Before the four of them even reached the pit-house, they heard the faint sound of a dog barking up ahead.
Zhao Jun looked at Li Baoyu and asked, "Third Uncle got a dog?"
"I don't think so!" Li Baoyu said. "We didn't see one last time we were here."
When Zhao Jun reached the outside of the pit-house, he shouted into it, "Third Uncle! Third Uncle! It's me, Zhao Jun! I came to see you!"
Zhao Jun called out, but the only response he got was the sound of barking.
"The old man must've gone into the mountains," Zhao Jun said to the other three. He then put down the soy sauce jug he was holding and searched around the front and back of the dwelling.
But with no sign of Xing San, Zhao Jun and the others returned to the front of the pit-house. Yet, as long as they stood there, the dog inside kept barking nonstop. Zhao Jun had come specifically to see Xing San, though, so if Xing San didn't return, he was just going to wait a while longer.
