My 1995 Small Farm.

Chapter 10 Puppies

Soon, the group of children spotted Chen Ling walking on the road and immediately ran towards him.

Upon running up to him, a sharp-eyed child recognized Chen Ling.

"It's Uncle Fugui!"

"Uncle Fugui, help! There's a dead body in the pit..."

Chen Ling had already walked towards them by then.

"Where are the dead people? Where are they?"

With adults around, the children weren't so scared anymore.

Upon hearing Chen Ling's question, the child who had initially recognized Chen Ling pointed to a dilapidated temple in the distance and said:
"Right there, in the tree pit behind the earth god temple."

"I saw it too, the clothes were all torn, hair was sticking out, and there were bones..."

"That's terrifying!"

"Yes, yes, I even saw the clothes moving."

"No wonder my mother wouldn't let me go to the local temple to play; she said it's the darkest place there at night."

"As soon as the sun sets, the temple gate turns into the mouth of a monster, 'Awoo, awoo,' which eats children. It seems my mother wasn't lying."

Before the group of children could catch their breath, they started chattering away.

She patted her chest as she spoke, her face still showing lingering fear.

However, the more Chen Ling listened, the more something seemed off...

Feeling somewhat suspicious, he asked more questions and discovered that the children hadn't really seen clearly either.

I just stood there and glanced at it. There were bones, messy hair, and tattered clothes. I thought it was a dead person, so I ran away in fear.

I didn't go closer to take a look.

Chen Ling was speechless after hearing this.

He was quite nervous just now, thinking that someone had really died there, and in a short period of time he even imagined a major murder drama from the 1990s.

Now, after listening to what these kids have to say, it's almost certain that they were mistaken and just scaring themselves.

"Sixth Sister, why did you run so far? Isn't there anywhere for you to play in the east end of the village? Why did you have to run all the way to the west end of the village? Aren't you afraid someone will kidnap you?"

Chen Ling spoke to the child who recognized him first.

This boy's home is not far from Chen Ling's home. He has five older sisters, but they thought he was still a girl, so they gave him the nickname "Sixth Sister" from a young age.

It turned out to be a son, so they didn't change it.

“There’s a reservoir to the east, and my father won’t let me go there.”

Liu Nier sniffed and grinned at Chen Ling.

"Alright, you should go home now. Don't go out to play so far away without an adult with you in the future."

Chen Ling waved his hand and said.

"But Uncle Fugui, there really are dead people behind the Earth God Temple..."

A little girl, her face pale, whispered, still looking very frightened.

"Don't talk nonsense about anyone dying. Didn't we just have a big offering at the local temple on the first day of the Lunar New Year?"

"It's only been a few days. If someone were to die, wouldn't the adults see it? Let's go back now."

After much persuasion, Chen Ling finally managed to convince the children to go home.

However, after the children had gone some distance, Chen Ling decided to go and take a look at the local temple.

Although I know the kids are probably mistaken, it's better to take a look just to be safe.

……

The local temple is small and hasn't been repaired for many years.

Every year during the Lunar New Year, we clean the house, hang up fresh red cloth, and repaint the couplets.

It sits alone beside a path in the fields, with a two-meter-deep pit behind it, covering an area of ​​three or four acres, filled with trees that are over ten years old.

In summer, the tree canopy provides ample shade, making it a great place to cool off.

But at night it looks pitch black, which is creepy.

So many adults would make up stories about monsters behind the local temple to scare their children and keep them from running around outside the village. Because in those days, many children were abducted, and once they were taken, they were very difficult to find.

At this moment, Chen Ling arrived at the local temple and looked around.

The temple door was locked, but the gap was large enough to clearly see what was inside.

There wasn't a single person in the surrounding fields.

Only the kites of Liu Nier and a few other children landed not far away, scattered and tangled together.

Chen Ling walked over, untied the kite string, tied it up, and put it back into the cave, intending to return it to the children when he got back.

Then I walked towards the back of the earth god temple.

After descending into the pit and searching carefully, they quickly found what Liu Nier and the others had mentioned between two large trees that were right next to each other.

Ragged clothes, messy hair, and bones...

As Chen Ling walked over, something was gently wriggling under the tattered clothes.

If you listen carefully, you can hear faint humming sounds, which you can't hear at all unless you get very close.

Chen Ling squatted down, gently pulled open the clothes, and saw the corpse of a dog.

The black dog was frozen stiff.

But her belly would occasionally twitch, revealing two small tails, and she would occasionally let out a faint whimpering sound.

Chen Ling immediately understood what was going on.

Carefully moving the black dog's body aside, you can see two puppies, one black and one yellow, shivering with their eyes still closed, clearly just born.

After Chen Ling moved the black dog's body away, the two little ones crawled around, whimpering, instinctively looking for milk.

Unfortunately, their mother has died, and it is unknown whether it was due to difficult childbirth or other reasons, but it is impossible for them to drink breast milk.

"These two little guys are probably only two or three days old. They even had diarrhea in this cold weather. I don't know if they can survive..."

Chen Ling stroked the two puppies, still unsure of what to do.

After all, it had never eaten anything since birth, and there were a few bits of runny poop on its tattered clothes, indicating that it had clearly had diarrhea.

Anyone with experience knows that puppies like that won't survive.

But abandoning it is definitely not an option; we can only hope that the Sun and Moon Grotto is magical enough.

With a thought, Chen Ling grabbed the two puppies and put them into his cave.

……

Inside the cave.

Chen Ling carried the two puppies to the stream and fed them little by little with the water from the stream using his hands.

He fed him several times, and the results did not disappoint him.

The two little ones, who had been incredibly weak just moments before, had actually opened their eyes.

It nuzzled affectionately against Chen Ling's chest with its little head, seemingly wanting some water.

"Good heavens, this is a stream, do you think this is milk?"

Chen Ling looked at the two puppies rubbing against him like they were looking for milk, and he couldn't help but laugh and cry.

I immediately put them on the ground and fed them several times with the stream water.

Before long, the two little ones became energetic and were able to run around in small areas.

As it ran, it let out a clear and powerful cry.

Now we no longer have to worry about whether they will survive.

Seeing this, Chen Ling smiled and carried the two puppies back into the thatched hut.

Then he picked up a hoe and left the cave.

Once outside, Chen Ling disposed of the black dog's body, dug a hole nearby with a hoe, and buried it.

The temperature is still low, and the black dog hasn't been dead for long, so there's not much of a smell. But it's not good to leave it here unattended.

After simply filling the hole and covering it with soil, Chen Ling put the hoe back in his cave and continued walking towards the wasteland at the foot of the mountain.

(End of this chapter)