I, A Loyal Dog, Awaken to My Fate as Cannon Fodder - Chapter 15

The winter sun was not particularly warm, yet it was enough to melt the icicles hanging from the eaves.

Steam billowed in the small, warm bathroom, and a layer of white mist coated the window—a union of cold and heat.

Soothing music played inside the bathroom, a wordless melody, pure instrumental.

The relaxing tune penetrated the bathroom door; standing outside, one could hear the hazy sound mingled with the splashing of water.

“Shen Yinan—”

Now, besides the sound of water and music, there was the loud shouting of Cheng Wanqiu.

The Cheng family residence was an old house. When winter arrived, the hot water on the second floor easily ran into trouble; they kept saying it needed repairs, but in the midst of the hustle and bustle, it was always forgotten.

Cheng Wanqiu had no choice but to go to the first-floor bathroom to bathe.

After a long while, Cheng Wanqiu received no response from Shen Yinan.

Shampoo-filled water had run into her eyes. She didn’t often use the downstairs bathroom, so her towels weren’t stocked there.

“Shen Yinan, my eyes hurt so much!!!”

No one was more delicate than her.

If it were Shen Yinan who got shampoo in her eyes, she would simply scoop up water, splash her face to rinse the remaining bubbles, rub her eyes once, and force them open as if nothing had happened.

It was a struggle for Cheng Wanqiu, who was howling in pain inside the bathroom.

Someone took it upon themselves to brazenly impersonate Shen Yinan to deliver a towel to Cheng Wanqiu.

Luo Yejun held a soft pink towel in his hands, lingering outside the bathroom door for a short moment.

Give him a single sound, and his mind would spin a thousand fantasies; he had even decided what he and Cheng Wanqiu would name their future children.

He smiled like a petty man who had achieved his ambition—sinister and eerie. The dark circles under his eyes had deepened by a degree. His hollow, terrifying eyes stared at that bathroom door like a malevolent spirit from a horror movie.

He murmured softly, “Wanqiu, in the future, I will forge a golden cage just for you. We will be together forever.”

He looked very much like a yandere, a term he enjoyed using to describe himself.

This scene was witnessed by Shen Yinan from the second floor, and that look of his made her inexplicably irritable.

She disliked anyone staring at the Young Lady with that kind of gaze, even if a door stood between them.

Teeth ground together in her mouth with a creaking sound; only by biting the tip of her tongue could she remain calm.

With eyes as venomous as a viper’s, she stared fixedly at the greedy little rat below.

Just as that filthy hand was about to touch the bathroom door, Shen Yinan descended the stairs and tapped Luo Yejun on the shoulder.

“Master Luo.”

With a sharp “Ah!”, Luo Yejun let out a pathetic scream of fright.

Shen Yinan, with her harmless and gentle facade, looked at him. “Master Luo, the Young Lady is bathing.”

Watching Luo Yejun’s gasping breath, which refused to steady after the scare, Shen Yinan despised this dead rat from the sewers even more.

“Master Luo, this is the Cheng residence.”

Though her appearance was gentle, Luo Yejun felt a chilling coldness when looking at Shen Yinan.

As if being coiled by a venomous snake.

Luo Yejun flicked a dark glance at Shen Yinan, wanting to point a finger and say something—perhaps tell her to mind her own business.

But this was the Cheng house.

Having no way to deal with Shen Yinan, he flung his hand dismissively and left in a foul mood.

Cheng Wanqiu remained oblivious to everything happening outside.

Knock, knock, knock—

Shen Yinan knocked gently on the door.

She held a stack of neatly folded clothes and a towel.

“Young Lady, it’s me. I’m coming in.”

She waited for two or three seconds; the person inside did not speak.

It wasn’t that Cheng Wanqiu disagreed, but rather a silent understanding between them—if Cheng Wanqiu didn’t answer, it meant she permitted it.

Shen Yinan took a deep breath and took the initiative to push open the bathroom door.

She was met with a wall of hot steam. She couldn’t see the Young Lady clearly, only a blurred silhouette.

Quickly, the door closed with a “thud.” With her standing guard, the Young Lady would be safe.

Had Shen Yinan arrived a step later, Cheng Wanqiu’s modesty would have been seen by that sewer rat.

That foul, filthy rat used malicious methods, intending to ruin a person’s purity to force Cheng Wanqiu to be with him.

And a pedantic aristocratic family like the Chengs would only end up doing exactly what the stinking rat wanted.

This was the reason Shen Yinan was so angry.

“Young Lady, I’ll ask Uncle Butler to find someone to fix the upstairs bathroom. It’s too inconvenient to keep bathing in this cramped space all winter.”

Shen Yinan stood right in front of the frosted glass door of the shower, acting as a human storage bin.

From the outside, only her blurry black silhouette could be seen—icy and grim.

The more one looked, the more it seemed she had a pair of eerie eyes on her back, staring outward like a surveillance camera.

Luo Yejun swallowed hard, lost his nerve, and retreated once more.

“Mhm, there isn’t even a place to soak in here.”

Cheng Wanqiu’s tone was not particularly approachable as she said arrogantly:

“I’ve got shampoo in my eyes. Shen Yinan, come here quickly and help me wipe them.”

Shen Yinan replied without temper, “Yes, yes, yes, my Young Lady.”

…

Having returned to the Cheng house for New Year’s Day, they stayed until nightfall. Once everyone in the household had fallen asleep, Shen Yinan finally picked up the manga given to her by the class monitor, Tao Ye.

In the dead of night, a small nightlight glowed on Shen Yinan’s bedside table—white, dim, and not very bright.

She leaned against the headboard, flipping through the manga page by page.

The art was indeed good, and it was erotic enough, but Shen Yinan felt absolutely nothing while reading it.

The characters inside were far too similar to her—both were dogs raised by aristocratic families—but she merely watched from a divine perspective as that dog was toyed with by the eldest miss.

She didn’t have a shred of feeling, as if she were frigid.

Knock, knock, knock. The sound of the door.

Shen Yinan quickly emerged from the world of the book. She didn’t close the manga, casually leaving it open on the bedside table.

“What is it?”

She got out of bed barefoot. The veins on the tops of her feet were alluringly defined—full of linear grace rather than being fleshy.

Shen Yinan walked to the door and opened it.

It was already 11 o’clock.

The moment the door opened, she was struck with surprise.

“Young Lady, why are you here?”

Cheng Wanqiu hurried to cover Shen Yinan’s mouth.

“Let me in before I tell you.”

Shen Yinan was pulled into the room to talk.

Seeing the Young Lady huffing and puffing, seemingly hiding from something, Shen Yinan’s eyes grew several degrees colder.

“Is something wrong, Young Lady?”

Shen Yinan asked intentionally, her face wearing a mask of total incomprehension.

Once Cheng Wanqiu caught her breath, she whispered into Shen Yinan’s ear.

“Your mistress has been cornered by her childhood playmate. He said he wanted to bring me milk in the middle of the night.”

It had terrified Cheng Wanqiu.

“Luckily I was clever. I said I didn’t like drinking milk, so that Luo Yejun went downstairs to the kitchen to squeeze a cup of fruit juice for me.”

Shen Yinan listened with a calm expression.

Cheng Wanqiu hadn’t fully recovered her breath, venting to Shen Yinan as she panted.

“Luo Yejun is truly a psychopath. He’s been pestering me since we were kids, and he’s still like this now that we’re grown.”

Shen Yinan did not chime in to say that Master Luo was indeed sick.

She simply listened quietly.

However, her fingernails were nearly digging into her palms.

She was already enduring the second male lead of the book to her absolute limit.

The yandere male lead who had returned from studying abroad.

In the future, he would constantly watch over the Young Lady, restricting her freedom under the beautiful name of love—saying, “This is my love for you, I love you so much I could die.”

But if Luo Yejun, this yandere man, were truly asked to die for Cheng Wanqiu, he would certainly calculate it in his heart for a long time.

Or he would outright refuse, unwilling to harm himself for a woman.

Shen Yinan was different. Though this dog was a bit rebellious, if she were truly asked to die for Cheng Wanqiu, she would sacrifice herself without a moment’s hesitation.

After all, it was the Young Lady who had plucked her from the Shen family’s pigsty and given her a “respectable” job.

“Shen Yinan, go and get rid of that childhood playmate of mine. You’re so well-liked; everyone listens to you.”

It was rare for Shen Yinan to see the Young Lady looking so flustered and annoyed. Unlike the last time with Senior Hu Ying, where the Young Lady kept using the Senior to tease her.

“Alright. You stay in my room, Young Lady. I will go tell Master Luo that you’ve fallen asleep.”

“Mhm, mhm.” Cheng Wanqiu pursed her lips, huffed with her arms crossed, and sat down on Shen Yinan’s bed.

To deal with such clumsy tricks, Shen Yinan only needed one sentence.

An icy, bone-chilling voice came from behind Luo Yejun, making him flinch and shrink back.

“Master Luo, there is a curfew at the Cheng house at night. Don’t leave your room. Be careful.”

The second hand of the clock hanging in the kitchen ticked with a “clack.” He hadn’t noticed it before, but upon hearing Shen Yinan’s words, Luo Yejun was scared out of his wits.

When he turned around, where was Shen Yinan? There was no one behind him at all.

Luo Yejun became even more terrified. Compared to loving Cheng Wanqiu, he was more worried about his own life.

Hiding behind a potted plant, Shen Yinan quietly watched Luo Yejun flee back to his room in a wretched state.

Emerging from behind the plant, Shen Yinan looked down on this yandere male lead of the book even more.

“Humph,” she let out a cold snort.

Shen Yinan seemed to have forgotten something—the borrowed manga was still lying open on her bedside table.

“Young Lady, I’m back.”

Opening the door, she found Cheng Wanqiu standing there, holding the yuri manga, waiting for her as if ready for an interrogation.

Shen Yinan paused at the doorway. Catching sight of the book in the Young Lady’s hands, her mouth parted slightly, unsure of what to say.

Unskilled in speech, she couldn’t even manage to find an excuse—a truly honest and well-behaved child.

“Shen Yinan, what is this?”

That was not an inquiring tone. Cheng Wanqiu held one arm with her other hand, light-heartedly tapping her finger as if counting down: three, two, one.

Shen Yinan was too afraid to look Cheng Wanqiu in the eye. “Young… Young Lady…”

“Close the door before we speak.”

Cheng Wanqiu spoke unhurriedly. It was impossible to tell if she was angry or… using the excuse of the erotic manga to bully Shen Yinan.

“Yes.” Ashamed, Shen Yinan lowered her head and carefully, gently closed the door.

The poisonous viper from moments ago bore no resemblance to this cowardly nature, this appearance of being held firmly in someone’s grasp.

Shen Yinan was like a frightened quail.

Turning around, Shen Yinan watched as Cheng Wanqiu gracefully sat on her bed again. Beneath her nightgown were tender, slender legs, crossed with an air of authority.

The flesh on the Young Lady’s thighs could not be a fraction more or less; any change would lose that enticing, sultry quality.

Watching the manga pages being flipped over and over in her hands, the “rustle” of the paper sounded like a death knell.

There was nothing more humiliating than being caught reading erotic yuri manga.