PCJ – Chapter 395 The Chicken Thief Reappears

“Uncle, don’t worry! After all, we don’t have to feed these hunting dogs. If there isn’t enough space, I’ll just find a piece of wasteland to build some houses for them,” Zhang Jiaohua said, unconcerned.

“There’s no more barren land in the village! It’s all been turned into tea plantations,” Zhang Youlian laughed.

“Then I’ll put them on Black Rock Ridge,” Zhang Jiaohua thought for a moment and said.

“That’s not necessary. They can still help guard the orchard. But don’t bring any more puppies home. There’s no room for them,” Zhang Youlian said, pretending to plead.

“Alright,” Zhang Jiaohua nodded. With 24 dogs now gathered, Zhang Jiaohua had fulfilled a long-standing wish.

From the previous batch of hunting dogs, he selected four spotted, four black, and nine yellow, and added seven white puppies from the new litter to make a total of 24 dogs. All of them were young, and Zhang Jiaohua planned to train them from a young age, following the method for the 24 mountain-scouting dogs. Now in middle school, Zhang Jiaohua had gradually begun to understand some of the formations he had learned in his dreams. What once seemed profound now made more sense. The 24 scouting dogs corresponded to 24 positions, and changes in these positions subtly altered the flow of energy. Although Zhang Jiaohua could only grasp a little of it, he had made great progress compared to before. However, training the 24 dogs wouldn’t happen overnight—it required a lot of patience, something Zhang Jiaohua didn’t lack. After waiting for so many years, he was naturally willing to patiently watch the 24 scouting dogs grow.

Once the mountain leopard and the ten puppies were taken away, peace returned to the teacher dormitory at Yidushui Middle School. Pei Guixiang happily watched her ten chicks waddle around the courtyard.

“One, two, three… eight, nine… Hmm? Where’s the last chick?” Pei Guixiang casually counted and realized one was missing. She counted several more times and confirmed it was still one short.

“This morning, when I let them out, the count was right. How could one be missing now?” Instinctively, she glanced at Cai Kaiming’s dormitory. She wondered if, because she had forced him to get rid of his dogs, he might have killed one of her chicks in revenge. However, without evidence, she didn’t dare accuse him. She searched the entire yard but couldn’t find any trace of the chick.

“Wife, why are you wandering around the yard? Think you’ll stumble upon gold?” Wu Guangyuan teased as he watched his wife pacing like a madwoman.

“You know nothing! One of our chicks is missing. Did some ill-fated person step on it?” Pei Guixiang shot another glance toward Cai Kaiming’s room.

“Don’t talk nonsense. It’s the weekend, and only a few families are still here. Who would have stepped on the chick?” Wu Guangyuan scolded his wife. Nowadays, weekends meant two days off, and all the young teachers disappeared by Friday. Cai Kaiming had gone home on Friday too, so he wasn’t even there. Only the director of instruction, Li Shuhai, and his wife were still around. Pei Guixiang’s accusations had indirectly pointed fingers at them.

Realizing her mistake, Pei Guixiang quickly said, “Could there be a weasel on campus?”

“It’s possible. We’ve lost chickens before,” Wu Guangyuan replied.

“Lost your mind! People already found feathers in the orange grove. Weasels don’t just pluck chickens clean of their feathers—they even gut them!” Pei Guixiang rolled her eyes at him.

The couple searched the dormitory surroundings but found neither the missing chick nor even a feather. They didn’t know whether it had been killed or taken by something else, but it was all so sudden and strange. With no choice, they gave up, and fearing misunderstandings with Li Shuhai, Pei Guixiang didn’t dare yell anymore, though she felt terribly upset inside.

On Sunday morning, Pei Guixiang counted the chicks several times before letting them out, but that afternoon, she suddenly heard their terrified cries. Rushing out, she found another chick had mysteriously disappeared.

“Wu Guangyuan! Come quick!” Pei Guixiang shouted loudly.

“What now?” Wu Guangyuan ran out.

“Another chick is missing,” Pei Guixiang anxiously looked around but found no clues.

“What’s going on!” Wu Guangyuan was baffled.

“I just heard the chicks crying outside. When I got here, one was missing, and there’s no one around. Could there really be a weasel?” Pei Guixiang started to worry. If there was indeed a weasel, the remaining chicks wouldn’t be safe either. They couldn’t keep them indoors forever. The house was small, and even if they were kept inside, the door couldn’t always be closed. A weasel could sneak in at any time.

“These chickens don’t seem to be worth raising anymore,” Wu Guangyuan grumbled. He hadn’t been keen on raising chickens in the first place. The house was small, and keeping chickens inside made it unbearable. The stench of chicken manure lingered in his nose, so strong that even the food lost its flavor, leaving him feeling on edge.

Raising chickens at the teacher dormitory, with chicken droppings all over the yard, had surely annoyed the other teachers, even if they didn’t say anything. Imagine stepping outside and immediately squashing a pile of chicken manure—ruining your mood for the entire day.

Pei Guixiang glared at Wu Guangyuan. “Then stop eating chicken!”

On Monday, she didn’t dare let the chicks out, but by evening, she heard distressing cries again. Rushing over, she found that a large rooster had been dragged to the base of the wall. Pulling aside the weeds, she saw the rooster trapped in a hole. The hole was small, and the three-pound rooster, with its wings spread out, couldn’t be pulled through. There was a deep wound on its neck, bleeding profusely.

“What happened?” Wu Guangyuan, hearing the commotion, came running.

“A weasel! It’s a weasel! This thing is too cunning; it dug a hole here. The chicks from the past few days were definitely dragged out through this hole,” Pei Guixiang said.

“So that’s what happened,” Wu Guangyuan inspected the hole, which was larger than a typical rat hole. Judging by the traces, it must have been dug in the past few days.

“If I’d known, I wouldn’t have forced Teacher Cai to get rid of the dogs. Maybe the weasel wouldn’t have dared to come,” Pei Guixiang started to regret chasing away the dogs.

“What’s the use of saying that now? I told you not to offend people unnecessarily. You’ve turned the dormitory into a stinking mess with your chickens, and no one complained. Yet, when someone kept a dog, you made a fuss. Now I can’t show my face around here,” Wu Guangyuan was irritated.

“But he had too many dogs! One big dog and so many puppies. This isn’t a dog farm,” Pei Guixiang grumbled.

“But it’s not a chicken farm either!” Wu Guangyuan snapped.

“How about we ask Teacher Cai to bring the dogs back?” Pei Guixiang suggested.

“That’s your problem to deal with. I’m not embarrassing myself like that. You can’t just tell him to get rid of the dogs and then ask him to bring them back! Who do you think you are? The Empress Dowager Cixi?” Wu Guangyuan retorted.

“Wu Guangyuan! You’ve got some nerve!” Pei Guixiang, humiliated, pointed at him and shouted. He immediately backed down.

When Cai Kaiming returned to the dormitory, he habitually glanced toward the spot where the dogs had been. Seeing the empty place, he felt a strange sense of loss.

“Teacher Cai, have you had dinner yet?” Pei Guixiang approached him with a smile.

“I just ate. Do you need something?” Cai Kaiming was unsure of her intentions.

“I was wrong the other day. I shouldn’t have been so hasty. The main issue was that your puppies were too noisy, and I was worried they’d harm my chicks. But later, I realized I was too harsh. This dormitory isn’t privately owned. If I can raise chickens, you should have the right to keep dogs. I know my chickens have caused some inconvenience to others, but we don’t have a choice. I don’t have a job, and we rely solely on Mr. Wu’s salary. We also have kids in school. He’s under a lot of pressure, so I thought raising chickens would help reduce his burden. After all, there’s always leftover food from the school cafeteria.” Pei Guixiang tried to justify herself with a roundabout explanation.

“I see, but let’s leave the past in the past. Those dogs weren’t even mine—they belonged to one of my students. I already asked the student to take them home last Friday. They won’t be coming back, so you don’t have to worry about them bothering your chicks. If any of your chicks are missing, I’ll compensate you,” Cai Kaiming replied.

“No, no, the chicks are fine. The puppies weren’t really hurting them—they were just playing. What I meant to say was, if you want to keep dogs again, I won’t have any complaints,” Pei Guixiang said awkwardly.

“If that’s all, I’ll head inside. I’m really exhausted,” Cai Kaiming didn’t want to continue the conversation.

“Oh… alright. Goodnight,” Pei Guixiang’s forced smile vanished as she watched him leave.