Wealthy Woof Chapter 65

Zuo Ning was obediently sitting on a stone stool wearing a fully-covered outfit with bear ears. The outfit was designed to cover everything, except for a small hole at the rear, just the right size for his tail to pass through and stick out. Additionally, there were a few hidden buttons on the abdomen, which needed to be undone if he wanted to pee. This outfit was evidently anti-dog-like, as most people might opt for crotchless pants instead. However, Lu Chenghe had custom-made several sets for Little Pudding, which surprisingly turned out to be quite handy in this situation.

Being fully covered, as long as he avoided recklessly rolling in the mud, simply brushing his four paws every day was sufficient.

Nearby, Lu Chenghe was discussing matters with Nie Yong and several leaders of the rescue team. Since Lou Jiu went missing in the mountains, the village chief immediately reported it to the local police. Lou Jiu wasn’t a newcomer to the area. Although the locals weren’t entirely clear about his identity, they knew he was likely a wealthy man. He had conducted several transactions with the village, and the amounts involved were colossal for villagers isolated deep in the mountains. If anything were to happen to Lou Jiu, it would undoubtedly be a tragedy no one wanted to see.

The rescue team ascended simultaneously with the police. After the first day’s unsuccessful search, a group reportedly consisting of professional deep-mountain search and rescue experts arrived from the city on the second day. Nevertheless, despite an overnight search, no progress was made.

By the third day, in addition to the police and rescue team, Lou Jiu’s friends also came—two helicopters arrived in succession. Some of the local children, who had never even seen such things on television, found them parked on the mountain’s open ground.

The slightly weathered village chief stood to the side, smoking tobacco and listening to their discussions. No one had ventured into the depths of the mountains for countless years. When the young man initially expressed his intent to enter, the villagers naturally tried to dissuade him. Eventually, he agreed to stay at the outskirts.

This went on for a while; initially, he would bring people along, but later, becoming familiar with the route, he went alone—and now an accident had occurred. With awkward Mandarin, the village chief described the events leading up to Lou Jiu’s disappearance and the paths he took. Yet, despite all the talk, there wasn’t much actionable information to offer.

Zuo Ning lay down on the stone stool, deeply wishing that nothing bad had happened to Lou Jiu, a gentle and beautiful person. Although the Lou family had hired professional rescue teams for this incident, not a single family member came in person.

And then there was the man for whom Lou Jiu gave up his family and a life of luxury, yet even he had not shown up. Thinking of this, Zuo Ning couldn’t help but sigh inwardly. Lou Jiu’s circumstances were so much better than the average person, a true favored child of destiny—and yet, why did he always encounter people who turned out to be disappointing?

Turning his head, Zuo Ning saw three or four children hiding behind a brick wall of a dilapidated house, peeking at him. He paused briefly but then casually looked away. In these deep mountains, the winter snow hadn’t completely melted, and the children wore clothes so worn that their original colors were unrecognizable. Their sleeves were frayed, and their garments were patched in various places.

Looking at himself, even though he was wearing a thin padded jacket, its texture and warmth were undoubtedly far superior to what these children had. The sight tugged at his heart, making him unable to keep watching. He lacked the ability to bring these villagers out of their isolated lives. The more he saw, the more troubled his thoughts became.

After the group finished discussing, they decided not to limit their search to the direction provided by the village chief and began a map-based search pattern. With two helicopters available, the rescue conditions greatly improved.

Now, all that remained was to wait. Lu Chenghe and the others couldn’t personally go into the mountains to search. No matter how strong their relationship, lacking the necessary skills would only cause more trouble if they entered. So, after understanding the next phase of the search plan, Lu Chenghe carried Little Pudding back to their temporary accommodations.

It was still a very shabby brick house. The room they stayed in was the only one with an intact window—not one patched with calendar paper. The mountain houses had extremely high beams, with a small dim light bulb hanging up there. Even when sunlight streamed through the window, the house remained quite gloomy.

Zuo Ning wondered if all rural houses were like this. His parents were from the city, and since the family didn’t get along well with relatives, there wasn’t much contact. As a result, he had virtually no memories of rural life. At this moment, after Lu Chenghe had wiped his paws and placed him on a bed that was as hard as a coffin lid, Zuo Ning didn’t dare to move. Who came up with the design of a bed surrounded on three sides? Weren’t they afraid of having nightmares while sleeping?

Lu Chenghe took out a few packets of jerky from his bag, feeding Zuo Ning as he asked, “Did you smell Lou Jiu’s scent here?”

Zuo Ning shook his head. While Lu Chenghe didn’t bring him here expecting him to aid in the search, Zuo Ning couldn’t help but instinctively try to discern information from the air. Yet there was nothing.

When Lu Chenghe heard this, his expression instantly turned cold.

Zuo Ning thought Lu Chenghe was upset with him for being useless and hurriedly jumped into his arms, nuzzling against him. He wasn’t a professional search-and-rescue dog—he hadn’t even undergone special training in this area. Please don’t dislike me, he whimpered inwardly.

Lu Chenghe hugged him and patted his head. “The fact that you didn’t smell anything is the biggest problem.”

Zuo Ning looked up at him, puzzled. What problem? If he had caught a scent, those professional search-and-rescue dogs would have surely found something by now.

“If someone had been here, there would certainly be traces of their scent in the village. Humans wouldn’t notice it, but dogs can. Those search-and-rescue dogs only picked up faint traces near a few farmers’ homes, where Lou Jiu had traded with them several times for wild game. They also caught traces along the path Lou Jiu often took, but the scent disappeared near the edge of the deep forest.”

Zuo Ning’s ears suddenly perked up. This was supposed to be a lighthearted story—how did it suddenly turn into a suspenseful mystery? And not just any suspense, but the chilling kind!

Lu Chenghe pinched Zuo Ning’s small ears, saying, “So either Lou Jiu never came here, or something must have happened in the village. But the entire village has been cleaned, which is why you can’t smell anything.”

No, that couldn’t be right—surely no one would be that ruthless, right? He thought the villagers here seemed quite honest and simple.

After finishing, Lu Chenghe grabbed Zuo Ning’s two paws, made him stand up, adjusted his clothes, and said, “So you absolutely cannot run around. Otherwise, the next one to disappear will be you.”

Zuo Ning instantly jumped from the bed onto Lu Chenghe, wrapping his hind legs tightly around Lu Chenghe’s waist. Wasn’t that a bit too scary? After all, he was just a plump, plump little dog—in a place where villagers rarely ate meat, wasn’t he already enticing enough?

Zuo Ning felt that Lu Chenghe was deliberately trying to frighten him, yet at the same time, he thought that Lu Chenghe might actually not be joking. As he followed Lu Chenghe’s suspicions further in his thoughts, the more he considered it, the more it seemed plausible.

Later in the afternoon, when Lu Chenghe went out to work again, Zuo Ning followed closely behind him. But this time, when faced with the curious, watching children, Zuo Ning slowly approached them.

Those children probably had never seen such a domesticated pet dog before. Each one simply stared cautiously, not daring to reach out to touch him. Especially seeing that he was wearing clothes—they looked at him with such envy that it made Zuo Ning feel a little sad.

When Lu Chenghe saw that he had gone to play with the children, he frowned slightly. “Little Pudding.”

Zuo Ning turned his head and barked toward Lu Chenghe, indicating that he understood, but showed no intention of leaving. Seeing this, Lu Chenghe didn’t bother him anymore. After all, the little guy was so timid, he wouldn’t dare wander far anyway.

Before long, under Zuo Ning’s initiative—reaching out his paw, wagging his tail, and flashing charming smiles—the group of children became familiar with him. One by one, they came over, eager to touch his paws and play with him. Unfortunately, the children spoke only in the local dialect, which Zuo Ning couldn’t understand at all. However, to his surprise, there was actually a dog in the village.

Perhaps attracted by how cute and beautiful Zuo Ning was, the children ran off and brought over a stray village dog.

Looking at the dog, Zuo Ning noticed the evident marks on its neck from being tethered for a long time. The fur around its neck was visibly different from the rest of its body. The dog was extremely thin, all skin and bones, with scruffy patches of black and yellow fur. It was clearly a dog of considerable size, but compared to Zuo Ning, it appeared to be two sizes smaller.

The little village dog shrank back at the sight of Zuo Ning, lying flat on the ground and not daring to move. A low, unconscious rumbling sound came from its throat—a clear sign of submission and fear. Perhaps it had been confined for so long that even the usual way dogs greeted each other had become foreign to it.

Zuo Ning didn’t approach the dog. Instead, he greeted it from a safe distance, “Hello there.”

The dog looked at him timidly, watching with trepidation. When it heard the greeting, it even took a small step back.

Suddenly, Zuo Ning thought of something and ran over to Lu Chenghe, tugging at his pants.

Lu Chenghe bent down, thinking Zuo Ning wanted to be held, but saw Little Pudding glance at the village dog and barked twice.

Understanding Zuo Ning’s intention, Lu Chenghe smiled, patted his head, and turned to the village chief, who had been standing nearby. “My Little Pudding wants to play with that little village dog. Chief, do you mind?”

It was just an untrained dog, so the village chief naturally didn’t mind. He nodded generously, even mentioning that if this man wanted it, they could sell the dog to him. Worried the dog might hurt someone, the chief went straight into one of the houses, found a rope, and tied it around the dog’s neck. The dog remained motionless throughout, allowing the chief to drag it along.

Lu Chenghe looped the rope around Little Pudding’s front paw and watched as Little Pudding pulled the dog into the farmer’s house, where they were temporarily staying.

A few children tried to follow them, but upon reaching the doorway and spotting a man dressed all in black sitting in the living room, they hesitated. They murmured a few words to their companions, and then the group of children ran off.

Back in the room, Zuo Ning released the rope from his paw, dug out a piece of jerky, tore open the sealed bag, and dropped the jerky in front of the dog. “Here, eat this—it’s really tasty.”

The rich, meaty aroma was something the dog had never smelled in its life. It was even different from the meat humans ate—more fragrant, more enticing to dogs.

The dog hesitated for a moment, seemingly realizing that the big white dog really intended to let it eat. It cautiously approached, saw that the white dog remained still at a distance, and quickly snatched up the jerky. It then darted to a corner and began devouring the treat.

Zuo Ning waited until the dog finished eating before asking, “Was it good? Do you want more? If you do, answer my question. You can have as much as you want.”

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