Chapter 30: The General's Letter of Surrender

  Yu Songyuan thought, this was a well-bred dog, better than humans, at least it was stronger than those beasts wearing human skin, not speaking human language, and not doing human things. It didn't want to slaughter its own kind, just teach them a lesson. Moreover, it was self-disciplined, unlike Zhou Kun and the like, who would think of taking advantage of any woman with some charm.

  After a while, the big black dog stood up. Yu Songyuan thought it was going to leave and felt a little sorry. But unexpectedly, it stood high on the river embankment, its two beautiful big ears like two flags fluttering high in the air, standing upright.

  It concentrated its attention on the reeds in the distance below the riverbank, listening quietly to something.

  What is it going to do? Yu Song looked along its gaze and saw a dense reed marsh on the distant riverbank. A few wild ducks were swimming in the water beside the reeds, occasionally diving underwater to catch small fish, having a great time. Was the big black dog going to hunt the wild ducks?

  The big black dog seemed to understand his voice, it turned around and quietly stared at Yu Songyuan, as if saying, don't go, let me show you my skills. Seeing Yu Songyuan holding a book, motionless and staring at it, without any intention of leaving, the big black dog suddenly shot out like an arrow, swooshing towards the distance. Just before reaching the wild duck group, it suddenly stopped in its tracks, then lowered its body, slowly crawling into the reeds.

  Heavens, this guy is obviously well-trained, his tactical movements are just like those of soldiers in the movies.

  Yu Songyuan stood up, only to see the wild ducks in the distance suddenly fly up in panic, and at the same time, a dozen or so large-bodied, grayish-white feathered wild geese also took off. Yu Songyuan understood that what the big black dog was staring at was not the wild duck, but the fat wild goose. Now they've all flown away, thought Yu Songyuan.

  Just then, a big black dog suddenly jumped up from the reeds, two or three meters high, and bit down on a wild goose that had already taken to the air, its huge wings flapping wildly. The dog and the goose became entangled and fell into the reeds...

  My goodness, it turns out that everything was planned by it. First, scare the wild goose away, then take advantage of the wild goose's large body shape, and after taking off, there is a difficult climbing process before striking with one blow.

  This thrilling scene left Yu Songyuan stunned, this dog was simply a trained jungle warrior, this set of tactical movements was flawless and too damn cool. Yu Songyuan had read the memoirs of the US Army's Delta Force, this dog could almost rival those invincible jungle warriors in the South American rainforest.

  The big black dog ran back quickly from the top of the riverbank, carrying a huge wild goose. It slowly walked up to the wooden dock and came before Yu Song, dropping the wild goose in front of him. Then it didn't leave but instead raised its head, proudly looking at him with eyes that were both joyful and sincere.

  "What do you mean? Are you going to make a false accusation?" Yu Song looked at the big black dog and then at the wild goose.

  This is a large wild goose with a grayish-white body, Yu Songyuan had noticed early on that in this river beach and reed marsh, at least fifty or sixty of them lived together. Wild geese, like swans and geese, are seasonal large herbivorous migratory birds, now it's already late autumn and early winter, they should migrate south with the change of seasons.

  A flock of wild geese that can live on the riverbank, however, does not seem to want to migrate far away. Perhaps it is the dense thicket and reed marsh, the warm environment with windward sunshine on the south bank of the river, and the rich food that makes them already regard this place as their home and settle down.

  Yu Songyuan walked over, looking at the wild goose that weighed about 7 or 8 catties, and his heart was filled with unspeakable excitement. Studying had been intense, he hadn't had time to go fishing. Having eaten bran and vegetables all day, he was salivating.

  At this time, the big black dog slowly walked to Yu Song's side, sat down quietly, wagging its tail on the ground, its big ears perked up, and tilted its head to stare at his eyes. The meaning was as if to say, "Hey buddy, I don't have any malicious intentions, you look like my old comrade-in-arms, this is my token of friendship, shall we talk?"

  Yu Song reached out to touch its head, and it hummed softly and friendly. It even wagged its beautiful big tail, as if saying, Ah, I've finally found my organization.

  Yu Songyuan stroked its neck and said, "Good dog, good dog, I can see what's on your mind. Although you're very majestic and I like you too, I really can't keep you... Go back to your own home. I'm struggling to make ends meet, and I want to study hard for a better future. I've gone bankrupt, and I really can't afford to raise this big fellow."

  He just said it casually.

  On this vast, sparsely populated, densely wooded, reed and aquatic plant-filled, food-abundant riverbank, with the ability of a large black dog, it would never go hungry. Without a doubt, it is the absolute king of this riverbank. Apart from humans, there are no other animals that can threaten its survival.

  Yu Songyuan can easily catch a wild goose with just a simple and effortless move, and from its clean and shiny black feathers, he can tell its nutritional status and survival situation, which is much better than his own.

  The black dog surprisingly stood up, walked to his side and sat down next to him. Yu Songyuan asked again: "You're saying you don't have a home, are you?" The dog seemed to understand what he was saying, obediently and gently licking his pant leg.

  Yu Song's heart was surging with emotions, the black dog's demeanor softened his heart, and in an instant he made up his mind. "Dog, it seems we have a fate. Alright, alright, I'm alone too, let's be companions. You're majestic and extraordinary, like a great general commanding thousands of troops, from now on I'll call you General."

  Yu Songyuan stood up, holding the goose's neck and shouting: "General, let's go! You have a home now, follow me back home!" The general responded with a loud quack, jumping happily in front of him, dashing up the riverbank like an arrow, its tail held high like a fluttering battle flag, swaying majestically from side to side.

  He returned to the dormitory, hung the goose inside, and helped Da Yu process the wound. The wound was only a little bit, not even breaking the skin. No wonder it didn't care about the two stray dogs, they couldn't hurt it at all. Yu Songyuan also found an old iron ceramic basin from the kitchen, washed it clean, divided half of the breakfast in the rice box into the basin, and put it in front of it.

  The big general licked his big tongue non-stop, but didn't move at all. Only when Yu Songyuan said "start eating" did he open his mouth with great joy and flicked out his tongue to lick the porridge. Yu Songyuan felt very curious, it could actually understand human language.

  Before going to school, he originally wanted it to stay indoors, thought about it and locked the door. "General, you're in charge here, don't leave."

  The general indeed sat quietly in front of the dormitory door, watching him go to school.

  After school in the afternoon, Yu Songyuan went to a small shop in front of the school gate to buy half a catty of salt. When he returned to the dormitory, Da Jiang was still walking back and forth on the empty ground in front of the dormitory door. Seeing him return, he immediately came up with joy.

  Yu Songyuan opened the door, took the goose to the pool and cleaned it up, carefully collecting all the goose hair and wrapping it in newspaper. Then, he lit a big bonfire, waited for the fire to pass, and started roasting. Before long, the aroma wafted far and wide, and Da Jiang was just like Yu Songyuan, both of them drooling with desire.

  The goose was too big and too fat, it finally cooked with great difficulty. Yu Songyuan extinguished the bonfire and used a kitchen knife to cut the goose meat in half. One half hung on the iron wire, while the other half, he and Da Jiang ate until their mouths were full of oil. After a while, they surprisingly finished eating half of the big goose.

  After eating, he asked the general to watch the house and took a package of goose down and half a roasted goose and quickly ran to the teacher's dormitory area. He knocked on the door, and Teacher Zhang and his wife were having dinner, hurriedly calling Yu Songyuan to eat together. Seeing that Yu Songyuan was holding a half-roasted goose wrapped in reeds, both of them were overjoyed.

  Teacher Zhang took the goose and its feathers, "Good heavens, such a big wild goose, was it caught by you? You can even catch those flying in the sky, that's amazing!"

  Liu Gong took out the wine and said, "You've come just in time. We also have some dishes to go with it. Since we have class this afternoon, let's not drink too much."

  Teacher Zhang also brought out a plate of goose meat, first picking up a piece with his hand and throwing it into his mouth. "Heavens, authentic wild flavor, still roasted, fragrant to the core. Come on, come on, everyone have a drink."

  Yu Songyuan let out a belch and sat back down, "Teacher Zhang, Worker Liu, I've already eaten, really can't eat anymore. I'll just keep you company for a drink." As he spoke, everyone clinked glasses together.

  Yu Songyuan said, "You hurry up and eat the leftovers, this goose down is a good thing, wash it clean with water, mix it into the cotton batting to make a quilt, it's especially light and warm."

  "How do you know everything? This thing has super strong flying ability, how did you catch this goose?"

  Yu Songyuan knew that Teacher Zhang disliked dogs, so he covered it up by saying, "Maybe it's just tired from flying and bumped into me. I still have things to do, you two eat slowly." After finishing speaking, he bid farewell to Teacher Zhang and his wife, ran to the small store in front of the school gate, bought a bag of soap powder and a comb, two towels, and ran back to the haunted house.

  The sun was shining brightly in front of the dormitory, and Da Jiang was lazily basking in its warmth. Yu Song went to the school's water tower to fetch hot water, mixed it with cold water, and used up half a bag of soap powder before finally giving Da Jiang a thorough bath from head to toe. Then, he first combed his fur with a comb, and then carefully applied a flea preventative from head to tail, removing a small pile of various parasites and dirt.

  The general, although brave and invincible, has lived in the wild for a long time, and there are also many small creatures such as mites, ticks, lice, and fleas on its fur. It is powerless against this. When Yu Songyuan cleans it up, it cooperates very well, stretching its arms and legs to let Yu Songyuan clean it until it's spotless.

  Under the influence of his mother Yu Wenfang and aunt Yu Wenshu, Yu Songyuan loved cleanliness extremely. He was deeply disgusted with these small parasites. His mother and aunt both came from large families and had good living habits, which had a great impact on him. No matter how difficult or poor their lives were, he and the two families of Songquan always kept their clothes clean and tidy, even if they were tattered.

  In those years, rural life was poor and miserable. The villagers generally had lice, fleas and other annoying insects on their bodies. Many people would turn over their clothes to catch lice when sunbathing, either crushing them with their thumbnails or simply putting them in their mouths and biting them to death, making a crunching sound.

  But Yu Songyuan and Yu Songquan's families never had lice on their bodies. After Professor Chen and Teacher Chen arrived, they initially discussed the color change of lice, but later, Shen Wenfang and Shen Wenshu taught them the key to prevention and treatment. They washed their clothes frequently, used boiling water to scald, bathed regularly, dried their bedding in the sun, kept their homes clean, and as a result, there were no signs of lice.

  Habits determine the quality of life, and this is absolutely true. My mother and aunt's good habits are reflected in many aspects, making our whole family, although poor, have a better quality of life than ordinary villagers, even surpassing that of most city dwellers.