Pastoral Daily Life

Lu Lingxi had a terrible headache and couldn’t pull Xiao Baiwan back. He had to wrong Dahei to separate him from Xiao Baiwan, and patiently appeased Xiao Baiwan for a long time before Xiao Baiwan adapted to the environment without Xiao Hong around.

“You really don’t have a long-term memory.” Lu Lingxi stroked Xiao Baiwan’s head, “Don’t you remember a single word that Uncle told you?”

Through these days of getting along, Lu Lingxi had already figured out Xiao Baiwan’s essence behind his fierce appearance. The Tibetan mastiff’s IQ is not high. It is considered to be the bottom of the dog class. Therefore, despite the Tibetan mastiff’s unbelievable fighting ability, it can only be used as a fighting dog, but not as a police dog. Xiao Baiwan personally proved this statement with facts.

Although Xiao Baiwan wasn’t sure what Lu Lingxi was talking about, his animal instincts told him that he was comfortable around Lu Lingxi. He affectionately put his two front paws on Lu Lingxi’s shoulders and came over to wash Lu Lingxi’s face with his saliva. This was his way of expressing his closeness to Xiao Hong, but Xiao Baiwan forgot that Lu Lingxi’s body was no match for Xiao Hong’s. The lion-like figure pressed down, and Lu Lingxi was almost crushed, struggling to avoid Xiao Baiwan’s big hairy face.

After settling Xiao Baiwan at home, Lu Lingxi went back to Yan Yue’s place. As soon as he entered the door, Dahei sniffed and rushed up to enthusiastically wash Lu Lingxi’s face again. Used to Dahei’s usual calmness, Lu Lingxi was a little surprised by Dahei’s behaviour. He thought that his previous order to separate Dahei had broken Dahei’s heart, so Lu Lingxi stayed with him, soothing him for a long time.

In the evening before going to bed, Lu Lingxi talked to Yan Yue about Dahei and Xiao Baiwan’s behaviour, and Yan Yue’s eyes gradually became weird as he listened and laughed softly.

Lu Lingxi looked confused, “What’s wrong?”

Yan Yue slightly pressed Lu Lingxi under his body, his eyes bright as stars, looking intently at Lu Lingxi, smiling, “Nothing, I think about puppies fighting over the territory.”

Lu Lingxi: “……”

The smile in Yan Yue’s eyes deepened as he kissed Lu Lingxi’s eyes and whispered, “Xiao Xi is mine, they can’t fight over him.”

He finished kissing Lu Lingxi tenderly, and Lu Lingxi meekly closed his eyes, feeling that Yan Yue’s behaviour was no different from a puppy marking his territory.

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Because he went to bed late at night, Lu Lingxi didn’t get up early the next day. While he was sleeping, Dahei and Xiao Baiwan were on the verge of tearing down the small backyard. The two dogs confronted each other early in the morning and were trying to tear each other apart in silence with their teeth bared. Xiao Baiwan was large in size and Dahei was agile in stance, and neither could get the upper hand. Yan Yue was holding his laptop, checking his emails, and had no intention of interfering with the fight between Dahei and Xiao Baiwan. In Yan Yue’s opinion, one mountain did not allow two tigers. In the past, Dahei and Xiao Baiwan were suppressed and couldn’t fight. Now that they were under the same roof every day and Xiao Baiwan was so stubborn, they couldn’t last long with just Dahei’s concessions and Lu Lingxi’s appeasement. So just let them fight and determine the winner.

Yan Yue glanced up and saw that the two dogs were fighting but they were still mindful of the situation, not fighting to the point of death, but to the point of winning.

“Grr.” Dahei let out a threatening growl from deep in his throat.

Xiao Baiwan, not to be outdone, glared menacingly at Dahei.

Just when the two dogs were about to jump at each other again, Lu Lingxi faintly heard a commotion outside and shouted as soon as he got up and walked outside, “Dahei?”

Dahei’s ears twitched; he hid his fierceness, jumped up to the balcony in a few steps and squatted on the ground with a calm look. Xiao Baiwan was a little slower than Dahei in his reaction, still baring his teeth and threatening Dahei.

The moment Lu Lingxi came out, he saw the angry look of Xiao Baiwan. When comparing the two dogs’ appearance, it was obvious that it was once again Xiao Baiwan who had taken the initiative to provoke Dahei, and Dahei had been backing off, obeying Lu LIngxi. Lu Lingxi’s heart softened and he stroked Dahei’s head, hugging him and praising him for a long time. Anyway, Xiao Baiwan was a guest of the family, and it was also appropriate for Dahei as the host to make concessions to Xiao Baiwan.

Dahei gave a low bark and Lu Lingxi smiled, scratching Dahei’s chin and whispering, “I like Dahei the most.”

After praising Dahei, Lu Lingxi had to appease Xiao Baiwan again. Touching his head and scratching his chin had already been used on Dahei, so Lu Lingxi found a small comb and started to smooth Xiao Baiwan’s hair. As a result, as soon as he lifted his hand, he saw a strand of hair being brought down by the comb. Lu Lingxi froze for a moment, “Why has Xiao Baiwan started to shed?”

Yan Yue looked meaningfully at Dahei, who squinted his eyes with an innocent expression and quietly squatted on the ground.

Because of Xiao Baiwan’s hair loss, Lu Lingxi deliberately took Xiao Baiwan to Dong Zhi for a checkup. Usually a Tibetan mastiff’s out-of-season hair loss was either a parasitic infection, or suffering from skin disease, or eating too much meat, unhealthy diet, lack of vitamins, protein and other nutrients, resulting in skin resistance decline. Dong Zhi checked everything and felt that Xiao Baiwan was very healthy and nothing was wrong. However, seeing that Lu Lingxi was anxious, he thought about it and instructed, “Let him eat less meat and more vegetables for the next few days first and see what happens.”

Yan Yue listened to Dong Zhi’s instructions, raised his eyebrows slightly, gave Xiao Baiwan a slightly sympathetic look, and continued to hide the morning fight between Xiao Baiwan and Dahei.

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Xiao Baiwan was a big eater, having once set a record of eating half a sheep in one meal. Xiao Hong usually fed him mainly meat, and he would eat a basin of bones at a meal, together with some vegetables and fruits to ensure balanced nutrition. Just like Dahei, Xiao Baiwan also refused to eat dog food and only liked to eat meat. But ever since Lu Lingxi listened to Dong Zhi, Xiao Baiwan’s diet was reduced from a basin of bones to half a basin, and the rest was compensated by some vegetables suitable for dogs. These vegetables were all grown in the Yongchun greenhouse and Tiger made a point of bringing them over every time he delivered them to the small restaurant.

Xiao Baiwan was very unhappy about not having enough meat to eat but was unable to express himself to Lu Lingxi, so he could only start the process of eating vegetables every day, aggrieved. Every now and then, when Lu Lingxi was not looking, the two dogs had a fight. Every time they fought, Xiao Baiwan had a few strands of hair bitten off by Dahei. Compared to Dahei’s short hair, which wasn’t noticeable even if it fell out, Xiao Baiwan’s hair loss only became more and more serious in Lu Lingxi’s eyes.

Lu Lingxi spoke to Xiao Hong on the phone about the incident and Xiao Hong laughed: “It’s okay, since it’s not parasites, let Xiao Baiwan eat less meat and more vegetables.”

Xiao Baiwan was eager to complain to Xiao Hong and kept barking into the phone.

Xiao Hong was quite satisfied as he listened, “Xiao Baiwan seems to be in good spirits, Xiao Xi has taken good care of him.”

After hearing this, Yan Yue looked at Xiao Baiwan with even more sympathy.

After Xiao Baiwan had been eating vegetables for more than a week, the Lingshui River purification project officially started to invite participants in the tender. The project was small in scale, with only 200,000 yuan allocated to it, so it didn’t make much money at all. However, compared with other environmental protection companies, for Lu Lingxi, the growth of the eelgrass cost nothing, and the 200,000 allocated was equivalent to pure profit. With little competition, Tiny Garden Technology Company won the project to purify the Lingshui River.

Lu Lingxi had read the tender application prepared by Yan Yue, and apart from mentioning eelgrass, there were many scientific terms in it that he couldn’t understand.

“What’s the purification factor?” He asked, pointing to one of the terms.

Yan Yue pretended to think about it, and then spread his arms, “I don’t know either, An Jie came up with it.”

Lu Lingxi: “……”

Yan Yue laughed and explained, “If we only talk about the effects of the eelgrass, I’m afraid that before we finish purifying the Lingshui River, the eelgrass inside will be plucked clean by people with crooked thoughts. By making up some scientific terms like purification factor or something, other people’s attention will be drawn to them, and I guess not many people will pay attention to the eelgrass.”

Lu Lingxi didn’t expect it to be like this; with a complicated expression on his face that he didn’t know what to say. His expression was smart and his thoughts were written on his face. Yan Yue looked at him with his heart itching and couldn’t help but lean forward and kiss Lu Lingxi, whispering: “The market is like a battlefield. Soldiers are never tired of deceit.”

Lu Lingxi returned to his senses and curved his eyes, “Then should we pretend to put something in the water?”

Yan Yue raised his eyebrows slightly, “Just pour a bottle of mineral water.”

Lu Lingxi: “……”

After the project was confirmed, the two of them took time to take Dahei back to Lingshui Village. When they got into the car, Lu Lingxi put Xiao Baiwan on the passenger side, and he, Dahei and Xiaohei sat in the back. Strangely enough, ever since Xiao Baiwan had clashed with Dahei on the day of his arrival, Lu Lingxi had never seen the two fight again. Although he had always wanted Xiao Baiwan and Dahei to live together in harmony, Lu Lingxi felt that something was wrong.

He stroked Dahei’s head and told Yan Yue about his doubts. Yan Yue felt his heart warm up and said soothingly to Lu Lingxi, “Maybe Dahei and Xiao Baiwan sympathise with each other, so they don’t have to fight every time they meet.”

Lu Lingxi didn’t really believe this, but he couldn’t find an excuse to argue with it. He looked suspiciously at Dahei and then at Xiao Baiwan, and remembered something else. “I wonder when Mom and the others will be back. Xiao Baiwan keeps losing his hair and not getting better, and seeing as he eats vegetables every day he doesn’t have much energy either.”

He was really worried about Xiao Baiwan’s constant hair loss. Although it didn’t look serious, it was definitely a problem if it continued to fall out like this for a long time.

A strange smile flashed in Yan Yue’s eyes. There was nothing he could do about this problem. Ever since Dahei found out that Xiao Baiwan’s hair loss = Xiao Baiwan eating vegetables, every time he fought with Xiao Baiwan, he would just scratch his hair and do nothing else. Sometimes when Xiao Baiwan didn’t pay any attention to him, Dahei would even provoke him on purpose. As Yan Yue watched, he was amused and felt that Xiao Baiwan had brought it on himself. But in the past day or two, Xiao Baiwan had learnt his lesson and stopped picking fights with Dahei. He seemed to have realised that every time he finished a fight, he would get less bones in his basin, and there was finally an equation between fighting and the amount of bones.

Thinking like this, Yan Yue held back a smile and said, “Don’t worry, in a few days Xiao Baiwan shouldn’t lose his hair anymore.”

He spoke with such certainty that the feeling that something was wrong in Lu Lingxi’s heart became even more obvious.