Chapter 22

Liu Handong had only two cents left. If he didn't earn some money soon, he would have nothing to eat for lunch. He pushed out his old motorcycle, ready to go out, and said to Wangcai, "Stay at home and guard the door, I'll be back."

Wangcai seemed to understand and sat down, but as soon as Liu Handong left, it stood up and followed him.

"Sit down," Liu Handong ordered.

Wangcai reluctantly sat down, unwilling to give up, and whined pitifully.

"Bringing you along won't help me get any business," Liu Handong said, his heart softening as he patiently explained.

Wangcai's eyes sparkled.

"Right, I forgot, I need to take you home today," Liu Handong slapped his head. This dog wasn't an ordinary stray; it must have gotten lost, and its owner must be very worried. He might as well take it around the city, and maybe it would recognize a place and find its way home.

Thinking this, he clapped his hands, "Get in."

Wangcai was incredibly excited and leaped into the motorcycle.

Liu Handong drove the old motorcycle with the dog through the Iron Slag Street. As they passed a dog meat restaurant, a burly man was unloading dog cages from a small truck. Suddenly, he saw the dog on Liu Handong's motorcycle and narrowed his eyes, deep in thought.

"Stop! Stop that old motorcycle! Are you deaf?" The man rushed over, grabbed the handle, and glared at Liu Handong.

"Damn, you stole my dog," the man pointed at Wangcai and cursed.

Wangcai recognized the man and was so scared that it trembled and lay still in the motorcycle.

Liu Handong didn't turn off the engine and got off the motorcycle, looking down at the man who was less than 1.7 meters tall.

"Watch your mouth. Your dog? I don't even know where you stole it from," Liu Handong said.

"I bought the dog for meat, two yuan per pound, and the wire marks on its mouth are still there," the man, with a fiery temper, shouted. Two workers from the dog meat restaurant came out, each holding a knife for skinning dogs.

"Damn, you stole the dog and won't admit it," the man punched Liu Handong, who blocked it, feeling a sharp pain in his arm. A powerful force pushed him back two steps. He immediately counterattacked, feinting a punch and then kicking the man's calf, almost making him fall. The man lunged forward, trying to grapple with Liu Handong.

The man was naturally strong, and Liu Handong didn't dare to tangle with him. He used a shoulder throw to toss the man three meters away, landing him hard on the cement ground, almost creating a crater.

The workers from the dog meat restaurant, holding sharp knives, rushed over. Liu Handong quickly jumped on the motorcycle, revved the engine, and sped away like a wolf fleeing.

The workers helped the furious dog meat restaurant owner up and cursed at the retreating motorcycle.

Liu Handong laughed, and Wangcai barked happily.

Someone on the side of the road waved to stop the motorcycle, "Motorcycle taxi!"

Liu Handong pulled over and asked the woman, "Ma'am, where are you going?"

"Help me transport some tiles from the building materials market to Lishui Yajing," the woman, dressed in gold and silver, seemed to be well-off.

"Twenty yuan for the trip," Liu Handong said, offering a fair price.

"Okay, if you help me carry them upstairs, I'll give you five yuan per floor," the woman agreed.

"No problem," Liu Handong replied.

The building materials market was nearby. The woman led the way on her electric scooter, stopping at a shed where several boxes of tiles were already stacked. Many tricycles and small trucks were parked nearby, but the drivers were smoking and chatting, not trying to get the job, which seemed unusual.

Maybe the price wasn't right, Liu Handong thought.

"Driver, help me load these tiles onto the tricycle," the woman directed Liu Handong to load the heavy tiles onto the tricycle, which made the tires sag.

After loading the tiles, the woman rode her electric scooter ahead, and Liu Handong followed on the motorcycle. Because of the heavy load, they couldn't go fast, and Wangcai limped along behind, tongue out, running happily.

There was a long uphill road ahead. Liu Handong was about to rev the engine to go up when the motorcycle suddenly sputtered and stopped. He tried to start it again, but it wouldn't move. After checking, he found that the motorcycle had run out of fuel, not because he forgot to refuel, but because the fuel gauge was broken.

"Hurry up, what are you dawdling for?" the woman urged from the top of the hill.

"It's out of fuel," Liu Handong said.

"Even if it's out of fuel, you still need to deliver it to the destination as agreed," the woman insisted, looking unhappy.

Liu Handong got off the motorcycle and tried to push it up the hill, but the tricycle, loaded with tiles, was too heavy to move.

Wangcai ran around the tricycle, barking excitedly.

Liu Handong took a rope, tied one end to the tricycle, and was about to tie the other end around his waist when Wangcai jumped up, biting the rope.

"Are you going to help me?" Liu Handong patted Wangcai's head and tied the rope around its shoulders.

Man and dog, working together, pushed the tricycle up the hill step by step. Liu Handong used all his strength, his muscles tensing, his face red and neck swollen. Wangcai's four legs were firmly planted on the ground, struggling to pull.

One step, two steps, the tricycle slowly moved up the hill.

"Hurry up, I'm waiting," the woman complained from a distance, checking her phone.

Liu Handong gritted his teeth and said nothing. The hill was steep and difficult to climb.

"Look, the dog is helping to pull the tricycle," a car stopped on the side of the road, and the people inside started taking videos.

Liu Handong didn't have time to deal with these idle people. He finally managed to push the tricycle to the top of the hill, and both he and Wangcai were exhausted. Wangcai sat on the ground, panting with its tongue out.

"Hurry up, it's just ahead," the woman got on her electric scooter, put on her sunglasses, and looked impatient.

Liu Handong ignored her, took off his sweat-soaked shirt, and revealed his muscular body. He took a large bottle of cold water, drank a few gulps, poured some on himself, and then poured some into his palm to feed Wangcai.

Wangcai extended its long tongue to drink the water, and after drinking, it licked Liu Handong twice, showing affection.

"Good job, Wangcai, more filial than my own son. I didn't raise you for nothing," Liu Handong patted Wangcai's head.

The people in the car were still filming.

"What are you looking at!" Liu Handong shouted.

The couple quickly stopped filming and drove away.

Liu Handong continued to push the tricycle, with Wangcai still pulling in front. They arrived at the Lishui Yajing residential area, building 13. Looking up at the high-rise, Liu Handong was dizzy. "Ma'am, which floor do you live on?"

"Eighteenth floor," the woman said, locking her electric scooter.

"Is there an elevator?" Liu Handong asked.

"Yes, but it's under maintenance today. Do you think it's easy to earn five yuan per floor?" the woman said disdainfully.

"Alright, I'll carry them," Liu Handong said, determined.

"Quickly, 1803," the woman carried her small bag and went upstairs.

Liu Handong patted Wangcai's head, "Good boy, watch the tricycle for me."

Wangcai barked in response.

Liu Handong picked up two boxes of tiles, thought for a moment, and tied two more boxes to his shoulders with the rope. He started climbing the stairs, initially moving quickly, but by the tenth floor, he was slowing down. By the eighteenth floor, 1803 was open, and the sound of a power saw indicated that the apartment was being renovated.

"Put them by the bathroom door," the woman, holding a cold cola, directed Liu Handong while drinking.

Liu Handong put down the tiles and went downstairs to continue moving them.

He made five trips, carrying the tiles up and down the eighteen floors ten times. On the last trip, despite his excellent physical condition, he was exhausted, drenched in sweat and covered in dirt.

"Ma'am, I've finished. It's a total of 110 yuan," Liu Handong said, taking an empty cola bottle to the bathroom sink to fill it with tap water.

The woman ignored him and scolded the tile layer, "Look at the mess you've made. Do you think you deserve to be paid? Do you have any shame? Tear it all down and start over!"

The tile layer was scolded harshly, nodding and mumbling a few words in defense, only to be scolded even more.

After a while, the woman looked at Liu Handong, "What are you still standing there for?"

Liu Handong said, "Ma'am, you haven't paid the transportation fee."

"What transportation fee? You've delayed my project. Do you know how much I've spent on the renovation? My son is getting married in November. Do you think I can afford to be delayed? Is it so great to drive an old motorcycle? If it's out of fuel, why didn't you refuel? Climbing the stairs so slowly, do you think you deserve over a hundred yuan? A moving company charges only 100 yuan for moving all the furniture, and you charge so much for a few boxes of tiles. Do you have any shame?"

"110 yuan, as agreed, not a cent less."

"Thirty yuan, take it or leave it, that's all," the woman said firmly. Her phone rang, and she answered it, smiling, "Oh, Ms. Zhang, I'll visit your place to learn about the renovation. Let me tell you, that person at the office is someone's mistress..."

After chatting for a while, she turned to see Liu Handong still waiting and took out 30 yuan from her pocket, throwing it at him, "Take the money and go, don't make things difficult for yourself."

Liu Handong didn't pick up the money and picked up a box of tiles.

...

While Liu Handong was working hard, two female college students passed by the building. They saw Wangcai and couldn't help but circle around it, looking at it from all angles, finding it familiar.

"Isn't this Song Shuang's Coco? What happened to it!" one of the girls said.

"Yes, wasn't it lost?" the other girl said.

Coco, hearing its name, barked.

The girls took out their phones and called Song Shuang.

Song Shuang was in front of her computer, crying, looking extremely haggard in her pajamas. She had forwarded the post on Weibo thousands of times but had received no valuable leads. Uncle Wang's investigation had also come up empty. They had searched all the pet markets and animal hospitals in the city, but found no trace of Coco. Even the vehicles transporting dogs to the south had been stopped by the traffic police, but Coco was not among them.

Song Shuang, a literature major, had a vivid imagination. In her tragic story, Coco had been captured by a dirty and sinister old man on a tricycle, tied up and thrown into the back, watching the street scenes pass by in despair, hearing its "mom" calling it in a crying voice. Coco was taken to a suburban shack, killed, skinned, and cooked, dying with its eyes open...

Thinking of this, Song Shuang felt a sharp pain in her heart.

Suddenly, her phone rang. It was her friend and classmate Pengpeng.

Song Shuang answered the call listlessly, "Pengpeng, what's up? I'm not in the mood today, I don't want to go anywhere."

"Song Shuang, Coco has been found!" The voice on the other end was loud, and there were dog barks in the background.

Song Shuang jumped up, "What, Coco has been found!"

"Yes, it was stolen by a migrant worker. Xiaowei and I are watching it here, at the Lishui Yajing residential area, building 13. You won't believe it, Coco is so pitiful, covered in injuries and tied up."

"I'll be there right away, take good care of Coco!" Song Shuang put down her phone, pulled out a pair of jeans and a shirt from her closet, and without taking the time to put on makeup or comb her hair, washed her face and rushed out of the house. She met a car with a Jiang O license plate entering the residential area and quickly stopped it, "Uncle Wan, take me somewhere, it's an emergency!"

Wan Xudong opened the car door, "Get in, where are we going?"

"Lishui Yajing residential area, quickly!"

...