Zuo Ning’s personality was admittedly a bit noisy and playful, but he was also perfectly capable of staying holed up at home. Back when he was just a powerless dog—with no money, no phone, no freedom—he’d spent nearly a whole year indoors, relying on all sorts of melodramatic TV dramas to pass the time. So, Zuo Ning could handle staying in, and he could also handle running wild.
As a homebody dog, he had no idea what the current situation outside was like. So he just followed Lu Chenghe out the door without the slightest disguise, openly and confidently.
Fortunately, Lu Chenghe had taken him to his big brother’s restaurant, which had a private entrance, and they hardly ran into anyone along the way. Zuo Ning, excited, snapped dozens of selfies with his phone and sent them all to his manager before finally digging in and eating to his heart’s content. He devoured enough beef for several people, hugging a wine glass filled with cola as he drank until he was hiccupping, still clinking glasses with Lu Chenghe nonstop.
Naturally, Lu Chenghe’s glass had actual red wine. Zuo Ning had wanted red wine, too, but Lu Chenghe wouldn’t allow it. Wanting things to at least look harmonious on the table, Zuo Ning had simply poured cola into a wine glass. Aside from the constant bubbles rising, it didn’t look too different.
Lu Chenghe took a light sip of his wine and looked at him. “You keep trying to get me drunk. What are you plotting this time?”
Zuo Ning speared a piece of meat, licked his lips, and popped the fragrant, pan-seared beef into his mouth. Without even thinking, he blurted, “Red wine enhances the mood!”
Lu Chenghe shot him a glance and saw him deliberately stick out his tongue to lightly lick his lips, looking at him with teasing eyes. Lu Chenghe picked up a decorative green pea from the plate, flicked his finger, and with perfect accuracy, launched it right at Little Pudding’s white, unblemished forehead.
Zuo Ning yelped dramatically, rubbing his forehead as he stared at Lu Chenghe in shock. “That was so accurate! Were you on the basketball team before?!”
Lu Chenghe couldn’t be bothered to respond. A chef nearby placed a fresh plate of grilled meat in front of them. Lu Chenghe waved a hand and said, “Give it all to him, I don’t want any more.”
Zuo Ning happily accepted all of it without hesitation. Seeing how he was eating like a bottomless pit, Lu Chenghe waved for the chef to leave. Zuo Ning stabbed another piece of meat, glanced at the departing chef, then looked back at Lu Chenghe. Lu Chenghe reached out and gently wiped the grease from his face. “It’s not good to eat too much at night. I had them prepare candied chestnuts for us to take home. If you get hungry later, you can snack on those.”
The moment he heard there was dessert, Zuo Ning eagerly nodded, then glanced at the time. “So we’re heading straight back after we finish eating?”
“You still want to go somewhere?”
Zuo Ning thought for a moment. “Nighttime amusement park?”
Lu Chenghe looked at him and chuckled lightly. Just as he was about to speak, the restaurant manager came in and leaned in to whisper something to Lu Chenghe.
Zuo Ning had sharp hearing. He didn’t recognize the person the manager mentioned, but upon hearing that surname, he immediately recalled the incident involving Fourth Brother. He couldn’t help but ask Lu Chenghe, “Someone from the Tang family is here to cause trouble?”
Lu Chenghe nodded slightly to the manager, who then left. Only after that did he explain to Little Pudding, “There’s a collaboration that the Tang family hasn’t given up on. They’re trying to find any chance they can to get a face-to-face meeting with me. It’s nothing. We’ll leave through the side passage later and won’t run into them.”
Zuo Ning didn’t really understand business matters like this, so he didn’t pry. He just nodded and said, “Then let’s go home after we eat. But you owe me one trip to the nighttime amusement park!”
Lu Chenghe looked at him and said, “Even if you wanted to go after dinner, you probably wouldn’t make it in the end.”
“Why not?”
“Don’t tell me you haven’t realized how well-known you are now?”
Only then did Zuo Ning remember that things weren’t the same as before. He touched his face and sighed, “I actually came out with you like this without any disguise at all. I really must be in true love with you.”
After eating their fill and with dessert in hand, Zuo Ning held his man’s hand, practically skipping along the path toward the parking lot. But from a distance, he saw someone waiting near their car—it looked like they were expecting them.
Lu Chenghe immediately signaled for the bodyguards to move in, and just like that, the two groups of bodyguards stood off against each other.
Tang Yifeng stepped forward with a smile. “I didn’t want to interrupt President Lu’s dinner, so I’ve been waiting until now. Oh, and Mr. Lu Ning is here too.”
Zuo Ning looked at him in confusion. Who the hell is this nutcase? He didn’t even know him, yet the guy was acting like they were old acquaintances.
“You still want to go somewhere?”
Zuo Ning thought for a moment. “Nighttime amusement park?”
Lu Chenghe looked at him and chuckled lightly. Just as he was about to speak, the restaurant manager came in and leaned in to whisper something to Lu Chenghe.
Zuo Ning had sharp hearing. He didn’t recognize the person the manager mentioned, but upon hearing that surname, he immediately recalled the incident involving Fourth Brother. He couldn’t help but ask Lu Chenghe, “Someone from the Tang family is here to cause trouble?”
Lu Chenghe nodded slightly to the manager, who then left. Only after that did he explain to Little Pudding, “There’s a collaboration that the Tang family hasn’t given up on. They’re trying to find any chance they can to get a face-to-face meeting with me. It’s nothing. We’ll leave through the side passage later and won’t run into them.”
Zuo Ning didn’t really understand business matters like this, so he didn’t pry. He just nodded and said, “Then let’s go home after we eat. But you owe me one trip to the nighttime amusement park!”
Lu Chenghe looked at him and said, “Even if you wanted to go after dinner, you probably wouldn’t make it in the end.”
“Why not?”
“Don’t tell me you haven’t realized how well-known you are now?”
Only then did Zuo Ning remember that things weren’t the same as before. He touched his face and sighed, “I actually came out with you like this without any disguise at all. I really must be in true love with you.”
After eating their fill and with dessert in hand, Zuo Ning held his man’s hand, practically skipping along the path toward the parking lot. But from a distance, he saw someone waiting near their car—it looked like they were expecting them. Lu Chenghe immediately signaled for the bodyguards to move in, and just like that, the two groups of bodyguards stood off against each other.
Tang Yifeng stepped forward with a smile. “I didn’t want to interrupt President Lu’s dinner, so I’ve been waiting until now. Oh, and Mr. Lu Ning is here, too.”
Zuo Ning looked at him in confusion. Who the hell is this nutcase? He didn’t even know him, yet the guy was acting like they were old acquaintances.
Lu Chenghe patted Little Pudding: “You get in the car and wait for me.”
Seeing the menacing expression of the newcomer, Zuo Ning held Lu Chenghe’s hand even tighter: “No, I’m staying with you. What if this guy suddenly goes crazy? At least I can protect you!”
Lu Chenghe chuckled at those words and pushed him toward the car: “With those skinny arms and legs of yours? Be good, get in the car. I’ll be right there.”
Only after confirming that his own bodyguards weren’t any worse than the others’—in fact, he even had two more—did Zuo Ning obediently get into the car.
Tang Yifeng didn’t stop him either. After seeing that the boy called Lu Ning had gotten into the car, and two bodyguards immediately went over and stood guard at the car door, he raised his eyebrows slightly. If he had known from the start that Lu Chenghe took this little lover so seriously, he would’ve personally arranged for someone to go all out, instead of letting that group of idiots find some random person, turning the whole thing into a mess without gaining the slightest benefit.
The way he kept his eyes on Little Pudding made Lu Chenghe’s gaze grow colder and colder. One of the bodyguards noticed his boss’s expression and directly stepped over to block Tang Yifeng’s line of sight. Tang Yifeng let out a soft laugh and withdrew his gaze, looking instead at Lu Chenghe: “President Lu really is something. Even the dogs you keep are more obedient than others’.”
Sitting inside the car, Zuo Ning had cracked open the window a bit to listen to what was going on outside. Upon hearing Tang Yifeng’s words, he was so scared he nearly lost his soul. He knows about my background!? Did that Lu Nianqi sell me out?! What should I do? Do I need to kill him to silence him!?
Lu Chenghe looked at him coldly and said, “Since President Tang raises dogs, of course, they don’t understand human speech.” The bodyguards beside Lu Chenghe also looked mockingly at Tang Yifeng and his men, their eyes full of scorn, making them burn with suppressed anger.
After all the effort to corner Lu Chenghe, Tang Yifeng naturally wouldn’t waste time bickering over such petty insults. He got straight to the point: “President Lu, give it to me straight. What will it take for you to let this go? If we really push it to a fish-dies-net-breaks point, it won’t do either of us any good.”
Lu Chenghe sneered coldly: “Since President Tang was the one who started this, why so eager to call it off now? Ending things with a whimper rather than a bang, wouldn’t that just make us a laughingstock?”
Tang Yifeng’s expression shifted slightly, and his smile twisted a bit savagely: “I’ve learned my lesson from the punishment you gave, President Lu. I only ask that you show some mercy.”
Lu Chenghe took a few steps closer and lowered his voice: “You should be grateful he’s still alive. But whatever you’ve done, you’ll have to pay for it.”
Zuo Ning was practically about to stick his whole head out the car window to eavesdrop. What were they whispering about, standing so close?
Tang Yifeng could no longer force a smile. “Half of the Tang family’s empire, this price is already high enough. President Lu, leave a way out for everything.”
“No, it’s still far from enough.”
Even after all of Lu Chenghe’s people had left and only Tang Yifeng remained in the parking lot, Lu Chenghe’s parting words still echoed in his ears: There will be no more Tang family in Qingniao City.
Once they started heading up the mountain and Zuo Ning saw that no one was following them, he finally let out a breath of relief. Lu Chenghe leaned back in his seat and, seeing Little Pudding constantly craning his neck to look out the rear window in alarm, pushed him gently back onto the seat with amusement. “We’re almost home. Stop fidgeting.”
“I’m just worried someone might ambush us! What you said back there was seriously too much. It was like trying to uproot a person completely. If he’s pushed to the edge, who knows what he might do! You have to be extra careful when you go out, okay?”
Lu Chenghe patted the paw gripping his arm so tensely. “Don’t worry, I know my limits. But you need to be careful, too. Don’t run around by yourself. Make sure to have someone with you at all times.”
Zuo Ning nodded, then leaned in closer to whisper in Lu Chenghe’s ear: “That person just now… did he find out about me? Is that why you’re going after him so relentlessly?”
The question left Lu Chenghe baffled. He looked at Little Pudding, puzzled. “Find out what about you?”
Zuo Ning glanced at the driver, making sure that as long as he kept his voice down, the driver wouldn’t be able to hear him. After all, only non-humans had hearing that sharp. Then, pressing close to Lu Chenghe’s ear, he whispered with breathy urgency: “That I’m a dog! Right when I got into the car, he said the dog you raised is more obedient than others’. Isn’t that clearly a veiled comment!?”
Seeing Little Pudding speak so seriously, with eyes full of worry, and realizing he wasn’t joking but truly believed it, even Lu Chenghe couldn’t help but burst out laughing.
Zuo Ning blinked in confusion, not understanding why Lu Chenghe was suddenly laughing. I’m talking about something so serious. What’s so funny!?
Lu Chenghe reached out and pulled Little Pudding into his arms, planting a kiss on his cheek. “You… if you’re this cute, what’ll I do if someone steals you away?”
