Chapter 14: Puppy

Chapter 14: Puppy

The next morning at dawn.

Yuan Rang was awakened by knocking at the door.

"Brother Chen! Brother Chen!"

He, of course, ignored it.

He even went out of his way to cover Chen Shuo'an's ears.

Chen Shuo'an nuzzled his face into Yuan Rang's palm, still half-asleep, with sleep creases pressed into his cheek.

"Are they butchering a pig out there?"

Yuan Rang, completely hooked by the sight of Chen Shuo'an just waking up, felt his mind go blank. He swallowed hard, leaned in, and whispered by Chen Shuo'an's ear: "Sounds like Li Wei. Probably nothing important."

Chen Shuo'an shot up like a rocket.

This was a big deal!

Brothers are like arms and legs—there's no way he, Chen Shuo'an, was gonna end up limbless!

Yuan Rang's arms were left empty, and he watched Chen Shuo'an get dressed and leave with a dark look.

Might as well be butchering a pig out there.

Yuan Rang thought, his face completely blank.

Chen Shuo'an had slept like a baby.

He stretched happily, but before he could even finish, Li Wei came charging in and smacked him hard on the shoulder.

Chen Shuo'an yelped and doubled over like he was about to drop to his knees.

Li Wei was startled and crouched down to check on him: "You alright, Brother Chen? Don't you try to pull one over on me."

"Brother Chen appreciates the concern, but he doesn't like your tone." Chen Shuo'an grinned slyly, straightened up fast, and landed a solid hit on Li Wei's back.

Yuan Rang opened the door, watched the two of them messing around, and said coldly, "Like what?"

Li Wei blurted out, "Greetings to His Highness the Sixth Prince."

Realizing something was off, he added, dazed: "Huh?"

???

Why was His Highness here?

He whipped his head toward Chen Shuo'an, his tiny brain unable to handle the massive confusion.

Chen Shuo'an now thought his prince was perfect in every way.

So he jumped in and dropped a bombshell on Li Wei: "Nothing much, just Li Wei saying he likes things rough."

??????

But he'd always liked things cute?

————

The morning's mix-up had Li Wei still looking dazed.

Zhang Chenggong felt kinda bad for him and asked Chen Shuo'an, "What's the deal? Tofu's got a brain, but I think Li Wei's lost his."

Chen Shuo'an shrugged, clueless.

He looked around and noticed another buddy was missing, so he asked, "Where's Zheng Yuanzhi? Where'd he run off to?"

Zhang Chenggong patted Li Wei's face, trying to snap him out of it, and answered as he did: "He'll be here later. A wolf took a chunk out of him yesterday, and he's still in bad shape. Good thing the Crown Prince and the Sixth Prince were near the watchtower then. They saw the signal flare and came running with their men, or we'd be meeting in the afterlife today."

Chen Shuo'an nodded, feeling lucky.

"Zheng Yuanzhi won't get rabies, right?"

Li Wei suddenly snapped out of it and raised his hand.

Zhang Chenggong smacked him on the back of his round head, annoyed. "Wish the guy well!"

Then he leaned in all mysterious and said, "Yesterday we got trapped by wolves and didn't make it back, so we missed something huge."

Chen Shuo'an perked up at that and guessed, "Don't tell me it's about His Majesty getting attacked last night?"

Zhang Chenggong slapped his thigh, excited. "Exactly! Though 'attacked' isn't quite the word. I asked the head maid this morning—she said His Majesty got spooked by a bear."

Chen Shuo'an's eyes narrowed, realizing this was the original story's plot playing out.

But if the Crown Prince was out saving people from wolves last night, then who saved His Majesty from the bear's claws?

Zhang Chenggong continued: "Yesterday, the Fifth Prince caught a bear cub. Before he even got back to camp, he was asking His Majesty for a reward. His Majesty was overjoyed, of course, and held the cub, but before he could even get attached, the mother bear that had chased it all the way there swatted him to the ground. He spat out a big wad of blood. Luckily, His Highness the Third Prince was there watching over him, or His Majesty would've been hurt way worse."

The one who was supposed to save His Majesty had changed from Yuan Qi to Yuan Wu!

Chen Shuo'an frowned, confused about what had caused the original plot to go off track.

Zhang Chenggong saw how serious they looked and whispered, "Right now, the Fifth Prince is still kneeling outside His Majesty's door."

Just then, the sound of Zheng Yuanzhi's footsteps broke the tension among the three.

He came over with his left arm hanging limp and useless, his right arm holding something small.

"What's with the long faces? Shuo'an, look—isn't it cute?" Zheng Yuanzhi held out the squirmy little thing with one hand, offering it to Chen Shuo'an.

Chen Shuo'an took a closer look—it was an ugly little mutt.

He smiled and said, "So cute. Now please take it far away."

Zheng Yuanzhi laughed heartily, thrilled that Chen Shuo'an actually agreed with him.

After all, when he'd found this dog last night, Li Wei, Zhang Chenggong, and Qin Zhonglian had shown unprecedented unity, all answering "not cute" in perfect sync.

So he reluctantly parted with it, saying generously, "Don't say your brother doesn't look out for you—you can keep this dog."

?

Chen Shuo'an found a puppy shoved into his arms, looking bewildered.

Please, don't care for me.

The little dog opened its mouth and sucked on Chen Shuoan's pinky, making his heart flutter, and he couldn't help but start playing with it.

Li Wei watched him with a goofy grin: "You've got this whole maternal glow thing going on... hehehe..."

Zheng Yuanzhi: "..."

Zhang Chenggong: "..."

Chen Shuoan smiled and said, "You really can't expect anything good from a dog's mouth."

Zhang Chenggong slammed the table, startling the other three, who set aside their personal grudges and all looked at him in unison.

He straightened up and picked up where he left off: "Because of what happened last night, the higher-ups decided to call off hunting for the next few days and switch to holding a competition at the hunting grounds."

Chen Shuoan's eyes sparkled.

Zhang Chenggong grinned and added, "And it's not mandatory to participate."

Chen Shuoan's eyes instantly shone brighter than laser fiber optics.

Finally, some good luck, folks.

The four of them let the good news sink in and got up to find something to eat, while Chen Shuoan was left holding the dog, stuck.

"It's still a baby, so it needs milk. Where am I supposed to get milk for it?"

Zheng Yuanzhi shrugged nonchalantly: "Don't worry, dogs like this can survive anything. Yesterday it was howling and crapping all over my room, and my hand was hurting so bad, I figured I'd clean it up this morning."

He paused on purpose, leaving them hanging.

Chen Shuoan was so pissed he wanted to slap him twice.

Then Zheng Yuanzhi burst out laughing: "Guess what? This morning, its crap was gone."

Chen Shuoan, Zhang Chenggong, and Li Wei: "..."

What the hell?! Did it eat its own crap?!

Everyone quickly backed away from Chen Shuoan like he was some man-eating monster.

But what really scared them was the ugly dog in his arms that ate its own crap.

Chen Shuoan stood in the gentle morning breeze, looking like he might fall apart at any second.

He slowly raised the hand that got licked and asked the dog softly, "You're pretty smart, huh? Never letting yourself suffer. How's the crap taste?"

Hearing that, the little dog seemed to react to a keyword, tilting its head up with a whimper, as if offering its opinion on Chen Shuoan's question.

Chen Shuoan smiled up at the sky, nearly in tears.

From now on, Chen Shuoan's only language was speechlessness.