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Chapter 177: Chapter 177: Adopting 1
The little black dog, scared stiff, whimpered at Tong Yao: "Dog meat isn’t tasty, we’re all skin and bones from hunger, no meat on us."
Tong Yao chuckled, teasing it no more, "Go call your two little buddies over, I’m about to distribute disaster relief supplies."
Upon hearing this, the little black dog instantly perked up, barking a few times at the bushes by the side of the road. Soon after, a black and white mixed-breed pup and a big yellow dog came running out from the nearby bushes. Seeing this, Tong Yao finally figured out where the black dog had come from.
The condition of these two dogs was quite similar to the little black one, all of them were nothing more than skin and bones.
"Sis-in-law, don’t be scared, I’ll drive them away right now." Noticing the three stray dogs surrounding Tong Yao, Si Boyi thought they were about to attack. Without a second thought, he picked up a wooden stick used for renovation and came running out of the shop, scaring the three dogs into hiding.
Good thing it’s summer now, or they might have suspected Tong Yao of wanting to make some dog meat soup.
"No need to hit them, they’re not here to bite me." Tong Yao quickly stopped Si Boyi and took the wooden stick away from him.
Seeing this, Si Xiaohui was flustered, stamping her foot, "Sis-in-law, why are you interfering with second brother! These stray dogs are annoying as hell, always prowling around here. Nobody will dare to come to buy milk tea if these dogs hang around here!"
A few stray dogs hanging around the entrance of their newly opened milk tea shop were a complete disgrace! People who didn’t know better might even think they had returned to the countryside.
Those stray dogs irritated her. Each time she asked her Second Brother to drive the dogs away, he paid no attention. But now that the dogs were hanging around her sister-in-law, Second Brother was suddenly so serious. His favoritism was too obvious.
The three stray dogs were now hiding in the distance. Tong Yao couldn’t see their faces clearly, but from their lean, trembling figures, she could sense their helplessness. Recalling how the little black dog had offered its help before, an idea struck her. She proposed in a sweet voice, "If they are homeless, they are stray dogs. But that would no longer be true if they have an owner."
"Sis-in-law, what do you mean by that?" Si Xiaohui asked, puzzled, and muttered, "They are stray dogs, they don’t have owners."
Si Boyi didn’t understand the implications in Tong Yao’s words either, but as she didn’t want him to hit the dogs, he would hold back. As long as these stray dogs didn’t bother him, he had no reason to hit them.
It’s just that earlier, when he saw three stray dogs surrounding Tong Yao, he thought they were going to bite. That’s why he had come rushing out with a stick.
Tong Yao walked back into the store to get some steamed buns, "These three dogs will be mine from now on, they won’t be strays anymore."
"What?" Following her into the store, Si Xiaohui saw Tong Yao getting out their leftovers. "Sis-in-law, you’re not going to feed the dogs with these, are you? Even our mother hasn’t had so much to eat."
Tong Yao’s mouth twitched at the corners, "Why are you comparing our mother to dogs?"
Lin Fengying had the money but simply didn’t want to enjoy it, choosing to save it for her younger son’s future wedding. Tong Yao couldn’t help it.
Just because Lin Fengying chose not to live a good life, should everyone else also suffer?
"But you can’t feed them steamed buns with meat! Haven’t you heard of the saying - ’throw a meat bun at a dog and it’ll run away forever’?"
Tong Yao moved around, with Si Xiaohui following closely, trying to change her mind.
These stray dogs were to be fed meat buns? Even a landlord’s son wouldn’t have such treatment!
Hastily making up a story, Tong Yao said: "These little dogs are quite clever, they can protect their master. Let them be in charge of my commuting back and forth from the residential compound. This way, I could be well protected. A few buns and fried dough sticks are nothing compared to hiring a bodyguard. It’s a huge money saver."
"But..."
Si Xiaohui still wasn’t giving up, attempting to continue persuading Tong Yao, but before she had even started, she was interrupted by Si Boyi.
"If these dogs really can protect the master, it’s quite a good thing. Stop interfering."
Still, despite feeling that using meat buns to feed the dogs was extravagant, he couldn’t help but feel Tong Yao had made a valid point. If these three dogs did prove to be protective and acted as Tong Yao’s bodyguards, then it might indeed be a good idea.
As the older brother was too busy to drive Sis-in-law around, and as a younger brother-in-law, constantly following her around wouldn’t look good. Over time, it might even start rumors.
Si Xiaohui, being a girl, would be even more concerning if she was in charge of driving Tong Yao around. It would make things complicated. It would be much more convenient to instead have these stray dogs in this role.
Furthermore, the older brother had said that the sis-in-law was clever and that they should always listen to her. So they will just listen, the sis-in-law is clever, no doubt she has it all planned out.
"Second Brother, you’ve been brainwashed by sis-in-law." Si Xiaohui thought it was wasteful, but with the second brother saying so, she couldn’t say anything more, although she felt quite displeased.
Couldn’t these meat buns be saved for her to eat at noon?
Had she known about this earlier, she would have surely eaten one more bun. Now, her sister-in-law was going to feed the stray dogs with the buns, so if she says she wants to eat them, it would look like she’s grabbing food from the dog’s mouth.
She bet sis-in-law was going to see how ’a meat bun thrown at a dog runs away forever’ very soon.
Tong Yao didn’t care about Si Xiaohui’s disapproval. She turned to Si Boyi and said, "Starting from tonight, these three will be living at your rental house. Cook some extra food while making dinner. I will give you an extra ten yuan for living expenses every month."
Hearing about the extra money, Si Xiaohui’s eyes brightened. She immediately replied before Si Boyi could object, "Sis-in-law, give a little more please, these three dogs look like big eaters."
Tong Yao decisively held up two fingers in response, "Twenty, and from now on, don’t complain about them." An extra ten yuan seemed like a good deal for some peace of mind.
"Deal!"
This time Si Xiaohui was excited. She was afraid Si Boyi would try to act the nice guy by refusing the money. Hastily, she dragged Si Boyi back into the shop.
With no consideration for the presence of Brother Liu Yu and his companion, she bluntly spoke out, "Second Brother, don’t refuse the money. Sis-in-law is rich; she doesn’t care about this much. If she wants to give us more, let’s just take it! You’re not even married yet; don’t you want to save more money?"
Si Boyi did not agree with her, "We can’t senselessly take sis-in-law’s money. She’s already good to us."
The housing rents were paid by sis-in-law, even their living costs were taken care of by her. They were heavily reliant on her. How could they have the face to take money for raising dogs?
Seeing that he would not understand, Si Xiaohui became irritable and sarcastically responded: "You always act so noble in front of the sis-in-law, trying to be the good guy. You might not want the money, but I do. My skin is thick; I love money."
"Never mind, let’s get back to work."
Si Boyi didn’t want to argue over this matter. There were people from outside present, and it would be awkward if sis-in-law were to hear their quarrel.
Brother Liu Yu and his companion pretended not to hear the argument between the sibling pair. Secretly, they now had different perceptions of the two. From the way Si Xiaohui usually worked, it was clear she was somewhat greedy, petty-minded and loved to gossip, not to mention impolite. 𝘯𝑜𝘷𝘱𝘶𝑏.𝘤𝘰𝑚
On the other hand, Si Boyi was more honest and simple, always considering the well-being of his brother and sister-in-law.
They sometimes didn’t feel like Xiaohui and Boyi were the real siblings. They didn’t look alike and their personalities were opposites.
