The First Night, He Barked Only Once—At the Window Shutter

After Xia Che and Indeedee left, A-Li first closed the door, then opened it, then closed it again.

The cushion beside the door had not been touched, and the water bowl sat steadily against the wall. Lillipup lay on the old cloth, only lifting his ears when the door moved.

"It really doesn't block the door," A-Li said.

Lillipup buried his nose back into the old cloth.

Still not reassured, she moved the firewood beside the small stove farther out, felt along the crack in the window, then finally crouched down to check whether the water bowl would wobble.

Lillipup raised his head and watched her pace back and forth.

"It's the first night. I'll check a few more times."

He stood and followed her from the window to the foot of the bed, then from the foot of the bed back to the door. The room was only so big to begin with. After circling twice, one human and one Pokémon both stopped where they had started.

A-Li smiled. "All right, no more checking."

Dinner was simple.

She heated herself a bowl of vegetable soup, then followed the portions Indeedee had left and divided Lillipup's food into three small dishes. The first held his staple food, the second had chopped Berries, and the third held only a few pieces, saved for a late-night snack or breakfast the next morning.

Lillipup sniffed all three dishes, then looked first at the one with the smallest portion.

"That one is for tomorrow morning."

He looked toward the staple food again.

"This one is for now."

Lillipup lowered his head and started eating. A-Li picked up her soup as well. She had barely taken one sip when he looked up at her.

"I'm eating too."

After confirming that, he lowered his head again.

The bakery downstairs had not put out its fires yet. The sounds of kneading dough, wooden trays clattering, and the owner calling out numbers kept drifting up through the floorboards. At first, Lillipup pricked up his ears every time he heard them. Later, seeing that A-Li did not react at all, he gradually got used to them.

When the last baking tray went into the oven, it finally became quiet downstairs.

Auntie Chen passed by the door, deliberately making her footsteps heavy.

Lillipup immediately got to his feet.

A-Li raised a hand. "Just hearing it is enough."

He stared at the crack beneath the door without barking.

The person outside waited a while, gave a quiet hum, and continued downstairs.

"She's testing you," A-Li whispered.

Lillipup walked to the door and sniffed. The old cotton cloth Auntie Chen had brought that afternoon was still stuffed into the window crack, and her usual soapberry scent lingered outside the door as well. The smell was not unfamiliar, and he soon returned to his cushion.

Late at night, there were still plenty of sounds in the alley.

When the first empty cart rolled over the stone road, Lillipup stood on the wooden crate to take a look. Once the sound of its wheels faded away, he jumped down on his own.

A cat crossed the roof, making the thin tiles rattle twice. He lifted his head to listen. He could not smell anything unusual inside the room, nor did he chase after it outside.

But A-Li had not fallen asleep.

Lying on the narrow bed, she opened her eyes every so often to look toward the door. Lillipup changed positions three times, trampling the old cloth into a shallow nest. The Number One Tag remained pressed beside his front paws.

"Aren't you cold?" A-Li asked.

Lillipup only twitched his ears.

She got out of bed, felt the cushion, and added a thin piece of cloth for him.

Lillipup crawled out from beneath it, nudged the new cloth aside, and continued lying on the same old cloth.

"All right, no covering up."

A-Li lay back down.

Not long after, a soft sound came from the window.

Tap.

Lillipup opened his eyes.

A-Li sat up too.

Tap.

A thin shutter on the outside was lifted by the wind, then struck the wooden frame as it fell. The cotton cloth stuffed in place that afternoon blocked the cold breeze, but it had not secured the old shutter.

Before the third sound came, he barked once.

"Woof!"

Auntie Chen's voice immediately came from downstairs. "That's one bark."

A-Li got down to light the lamp. "It was the window shutter."

"I told you that one needed replacing."

Auntie Chen came upstairs in her outer clothes, holding a short wooden peg. When she saw Lillipup standing beneath the window, she stopped outside the door first.

"He didn't bark at me, did he?"

"No."

Lillipup looked back at her and quietly stepped aside.

Auntie Chen inserted the peg into the inside of the shutter, then shook it twice. The shutter could no longer hit the wooden frame.

"That settles it."

Lillipup touched the peg with his nose. After confirming it would not move again, he returned to the old cloth.

Before leaving, Auntie Chen looked down at him. "That bark counts for the window, not for you."

A-Li held back a laugh. "Then can he still bark once more tonight?"

"Better not bark at all."

The door was shut again.

Lillipup did not raise his head again. A-Li waited until there was no sound at all outside the window before finally falling asleep too.

The next morning, Lillipup was still the first one awake.

The bakery had not opened yet. As soon as the sound of scooping water began downstairs, he rose from the cushion, sniffed the water bowl, and walked over to A-Li's bed.

He did not jump onto the bed. He only lightly tapped the bedside with his front paw.

A-Li turned over and faced away.

Lillipup waited a few breaths, then tapped it again.

"It's still early," she mumbled.

Downstairs, the owner had already begun pounding dough.

Lillipup raised his paw for a third time.

A-Li had no choice but to sit up. "You're more punctual than I am."

She took him downstairs first. Lillipup walked down the first four steps by himself, then turned back to look at the delivery basket. A-Li did not force the issue. She lowered the basket so he could climb in, carried him through the steepest stretch, and then let him get down by himself for the last three steps.

Auntie Chen watched from the stairway. "One bark at night, and he didn't run around this morning either."

She handed over a clean lidded earthen jar. "Mine's empty. It's just right for storing his food."

A-Li accepted it. "This jar wasn't included in the rent."

"Borrow it for now. If he chews it up, you pay for it."

Lillipup sniffed the jar and left only a small nose print on the lid.

"So far, it's not broken," A-Li said.

The corner of Auntie Chen's mouth twitched as she turned to boil water.

A-Li washed the earthen jar twice and left it to dry beneath the window. She had intended to put in that day's food right away, but Lillipup had already run to the delivery basket, with his front paws on the rim as he urged her downstairs.

"Breakfast first."

He looked back toward the stairs.

"We'll make deliveries after we eat."

Lillipup sat beside the basket, clearly reluctant.

A-Li brought out the small dish saved from the night before and added fresh water. At the smell of food, he finally left the delivery basket. Even halfway through eating, he kept looking up toward downstairs.

The bakery owner called from below, "No rush today. The first batch hasn't even been bagged yet."

Hearing the familiar voice, Lillipup lowered his head and sped up.

"Slow down." A-Li held the dish in place.

He had no choice but to chew each bite properly again. Once the dish was empty, A-Li still did not pick up the basket right away. She first took him on a short walk around the back of the alley.

The road was still wet in the morning. Someone was drawing water by the well, and an ordinary yellow dog was tied up outside another house. When the yellow dog saw Lillipup, it gave two low barks.

Lillipup stopped beside A-Li's leg, nose pointed ahead, without approaching first.

A-Li waited until the yellow dog's owner pulled it farther away before passing from the other side.

"From now on, we'll take this walk first every day," she said. "After that, we can go back and load the bread."

Lillipup sniffed the moss beside the wall and well, then looked back toward their residence. He only walked the short route that remained in sight, without following unfamiliar scents into the mouth of the alley.

When they returned downstairs, the owner was just bagging the bread. Lillipup wanted to pounce toward the first bag, but A-Li raised a hand to make him wait and checked each knot herself.

He sat for a while. Once he discovered that none of the three bags would leak today, he circled the delivery basket to sniff it, then climbed inside on his own.

"You're sitting in the basket before you've even left?" the owner said with a laugh.

Lillipup poked his head out of the basket.

"He already walked half the stairs himself," A-Li explained for him. "He'll rest in the basket for the first stretch, then get down once we reach the street."

The owner picked up the largest bag of bread and put it into A-Li's basket instead. "He'll carry one less bag today, and you'll carry one more."

"But the pay can't be less."

"That depends on whether you deliver them to the right places."

Lillipup barked at him once.

The owner immediately changed his tune. "That voice has plenty of strength. Looks like he slept well last night."

Auntie Chen passed by carrying water. "The window shutter barked once, and he barked once too. The rest of the night, he was quieter than you."

The owner fell silent.

Xia Che arrived a quarter of an hour later than agreed.

Indeedee walked ahead, already carrying breakfast and an inspection card. Xia Che followed slowly behind. When he saw A-Li loading goods at the bakery entrance, he said, "You two got up early."

"You came late," A-Li said.

"A quarter of an hour doesn't count as late."

Indeedee placed an hourglass in front of him.

The sand had run out long ago.

Xia Che took his breakfast. "Check Lillipup first."

The traces left from the first night were all obvious.

The water bowl was down by a third, the old cloth had been trampled into a sleeping nest, the staple-food dish was empty, and the reserved small dish remained in place. The Number One Tag was pressed along the edge of the cushion, and the window shutter had an extra wooden peg.

Indeedee checked his paw pads, nose, and fur. Lillipup was in excellent spirits, only panting slightly after walking down the stairs.

"How many times did he bark last night?" Xia Che asked.

"Once." A-Li pointed to the window shutter. "He heard that make noise."

"What did he do after barking?"

"He waited for me to check."

Lillipup raised a paw and touched the wooden peg securing the shutter.

Xia Che nodded. "He knew to call you instead of crashing into the window himself. That's good."

A-Li asked, "Is the room good too?"

"There's a cushion, water, food, and the neighbor even lent you a jar."

Auntie Chen's voice drifted up from downstairs. "Lent."

"He heard that," Xia Che said.

Indeedee drew a window with a wooden peg on the card, then circled the words "residence" in green.

Seeing that familiar color, Lillipup picked up the Number One Tag and placed it on top of A-Li's shoe.

A-Li looked down. "Are you giving it to me?"

He released the tag and sat beside her foot.

Xia Che finished his last bite of bread. "Bring the tag back to the shop this afternoon."

"What for?"

"To ask whether he wants to keep living here."

Lillipup had already placed his front paws on the delivery basket, urging her to leave.

The three bags of bread still needed delivering that morning. He clearly wanted to finish the job first.