Chapter 35: Buying Dogs

Soon, Li Tianbiao arrived at Zhou Yu’s house driving a three-wheeled electric vehicle. “Brother Universe, I’m here. Let’s go.”

Zhou Yu said goodbye to his parents, put a few grapes in his bag, and quickly walked out, sitting in the passenger seat of the tricycle. “You had the sense to bring the tricycle. I thought you might come with the car.”

“Brother Universe, forget my SUV. When you buy a sports car, we’ll drive it to sell grilled fish,” Li Tianbiao joked back.

The town where Taoyuan Village was located was called Yunhai Town. The name meant blue sky, white clouds, and the sea. Actually, the scenery of this town really matched the name.

Near the North River in Yunhai Town, in a small grove, was the weekly dog market gathering spot. This dog market had been around for twenty or thirty years. Back then, people could barely feed themselves, let alone dogs. So, some people had to sell their family dogs, hoping they would find good homes or get some money in exchange.

Now, with development, the dog market in Yunhai Town had become famous in the surrounding villages. Many people from nearby towns and villages also brought their dogs here to trade.

Zhou Yu and Li Tianbiao rode the electric tricycle to the North River grove. Even though it was just past noon, the grove was already bustling. Human voices and dog barks mixed together. They locked the electric vehicle to a large tree and walked into the woods.

Inside the woods, all kinds of dogs could be seen, making them dizzy. Zhou Yu and Li Tianbiao looked around. A dog seller leaned against a big tree. Next to him, there were three vehicles with a cage containing three snow-white puppies that looked very cute.

“Young brothers, interested? What I have in this cage are purebred Bichon Frises. Take one home, kids will absolutely love it,” the dog seller said immediately as they stopped at his stall.

Zhou Yu and the other both shook their heads and walked further inside. At this dog market, there were professional dog sellers, but also families trading dogs they no longer kept or that had too many puppies.

Compared to professional sellers, family-raised dogs were undoubtedly safer. After all, who knew where those sellers got their dogs from.

“Brother Universe, what kind of dog are you planning to buy?” Li Tianbiao asked as he looked at the dogs around them.

Zhou Yu smiled. “Not sure yet. I’ll decide as I walk around. How about you?”

“My family already has a big dog. This time, I want to get a smaller one to play with the kids. Brother Universe, if you see one you like, don’t buy it right away. Remember to call me. In recent years, I haven’t done much else at home; I studied dogs a lot.”

Li Tianbiao said casually, his gaze continuously examining the dogs around them.

Zhou Yu nodded. He really hadn’t decided what dog to buy. Nowadays, with higher living standards, many families started keeping various expensive dog breeds. Just from walking around a bit, they had seen ten or twenty different kinds. However, he had a method to choose.

Afterwards, Zhou Yu and Li Tianbiao split up and wandered around the dog market separately. Looking at the dogs, some fierce, some cute, Zhou Yu shook his head and smiled. If he had to pick, he really couldn’t decide which kind to buy. After all, he didn’t know much about dogs.

He opened the bag he carried with him and took out two grapes. This was his method for choosing a dog.

Zhou Yu first approached a dog owned by a middle-aged man. It seemed like a family-raised dog. Its fur was black and yellow, and it appeared to be an adult. He actually recognized the breed; it was the kind of wolfdog many families kept.

Holding the grapes, he slowly moved closer to this wolfdog. The middle-aged man nearby saw this and quickly warned, “Young man, don’t feed it casually. If you annoy it, there could be trouble.”

Zhou Yu smiled and nodded. The two grapes were already very close to the wolfdog, but the dog showed no reaction.

The grapes contained spiritual energy, but they couldn’t attract all animals. However, those that were attracted generally had some level of spiritual awareness, more or less. That was the kind of dog he needed.

This wolfdog was out. Zhou Yu kept walking forward. He saw a dog that looked like a Tibetan Mastiff. It was very majestic. He tried it. Even this legendary Divine Dog from the East showed no reaction to the grapes. Perhaps its bloodline was no longer pure.

He was never very interested in large breeds like the Tibetan Mastiff anyway. Now that it showed no reaction to the grapes, even if its bloodline was pure, he wouldn’t buy it.

Zhou Yu continued browsing the dog market. Even though this method was something he came up with himself and he didn’t know how reliable it was, he believed he would definitely find a dog that satisfied him.

He tried seven or eight dogs. None reacted to his grapes. Many dog owners couldn’t help but find it amusing and ridiculous. Who used grapes to pick a dog? Did liking grapes make a dog good?

“Young man, are you here to play? First, many dogs don’t like grapes. Second, even if they did, they wouldn’t eat from a stranger,” some people around said jokingly.

Zhou Yu smiled lightly and ignored their teasing. If a dog couldn’t even sense the spiritual energy in the grapes, it was useless to him.

Then, he spotted two puppies on a small tricycle. Their fur was yellow, their ears drooped, and they looked about four or five months old. They seemed to be the famous Labrador Retriever breed he often saw in TV shows from Europe and America.

From what he understood, this breed seemed good. Zhou Yu tried bringing the two grapes close to these two puppies. The dog owner next to the tricycle saw this and didn’t stop him. Instead, he watched with interest. This young man using grapes to pick dogs had already become known in the area.

As the two grapes slowly approached the two puppies, one of them sniffed with its nose, seeming to sense something. It suddenly stood up from the tricycle and came towards the grapes. The other puppy also opened its sleepy eyes and followed closely behind.

Seeing these two dogs were attracted and searching for the grapes, a look of pleasant surprise flashed across Zhou Yu’s face. He moved the grapes to another spot. The two dogs were attracted again and ran over.

Then, he nodded slightly and fed the grapes to them one each. The two puppies ate them without hesitation.

“There really are dogs that eat his grapes. Unbelievable,” some onlookers who had nothing else to do were watching Zhou Yu. Seeing this, they expressed their surprise. The dog owner also had a strange look on his face.

“Boss, tell me, how much for these two dogs?” Zhou Yu patted the heads of the two dogs and spoke to the owner beside the tricycle.

“Young man, these are purebred Labrador Retrievers. They’re over four months old. Gentle temperament, loyal to their master. Absolutely good dogs. Eight thousand each. For two, I’ll give you a discount of one thousand.”

The dog owner said with a smile. His two dogs were attracted by this young man’s grapes, which he thought gave him bargaining power.

Zhou Yu couldn’t help but smile. “Purebred.” Really, any dog could be labeled purebred these days. If the bloodline was truly pure, the price wouldn’t just be eight thousand each.

Just as he was about to bargain, Li Tianbiao found him. Li Tianbiao was carrying a small cage with a cute white puppy inside. It looked somewhat different from the Bichon Frises they saw earlier.

“Brother Universe, have you picked one? Are you planning to get these two Labradors?” Li Tianbiao walked over, glanced at them, and seemed very knowledgeable about dogs, instantly recognizing the breed.

Zhou Yu nodded. “Yes, I think these two dogs are good. But they’re a bit expensive. Eight thousand each.”

Li Tianbiao widened his eyes, then turned to look at the dog owner. “Eight thousand each? Boss, are you trying to cheat folks from your own town? These two Labradors, you can tell at a glance their bloodline isn’t pure. How many months old are they? Have they had shots for parvovirus and distemper? Do you have pedigree papers?”

Watching the dog owner beside them left speechless by Li Tianbiao’s questions, Zhou Yu sighed with feeling. Coming to buy dogs with Li Tianbiao this time was really the right decision.

With Li Tianbiao’s help, the two Labrador Retrievers were bought for three thousand each. On the way back, Li Tianbiao told him these two Labradors’ breed was fairly pure, not mixed-breed dogs, so three thousand was a fair price.