Saving the Boss From a ‘Dog Blood’ Novel - Chapter 8

Chapter 8: Man, Are You Serious?

Absurd!

Shameless!

Total nonsense!!

Why on earth would this kind of entertainment-tabloid-tier news happen to him and Lu Mingtang? Was he, Ye Li, some kind of bored person with nothing better to do?

So what if he and Wu Yu were close? Does being close mean you’ll become enemies with the whole world for the sake of so-and-so? Was he that much of an idiot? Even his old man didn’t deserve that kind of “dedication”!

Heaven as his witness, he never played dirty or pulled underhanded tricks. Whether he liked or hated someone, he always did it fair and square.

He, Ye Li, while perhaps not a paragon of virtue, was at least upright and honest!

You could insult his personality, but you could not insult his intelligence or his character!

“What is this dog barking at?”

Liu Da was in the middle of his earnest persuasion when he was shouted down by the puppy.

To be honest, he had imagined the scene of this conversation: Lu Mingtang might be confused, enraged, skeptical, or might even swing at him. The only thing he hadn’t expected was that the most violent reaction would come from a tiny fluffball.

Forget Liu Da, even Lu Mingtang went from shocked to completely dumbfounded.

The puppy charged like a wild boar, his tiny body hitting Liu Da like a cannonball. His harmless paws scratched wildly, at one point hanging off Liu Da’s pant leg. The only thing with any real potential was his teeth, but they couldn’t penetrate the fabric of the trousers at all. His momentum far outweighed his effectiveness, producing no effect on the man other than sheer shock.

“Puppy!” Lu Mingtang barked a reprimand, grabbing the pup by the scruff and peeling him off Liu Da’s leg.

It was clear the puppy was furious, but neither man knew what he was actually furious about.

“Am I going to need a rabies shot?” Liu Da was at a loss, rubbing his shin which hadn’t even lost a layer of skin, a look of grievance on his face.

“Stop being dramatic. If you want one, go quickly so you don’t miss the window,” Lu Mingtang glanced at him. Seeing he was unharmed, he began to shoo him away.

“There’s still the golden 24 hours, no rush… What’s urgent is what I just told you! Think about it carefully!”

As soon as he spoke, the puppy started struggling again. Even though he was being held by Lu Mingtang, he wouldn’t stop woofing.

“Is this Ye Li’s dog or something?! Running into your house to protect its master?!” Liu Da backed away half a step, baring his teeth and glaring down at the dog.

Lu Mingtang was also puzzled, but the priority lay elsewhere:

“He isn’t that kind of person.”

The youth in his memory had many flaws and wasn’t very popular, but his character was upright and he wasn’t petty. Business was business and personal was personal. Even if there were conflicts between the two of them, Ye Li wouldn’t retaliate in professional matters, let alone use sinister methods like having people trip him up from behind.

If it were truly Ye Li, he would be more likely to charge straight at him and pick a fight.

“If it’s not him, what’s the harm in asking?”

“Asking based on such groundless rumors—wouldn’t that make us a laughingstock?”

Imagine being the protagonist of a rumor and charging up to the other party to ask if they were targeting you because of this… Heaven knows they hadn’t seen each other in seven years—the scene made Lu Mingtang’s scalp crawl without even thinking too deeply about it.

“Heh, the rumors are so widespread everyone knows, yet you two ‘leads’ are staying out of it? And as for Ye Li, is the young master really that magnanimous? So magnanimous that he hasn’t shown his face or made a sound for all these years? Who is he cutting ties with? Back then, as soon as the cards were shown, he patted his butt and left without taking a single cloud with him—oh wait, no, he took Wu Xiaoyu. And then? Vanished from the face of the earth, only to exert force from the shadows!”

Liu Da had clearly been suppressed for years. He had tried to contact Ye Li secretly before, but let alone a meeting, the other party hadn’t even given him a peep.

“I’ve never seen such a ‘magnanimous’ person. What kind of bird-feather tantrum lasts this many years? I finally realized later, was that anger? That was the young master feeling like you aren’t on the same level as him, looking down on you!”

“How do you know he was angry?” Lu Mingtang’s heart gave a little jolt.

“Weren’t those cryptic, cynical words he left with back then ‘anger’? If that wasn’t anger, then he’s just a passive-aggressive person.”

Liu Da’s teeth ached with frustration. This guy’s “filter” for Ye Li was thick enough to stop the Eight Banners from entering the pass. The scene back then was practically a falling out, anyone could see they had a huge row. If it weren’t for Lu Mingtang looking guilty and staying patient, would they have let Ye Li leave that office in one piece?

“If he were that kind of person, would he wait this many years to make a move? He’s the type to vent his anger on the spot; he never lets it last overnight,” Lu Mingtang breathed a sigh of relief.

Initially, the puppy was hating the fact that he couldn’t form human syllables, his blood pressure rising from being cursed at by the guy named Liu. But Lu-ge’s words were truly comforting, and his curled-up limbs gradually relaxed.

Exactly! He, Ye Li, never holds a grudge overnight!

Liu Da was visibly choked up, then he stiffened his neck and said stiffly:

“You can know a person’s face but not their heart. Who knows what kind of ‘delicate lady’ complex he’s developed over these years? His heart is as small as the tip of a needle, his temper as stubborn as a turtle’s. Aside from that brain of his, not a single part of him is fit for the public eye. Who the hell knows if he’s been dwelling on something and let out some ‘turtle-tempered’ spite…”

“Woof woof!” Who are you calling a turtle, you turtle!

“What, was it you who added mustard to his coffee?”

Under Lu Mingtang’s suspicious gaze, Liu Da forcibly skipped over that question:

“In short, it might just be the mess he created.”

“Woof awoo!” Exactly, who else could do something so boring!

Lu Mingtang’s eyelids flickered; a belated headache set in. “I say, why are you two always at loggerheads?”

“You didn’t see the way he acted; he could piss off a Buddha back to the Western Heaven,” Liu Da squared his shoulders, blocking the door like a crab. “This is all in the past anyway… Regardless, if it’s him, he’s got to say something to prove it isn’t him doing it!”

“Woof awoo-woo-woo!” Old turtle, you were almost thirty back then! I was the youth, you were just the immature one!

“I said, what are you yapping for, you little brat! Every time I say something, you bark. I don’t care who raised you before, but you’d better see clearly whose territory you’re in now! Get your head in the game!” After lecturing the puppy, Liu Da was still a bit exasperated and said:

“What’s the harm in asking? I just don’t understand you. Back then, that kid couldn’t keep his mouth shut when he was drinking and offended a bunch of thugs. If you hadn’t taken a knife for him, would that pretty head of his still be in one piece? From your shoulder to your back, you had over a dozen stitches! Your right hand was almost ruined! Now, what’s wrong with asking him a few things?! I say, how did he have the nerve to be angry with you back then? What breed of ungrateful wolf is he?”

Ye Li froze instantly, his gaze shifting to Lu Mingtang’s back. He didn’t know…

Something like that had happened, but he could no longer remember why they had gone drinking. Liu Da’s lecture was right—as a youth, he wasn’t afraid of anyone and was always the first to jump into things. That night a conflict arose, a dark swarm of people… someone had grabbed him and run, but that person wasn’t…

When he woke up, only Wu Yu was there. Why did no one tell him?

“He didn’t ask me to save him.” Lu Mingtang’s brow was furrowed tightly, clearly repulsed by Liu Da bringing this up.

But is now the time to be a martyr?!

Liu Da said urgently: “You think you were being a wandering hero? If you ask me, based on this alone, it would be only right for Ye Li to crawl on the ground and be your dog!”

“Are you sick?” After scolding him, Lu Mingtang’s tone softened. “There’s really no need. If it wasn’t him, the bidding results will be proof enough. If it is him… what would asking change?”

It was perfectly logical. Liu Da was speechless, but Ye Li became inexplicably nervous.

First, he was 10,000% sure he hadn’t done such a wicked thing. Second, there shouldn’t be such wicked people around him either. But thirdly, these past few days, Lu Mingtang seemed to have proven with his own life that he didn’t have much of an eye for people, so the reliability of that previous statement was up for debate.

He was uneasy, but Lu Mingtang was a man of his word, patiently waiting for practice to test the theory. Aside from maintaining his usual abnormal schedule, life did see some small changes—for instance, he learned the correct way to “use” a puppy.

“Puppy, go bring the package at the door over.”

The puppy wagged his tail, went, and came back.

“Puppy, where did the remote go?”

The puppy dug the remote out from under the sofa.

“Puppy, bring me my cigar… my smoking cessation stick…”

The puppy ignored him at first, only slowly nudging a cigarette box over once he corrected himself. He was met with a large hand landing on his forehead, the owner even sounding disdainful:

“So young, yet such a butler dog.”

The “butler dog” let out a painless hum, leaped onto the computer desk, sat cross-legged in front of him, turned to look at the keyboard, and then barked at him—

At some unknown point, Lu Mingtang had become fluent in “Dog.” One bark meant dissatisfaction; two barks meant happiness; whimpering meant a guilty conscience; barking with a stare usually meant “Go to sleep”; wide eyes and baring teeth usually meant anger had reached its peak…

If he ignored it, the next step would be the puppy baring his teeth.

But it was still early. Tomorrow the model had to be taken for a test run. Lu Mingtang’s hand instinctively reached for the coffee. The puppy’s barking became rapid—

Consecutive woof-woofs represent: “Stay away from the piece of crap by your hand.”

Lu Mingtang’s hand paused. He inexplicably suspected that if he really picked up the coffee cup, this little thing would disregard all canine ethics and pee in his cup. So, he silently withdrew his hand.

This whole thing was so fresh it was almost fantastical. Regardless, the testing was tomorrow, and after that, it would be handed over to the sales department to wait for the bidding results. There wasn’t much left for him to do. Adhering to the principle of “less trouble is better than more,” why bother arguing with a puppy?

The next day, the temperature plummeted, but the weather was clear and fine.

The winter sun and the cold wave arrived together, officially raising the curtain on winter in this southern city.

The test feedback was good. After a phone call, Lu Mingtang’s mood became visibly bright. Ye Li quietly let his heart back into his stomach, lazily curling up by the windowsill to bask in the sun.

“Puppy.” Lu Mingtang came over to stroke his head.

Ye Li flicked his tail. Speaking of which, this was his… thirty-something-th day as a dog. Habit is a terrifying thing. These past few days, he had been so busy being tossed around by Lu that he hadn’t had time to investigate the mystery between man and dog. Instead, he had developed a reflex. He lifted an eyelid, scanned Lu’s body, and thought:

Breakfast eaten, healthy; One cup of coffee, normal; No cigarettes smoked, very good; No longer guarding that broken computer, progress; Next, we should go out for a stroll.

Humans, like plants, need photosynthesis. You can’t stifle yourself to death in the house. This man has a thousand mountains in his heart; he needs to go out and find a few “Old Foolish Men” to help move them.

Coincidentally, his thoughts aligned with Lu Mingtang’s:

“Come on, let’s go for a walk.”

Dogs need to be walked.

After many days of harmonious coexistence with the puppy, Lu Mingtang belatedly realized his responsibility as a dog owner. Just because the puppy didn’t ask didn’t mean he was being sensible; the human couldn’t be senseless too.

He had studied carefully: a dog’s nature is to yearn for the outside world. Walking the dog is a basic skill for a “poop scooper.” It can satisfy the puppy’s dual needs for physical and psychological growth from both the physical and spiritual levels.

Moreover, many dogs resolve their “excretion issues” in the grass. Letting a nursing pup use the toilet like a human might cause an identity crisis, making him think he’s a little person instead of a little dog.

Hearing the request, Ye Li intended to stay poised, but his canine instincts made him immediately stand up and wag his tail, following at his owner’s heels as they trotted out the door. By the time he came back to his senses, they were already standing on the grass in the park.

Besides dog walkers, there were also people basking in the sun. There were quite a few people. While increasing human social interaction, it also increased “dog social interaction.” One piece of grass, two uses—two birds with one stone.

Lu Mingtang imitated other dog owners: a frisbee in his left hand and his phone in his right, his eyes scanning the screen without blinking. After the puppy wandered around the turf blankly for a few rounds, he put down his phone and shouted with confidence:

“Puppy, go get it!”

Along with his voice, the frisbee went flying. Ye Li drew in a sharp breath—

He’s actually walking the dog!

No way, how could he possibly…

The puppy leaped into the air, snapped the frisbee mid-flight with a swish, and ran back happily to deliver it.

Ye Li came back to his senses and looked helplessly at his paws, this shouldn’t be possible!

He tilted his head back, only to catch the slight upward curve of Lu Mingtang’s lips. He suddenly remembered that scar on Lu’s back that he had never seen before, and his arrogance withered:

A walk is a walk. As long as he insists, this is also the dog walking the human.

They repeated this for several rounds, both man and dog enjoying themselves. But Ye Li couldn’t convince himself of the next thing.

Lu Mingtang led him to the base of a tree and said in a tone that was matter-of-fact, almost grandiose:

“Pee.”

Ye Li: …