Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

  After the long speech, Zhang Zian stopped to catch his breath and felt that his oral eloquence had improved.

  However, he immediately noticed that the white dog and Vladimir were looking at him in a rather strange way.

  “How did you know so clearly what happened?” the white dog asked suspiciously.

  “Don’t misunderstand me,” Zhang Zian said. “Though, do you need to see pigs walk before eating pork? I am merely sharing what I have heard. Let’s focus on the issue at hand. This landfill is very large. Not only does it process the domestic garbage of Binhai City—it also deals with rubbish shipped in from neighboring cities. However, China has not established an effective garbage sorting system, so here, there is a complete mixture of trash. Although ninety-nine-point-nine-nine percent of the things here are truly garbage, there must be hidden treasures. The so-called ‘blowing off the dust to reveal the gold’ will hold true here.”


  The pressure of survival made the white dog unable to be too optimistic of things. It thought for a moment and shook his head. He said. “This kind of plastic figurines is not common. It is even rarer for it to be entirely well preserved in a box like this. Even if what you said is true; pick one and feed a dog for two to three months, I cannot put all my hopes on doing this. What happens if my comrades and I cannot find this item? Won’t we have to go hungry?”


  “It’s not just plastic figurines,” Zhang Zian said. “There are a lot of items that people simply keep in their homes to collect dust. They may not know that the items are valuable. Then, they may throw them away when they clean up their homes. However, in the eyes of the experts, these may be valuable things. In addition, sometimes, old people pass away unexpectedly. They keep a lot of things, even valuable cultural relics. Yet to their children, these are not relics but trash. I have also heard that some elderly people do not trust the banks, thinking that there are corrupt officials there. Similarly, corrupt officials do not use the banks either. They choose to hide their money in quilts, pillows, et cetera, and then these are inadvertently thrown away…… These things and money will all gather in the garbage dump. I would like to say that if we find gold, it should be returned to the original owner. However, it will actually be difficult to find the owner. If you do not go and pick these things up, they will only be crushed and buried deep underground, which is a waste.”


  The white dog listened. He was tempted.

  For a long time, the stray dogs had only known how to salvage food from the garbage dump. They hadn’t even thought that some “garbage” that they had just pulled apart might fetch them tens of thousands of times more than the expired and potentially poisonous sausages……

  “Of course, your concerns are not unreasonable. If you are not lucky, and nothing like this is found, what should you do?” Zhang Zian added, “In fact, a single dog may experience bad luck, but if the number of dogs swells to a few hundred, the possibility of a few hundred dogs with bad luck is almost nonexistent. However, let us first assume that this situation is true.”


  The white dog listened carefully.

  Zhang Zian recalled the person he’d met not long ago and said slowly. “You know that I run a pet shop. Generally speaking, I sell cats, dogs, fish, and pet supplies. Just a few months ago, there was a clean but very poor-looking grandmother who brought a puppy to me. I think it was a Pomeranian. Anyway, she came to my store not to buy a pet, but to ask me for advice. The point here is that she picks up empty bottles for a living, much like this empty drink bottle here.”


  He kicked an empty cola bottle with his shoe.

  “She relies on picking up these bottles every day to support herself and that Pomeranian. I want to say that the empty bottle is equivalent to a subsistence allowance. Even if you have really bad luck, your efforts will not be entirely wasted. A dog can spend a few hours picking up empty bottles, and the money that can be exchanged with it can allow it to fully support itself. If you find something worthwhile through the process, you can eat delicious sausages for at least a few months.”


  The white dog looked at the empty bottle that was rolling around and asked, “How can I exchange an empty bottle for money?”


  “Probably, after collecting it, you send it to a special waste-collection station,” Zhang Zian said, though he was not absolutely sure, “and then charge by the weight.”


  “Is there a limit? How many?” it asked.

  He smiled and said, “Of course there is no limit to the number. The more the better. The people will not reject your collection because the waste-collection station is not a charity. If you give them more, they will sell more bottles and earn more money.”


  The white dog thought for a moment, “But they definitely won’t accept dogs to sell them bottles, will they?”


  “That is true. If the scrap collection station saw a dog dragging a sack of bottles to the door, they would probably take the bottle and not give the money. That would be a wasted effort,” Zhang Zian admitted.

  The white dog looked at him. “So, I need an agent.”


  Zhang Zian nodded. “I can help.”


  “I won’t let you do this for nothing. I will pay you a certain agent fee on a prorated basis. In addition, we will need your help to buy food and water. We also don’t know what is worth money, so you need to help us identify it.”


  The white dog seemed to have made up his mind. He also didn’t want his comrades to live day by day, from one meal to another. It may be better to always have something to do. If, by doing so properly, they could get some money to buy clean food and water, that would be the best.

  “Well, I will try.”


  Zhang Zian did not reject the proposal, as he could not possibly be a charity and help them for nothing. It would not last for a very long time. The enthusiasm definitely would not last. Even if he was willing to work without pay, he would not be able to do it all by himself. He would definitely have to ask the staff to help or even employ more help. To do that, he certainly must pay.

  However, it was also interesting to think about it. If this method was feasible, it could not only solve the stray dogs’ livelihood problem but also solve the problem of what stray dogs……did?

  If they were picking up bottles and searching through rubbish every day, where would they have time to steal chickens and harass the surrounding residents?

  Whether it was a dog or a human, there was always a desire for a more comfortable life.

  When people didn’t have enough to eat, the only wish was to have a full meal. When they had a full meal, they’d want to eat all the delicacies from the highest mountains and deepest seas. They would also want to eat food from all around the world. To do that, they could only work harder for their bosses.

  The same was true for dogs. Every day until now, they had been eating garbage. Once they had eaten and tasted clean dog food, when a meal that could warm up their bellies would no longer be a problem, the desire for a much better meal would set in. They would eventually want to try the taste of a delicious and juicy chicken drumstick. To achieve that, they would have to work even harder, pick up more bottles, and earn more money.

  The peasant uprisings of the past had been caused by the fact that the poor did not have full bellies, warm bodies, or anything to do during their working hours.

  If someone had a job where the salary was not very high but could provide them with enough food and clothes, who in their right mind would want to start protesting? Wouldn’t that be risking everything?

  The white dog nodded. “That’s a deal then. Let’s try it first. There are still a lot of details that need to be sorted out.”


  “Okay, it is a done deal.”


  Zhang Zian also nodded. “Then I will leave now. I will visit again in the coming days.”


  It was getting late, and he had been out here for far too long. It was time to go back.

  “Right. By the way, my name is Zhang Zian. How do I address you?” he asked, stopping in his tracks.

  “Little White—just call me Little White,” the white dog said.

  That was a very grounded name, much like the breed of dog it was.