Siheyuan: I eat melons while doing scientific research

Chapter 1261 A Naturally Good Dog (4k)

Lou Shouxing had met many people and could roughly guess their background based on their characteristics. Gao Zhendong was no match for him in this respect. After all, during the war on the Korean Peninsula, there were no bullfighting Chinese at the POW Olympics.

Lou Xiao'e's interest was quickly diverted: "Then let's go back too. It's about time. Even if we want to come, we can come again tomorrow."

Although Lou Shouxing hadn't yet visited Zhenxing Electric's booth, he couldn't bear to refuse his sister's suggestion. Besides, it seemed that not only his sister but also his wife were a bit tired, so he nodded and said, "Let's go, let's go back."

Lou Xiao'e returned home, and Gao Zhendong had just arrived. Gao Zhendong's absence was not because he was idle at home, but because he had other tasks.

Upon seeing Gao Zhendong, Lou Xiao'e, like a happy little rabbit, rushed over excitedly: "Zhendong, Zhendong, look what fun things I bought!"

She showed Gao Zhendong her purchases from the exhibition, one by one. Gao Zhendong smiled but didn't say anything, just watched her happily busy herself.

"Zhendong, after we finish eating, we'll take the things we bought for Lao Wang and the others over. Sister Wan will look really good in this, and Xiaomei will look absolutely adorable in it, hahaha~~~~~~"

Gao Zhendong just nodded, "Yes, yes, you're right."

Seeing the two of them like this, Lou's parents smiled without saying a word, feeling very gratified. As for He Wu, he turned to look at Lou Shouxing, his eyes conveying a sense of "look at other people."

Lou Shouxing felt like he was sitting at home when trouble came out of nowhere. He and his wife had been like this for years, and nothing had ever changed. This was something that couldn't be compared.

Lou Xiao'e was completely unaware that she had dug a hole for her brother; she was just as happy as a little rabbit, letting her feelings flow freely.

After dinner, Lou Xiao'e pulled Gao Zhendong and ran towards Wang Dezhu's house. As for Xie Jianye's house, they would talk about it when they got back to the courtyard; there was no rush.

As soon as they entered, Xiaomei rushed over and pulled the couple towards the corner of the living room: "Uncle Gao, Aunt Lou, come and see, I have something good here."

Following Xiaomei's hand, Gao Zhendong and his wife looked closely and saw a small cardboard box in the corner of their living room, from which came soft "woo-woo" sounds.

Gao Zhendong recognized the sound because he had raised this creature when he was a child.

Wang Dezhu had returned and walked up to her, looking somewhat embarrassed: "Hehe, lately I've been busy with Lao Xie about the bomb-sniffing dog. The bomb-sniffing dog is still just a pipe dream, but I couldn't resist getting one for Xiaomei."

Inside the cardboard box was a small puppy, a mixed-breed dog whose exact breed was hard to pinpoint. As everyone knows, mixed-breed dogs are chubby and fluffy when they're young, with incredibly cute looks, so it's understandable that Wang Dezhu couldn't resist. However, mixed-breed dogs tend to lose their good looks as they grow up; they might be handsome, but they're definitely not cute anymore.

Lou Xiao'e handed Xiao Mei a handful of candy, saying that Cheng Yan was still young and that her older sister could temporarily take care of it.

Xiao Mei's face lit up with a big smile. She tore open a chocolate and handed it to her younger brother, then popped one into her own mouth. After that, she tore open another chocolate and tried to put it into the puppy's mouth.

It's clear she really likes this puppy; otherwise, chocolate is something even people, let alone dogs, rarely get to eat.

No one stopped them; as long as the kids were happy, it was just a piece of candy. Even Wang Dezhu and his wife were somewhat desensitized to Xiaomei and her brother eating it so often. There was nothing they could do; Aunt Lou was giving them too much.

Only Gao Zhendong shouted, "No!" and rushed forward, pushing the chocolate back into Xiaomei's hand.

"Uncle Gao, what's wrong?" Xiaomei knew that Uncle Gao's problem wasn't because he couldn't bear to part with the chocolate.

Others were also curious, but they didn't think Gao Zhendong had done anything wrong; he must have had his reasons for doing so.

Gao Zhendong squatted down and said to Xiaomei, "Xiaomei, remember, dogs can't eat chocolate, they'll die if they do."

Xiao Mei's face showed lingering fear. She patted her little belly, seemingly oblivious to how she'd picked up this habit. She nodded at Gao Zhendong, "Thank goodness, thank you, Uncle Gao. Uncle Gao, why can't dogs eat chocolate?"

Gao Zhendong laughed and said, "There are some things that good people can eat and bad people can eat, but dogs can't eat them, or they'll die. Like this chocolate."

Xiao Mei nodded understandingly: "I understand, Uncle Gao. I was wrong. I thought they could eat even poop, so they should be able to eat chocolate too."

Gao Zhendong smiled and shook his head: "Because the ingredients in chocolate are harmful to dogs. Dogs can eat poop, but they just can't eat chocolate. Remember that, a dog is a dog, and it's different from a human."

The reason why most people don't know this these days is simple: there's so little chocolate that even people don't have any, so naturally, dogs don't get any.

Listening to the conversation between the two, one big and one small, Wang Dezhu seemed to remember something: "Hey, Zhendong, you sound like you know a lot about dogs. Come on, give me some advice. What kind of dog do you think would be good for a bomb-hunting dog? The biggest problem right now is that we can't find dogs with stable traits. Caiyun is breeding them, but it's still a long way from a stable population."

This is also what has been giving him and Xie Jianye a headache lately. They don't need to do it themselves; they can just offer suggestions. But when offering suggestions, they should at least have some solutions in them; otherwise, it's not appropriate to just talk the talk.

The most important and unavoidable aspect of the solution is forward-looking advice on dog breeds. However, none of the dogs they have access to are purebred. In fact, there are very few purebred dogs in China. If you exclude breeds like Tibetan Mastiffs that are not capable of working due to intelligence issues, there are very few left, and they don't even recognize them.

Regarding Tibetan Mastiffs, the high-IQ explanation is that they only recognize one owner in their lifetime, while the low-IQ explanation is: they're too stupid and can only remember one.

Hearing Gao Zhendong talk about dogs so knowledgeably, his mind started to wander. If he knew even obscure things like dogs shouldn't eat chocolate, then the old platoon leader must know even more.

Wang Dezhu had an almost superstitious trust in Gao Zhendong; there was no way around it, it was all built up from sharing life and death experiences on the battlefield.

Gao Zhendong thought for a moment. He wasn't really familiar with dogs. Apart from the most famous breeds, he didn't know much about them. The dogs he knew all had some minor flaws. Golden Retrievers were greedy, German Shepherds had congenital problems with their hindquarters, Labradors were nicknamed "Labrador Pigs," Border Collies were too smart, and as for Beagles... well, forget about them. Those are not for the average person.

The country dogs I raised when I was a child certainly couldn't solve Lao Wang's problem, mainly because their traits were too unstable.

But... Gao Zhendong remembered something. Although he didn't know much about other things, there was a type of dog that seemed quite suitable these days.

A natural hunting dog, nicknamed the Mountain Chaser, it has good stamina, strong explosive power, a keen sense of smell, strong adaptability, and decent intelligence, but it's not as smart as the Border Collie to the point of being lazy and cunning.

They are quite formidable fighters; in packs, they can handle wild boars. This "handling" doesn't mean killing them, but rather entangled them until the terrifying upright apes arrive. Don't underestimate this ability to simply entangle them; there aren't many dogs capable of this.

They don't have high requirements for living conditions, after all, the conditions in their place of origin are not good, and those that are too delicate would have died long ago there. They are medium-sized dogs, don't eat much, and are not expensive to keep.

Moreover, the population is stable, and at this stage, its bloodline is relatively pure compared to other dogs. This is mainly because the area where this dog lives is relatively isolated, and other dogs cannot migrate there.

Although its appearance may seem unusual to those who aren't used to it, it has a kind of quirky cuteness. Its pink nose is a distinctive feature, and its fur grows very freely, each hair having its own direction. In short, it's easy to recognize at a glance.

"Hey, you know what, I actually remembered there is such a thing. It's a bit far away, but don't worry about that. It's far, but it definitely exists, and the population is stable!" The more Gao Zhendong thought about it, the better he felt this thing was.

"What kind of dog is it? Where is it?" Wang Dezhu was almost slapping his thigh in exasperation, knowing that asking the old platoon leader was the right thing to do.

“Qianshan, Xia Si dog!” Gao Zhendong said. He had wanted to raise one in his past life, but unfortunately, by the time he learned about this kind of dog, he had already left to study and no longer had the means.

Upon hearing this, Wang Dezhu immediately understood why this dog had a stable breed, pure bloodline, strong endurance in chasing pigs in the mountains, and low requirements for breeding conditions. In the Guizhou mountains, it was simply a natural-born hunting dog!
"Does such a thing really exist?" he asked again, still unsure.

"Absolutely! I've been to Qianshan on a business trip, you know, I've seen it!" Gao Zhendong lied without hesitation, anyway, the dog was definitely not a problem.

"Okay, okay, I'll add this variety to our plan later."

"Dad, I want a..." Xiaomei, who was petting a dog with her younger brother and someone else, looked up.

"Yes, yes, yes" is a promise made without prior notice.

"Don't worry, as long as this works out, I'll give each of you one!" Wang Dezhu thumped his chest, making a grand promise.
-
The next morning, Gao Zhendong and his colleagues from the Ministry of Foreign Trade were listening to the latest report on the high-tech products exhibition. Thanks to the development of communication and computer technology, they were able to grasp the situation on site almost in semi-real-time.

The main reason why Gao Zhendong himself couldn't attend the exhibition was that it was the second edition, and if we're talking about a proper event, this was the first one. The previous edition was hosted by the 17th Ministry of Machinery Industry and organized by the Ministry of Foreign Trade. The audience reach and organizational difficulties were incomparable to this one. Therefore, the Ministry of Foreign Trade was very careful to invite relevant personnel to come and ensure the smooth running of the exhibition once again.

The next time, it won't be so troublesome; we'll have plenty of experience by then.

"...In terms of overall sales, electronic, computer, and communication products are the mainstays, and customers have a high level of acceptance of these products..."

For those responsible for data analysis, computers and databases have already accomplished half of their previous work—statistics and calculations—making their work much easier and more efficient.

"What are the trends and distribution of that person's purchases?" The comrades from the Ministry of Foreign Trade were somewhat interested in this, as it could reflect the socio-economic situation of different countries to some extent.

The colleague in charge of data analysis shook his head with a wry smile: "Well... it's not very noticeable."

"Not really? The data should be quite clear, right?" The comrades from the Ministry of Foreign Trade knew very well that the data was plentiful.

"It's very clear, but you can't see any difference. For most people who come here, it's a good opportunity to make money, so no matter what the product is, they usually bring back a considerable income. Therefore, there's nothing special about individual purchases. If you have to say something, there's only one characteristic—they buy everything, and they buy everything up to the quota limit!"

Objectively speaking, apart from a small number of people from developed Western countries, the majority of attendees at this exhibition were from the Third World and EEC countries, and these countries all shared similar characteristics—a severe shortage of supplies.

For those who come here, the purchases made for work may not bring them much direct economic benefit, but their purchasing quotas are pure cash. Many people borrow money in China to come here and make large-scale purchases, knowing they will definitely make money when they return.

Although most exhibits can only be purchased in pairs, the sheer variety makes it irresistible.

As they bought, they were also grateful for the generosity of the Easterners; the Easterners were so friendly!
The officials from the Ministry of Foreign Trade looked at each other, realizing there was nothing they could do about it.

Besides these routine situations, there are also some special cases, and these special cases require people like Gao Zhendong, who are also stationed at the center, to resolve them.

"...Leader, the visitors from the Bullfighting Kingdom have established a joint-stock company. They want to use this company to acquire the agency rights for our products in their country. Incidentally, they also want to acquire the agency rights for the Cork Kingdom."

The Kingdom of Bullfighting and the Kingdom of Cork are right next to each other. To put it more directly, the Kingdom of Cork is bordered by the sea to the west and south, and by the Kingdom of Bullfighting to the east and north. Moreover, the Kingdom of Cork is much smaller in area than the Kingdom of Bullfighting.

Therefore, it was almost a matter of course for the Bullfighting Kingdom to want to obtain the agency rights of the Cork Kingdom, given the complex and intertwined historical relationship between the two countries.

Putting everything else aside, the comrades in the foreign affairs department laughed: "We won't comment on their domestic business activities, but the Cork Kingdom must be preserved. This country is special, and we must reserve sufficient space for it."

Once he said that, everyone understood what was going on.

—Aocheng is currently under the temporary administration of the Cork Kingdom.

Although rumors say they've wanted to return it for a long time, we have our own considerations. Given this relationship, it's normal to give them some special treatment in certain matters. Anyone who's willing to maintain friendly relations with us, as long as there's no war, is a good friend.

"Well, we'll take the opinion of the foreign affairs department into account in this matter. But it's interesting that the people from the Bullfighting Kingdom have temporarily formed a joint-stock company to talk to us."

(End of this chapter)