Chapter Fourteen: It Was Actually a Local Dog

  Watching Cao Ying leave, Zhao Yan's face also showed a triumphant smile. It was only June now, and there was still enough time to plant corn and sweet potatoes. By the time of harvest in autumn, he would wait for Cao Ying to admit defeat. Hehe...

  He glanced at Cao Ying, who was heading east and didn't dare to go west. Zhao Yan continued with his own business. The corn stalks he brought from the future were not yet fully mature, but the embryo in the seeds had already grown, making them suitable for use as seeds. Although it hadn't seen much sunlight over the past month, Zhao Yan had dried the corn in the house for so long that the seeds were finally dry and ready to be planted at any time.

  Compared to corn seeds, pumpkins are a bit more troublesome. The current temperature is not low, and pumpkins cannot be left for a long time, so Zhao Yan must quickly use this pumpkin to raise seedlings. Otherwise, once the pumpkin goes bad, the entire Song Dynasty will no longer be able to find another one.

  Zhao Yan first quickly counted the corn seeds, and found that there were only over 600 grains of corn on the two corn stalks. Although it was a bit less than expected, it was still more than the pumpkin. Zhao Yan then took the corn seeds outside and placed them in the sun to dry for a while, covering them with a gauze cage to prevent birds from stealing them.

  Next is the pumpkin, which can be directly planted in the ground, but the best planting method is to first raise seedlings and then cut the grown pumpkin seedlings into small segments for planting. This not only grows faster, but also produces more seedlings, all of which Zhao Yan learned from the elderly villagers during her teaching period.

  "County... County King, Sha Tuna has arrived, all of them are high-quality river sand!" At this time, Xiaodouya rushed in panting and said. Looking at her sweaty appearance, it's estimated that she ran all the way here.

  "Why are you in such a hurry? I'm not in a rush to use it." Zhao Yan handed over a cup of water, and Xiaodouya drank it all at once. However, at this time, Zhao Yan looked her up and down before asking again, "Xiaodouya, where's the sand you brought with you? I don't see it anywhere?"

  "Cough... behind, Old Man Su Ma helped me carry it!" Xiaodouya said, pointing to the back after being choked by water for a moment. Zhao Yan walked to the door and looked outside, but didn't see even a shadow of Su Ma, nor did she know where Xiaodouya had thrown him?

  It wasn't until half a cup of tea's time had passed that Zhao Yan saw Old Su Ma, who was half dead from exhaustion, slowly making his way in from outside. He had a sack on his back and when he saw Zhao Yan, he didn't even have the energy to greet him properly. He put down the sack and leaned against the door frame, panting heavily. He was already old, and carrying a sack of sand had almost taken his life.

  Seeing Old Su Ma like this, Little Douya mischievously stuck out her tongue and quickly ran over to pat Su Ma's back to help him catch his breath. After a while, Old Su Ma finally said: "Little...Little Douya, you...you mustn't run so fast next time, or else this old body of mine will fall apart."

  Lao Su Ma finished speaking and wanted to give Zhao Yan a courtesy, but was stopped by Zhao Yan with a smile: "Su Ma, you've worked hard this time. I asked Xiaodouya to find some sand, originally it wasn't urgent, but this girl misunderstood and let you suffer!"

  Upon hearing Zhao Yan's praise, Old Su Ma immediately straightened his back and said: "Your Highness is too kind with your words. It is a humble person's honor to be able to do things for Your Highness. If it weren't for Your Highness' rescue back then, I'm afraid Old Su Ma would have turned into a pile of white bones long ago."

  Zhao Yan was also greatly surprised to hear this, thinking that the original Zhao Yan was useless, but unexpectedly, the other party had even saved Old Su Ma's life. Unfortunately, there was no memory of Old Su Ma in the memories left by Zhao Yan, and Zhao Yan didn't dare ask, so he just smiled and changed the subject: "Su Ma, at your age, do you have any relatives around?"

  Su Ma heard Zhao Yan's question and was taken aback for a moment, but quickly replied: "Your Highness, how could you forget? Back then, our family fled to Kaifeng, and my husband and younger son both starved to death. Only old Su Ma and my elder daughter were left. Fortunately, we met Your Highness later, which allowed old Su Ma to enter the palace to raise fierce beasts and gave me a mouthful of food to eat. Now, my daughter is also married, and this year she just gave birth to a plump grandson for me. At that time, Your Highness even rewarded old Su Ma with a longevity lock for her grandson."

  "Huh? This... " Zhao Yan was also stunned, his greatest fear was that something like this would happen. Fortunately, he had thought of a countermeasure beforehand, so he quickly calmed down and said, "I, the king, suffered an injury some time ago, and there are some things I don't remember clearly. So in the future, if I forget anything, you all must remind me!"

  When Zhao Yan mentioned his injury, Old Su Ma immediately showed a solemn expression. In his opinion, someone who could be punished by heaven's thunder must not be an ordinary person. For example, a small figure like him would never attract the attention of heaven. So although he had heard rumors from outside, he became even more respectful to Zhao Yan, because whether good or bad, the Duke was definitely a person valued by heaven. Such a person might even be the reincarnation of a star lord in heaven.

  Next, Zhao Yan asked Old Su Ma to help pour the sand into the wooden box he had just found, then water it. After the sand was all wet, they buried the pumpkin in it. However, be careful not to put too much sand on top of the pumpkin, to ensure that it can breathe. After a few days, the pumpkin will sprout seedlings, and when the time comes, cut off the seedlings and transplant them.

  Zhao Yan and Old Su Ma together, carried the box filled with wet sand to the outside under the sun. At this time, only Xiao Rou Ding ran out of the room, shaking its plump little butt, jumping down the steps, running to the front of the box, sniffing back and forth with its nose, and even trying to climb onto the box. Unfortunately, its legs were too short and it couldn't climb up. Xiao Dou Ya was worried that Xiao Rou Ding would really climb up and hurt the pumpkin inside, so she quickly picked it up, which made Xiao Rou Ding make a dissatisfied "Wu Wu" sound.

  When he saw Little Meatball, Old Su Ma's eyes also showed a few points of doting expression. The animals in the beast garden had been sold out, and Po Tiger was also buried by him. The whole beast garden only had Little Meatball left, which made Old Su Ma particularly concerned about Little Meatball. Today, he took the initiative to help Xiaodouya carry sand, mainly to take this opportunity to take a look at Little Meatball.

  "Little Bean Sprout and Little Meatball are about to be one month old, after which they can't just be fed milk anymore. They need to add some meat soup, egg yolks and the like, all of which must be cooked, in order to grow taller and stronger!" Old Su Ma is about to leave the Wang Manor to go to a farm outside the city to raise cattle and horses, and Little Bean Sprout also likes Little Meatball very much. As for feeding, he wants to make some arrangements beforehand.

  "You're so young and you get to eat meat and eggs!" Zhao Yan looked at Xiao Rou with some envy, he was a prince but still had to eat vegetarian food every day, the most he got was an egg in the morning, it could be said that even Xiao Rou was treated better than him.

  "Oh, I see! Tonight, I'll get Nanny to help prepare Little Meatball!" Little Soybean nodded cleverly.

  "Uh, and every night we need to cover it with a blanket. Now that it's raining frequently, Little Meatball easily catches a chill at night. When feeding, don't give too much at once, divide it into 5-6 meals a day. The water should also be clean, otherwise it will get diarrhea..."

  Lao Su Ma's feelings for Bao Hu Er were very deep, and now all of these feelings have been transferred to Xiao Rou Ding. As soon as he starts talking about raising small animals, his occupational disease acts up, and he won't stop talking. Poor little Dou Ya's brain wasn't very good to begin with, so it's really too hard for her to remember all this stuff at once. Zhao Yan, who was standing beside them, seemed to see the dizziness in Xiao Rou Ding's big eyes already.

  "Cough... Su Ma, I've had a question about Xiao Rou Ding that I just can't figure out. Can you answer me?" Zhao Yan coughed, interrupting Old Su Ma's chatter, or else Little Dou Ya would have fainted from it.

  "The king of the county asks, old man, you must know and speak without reservation!" Old Su Ma immediately stopped and bowed his body.

  "It's like this." Zhao Yan brought the little meatball over, touched it a couple of times and pointed at it saying, "Su Ma look, I've seen Tibetan Mastiff puppies before, they have some obvious differences with regular dogs. But no matter how I look at Little Meatball, it looks just like a regular mutt, not at all like a Tibetan Mastiff. Why is that?"

  Actually, Zhao Yan had already discovered this problem. Although Xiaorou looks very sturdy and is pure black in color, it doesn't look like a Tibetan Mastiff at all, but rather similar to an ordinary native dog. Moreover, the little black dog is very clever and can understand some simple commands from Xiaodouya at such a young age, which shows that Xiaorou's intelligence is very high. In comparison, Tibetan Mastiffs belong to the type with well-developed limbs but simple minds. It is said that Tibetan Mastiffs only recognize one master because they are too stupid.

  Upon hearing Zhao Yan's question, Su Ma let out a sigh and said: "Reporting to the Duke, it's not surprising that Xiaorou doesn't resemble its father Bao Hu Er, because its mother is just an ordinary local dog. Originally, Liu Guanshi, who was in charge of the flower garden, bought her with the intention of killing and eating her, but she managed to bite through the rope and escape to the beast garden, where she coincidentally met Bao Hu Er, resulting in the birth of Xiaorou and its siblings."

  "Ah, I see!" Zhao Yan muttered to herself. No wonder Xiaorou looked like a local dog - it turned out that it really had half the blood of a local dog. If this hybrid dog were to resemble a Tibetan Mastiff, it could be sold for a good price. But if it resembled a local dog, it was likely that no one would want it.

  But no matter whether it's a local dog or a Tibetan Mastiff, it doesn't matter to Zhao Yan at all. This dog was originally raised by Xiaodouya, as long as she likes it, that's fine. Moreover, local dogs also have their own advantages, the most important thing is that local dogs are relatively smart and gentle in nature, generally not biting people, this point is also what Zhao Yan likes the most. After all, in this era, there is no rabies vaccine, what if you get bitten by a dog and get rabies?