Chapter 43 Hypocrisy

Back in 2002, private cars were not yet as omnipresent in Jianwu City as they would later become, and it was rare to find a shortage of parking spaces. However, a long line of vehicles was already parked along the roadside in front of the rustic local restaurant. Su Yun had Zhao Zejun get out at the main entrance while she drove around the block to park on the opposite side.

Zhao Zejun glanced at the small red Fukang and wondered if he should buy a car himself.

For now, it seemed largely pointless. His company, apartment, and dorm were all located close to one another, so a car would simply sit there collecting dust.

He would let Junzi get his driver's license first and take it from there.

The rustic restaurant spanned two floors. Outside the main entrance, several rows of cages were stacked against the wall, inside of which majestic roosters puffed out their chests and scratched at the bars, their necks held high. Legend had it that these were all free-range country roosters; customers could pick one themselves, and whichever was chosen would be freshly slaughtered and cooked on the spot to guarantee absolute freshness. Combined with the restaurant's genuinely delicious food, business was booming. Even before the official dinner hour, the tables were already seventy or eighty percent full.

A few other cages sat nearby, holding different animals: several plump, oversized gray rabbits and a rat snake as thick as a sugarcane stalk.

Snake soup was quite good, but when eating snake, one should opt for venomous ones. Common rat snakes like these offered little culinary appeal, and Su Yun, being a lady, likely wouldn't care to eat such slimy creatures.

The bottommost cage caught Zhao Zejun's attention. Inside it was a half-grown little black dog of an indeterminate breed, likely a cross between a German Shepherd and a local mutt. The tiny creature, its ears not yet standing up, huddled in the very corner of the cage, staring out with wide, terrified, watery eyes.

Among all the animals awaiting slaughter, only this little puppy revealed an expression of absolute terror.

Sunan Province had a tradition of eating dog meat, and two counties in the region were famous for their dog meat industry. Back in 2002, no one would be universally condemned simply for eating dog meat; everyone was too busy trying to make a living or study to spare any time for such trivial concerns.

Su Yun appeared by his side. Seeing Zhao Zejun squatting down, she squatted down as well to peer into the cage.

Noticing the little black dog cowering in the corner, her eyebrows furrowed slightly. "You aren't planning to eat it, are you?"

"No," Zhao Zejun waved his hand.

If he were entirely oblivious to the situation, eating dog meat was no big deal. But to personally pick out a dog and then watch with his own eyes as it was slaughtered was something he simply couldn't accept.

It was quite a hypocritical sentiment.

The little black dog temporarily escaped its fate, but a hefty five-pound rooster nearby suffered terrible luck. The chubby owner grabbed it by the neck, dragged it out of the cage, and had it sent off to the back kitchen.

A table right in the corner of the first-floor dining hall happened to be vacant. Su Yun sat down and, noticing the corners of Zhao Zejun's mouth curling up in a soft, head-shaking chuckle, asked with curiosity, "What are you smiling at?"

Zhao Zejun waved a hand and said, "I was just thinking that if that rooster had thoughts of its own, it would definitely be cursing me out. It's pure bad luck that it took a bullet for the puppy. Thinking about it that way, I suddenly feel rather guilty about eating it."

Su Yun rolled her eyes. "Hypocrite."

"Fair enough." Zhao Zejun pulled out a cigarette case, extracted a cigarette, and remarked casually, "Just seeking peace of mind, I suppose."

Just as he was about to light it, he heard Su Yun cough a few times. He looked over at her and put the cigarette back into the case.

Su Yun casually pushed a lighter from the table toward him. "Go ahead and smoke if you want to. I'm just coughing a little, it's no trouble."

"Never mind, it's not good to smoke in front of a teacher," Zhao Zejun smiled.

"It's bad for your health. You youngsters don't feel it now, but you'll understand once you reach my age," Su Yun said faintly.

Zhao Zejun narrowed his eyes, studied Su Yun's face for a moment, shook his head with a smile, and said, "As for health, it's all about two things: proper care and a good state of mind."

"How could my state of mind possibly be good?" Su Yun gently massaged her temples with her fingertips. Her child had been taken away by her ex-husband for nearly half a year now. To others, she seemed to have moved on, but only she knew that the inside of her heart was completely hollow.

"Take it a step at a time, it will pass eventually. Teacher Su, you're still young; you'll have your own life ahead of you," Zhao Zejun thought for a moment before saying, "Besides, you can always go out and visit the child every year."

As they spoke, the owner brought out a rooster stew in a basin the size of a washbowl. Su Yun separated two pairs of chopsticks, handed one pair to Zhao Zejun, and forced a faint smile. "Let's not talk about this anymore. Have a taste; this is my first time here, too."

The flavor was indeed wonderful and authentic, but Su Yun had little appetite and mostly just watched Zhao Zejun eat. Changing the subject, she asked casually, "What made you decide to rent a place outside? The dormitory conditions at the school are quite good."

"Well, I'm working on a few things of my own, and the dorm isn't very convenient," Zhao Zejun replied.

"Starting a business?"

"Mm." Zhao Zejun nodded. "Built a small website."

"Oh." Su Yun seemed a bit distracted. Many college students started businesses, and it was completely normal for computer science majors to develop websites, but most of them fizzled out halfway. She didn't take Zhao Zejun's mention of a "small website" too seriously.

After finishing the meal, they discussed the arrangements for winter break tutoring.

The reason they needed tutoring rather than self-study was simply that Zhao Zejun had missed a vast majority of the classes. Subjects like advanced mathematics were exceedingly difficult to master purely by reading books on one's own, and even if one managed to understand them, the effort would yield half the results.

After finishing the meal, Su Yun took the initiative to pay the bill. Walking one after the other, just as they stepped out of the restaurant's front doors, they saw the owner squatting on the ground by the entrance, holding the neck of that very same little black dog with one hand and pressing it down into a large basin of water.

When killing chickens, one slit the throat, but for dogs, it was best to avoid seeing blood. The more common methods were hanging them by the neck to beat them to death with a stick, or drowning them in water.

The black dog was too small. Under the powerful grip of the chubby owner's large hands, it had zero room to resist. Pressed down into the water, its four legs thrashed desperately in a chaotic tangle, its mouth wide open as bubbles floated to the surface, its eyes wide open beneath the water.

Zhao Zejun frowned silently without a word.

Seeing the water ripple and the eyes of the mere months-old black dog struggling desperately to stay open in a plea for survival, Su Yun felt a sharp, violent twitch in her heart. Perhaps reminded of something, she threw a rare, fierce temper and snapped at the chubby owner, "Let it go!"

The chubby owner paused, raised his head in utter confusion to look at Su Yun, his hand still clamped around the dog's neck.

"Let go of it!"

Su Yun repeated herself, delivering a heavy shove to the chubby owner. For a delicate, frail female teacher, she surprisingly managed to push the bulky, robust owner so hard that he tumbled backward onto the ground.

The puppy in the water immediately flipped over, scrambling in a panic to lift its head above the rim of the basin, coughing up water continuously.

The basin was rather tall, and the little black dog struggled twice without being able to climb out. Su Yun reached out directly and scooped the wet, shivering puppy right into her arms.

"What do you think you're doing?!" The chubby owner demanded, his feathers ruffled as he scrambled back up to his feet, glaring at her with wide eyes.

Holding the trembling dog close, Su Yun said with an ashen face, "Name your price. I'm buying it."

"Can't do that. Another customer already claimed it," the chubby owner said, looking between Su Yun and Zhao Zejun. "You saw it right here at the entrance earlier and didn't buy it. Now that someone else has reserved it, there's nothing I can do."