Da Mao looked at San Bao, then nudged his little chest with his head.

San Bao stumbled back a few steps, and immediately Da Mao reached out his paw from behind and stopped him.

San Bao chuckled.

The onlookers nearby saw this scene and cast envious glances.

One of the boys asked, “Little brother, where did you get your dog? Does the residential compound allow keeping dogs?”

The boy’s eyes sparkled, his voice filled with excitement, indicating his love for dogs.

Er Bao replied, “We adopted them. Da Mao and Tie Dan are the great heroes who defend our country.”

Huh? The boy didn’t understand.

Someone else asked, “How can dogs be great heroes who defend the country?”

It’s not that these people were stupid, it’s just that they hadn’t expected them to be military dogs.

After all, military dogs didn’t usually appear in their daily lives; the center of military dog activities was always in the military dog facilities in the camp.

Some of them had been living here for several years and had never seen a military dog.

Yi Bao explained, “Da Mao and Tie Dan are military dogs. My mom said that military dogs are just like soldiers who have been on the battlefield, fought against bad guys, and defended our country. Now they are injured and can’t fight anymore, so we have to take care of them.”

“Yes, my mom said so. My mom’s always right,” Er Bao chimed in.

“Wow, so these are military dogs. Can we adopt military dogs too?” another boy asked.

“I don’t know,” Yi Bao replied.

“Can you ask your mom for me?” the boy said, rummaging through his pocket and pulling out a big White Rabbit milk candy. “Here, you can have it.”

“Yeah, we also want to adopt. We’re not sure if it’s possible,” several other boys chimed in.

Interestingly, only boys expressed their desire to adopt, and there were no girls.

This was quite normal because in most families, everything good was reserved for the boys, making the girls mature early, while the boys seemed to be oblivious to the hardships of life.

Of course, those who could live in the residential compound had good conditions.

At least in terms of a soldier’s income, if there were no other objective reasons to hold them back, their conditions were certainly good.

“Brother, you don’t have to give me candy. I’ll go ask my mom. Wait here,” Yi Bao said, bouncing into the yard and shouting towards the kitchen, “Mom…”

“What’s the matter?” Hearing Yi Bao’s loud call, Ning Shu hurried out. “What happened?”

“Nothing, Mom. Some little boys want to know if they can adopt other military dogs like we did,” Yi Bao explained.

“Oh, I don’t know about that. Tell them to ask the soldiers responsible for taking care of the military dogs,” Ning Shu replied.

Yi Bao nodded. “Got it.”

Then he ran out of the yard.

Seeing Yi Bao coming out, the boys who had just spoken asked eagerly, “Little brother, did your mom say anything?”

“Little brother, can we adopt?”

Yi Bao replied, “My mom said she doesn’t know if you can adopt or not. She said you should ask the soldiers responsible for taking care of the military dogs.”

“Then I’ll talk to my parents later.”

“Got it… Little brother, can I play with your dog for a while?”

“Yeah, were you throwing this cloth ball earlier? It’s like playing basketball.”

The Chinese national basketball team was established in 1951 and represented the country in the Asian Basketball Championships. Even in the 1963 Asian Basketball Championships, they won the title of Asian champions for the first time. Since then, the national basketball team has become a respected team on the Asian and world basketball stages.

Therefore, in the early 1970s, many people knew about basketball.

Especially those children from families with good conditions in the cities were relatively familiar with basketball.

“What’s basketball?” Yi Bao asked.

“Is basketball a blue ball?” Er Bao asked.

Hearing Er Bao’s words, a boy chuckled, “Of course not. When you go to school and have physical education classes, you can play basketball at school.” He wasn’t making fun of Er Bao, he was just amused by his childish words.

Er Bao was also carefree, “I don’t know when I’ll go to school. When I do go to school, I’ll be a train driver.”

“Really?”

“Is that so?”

“So ambitious at such a young age?”

“I’ll be satisfied if I can become a worker in the future. I dare not say I want to be a scientist.”

“What kind of ‘scientist’ is that?” Er Bao listened and began to demonstrate his spirit of asking when he didn’t understand.

“Isn’t being a train driver a scientist? And also making airplanes, making tanks… those are all amazing scientists. Scientists are people who need to have very good academic performance.”

“Brother, what are airplanes and tanks?” Er Bao’s eyes lit up, sounding very impressive.

“You’re making it too complicated for him to understand. Simply put, airplanes can fly in the sky, even more amazing than trains.”

“When you say it like that, he won’t understand. Simply put, airplanes are vehicles that can fly in the sky. Tanks are used for fighting, they can drive away the enemies, very powerful… cars.”

Several older boys explained one after another.

Er Bao grinned happily, listening with delight.

“Little brother, can we play with your dog for a while?” The gaze of a big boy stopped at Big Mao and Tie Dan. “I saw it playing with you guys just now. Does it listen to you?” He pointed at Da Mao and asked.

At this moment, because there were suddenly many unfamiliar scents, Big Mao and Tie Dan both stood up, watching these people with some wariness.

Da Mao stood next to San Bao, very close to him. While Tie Dan, unnoticed by the crowd, unconsciously walked to the middle of Er Bao and Yi Bao.

Yi Bao felt a bit embarrassed, pulling at his clothes. Actually, it was the first time he had spoken to so many unfamiliar boys, so Yi Bao was a little nervous, but because his mom was inside, he wasn’t afraid. “I don’t know either. Da Mao and Tie Dan were just brought home today. We gave them a bath and fed them.”

“Then why don’t you give it a try?” Another big boy suggested, “By the way, I’m Wang Wei, my house is opposite yours.” This was an attempt to get closer.

When Yi Bao and Er Bao heard Wang Wei say his house was opposite theirs, they indeed felt more fond and familiar with him.

“But I don’t know how to try?” Yi Bao replied.

Wang Wei said, “It’s simple, just give it a try. Tell them to sit down and stand up, see if they’ll do it.”

Yi Bao hesitated, he had never tried it before and felt a bit nervous.

Another big boy said, “Forget it, let us try instead.”

Yi Bao said, “Then, brother, you give it a try.”

The big boy cautiously took a few steps closer, then cleared his throat, “Watch me… Oh, by the way, what are the names of these two dogs?”

Yi Bao pointed to the big, yellow-black Big Mao, “This one is called Da Mao.”

Er Bao pointed to the brownish-yellow Tie Dan, “This one is called Tie Dan.”

San Bao also chimed in crisply, “Da Mao.”

Big Mao: [Woof…]

“Okay, now pay attention.” The big boy now knew the names of Big Mao and Tie Dan, then he began to give it a try, “Da Mao, Tie Dan, sit down.”

Everyone listened attentively as the big boy gave the command, watching Big Mao and Tie Dan expectantly.

Unfortunately, after waiting for a while, Da Mao and Tie Dan remained in their original positions.

Everyone: “…” It felt like a flock of crows flew by, dropping a few bird droppings.

“Hahaha…” Wang Wei laughed out loud, “Zhang Jinghong, are you trying to be funny?”

“Go to hell, if you’re so capable, why don’t you give it a try?” Zhang Jinghong didn’t feel embarrassed at all, isn’t it normal for dogs to not listen? “I think they don’t understand human language.”

Chuckling ensued. “If you want the dog to understand you, you have to bark like them.”

However, just as he finished speaking, a childish voice rang out, “Da Mao, sit down.”

Everyone turned to see a little kid.

But then, they all widened their eyes in disbelief because, after the little kid’s words, Da Mao actually sat down.

He sat down on his hind legs, with his front legs straight, looking up at San Bao, appearing extremely obedient.

This… Zhang Jinghong couldn’t believe it. This dog actually listened to a little kid.

San Bao gave Da Mao a thumbs up. “Da Mao, good job.”

San Bao was the youngest in the family, always being pampered by the family. Praising him now, with Da Mao around, made San Bao feel like he had an older brother, so he learned from his mother, starting to praise Da Mao.

Da Mao: [Woof…]

San Bao continued, “Da Mao, good job.”

Da Mao: [Woof…]

With one person and one bark, they were having a joyful conversation.

Er Bao learned from this, quickly speaking up, “Tie Dan, sit down.”

Immediately, Tie Dan also sat down, in the same posture as Da Mao.

However, Tie Dan’s size was different; Da Mao was a medium-sized dog, and his sitting posture was quite dignified, with a hint of military dog demeanor.

But Tie Dan was a small dog, so when he sat down, he looked even smaller, but also cuter, like a child wearing open-crotch pants, extremely adorable.

“Wow, it’s so cute.”

Among the children present, there were also girls. Girls naturally liked cute things, and Tie Dan had captivated them.

“Er Bao, can I pet it?” Yang Baozhu looked at Tie Dan, restraining her eager hand and asked.

“I don’t know.” Er Bao replied, then thought for a moment, “Tie Dan, Baozhu sister is our friend, can she pet you? Like this…” He reached out and petted Tie Dan’s head, then pointed to Yang Baozhu, “She also wants to pet you like this, okay?”

Tie Dan looked at Er Bao with its deep brown eyes, expressing its clear ignorance. It meant it didn’t understand its little master’s words!