My 1995 Small Farm.

The morning light is dim.

The mornings in the Mid-Levels of Hong Kong Island are filled with the unique moisture and freshness of the sea breeze.

Sunlight streamed quietly into the bedroom through the gaps in the blinds.

Wang Susu was the first to wake up, and she habitually looked at the children beside her.

Kang Kang and Lele were still curled up in their crib, their little faces rosy from sleeping.

Rui Rui lay sprawled out, one of her feet sticking out of the blanket.

She got up quietly, intending to prepare breakfast.

My gaze inadvertently swept over the bamboo basket covered with a soft cloth in the corner, and I was immediately stunned.

The Tibetan Mastiff puppy, which had been sickly and struggling to lift its head just yesterday, had now climbed out of the basket on its own.

She was squatting by the basket, her little head held high, her bright, black, glassy eyes shining through.

Although he was still thin, his energy was completely different from yesterday.

Its little nose twitched as it tried to sniff the air.

It made a very faint, coquettish "woo-woo" sound from its throat.

"Ah Ling! Come quick!"

Wang Susu was both surprised and delighted, and quickly called out to her husband in a low voice.

Chen Ling had actually been awake for a while and was resting with his eyes closed when he heard the sound.

Seeing the little Tibetan Mastiff, a subtle smile appeared on his lips.

The combination of the celestial treasures and the nourishing effects of the wild boar king's blood proved remarkably effective.

"Right? I told you there shouldn't be a big problem."

"This little guy has a good constitution. We'll give him some of the stomach medicine we brought, feed him some raw eggs, and he'll be fine once he recovers."

That's complete nonsense.

Not all thin dogs have gastrointestinal problems.

Conversely, it is inevitable that all sick dogs will have a poor appetite and an inability to digest much food.

At this moment, Rui Rui and Wang Zhenzhen were also awakened by the noise, and they ran out of their respective bedrooms, rubbing their eyes.

"Little puppy!"

Rui Rui spotted the little guy in the basket at a glance, and instantly lost all sleepiness.

Barefoot, she ran over and squatted by the basket, wanting to touch it but not daring to.

Because the Tibetan Mastiff puppy had long fur, a thin frame, and retained signs of illness, it wasn't very attractive.

It's really hard to make a move on Rui Rui.

Wang Zhenzhen also came over, her eyes widening in surprise: "Wow! Brother-in-law, you're amazing! It was like that yesterday, and today it can stand up by itself?!"

The little guy didn't seem used to being surrounded by so many people.

Especially Wang Zhenzhen, who doesn't care whether it looks good or bad.

The first thing you do is touch it and rub its head.

It shrank its neck warily, but its gaze went past them and stared straight at Chen Ling who was walking over.

As Chen Ling approached, it struggled to its feet and, swaying but with a clear purpose, moved toward Chen Ling's feet.

She gently rubbed her cool little nose against Chen Ling's slippers, making clearer, dependent, and coquettish "humming" sounds from her throat.

The little tail was wagging very weakly, but it was definitely trying its best.

"Dad, it's looking for you! Does it need to poop?"

Based on his experience raising Heiwa Xiaojin and the village dogs, Rui Rui made a serious judgment.

Chen Ling was amused by her son. She bent down and gently touched the little Tibetan Mastiff's head. Its body temperature was indeed much higher than yesterday.

It was quite cold yesterday, definitely a sick dog.

The little guy squinted comfortably and rubbed even harder.

"You little rascal, you guessed right this time."

Chen Ling laughed and said, "It's been holding it in all night and wants to go out to relieve itself. Come on, Dad will take it to take care of this 'important matter of life'."

As he spoke, he carefully picked up the little one.

The little one was very well-behaved, finding a comfortable spot to snuggle in his arms.

But its little nose kept sniffing, seemingly particularly fascinated by the comforting and longing scent emanating from Chen Ling.

Chen Ling carried it out of the house, out of the courtyard gate, and placed it on the open ground outside the courtyard.

The little guy stumbled a moment after his four feet touched the ground, but quickly regained his balance.

Then, it actually lowered its head, pressed its little nose against the floor tiles, and began to sniff around anxiously, as if it were anxiously searching for a "toilet".

It staggered to the outside of the courtyard wall, to the tree pit not far away.

Having skillfully resolved its physiological needs, it let out a long sigh of relief and shook its fur with a sense of ease.

Although still thin, its spirit and the cleverness in its eyes showed that it no longer looked like a sick dog.

"Great! The puppy is better!"

Rui Rui chased after the Tibetan Mastiff and clapped happily when he saw it running around.

Wang Zhenzhen also breathed a sigh of relief: "I was so scared. When I saw it yesterday, I thought it wouldn't survive."

"It's alright now. Let us feed it for a few days until it recovers, then we'll take a big boat back and bring it home with us..."

Chen Ling smiled and said to the two little monkeys.

I wiped its paws and mouth with a damp towel before carrying it back inside.

At this moment, Wang Susu had already heated the milk and was planning to make some oatmeal for it.

These dishes were prepared by Liang Yuemin and Liu Yinhuan, mainly Western-style meals, which the children quite enjoyed.

I just feel like I'm not getting enough to eat.

But that's fine too. If you don't eat enough for breakfast, you'll have room to eat whatever you like when you're out having fun.

You can feed the puppy now.

As soon as the Tibetan Mastiff smelled the milk, it immediately began to wriggle restlessly in Chen Ling's arms, licking its little tongue.

"Looks like they're really hungry."

Wang Susu smiled and placed the small plate of milk on the ground.

As soon as Chen Ling put the little guy down, it eagerly went to the plate, first tentatively licking it, and then gulping it down quickly and eagerly, clearly starving.

"Drink slowly, no one's going to take it from you."

Wang Susu felt sorry for it, so she took a little bit of broken cooked egg yolk and placed it next to it.

Kang Kang and Lele were also completely awakened by the commotion and insisted on getting down on the ground, babbling incoherently.

Kang Kang crawled over, grinning from ear to ear.

Lele, on the other hand, staggered over, leaning against the wall.

The two little ones giggled at Chen Ling and looked down at their furry new friend with curiosity.

Lele even tried to reach out and touch it, but Wang Susu quickly stopped her: "Lele, be good, the puppy is eating, you can't touch it."

At the breakfast table, the family sat around eating, while the little Tibetan Mastiff enjoyed its milk and egg yolk feast at the foot of the table.

Rui Rui and Wang Zhenzhen ate absentmindedly, their eyes constantly glancing towards the puppy.

Eat a little, feed a little to the Tibetan Mastiff.

After Rui Rui finished feeding the Tibetan Mastiff puppy, he stared intently at it as it ate, even more focused than when watching a cartoon.

Kang Kang and Lele couldn't sit still. They waved their little spoons, babbling and trying to climb down from their high chairs to reach the puppy drinking milk.

While busily taking care of the two little ones, Wang Susu reminded the older one, "Rui Rui, Zhen Zhen, eat your own food quickly, don't feed the dog, the food is getting cold!"

"Mommy, the puppy is eating so well, it's even eating faster than me!"

Rui Rui stuffed his mouth full of fried egg and mumbled something indistinctly.

"Brother-in-law, let's give it a name!" Wang Zhenzhen swallowed the bread in her mouth and suggested excitedly.

“We can’t keep calling it ‘puppy’ or ‘little guy’.”

"Okay, okay! Rui Rui wants to name the puppy!!" Rui Rui immediately raised her hand, her little face full of excitement.

"You?" Wang Zhenzhen pouted. "All you can come up with are names like 'Little Black,' 'Little Yellow,' and 'Little Flower'!"

The little chick at home, Rui Rui calls it Little Yellow.

A group of weasels were all called Little Yellow, and Wang Zhenzhen had already corrected names like Little Fatty and Little Yellow.

Rui Rui would never listen to her.

"certainly not!"

Rui Rui puffed out her little chest defiantly, "Rui Rui wants to have... has to have the most awesome name!"

Chen Ling and Wang Susu exchanged a smile and let the children make a ruckus.

"Call...call the big tiger!" Rui Rui announced loudly.

"Pfft—" Wang Zhenzhen almost spat out her milk. "What kind of dog barks at a tiger! No way!"

“Then… it’s called Big Tiger!” Rui Rui changed the name.

"What's the difference between this and before! No way!" Wang Zhenzhen rejected the idea.

"I'll name it. I've watched a lot of cartoons and know a lot of nice names."

"Oh? What do you want to name it?" Chen Ling asked with a smile.

"Call me... um, I'll call you Gao Fei."

“Gao Fei? That’s such a serious name, even more serious than our village secretary’s name…” Wang Susu couldn’t help but laugh.

"Zhenzhen, we need to choose a fun and cute name for the dog."

"Ah, let's call him Naughty then, let's call him Little Naughty..."

"Naughty? This little guy isn't naughty at all..."

"If I were a mischievous little monkey like you, then being naughty would be fine, but unfortunately I'm not."

She could only think of names from cartoons.

However, none of them are quite suitable.

In the end, she got angry herself and pouted unhappily:

"This won't work, that won't work, these are all cartoon names... You two won't listen to me, humph, then you can name the dog yourselves, it definitely won't be as good as the names I came up with."

"Hehe, Auntie is so silly. Daddy, Rui Rui, name the puppy."

Rui Rui tilted his head and thought hard for a moment: "...Call him Black Egg! Just like Black Boy!"

Wang Zhenzhen immediately objected: "No, no!..."

"Heiwa is black, it's black and yellow! And 'Heidan' sounds awful! Look at its long fur, it looks like a fluffy ball, let's call it Mao Mao!"

"No fluff! Just call me Black Egg!" Rui Rui said stubbornly.

"Mao Mao sounds great!"

"Black Egg!"

"Maomao!"

The two little ones started arguing, neither willing to give in.

Kang Kang and Lele found it amusing to watch their older brother and aunt arguing, so they slammed their fists on the table and cheered them on, making the room quite lively.

Wang Susu was getting a headache from the noise and looked at Chen Ling helplessly: "You can even start arguing over a name. Ling, you can give it a name, something easy to remember."

Chen Ling looked at the little creature at his feet that had finished breakfast and was carefully cleaning the downy fur around its mouth with its tongue. Its stubborn yet somewhat bewildered eyes reminded him of how it had been foraging for food alone in the cave yesterday.

He thought about it and realized that in rural areas, sometimes the idea is to give a child a humble name so that the child will be easier to raise.

The more robust and ordinary a name is, the more likely it is to symbolize health and peace.

"Okay, stop arguing, both of you."

“Zhenzhen, you should be more lenient with him. He’s not even two years old yet, he doesn’t know any better.”

Chen Ling said, "Let's name her according to Rui Rui's idea."

Rui Rui immediately looked at Wang Zhenzhen with a smug expression.

Chen Ling continued, "But instead of calling it Black Egg, since its fur is mostly yellowish-brown, let's call it 'Iron Egg'."

"A body made of iron, sturdy and healthy, symbolizing that it will grow up to be as strong as a small lump of iron, what do you think?"

"Iron Egg?"

Wang Zhenzhen blinked, pondered for a moment, and said, "Iron Egg... seems a bit better than Black Egg! And it sounds really powerful!"

As long as Rui Rui isn't called "Mao Mao," he can totally accept being called "Tiedan" instead, and immediately cheers, "Okay! I'll be called Tiedan! Tiedan! I'm Rui Rui!"

He even tried to introduce himself to the newly named puppy.

Wang Susu laughed too: "Tiedan, hmm, that's quite a robust name. I hope this little guy can really be as strong and healthy as Tiedan (Iron Egg)."

Thus, this Tibetan Mastiff puppy from Hong Kong Island, with its special physique, was officially named "Tie Dan" on the Chen family's breakfast table.

It seemed to react to the new name, raising its head and looking at the "family members" watching with its clear eyes.

It lowered its head again and continued licking its paws, which could be considered as acquiescence.

After breakfast, Wang Susu cleaned up the dishes, Chen Ling played with the children in the living room, and Tie Dan curiously explored the house. Although his steps were still a little unsteady, his desire to explore was very strong.

Just then, a car horn sounded outside the door, followed by Director Zhong's familiar voice: "Brother Fugui! Are you ready? The crew is almost done!"

Chen Ling got up and opened the door. Director Zhong stood at the door, looking very energetic. Today he was wearing a more flamboyant shirt, looking quite like a director.

"Director Zhong, good morning. Come in and have a seat. I'll be right there."

Director Zhong walked in with a smile, his eyes immediately drawn to Tie Dan, who was sniffing around on the ground:
"Hey! Isn't this Hua Ge's sick dog? My goodness! It's only been one night... and it's already so much less energetic?"

"What kind of magic pills did you give it?"

It's no wonder Director Zhong was surprised; he had personally witnessed Tie Dan's near-death state yesterday.

Although he is still thin, his eyes are bright and his movements are much more powerful. The change is really obvious.

Chen Ling smiled vaguely: "It's probably just a change of environment, a bit of stress reaction, but I've recovered. Plus, I gave her some medicine that we brought from our hometown, along with a raw egg, to help regulate her stomach."

"Amazing! Absolutely amazing!"

Director Zhong circled Tie Dan twice, marveling, "Brother Hua would be ecstatic if he knew! Ah Ling, your dog-raising skills are amazing!"

He then smiled at Wang Susu and the children and said, "Sister-in-law, why don't you take the kids to the film set to play today? We're shooting some lighthearted scenes today, something lively, the kids will definitely enjoy!"

Wang Susu looked at Chen Ling with some hesitation, afraid that bringing the child to the film set would cause trouble.

Chen Ling nodded: "Go ahead and see for yourself. Director Zhong isn't an outsider. As long as they don't make a fuss about filming, it'll be fine."

"Yay! Let's go play at the movie filming location!"

"I'll be on TV soon, just like my brother-in-law!"

Wang Zhenzhen cheered.

Rui Rui, not understanding why, also cheered and shouted.

So the family quickly got everything ready.

Chen Ling found a small bamboo basket, lined it with a soft cloth, and put Tie Dan inside. It was inconvenient for the little guy to eat, drink, and relieve himself at home, so having him with her made it easier to take care of him at any time.

Director Chung drove his family to the filming location of "Return to Glory" in the suburbs of Hong Kong Island.

As the car drove along the winding mountain road, with the azure bay below and rows of high-rise buildings in the distance, the children peered out the car windows, finding everything fascinating.

Iron Egg seemed a little uneasy in the basket. Chen Ling gently stroked its back, and it gradually calmed down, but its little nose kept sniffing the unfamiliar scent in the air.

Chen Ling glanced at it a few times and thought to himself, "Brother Hua is not taking good care of the puppy. In Hong Kong's weather, if you're raising a Tibetan Mastiff, you should trim its fur a bit shorter first."

He was thinking that after visiting the film set, he would buy a pair of clippers and scissors to give the puppy a bath and trim its fur.

Make sure it's clean and tidy, and then apply some insect repellent or something.

Otherwise, if you have young children at home, even if you've been inside the cave, you still need to be extra careful. (End of Chapter)