Looking at the little one clinging tightly to his leg, Lu Chenghe had no choice but to forcefully pry it off and place it into the butler’s arms. As he was about to leave, the little one suddenly made a pitiful, whining sound, as though it were about to be abandoned. This made Lu Chenghe pause for a moment. Looking at those wet, pleading eyes, he turned to the butler and asked, “What does it do when I’m not home?”
The butler replied, “Most of the time, it just sleeps in its kennel. Occasionally, it wanders around, and when it gets hungry, it will eat by itself. It seldom makes a sound. It’s very well-behaved.”
Seeing the little one still trying to stretch its paws toward him, even while in the butler’s arms, Lu Chenghe couldn’t help but soften a little. He reached out to pat its head and said, “Be good and stay at home. Be obedient.”
There’s a limit to how much one can act cute. It’s fine to be clingy, but being too clingy can be annoying, especially since he and Lu Chenghe had only been together for a few days. Relationships take time to build. The difference in their species meant that they could never truly be together. Despite this, Zuo Ning still wanted to be the dog that Lu Chenghe liked the most and could never replace!
So, when Zuo Ning heard Lu Chenghe’s words, he just stared at him, no longer making a fuss.
Lu Chenghe knew he couldn’t take the dog to the company. Since he wouldn’t be home and the butler likely wouldn’t play with it much, he said, “Put something on for it to watch or find a toy for it to play with.”
The butler, not surprised by Lu Chenghe’s unusual care for the little dog, calmly replied, “Yes, Young Master.”
It wasn’t until Lu Chenghe’s car disappeared from sight that Zuo Ning let out a soft whine and collapsed in the butler’s arms. He had finally met someone who made his heart race, only to despairingly realize they could never be together. What could be more heartbreaking than this?
Back in his own domain, Zuo Ning shook out his slightly messy fur, then walked with his tail drooping back to his two-story kennel.
The kennel was filled with soft padding. The first floor had an automatic water dispenser, a potty area, and a small bed piled with toys. The second floor was entirely a soft mattress for sleeping, with a small window.
The bed had been custom-made to accommodate Zuo Ning’s future size as a Samoyed, so it was spacious enough that the butler only had to bend down slightly to clean it. This was perfect for Zuo Ning, as he now had plenty of space and good privacy. When he closed the small window, no one could see him from the outside.
Thus, during the day, Zuo Ning would stay in the second floor, avoiding the outside world as much as possible. The butler thought he spent most of his time sleeping. Although he did sleep, it was much better than being exposed to people all the time.
Just as Zuo Ning settled into his position to continue contemplating his life as a dog, he heard the butler calling his name. He pried open the window with his paws and peeked outside. The butler was holding a tablet.
Remembering Lu Chenghe’s instructions before he left, Zuo Ning hurried downstairs, trotting over to the butler.
The butler smiled warmly and asked, “How about watching a cartoon?” He opened the tablet, found a dog-themed cartoon, and placed it by the fence.
Lively music soon filled the room. Zuo Ning lay down in front of the tablet, his eyes fixed on the screen. Seeing that the dog was quietly watching, the butler didn’t mind whether it could understand. The sound was better than having the dog silently lying in the bed, so he turned to do other tasks.
Zuo Ning lay there for a while, occasionally noticing busy maids passing by. They would glance his way but didn’t pay him much attention. He then stretched out his paw, trying to pull the tablet back into his bed. Unfortunately, the tablet was too heavy for the little pup to move with just one paw. Seeing that no one was stopping him, Zuo Ning turned around and pushed the tablet all the way back to his bed with his head.
However, it was clear that he didn’t want to play in the well-lit, well-ventilated living room where anyone could easily see him. So, Zuo Ning bit the plain outer shell of the tablet and dragged it upstairs.
A tablet, one that’s connected to the internet—this could be useful! Once he ensured that the window was closed and that no one could see inside, Zuo Ning squatted in front of the tablet. Although the noisy cartoon was still playing, his attention had already drifted away from it.
However, he didn’t act rashly. He wasn’t sure whether checking something on the tablet today would expose his abnormal behavior, even if he erased all traces afterward.
He wasn’t sure if the Lu family had someone who monitored their network regularly. If he were being raised by a normal family, Zuo Ning wouldn’t be so cautious. But given what he knew about the Lu family so far, he really didn’t dare to make any hasty moves.
Maybe he was being overly cautious and overthinking things, but it was better than doing something impulsive and causing irreversible consequences.
In the end, Zuo Ning despondently realized that even with a tablet, as long as he was still a dog, he couldn’t do anything. Looking at the familiar electronic device in front of him, he felt a panic he had never experienced since becoming a dog. It made him painfully aware that he might never go back.
Perhaps his future would be full of comfort, but he had lost his freedom and his sense of self. No matter what he wanted to do, he could no longer do it. Living with the soul of a human in a confined, domesticated life, Zuo Ning didn’t know if he could endure this kind of existence.
He had grown up smoothly, just barely recovering from the loss of his parents, only to encounter such a fantastical experience. Even though he considered himself strong, Zuo Ning was still under twenty and could still be called a child. Now, he couldn’t bear it anymore. Hiding in this small, confined space, he silently cried.
At first, the butler thought he had misheard. But after listening more carefully, he realized the soft sobbing was coming from the kennel. Shocked, the butler immediately rushed over. Given that the dog had just been vaccinated, this was the most likely time for problems to arise. Fearing that the dog wasn’t feeling well, he quickly put down what he was doing and called out twice.
However, the usually obedient Little Pudding didn’t come out upon hearing the calls. The butler had no choice but to approach the kennel and open the small window on the second floor. He saw that the cartoon on the tablet had ended at some point and Little Pudding was lying beside it, crying.
When he opened the window, the dog turned around, presenting its back to him.
The butler paused for a moment. He took the tablet from the window, found another cartoon that would play continuously, and placed it back. However, Little Pudding still turned its back to him, not even acknowledging the sound. The butler could only close the window again.
After thinking for a moment, he sent a text message to the young master. Although it wasn’t ideal to disturb him over such a trivial matter, he felt that sending a text message wasn’t too much of an intrusion.
In his office, Lu Chenghe was having a small meeting with some subordinates when he felt his phone vibrate. He glanced at it and saw it was a message from the butler. He picked up the phone and paused for a moment when he saw the content. After the meeting ended, Lu Chenghe kept his assistant behind.
Assistant Qi, who thought the boss had further instructions, was caught off guard when the conversation turned to something completely unrelated to work. When asked, he hesitated slightly before answering, “Yes, we…we’ve raised a Border Collie.”
Lu Chenghe vaguely remembered that his assistant had a dog. After confirming that he hadn’t remembered wrongly, he asked, “In what situations would the dog hide and cry?”
Although this question was outside his area of expertise, Assistant Qi, who had been raising dogs for many years, summarized his experience and replied, “Generally, dogs cry when they’re scolded, when they can’t get what they want, or when they think they’ve been abandoned. Some dogs are emotionally sensitive and cry easily, even crying in their sleep at night. Others cry when they don’t feel secure. For example, when my dog was younger, I just took it for a beauty treatment. When I went to pick it up, it cried in my arms, probably thinking I didn’t want it anymore. Dogs are very smart, so they have their own little thoughts and schemes. Crying is just a normal emotional expression.”
Lu Chenghe nodded after hearing this. After dismissing his assistant, he stared at the computer screen and remained silent for a while. The little one was more sensitive than he expected. But he couldn’t be at home 24/7. Although the little one was a bit clingy, a dog only has one owner in its entire life—if it doesn’t cling to its owner, who else would it cling to? Thinking this way, Lu Chenghe felt a sudden pang of sympathy. He unexpectedly realized that raising a pet wasn’t just a pastime; it was a responsibility.
Getting off work earlier than usual, Lu Chenghe specifically instructed the driver to take a detour to the shopping mall. Although the butler could handle it, today he wanted to personally buy some toys for Little Pudding.
Upon hearing the sound of the car, Zuo Ning darted out like a little cannonball, determined to let Lu Chenghe feel how much he was welcomed home.
In the past, being overly obedient was mostly to stay in this home, but now, Zuo Ning realized that Lu Chenghe was actually a person who was emotionally reserved but very gentle. Plus, he looked so good. Zuo Ning found himself liking him. Naturally, he wanted to get closer.
Watching the little one’s tail wagging like a blur, Lu Chenghe bent down to pick it up and then walked to the trunk. Inside were heaps of small toys, chew toys in all shapes and sizes, balls of various sizes, and several colorful frisbees, which left Zuo Ning staring in awe.
Lu Chenghe picked up a soft yellow Pikachu plush toy and held it out to Zuo Ning. “Do you like it?”
Zuo Ning hesitated for a few seconds. He had never played with such things before. Moreover, there were already plenty of these toys, both in the living room’s kennel and the bedroom’s kennel.
But it seemed that this toy was something Lu Chenghe had bought specifically. So, to give him face, Zuo Ning slapped the toy’s face with his paw and flashed his signature angelic smile. “Woof!” As long as it’s from you, I like it!
