Zhu Yuanzhang in the cellar

Chapter 3 A Dog Thief Came to the Cellar
"Ow!"

Zhu Yunfeng stretched and glanced at the time in the lower right corner of the computer. It was already three o'clock in the morning.

As a failed author who makes a living by writing, it has become a habit for me to write until the middle of the night.

Not to mention three o'clock in the middle of the night, sometimes when I'm in a good mood and inspiration strikes, it's common to write until ten o'clock in the morning.

The chapter to be updated tomorrow has already been coded on the computer. Zhu Yunfeng is too lazy to correct typos or reformat it to ensure a smooth tone, so he just turns off the writing assistant.

Anyway, readers will help point out typos and I can just correct them when the time comes.

After closing the writing assistant, a computer wallpaper with the words "Blessing from the God of Wealth" appears on the desktop.

"Poverty, when I was young I didn't know how difficult life was, but now I know how difficult life is. For a few ounces of silver, I have to work hard and do nothing."

Looking at the festive red desktop, Zhu Yunfeng did not feel relieved because he had finished coding a chapter today. Instead, he smiled at himself.

I just felt relieved to have finished writing it.

But when I think about having to keep updating after waking up, the overwhelming pressure comes upon me and makes me breathless.

Zhu Yunfeng reached for his cell phone.

The phone case is facing upwards, and the pattern on the back is a picture of a kitten burning incense, with "Qianbei" written on the cat's head.

Facing the direction where the cat is burning incense is a money bag, and below it is written "I have tried really hard, but I just can't make any money. Please take care of me, a kid who works so hard but hasn't had a salary increase in all these years."

pity.

I have been using the God of Wealth wallpaper for three years, and the kitten for wealth phone case for two years.

Zhu Yunfeng still didn't get rich.

The novels I wrote earned me four to five thousand yuan a month, which was barely enough to support my life.

Except for the time after I finish coding today's work and feel a little relieved, I am usually in a highly tense mental state.

Open your phone and open major social software.

Ok.

There is no message.

Want to find a girlfriend.

However, on some dating social apps, people will basically ignore him once they see his family conditions, information and salary.

No one uses WeChat, and the only messages I receive from the operator are some harassing text messages.

There has not been a single phone call since this morning.

awful.

Zhu Yunfeng shook his head.

The most recent piece of news was at 10 o'clock last night, when a power grid maintenance announcement was sent to everyone in the town’s power supply group.

Due to the sudden arrival of heavy rain, the power supply station needed to carry out temporary maintenance of the power supply facilities, and the power was cut off from 7 am to 11 am.

There was still an hour until my 4 o'clock bedtime yesterday, and there were still 4 hours until the power outage.

It has nothing to do with him anyway. He has already gone to bed at 7 o'clock and can't get up until 12 noon.

In the past, he would choose to play a few games to relax, but games have become less and less interesting recently.

Went straight to bed but couldn't fall asleep.

Zhu Yunfeng held the mouse boredly, listening to the snoring in the next room. Chi Chi was sleeping soundly, and his hand stopped when he wanted to turn off the computer.

He rolled his eyes, then glanced at the closed guest room door with a sly look.

There was no movement, only the thunderous purring.

Ok.

Playing games is relaxing, and tiring my second brother out is also relaxing. Since the game is boring, I might as well give my second brother a break.

Thinking of this, Zhu Yunfeng quietly moved the mouse and opened a special small website. The smile on his face and the look in his eyes gradually became obscene and perverted.

The house he lived in was a two-story building in his hometown in the countryside. It was decorated quite well. There was a large yard in the front, but no wall. There were also several vegetable plots in the backyard, which looked a bit like a small country villa.

Since his grandfather passed away three years ago, Zhu Yunfeng has no direct relatives in his hometown.

Two years ago, Zhu Yunfeng's father, who was doing small business outside, demolished the ancestral house and built this small building. He originally wanted to move back after he retired, but he didn't expect that his eldest son changed his mind and moved back from the city.

Old Zhu had hoped that Zhu Yunfeng would return to his hometown before, and now that his wish had come true, he simply transferred the property rights of the ancestral home to Zhu Yunfeng's name.

As for Zhu Yunfeng.

The reason why he wanted to go back to his hometown was very simple.

First, consumption in rural areas is low. Unlike when I was in Changsha, my monthly salary was not enough to cover food, rent, water, electricity and other living expenses. When I encountered large expenses, I could either ask my parents for money or borrow online loans.

Second, the overall business environment is not very good now. Before, he could work in Changsha and write novels part-time, with a monthly income of about 8,000 yuan, which was enough to make ends meet.

But now the company has closed down and I can't find a job anywhere. Also, although my parents are in the same city, I can only see them a few times a year. If I go back to my hometown, I can save on rent and reduce consumption.

So going back became the best option.

Anyway, he doesn't live with his parents. After his parents divorced, they each started their own families and have children. It wouldn't be suitable for him to go anywhere. It would be better for him to go back to his hometown than to stay in Changsha and be heavily in debt.

It just so happened that my childhood friend Ji He was transferred to work in their town’s Poverty Alleviation Office two years ago. It only takes more than 20 minutes to drive from the town to their village.

The two of them hit it off and asked Ji He to drive more than four hours to the provincial capital to pick him up.

Since their town is far away from the county seat, which takes more than an hour by car, Ji He lives in the dormitory of the Poverty Alleviation Office on weekdays. He goes to Zhu Yunfeng's house to play on weekends and even moves his computer over.

In this way, two people can play games together in the living room on the second floor.

They even specially bought booths like those in Internet cafes. Except for the fact that cooking is a little troublesome, everything else is quite convenient.

The most important thing is that there is not much to consume in the countryside. Zhu Yunfeng only needs to buy some cat and dog food online every month, and then pay for the internet fee, electricity bill, and meat and vegetable money.

After paying off the online loan that I owed every month when I was working in the city, I was able to save a thousand yuan at the end of the month.

Apart from the fact that socializing is a bit lonely, unlike in the city where you can have dinner with friends, play werewolf, or have drinks in the bar, everything else is much better than in the city.

The only drawback is that I can't find a girlfriend.

Since my parents are not at home, there is naturally no one to help arrange a blind date.

"Boom!"

At this moment, there was a sudden thunder outside, which frightened Zhu Yunfeng so much that his hands began to tremble.

"Wang Wang Wang!"

Pippi, who was lying next to Zhu Yunfeng, suddenly started shouting.

Zhu Yunfeng had no choice but to stop sewing, touched Pipi's head and said, "Stop barking like a dog."

As a result, just after calming the dog, the cat that was sleeping on the sofa in the living room suddenly jumped up from the sofa and ran downstairs.

Pippi is a golden retriever given by a friend. When I was in Changsha, my friend's golden retriever gave birth to eleven puppies. Seeing that Zhu Yunfeng lived alone and didn't even have a girlfriend, she asked him if he wanted a dog.

Zhu Yunfeng thought that he had nothing to do anyway and might as well raise a dog to keep him company, so he asked for one.

Later, I picked up a dying stray tabby cat in the community where I rented a house in Changsha. I named it Dandan, and brought the cat and the dog together back home.

I didn't expect that something happened today and these two guys went crazy. I've encountered thunderstorms before, but I've never seen them react so strongly.

"Wang Wang Wang."

Pippi was still barking like a dog. As Dandan ran out, Pippi also ran downstairs.

"Is he a dog thief?"

Zhu Yunfeng chased after him while thinking to himself.

Although their village is located deep in the mountains, the village roads leading into the mountains are equipped with cameras. Ji He had violated traffic rules in Yinlu Village on the mountainside before, so there are almost no real thieves, and he has not heard of any family having things stolen in several years.

However, dog thieves are very rampant.

Firstly, the local dogs kept at home are not valuable, and if they are stolen, the rural people will just put their hands on their hips and curse a few times, and rarely call the police.

Secondly, even if we call the police, the problem is that rural dogs are not worth much.

Even if a dog thief is caught, he will at most be subject to administrative punishment and will not be held criminally liable.

In addition, the amount is too small, and there are insufficient law enforcement resources in rural areas. More emphasis is placed on more serious crimes, and the crackdown on dog theft is not strong enough, which leads to dog thieves being unscrupulous and unable to stop despite repeated bans.

However, the dog thief is not afraid of the police, but is afraid of being caught by the villagers.

Because once they are caught, they will often beat them up and only hand them over to the police when they are almost dead. Therefore, they only come to scout the area during the day and steal dogs at night.

Zhu Yunfeng just came back at the beginning of last year, and it has been almost two years now.

In the WeChat groups of several villages, including Zhujiaping Village on the mountain, Yinlu Village and Dingjiaao on the mountainside, Pai Shang Village behind the mountain, Yijiawan and Huangxi Village at the foot of the mountain, people often say that their dogs have been stolen.

In the past two years alone, he had heard of more than twenty cases of dog theft. Seeing Pipi acting strangely, Zhu Yunfeng suspected that a dog thief had come to his house.

'I hope not.'

Zhu Yunfeng thought, I heard that these dog thieves all have poison needles in their hands, which is very dangerous.

He was very careful on weekdays. He would not let Pipi roam freely. He would take him out for a walk on the nearby hillside during the day, and then go home and lock him in the house to let him play by himself. He would bring him back to the room at night. If a dog thief really came and rushed into the house, the safety of both the man and the dog would probably not be guaranteed.

But I don’t know the situation yet.

What if the two guys were frightened just because of thunder and there was no other accident? It would be a bad idea to alarm others because Ji He still has to go to work tomorrow.

But you can't just take nothing, you still have to be careful.

When Zhu Yunfeng went down the stairs, he turned on the stair light, looked around, and patrolled the corridor. There were many things placed in the stairwell on the first floor, including hoes, sickles, dustpans, winnowing baskets, shovels, etc., all of which were his grandfather's inheritance.

He thought for a moment and realized that the hoe and sickle were used to kill people, and the dustpan and winnowing basket were useless, so he picked up the shovel and turned on the light in the living room. He saw Pippi's golden hair flash across the living room.

"Wang Wang Wang!"

The barking of the dogs continued.

Zhu Yunfeng didn't have time to think about it and immediately chased out of the living room.

Outside the living room is the main room. It is pitch black outside. Fortunately, there are light switches inside and outside the living room. After turning on the switches in the living room, there is nothing in the living room.

'Where is the preserved egg?'

Zhu Yunfeng went into the living room. The barking sound of a dog came from the corridor on the left side of the living room, which was connected to the kitchen, backyard and utility room.

He hurriedly chased after him.

When Zhu Yunfeng walked out of the living room to look for the source of the sound, he discovered that the dog did not run to the backyard, but went into the utility room.

The utility room is right next to the kitchen, located on the side of the small building. There are three doors connecting to the outside of the house. One is the main door of the main hall, the second is the backyard door, and the third is the side door of the utility room.

Seeing this scene, Zhu Yunfeng secretly cried out inwardly, wondering if there really was a dog thief who climbed over the courtyard wall and came in through the side door.

I should have installed a surveillance camera at home earlier.

But there's no point thinking about these things now. I glanced at the dark storage room where Pippi had already rushed in. There were no screams coming from inside, but dogs continued to bark.

But rushing in was not in Zhu Yunfeng's habit. Although he and Pipi were like father and daughter, he still had to be careful.

He thought about it and did not act rashly. Instead, he took out his cell phone and sent a silent voice message to Ji He. Then he walked to the utility room, turned on the light switch, and then looked inside to observe secretly.

I saw that there was nothing in the utility room, just a pile of messy items.

Pippi the dog was squatting on the cellar and barking at the dogs in the cellar, and Dandan the cat was also standing next to him, staring at the cellar board.

'It seems nothing happened.'

Zhu Yunfeng immediately turned off the voice chat to avoid waking Ji He up.

"Dong dong!"

There was a slight clanking sound against the cellar boards.

"It must be a mouse."

Zhu Yunfeng was speechless.

When Pippi lived in the city, he especially liked to chase small animals. He didn’t bite them, he just liked to chase them. If the other animal resisted, he would bark non-stop.

After returning to the countryside, Dandan's bloodline awakened and he started catching mice everywhere.

Apparently the rats on the first floor startled them.

What is surprising is that they can detect rats in the cellar on the first floor even from the second floor. Their sense of smell or hearing is too good.

After realizing it was a false alarm, Zhu Yunfeng originally wanted to go back.

But then I thought that if I couldn't fulfill the wishes of these two little guys, they might make a fuss, not to mention that having rats in the cellar would be a problem too.

So Zhu Yunfeng put down the shovel, pulled Pipi and said, "Pipi, let Dandan go down and catch the mice."

After saying that, he patted Pippi's head and opened the cellar door.

next second.

A head suddenly popped out of the cellar and met his eyes.

Time seemed to freeze.

The man was covered in dust and his appearance could not be seen clearly, but his eyes revealed a look of horror.

Zhu Yunfeng was stunned for only a second, and he didn't have time to look at who the other person was, what he looked like or what he was wearing. Almost instinctively, he picked up the shovel next to him and smashed it on the other person's still confused head.

But what was unexpected was that the other party, whether out of instinct or quick reaction, actually raised his hand and just grabbed the connection between the shovel head and the handle.

"Ji Hyuk!"

Zhu Yunfeng let out a heart-wrenching scream.

"Who are you?"

The man also shouted, but his accent was a little strange and difficult to understand.

"Wow wow wow wow!"

Pippi started barking loudly like a dog beside him.

But because it is a golden retriever, it is naturally friendly to people and just barked but did not bite.

Dandan was even more frightened and ran away in a flash.

Zhu Yunfeng thought to himself that this was not good.

These two are scammers.

Can't help at all at the critical moment.

"I'm asking you something."

The people below were still shouting.

"Pipi, go get Ji He."

Zhu Yunfeng didn't understand what he said and thought he was a dog thief from outside the area. He ignored him and continued to call for help.

At the same time, he held the shovel in both hands, continued to maintain a stalemate with the man, and kicked the person in the cellar in the face with his slippers.

The face of the man who was kicked twice was already pitch black, and there was a strange smell, which almost angered the man below to death.

The main thing is that the Zhu family cellar does not have a staircase, but a ladder, the kind that will fall down if pushed. Zhu Yunfeng kicked his feet around, kicking the ladder and the man's face at the same time.

The man had to hold the shovel with one hand and hold the entrance to the cellar with the other hand. Unlike Zhu Yunfeng, who had the advantage of terrain and could use his hands and feet to hit him in the face, otherwise he would lose his balance and fall.

Now, we are in a dilemma. We cannot go up, but if we go down, we are afraid that the people above will close the cellar door and then we will be doomed.

For a while, the two sides were in a stalemate.

However, the stalemate didn't last too long. The man below was incredibly strong. Zhu Yunfeng, a young man in his twenties, couldn't hold on for long with his two hands and was pinned down by the other party's one hand.

In just a few seconds, the shovel was about to be taken away by the other party.

Seeing this, Zhu Yunfeng knew that the shovel would not be returned, but he found that the other party was not lifting it, but pulling it down, trying to snatch the shovel away, so he rolled his eyes and simply handed it forward and went with the flow.

Under inertia, the man really leaned back and almost fell back into the cellar. For this reason, he had to put down the shovel and let it fall into the cellar, while holding the cellar entrance with his right hand.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Zhu Yunfeng punched the other person in the face.

However, what was horrifying was that the opponent did not let go and fall down despite the pain. Instead, he clenched his teeth, held on tightly, and then punched back fiercely.

Zhu Yunfeng didn't react in time and was punched hard. He immediately saw stars and took several steps back.

He never expected that the other party was so strong, it was too exaggerated.

Moreover, it seemed that the man opposite seemed to have learned martial arts. Not only did he react very quickly and was able to grab the shovel quickly, but he also had a very strong ability to withstand blows. He withstood Zhu Yunfeng's kick and even inertia, and had enough strength to fight back. He was simply not on the same level as him.

After Zhu Yunfeng was beaten back, he gave up his position and could no longer maintain his superior position. The man below suddenly jumped out, with fierce eyes, staring at his throat like a hungry wolf, and then pounced on him.

The two sides immediately engaged in a fight, but Zhu Yunfeng was suppressed after just one encounter. The opponent was so powerful that Zhu Yunfeng was unable to resist.

It was already a desperate situation, Zhu Yunfeng shouted angrily: "The kick that will cut off your progeny and exterminate your descendants!"

He raised his foot and kicked the other person in the crotch.

"mean!"

The man's face changed drastically, but he actually resisted and kicked back.

In an instant, Zhu Yunfeng felt a sharp pain from his brother's direction. His entire face twisted and turned the color of liver. He felt that the Zhu family was going to be extinct.

Feeling the pain in his lower body, the strength in his hands weakened a little, and the opponent quickly gained the upper hand and responded with a punch. In an instant, Zhu Yunfeng was dizzy and his nose was bleeding.

At the critical moment.

"Fengzi, here I come!"

Ji He's two hundred pounds of meat rushed over like a mountain. The pig rushed forward and instantly crashed into the man.

The other party was caught off guard, and by the time he reacted, he was sent flying.

"boom!"

The next second the man hit the side door, making a loud noise.

(End of this chapter)