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Although Su Niannian was a little disappointed that she and Gu Nan were not assigned to work in the same place, she quickly shifted her focus.
She still remembered that the mountain behind Kaoshan Village was rich in natural resources.
Since it was still early spring and no villagers had ventured into the mountains during the winter, she figured that some hardy medicinal herbs might still be untouched.
Glancing at Song Zhaodi, who was still intently cutting pigweed in the distance, Su Niannian noted that nothing unusual had happened in the past hour or two.
After greeting Song Zhaodi, she quietly slipped away and sneaked into the depths of the mountain.
She wasn’t the least bit afraid of encountering danger. No matter what kind of threat she faced, she could always escape into her hidden space, ensuring her absolute safety.
After sneaking around for nearly twenty minutes, Su Niannian suddenly heard a series of whimpering sounds nearby.
It sounded like a small animal trapped somewhere.
The pitiful cries tugged at her heartstrings.
Curious, Su Niannian followed the sound, carefully making her way through the underbrush.
Eventually, in a patch of relatively dense wild grass, she spotted something moving.
The whimpering grew clearer and more distinct.
Su Niannian carefully parted the wild grass with light movements.
The ground and the surrounding grass were stained with fresh blood.
A rusted animal trap had already snapped shut, triggered by something.
Lying there was a small, mud-covered creature, its entire body filthy and matted.
Both of its front legs were caught tightly in the trap’s metal jaws.
It was unclear how long it had been injured, but the blood on the rusted trap had already begun to dry and darken.
The little creature looked like a puppy, though its entire body was filthy and covered in a dull grayish coat.
Its round, pitch-black eyes were filled with wariness as it stared at Su Niannian.
It seemed to be hoping for rescue… yet at the same time, it was afraid that this human might harm it.
Its watery eyes glistened, and like all young mammals, it was far cuter in its infancy than it would be when fully grown.
At just one glance, Su Niannian felt her heart soften.
This place wasn’t even considered the deep mountains—after all, she had only been walking for about twenty minutes and hadn’t ventured too far.
“Woo… woo…” The filthy little puppy let out a soft whimper.
Su Niannian spoke gently, “Don’t be afraid. I’m a physician—I can help you.”
The moment the words left her mouth, she realized how unnecessary they were.
She meant what she said, but how could the puppy possibly understand her?
Still, as it looked at Su Niannian, it seemed to sense that she had no ill intentions.
Animals had keen instincts—they were naturally good at distinguishing between kindness and malice.
Su Niannian carefully examined the puppy’s front legs.
One was severely injured—the sharp edge of the trap had pierced straight through the bone.
The other leg had only been punctured by the trap’s sharp points, likely without any bone damage.
She placed both hands on either side of the trap, making sure to avoid its jagged edges.
The trap’s spring was rusted, and its large size made it quite heavy, adding to the difficulty of prying it open.
With her somewhat slender frame, prying open the trap was proving to be quite a challenge.
Just as Su Niannian was exerting all her strength to force it open, a low “huff huff~” suddenly came from behind her.
The sound was deep and guttural, like the growl of a large wild beast.
“A wild boar?”
“Huff huff! Snort snort!”
“Damn, it really is a wild boar…”
The little filthy puppy had sensed the sound even before Su Niannian did.
Its entire body trembled involuntarily, as if desperately wanting to escape.
But the moment it struggled, the pain from its injured front legs caused it to collapse forward, face-planting heavily onto the ground.
The rustling of grass behind Su Niannian grew louder and closer.
At first, the sound was distant, but in the next moment, it rapidly approached.
Clenching her molars, Su Niannian summoned all her strength, gripping the trap with both hands.
With a series of “creak, creak!” sounds, the rusty trap was forcibly pried open by her sheer effort.
“Hurry, get out!” she urged.
Su Niannian spoke to the little dog in front of her.
It seemed to understand her words—or at least sensed that the force restraining its front paws had disappeared. With a sideways roll, the dog quickly freed itself from the trap’s grasp.
Su Niannian didn’t discard the trap. Instead, she carefully placed it back on the ground in its open state, ensuring it wouldn’t accidentally snap shut again.
Meanwhile, the wild boar behind her had closed the distance to less than ten meters.
When Su Niannian turned around, she could already see the beast’s massive head emerging from the undergrowth.
The boar’s tusks looked terrifying.
Without hesitation, Su Niannian grabbed the little dog by its two uninjured hind legs and swiftly retreated into her spatial dimension.
Just like that, the dirty little dog was pulled into her space along with her.
This realization made Su Niannian feel a sense of relief.
“So, this space can bring in living creatures too?”
She looked at the little dog in her hand and smiled. “That means you can stay here and be taken care of.”
Lifting it up by its scruffy hind legs, Su Niannian suddenly felt that this wasn’t the most considerate way to handle an injured animal.
Realizing her mistake, she gently placed the little dog onto an empty table.
In this era, simply having enough food to eat was already a struggle. Keeping a pet was an unimaginable luxury.
Moreover, in this era, dogs were unlikely to be considered pets by most people.
For this little pup to have a place in Su Niannian’s space was truly a stroke of luck.
With that thought, she fetched some spiritual spring water and carefully cleaned the puppy’s wounds.
Back when she was sent to the countryside, Su Niannian had bought some basic medical supplies, thinking she could use them to disinfect and treat the pup’s wounds.
However, …
The moment she finished rinsing the injuries with the spiritual spring water, she noticed something astonishing—the wounds had already begun to heal at a slow but visible pace…
This was truly amazing!
Especially considering that one of the puppy’s front paws had been severely injured, with the bone completely pierced through. But now, when she touched it, the little dog didn’t have much of a reaction…
The fact that it didn’t struggle or show signs of extreme pain meant that the wound was no longer hurting as much.
“This spiritual spring water is just too…”
Su Niannian’s eyes lit up involuntarily. The healing effect of this water far exceeded her expectations!
The little dog still couldn’t move its front legs, but at least its life was no longer in danger.
Looking at the poor puppy, so skinny that it was practically just skin and bones, Su Niannian fetched some more water and carefully fed it.
After this combination of internal and external treatment… the puppy was now only slightly limping.
Su Niannian then took out a meat bun, tore it apart, and fed it to the little dog.
The puppy ate happily, devouring the food eagerly. But… why wasn’t it wagging its tail?
By the time the puppy finally had its fill, it had already finished its fifth meat bun.
Su Niannian couldn’t help but rub her forehead.
“This little thing… can eat this much??”
Looking at the puppy’s now bulging belly, she let out a helpless chuckle.
After giving the little dog a bath, Su Niannian suddenly noticed that, despite being so scrawny, its fur pattern was actually quite beautiful.
It even had a bit of a feline look to it. If not for its bark, which was unmistakably that of a dog, and its overall body shape, she might have started to doubt whether this little creature was really a puppy at all.
Once she was done tending to the puppy, Su Niannian turned to look at the seeds she had planted a few days ago in the distance.
They had already started sprouting…
At this rate, it would probably only take a few more days before they bore fruit.
This space truly kept surprising Su Niannian again and again…