Chapter 26

“By the way, Xiao Qi, how did last night’s wedding-snatching video perform?”

“The data is pretty good. Take a look for yourself.”

With a wave of Xiao Qi’s hand, the statistics of the two previous videos appeared on the screen.

The first video had already amassed 4.489 million views, an impressive number.

The scene where Cha Jiuzhang walked from a distance, gradually coming into focus until his handsome face was perfectly framed in the shot, had been screenshotted by fans. His line—“Does it look good?”—was turned into a GIF and spread wildly.

Below the video, countless comments were filled with admiration for his looks. Jiang Tiantian skimmed through them without reading too closely.

Turning her attention to the second wedding-snatching video, she saw that it had already reached 2.933 million views.

Jiang Tiantian tapped on the screen, and the floating bullet comments (danmu) appeared, some even with voice messages.

• “Hahaha, I love this kind of ‘see it, take it’ drama! The lady on horseback is so cool!”
• “So the god-tier handsome guy’s name is Cha Jiuzhang? Even his name sounds nice!”
• “Why do they always take off their shirts when fighting?”
• “If they took off their pants instead, wouldn’t that be super awkward…?”
• “Speaking of which, Ah Cuo looks great too! I love his rugged features and bronze skin tone.”
• “They’re evenly matched. Traditional wrestling is actually pretty exciting!”
• “Two men grappling together… Why does this scene look kinda beautiful? Am I okay???”
• “Stop fighting! If it were me, I’d take them both!”
• “Whoa, the style just shifted. Now it’s a battle between two women!”
• “The account owner finally showed up—turns out she’s a sweet-looking girl!”
• “She looks like a little girl! Still has baby fat on her face… But she’s really pretty!”
• “What kind of absurd plot is this? Two men fighting over one girl, then two girls fighting over one man?”
• “Damn, why has no one ever fought for me like this???”
• “Oh no, she’s losing! Somebody donate coins to revive her!”
• “That looks painful. She’s really toughing it out!”
• “I’ve already followed her just for this adorable yet badass contrast!”
• “Rise up!”
• “Reversal! Reversal! Reversal!!!”
• “Spread the word! A cool and cute girl like this shouldn’t go unnoticed!”
• “Holy sh*t!!!”
• “This actually works?!”
• “Go, Sweetie!”
• “Ayi Duo is crying. Poor girl… ‘The one I love doesn’t love me…'”

The bullet comments were endless. Jiang Tiantian read and listened until her brain felt overloaded. She took one last glance at her follower count—nearly one million—before collapsing onto her bed and immediately falling asleep.

Climbing mountains all day was seriously exhausting, okay?

—-

The mop-sized dog was enormous, muscular, but surprisingly light on its feet. It moved with agility and speed, as if walking on level ground even while navigating the mountain paths.

Jiang Tiantian and the others struggled to keep up, panting heavily as they trailed behind it.

Seeing their slow pace, the dog would often run ahead, then circle back, barking at them twice—“Woof woof~”—before dashing off again.

San Ya, gasping for breath, said, “Why do I feel like the dog is looking down on us?”

Jiang Tiantian leaned against a tree, nodding. “Congratulations, you’re absolutely right.”

She had noticed it too—this dog had definitely become too smart for its own good.

Even though they had made an agreement last night, this morning, when she squatted by the dog’s kennel, sweet-talking and coaxing it for ages, the dog completely ignored her, turning its head away with an air of superiority—making her feel like a total clown.

It wasn’t until Zuo Mingyan stepped in and promised, “If you behave and come with us, I’ll cook beef heart for you when we get back.”

Since beef heart was its favorite food, the moment she said that the dog immediately stood up, shaking out its luxurious fur.

Then, it walked out of its kennel, flicked its head at Jiang Tiantian—as if to say, “Alright, let’s go now.”

Zuo Mingyan was stunned.

“Oh my god, Mop, are you actually negotiating with us now?”

Feeling praised, the dog responded with a proud ‘woof’, wagging its head smugly.

Then, when Zuo Mingyan handed Jiang Tiantian a pack of dried meat but didn’t give any to the dog, it immediately barked furiously—”Woof woof woof~”—until she rummaged through her bag, found another pack, and strapped it onto the dog’s back.

Only then did the dog calm down, flicked its head at Jiang Tiantian again, and strode majestically toward the door.

Jiang Tiantian was left speechless.

“Xiao Qi, is that intelligence-enhancing serum really this effective? I feel like this dog is practically a spirit now.”

Xiao Qi responded, “The serum indeed aids in intelligence development for animals, but the effects vary depending on species and individual differences.”

“However, judging by this dog’s behavior, I’d say the results are pretty good.”

And so, they now found themselves in this ridiculous situation—

Instead of people walking the dog, the dog was walking them.

At first, Fifth Aunt and the other’s thought Jiang Tiantian was joking when she said she wanted to train Mop to become an expert at finding matsutake mushrooms.

But after witnessing its behavior, they suddenly felt like… maybe it could actually work?

They avoided the area they had already searched the day before and moved to a different part of the forest.

Following Xiao Qi’s guidance, Jiang Tiantian quickly found a matsutake mushroom.

She placed it under Mop’s nose.

“Mop, remember this scent. Now go find more.”

“When you find one, just let me know, okay?”

Mop nodded and immediately ran off.

Not long after, it barked from up ahead—”Woof woof~!”

Jiang Tiantian rushed forward, only to see Mop digging furiously with its front paws.

She squatted down and found a matsutake… that had been completely torn in half.

She couldn’t help but laugh.

“Mop, great job! But next time, don’t dig it up yourself. That’s hard work, right? Just call me over instead.”

She held up the broken mushroom.

“See? It’s damaged now.”

“I need whole, intact ones, okay?”

Mop gave her a judgmental look.

“Hmph. Humans and their high-maintenance standards.”

“It’s still edible, isn’t it? It all ends up in your stomach anyway. What difference does it make?”

Jiang Tiantian had no idea what was going on inside that fluffy head. Seeing it remain still; she decided to use the same tactic from this morning.

“Mop, if you perform well today, I promise when we get back, Mom will give you extra food.”

“Not just beef heart, but also some beef tripe.”

For some reason, this dog had an obsession with eating animal organs.

“Woof woof~!” Deal.

With that, Mop happily dashed off again.

Watching it leap gracefully through the forest, Jiang Tiantian looked down at the broken matsutake in her hand and suddenly felt confident again.

Hmph. You might be a genius dog, but at the end of the day, you’re still just a foodie.

A dog’s sense of smell, used correctly, was a powerful tool.

With growing efficiency, the girl and the dog worked seamlessly together.

By noon, Jiang Tiantian’s basket was completely full.

She was very satisfied with the success of this experiment.

Then she went to find San Ya and the others, eager to show off her teaching achievements.