"Blessed! Blessed!"
The Dog Commander shouted while walking, his clothes were in rags, his face covered with dust, a look aptly described by a local saying in Jingzhou.
His hair rusted into a mat, lice raised into badgers.
The Dog Commander was also a pitiable person. Though he was the guardian of the village, people of Jiuniu Pass didn’t dislike him; whenever there was so leftover food, or subpar rice and flour, they would send it to his ho.
The Dog Commander’s real na wasn’t Dog Commander; he was called Blessed.
When Chen Mo was little, he heard adults chatting at ho, saying that a person’s na could influence their fate, and the adults chatted enthusiastically.
Chen Mo asked: with such a good na like Blessed, why wasn’t he blessed now?
After a mont of silence among the adults, Chen Mo’s bottom ended up swollen for the entire afternoon.
Blessed lost his family when he was very young, and on top of that, he was a bit ntally unstable; he wasn’t dumb or dull, just a bit confused at tis.
After losing his family, he started raising dogs, one dog after another, more and more.
No matter where Blessed went, those dogs would follow, and they would sleep together at night. When Blessed got so tasty food, he would feed the dogs first, only eating himself afterwards.
Blessed nad them Big Dog, Second Dog, Third Dog...
Once, a dog thief ca to the village and stole all of Blessed’s dogs.
That was the only ti Blessed went mad, howling and running in the mountains, day and night.
Chen Jinping was also angry and led several strong n from the village on a tractor search for days, finally finding the dog thief in the neighboring village, thrashing him and bringing Blessed’s dogs back.
Although it was uncertain whether they were the original Big Dog and Second Dog, Blessed was much better.
According to Jingzhou’s traditional customs, whether for weddings or funerals, if soone cos to ask for food, you must give them a pack of cigarettes, a bottle of alcohol, and let them pack up the leftovers as well.
This is an old tradition.
Blessed, leading eight dogs, cheerfully made his way to Chen Mo’s house, "Blessed! Blessed!"
Chen Jinping was busy in the yard. Hearing the noise outside, he grinned, "Blessed is here, I’ll get the cigarettes and alcohol."
"Dad, I’ll get it from the car, they’re all prepared."
Chen Mo sprinted outside, seeing the eight dogs panting outside, "Commander, here?"
"Blessed!"
Chen Mo smiled, took the prepared cigarettes and alcohol from the car, and handed them over.
Blessed didn’t even look, tossing them into the nylon bag slung over his shoulder, continuing to walk towards the yard while shouting "Blessed," with the eight dogs seemingly aware of what’s about to happen, running energetically.
"Uncle Blessed, um..."
Chen Mo knew the Dog Commander was about to pack so leftovers to feed the dogs, but considering the scene in the yard, it was indeed embarrassing.
Blessed seed not to hear, continuing inside.
Upon entering, the yard was almost in a state of dispersal, Jiang Fei still standing in the passageway smoking, sighing, "Other families hosting banquets always have a lot to clean up, but here, nothing is left! Haha!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Jiang Fei saw Blessed at the door.
Before he could speak, Chen Jinping slapped his forehead, "Oh dear, what now?"
On the table, forget leftovers, even the soup was scrapped clean by the guests with bread.
But the Dog Commander didn’t care about that.
He directly went to the table at the yard entrance, staring blankly at the plates yet to be cleaned.
What’s going on here, how is this different from the banquets he’d been to before?
The Dog Commander stared at the empty plates, "Why haven’t you served the food?"
Chen Jinping was both speechless and amused, "It’s all eaten, Blessed, we’ve eaten all of it! There’s no leftover food today!"
Blessed turned his head, "Then why haven’t you served the food?"
Chen Jinping, holding his forehead, thought this was a ss, he gestured with a plate, "It’s all eaten, gone!"
Blessed took the plate and handed it to Big Dog, "Eat, eat up."
Big Dog sniffed the plate, "Awoo~"
And then wandered under the table.
Chen Mo was standing by, helpless, this was so clean that not even the dogs wanted to lick, he picked up the plate and tossed it into the trash can.
They were borrowed from the town’s restaurant, so paying for them after checking the numbers would be fine.
The Dog Commander yelled again, fetching another plate and tossing it to Second Dog.
"Woof! Woof, woof!"
Second Dog barked a few tis at the plate, also crawling under the table following Big Dog.
The dogs were quite smart; from their mory, going under the table ant finding quite a few bones.
The remaining six dogs scattered and squeezed underneath, searching for a long ti, and then coming out confused from under the table.
Chen Mo looked at the dogs’ expressions, laughing silently, it was really different from usual, obviously unable to understand the situation.
Chen Jinping slapped his thigh, laughing heartily, also a bit speechless.
"Alright, alright, Xiuzhen. Get the leftover lamb entrails from the morning for Blessed to eat."
Jiang Fei, excited upon hearing, asked, "Is there lamb entrails left?"
Liu Xiuzhen rolled her eyes, "Even the lamb entrails are gone. You ate three bowls, have you forgotten?"
Chen Jinping embarrassedly pinched his leg, "Tsk, what leftover is there at ho?"
"Nothing’s left, just the rice, which was also eaten up."
"Nothing else?"
"It’s all gone, everything’s eaten!"
Good heavens.
Since the reform and opening up, Chen Jinping hadn’t seen a ti when there were no leftovers at ho!
The eight dogs ran back and forth in the yard, but couldn’t find even a bone, finally returning to Blessed’s side, whimpering.
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