“Let me ask you, your dog clan couldn’t possibly be born with the ability to cultivate, right? You have inherited knowledge, don’t you? Does it contain any cultivation techniques suitable for humans?”
Gao Chang wasn’t foolish enough to wait for Rhubarb to grow up. By then, what could it possibly offer him? At most, a bit of money—but no amount of money was worth more than his life. In another ten years, the sun would start acting up, and Gao Chang needed to upgrade himself first. Right now, while this descendant of the Inugami was still weak, he could squeeze some benefits out of it. Only an idiot wouldn’t take the chance.
“There is, but it’s not passed on to outsiders.” The Inugami‘s descendant was too naive, clearly, he hadn’t learned to lie yet.
“I’m your savior! How can I possibly be considered an outsider?” Upon hearing that such a thing really existed, Gao Chang got excited, and his voice rose several notches.
“No, it won’t work. If an outsider practices our clan’s cultivation techniques, they will be cursed by the Inugami.”
“Damn! So ruthless!” Was Gao Chang going to give up so easily? Of course not. “Then, if we become sworn brothers, would I be considered a member of the dog clan?”
“Sworn brothers won’t work—only a formal marriage ceremony would.”
The descendants of the Inugami rarely marry their own kind. After all, the chances of dogs receiving the inheritance are extremely small. At any given time, there might be just two or three across the entire planet, making it unrealistic to find a mate among their own species. Moreover, after gaining intelligence, they generally look down on ordinary dogs and instead set their sights on humans, whose intelligence isn’t too far from their own.
However, human lifespans are far shorter than those of the Inugami‘s descendants. Given the canine reputation for loyalty, they naturally avoid the dishonorable behavior of firing a gun and exchanging it for a cannon[mfn](打一枪换一炮, dǎ yī qiāng huàn yī pào), an idiom meaning “a hit-and-run,” typically referring to someone who moves on quickly after gaining benefits, showing no loyalty or accountability.[/mfn]. This is why they have actively sought methods of cultivation techniques suitable for humans. By the time it was passed down to Rhubarb, it had already developed into a relatively structured and mature system.
“A wedding ceremony?” Gao Chang glanced at the droopy Rhubarb lying limply in its doghouse. This little guy really dared to say such things.
“And you’d better not even think about remarrying in this lifetime.” The term “remarrying” was something Rhubarb had heard earlier that afternoon while dozing in Gao Chang’s arms, listening to some women playing mahjong. In the inherited memories, there was no such term; it seemed that men were said to”take a new wife” while women “remarried”[mfn](改嫁,gǎi jià). Traditionally refers specifically to a woman remarrying after her husband has passed away[/mfn]. But Rhubarb felt “remarrying” was more direct and fitting. After all, times had changed, and it felt like the inherited memories it had received were somewhat outdated, possibly lost to history.
“If I cultivate, does that mean I can become immortal?”Although Gao Chang wasn’t yet ready to entrust his future happiness to a little dog, he still felt it was necessary to first understand the benefits of cultivation.
“Yes, the primary focus of human cultivation is longevity. In the past, the shortest-lived partner of the Inugami lived over three hundred years, while the longest-lived one left Earth alongside the Inugami at the age of one thousand.”
“A thousand years…” The temptation of such a lifespan was unimaginably strong for Gao Chang, whose fate had always been an early death.
“It was likely more than a thousand. At that time, his cultivation had already reached a high level, and he was still very young,” Rhubarb stated matter-of-factly.
“Uh, does it matter that I’m a man?” Gao Chang was finally less resistant to the idea of marrying a little dog.
“Gender doesn’t matter.” If being of a different species wasn’t an issue, then gender certainly wasn’t a big deal.
“Then, if we get married, who is marrying whom? How to decide this?”
“Of course, you’d be marrying into the dog clan.” At this point, Rhubarb suddenly lifted his head, no longer looking listless like before. “I absolutely won’t marry you, so don’t even think about it.”
“Then you don’t intend to repay me?” Anyway, this dog, Gao Chang, was determined to marry. After all, it’s a thousand years old. There was no way he was letting such an opportunity slip away.
“I… I’ll repay you in the future…” Rhubarb muttered, lacking confidence. This person seemed to love money, but unfortunately, their dog clan wasn’t exactly skilled at making money.
“If you truly want to repay me, then let’s get married. If you don’t want to, that’s fine—I’ll just pretend I was a good person for nothing. In that case, you can leave now. I don’t want to see you anymore.” Gao Chang squatted in front of the doghouse, looking at this frail-looking descendant of the Inugami named Rhubarb with a sad expression.
“I really will repay you in the future…” Rhubarb anxiously scratched at the old clothes beneath it with its paws. Failing to repay kindness was not something a member of the dog clan should do. If this memory were to be passed down, he would surely be despised by his kin.
“Sigh…” Gao Chang let out a long, melancholy sigh. “Forget it, you should just leave. Looks like tomorrow, only Grandma and I will get to enjoy the spare ribs.”
“No… I’m not leaving…” Rhubarb reached out with its paw, hooking onto Gao Chang’s pant leg. There would be spare ribs tomorrow—no matter what, it absolutely wasn’t leaving today.
“You’d better go.”Gao Chang grabbed the little dog by its leg and lifted it up. “Where do you want to go? I’ll send you off. After all, we’ve at least known each other for a while.”
“No, let’s get married, ba!”
Rhubarb sniffled, feeling genuinely heartbroken. In its inherited memories, there was a section called ‘Mate Selection Criteria.’ Rhubarb had already studied it thoroughly, and this boy named Gao Chang didn’t meet any of the standards at all. Gao Chang was tall, dark-skinned, skinny, with only a pair of bright eyes that stood out.
He neither had outstanding looks nor an extraordinary temperament—neither gentle nor considerate. He didn’t know how to scratch Rhubarb’s itches, or pick off its fleas, wouldn’t take it out for walks, and definitely wouldn’t bathe it every day. Wu… He was probably going to be the inheritor with the worst taste in choosing a mate. The unfortunate part was that his memories would likely be passed down to future generations of his clan, leaving absolutely no privacy. Being a descendant of the Inugami truly had their struggles.
“Actually, you don’t really have to force yourself so much. You know, even if I don’t marry into the dog tribe, I can still live quite well. I can make money, and I have meat to eat.” Gao Chang placed Rhubarb in his palm, continuing to fire sugar-coated bullets[mfn](糖衣pào弹,tángyī pào dàn) a metaphor for using sweet words to persuade or manipulate someone[/mfn] with a sorrowful expression.
“No, I’m not forcing myself at all, really!” Maybe this partner wouldn’t be so bad—he was good at playing mahjong. If Rhubarb married him, there would be plenty of meat to eat, which was quite tempting.
“Alright then. After we get married, you’ll teach me the cultivation technique, right?” One has to negotiate the price clearly before doing business, right?
“Yes.” The inheritance said that the relationship between husband and wife is very important, but it seems that Gao Chang only cares about the cultivation technique in his memory. Rhubarb felt a little sad—he might have just ruined his own happiness. In the end, whether to choose marriage or to eat meat and gnaw on bones, this is truly the hardest choice for the descendants of the dog clan.
When Grandma Gao fell asleep, Gao Chang snuck out to grab some candles from the kitchen stove. Their village had poor wiring and often experienced power outages, so every household kept candles for emergencies. Now they would come in very handy. Gao Chang lit two candles on his desk in his room, and with Rhubarb, he performed a wedding ceremony. The little descendant of the Inugami kept mumbling as if it were very dissatisfied.
“Why are they white candles? Everyone else uses red candles. I heard that white candles are lit for the dead…”
So, one human and one dog secretly kowtowed and exchanged vows. Rhubarb insisted Grandma Gao didn’t need to know—after all, the ancestral Inugami, as their elders, were there witnesses. Every time Gao Chang kowtowed, he felt one step closer to immortality. But it’s really painful to watch the little descendant of the Inugami kowtow, each bow made a loud “thud.”
If it weren’t for the fact that their house had lots of mice and Grandma Gao was used to strange banging noises at night, she would have definitely woken up to investigate. If she had seen Gao Chang lighting white candles in the middle of the night, she would have been scared to death.
“Alright, can I start cultivating now?”
After the couple completed the wedding ceremony, Gao Chang immediately grabbed Rhubarb, eagerly asking for the cultivation technique. A flash of golden light crossed Rhubarb’s eyes, and a piece of text suddenly appeared in Gao Chang’s mind.
“This is the first level of the cultivation technique. Once you’ve mastered it, I’ll give you the second level.” So he knew how to hold back—maybe this descendant of the Inugami wasn’t as foolish as Gao Chang had imagined.
“Uh… how do I even start?” With just a few mindless incantations, Gao Chang had no idea how he was supposed to embark on the path of cultivation.
“Sit cross-legged, calm your mind and spirit, focus your Qi in your dantian, abandon all distracting thoughts, and carefully comprehend the meaning of these mantras. If you can enter samadhi[mfn] deep meditation, a supreme level of consciousness where the mind is free from ego-based thoughts and feelings.[/mfn], that’s half the battle.” Rhubarb recalled the memory in his mind and recited it accordingly.
“Oh.” Gao Chang climbed onto the bed. Tonight was his wedding night with Rhubarb—it wouldn’t be right to let it keep sleeping in the doghouse. From now on, it could sleep on the bed. He sat cross-legged as instructed, but just as he settled, he suddenly remembered something.”Almost forgot. You haven’t taken your medicine yet.”
“I won’t take the medicine!” Rhubarb immediately shrank into the corner.
“If you don’t take medicine, you won’t get better. Look, you’re running a high fever—what if you burn out your brain?” This little guy only taught him the first level of the cultivation technique. Gao Chang still had to ask for more later, so he couldn’t let the little dog burn itself silly.
“I won’t eat! I’m not taking medicine!” Rhubarb claws were hooked on the mosquito net, trying to climb up, but the mosquito net got its nails entangled, and it couldn’t pull them out no matter how hard it tried.
“Quit whining. If you’re sick, you need to take medicine.”
Without any hesitation, Gao Chang grabbed the little dog off the mosquito net, pinned it under his left leg, and used his right leg to hold it in place. He then stuffed the freshly cut pill into Rhubarb’s mouth and forced it to swallow a few sips of cold boiled water. The entire process was brutal, and Rhubarb emitted a faint, mournful squeaking sound, like a little mouse.
“Wu wu… I want a divorce!” Divorce was another new word Rhubarb learned that afternoon. This era was pretty great; if a marriage wasn’t harmonious, you could still get a divorce.
“Does the dog clan even have a divorce ceremony?” Gao Chang grinned happily, his eyes narrowing into slits, revealing rows of gleaming teeth.
“No…” Rhubarb was devastated. It felt like its life was over. It must have been blind to marry such a violent wife.
“Be good. I’ll buy you spare ribs tomorrow.” Gao Chang patted Rhubarb on the head before returning to his meditation.
Rhubarb let out two dissatisfied whimpers before burrowing into the quilt to sleep. For the sake of the spare ribs, he reluctantly accepted this marriage. After all, every Inugami before him had said that no partner would ever be perfect. If one wanted a harmonious and happy life after marriage, learning tolerance was absolutely necessary.
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