Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Both of Li Du’s parents were up against Old Lady Cao. It was two of them arguing against her so she was at her wit’s end.
On top of that, the old lady only ever used the same few lines when she was scolding someone. It was the regular few — about men and women’s genitals or the mental health of the other party’s family. These were the basic ones everyone used in an argument and the Lis had long built up a resistance against these trite insults.
Li Du’s mother, on the other hand, had a technique. She knew about the Cao family and where to strike for it to hurt the most, so she targeted their sore spots and launched into an aggressive rebuke. This method was much more vicious.
Old Lady Cao was so angry she almost blew up. In the end, she could not hold her anger in anymore and rolled her sleeves up, preparing to swing.
However, she was shrewd. Old Lady Cao knew there was no way she would win in a fistfight against Li Du’s mother since the latter was so much younger, so she egged her toy poodle on. “Prosper, go, bite them! There’s meat waiting for you at home if you bite them!”
Toy poodles were very smart dogs. This one had received a similar sort of training before so it leaped for Li Du father’s leg the moment the command left Old Lady Cao’s mouth.
Li Du brought his little ones along at just the right time. They were displeased at the sight of a dog biting his parents. Even without a command, Ah Meow leaped quickly and lightly, pouncing and holding the little dog down. It clasped the dog’s neck with its teeth and flung it to the side with a flick of its jaw.
The toy poodle whined pathetically when it was flung to the grass. The grass was soft so it was not injured, but it was spooked. Its four legs gave out and urine trickled down its belly.
Old Lady Cao roared furiously when she saw that her pet was attacked, “You f*cking barbaric—”
Li Du’s father shouted back at her sternly, “Shut your damn mouth, one more word out of your f*cking mouth and I’ll set the wolf on that whelp you call your dog!”
Ah Ow played along by charging towards the toy poodle. There was a huge difference in their sizes so when Ah Ow touched the toy poodle’s head with her paw, the small dog was so shocked its eyes rolled back in its head and it almost fainted!
Old Lady Cao was so shocked that all the blood drained from her face. She hollered, “Prosper, what’s wrong with you? You lowlifes, you messed with the wrong house, I tell you. Just you wait until my son deals with you!”
Li Du asked impatiently, “What’s happening here? Mom, Dad, who’s this? She’s saying really terrible things.”
Sophie whistled, and Ah Ow and Ah Meow ran to her side. She was curious as well, so she asked, “What happened?”
Quarreling with someone over your daughter-in-law was nothing to be proud of, so Li Du’s parents were a little embarrassed. They chuckled awkwardly. “It’s nothing, just a misunderstanding amongst neighbors. Come on, let’s head home.”
Old Lady Cao started up again. She moved to block their way and shouted noisily, “You’re leaving after causing all that mess? I won’t let you go so easily. Call the police — Old Guo, what are you looking at? Hurry and call the police!”
The old man with a pipe in his mouth shook his head with a laugh. “That’s enough, Old Lady Cao, why would I call the police over something so trivial?”
“Exactly, didn’t all this start because you were saying such nasty things? Think about all the things you said just now. You should be lucky they didn’t hit you even after you said all those terrible things about their daughter-in-law!”
“None of us bother to confront you so you’ve gotten used to being so tyrannical, but you want to call the police because you’ve lost? Hey, you’re just courting trouble for your son. You think the younger Li and his American wife are afraid of your contractor boy?”
Old Lady Cao took a good look at Sophie — blond-haired, blue-eyed, elegant Sophie — and it humbled her. She tried to justify herself. “I’m not calling the police because of the quarrel, it’s that huge dog of theirs — the city doesn’t allow big dogs. Look, it’s not just the wolf they have, do you see what else they’re raising? A monkey? Listen to me, they’ve got a lot of animals in their home and they’re all large animals. What would you do if the animals attacked your kids?”
This was a good rebuttal; the crowd was swayed immediately.
Everyone stood up hurriedly with their eyes wide, especially the few elders who had young children with them. They hurriedly pulled their grandchildren aside.
This encouraged Old Lady Cao, who bellowed, “This is the villa district, a high-end residential area! How can we be so lax with the housepets that live here? Look at what they’re raising! A wolf-dog, a leopard, a monkey, and— I don’t even know what that is, it could eat humans for all we know!”
Li Du’s father was enraged. “Your dog is the one that eats humans! These are not cats or dogs, they’re my grandchildren!”
Old Lady Cao perked up at his words. She laughed. “Oh, so when you said your son was bringing your grandchildren back, you were talking about this bunch of beasts?”
The others laughed as well, joining in on the teasing. “Old Li, are you really this desperate for grandchildren?”
“He’s treating his animals as children? Truly Western of him.”
Li Du’s father glared at the people as he said, “These are no beasts, these are my grandsons and granddaughters, and they’re far more obedient than yours!”
Old Lady Cao sneered, “What, you mean your daughter-in-law spawned these?”
Her words agitated Li Du, who rebuked coldly, “They don’t prohibit pets here, so don’t stir up trouble, Old Lady Cao. Or do, if you want, but this mess you’re making is something your son is not capable of cleaning up.”
Old Lady Cao bit back, “But I’m not wrong — beasts are beasts, how can you treat them as people?”
“My grandkids are more obedient than actual people, why can’t I treat them as such?” Li Du’s mother was so angry she could not be bothered to filter her words and was becoming unreasonable as well.
An old lady laughed. “How obedient can they be? Can they shake hands? Bow? Roll about on the ground? Haha.”
Li Du’s mother ignored her and waved to Ah Ow as she said, “Ah Ow, fetch granny her stool. Let’s go, we don’t have to stoop to their level.”
Ah Ow looked to the stool at the side and bounded off to grab it in her mouth before coming back.
Li Du’s father pointed to a stack of chairs beside an old man and said to Ah Meow, “Ah Meow, those are grandpa’s smokes over there. Fetch them for me, let’s not share them anymore.”
Ah Meow looked to the stack of chairs. Its tail swung left and right as it trotted over with light steps, snagging the cigarettes in its mouth before running back with its head held high. Li Du’s father stretched out his hand to receive the cigarettes.
The bunch of old people was stunned.
Li Du’s father then spoke to Ah Bai, “Ah Bai, you see the trash on the ground? Pick it up and throw it in the bin. These people might be uncultured, but we can’t be like that, right?”
Ah Bai looked at the tissue paper and plastic bags that littered the compound. It hopped about, retrieving the bits and pieces of garbage and dumping it all in the bin. Amongst the trash was a used diaper, which Ah Bai picked up, then threw its head back in disdain.
After disposing of the trash, it looked about for a while before finding a small water fountain in the adjacent garden. It dashed over to wash its hands there, then shook them aggressively before finally climbing up to perch on Li Du’s father’s shoulder.
Just then, a kid who had just finished his milk dumped the empty container to the ground.
Even without the old man’s order, Ah Bai leaped to the ground to pick up the milk box and dump it in the bin. It shook its head at the young child, contempt and disdain written all over its face.
The elderly residents looked to the child, then to his grandfather, who was deeply embarrassed.
After giving the little ones a few simple instructions to demonstrate their capabilities, Li Du’s parents brought them back towards the house, obviously proud of their children.
The residents could not believe what they had just seen. Someone muttered, “How the f*ck did they train them? Are they gods?”
A few of them looked down at their kids who did nothing but cry, without a trace of affection in their faces.
