After eating lunch, it was time for rest. Usually Lu Chenghe would lie down in the bedroom and browse the news to relax. But Zuo Ning didn’t know that. He saw Lu Chenghe walk towards the little room and quickly went on the bed. He left half the bed empty and eagerly looked at Lu Chenghe.
Lu Chenghe was just about to grab the remote to turn on the TV, but he paused and looked towards Little Pudding, “Want to take an afternoon nap?”
Zuo Ning immediately replied, “Woof!” Want!
He waited until Lu Chenghe took off his outer clothes and got on the bed before quickly resuming the way he usually sleeps, squeezed into Lu Chenghe’s arms and adjusted into a comfortable position. Although he did not have a habit of napping in the afternoon he was willing to adapt to Lu Chenghe. See how considerate he was?
Lu Chenghe thought that Little Pudding had a habit of taking a nap in the afternoon. The steward had said that when Lu Chenghe wasn’t at home, Little Pudding would often stay in the dog kennel and sleep. Seeing the little rascal getting ready to go to sleep, Lu Chenghe also decided not to watch the news and just sleep for a while. He picked up the remote to close the curtains. The room was entirely dark. One person and one dog adapted to each other and slept.
When Zuo Ning woke up, the other half of the bed was already empty. Lu Chenghe was outside talking to someone. Zuo Ning stretched and yawned before jumping down from the bed and drinking some water. He then saw a little fridge in the corner. He didn’t have time to closely examine the room so he didn’t discover it till now.
He strained his ears and heard Lu Chenghe currently discussing something with a number of people and wouldn’t come back for a while. So he carefully walked near the fridge and opened the door with a light push.
Although the fridge was small, it had everything it needed. There were english branded mineral waters that Zuo Ning had never seen before. And there were all sorts of unfamiliar brands of juice, coffee, and beer. Zuo Ning’s eyes lingered on the beer before turning towards the juice. He preferred fruit juice over beer. Although it didn’t fit his adult male identity, back in the day he was the campus flower. So whenever he went out with friends, they also did not drink alcohol. Even if he wanted to cultivate a drinking hobby, he didn’t have the opportunity.
He sneakily pulled out a bottle of juice and sat on the ground. He held the bottle using his back paws and used his front paws to twist the lid and with a crack, it opened! Zuo Ning looked left and right before carefully picking up the bowl full of water and tipping it out in the bathroom. He then very carefully used his paws to tip the juice bottle into his bowl. The bowl was quickly filled up with fruit juice. Zuo Ning took two sips before tearing up.
How long? How long had it been since he could drink this? That excitingly sweet flavour that he could only get a little bit of from fruit before, who knew that happiness would suddenly arrive! He finally felt like a human again!
When Lu Chenghe came back to check up on Little Pudding he saw that he was sitting by the window looking at the scenery. He helped turn on the TV and saw the little thing obediently watch him work. Originally he thought that no matter what the day would be noisy since the office was such a small area and Little Pudding had only been accustomed to stay at home before. However he didn’t think that he would adapt so well.
Lu Chenghe was very satisfied and specially rewarded two extra pieces of fruit after dinner.
Everyday a secretary would tidy up the office after the boss went home and today they happened to find an empty juice bottle in the fridge. Usually the things in the fridge were prepared for any guests that would come and if the expiry date was coming up and it had not been eaten, it would be distributed to the other employees in the office and fresh bottles would be placed inside. But finding an empty bottle in the fridge was new. The secretary thought it was a bit strange but didn’t think much about it and threw away the empty bottle before replacing it.
A person and a dog returned home after a comfortable day. Lu Chenghe saw Little Pudding walking happily with a little hop here and a little jump there and couldn’t help but laugh. It was only staying by his side for a day and he was already so happy. Since Little Pudding was so good today and wasn’t any trouble at all, he thought that he might be able to bring him to the office more often in the future.
Lu Chenghe was about to go upstairs to change clothes when Lu Nianqi returned home. After he was scolded for bringing a stray home, Lu Nianqi was more afraid of him. He didn’t dare to appear in front of Lu Chenghe for a couple days.
Lu Chenghe did not have any particularly strong feelings towards this new younger brother of his. If he could be taught, Lu Chenghe was not against taking him under his wing for a few years, but this Lu Nianqi was sensitive, liked to overthink, and his aura wasn’t very impressive. So he gave up that idea and felt that it was enough for him to be well fed and clothed and engage in things that he liked to do.
Just when Lu Chenghe had greeted Lu Nianqi and was preparing to go back to the bedroom, he heard Little Pudding’s low growl. Normally Little Pudding never displayed any aggressiveness, especially towards people in the family. When he heard the growl he immediately turned back and saw Little Pudding crouched low, guardedly watching Lu Nianqi.
Lu Nianqi had also been shocked. He was afraid that if he retreated Little Pudding would charge at him so he didn’t dare to move a single part of his body, “What’s wrong Little Pudding? Don’t you recognise me anymore?”
Lu Chenghe quickly walked over, “Little Pudding?”
Zuo Ning turned around and returned to Lu Chenghe’s side. He rubbed his tail against Lu Chenghe’s leg and barked twice in Lu Nianqi’s direction. He really wanted to show Lu Chenghe that Lu Nianqi had a very bad smell on his body. The smell made him feel uncomfortably dizzy.
Lu Chenghe bent down to pat Little Pudding back and lifted his head to look at Lu Nianqi. Lu Nianqi was even more frightened and stammered, “Older, older brother. I- I don’t know why Little Pudding is like this. We were fine in the morning.”
They really were fine in the morning. When he finished his shower after his morning job he happened to see Lu Nianqi leave the house. Little Pudding had even sent him off. Little Pudding had also been by his side all day and it would have been impossible for Lu Nianqi to do something to him that would make him so hostile.
Lu Chenghe thought for a bit and asked, “Where did you go today?”
Lu Nianqi quickly replied, “I, I went to the dog shelter.”
Lu Chenghe picked up Little Pudding, “First, you should go shower. Perhaps he doesn’t like the smell.”
Zuo Ning thought that something was not right, Lu Nianqi’s body did have a doggy smell but there was also a bad smell that was not dog. The smell was not strong but it still made him uncomfortable. If it was any stronger, he felt that it was basically poison.
Lu Nianqi hurriedly returned to his room to wash after Lu Chenghe’s word and Zuo Ning had also been carried upstairs. Zuo Ning was laying on the sofa waiting for Lu Chenghe and felt that uncomfortable feeling getting worse. His head felt heavy and he felt unbalanced.
Lu Chenghe heard that the movements of Little Pudding was not quite right and quickly wore his clothes. He went out and Little Pudding on the sofa continuously dry heaving but not vomiting anything solid, just water. His heart tightened and immediately called the steward to call a doctor.
Wen Ting had just happened to be giving a dog a shot in the villa opposite the Lu mansion. When he received the call he drove over in less than ten minutes.
Lu Chenghe gently stroked Little Pudding to comfort him. But seeing him continue to vomit, his face was getting darker and darker.
When Wen Tine saw, he didn’t say a word and began the checkup. Afterwards he looked quite solemn and said, “Little Pudding does not have an illness. He must have smelt something toxic. The medicine I brought it not suitable, we need to go directly to the hospital.”
Lu Chenghe did not ask any questions and wrapped Little Pudding up in a blanket and walked out.
Zuo Ning was only brought home by Lu Chenghe at midnight, after his paw had been stuck with a needle. Mother Lu who had heard the news was waiting for Lu Chenghe and a white faced Lu Nianqi was with her. When she saw Lu Chenghe come home, mother Lu quickly walked up, “How was it? Little Pudding is ok right?”
Zuo Ning weakly woofed at mother Lu. He was fine. Just a bit dizzy.
Lu Chenghe looked towards Lu Nianqi, “You wait here. I have questions for you.”
Lu Nianqi’s face was already white, but after that his face drained of colour completely. When mother Lu saw, she tried to console him, “Don’t be scared. When your brother asks you something, you just need to answer. This situation is definitely not related to you. Otherwise your brother wouldn’t just ask you, but directly punish you.”
Lu Nianqi really wanted to say to his aunt, you did not comfort me at all. I am actually even more afraid now.
Lu Chenghe carried Little Pudding into the room while a steward quickly found something to hang the medicine bag on. When he saw the young master’s tired face he quietly said, “Young master hasn’t eaten dinner yet, there is probably something left in the kitchens. I will let someone go heat it up.”
“No need. A simple bowl of noodles is fine.”
When the steward heard that, he quickly went to prepare it.
Lu Chenghe brought the dog paw that had been injected with a needle out of the blanket. Seeing that Little Pudding was being obedient he couldn’t help but pat his head, “Don’t worry. You’ll be fine after you sleep.”
Zuo Ning licked Lu Chenghe’s hand, “Wu…” Scared a dog to death. He thought he was really about to die.
Seeing that he was still a bit out of it, Lu Chenghe gently patted the blanket for a while before going downstairs.
Lu Nianqi saw his second brother and tensed up. After all the situation with Little Pudding was because of himself, so he was even more scared.
Lu Chenghe directly asked, “Repeat where you went and what you did.”
Lu Nianqi repeated every single thing that happened to him that day. He only had half a day’s class so in the afternoon he and his classmates volunteered at a dog shelter. Apart from having contact with a few dogs, he had also spent his time with another student to wash the dog cages.
“Did you come in contact with anything in particular? Give the clothes you wore to the steward.”
Lu Nianqi thought for a bit before shaking his head, “Apart from washing the dog cages, I didn’t do anything in particular.”
Lu Chenghe saw that it was useless to ask anything extra and he could only wait for the steward to bring the clothes for analysis. But before the results could come out, the suspicious dog shelter was called out by a female student from their student union.