Wild Dogs

"Yang Fan, if you still can't gather the medicinal herbs today, I'll break your legs."

A burly man with a face full of scars stared fiercely at the boy in front of him.

The boy shrank back, looking nervously at the burly man in front of him.

"But Steward Liu, the mountains are now blocked by heavy snow, where can we find medicinal herbs..."

"Bang!"

Before he could finish speaking, the burly man swung his stick at the boy.

The boy's already worn-out cotton-padded jacket was torn open, revealing firewood and old cotton wadding inside.

"Useless thing!"

"Remember this: you signed a contract of servitude with the Xu family; your worthless life belongs to the Xu family!"

Yang Fan struggled to get up, but after a while, he felt dizzy and fell back down, panting heavily on the ground.

"Pah! You dare play dead?"

The burly man kicked Yang Fan hard twice, and seeing that Yang Fan couldn't get up, he winked at the servants next to him.

"What are you standing there for? Throw this piece of trash out!"

"Since I'm just a worthless life anyway, I might as well die outside."

"Bang!"

Several burly men carried Yang Fan and threw him outside the Xu family's house.

"Useless killer. After he dies, bring his sister to pay off the debt."

"don't want!"

Yang Fan strained to look up and speak to Steward Liu.

"Manager Liu, I'll head into the mountains to gather herbs right away."

Yang Fan struggled to his feet, grabbed the medicine basket, and stumbled out of Xu Family Village.

"call!"

The north wind howled, and snowflakes seeped into Yang Fan's neck and tattered cotton-padded coat, making him shiver with cold.

My head is spinning, and I can barely stand.

But Yang Fan still gritted his teeth and walked forward.

He can't fall down. If he falls down, how will his parents and sister survive?

Yang Fan is thirteen years old this year.

A year ago, my father went hunting in the mountains and his whereabouts became unknown.

The rope always breaks at its thinnest point; misfortune always seems to find those with a hard life.

Six months ago, my mother fell ill from overwork and never recovered.

In order to pay for his mother's medical treatment, Yang Fan borrowed money from Master Xu.

But Master Xu was lending money at exorbitant interest rates, with a nine-out-of-thirteen-out rate and a compounding interest that kept growing.

In just a few months, the amount of money became so high that he couldn't repay it.

Master Xu wanted to force Yang Fan to buy the land, but if the land was sold, the family would be left destitute.

Left with no other choice, Yang Fan had to sell himself into the Xu family to pay off his debts.

Yang Fan learned about many medicinal herbs from his grandfather since he was a child. After joining the Xu family, he became a herb-gathering slave.

But now that the mountains are blocked by heavy snow, where can he go to gather herbs?

The further Yang Fan walked, the more dizzy he became.

Because he failed to collect any medicinal herbs, Yang Fan had been beaten several times in the past few days, leaving him covered in wounds and having fallen in the snow several times.

"I can't fall!"

"What will happen to my family if I die?"

Yang Fan forced himself to stand up and staggered forward.

The heavy snowfall blinded him.

The snow was so deep that the bottom was invisible, and Yang Fan could only trudge forward, one step at a time.

He walked for most of the day, trembling with fear, but still didn't see any medicinal herbs.

Yang Fan was a little anxious; if he couldn't gather enough medicinal herbs, he would go hungry again today.

"Snapped!"

Yang Fan took a step forward, but unexpectedly, he stepped into thin air.

This place was originally a small cliff, but due to the heavy snowfall over the past few days, it was covered in snow and could not be seen from the outside. He only realized he had stepped into thin air when he stepped on it.

"Thump...thump...click..."

Yang Fan tumbled down the snow, breaking several small trees as he fell off the cliff.

"Ouch!"

Fortunately, the snow was thick enough, and the falling was stopped by several small trees, so nothing serious happened.

However, when he reached the bottom of the cliff, he felt a sharp pain in his waist, as if he had been hit hard by something.

Yang Fan touched it and found that blood had already seeped out from inside his cotton-padded coat.

"What hit me?"

Yang Fan reached into the snow and quickly found the culprit.

It was a small green cauldron that had been hidden in the snow until Yang Fan fell and bumped into it.

The small tripod is only a few inches in size, but it looks very exquisite and feels warm in your hand.

"It looks like jade. If we take it to town, we might be able to get a good price for it."

However, the small cauldron was now covered in blood.

It was clearly a wound he sustained when he fell.

"Let's wipe it clean, otherwise we won't be able to sell it for a high price."

Yang Fan wanted to wipe the bloodstains off the small cauldron.

But before he could wipe it off, the bloodstains on the small cauldron disappeared completely.

"I haven't even wiped it off, how come the bloodstains are gone?"

Yang Fan found it hard to believe.

He hurriedly dipped some blood from his waist and carefully smeared it onto the small cauldron.

This time he examined the bloodstains carefully.

In just a moment, the bloodstains disappeared again, leaving Yang Fan dumbfounded.

"It really disappeared!"

He picked up the small tripod, hesitated for a moment, and then pressed it onto the wound on his waist.

He wanted to see if the small cauldron was as he had imagined.

A moment later, the bloodstains on his waist disappeared without a trace.

Not only that, even the wound on his waist began to heal rapidly.

In just a few breaths, all his new and old wounds had healed, and he even seemed to have gained some strength.

"This, how is this possible!"

Yang Fan's heart pounded like a drum, beating faster and faster.

"This must be a wonderful treasure!"

Yang Fan hurriedly stuffed the small green jade cauldron into his bosom.

"No, if I carry it on my person, Steward Liu will definitely find out, and that would be bad."

Yang Fan was in a panic.

He wanted to bury the treasure back, but he was afraid that it would be taken away by someone else.

"If it were smaller, I could hide it in some nook or cranny and no one would notice."

Yang Fan muttered to himself, but just then, the small green cauldron shrank rapidly, becoming only an inch in size.

"Make it smaller!"

Yang Fan hurriedly stared at the small cauldron.

The small tripod had shrunk even further, to the point that it was only half an inch in size and almost undetectable.

"My darling, my darling."

Yang Fan excitedly placed the small green cauldron in his palm, reluctant to put it down.

After playing with it for a while, he had mastered the control of the small cauldron, and then carefully put it away close to his body.

The small cauldron was warm, and when he put it in his arms, he was no longer cold, and even his strength seemed to have returned.

"We need to find the medicinal herbs quickly, otherwise my little sister and mother will go hungry."

The Yang family didn't have much food stored up, so Yang Fan would occasionally bring some of his own food home.

He hasn't been able to gather any medicinal herbs for the past few days, and he hasn't brought any food home for several days either.

We must find the medicinal herbs today, no matter what.

Yang Fan immediately began searching in the mountains.

The small, warm cauldron filled him with energy, and he walked much faster than before.

After wandering in the mountains for several hours, Yang Fan finally found some medicinal herbs in a cave.

Although the medicinal herbs weren't from a very old age, Yang Fan treasured them like a precious gem.

He hurriedly dug out the medicinal herbs and carefully put them away.

"With these few medicinal herbs, we should be able to get this done."

After placing the medicinal herbs in the medicine basket, Yang Fan hurriedly headed towards Xu Family Village.

Along the way, several starving wild dogs stared at Yang Fan with their green eyes.

When winter comes and there is no food in the wild, these wild dogs will set their sights on people.

Yang Fan carried a sickle for self-defense as he walked quickly toward Xu Family Village.

The stray dogs followed them all the way to the front of Xu Family Village before dispersing.

Only then did Yang Fan breathe a sigh of relief and hurriedly walk into Xu Family Village.

The Yang family's two houses were very dilapidated and looked unremarkable.

When he reached his doorstep, Yang Fan sighed and didn't go inside.

He's now a servant of the Xu family; it's better if he doesn't go back.

After bypassing the Yang family's residence, Yang Fan headed towards the center of the manor.

In the center of the village stood a grand mansion, the residence of Master Xu.

The patriarch of the Xu family is the richest man in the entire Xu Family Village, richer than everyone else in the village combined.

Arriving at the Xu family's backyard, Yang Fan knocked on the back door and went inside.

"You're back?"

Manager Liu glared at Yang Fan and grabbed a wooden stick from the side.

"If you don't gather any medicinal herbs today, I'll beat you to death!"

Yang Fan nodded hurriedly and took out several medicinal herbs from the medicine basket.

Seeing that Yang Fan had actually found the medicinal herbs, Steward Liu snorted coldly.

"That's about right for today."

After putting away the medicinal herbs, Steward Liu left with them.

Yang Fan breathed a sigh of relief and went to the kitchen. He quickly served the rice and then secretly left the Xu family with the food, heading towards the Yang family.

My parents and sister never get to eat any meat.

Yang Fan couldn't bear to eat these meals himself, so he always brought them home.

Arriving hastily at the Yang family's residence, Yang Fan pushed open the dilapidated gate and went inside.

"Brother, you're back?"

Upon seeing Yang Fan walk in, a little girl who was no more than seven or eight years old immediately skipped and hopped over.

"Hmm, how is Mother's health?"

While asking about his mother's condition, Yang Fan carefully took out the food.

The aroma of the food made my younger sister's mouth water.

These dishes were actually meant for the servants of the Xu family, but in my younger sister's eyes, they were the best food.

"Yes, Mother is feeling much better."

As he spoke, Yang Fan carried the food into the room.

Because the family was so poor, Yang Fan's mother couldn't bear to light an oil lamp, so the room was very dark.

"Fan'er, you're back?"

"Yes, Mother, I brought you some food."

Yang Fan entered the room and saw two nearly moldy cornbread buns on the earthen bed.

It was obviously prepared by my mother and sister for dinner tonight.

"mother!"

Tears welled up in Yang Fan's eyes.

"Good child, why are you crying!"

His mother came over and wiped away Yang Fan's tears.

"Don't cry, your mother's illness is almost cured. When things get a little better, I'll redeem you."

"I'll find you another wife and a good family for your sister, then I can rest easy."

His mother lovingly stroked Yang Fan's head.

"Okay, Mom, let's eat first!"

Yang Fan held back his tears and quickly divided the food into two portions for his mother and sister.

"Fan'er, we've eaten. What do you want to eat?"

His mother tried to push the food over, but Yang Fan just shook his head.

"I...I've already eaten. You don't know how rich the Xu family is; we servants eat meat every single meal!"

"I brought this especially for you guys, so please eat it quickly."

Yang Fan insisted that his mother and sister eat the food, while he picked up two moldy cornbread buns next to him.

"I haven't had cornbread in a long time, and I'm really craving some. Give me this cornbread, and I'll bring you more food tomorrow."

Watching his younger sister wolf down her food, Yang Fan swallowed hard and carefully tucked the cornbread into his pocket.

"Fan'er, you must be careful when you get to Master Xu's house. We are an honest and law-abiding family."

After finishing his meal, Yang Fan was about to leave with his bowl when his mother gave him some instructions.

Yang Fan nodded and hurriedly left.

Yang Fan tucked the bowl into his pocket and started eating a cornbread bun as he walked.

The cornbread was about to mold; it was dry and hard.

The thought of his mother and sister eating this regularly brought tears to Yang Fan's eyes.

"One day, I will definitely make sure my mother and sister live a good life!"

Yang Fan made a silent vow in his heart.

"Woof!"

Just then, a dog barked from the side.

Yang Fan turned his head and saw a small dog lying on the snow by the roadside, barely alive.

One of its legs appeared to be broken, and it was on the verge of death; it seemed unlikely to survive the night.

"Alas, I can barely take care of myself, let alone help you."

Yang Fan shook his head and prepared to leave.

But seeing the puppy's pitiful state, Yang Fan still felt a pang of sympathy.

He looked at the puppy, gritted his teeth, broke off half a steamed bun, and fed it to the puppy.

After eating half a steamed bun, the puppy seemed to have gained some strength and tried to get up.

But one of its legs had been broken, so it couldn't stand up at all.

Looking at the puppy, he took out the small cauldron and carefully placed it on the puppy's lap.

The puppy's injuries began to heal rapidly, and before long, the puppy's injuries were completely healed.

"Woof woof..."

The puppy got up, ran around twice, and immediately started wagging its tail around Yang Fan.

"What a wonderful baby."

Holding the small cauldron, Yang Fan was about to put it back when a thought struck him.

Since this small cauldron can change size according to his wishes, I wonder if it's okay to put things inside it.

After thinking for a moment, Yang Fan put the half-eaten steamed bun inside, and then made the small cauldron shrink.

Yang Fan was overjoyed to see the steamed bun shrink.

In this way, I can store any good things I get in the future into the small cauldron.

Thinking of this, Yang Fan put the small cauldron away.

I'll leave the remaining half of the cornbread for now. If we still can't get food tomorrow, we'll have to rely on this half to get through it.

Thinking of this, Yang Fan decided to go back to the Xu family's woodshed to sleep.

Unexpectedly, as soon as he left, the puppy immediately followed him, wagging its tail incessantly.

"I'm penniless, do you really want to come with me?"

Seeing the puppy wagging its tail, Yang Fan picked it up.

"Since you want to come with me, then let's go. From now on, you'll be called Little Black!"