[I’m practicing driving outside. Should I go call them for you? Your dad gave me an order, saying that once you’re awake, I should go let them know.]
Blackie raised his little paw and gently touched Yaya’s head: [Yaya, don’t be scared. I’ll protect you.]
Yaya actually felt her brother’s warmth in a dog. She leaned forward and hugged Blackie: [Blackie, you’re so kind.]
[Go call my mom and dad for me. I’m a little thirsty.]
[Lie down first. It’s safer that way.] Blackie signaled to Yaya.
After Yaya lay down, Blackie even picked up a blanket with his mouth and placed it around the bedside to protect her. Only then did he go to the door to call Yue Mingyuan.
“Woof! Woof woof!”
Yue Mingyuan was dividing his attention, teaching Ye Zhiqiu while keeping an eye on the office.
Hearing Blackie’s bark, he looked toward the office: “Yaya is awake.”
Feeling Ye Zhiqiu getting anxious, he comforted her: “Don’t rush. Getting anxious makes it easy to mess up. The worst thing when driving is being in a hurry.”
“Alright.”
Ye Zhiqiu steadily drove the car back to the front of the office. When the two of them went inside, they saw Yaya and Blackie both sitting there.
Yaya had her little cheeks puffed out, clearly upset: [Mom and Dad are true loves. I’m just an accident.]
[But seeing Mom and Dad get along so well still makes me happy. I just can’t let them know that, otherwise if it happens once, it’ll happen twice, and if it happens twice, it’ll happen three times. Who knows how many more times they’ll leave me behind on their own in the future.]
[They get along so well… does that mean I’ll be getting a little brother or little sister soon?]
[I’m overthinking it, I’m overthinking it. Probably not. The policy doesn’t allow it.]
Yaya had no idea that Yue Mingyuan and Ye Zhiqiu could hear all her inner thoughts. The two of them had been feeling pretty guilty, but they couldn’t help finding it funny.
Their daughter really was a little mischief-maker. Who knows what kind of random things ran through that little head of hers day after day.
“Yaya, come here.”
Yue Mingyuan poured some osmanthus lotus seed soup into Yaya’s bottle. Old Zhang had specially made it for Yaya. When they had passed by the cafeteria a little while ago, he had come out and handed him a flask of it.
The lotus seed soup was sweet, and Yaya really liked it. After finishing one bottle, she handed it back to Yue Mingyuan and made a drinking gesture to show she wanted more.
After several months of training, her arms and hands were starting to obey her more.
Her tongue and limbs were still the problem, though. She could only pronounce words clearly by chance, and she still couldn’t stand up at all.
Yue Mingyuan poured a little more for Yaya. After she finished it, he picked her up: “Yaya, want to go see some puppies?”
Recently, the military dogs in the unit had just given birth to a litter of puppies. They were Blackie’s and another military dog, Xiaomi’s, babies.
Blackie and Xiaomi were both super smart and good-looking, and even though the puppies had only just turned a month old, they were already showing great promise.
Yaya nodded enthusiastically. Yue Mingyuan carried her to the car: “Let Mom drive us to the military dog unit, okay? Mom is a really good driver.”
Ye Zhiqiu gave a little cough: “Comrade Yue Mingyuan, please be realistic.”
“I am being realistic. Comrade Ye Zhiqiu, you’re excellent.” Yue Mingyuan gave Ye Zhiqiu a thumbs-up.
Just the two of them was one thing—Yue Mingyuan praising her already made her feel embarrassed. Doing it in front of Yaya was even worse.
Yaya, seeing that her mom and dad were getting along better and better, was naturally overjoyed. She laughed out loud and waved her little arms vigorously.
“Zhiqiu, see that? Yaya agrees with what I said.”
Yue Mingyuan kissed Yaya: “Yaya, isn’t Mom just the best?”
Yaya nodded hard, also gave Ye Zhiqiu a thumbs-up, and tried hard to pronounce a word: “Best!”
“Wow, Yaya said ‘best’! Yaya is the best too.” Ye Zhiqiu kissed Yaya on the other cheek.
The military dog unit was quite far from the office, but under Yue Mingyuan’s guidance, Ye Zhiqiu got there without any trouble.
Catching the unfamiliar scent, the military dogs all started barking.
But with a single bark from Blackie, they immediately fell silent again, sitting as straight as students who’d just spotted the dean.
Ye Zhiqiu stayed in the car while Yue Mingyuan carried Yaya over.
Blackie acted as if he were proudly showing off Yaya to Yue Mingyuan, leading the way to a large, standalone doghouse in the corner.
Xiaomi came out of the house first, and Blackie trotted around her a couple of times.
Xiaomi was clearly very familiar with Yue Mingyuan too. After rubbing against Blackie, she ran over and circled around Yue Mingyuan.
Xiaomi was very curious about Yaya. She had clearly never seen a human baby before.
“Xiaomi, this is my daughter, Yaya.”
Yue Mingyuan introduced Yaya to Xiaomi, then crouched down so Xiaomi could get a better look at her.
Yaya reached out and pet Xiaomi, greeting her in her heart: [Hello, Xiaomi. You’re so beautiful.]
Xiaomi looked back at Blackie in disbelief, and Blackie barked at her.
Yue Mingyuan could roughly guess what they were communicating, but Yaya heard them perfectly clearly.
Xiaomi said to Blackie: [I can hear Yaya’s voice.]
Blackie replied to Xiaomi: [Yaya can communicate with us.]
“Captain Yue, Xiaomi actually let your daughter pet her?”
Xiaomi’s trainer was nearby, utterly astonished: “Xiaomi doesn’t just let anyone pet her, you know.”
Back in the day, Xiaomi had been even harder to train than Blackie.
Blackie, despite looking fierce and imposing, had a very gentle temperament.
Xiaomi was the complete opposite. She looked mild-mannered, but she had a fierce temper.
Especially during mating season—she wouldn’t let any male dog near her. Whoever dared to come close got bitten. And on top of that, she was incredibly strong.
In the end, only Blackie succeeded.
And it wasn’t just other dogs—people were no exception.
To this day, only he and Yue Mingyuan could occasionally pet her when she was in a good mood.
Forget it if anyone else tried. If they dared to reach out, they’d better be prepared to lose that hand.
Yet Xiaomi had actually allowed Yue Mingyuan’s daughter to pet her! Someone she was meeting for the first time!
Both he and Yue Mingyuan had fed Xiaomi for a long time before earning her trust.
“My daughter is just popular with little animals,” Yue Mingyuan explained casually to Xiaomi’s trainer.
“Yaya, look, the puppies.”
Yue Mingyuan pointed at the five puppies behind Xiaomi. One of them was completely black, the spitting image of Blackie. Another looked just like Xiaomi. The remaining three were a mix of both their features.
Yaya reached out, wanting to pet each of the puppies. And then another amazing thing happened.
The puppies all lined up on their own, taking turns coming forward to be petted by Yaya.
“Oh wow, Captain Yue, your daughter is something else. Something else indeed.”
Xiaomi’s trainer’s shout brought all the other trainers running out: “Hey, come look at this!”
And so there was Yue Mingyuan, holding Yaya while she pet the puppies, while not far away, several trainers stood in utter shock.
They really wanted to come closer, but the warning looks from Blackie and Xiaomi kept them from moving forward.
“Captain Yue, your daughter is truly a lucky star. The elders in our village always say that kids the little animals love have the most amazing fortune.”
