51. Buying Dogs

Seeing that Xu Ran had bought the corn back, Liu Tong asked with concern, "Ran, is it really the way as you said? What if we can't plant it out?"

Xu Ran patted him on the shoulder, "Tongtong, don't worry! We will definitely be able to grow it. If one year doesn't work, we will plant it for two years; if two years still don't work, three years then. I am sure we will definitely succeed. You know once this crop is successfully planted, it must have much more output than wheat."

Since Xu Ran recovered, Liu Tong had always respected his opinions and acted according to what he said, so he would naturally not refute it at this moment.

Xu Ran continued, "Later, I'll also persuade Wu Mei and the others to spend two taels of silver on one mu of land. It won't take much effort and they will get good results in harvest time."

Xu Ran knew though two taels of silver was not a small sum, Wu Mei and the other families could still afford to squeeze them out.

"Yes," Liu Tong nodded, "Ran, when shall we begin to plant it then?"

"It is about the same time as the grain, maybe only a few days earlier. After its planting, we can just begin to plant grain, without one impacting the other."

"That's a good time. Let's talk to Wu Mei and the others tomorrow! You must be tired after carrying so many things back today. You take a hot foot bath, and then have a rest."

Xu Ran shook his head and replied, "I am all right. I have to get used to it. I am sorry for your being wrongly treated today."

Xu Ran stretched out his hand to adjust the hair hanging from Liu Tong's ear, and said in a guilty tone.

Liu Tong shook his head and responded, "Not at all. Didn't you come back in time?"

Xu Ran hugged Liu Tong and together entered the room to see their kids.

Speaking of all, the children had been scared several times today.

At this moment, however, Tangtang and Guoguo were chatting in the room. They were lying on the bed, muttering and whispering. No one knew what they were talking about, but they looked so cute there.

Noticing that they both did not show any sign of displeasure, Xu Ran was relieved. He closed the door and came out again. He didn't want to disturb the two whisperers.

Actually, the two kids lying on the bed were plotting something big.

"Guoguo, since grandfather and grandaddy often come to make trouble for us, we'll have to come up with a way to deal with them. Otherwise, when dad is not at home in the future, daddy will be bullied again," Tangtang said to Guoguo seriously.

Guoguo was very upset, "But Tangtang, what should we do if we can't win granddad and granddaddy?"

"Well," holding his chin, Tangtang said after thinking for a while, "We can't beat granddad and granddaddy, but we can beat Xu Hui and Xu Qiang. Xiaobudian told me that his grandfather has dogs. We can go and get a dog back. If they come to bully us again, we can let the dog bite them."

Guoguo thought this was a good way, "OK, we will call on Dahu, Gouzi and so on. Afterwards, we will stop Xu Hui and Xu Qiang from running away, and then ask Yueya'er to let the dog out. Yueya'er is smaller than them. If they bully Yueya'er, we will go to report this to the village head."

"Remember, we can't let dad and daddy know our plan, otherwise they will not be happy."

"I won't. Let's go to find Xiaobudian first and bring the little dog back from his grandpa's home."

"Fine."

The two little guys immediately took action and got out of bed.

Opening the door, they found that both Xu Ran and Liu Tong were busy working in the yard, and didn't have time to care about them.

Thus Tangtang informed them loudly, "Dad and daddy, Guoguo and I are going out to play."

Xu Ran raised his head and reminded them , "Take care of yourselves. Remember to come back for dinner."

"Got it, dad."

Tangtang and Guoguo ran to the village head's house. Xiaobudian was the village head's grandson. Because of sending chili paste to his home last time, both Tangtang and Guoguo got to know Xiaobudian and became good friends.

Xiaobudian was already seven years old. But it was unknown whether it's because of his name that he still looked like a five-year-old boy.

Xiaobudian had a younger brother, who was a Ge'er, aged five. He also often played with them, but this time they couldn't take him with them.

Both Tangtang and Guoguo arrived at the gate of the village head's house and called,

"Xiaobudian, Xiaobudian, come out to play with us."

Soon, the door opened and a head appeared. He looked around carefully, and then came out, followed by a little boy similar to him.

Xiaobudian led his little brother to Tangtang and Guoguo, "Hey, here you are. But today, as there are no adults at home, we are not allowed to come out by ourselves."

Guoguo took a glance at Xiaobudian's younger brother, and then whispered to him about the little dog.

Looking at his younger brother, Xiaobudian felt a little hesitant, "But there's no one in my family. I have to take my little brother with me."

Originally, they didn't plan to take Xiaobudian's brother with them. Guoguo thus looked back at Tangtang.

Tangtang knew well that it would be very dangerous to leave a little child at home, so he said, "Take him with us then! However, you can't tell the adults about it."

Xiaobudian's younger brother, Xiaomi, nodded and promised, "Sure, I won't ."

"Fine, then let's go!"

Tangtang waved his hand, and the gang headed towards Xiaobudian's grandfather's house.

Xiaobudian's grandfather lived on a hillside in the middle of the Xu village. There lived only his family, so they raised dogs.

However, when they arrived there, they found that the door was shut.

Xiaobudian got close to the door and knocked on it, "Granddad and granddaddy, open the door. I am Xiaobudian."

Xiaomi also followed his elder brother knocking at the door while Tangtang and Guoguostanding watching behind them.

At last, someone came to open the door. It was Xiaobudian's granddaddy.

Upon seeing him, Xiaobudian began to chirp, "Granddaddy, why did you shut the door? I thought you were not in."

"Well, I am sick. I was sleeping. Xiaobudian, why are you here?"

On hearing that his granddaddy was sick, Xiaobudian was anxious, "Granddaddy, when did you begin to feel sick? How are you feeling now?"

The granddaddy looked in high spirit, and he felt happy for his grandson's concern. He replied with a benignant smile, "Fine. I am fine now."

"Well, that's good. Granddaddy, Tangtang and Guoguo want your little dog, so we came."

Then he pointed at the two kids behind him and said, "Granddaddy, they are Tangtang and Guoguo."

Both Tangtang and Guoguo took a few steps forward, greeting him "Hello, granddaddy."

Both Tangtang and Guoguo had been eating and living well during this period of time, and they were no longer worried about being bullied. They were enjoying a happy life. As a result, their originally good looks were now even better.

They were wearing the same clothes, clean and tidy, and they both looked as like as two peas.

Xiaobudian's granddaddy liked them very much.

He opened the door and let them in, "Come in! The little dogs are inside over there. They are only ten days old. Go and take a look. "

All the children ran in. The granddaddy's family had two big dogs, one male and one female. The male dog looked so fierce that the children dared not approach it.

It was only after the granddaddy took the male dog away that the kids dared to get close to the other dogs.

There were four puppets all together. People all said that a total of three cats or four dogs were easy to feed and survive, so the granddaddy kept all of them.

Guoguo touched this puppy for a while and then another again. These puppies were furry and very cute.

"Tangtang, how about taking all of them home?"

Tangtang looked at the puppies sleeping on the floor. To be honest, he also liked them very much! But he worried that their dad and daddy would blame them if they took back all the puppies. And he didn't know either whether Xiaobudian's granddaddy would agree them to do so.

It happened that Xiaobudian's granddaddy came over. Tangtang then inquired, "Granddaddy, can you give all the puppies to us? We'll keep them well."

The granddaddy nodded and smiled gently, "If you like them, just take them home! We can't afford so many dogs. If no one wants them, I may just throw them away. "

"Thank you, Granddady."

"Thank you, Granddady."

Both Tangtang and Guoguo expressed their heartfelt thanks in unison. They were very happy.

Tangtang suddenly realized that they couldn't take the puppies away without anything in return. He thought for a moment and then pulled Guoguo aside, "Guoguo, we have to give granddaddy money. Otherwise, we will be scolded by daddy when we go home. We can't take advantage of others in this way."

"But elder brother, I have only three copper coins. Are they enough?" Guoguo showed the coins on his hand.

Tangtang also took out his coins. There were also only three of them, which were given by his dad. He had told them it was their pocket money. These days, they didn't go to town often, so they didn't spend any money. As they had changed clothes today, they each left only three coins with them.

"Then let's talk to granddaddy. Let's see whether he will agree with us or not. If he doesn't, let's go home to take more money."

Guogguo gave all the money in his hand to Tangtang, "Okay, Tangtang, go ahead and have a talk."

Tangtang went to Xiaobudian's granddaddy with the six coins. He then presented all the money in his hand and said earnestly, "Granddaddy, see if this money enough for the little puppies?"

Xiaobudian's granddaddy didn't expect that this kid would pay for the puppies, and he had no intention of accepting the money, either.

Thus he refused, "No money. Everything will be fine as long as you take good care of these little puppies."

"Hey, granddaddy. We will take good care of the little dogs, but you have to keep the money." Tangtang put the money into granddaddy's hands. He was afraid that he wouldn't accept it, so he called out at the three kids, who were still there playing with the dogs, "Hey, hold the dogs, let's go."

At the same time, he also ran over to pick up a dog and ran away with the other three kids following him behind.

Seeing its puppies being taken away, the mother dog wanted to chase after them. Luckily, the granddaddy reacted and quickly stopped it.

The four children didn't stop until they ran down the hill. They then looked at the puppies in their arms and laughed.