Generation Z Artists

Chapter 190 "The Dog Taming Story"

Fang Xinghe didn't do anything particularly remarkable; he simply wrote a new essay, which was published simultaneously in Jilin Daily, Beijing Youth Daily, and Xinmin Evening News.

The essay is titled "The Dog Taming Story".

He abandoned all rhetoric and used the plainest and simplest language, making sure that even illiterate people could understand it.

The insults weren't harsh at all; they were just funny.

Simple and fun things are the ones that most people remember.

The article had just been published when it triggered a tsunami-like impact across mainland China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong.

Part 1: My Two Dogs

Before my family fell into poverty, we used to have two dogs.

One is black, the other is yellow, their bloodlines are mixed, and it is difficult to determine their specific breed. All that is known is that they are probably mixed-breed dogs from local mongrels.

My maternal grandmother treated them very well.

I fed them milk as soon as they were born, and as they got a little older, they ate whatever I ate, just like raising my grandchildren.

I'm happy to have two younger brothers, and I'm not jealous at all. Whenever I have free time, I play with them like crazy.

Back then, Da Huang and Er Hei were incredibly well-behaved. Whenever I came home from school, they would rush over, sticking out their tongues and purring, their tails wagging like fans, and circling around my legs.

As soon as I gently stroke their heads a couple of times, surprise and joy overflow from their eyes. They seem to want to speak human language on the spot and cry out, "Master's grace is boundless. This good dog kowtows before the palace, and expresses its sincere devotion."

One time, when my family was eating braised pork ribs, I took some meat off the ribs and fed it to them by holding it in my hand.

Dahuang and Erhei were so hungry they were practically drooling, sticking their tongues out so far and drooling.

However, no one tried to take the food from my hand.

Back then, they were very disciplined. They would never touch any food that accidentally fell on the floor, but they would happily gnaw on the meat that was placed in their designated food bowl.

Whenever the neighbors see them, they always exclaim, "What wonderful dogs! They'll be amazing when they grow up! They'll be excellent at guarding the house!"

That was a wonderful time, and I still cherish it to this day.

Unfortunately, the good times didn't last long. My irresponsible father quickly squandered the family fortune, and all the money and food in the house were gone. My maternal grandmother, mother, and I lived a life of going hungry.

That was a very humiliating experience. When I was hungry, I naturally couldn't feed them, so I had to let them out to find food on their own.

But no matter how difficult it was, I never thought of killing them to eat them.

Those are family members; we either die together or live together. How can we devour each other?
Later, Aunt Yingzi from the village came to my door and, through coercion and enticement, took advantage of my grandmother's weakness and illness to snatch Erhuang away.

Her arrogant face left a deep mark on my memory.

"Your whole family is down on your luck, you don't deserve to keep such a nice dog! Now it's mine, and if you dare to utter another word, I'll beat you up!"

Aunt Yingzi was a wealthy man in the village with a criminal background. It was rumored that he made his fortune by smuggling and selling ecstasy. He would drive his heavy diesel tractor, which he used to transport goods, to our doorstep and threaten to smash the courtyard wall if we disagreed.

My grandmother had no choice but to smile apologetically while arguing her case.

Aunt Yingzi was originally a man, but she didn't like to follow the right path. She preferred to fight with men, which made her eccentric. Sometimes she was extremely concerned about saving face, and sometimes she was self-deceiving.

Fearing gossip in the village, he changed his tune, saying, "How could I, a man of great stature, possibly rob you? I'm just renting you out for fun, and I'll take care of you. If you're still alive in a few years, I'll return you!"

From then on, Dahuang belonged to Aunt Yingzi, escaped the quagmire of my family, and lived a good life with meat at every meal.

I was young then and thought it was a good idea. Since I couldn't take care of it anyway, it was better for someone who could afford it to take care of it than for it to starve with me.

Every time school ended, I would deliberately take a detour from the other side of the village entrance, passing by Aunt Yingzi's house from a distance, and secretly take a peek.

Dahuang lived a very comfortable life, living in an upgraded doghouse, using a dog bowl that was said to have been passed down from Yuanmingyuan, and eating nothing but foreign things like buttered bread.

Originally, it had a yellow skin and a white face, but perhaps it ate too much butter and gradually turned into a white skin and a yellow face. How strange.

But I still think there's nothing wrong with it. Let things change. Different places nurture different people, and the same goes for dogs. As long as it lives well, there will eventually be a day when we can play together again.

II. Not a single one left.

A hemp rope always breaks at its thinnest point, and misfortune always finds those who are unfortunate.

Before Da Huang's matter was resolved, Er Hei got into trouble too.

My maternal grandmother had two children. My mother was the eldest, and I had a younger uncle named Wang Deli. Because he was slightly bald and loved to talk nonsense, he would always make a strategic retreat after losing a fight, so he was nicknamed "Ever-Victorious."

Wang Changsheng and my stupid father are cut from the same cloth. They think they're something special but are completely ignorant. They can find a thousand excuses for losing ten thousand times, but when they win once, they go around begging for alms in every household in the village.

Later, a third brother in the village carried this style forward—as long as I feel I have won, even if you knock off my ribs and boil them into soup, I haven't lost!
Wang Changsheng, as the originator of this style, did things that were quite outrageous.

After my maternal grandmother passed away, my mother took over the household management.

But Wang Changsheng disagreed, feeling that the family should belong to him, the Premier, because he was the male heir and the rightful heir!
Then the two sisters got into a fight. Wang Changsheng was strong, but he had been smoking opium, drinking heavily, and sleeping with women for years. His blood and flesh were rotten, and his kidney deficiency was comparable to Fang Tonghui's. My mother slapped him three times, shattering his imperial dream. He slunk out of the house.

But before he left, he snatched Erhei away, declaring, "I won't argue with you about the division of the family property, but this dog has always been mine. I'm only taking my own things, so don't come after me!"

My mother was furious and picked up a rolling pin to continue slicing him, but was stopped by the village's beautiful woman.

Da Piao Liang was jealous of my mom's beauty and kept gossiping and making trouble behind my back. Seeing that my mom was about to beat Wang Changsheng into a pulp, she hurriedly tried to sabotage the situation.

My backyard neighbors, Little Lisianthus and Little Pickled Mustard Greens, were fighting over a plot of land. When Big Pretty got involved, it directly affected my house.

After finally resolving the mess at Xiaojiegeng's house, Da Piaoliang rallied a group of idle men to fully support Wang Changsheng's division of the family property.

Not long after, my third brother jumped out again to take advantage of the situation. My mother swung a big iron shovel and almost blew up his family's ancestral grave. He ran away with the ancestral tablet in his arms, yelling, "Our family was going to move the grave anyway, it has nothing to do with you!"

Actually, my mother hadn't even entered his yard when she scared my third brother so much he ran like the wind.

After dealing with Third Brother, Little Nanfang, whom my mother used to help often, started causing trouble again.

I don't know the specifics, but a few days ago I went to Xiao Nanfang's house as a guest and found that they both hated and feared my mother, but were both respectful and enthusiastic towards me.

It must be because the beating was too severe last time.

In short, after repeated delays, Dahei was never returned. It began to guard Wang Changsheng's house, standing across the water from our home.

[Part Three: Get a dog back]

A long time has passed, and the village has remained in great chaos.

The good news is that Aunt Yingzi finally couldn't hold on any longer.

Later, the village was managed by Da Piao Liang. Yingzi's family business was getting worse and worse, and they were also afraid of my mother's fierce and ruthless nature when she picked up a weapon. So they returned Da Huang within the time limit.

The day it returned home, I was so excited that tears welled up in my eyes. My heart was filled with joy, and my eyes were filled with its majestic appearance.

Compared to its fluffy, adorable puppy days, it is now a fully grown dog.

Tall and imposing, with a lithe figure and smooth fur that gleams golden in the sunlight.

“Good dog!”

I rushed toward it, arms outstretched.

"Big Yellow, my good bro, come give me a hug!"

Big Yellow raised its right eyebrow, glanced at me, then held its head high and strolled past me.

When it returned home, it brought with it its luxurious doghouse, its gold-inlaid jade dog bowl, and a warehouse full of foreign dog food.

That was the savings Aunt Yingzi had accumulated for it when her family was wealthy. It's said that a bag of dog food cost more than my monthly food expenses. It's called some kind of high-tech remote dog raising.

I stood frozen in place, my heart growing colder.

In the days that followed, things started to get increasingly strange.

In the years since I left home, I don't know what kind of mischief Aunt Yingzi did, but she taught Da Huang all sorts of things every day. In short, the dog became extremely arrogant after returning home.

They used to eat obediently while lying on the floor, but now they insist on sitting at the table.

My mom felt that it had suffered a lot of injustice over the years and wanted to make amends, so she not only allowed it to sit on the table, but also set up a special seat for it.

It used to eat the same food as us; I fed it whatever I had. But now it won't eat anything that isn't refined food and it no longer eats with me.

That would be fine, but whenever I was munching on a cornbread bun, a hint of disdain would always appear on its increasingly human-like face. It would look at me sideways as I ate coarse food, its dog face drooping as it slowly and methodically ate its buttered dog food.

I wasn't curious at all about what that thing tasted like, but it always stood guard at the warehouse door, extremely vigilant.

It sometimes eats when we stew meat at home.

However, when my mother put the big bone in its dog bowl, it immediately wrapped its two front paws around the bowl, looked up at me with one eye, and looked down at the meat with the other.

As soon as I showed any intention of getting close, it bared its teeth and roared from deep in its throat.

The mother asked in surprise, "Oh dear, why is Dahuang starting to guard its food?"

I was extremely disappointed. "Aunt Yingzi has ruined this dog; it's no longer our family's Big Yellow."

The mother was optimistic: "It's okay. Dahuang has only been home for a short time. If we treat it with sincerity, it will eventually become part of our family again."

Really? I hope so.

4. Dogs will bite.

The days of living together with Dahuang again were never peaceful.

Perhaps because it's used to the good life of eating foreign dog food every day, it doesn't think much of the current conditions at home.

They naturally wouldn't eat leftovers; a separate portion of fresh food had to be set aside for them.

Not only that, it also dislikes me, refuses to hug me, doesn't want me to pat its head, and acts like it doesn't hear me when I call it.

Occasionally, when called urgently, it turns around and walks away, lying down in its kennel and raising its front paws to cover its head.

Aunt Yingzi is really amazing; she's trained Dahuang to be so smart.

But its intelligence seems to be misused. Even though it has already gone home and is no longer Aunt Yingzi's dog, why does it still wag its tail at him every day?
Doesn't it know that this will only make its family more and more disappointed?

Anyway, I'm very disappointed; it feels really pointless.

I couldn't help but ask my mother, "If it stays like this, what's the point of us taking it back?"

The mother replied, "No matter what, it's still a member of our family. Education isn't something that can be done overnight; we need to be more patient."

I don't quite understand, but I respect her opinion. She's the head of the household and has a proven track record in the village; she must be more reasonable than I am.

Unfortunately, Big Yellow would rather wander around the village than stay at the door and guard the house.

I don’t know when it started, but it and Erhei started hanging out together again, often wandering around together and visiting each other.

They're reluctant to share their dog food with me, but they often share it with me.

One day, I passed by the other side of the river and stopped by to see Erhei.

I brought two meat bones with me, one for it and one for Big Yellow.

Perhaps feeling there wasn't enough meat, after finishing the bone, Dahei suddenly approached me aggressively and barked loudly at me.

Its eyes were bloodshot as it stared at the fleshy parts of my body, drooling.

I was stunned; I couldn't believe it at all.

Even when my family was going through the most difficult times, I never thought of killing you to eat your flesh. Now that you are living such a good life, you want to bite me instead?
I kicked it and turned to go home.

That night, Da Huang and Er Hei barked all night long, and neither of them slept well.

I think this can't go on any longer.

"Mom, we need to talk," I said.

5. I bit back.

"What do you want to talk about?"

"Let's talk about how to properly train a dog."

"You're still young, this is not something you should be thinking about."

“Being young doesn’t mean being ignorant. I think I have the right to speak on this kind of thing.”

"Okay then, you say."

The mother wasn't very interested; she listened casually while doing her work.

I also want to say this: I don't feel comfortable keeping it to myself.

"We can't let this go on any longer." I waved my hand forcefully, emphasizing my strength. "We have to hit it. If it hurts, it'll obey after a few times!"

My mother answered my questions in a disjointed manner.

What if they drive them away?

"Where to run?"

"Big Pretty's house, Little Neon's house, Aunt Yingzi's house, where can't we go?"

"Then break its legs so it can't run away!"

My blood rushed to my head, and my face turned bright red.

"Trust me, dogs, when they're used to being wild, will rediscover a bit of their wolfish nature and become unruly. But we can tame them again. A few good beatings will be more effective than a hundred years of coaxing!"

"Aren't you afraid it will hate you?"

"No, domesticated dogs are not wolves. The truly tough breeds have long been wiped out by us through thousands of years of domestication."

How could Da Huang and Er Hei be worthy of being called wolves?

They can stay so happily in the robber's house; they have absolutely no backbone or integrity.

Aunt Yingzi and Wang Changsheng beat them, and they dared not resist or bark. They could only whimper and try to please us. Why do they dare to act tough when they are in our hands?

Or perhaps you've been too good to them, spoiling them.

Don't worry, if we really give them a few good beatings, they'll figure it out themselves. If they didn't, they wouldn't be alive today!

"Sigh, you have a point."

The mother suddenly sighed.

"But I still can't take action, there are so many idle men in the village watching our family."

"So what if I look? What can you do about it?"

“I have to make money. Right now, nothing is more important than making enough money to support you and send you to college. If they keep causing trouble, I can pick up a weapon and start another fight. What will you do then?”

I was suddenly stunned; this was a reason I hadn't considered.

"Then..." I asked hesitantly, "So we just let them continue to be so arrogant? Letting them keep barking all the time?"

"Ah."

The mother continued her needlework, still not looking up.

She replied casually, "They're just two dogs anyway, what's wrong with putting up with them? It's better for the villagers to think they're a nuisance to our family than for them to come to our house and cause trouble."

Your approach to dog training isn't wrong, but what good is it if you train it? What good will it do if you just leave it unattended?

Dogs are just dogs; don't take them too seriously.

I suddenly realized why my mother was always victorious.

I was completely convinced and asked, "Then what should I do?"

"Do whatever you want."

My mom finally looked up, glanced at me, and smiled.

"You're just a kid, who cares if you're being naughty? Like I said, since it's not your turn to take over yet, don't take yourself too seriously."

I finally understand, I completely understand.

They're acting like they're the masters because they're bullied by their master, while I'm small and weak. Chasing chickens and dogs doesn't affect the overall situation; I'm just playing with them.

All the ups and downs, all the arguments and noise, what does it matter?

Being happy is the most important thing.

With this thought in mind, the world becomes vast and boundless.

When I passed by the doghouse, I saw Big Yellow sleeping in a crooked and twisted position, so I casually gave it a big slap in the butt.

"The posture is wrong, get up and go back to sleep!"

Big Yellow jumped up with a start, its face full of confusion.

I laughed out loud, put on my little schoolbag, and happily went to school.

Silly dog, shut up!
I'll let you run around for a few more years, and I'll see when I grow up!

【Finish】

(End of this chapter)