Chapter 407: Chapter 386 Feel the Pain_1
People thought this failed eviction might be the catalyst for Madam An to accept Xiao Ba. Her heart was slowly softening, but they didn’t expect this to happen. While Madam An didn’t have the heart to evict Xiao Ba herself, she continued to pressure Professor An. After Xiao Ba accidentally shattered a bowl in the kitchen, a fierce argument between Madam An and Professor An ensued—
“I’ve had enough! You will send him away tomorrow!”
“Tomorrow?”
“You’ve been saying that for over half a month!”
“I’m sorry.”
Professor An said softly after a moment of silence.
It seemed like he had made up his mind.
The camera then naturally switched to Xiao Ba’s perspective.
Xiao Ba seemed to have sensed something. Through the gaps in the wooden boards in the grayscale world, it watched the figure of Professor An apologizing and slowly stopped wagging its tail.
“Please don’t!”
“Don’t send him away.”
“He is your dog.”
“He has already chosen his owner.”
An audience member murmured, their voice laced with a hint of pleading.
Sensitive female audience members were holding back tears, their eyes full of sympathy for Xiao Ba in the frame.
“…”
Yang An, who previously boasted a high breaking point for tears, bit his lip as his nose began to sting.
He quietly glanced at Ye Hongyu next to him.
Ye Hongyu maintained the same composure since the beginning of the film, without any unnecessary expressions on her face, just as she always did when watching any other movie—
The epitome of calm and rational.
Yang An, as if reminded, sniffed and suppressed his stirring emotions.
On the big screen.
The sky had darkened once again.
Like the past few days, Professor An quietly got up again after his wife fell asleep and took Xiao Ba to his study.
He took out the canned dog food and dog treats he had bought and fed Xiao Ba.
Before, he would not let Xiao Ba eat too many snacks as he felt that picky eating wasn’t a good habit, but today, he took out all the cans and snacks.
“Today, you can eat however you like.”
Professor An smiled at Xiao Ba, though his smile was somewhat stiff.
Xiao Ba, who used to be extraordinarily excited in front of these snacks, was extremely stubborn today, staring at Professor An without moving a muscle.
Xiao Ba didn’t touch the canned food or snacks at all.
As if these things didn’t exist at all.
Professor An’s eyes were slightly moist. He picked up Xiao Ba, gently patting its back, and softly repeated, “Good boy, good boy…”
Xiao Ba did not make any noise.
In past nights, when Professor An secretly brought Xiao Ba into his study, he always had to ask it to be quiet to prevent an excited Xiao Ba from waking up Madam An.
But tonight, Xiao Ba was particularly understanding. It didn’t utter a whimper of grievance, lying silently in Professor An’s arms.
At this moment.
The camera angle subtly shifted.
Outside the study, Madam An stood wearing her nightgown, looking at her husband. No one knew how long she had been standing there before she quietly turned and went back to the bedroom.
Perhaps, that night, everyone was especially exhausted.
The next day, when Professor An woke up, the sun was already high in the sky.
The wife who used to be beside him was no longer there.
Professor An abruptly remembered the dog was still in his study. He slapped his forehead in annoyance, put on his robe over his pajamas, messed up hair and all, and bolted towards the study.
However, when he reached the study, he was stunned by what he saw.
Madam An was gently stroking Xiao Ba’s head, watching gently as Xiao Ba ate the snacks he refused to eat the day before.
Before he could say anything, their home phone rang.
Madam An got up to answer the phone. A kind voice on the other end said, “Hello, I heard you have a dog looking for a new home. I am willing to adopt him, I really like dogs…”
“I’m sorry.”
On the sunny and relaxed little town, the ancient and peaceful happiness gradually flowed.
As Madam An watched a nervous Professor An, she smiled and said to the person on the phone: “Xiao Ba already has an owner.”
Thump.
Xiao Ba seemed to understand; he suddenly stopped munching on his snack and, surprisingly, carried the strip-shaped snack in his mouth and delivered it to Madam An’s feet.
“Xiao Ba, she doesn’t eat this.”
Professor An chuckled, his body seemingly instantly relaxed, the relief of that moment shining as brilliantly as the sunlight outside the house.
“Plop.”
Xiao Ba jumped up excitedly, knocking over a chair, causing Madam An’s face to instantly fill with rage: “Xiao Ba, get out of here!”
“Woof!”
Xiao Ba barked at her, with the snack in its mouth, and ran off.
Madam An and Professor An exchanged glances and suddenly burst into hearty laughter.
“No more getting up in the middle of the night,” Madam An warned after laughing a while.”Anyway, it is your own study; you can give it to anyone you want.”
“Did you find out?”
“I knew it long ago.”
The woman had unraveled her misgivings, but the audience couldn’t determine whether it was out of love for her husband or her reluctance to let go of Xiao Ba.
Perhaps, both.
Some of the audience in the front started to wipe their tears and looked around for tissues, only to find them on the side of their seats, causing them to smile involuntarily.
Finally, someone understood why tissues were placed here.
But having tissues at every seat was a bit too dramatic.
“This is nice.”
Yang An looked at Ye Hongyu, whose expression seemed to be perennially unchanged, and spoke to himself inwardly.
He didn’t notice that Ye Hongyu had slightly raised his eyebrows.
The following scenes were entirely about Xiao Ba…
Xiao Ba had grown up bit by bit.
The grown-up Xiao Ba was still as adorable as ever, if not more spirited.
In these intricate and warm shots, the purest and most genuine emotions between humans and animals were displayed without reservation.
With Xiao Ba’s growth, the movie was able to convey the subtle warmth between humans and dogs to the audience just through gestures and movements, no words necessary.
The camera more frequently adopted a low angle for filming.
Black, white, and gray.
The movie led everyone to view the world from Xiao Ba’s perspective.
Along with the everyday interactions between Xiao Ba and Professor An, a countless number of warm emotions had already sprung up in the hearts of the audience.
Becoming the pet dog of Professor An’s family, familiarity and tacit understanding grew bit by bit.
Whenever the professor was about to board a train for school, Xiao Ba always followed behind. Watching Professor An get on the train, Xiao Ba would sit across from the train station by the flowerbed all day long.
At first, Professor An often shooed it away, asking it to go home.
Later, the professor found that Xiao Ba, as though bewitched, always insisted on seeing him walk out of the train station before it would finally leave. Hence, the professor gave up and let it wait.
Over time, even the uncle who sold egg pancakes and the auntie from the newspaper booth at the train station got to know this little dog that saw the professor off to work every day and waited for the professor to come home-
Xiao Ba was very loyal.
Everyone loved it, and some people even gave Xiao Ba food. Whenever this happened, Xiao Ba would express its gratitude in its own way.
Yang An was particularly fond of Xiao Ba.
In front of the big screen, watching Xiao Ba dig a hole under the fence to see the professor off to work. Yang An’s mouth curled up into a smile. Watching Xiao Ba’s tail wag excitedly and rush up to greet the professor upon his return from work, Yang An’s eyes shifted slightly…
Humans and dogs had an attachment to each other.
Halfway through the movie, no one knew what was going to happen next, but the interaction and growth between humans and dogs were so endearing that no one found it boring. It was a feeling that blockbuster films laden with special effects couldn’t evoke.
It seemed like realizing the charm of light dishes after having too much rich food.
However, few people knew it was a warm trap carefully crafted by the movie.
And the ones with the most say in this matter were Yi Chenggong, who was sitting in the ninth row, and the executives at Starlight who had watched the movie once before.
“Get ready to feel the pain…”
Ol’ Zhou muttered in his heart, while glancing at a female audience member in the row in front of him.
The female audience member was a representative of a medium-sized movie theater. She was looking up slightly, like savoring a sweet ice cream in summer, her face filled with cozy joy…
Ol’ Zhou’s gaze swept over the others.
Everyone was completely absorbed, without exception.