the dog's head and tied a rope around Wangcai's shoulder.

  One man and one dog, clenching their fists and rubbing their palms, stepped on the cement ground, pushing the cart step by step upwards. The heavy vehicle made Liu Handong use up all his strength, his muscles tense, his face red and his neck thick. Wangcai's four legs were also tightly supporting the ground, struggling to move forward.

  One step, two steps, the tricycle moved slowly upwards.

  "I told you to hurry up, we're waiting to use it." The woman complained from a distance, occasionally taking out her phone to check the time.

  Liu Handong gritted his teeth and said nothing, this slope was very steep and difficult to walk.

  "Look, the dog is helping to pull the cart." A sedan stopped by the side of the road, and a man and woman inside took out their mobile phones to start taking pictures.

  Liu Handong didn't have time to bother with these boring people, and after exhausting all his strength, he finally pulled the tricycle to the top of the slope. Both the man and the dog were exhausted, Wangcai sat on the ground with his tongue out, panting heavily.

  "Hurry up, it's just ahead." The woman got on the electric vehicle and put on her sunglasses impatiently.

  Liu Handong ignored her, took off his shirt, revealing a muscular physique, and was drenched in sweat. He pulled out a large Coca-Cola bottle filled with cool water, drank a few mouthfuls himself, splashed some on his body, then poured the rest into his palm to feed Wangcai.

  Wang Cai stretched out his long tongue to lick up the water and drink it, after finishing drinking, he licked Liu Handong twice to show affection.

  "Good boy, you're more filial than my own son! It's worth all the trouble I've taken to raise you." Liu Handong stroked Wangcai's head.

  People in the car were still taking pictures.

  "What are you looking at!" Liu Handong bellowed.

  The couple quickly stopped filming and drove away.

  Liu Handong continued to push the cart forward, with Wangcai still pulling in front. They arrived at Lishui Yaju residential area, building 13, and Liu Handong fainted: "Sister, which floor do you live on?"

  "The eighteenth floor." The woman said, locking up her electric bike.

  "There is an elevator." Liu Handong said.

  "There is, today's maintenance, otherwise one floor five yuan you think it's that easy to earn." The woman said with some disdain.

  "Alright, I'll move!" A single cent can defeat a hero.

  "Hurry up, 1803." The woman carried a small bag and went upstairs.

  Liu Handong patted Wangcai's head: "Good boy, help Daddy watch the car."

  Wang Cai responded with a "yes".

  Liu Handong picked up two boxes of tiles, thought for a moment, and then tied the two sides to his shoulders with hemp rope. He went upstairs like this, still brisk at first, but his pace slowed down when he reached the tenth floor. When he arrived at the 18th floor, the door of 1803 was open, and the sound of an electric saw came from inside. This family is renovating.

  "Put it at the entrance of the toilet." The woman held an iced Coke in her hand and directed Liu Handong while drinking.

  Liu Handong put down the ceramic tile and went downstairs to continue moving.

  A truckload of ceramic tiles, he moved five times, eighteen floors up and down is ten times, the last time he moved up, although his physical quality was excellent, he was exhausted, covered in sweat and dirt.

  "Sister, it's all moved in. That'll be 110 yuan." Liu Handong said, taking out an empty Coke bottle to the faucet in the bathroom to fill with tap water.

  The woman ignored him and scolded the migrant worker who was pasting tiles: "Look at what you've done, with this level of work, do you dare to ask for money? Are you ashamed? Remove it and re-paste it!"

  The migrant worker was scolded with a torrent of abuse, and he meekly retorted in a low voice for two sentences before being met with another round of overwhelming verbal attacks.

  After scolding for a while, the woman looked at Liu Handong: "What are you still standing here for?"

  Liu Handong said: "Sister, the freight has not been paid yet."

  "What's the freight? You've delayed my schedule, you know?! This house just spent a lot of money on renovation, do you know?! My son is getting married on October 1st, can it be delayed?! You're so capable, opening a broken (business) like this! No oil, won't you go fill up?! Climbing the stairs is still so slow, how dare you ask for over a hundred yuan?! Other moving companies move a whole set of furniture for just a hundred yuan, and you want that much for just a few boxes of tiles?! How dare you?!"

  "One hundred and one, as agreed, not a single cent less."

  "Thirty, love or not, that's it." The woman was firm and resolute, when suddenly the phone rang. After answering the call, she smiled: "Oh, Zhang sister, I'll come to your house tomorrow to learn about your decoration experience. Let me tell you, someone in our unit is someone's mistress..."

  After chatting for half a day, he turned his face and saw Liu Handong still waiting, so he took out 30 yuan from his pocket and threw it over: "Take the money and hurry up, don't feel awkward."

  Liu Handong didn't pick up the money, but instead lifted a crate of ceramic tiles.

  ……

  Liu Handong was laboriously moving bricks when two female university students passed by downstairs, caught sight of Wangcai and couldn't help but circle around it, looking left and right, feeling like they had seen it somewhere before.

  "Isn't this Song Shuang's cocoa? How did it become like this!" a girl said.

  "Yes, isn't it said that it's lost?" another girl said.

  Keke heard someone calling her own name and barked.

  The girl took out her mobile phone and dialed Song Shuang's number.

  Song Shuang sat in front of the computer, tears streaming down her face, looking exhausted and disheveled in her pajamas. She had forwarded several thousand microblog posts, but there were no valuable clues. Uncle Wang's investigation also yielded nothing. All pet markets and animal hospitals in the city had been investigated, but there was no sign of Keke. Even the vehicles transporting dogs to the south had been stopped by traffic police, but after searching the entire vehicle, Keke was nowhere to be found.

  Song Shuang is a liberal arts student, good at imagining. In her tragic story, Keke was caught by an old man who rode a tricycle, tied up and thrown into the carriage, desperately looking out at the rapidly passing street scene, with the sound of "mom" still echoing in his ears. Keke was taken to a rural shed by the old man, killed, skinned, cooked and eaten, dying with her eyes open...

  Thinking of this, Song Shuang's heart was like a knife twisting.

  The phone suddenly rang, and it was a call from Qianqian, her best friend and classmate.

  Song Shuang listlessly answered the phone: "Qingqing, what's up? I'm in a bad mood today and don't feel like getting out of bed."

  "Song Shuang, Keke has been found!" The voice on the other end was very loud, and there were also barking sounds in the background.

  Song Shuang suddenly jumped up: "What, Keke has been found!"

  "Yes, it was stolen by a migrant worker who collects trash. Xiaowei and I were guarding here at Li Shui Ya Ju residential area building 13. You don't know, Keke is so pitiful, all over injuries and tied up with ropes."

  "I'll be right there, you guys take care of Coco!" Song Shuang put down her phone, pulled out a pair of jeans and a small shirt from the closet, didn't have time to dress up or comb her hair, just washed her face and rushed out of the house with a messy look. She ran into a sedan with a Jiangsu license plate driving into the residential area, and hastily stopped it: "Uncle Wan, take me somewhere, it's an emergency!"

  Wan Xudong opened the car door: "Get in, where are we going?"

  "Lishui Yajuyuan community, hurry!"