After transmigrating, he supported his family by working at a garbage dump.

It was a skinny, yellowish-brown mongrel covered in mud, beaten and bruised by the middle-aged man.

It had a chick in its mouth, the chick chirping and struggling, showing its tenacious vitality.

The dog was desperately trying to stuff the chick into its mouth.

Upon seeing this, the middle-aged man mustered all his strength and lashed the dog several times until it could no longer get up.

At this moment, the chick in the dog's mouth spat out a few more bits, and as it fluttered about, the man pulled it out of the dog's mouth and rescued it.

"You dog! You think you're worthy of eating this chicken?"

The dog couldn't understand what he was saying; it only knew that the food it was about to eat was going to be gone, so it instinctively stretched out its paw.

The middle-aged man was even more furious when he saw the dog stretch out its paws again, its eyes fixed on the chick, trying to grab it. He threw down the whip and pulled out the carrying pole from behind his stall.

"Bang—bang—"

With two blows of the carrying pole, the dog's piercing howl echoed through the street.

Although there were few people here, it wasn't completely without customers. Hearing the sound, everyone gathered around in confusion.

"What's going on here?"

The vendors around the stalls were displeased when the business they were about to secure suddenly turned and left.

This also led to some criticism of the chicken and duck vendor.

They muttered among themselves, "They didn't even manage to steal anything, so why were they so ruthless? They really are heartless people who run a business dealing in animals."

The chicken and duck vendor didn't take this seriously at all.

The limbs that were just limp were now trembling as they propped up the body and took a few unsteady steps, though they ultimately failed to stand up.

But after those two blows, the dog tilted its head and howled twice before collapsing completely, unable to get up again.

However, its eyes were fixed on Xu Zhuzhu, or more precisely, on Xu Zhuzhu's side.

Xu Zhuzhu has never raised cats or dogs in this life or even her past life, so she naturally doesn't like them.

On the one hand, she was bitten by the guard dog of the orphanage when she was a child, and she has harbored resentment ever since. On the other hand, her salary after she grew up was barely enough to support herself and she couldn't afford anything else.

After all, pets can be quite expensive in modern times. If they get upset or even fall ill with a minor ailment costing a thousand or two, she'll be broke for the rest of the month.

In her past life, she did keep a cactus in her office, but unfortunately, she lacked the skills and watered it too much, causing the cactus to swell up. Her colleagues laughed at her for this for a long time.

The moment she recalled the memory, she had no intention of doing so, but she happened to meet the dog's gaze, which made her feel momentarily dazed.

That was sadness, helplessness, and despair…

"Zhuzhu, is it crying?"

Xu An also looked at the dog, and saw that cloudy liquid was flowing from the corner of its eyes. She felt sad when she saw it.

Xu Zhuzhu didn't turn to her brother, but kept staring at the dog. When she heard her brother's question, she gave an affirmative answer.

She thought, yes.

It is crying, only silently.

Zhang He and Hu San Niang, who were talking, stopped when they heard the increasingly loud noise behind them and turned around with puzzled expressions.

Upon seeing that scene, both of them looked rather grim.

"That person is too cruel."

The two exchanged a glance and said in unison.

Especially Hu San Niang, who already had a big yellow dog of about three years old at home, and she didn't reject cats and dogs, and even had some affection for them.

Seeing the dog beaten bloody and mangled, and then seeing the dog lying on the ground with its chest hanging down, I immediately realized what had happened.

Unable to resist, he quickly stepped forward and kindly tried to dissuade her.

“Boss, please have mercy. Look, this beast probably just had a baby and is desperate for milk, which is why it dared to steal your chicken,” she said, pointing to the dog’s chest. “Boss, you’re a big businessman, why bother with this little beast? Luckily, the chicken is alright, so let it go. Just spare its life.”

Zhang He stepped forward and chimed in with a couple of words.

After listening to the two people's advice, the man looked up and stopped hitting the dog. However, he did not agree with Hu San Niang's words and even spat out a "pui" sound.

"Is this animal yours?"

The man spat at the dog, glanced at Hu Sanniang, his eyes darting around. Seeing Hu Sanniang's simple clothes, he immediately showed a contemptuous look, which was very disrespectful, but he was still full of anger.

Hu Sanniang shook her head.

The middle-aged man smiled, as if he had expected this.

He chuckled again and said, "No, sister, this isn't your dog. What are you talking about?" As he spoke, he took the carrying pole in his hand and repeatedly poked the dog's wound.

The dog had already been beaten to the point of near death, yet it was now trembling and struggling as it was poked, demonstrating the immense strength of the man and the pain of its wounds.

Not only Xu Zhuzhu and others, but even the onlookers felt sorry for him and took turns trying to persuade him, but the chicken and duck vendor remained unmoved.

Then, he pointed to his chick that had been snatched back, "You all talk the talk without walking the walk. Look at my chicken. I had just fattened it up a bit when this dog stole it and even crippled one of its legs. What good price can I expect to get now?"

That statement truly silenced the critics.

But it's true, they're really hard to sell. For the owner, the life or death of the chickens is the most important thing, after all, it's his livelihood.

Seeing that Hu Sanniang couldn't win the argument, Zhang He touched the purse at her waist and spoke up for her.

"Brother, as the saying goes, Heaven cherishes life. Although this dog is hateful, it hasn't caused any serious harm. You're just worried that you won't be able to sell the chicken. How about this, you name your price, I'll buy the chicken, and you can release the dog."

Hu San Niang couldn't let Zhang He pay, since she was the one who asked, and it was a lame chick. She quickly pulled Zhang He aside to talk.

He was convinced by Zhang He's words, "Consider it compensation for your sister-in-law, and don't forget the old hen you lent me."

However, as soon as he said this, other people doing business or shopping on the street felt that what he said made sense and echoed his sentiments.

"Yeah, they didn't steal anything, so why go to such lengths?"

"Isn't this Little Yellow? She's always wandering around here scavenging for food. How come she's already had puppies? I wonder how many there are?" Anyone who knows the dog chimed in.

"What are you thinking? The dog is almost beaten to death, and you're still concerned about how many puppies it had? In this freezing weather, even if it did have puppies, not many will survive."

As the person asking the question continued to explain, they also realized that it made sense and gave up on asking for an answer.

"Boss, just let it go. It's a good deed for your family."

Everyone agreed.

Xu Zhuzhu was overwhelmed with emotions, which she could not describe at the moment.

Sure enough, since it wasn't her own money, everyone was very enthusiastic. Fortunately, her mother didn't mind.

Seeing that everyone was pleading for the dog, the chicken and duck vendor, feeling powerless and outnumbered, slowly suppressed his anger and reluctantly nodded to Zhang He.

"Then, based on the price of a live adult chicken, it's twenty coins. Since this one is lame, if you just offer fifteen coins to buy the chicken, I won't argue."

When Hu Sanniang heard that it cost fifteen coins, she immediately objected. Zhang He quickly grabbed her arm to stop her from speaking.

He then smiled and said, "With your magnanimity, brother, this business will surely thrive and prosper even more!"

These compliments made the chicken vendor's mouth twitch up to his nose. He laughed as he helped tie up the chicken with the broken leg and tossed it into the basket on Zhang He's back.

They stopped paying attention to the dog.