I'll keep this dog for you.
"Hey..."
"Dad."
A week into the school term, Ji Shuhe received a call from her father.
She couldn't remember when their relationship had become like this, but now they often sat in silence. Even when she moved to Xinhai to live with her grandparents, he hadn't said anything.
"Just got out of school, on my way home. It's fine... Mom asked the teacher to handle things at school, no problems."
"I can understand the classes. The school here is about the same as in Yuanjing. I've just met my classmates, but they're easy to talk to. No issues adjusting."
"It's not far, just a ten-minute walk. I go with my cousin in the morning; he always walks with me. Grandma and Grandpa are in good health. Uncle and Aunt are really good to me..."
Ji Shuhe held the phone to her ear with one hand, while the other lifted the hem of her wide-leg pants, carefully stepping over a loose stone slab.
It had been raining a lot in Xinhai lately, and the drainage in the old town was poor. One wrong step on a loose slab and dirty water would splash all over her pants.
She had to be careful not to get her pants dirty again.
Grandma and Grandpa's washing machine wasn't used often, and washing thick clothes by hand was a hassle. Besides, the weather had been bad lately, and the pants she'd washed two days ago still weren't dry.
So Ji Shuhe focused on "mine-sweeping" through the alley, not really paying attention to the call, answering casually: "Don't worry, I'm doing fine."
There was a brief silence on the other end, and Ji Shuhe thought she heard a sigh. Afraid she might say something wrong without thinking, she stopped talking.
Water from a leaky pipe somewhere flowed down the wall into the drain, making a faint trickling sound.
Ji Shuhe's mind wandered. So that's where the sound she heard in the dead of night came from.
Then the refined male voice on the phone spoke again. Clearly, Ji Xiangjiang wasn't comforted by his daughter's considerate words.
"You've always been sensible. Dad knows."
A placating pleasantry.
"But your mom and I are going to be busy for a while. We might not be able to look after you. Is there anything you want? Dad can buy it and send it to your grandparents', or I can send you some money..."
Followed by the truth she had to accept.
"I don't need anything."
Ji Shuhe accidentally stepped into an obvious puddle. Dirty water splashed, and she felt the wetness on her calf. Regretting for her pants, she blurted out a refusal.
Perhaps the refusal sounded too blunt, so she explained: "You don't need to give me money. I have everything I need for daily life. There's nothing I need to spend money on, and Mom left me some."
Ji Shuhe didn't have many material desires. She wasn't into games yet, so there was no pressing need to spend.
Since she didn't want anything, she didn't want to let her parents easily fill their guilt over sending her to live with relatives just by spending money.
That guilt was important to her. Because of it, they'd always remember her, and only then would there be a chance for them to take her back early.
Ji Shuhe understood this well. She might seem a bit of a pushover in front of others, but she was far from stupid.
Ji Xiangjiang sighed again, his voice growing gentler: "...Alright then. Call Dad if you need anything. Grandma and Grandpa are old, so don't trouble them too much, okay?"
"Got it."
"...Then go home. Finish your homework and rest early. Dad's hanging up now."
"Okay, bye Dad."
Thousands of kilometers apart, the father-daughter bond, processed through the phone, revealed its estrangement. Even as she hung up, Ji Shuhe felt a bit dazed, unsure who she'd just spoken to.
Ji Xiangjiang worked as an administrative staff member in the college office of a university in Yuanjing. He had plenty of vacation time and a gentle temper, so Ji Shuhe had spent more time with him when she was little.
But at some point, Ji Shuhe became desperate for Xia Chun's approval. She started learning and acting according to her mother's wishes, and grew distant from her father.
She tried to recall, but even the most vivid memories—sitting on a small stool by her father's desk, listening to him talk about "Dream of the Red Chamber" and "Thunderstorm"—were now blurred and indistinct.
"Drip, drop..."
Water droplets from somewhere hit the darkened phone screen, spreading into larger circles. At first scattered, they soon grew denser.
Ji Shuhe looked up, her gaze passing over the spiderweb-like wires above.
It was raining.
The rain was fine like a curtain of threads, not heavy but enough to soak her clothes. It matched the stifling irritability she felt—annoying and helpless.
But she still had to open her umbrella. She'd just washed her hair yesterday, and if it got wet, she'd have to wash it again today.
Ji Shuhe wiped the phone screen on the hem of her clothes, put it away, and reached for the umbrella stored vertically in her backpack's side pocket. After fumbling for a while without finding it, she was about to look back when her foot bumped into a cardboard box in the corner.
It was an ordinary express box, open at the top, softened by the rain. Something inside seemed to be moving.
Curiosity got the better of her. Forgetting her umbrella, she leaned in to look. Inside the box was a puppy.
About the size of her palm, with a layer of warm yellow fluff that made its breed unclear. It was probably newborn, its eyes not fully open. Awakened by the rain with nowhere to hide, it was struggling to flip out of the box with its short legs.
Where did this puppy come from?
She looked around. All the nearby doors and windows were closed. It didn't look like a pet that had been left out. It could only be... intentionally abandoned here, hoping someone kind would take it home.
Someone passed by with an umbrella, glanced curiously at her standing by the road, and looked a bit disappointed when they saw it was just a puppy.
"Little girl, is this your dog?"