Mo Yan himself didn't know when he fell for the girl in front of him. He had seen the little girl following behind his father when he was first discharged from the army and assigned to the factory. At that time, he only regarded her as a child. In less than two years, she had become a girl who was collecting her father's pension. Perhaps it was when she came to collect the pension, bumped into him at the gate, and glared at him that his heart went awry.

After the Lantern Festival, Mo Yan brought over a puppy: "The transport team has a few wolfhounds guarding the goods. Before the New Year, the mother dog gave birth to a litter of puppies, which are now a month old and very easy to raise."

"Oh dear, why the sudden decision to raise a dog? These dogs are so gluttonous, they'd eat a whole person's food ration." Even Grandma's first reaction was that it was a waste of food: "You might as well raise some chickens; they can at least lay eggs."

"I'm going to raise the baby; I'm afraid someone will climb over the wall and steal things."

"How could that be? This is a residential area; everyone knows their neighbors. Who would steal anything?"

"What if someone from outside comes?"

"Do outsiders still dare to enter the residential area?"

"I don't trust anyone else to do this. I'm the one who's going to keep this dog."

"You little rascal, always thinking the impossible. Keep raising her, you're just wasting money every day." Even Grandma couldn't bear to argue with her granddaughter, she could only mutter to herself with a pained expression.

Lian Sanzhu liked it very much, reaching out to stroke the puppy's chubby bottom: "What does it eat? Rice? I'll go cook for it right now."

The old lady slapped her youngest son on the back: "What are you doing? Doesn't food cost money? Doesn't firewood cost money? Why cook separately for it? We can just leave some rice for it after we finish eating."

The old woman's strength was no match for Lian Sanzhu: "Mom, we've already eaten dinner, there's no leftover food, the next meal won't be until tomorrow morning, are you going to starve us all night?"

"We won't starve. I'll just make more rice porridge tomorrow morning."

"Grandma, I know. You and Grandpa go to sleep. I'll find some hay for it." Lian Yanyan pulled her uncle back, who was about to argue a few more times, and said a few words in a very 'sensible' way.

Grandpa Lian glanced at his clever granddaughter, saw through her but said nothing, and pulled his wife into the bedroom.

Lian Yanyan watched them enter the bedroom and whispered to Lian Sanzhu, "Uncle, keep your voice down. Let's go to the kitchen and cook some cornmeal for it, secretly."

"Okay, let's go." Lian Sanzhu held the puppy to his chest and tiptoed towards the kitchen.

Lian Yanyan and Mo Yan exchanged a glance and smiled quietly: "You should go back. You'll be on the early shift tomorrow, right?"

"Okay, see you at the factory gate tomorrow morning. I'll bring you something delicious."

"it is good."

After Mo Yan left, Lian Yanyan and her uncle fed the puppy in the kitchen, then found a basket, filled it with hay, and placed it in the main room.

"You can stay here for now. Tomorrow I'll find some bricks and build you a nest," Lian Sanzhu said softly, stroking the puppy's head.

The next morning, as soon as the old lady entered the kitchen, she discovered what the two of them had been doing. Before her granddaughter woke up, she beat up her youngest son.

"You dare touch my cornmeal and ruin an egg? You, an elder, are taking advantage of your niece to destroy food; you've gone too far!"

While being beaten by his mother, Lian Sanzhu asked curiously, "Mother, we cleaned everything up, how did you know?"

"Who do you think I am? I can spot if even an ounce of grain is missing from the kitchen, and I can tell how many eggs there are at a glance. You dare to lie to me?"

"Then you should cook more breakfast, you have to feed the dog."

"I'm talking about how you squandered the grain yesterday, am I wrong?"

"I was wrong, I was wrong, Mom, please cook more food." Lian Sanzhu admitted his mistake under his mother's slap, but he didn't think he was wrong.

When Lian Yanyan got up, her uncle had already finished being beaten and was cleaning up the puppy's excrement, changing the hay, and explaining things to his own father.

"Dad, when Yanzi and I go to work, please keep an eye on Mom and make sure she doesn't hit the dog or starve it."

"How many times have you nagged me this morning? I know, I know," Grandpa Lian nodded. His youngest son had never had any particular preferences, and he had never known that his youngest son liked dogs so much.

"Swallow, wake up! Should we name it?"

"Uncle, why don't you give it a name?" Lian Yanyan said nonchalantly. A name is just a symbol, after all.

"Huh? Me? I can't!" Even though Sanzhu has grown up, no one has ever made any decisions for him, from small things like what to eat to big things like going to work in the city. His parents have always made the decisions and informed him of them. He doesn't think there's anything wrong with it, and he doesn't have the ability to make any decisions.

He was stunned when he was suddenly given the right to name the child.

"Just name it. What's there to not know? Take your time and call it whatever you want. It won't object," Lian Yanyan encouraged.

"Father, get up?" Lian Sanzhu asked for help.

Just as Grandpa Lian was about to help his youngest son as usual, his granddaughter interrupted him: "Grandpa, let Uncle decide for himself. He can't keep failing to make decisions on such small matters."

Of all the people she spent time with, Lian Yanyan felt most comfortable with her uncle, and she wanted to help him develop some independence.

"That's right, Yanzi is right. You've started working now, you can't ask your parents for everything. Think about it yourself." Grandpa Lian thought about it and agreed. They, as parents, were getting old, and their youngest son had left the familiar environment where they had lived their whole lives. They couldn't make all the decisions for him.

"Huh?" Lian Sanzhu became a little nervous, his mind went blank, and he had no idea how to name the dog.

"Uncle, don't rush, think about it slowly."

"All right."

After agonizing for half a month, and with the doghouse already built many days ago, Lian Sanzhu finally decided: "How about we name him Heizi?"

"Okay, let's call him Heizi." Lian Yanyan agreed immediately.

Grandpa nodded in agreement. Grandma didn't like having another living creature in the house that ate food, so she didn't care what it was called.

The days passed uneventfully. In March, both Lian Yanyan and Lian Sanzhu were promoted to full-time positions. After exchanging several letters with his family, Grandpa Lian had a serious talk with his son.

"Sanzhu, your father is asking you, if I were to arrange for you to marry Helan Ying, would you agree?"

"Didn't Mother say she has a tough fate? Can I marry her?" Lian Sanzhu wasn't good with relationships. He mentioned He Lanying to his niece because he felt he could tell her anything. So he recounted the things that impressed him most to his niece. Among the young women in the village, He Lanying was the most patient and kind to him.

"Your second sister-in-law secretly had someone match your birth charts. He Lanying and you are compatible for marriage, but her fate isn't strong. Your mother and I also think she's a good person, so we wanted to ask your opinion on whether she'd be suitable to be your wife?"

Tap the screen to use advanced tools Tip: You can use left and right keyboard keys to browse between chapters.

You'll Also Like