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"Is that possible?" Shi Wen hefted the large mushroom in his hand and asked worriedly, "Then these two mushrooms are safe to eat, right?"

Yan Kexing said, "Yes."

As they spoke, Heiwa came over, herding the flock of sheep.

Heiwa had a large mushroom in his mouth too.

Heiwa was the biggest of the dogs, and the mushroom he carried was the biggest too. The enormous mushroom had stretched his mouth almost to the breaking point.

Yet he looked perfectly calm. He dropped the mushroom at Shi Wen and Yan Kexing's feet and gave his tail a gentle wag.

After examining it carefully, Yan Kexing confirmed that the mushroom Heiwa had brought was also a delicious mushroom.

The dogs had brought gifts back from herding. Shi Wen patted each of them on the head, then went back to the living room and brought out some jerky to reward them.

The jerky wasn't enough for An Wa. He pawed at Shi Wen's shoes, whining and looking a little anxious.

One look at him and Shi Wen knew he wanted to eat the mushroom.

Shi Wen had trained the dogs not to accept food from strangers, and they could generally manage not to eat food they found outside.

Shi Wen broke off a piece of the delicious mushroom and sniffed it, then turned to ask Yan Kexing, "Can they eat raw mushrooms?"

Yan Kexing said, "They'd better not."

"Then we'll have to cook them first?" Shi Wen rubbed An Wa's head, pushing his scalp upward. "Go play for now. I'll cook the mushrooms for you when I get back tonight."

Not far away, the cattle and sheep had gone into their pens on their own. The sun had tilted westward and was nearing the horizon. The evening breeze was much cooler than the daytime air and carried the distinctive scent of summer.

If they didn't leave soon, it would be dark before long.

Shi Wen still wanted to go up the mountain with Yan Kexing to watch the sunset, so he couldn't afford to dawdle.

Heiwa and Le Wa had no objections, but An Wa caught Shi Wen's trouser leg in his mouth and wouldn't let him go. "Whine, whine, whine."

Shi Wen tugged at his trouser leg, trying to pull it free. "I really will come back and cook the mushrooms for you in a little while."

An Wa barked, "Woof, woof, woof!"

"You're such a big dog now. Stop acting cute!" Shi Wen finally managed to pull one trouser leg free, only for An Wa to grab the other. "Move over."

An Wa seemed determined to have his way, stubbornly holding on to the trouser leg and refusing to let him leave.

Le Wa watched with interest, circled Shi Wen's feet a few times, then came over and grabbed his other trouser leg.

Heiwa paced back and forth beside them. Though he was the leader of the dogs, he showed no intention of stopping them. Clearly, he didn't want Shi Wen to leave either.

The dogs hadn't done anything wrong. Shi Wen couldn't very well beat them just for acting cute.

He pulled one trouser leg free, only for the other to be grabbed, and went back and forth with the dogs.

Le Wa thought they were playing. With his pink tongue hanging out, he bit at Shi Wen's trouser leg with even more enthusiasm.

Yan Kexing watched from the side, his face full of smiles.

Shi Wen was at his wits' end. "Come help me!"

Yan Kexing said, "I doubt you'd get away even if I helped. Can you outrun this pack of pups?"

He really couldn't. His dogs were sheepdogs, after all. Shi Wen was dumbfounded. "Then what do we do?"

"Let's watch the sunrise tomorrow morning instead," Yan Kexing said. "We'll cook the mushrooms first."

For now, that was all they could do. Shi Wen flicked An Wa on the forehead. "Let go. We're going to cook."

An Wa held on to his trouser leg and met his eyes for a moment. Seeing that he didn't appear to be lying, he actually let go.

Shi Wen cupped the dog's face in both hands and gave it a vigorous rub. "Why are you so clever at a time like this?"

Shi Wen and Yan Kexing picked up the three mushrooms from the ground and took them to the kitchen to scrape and wash.

First, they had to scrape off the dirt and the old roots, then wash and slice them.

Shi Wen's skills were average, and he wasn't very quick at scraping mushrooms. He looked especially clumsy as he lowered his eyes and scraped one with a small knife.

Yan Kexing, standing shoulder to shoulder with him, was much quicker. His long fingers flew, and before long, he had scraped the mushroom underneath them clean, revealing its white, firm flesh.

Yan Kexing had cleaned two mushrooms, while Shi Wen still hadn't finished the one in his hand.

Yan Kexing took the mushroom from him and gave him a gentle nudge. "I'll do it. Go peel the garlic."

Shi Wen stepped aside and went to grab some heads of garlic from the shelf. "How much?"

Yan Kexing said, "A handful."

Yan Kexing washed the mushrooms clean, put them on the chopping board and began slicing. Under his knife, the mushrooms quickly became even, snow-white slices.

Shi Wen knew he was good with a knife, but he hadn't known he was this good. He was practically mesmerized.

Yan Kexing was skilled with a knife and a good cook. Shi Wen handed over control of the cooking without much struggle and stepped back to play a supporting role, helping out at his side.

Yan Kexing worked very quickly.

Before long, the kitchen was filled with the aroma of food.

The aromas seemed almost solid, hanging heavily in the kitchen. Shi Wen couldn't avoid them even if he wanted to and could only let them set his stomach rumbling.

Before long, Shi Wen heard the sound of panting.

He turned to see all three dogs sitting neatly outside the kitchen door, each with his own food bowl in his mouth. Their tails were wagging so fast they almost made a whooshing sound.

Sure enough, dogs took after their owner.

Shi Wen was craving the food himself, so he was in no position to criticize his dogs.

His kitchen was outdoors, and the dogs never came over when he cooked. This was the first time Shi Wen had seen them sitting so obediently outside the door.

People really did raise dogs just like themselves.

There weren't many side ingredients, and they were ready in no time.

Shi Wen leaned against the counter, watching Yan Kexing cook.

Good-looking people looked good doing anything.

Yan Kexing stood at the stove, stir-frying. When he tossed the wok, the muscles in his arms tensed just right.

The light fell on his face. The beauty was like jade, exceptionally pleasing to the eye.

His manner, in particular, was remarkably unhurried.

The food in the wok needed to be stir-fried quickly over high heat, yet he showed no sign of fluster.

A few minutes later, Yan Kexing dished up the mushrooms from the wok. "The stir-fried mushrooms are ready."

Shi Wen picked up the dish and was about to go out when, from the corner of his eye, he saw the dogs jumping up and down and whining, looking as though they couldn't wait to eat. He turned around and brought the dish back. "Better leave it here to cool."