As one of the eyewitnesses at the scene, Zuo Ning was naturally summoned to the police station to give a statement. Fortunately, Lu Chenghe accompanied him the entire time. When they were about to leave, even the police chief came out personally to see them off. Zuo Ning knew that Lu Chenghe’s maternal grandfather’s family came from a long line of military service, and it seemed their influence in the military was not insignificant. But since Lu Chenghe usually lived such an ordinary life—at most, his clothes and food were a bit better than the average person’s—he had never shown even a hint of enjoying special privileges. Now, seeing the police chief come out in person to send someone off, Zuo Ning couldn’t help but widen his eyes in curiosity.
Just as they were about to get in the car, Zuo Ning was still scrutinizing Lu Chenghe. His intense gaze made Lu Chenghe raise his hand to cover Zuo Ning’s eyes. “What are you staring at? Possessed by a ghost?”
Zuo Ning pulled Lu Chenghe’s hand away. “This is the first time I’ve realized that you’re not just a rich businessman.”
Lu Chenghe chuckled. “If I’m not a businessman, then what am I? The Lu Corporation is huge—you think it’s fake?”
Zuo Ning wrapped his arms around Lu Chenghe’s and leaned against him without saying a word. Although he was usually someone who couldn’t sit still and could chatter endlessly even with nothing to say, he still hadn’t recovered from this incident. He didn’t even feel like speaking. These past few nights, he kept dreaming of cars chasing him, trying to run him down, even people with knives coming after him. Every time, he would wake up in fright.
Lu Chenghe reached out to touch his forehead. “Take the medicine when we get back and get some sleep.”
With how timid Little Pudding was, Lu Chenghe had already expected that he’d fall ill after what happened. That day, he’d fed him a little sleeping pill, hoping it would ease his tense nerves, but even so, he still developed a high fever in the middle of the night and threw up so badly he couldn’t even keep the medicine down. Looking at the needle marks on the back of Little Pudding’s hand, Lu Chenghe reached out and gently held that paw in his own palm, rubbing it lightly.
Zuo Ning looked up at him with some reluctance. “I’m already fine. Medicine’s still poison in small doses—you can’t just take it carelessly.”
“If you won’t take the medicine, then it’s an injection. Pick one: pills or needles.”
Zuo Ning immediately fell silent and leaned against Lu Chenghe’s shoulder, gazing out the window. Now, no matter which street or alley he walked down, he could hear Xing Ze’s songs playing. His photos were on the billboards, and even the screens inside some stores were playing his music videos. Ever since the news confirming Xing Ze’s death came out, it felt like his shadow was everywhere in the world—inescapable.
Zuo Ning didn’t know what the public opinion online had turned into by now. His manager and Lu Chenghe both wouldn’t let him look at his phone or go online, and even the film crew had suspended all work. He stayed in the manor every day and didn’t even step outside the door. Lu Chenghe had also brought a stack of documents home and spent his days handling official matters while keeping him company. Even when Zuo Ning said he could stay on his own just fine, Lu Chenghe still couldn’t rest easy.
Thinking about how Lu Chenghe kept a constant eye on him, Zuo Ning couldn’t help but sigh. He really felt that he was fine. Though he did have nightmares and wasn’t particularly talkative, his mental state was still pretty good. At the very least, being alone wasn’t a problem. He didn’t need to be watched over so cautiously like a piece of fragile crystal. But unfortunately, Lu Chenghe and the others always seemed to think something might happen to him and insisted on keeping him right under their noses at all times.
As they were on their way back to the manor, Zuo Ning couldn’t help asking, “What about Little Pudding?”
He’d been staying at Lu Chenghe’s place for a few days now. Maybe it was because there were more people to look after him here, or maybe it felt safer—whatever the reason, ever since that day’s incident, they hadn’t returned to the new house even once. But now that they were coming back, it didn’t feel right that they hadn’t brought the dog along.
Lu Chenghe said, “Little Pudding went home, too.”
Zuo Ning blinked. “Huh?”
It wasn’t until they returned to the manor that Zuo Ning understood what Lu Chenghe meant. On the living room sofa, a tiny Samoyed pup—about a month and a half old—was lying on its back on a cushion, a small towel draped over its chubby belly, sleeping soundly.
Zuo Ning looked at Lu Chenghe in a bit of a daze. Lu Chenghe reached out and poked the soft little paw that was sticking out, saying, “Little Pudding has a wife now, so of course he has to live with her. This is Little Pudding’s kid. Just think of it as Little Pudding still keeping us company.”
Zuo Ning’s mouth twitched involuntarily. “How come I didn’t know I had a kid?”
Lu Chenghe chuckled lightly. “Well, now you do. This little one is a month and a half old, hasn’t been named yet. It was just delivered this morning. Do you like it?”
Zuo Ning looked at the puppy on the sofa, its little belly rising and falling as it slept, and pouted at Lu Chenghe. “So you had a dog on the side and didn’t say anything, and now you’ve even brought the puppy home!”
Lu Chenghe pinched his puffed-up cheek. “Don’t like it? Then forget it, I’ll have the butler give it away.”
Seeing that Lu Chenghe really looked like he was about to call the butler to take it away, Zuo Ning glanced at the little thing still stupidly sleeping, huffed, and reached out to scoop it into his arms. “Fine, we’ll keep it. It’s just one more bowl of dog food.” With that, he carried the puppy upstairs.
The experienced butler, who had already raised a dog before, had someone temporarily put away the big dog’s toys and arrange for food made specially for puppies. Knowing that this was Little Pudding’s pup, he looked at it with such loving eyes. It was as if he were gazing at his own eldest grandson. He kept sighing to Zuo Ning, “Little Pudding was also just this tiny when he was first brought home. Who would’ve thought that now he even has a kid? Young Master loved Little Pudding so much, and yet he was willing to let him stay at that female dog’s house. I don’t know if Little Pudding will be okay without Young Master. Will he be sad? He was raised by Young Master personally. And Little Pudding’s so delicate. Who knows if he’ll be treated well over there. Sigh…”
Zuo Ning gave an awkward laugh. “Since Chenghe gave them the dog, they’ll definitely treat him like royalty. Don’t worry, Butler. Plus, he gets to be with his wife now. I’m sure Little Pudding’s happy.”
The butler looked at the puppy munching away on its dog food and sighed again. “Let’s hope so.”
Once the butler left, Zuo Ning poked the little pup’s round belly. “You full yet?”
The puppy looked up at the person in front of it, tilted its head in confusion, then stuck out its soft pink tongue to lick its lips. “Woof?”
Hearing that meaningless bark, Zuo Ning used his fingertip to rub the little head twice. “Go on, eat up. Eat more. From now on, you’re my dog son. Your daddy will raise you well and make sure you grow into a noble and elegant Samoyed.”
The little pup blinked its eyes at the human and stuck out its tongue to lick his finger. “Woof!”
Zuo Ning chuckled. “Woof.” Call me Daddy.
The little pup wagged its still-too-short tail. “Woof?” Daddy?
Zuo Ning grinned and said, “Woof!” That’s right, call me Daddy.
The little pup gave up on eating its dog food and wagged its tail furiously as it pounced toward him. Unfortunately, its body was too short. Standing on tiptoe, it still couldn’t reach Zuo Ning’s crouched knees, but it kept wagging its tail and throwing itself forward. “Woof woof!” Daddy!
Zuo Ning laughed and patted its head. “Aww, good boy.”
Just then, Lu Chenghe came downstairs and happened to hear that line. He chuckled, “You two are already getting along like real father and son?”
Zuo Ning picked up the puppy that was trying to jump on him, grabbed its little paw, and waved it toward Lu Chenghe. “Come on, greet your daddy.”
The puppy gave a very cooperative bark, though of course it didn’t mean anything.
“Chenghe, our son doesn’t have a name yet. We can’t keep calling him ‘little pup’ forever. What do you think we should name him?”
Lu Chenghe said, “Let’s call him Little Jelly. That way, it’s obvious he’s Little Pudding’s son.”
Zuo Ning immediately rolled his eyes at him. “If I’d had a choice in the beginning, I would’ve definitely rejected that name!”
Lu Chenghe sat down on the sofa and smiled at him. “When Mom gave you to me, I originally planned to change your name. But that day, I called out ‘Little Pudding’, and you came running over so happily. I figured you’d already accepted it, so I let it be.”
Zuo Ning leaned against Lu Chenghe and didn’t let the pup go back to its food. He kept it in his arms, playing with its paws and rubbing its belly—the soft, fluffy feeling had him completely hooked. He’d never raised a dog before, and even those German Shepherds outside weren’t raised by him. Plus, they didn’t have nearly as much fur as a Samoyed. Now he finally understood why pet owners were all so obsessed with petting their dogs—they really couldn’t stop.
Holding the little chubby pup in both arms and looking it over, Zuo Ning said, “Let’s call him Feifei. Look at that round little belly. He’s definitely going to be a little pork ball when he grows up. Feifei it is.”
Lu Chenghe glanced at him and said coolly, “You were just like that when you were little. Put you on the ground and your belly almost touched the floor.”
Zuo Ning gave a little snort and, completely ignoring him, decided on the puppy’s name: “Hey, my son, from now on your name is Feifei. What a cute name—Feifei, Feifei.”
Seeing that Little Pudding, who had been playing around with the puppy, was finally looking a bit more lively and not so down anymore, Lu Chenghe couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief.
While Zuo Ning was completely absorbed in petting the dog, the situation surrounding Xing Ze had already escalated again. According to Lu Chenghe’s plan, no matter what the truth of the matter was, publicly, the killer’s target must be presented as Xing Ze—Little Pudding was merely caught in the crossfire. He didn’t want Little Pudding to carry guilt over this for the rest of his life.
If the situation hadn’t involved Little Pudding and things had just quietly passed, Lu Chenghe wouldn’t have gone so far as to smear someone who was already dead. But unfortunately, some people just couldn’t resist stirring things up.
The entertainment industry always had a few people with some connections or skills who gained attention by leaking inside stories. And they often did have bits and pieces of real or fake dirt. Rival companies liked to buy these leaks, and those leakers made money off this very method. On the surface, they looked like the disciplinary committee of the entertainment world, branding themselves as truth-tellers who dared to speak out, constantly posting so-called “hard evidence” as if they asked for no return and only sought the truth. But the under-the-table deals—how could outsiders possibly know?
Zhang Dazui was exactly that kind of figure in the entertainment industry—notoriously lacking in morals and obsessed with digging into people’s private lives. Xing Ze’s death, thanks to Bei Xiao and Qi Wei’s arrangements, had already been publicly declared an accident. All videos that could be recovered were destroyed, and Zuo Ning’s name hadn’t come up at all. But somehow, Zhang Dazui got his hands on a video from a bystander. The angle of that bystander’s footage came from running into Xing Ze by chance and secretly recording out of excitement, only to catch the whole incident on camera.
Several days had passed since the incident, and the entire entertainment world—whether truly connected to Xing Ze or not—had been riding the wave of public mourning. Then Zhang Dazui suddenly posted on Weibo, teasing that he would reveal “the truth about Xing Ze’s death” precisely at midnight.
What had already been confirmed as a traffic accident was now suddenly being teased as having a “truth” behind it. Whether Zhang Dazui was just trying to attract attention or clout-chasing, a lot of people began watching and waiting—especially Xing Ze’s die-hard fans, who were glued to the screen, waiting to see what kind of bombshell he would drop.
At the promised time, Zhang Dazui simply posted a video with four words: “The truth is this.”
In an instant, fans already deep in grief over Xing Ze’s death exploded. Overnight, the sparse few pages of Lu Ning’s personal background were practically dug up from top to bottom by hordes of Xing Ze’s fans.
