The story of my life

Chapter 2

I have reached a small town near the sect. The alabay was following me. He didn't look like he had the urge to attack me, so I just ignored him. The town was a melting pot with plenty of people on the streets talking and laughing about something only they knew. It was evening, so the streets were occupied by some drunks arguing with each other. Walking a little bit further into the town, I ran into some place that looked like a market to me. One was selling caramelized fruits and berries, another was yelling in an attempt to catch someone's attention to buy his radish, and a granny was selling dishes and tableware. Although the cacophony was chaotic, it made everything and everyone look like people there were celebrating something of a holiday. I noticed a bunch of kids that – I presume – were the same age as me. There were wandering all around the market with no goal and no parents to be found near. I suppose, they got here to participate in the adherents competition as well. The alabay walked beside me not paying much attention to everyone else. I've decided to explore the market and find something to eat. Thank God, I've found a small sack of coins in the pocket of my robe. I didn't know anything about the Chinese monetary basics and asked the System to help me with it. At the end of her explanation, I understood that the money should be enough to cover a meal or even a place to stay for the night. However, based on the number of adherents I've net so far, there will be no place in the inns available. I wasn't too much worried about that, as the nights in the summer were pretty warm. I approached a stall. There were steam buns with beans and meat – those were more expensive – on the counter. I pointed at the steam buns with beans. The woman selling over the counter looked at me

"Are you planning to go to the adherents competition too? A few days in a row more and more young people are coming to this place. I barely keep up with the amount of those who want my food. It's hard to cook for all of them" the woman gave me a pleasant smile so big that the corners of her lips almost reached her eyes. "Is that your dog?" I shook my head in response. "No? But it follows you as if it was your tail!"

"I have met him on my way here. He followed me by his own will"

She shook her head and reached into the garbage bin to pull out a bone that was previously used to make some soup

"Come here" The woman beckoned, and the dog gently grabbed the bone out of her hand. "Usually I threw away all the bones I use or give them to my neighbor. He has a guard dog, though it's smaller than this one" She smiled. "Your dog is a good boy. A smart boy. You can tell that just by the look of him." She shifted her gaze at me. "You know, it's true that animals can't talk, but they sure do know better than any of us. Maybe, he thought that you are a good person, so that's why he stick to you and came along. My father used to say about a time he had met a wolf. My father was hunting when he saw it. He looked around trying to find anything he can climb on and hide there from the wolf, but there was not a single tree or a rock in sight. He thought that it was going to be the end of him. However, the wolf didn't spring on him. Then my father gave him a pray he had hunted down, and the wolf took it!" The woman was gesturing. She, indeed, had some interesting stories. "Since then, my father always left something on that valley for the wolf to take. He did it till he himself took his last breath! That's how much he was amazed by the encounter!" She wanted to add something more but got interrupted by a man and a boy around my age

"Lady, what you got there? What kind of stuffing is in these buns?"

The woman immediately got distracted from the story

"I got buns with beans and meat!" the tone of her voice changed

"We will have 6 of them with meat"

"It will be..."

"Goodbye", I said instinctively and walked out of the stall. The dog with the bone in his mouth followed me. And for how long will that last? Maybe I should give him a name? Never mind, there is no chance that the sect will allow me to keep him, so it will be better to find him home instead. Wait a second, why am I thinking about him as if he was my pet? While thinking about all the stuff and troubles I can have with him, I didn't realize that the dog was looking at something – I found out about it a little bit later. He kept walking with me with only his head turned in another direction. I stopped. The dog looked at me and turned in the direction he was looking at. When he turned around and saw me still standing in one place he left me, he got a little closer and began head-butting me in an attempt to make me come with him. Maybe, the woman had been telling the truth when she said that animals know what to do better than us. As far as I started walking, the dog got ahead of me and guided me to the outskirts of the town where we found an abandoned cabin. The rickety door was open. The roof got cracks in it. There was some weed growing around the house. The dog pushed the door with his nose and I walked inside