All the way until he followed Lu Chenghe home, Zuo Ning felt completely dazed, still deeply immersed in the realization that Lu Chenghe kissed me on his own, unable to pull himself out of it, grinning like a silly, sweet fool.
According to the routine for going home, Zuo Ning had to turn back into a dog before they were almost at the house. As a human, he didn’t need to follow Lu Chenghe home every day. After all, before he showed up, Lu Chenghe only had a handful of friends he could truly talk to, and even they didn’t often come over to his house. If he went home with him every day as a person, that would actually seem rather strange. So every morning, he would turn into a dog to leave the house with Lu Chenghe, and before going back in the evening, he’d turn back into a dog to return with him. Only in the bedroom would he turn into a person, and the moment he had to leave the room, he’d turn back into a dog again.
Because of this, Mother Lu had asked Lu Chenghe quite a few times why he wasn’t bringing that young man over to visit anymore. Was it because she had asked too many questions and made Lu Chenghe feel like he needed to avoid suspicion, so he was deliberately keeping his distance? After Lu Chenghe explained it multiple times, Mother Lu eventually stopped asking.
But watching her son coming and going with Little Pudding, living and eating together, practically transformed into a dog slave, she couldn’t help but sigh sadly. If there was anyone to blame, it could only be herself. Why did she ever think her son seemed a bit lonely and might as well have a little pet to keep him company? And look how that turned out: now that he had one, he didn’t want to get close to humans at all anymore.
Looking at the estate drawing nearer, Zuo Ning, sitting in the front passenger seat, suddenly whoosh—turned back into a dog, struggling to crawl out from under the clothes and wagging his tail at Lu Chenghe: “Awoo!”
Lu Chenghe kept one hand on the wheel while reaching out with the other to pet the dog’s head, then stuffed the clothes from the seat into his bag.
Seeing the young master’s car return, the butler, as always, was waiting by the door.
Lu Chenghe opened the car door and was just about to get out when, all of a sudden, he felt a weight press onto him. Looking down, he saw that Little Pudding had squirmed over from the passenger seat right onto his lap. But he was already a big dog now—he couldn’t just sprawl across someone without taking up space like when he was a pup. At this moment, he was stuck right between the steering wheel and Lu Chenghe’s chest.
Lu Chenghe looked down and locked eyes with the dog’s face. Little Pudding, clinging tightly to his chest, stuck out his tongue and looked right back at him: “Woof!”
Lu Chenghe helplessly reached out and rubbed his squashed back. “Doesn’t it hurt? You think you’re still a pup who could crawl anywhere and not get stuck? Have you not looked at how big you are now?”
Although Lu Chenghe said that, he still backed up a bit, making some space before picking him up and getting out of the car. When he bent down, intending to put Little Pudding on the ground, he felt the dog tightly wrapping his paws around his neck, clearly unwilling to get down. Lu Chenghe gave the chubby butt in his arms a squeeze and said, “You lazy thing.”
The butler, standing to the side, smiled as he sighed, “Little Pudding is getting more and more like a spoiled child under Young Master’s care.”
Zuo Ning rested his head on Lu Chenghe’s shoulder, his little tongue sticking out as he smiled, squinting at the butler, his tail swishing uncontrollably: “Aooo~”
Right now, he saw the whole world as filled with happiness. Even the wrinkles on the butler’s face looked adorable. He even felt like the entire world had turned pink, like he was surrounded by countless pink bubbles—so happy he could float into the sky.
The butler reached out and patted Little Pudding’s head. “Looks like Little Pudding went somewhere really fun with Young Master today. Just look how happy he is.”
“Woof!”
Lu Chenghe turned his head slightly to glance at him, smiled, then had the servants take his bag to the bedroom before carrying Little Pudding upstairs.
Once they returned to the room, Lu Chenghe threw the nearly 80-jin[mfn]“jin” (斤) is a Chinese unit of weight. 1 jin ≈ 0.5 kg, so 80 jin ≈ 40 kg (about 88 lbs).[/mfn] Little Pudding straight onto the bed. Just a few days ago, he’d heard from Qi Wei that someone in their dog group had a Samoyed that already weighed over 60 jin, and the dog’s owner was working hard to get it to lose weight. His own dog here weighed 80 jin already. If it weren’t for the fact that, once he turned human, he was all skinny with barely any flesh on his bones, Lu Chenghe would’ve seriously considered putting Little Pudding on a diet, too.
The annoying part was that the little thing seemed completely unaware of how heavy he was, always wanting to cling to him for hugs. Luckily, Lu Chenghe had been consistently keeping up with physical training, and his body was still in good shape. In fact, his arm strength had noticeably improved lately; some of his clothes were even starting to feel tight in the arms and would need to be custom-fitted again.
Seeing Little Pudding still hugging the pillow and rolling around on the bed, Lu Chenghe smacked him with a palm: “Go take a shower. You’re covered in sweat from playing today.”
Zuo Ning immediately flopped down on the pillow, looking up at him with starry, hopeful eyes.
Even though he couldn’t speak, Lu Chenghe still understood what he meant. He couldn’t help tugging on one of his ears with a laugh and said, “What are you trying to take a bath for in the middle of summer? Not afraid of passing out from the heat? Just go rinse off—it’s enough.”
As always, his hope for a shared bath ended in disappointment. Zuo Ning’s entire doggy body drooped, and he flopped over onto the bed with a thud—completely deflated.
After showering, Zuo Ning came out of the bathroom, his hair still dripping with water. A towel hung around his shoulders to soak it up. He wore a sleeveless tank top and a pair of short shorts. His legs were straight and long, with well-proportioned muscle lines from being forced to exercise by Lu Chenghe every day, making him look full of youthful energy. He was naturally very fair-skinned, and after being steamed in the bathroom, his face was slightly flushed, looking fresh, tender, and almost edible.
He noticed Lu Chenghe had somehow found a crystal display stand and had just placed the crystal ball gift from today on it. It was now sitting on the shelf where all his things were displayed. Zuo Ning leaned in to take a look and asked, puzzled, “This is the gift I gave you—you should be keeping it yourself. Why are you putting it here? This wall’s only got so much space. Eventually, it won’t be enough. Why don’t you just set up another room to display all the birthday presents I give you? I’m going to give you one every year. If we live to about eighty, that’s sixty more years—sixty birthday presents. One room should be just about right.”
Lu Chenghe picked up the towel draped over his shoulders and helped dry his hair. “If we only live to eighty, then you have sixty more years, but I only have fifty.”
Zuo Ning grabbed his hand with a grin and said, “Then you live to eighty-eight, and I live to eighty. That way, it works out perfectly!”
Looking at Little Pudding’s earnest face, Lu Chenghe smiled faintly. “Silly thing.”
After a full day of fun, giving away the gift he had been thinking about for so long, and even receiving a kiss initiated by Lu Chenghe, Zuo Ning was so tired he could barely keep his eyes open. Even when Lu Chenghe called him a little fool, he didn’t have the energy to fuss over it. Once his hair was dry, he let out a huge yawn and obediently crawled onto the bed. He was just about to turn back into a dog to sleep and recharge when a question that had been bugging him all day suddenly popped back into his head.
“Chenghe, today’s your birthday. Why didn’t you have a birthday party? The house doesn’t seem to have anything prepared either.”
Even the butler hadn’t said a single “happy birthday”. There wasn’t even a bowl of longevity noodles. That was way too strange. Could he have remembered the date wrong? If that were the case, this whole thing would be a huge blunder.
Lu Chenghe walked to the bedside and gently smoothed his hair. “Sleep. You’re tired from today.”
Zuo Ning tried hard to keep his eyes open, staring at him and waiting for an answer. If he really had gotten the date wrong, he’d want to dig a hole in the ground to hide in. That would be unbelievably stupid.
Seeing that Little Pudding refused to sleep, Lu Chenghe had no choice but to say, “I’ve never celebrated my birthday on the actual day.”
Zuo Ning immediately sat up. “Why?” No matter how you looked at it, Lu Chenghe didn’t seem like someone who’d had a tragic childhood. Judging from Mother Lu’s personality, even though he hadn’t met Father Lu, he’d heard he was also a very gentlemanly and outstanding person. Plus, with several Lu family elders—Eldest Brother Lu and Fourth Brother Lu among them—everyone got along very harmoniously. There didn’t seem to be any dark stories in that family.
Lu Chenghe said, “Because I had a twin sister.”
Zuo Ning was instantly so shocked that any trace of sleepiness disappeared. This… this sudden twist—where did that come from?
Seeing Little Pudding’s stunned expression, Lu Chenghe smiled and continued, “Unfortunately, that child only came to the world to report in, then returned to God’s embrace. But she did come once, so the day of our birth became a memorial day for her. Since I was a child, I never celebrated my birthday on that day, but rather seven days later.”
Zuo Ning stammered for a long while, staring at Lu Chenghe, then finally managed to ask, “So… your parents… did they ever blame you? Were they ever bad to you because of it when you were little?” In the usual scripts, that’s how it goes. And as the male lead, a childhood without some tragic backstory feels incomplete.
Lu Chenghe chuckled and gave his head a rub. “What are you thinking? I told you to stop watching so many dramas. A birthday is just a formality. Besides, from childhood to now, my parents never once missed my birthday. I had everything I was supposed to have. It’s not as full of hardship and grudges as you imagine.”
Zuo Ning instantly let out a breath of relief—he’d been scared to death just now. The whole tone of the story suddenly shifted, and for a moment, he thought the sweet fluff was about to turn into a glass-shard-laced candy.
Lu Chenghe gave his head a light smack. “Are you sleeping or not?”
Zuo Ning quickly slipped under the covers with a whoosh, and in less than a minute, soft little snores began. He was out like a light, carefree and utterly shameless.
Watching the instantly asleep Little Pudding, Lu Chenghe was truly both amused and helpless. Even being this exhausted, he still had the energy to gossip to the end.
Lu Chenghe picked up some clothes and took a shower. Afterward, he spent a while handling the stack of documents that had accumulated throughout the day. When he turned off the lights, ready to go to bed, he couldn’t help but walk over to the display cabinet again. He picked up the crystal ball and gave it a shake—instantly, the motion-activated light inside lit up. The glittering stars inside the ball swirled in the specially formulated liquid, gently drifting down around the little castle. A soft patch of light and shadow was cast onto the room, dazzling and dreamlike.
Lu Chenghe turned to glance at the bed. Today must have really worn him out. After falling asleep, Little Pudding had unknowingly shifted back into his original form. Now, a snow-white Samoyed was lying on his side on the bed, fast asleep and utterly peaceful.
Lu Chenghe smiled slightly, turned back, and lay down on the bed. Quietly, he watched the starlight flickering on the ceiling. Before long, the dog sleeping beside him rolled over in his sleep and snuggled into his arms. Only then did Lu Chenghe close his eyes and sink into a sweet dream.
