I was reborn without dreams

Chapter 90 Hiring a Dog
"Brother Da'an, are there any fish here? We've been here for an hour, and there isn't even a tilapia..."

"Are you out of your mind? I'm in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, where would I get tilapia?"

"Telfish is very good with rice when it's grilled."

"nerve."

Zhang Da'an was fishing in the border river, taking a break and looking around at the surroundings.

These areas were created from reclaimed farmland in the past. So if you look down from the air, you'll see that the villages are lined up along small rivers, and the fields are very neat rectangles and rhombuses.

Before liberation, the land here had extremely low yields, incomparable to those on the south bank of the Yangtze River, at about 60 jin per mu. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, through collective cooperation, dredging and drainage, and land reclamation, a continuous stretch of effective arable land was finally formed.

It took thirty years to create the fertile land that stretches as far as the eye can see today.

Throughout Jiangkou Province, except for the town of Chengguan, the vast majority of towns and villages share the common memory of "carrying water across the river".

A well-organized layout is much more pleasant.

"By the way, Pineapple Boy, there shouldn't be any particularly busy places before September. I'll give you a two-week break to go back to your hometown."

“My mom said I don’t need to go back often, to save on travel expenses, and I can just go back for the Chinese New Year.”

"Find a nursing home for your dad and send him there. That way, your mom won't have to worry so much. She can just cook meals and deliver them to the nursing home. Otherwise, is it really okay for your mom to do nothing but take care of your dad every day?"

"Then I'll call my mom first."

“Don’t worry about what people will say. Your father is disabled and has difficulty moving around. The nursing home has professional caregivers, which is the most worry-free option. Otherwise, it will be difficult for your mother to find a long-term day job, and she will have to do odd jobs all the time, which is not a solution.”

"it is good."

Liang Chunbo's father became disabled and had great difficulty moving around. The family was struggling financially and needed someone to take care of them. Liang Chunbo, at his age, had actually been working part-time and studying for several years.

In rural areas, there is a slight taboo surrounding care institutions. If a wife and children send their husband to a welfare home or nursing home, there will inevitably be some gossip.

But as Zhang Da'an said, this is not a solution.

When you're broke, it's understandable to rely on your family to help you out; you have to live, you have to survive. But when you have more money, there's no need to torture yourself anymore. Either hire a caregiver or send someone to a place with professional caregivers.

Just take care of your emotions.

The best way to take care of one's emotions is to repair the house.

In almost every place across the country where local sentiments are strong, building a house is a top priority, just like weddings and funerals. In Liang Chunbo's hometown, a three-story brick-and-mortar house, even without painted exterior walls, is considered one of the most handsome houses in the village.

Liang Chunbo has saved some money now, so he can naturally consider buying a house.

The prestige of a newly built house will outweigh all gossip.

This is something that Liang Chunbo's father is happy to do.

He wasn't capable of building houses, but his son was, so he could speak much louder than his peers in the village.

Much, much bigger.

Once you get the diagnosis right, things will be much easier.

Apart from Liang Chunbo, the others will be arranged in the same way in the future. However, Liang Chunbo will be used as an example first to see how things go and to observe the subsequent developments.

There really aren't any major problems, so let's line up one by one.

This month, Lingxi Province has already begun preparing for the "autumn conscription." While the armed forces department is extremely busy, it is also making the most of its time to promote Zhang Da'an, its distant "cousin."

Solving the employment problems of soldiers after they return to civilian life is also something the Armed Forces Department needs to arrange.

It's not that they're clinging to Zhang Da'an, but for many agricultural counties in Lingxi Province, having a way out is a good thing. Even if they go to Lingdong to work, it's still a good thing, since the money earned from working is much more than harvesting sugarcane, tobacco, or fruit.

The main reason is that Zhang Da'an has a better reputation. More than a dozen armed forces departments have sent people to come and take a look, and none of them were dissatisfied. After confirming that Zhang Da'an's place was not a pyramid scheme, they were relieved.

Zhang Da'an's father's old unit was disbanded and reorganized many years ago. Because of some minor propaganda work done in several counties of Lingxi Province, it attracted the attention of a propaganda officer from Qinjiang. At the beginning of the summer vacation, he also came to Jiangkou Province, but did not go to Shazhou City. He only learned about the general situation in Jiangning City and then returned to Lingxi.

It was like taking a trip, and I wrote a fanciful article praising the place while on the banks of the Qinhuai River.

I must say, it's pretty accurate; the things I imagined were actually true.

It was originally just a token gesture, but it attracted more attention, so the publicity officer had to do a detailed report. Unfortunately, at this time, you had to make an appointment to meet Zhang Da'an.

It's not that I'm putting on airs, it's just that time is tight and the task is heavy, where would I find the time to chat about the past?

A month or so had passed, and the propaganda officer was now suffering from urinary urgency, frequency, and incomplete emptying of the bladder. If he didn't get to see Zhang Da'an soon for an exclusive interview, he might as well hand over the assigned task to his comrade.

While Zhang Da'an was fishing by the border river, in the guesthouse of the Armed Forces Department of Shazhou City, the unlucky fellow with even darker dark circles under his eyes planned to take a bus to Xindongwei Port Middle School.

There is now a direct shuttle bus, but unfortunately, when we arrived at Xindongwei Port Middle School, the guards at the gate still said that without an appointment, there was no room for negotiation.

"Cousin, where did your older cousin go?"
No comment.

Ask your "cousin" if your "big cousin" is at school.

I cannot disclose that information.

When is your older cousin available? (Asking "cousin")
Please make an appointment and wait for notification.

The "cousins" are well-trained and will not reveal a single piece of information about their "elder cousin".

Fortunately, the instructors discovered that the propaganda officer who had come from afar was actually an official, so they made a note of the situation, but they still had to wait for further instructions.

The instructors are not employees of "Zhang An Education" and cannot make any promises.

The Armed Forces Department of Shazhou City has already helped to pass on the message, but Mr. Zhang is not in Shazhou, so what can they do?
We can't just rush around asking where General Manager Zhang is for some publicity officer from out of town, can we?

After Zhang Da'an had been fishing for two and a half hours without catching a single fish, his temper flared instantly, and he stomped on the fishing rod, snapping it in two...

The local fishermen thought that this young man from out of town had no discernment at all.

The border river has just been washed; where did these fish come from?

Divine gold.

On the way back to the Mazhou branch campus, Zhang Da'an strolled around and looked around. Once the north-south highway was completed and connected to the two highways along the river, the Mazhou branch campus's profits would probably even exceed those of the main campus.

Just as I was contemplating what the future scene would be like, I suddenly heard a rustling sound coming from the roadside bushes. I thought it was some kind of lizard or black-browed rat snake, but instead, a dog's head, still whimpering, popped out from the lush greenery.

It turned out to be a tiny, jet-black puppy.

It has a coat of smooth, jet-black fur and a pair of bright, dark eyes that look around curiously, yet it doesn't seem afraid of strangers.

This is a naturally brave dog.

"Wow, this puppy has a nice head. Its fur looks completely black..." "What? It doesn't matter if you like it or not. I wonder which dog had puppies and let them run away."

The "cousin" who likes puppies is named Tang Jianqiu. He is from Qinjiang City. His father, like Zhang Da'an's father, was a machine gunner, but they were not in the same class.

He was one of the few who retired without major injuries, but due to a worsening of his liver disease caused by parasitic infection, he passed away when Tang Jianqiu was seven or eight years old.

When he first arrived in Shazhou City, he was quite shy. After Zhang Da'an brought in three instructors (one chief and two deputy) to help with the military training, he integrated into the group of "cousins".

His name was given to him by the political commissar of his old unit. It's a rather poetic and chivalrous name, but he himself is quite refined and his personality is somewhat different from the local customs of Qinjiang.

"This dog is so fat! Oh, it likes me! Look, it's lying on me... I grab it, and it peed!!"

The "cousins" who gathered around to look at the puppy were probably frightened by the little black dog. After whimpering a series of times, it lay down at Tang Jianqiu's feet and drew a sun.

Zhang Da'an looked up and saw a female dog, clearly engorged with milk, standing and gazing into the distance on the edge of a field not far away.

They didn't bark wildly; they just watched from a distance.

Further away, there was a row of rural houses. An old woman was carrying a sickle and a basket, walking towards her private plot across the road. Before going to the plot, she called out, and the female dog pricked up her ears and wagged her tail slightly, then looked back every few steps.

"Ah Qiu, go ask that old lady if it's her dog."

"Okay, Brother Da'an."

Tang Jianqiu jogged along the ridges of the fields, or rather, the wider dirt roads, until he reached the intersection where there was a row of houses.

After greeting the old woman, I tried to communicate with her by speaking and gesturing, but it was still ineffective.

Unfortunately, Tang Jianqiu's Mandarin was not fluent, and he obviously couldn't understand the local dialect. The old woman was also being polite and tried to communicate with Tang Jianqiu by speaking and gesturing, but in the end, they couldn't understand each other at all.

Zhang Da'an was speechless, so he picked up the little black dog, grabbed it by the scruff of its neck, and walked to the edge of his private plot, asking with a smile, "Grandma, is this dog yours?"

The old woman nodded, then smiled and spoke a string of dialects. Fortunately, Zhang Da'an could understand many dialects in Ma Zhou.

The dog did belong to her family. The mother dog had nine puppies, seven of which were taken away, one calico puppy was kept by the old man in the family, and finally, there was a small black puppy that was crawling around everywhere.

Because it was crawling around everywhere, it didn't meet any families who wanted to adopt puppies, so naturally no one chose it.

If it gets any bigger, there's no guarantee anyone will want it.

"Do you want it? If you do, I'll give it to you; you can just take it."

The old man was very polite, and even cut a huge cabbage from his private plot. He picked up the cabbage by the root, shook off the mud, and then asked Zhang Da'an, "Young man, do you want some cabbage? If you do, I'll cut you two. I planted too many this year, we can't eat them all, so we can only feed them to the chickens and geese."

As if he hadn't spoken for a long time, the old man talked to himself.

Zhang Da'an, who hadn't originally planned to get a dog, smiled, took out a wallet from his pocket, pulled out a hundred-yuan bill, and handed it to the other person, saying, "The dog and the vegetables are included, don't think it's too little."

"No, no, no..."

The old man's eyes lit up at first, then he waved his hands repeatedly and said with a smile, "They're all worthless."

"Yes, yes, I'm from Shazhou. I'm doing construction work next to the town government. If the canteen runs out of food in the future, I'll have someone come and ask you to buy some."

"He's a big boss!"

There was a hint of surprise in his voice, but the old man was still reluctant to accept the money.

If someone comes to hold a puppy, they'll usually give them something—ten or twenty yuan, or a basket of eggs. They'll always give something, and giving more isn't necessarily wrong, but in the surrounding rural area, it feels a bit "excessive."

Not used to it.

Zhang Da'an thought for a moment and asked Liang Chunbo to bring over a briefcase containing stationery such as notebooks and pens.

Unscrew the pen, Zhang Da'an thought for a moment, and wrote a letter of appointment on it: "Xin Dongwei Port Middle School, Mazhou Branch, is now seeking one campus guard dog..."

After writing a lengthy and detailed document, Zhang Da'an tore off an entire page, signed and stamped it, and then handed it to the old woman: "Grandma, a dowry of one hundred yuan, is that reasonable?"

"Oh, you lad, hahahahaha..."

The old man was overjoyed and burst into laughter.

So what was originally intended to be two cabbages ended up being twelve.

Each person takes two trees, and then Zhang Da'an has to carry the dog.

Even though he wasn't very literate, he could still make out what Zhang Da'an had written. The old man walked him for about a hundred meters and kept saying that Zhang Da'an, the owner of Shazhou, was a really nice person.

She probably found it very strange, as it was the first time she had ever seen someone write a contract to hire a dog. So she put the contract in a frame and told her family about this interesting thing that happened during the day while making dinner.

The next day, my family went to the town government to look for a construction site and saw the sign for Xindongweigang Middle School, as well as nearby roads that were being renovated and a bustling construction site.

There is indeed a construction site, but I didn't see the owner of the sandbar.

The old woman had a good memory. She saw Tang Jianqiu at the gate and greeted him with a smile. Her family was then somewhat surprised to learn that the newly built school in town was run by the top scorer in the college entrance examination.

"The top scholar?"

"Well, he's not the top scorer yet. Last year he was the top scorer in science, and this year he's the top scorer in humanities."

The son was stunned. He couldn't believe that such a thing could happen while his mother was cutting cabbages to feed the chickens.

And you know what? The whole family felt they were blessed with good fortune. A handwritten letter of appointment from a top student who excelled in both arts and sciences must have some significance, right?

They didn't even ask where Zhang Da'an had gone; the whole family just came to take a look and get familiar with the area.

After saying goodbye, Tang Jianqiu reported the matter to the office through the gatekeeper. At this moment, Zhang Da'an was sitting patiently on the floor and said with a serious expression, "Attention!"

"Wang!"

"very good!"

Looking at the little black dog sitting upright like a stone lion, Zhang Da'an was very pleased and nodded with satisfaction. "Although I'm not interested in you, you are a smart dog. Smart dogs get treats."

He took out a small biscuit and waved it in front of the little black dog, whose tail was already wagging like a tadpole.

Although its eyes were fixed on the cookie in Zhang Da'an's hand, it didn't reach out to bite it until Zhang Da'an put the cookie on the floor. It tried to stick its head out, but Zhang Da'an stopped it. Then it just stared longingly at the cookie.

"Eat."

clack clack...

The dog's mouth moved with lightning speed, and then it began grinding its teeth with relish.

(End of this chapter)