The Top Star Fell for Me at First Sight After I Transmigrated as a Dog-Like Streamer - Chapter 49

Chapter 49: The Past

Fortunately, after a brief period of unconsciousness, Bai Xun quickly regained consciousness. Upon opening his eyes, he took a sharp, deep breath, only to see Yu Congyue with a grim face and the flustered staff standing nearby.

“Brother, Brother, I’m fine…” He coughed, glancing around. Seeing no sign of Cheng Yi’er, he caught the faint scent of blood. Recalling the last thing he saw before blacking out, he hurriedly grabbed Yu Congyue’s hand to check it. Seeing the undried blood, he panicked, his words stumbling. “Brother, where are you hurt? I shouldn’t have asked you to come. Oh, your hand…”

“Xiao Bai, take a deep breath. It’s not me who’s hurt.” Seeing that he was awake, Yu Congyue temporarily set aside the matter of holding people accountable to check Bai Xun’s body. When he saw the faint bruises on Bai Xun’s neck, he hissed in a breath of cold air. His loosened fists tightened once more. He looked up to see Cheng Yi’er limping out, clutching his nose.

Just as Yu Congyue prepared to stand up and head toward him, Bai Xun grabbed the hem of his shirt.

“Brother, let’s go back first.” At this moment, Bai Xun didn’t want to see Cheng Yi’er, nor did he want Yu Congyue to get further involved. The best course of action was to leave and decide what to do after he investigated things thoroughly.

Yu Congyue gave a long, deep look at Cheng Yi’er, who was leaning against the wall watching him provocatively. In the end, he didn’t seek further trouble. After saying goodbye to the staff on Bai Xun’s behalf, he hurriedly led him away from the orphanage.

All the way back, Bai Xun was in a daze, his mind racing with thoughts about the clearly unstable Cheng Yi’er.

That lunatic seems to be a shareholder of TaoMai. Is he going to have to collaborate with me later?

The more he thought about it, the more anxious he became. During dinner, Yu Congyue had to call his name several times before he reacted.

“Xiao Bai, are you still thinking about this afternoon?” Yu Congyue put down his bowl and looked worriedly at Bai Xun, who had been staring at a piece of pork rib for three minutes without taking a bite.

“Yeah, he’s really…” The moment he thought of Cheng Yi’er’s face, he shuddered involuntarily. “He’s like a ghost. Brother, you don’t know how terrifying he was this afternoon…”

“I know.” Yu Congyue added a spoonful of hot soup to Bai Xun’s bowl. “Try to stay away from the Cheng family from now on. You can’t find a single normal person in that whole family.”

“Ah… but he seems to be a shareholder of TaoMai. There will probably be some collaboration later.” Bai Xun bit his chopsticks, so worried that he couldn’t even enjoy his favorite sweet and sour ribs.

“Don’t be afraid. If anything happens, just message me like you did today. I won’t let anything happen to you.” Yu Congyue looked at the dishes on the table. Seeing that Bai Xun truly had no appetite, he didn’t push him further. “It’s fine if you can’t eat. You can eat later tonight if you get hungry. Why don’t you rest early today?”

Bai Xun sighed deeply, cursed Cheng Yi’er for being subhuman, and left the table.

Yu Congyue stood up and carried him back upstairs, where they had a slight disagreement over whose room to go into.

“Brother, I can manage on my own tonight, really.”

“You promised me the day before yesterday that nothing would happen today, too.”

As Yu Congyue stood at his own bedroom door, he reached out to open it. Bai Xun clung to the doorframe, muttering a small defense for himself: “Brother, look at what you’re saying… I didn’t expect to run into him…”

“Don’t worry about bothering me. After all, I’m partly responsible for your leg injury. More importantly…” Yu Congyue lightly hoisted the person in his arms. Seizing the moment Bai Xun instinctively let go, he opened the door and set him down on the edge of the bed. “According to doctor’s orders, you need to maintain a healthy routine. To prevent you from staying up all night playing on your phone, you’ll just have to put up with sleeping with me for a few days.”

Bai Xun’s slight hope was extinguished. He pursed his lips gloomily and looked at Yu Congyue’s back. “My workload has already decreased so much. Brother, I just wanted to play on my phone a little…”

Yu Congyue went to the bathroom, wrung out a warm towel, and came back to wipe Bai Xun’s face, effectively stifling any further complaints.

“Raise your arms.” Yu Congyue switched to a fresh towel, brought over new loungewear, and helped him change. “You can play on your phone until dawn and sleep until noon. How can your stomach handle missing breakfast and lunch?”

Bai Xun let Yu Congyue wipe his face and body, while his mind plotted how to hide a phone and play with it secretly. It wasn’t until he was lying back on the bed and felt a chill on his legs that he snapped back to reality. Seeing that Yu Congyue was about to help him change his trousers, he was so startled he couldn’t get a full sentence out.

“B-Brother, I-I-I can do this part myself!”

Yu Congyue didn’t insist. He handed the two pairs of pants to him and turned around to check his phone messages.

Bai Xun wriggled around, struggling immensely to pull the outer pants over his cast. By the time he succeeded, he was slumped on the bed, exhausted. He then struggled to change his underwear, but found it impossible to put on the final pair of outer trousers. After tossing and turning for two or three minutes, he finally gave up and closed his eyes, deciding to ask for help.

“Brother… I still need your help after all…”

As if he had been waiting for those words, Yu Congyue tucked his phone into his pocket almost instantly. He took the pants and gently lifted Bai Xun’s leg into the trouser leg. While pulling up the waist, Yu Congyue used one hand to lift Bai Xun’s waist to adjust the angle. Finally, he reached in to pull the fluffy tail through the hole and tucked it into place. The entire process was seamless, without a single inappropriate movement.

Bai Xun’s face, however, was scorching hot. He scurried to the other side of the bed and wrapped himself in the quilt like a “dog burrito,” leaving only his head exposed. He turned his back, faking a yawn to hide his embarrassment. Only after hearing the door close did he breathe a long sigh of relief.

The quilt and pillow were filled with Yu Congyue’s scent. His mind was already in a mess, and with everything that had happened that day, he soon drifted off into a heavy sleep, comforted by the familiar fragrance.

This time, the dream was very wrong.

The setting was not unfamiliar to Bai Xun—it appeared to be the orphanage from years ago. He was surrounded by children his own age in uniform, among whom a splash of bright orange was particularly prominent.

Cheng Yi’er?

Bai Xun squinted to look closer and confirmed his identity.

The thin, small fox beastman was crouching in a corner with his head in his hands. Standing before him was a taller child, angrily lashing him with a tree branch. Before long, several red welts appeared on the hands protecting his head.

“It’s all your fault! All your fault! It was clearly your mistake, why?! I was almost going to have a home… it’s all your fault!” The child with the branch cried out. They were quickly separated by a teacher who arrived in a hurry. After a harsh scolding, the child screamed, “Why does no one believe me! Why!”

Only after the child was sent to solitary confinement did Cheng Yi’er slowly stand up. He pursed his lips and blew on his wounds. With teary eyes, he found Bai Xun in the crowd instantly and ran over to hug him tightly.

Bai Xun had no control over his body. He knelt down to stroke Cheng Yi’er’s head to comfort him. It wasn’t until he heard the words “I will always protect you, I will never leave you” that he clearly saw the malice in Cheng Yi’er’s eyes.

He took a half-step back, and the scene shifted. Cheng Yi’er, who had been in his arms was now standing a short distance away. His appearance had changed; he was much taller, and he was smiling as he blocked Bai Xun’s path.

“A-Xun, what are you looking for?”

“Looking for… looking for my Little White…” Bai Xun saw flecks of blood on Cheng Yi’er’s face and hands, and a sense of foreboding rose in his heart.

“Your Little White?” Cheng Yi’er wiped the blood from his face with the back of his hand. He snorted and stopped smiling, staring at Bai Xun with a resentment that suggested he was looking at a betrayer. “You clearly belong to me… how could you put your attention on those insignificant things?”

“Move!” Bai Xun stepped forward and pushed Cheng Yi’er down hard. Taking another step forward, he saw “Little White,” skinned and discarded under a tree.

His legs gave out and he collapsed to his knees, retching instinctively. His whole body trembled, and the blood in his veins seemed to turn ice cold.

Little White… Cheng Yi’er…

“Are you crazy! It was just a—ugh!”

Cheng Yi’er stood up and brushed the dust off himself. In two strides, he was on top of Bai Xun, his hands locking tightly around Bai Xun’s throat. The youthful face and the crazed face from this afternoon flickered back and forth. Oxygen grew thin, and his vision blurred.

“…You can only belong to me… or else I’ll kill you…”

…

Bai Xun opened his eyes in terror, gasping for air. As he tried to roll over and sit up, he fell into a solid embrace. A pair of warm arms circled him, accompanied by the familiar scent of chamomile that made him want to burst into tears of relief.

It was Yu Congyue.

His palm was gently patting Bai Xun’s back to soothe him.

Bai Xun quickly reached out to grab his clothes, pressing his face into the embrace and taking a deep breath. His heart was still pounding violently. The suffocating images from the dream were vivid, and the bloody animal corpse felt too real. He looked up warily at Yu Congyue’s face and checked his surroundings. Only after confirming he was in Yu Congyue’s house did his stiff body begin to relax slightly.

“Did you have a nightmare?” Yu Congyue didn’t stop his soothing movements, letting Bai Xun rub against his chest as he recovered.

Bai Xun hesitated, then nodded and briefly explained some of the dream’s content.

The hand on his back paused. The room was silent for several seconds before Bai Xun heard a nearly imperceptible sigh.

“I talked to your Director after dinner. What you just said… wasn’t just a dream.”

Not just a dream?

Could it be something the original owner of this body actually experienced?

“Director Shi didn’t tell me the specifics; she wanted to find a chance to talk to you in person.” Yu Congyue looked down at Bai Xun, who was still clutching his shirt and frowning. “I told her you were asleep and we’d talk once you’re feeling better.”

Bai Xun didn’t speak. He gave a muffled “Mm.” After several more minutes, he finally regained control over his trembling body. He took a series of deep breaths and finally calmed down.

His temples throbbed, and his head felt heavy. Feeling unwell, he instinctively burrowed deeper into Yu Congyue’s warm embrace, wrapping his arms around his waist. He found a comfortable position to close his eyes, resting his head on Yu Congyue’s lap. Looking up to meet Yu Congyue’s gaze, a question suddenly occurred to him.

“Brother, you said at dinner that the Cheng family isn’t simple. What exactly is going on?”

Yu Congyue stopped patting his back and began massaging his head instead. He looked away, reminiscing before speaking. “I don’t know much. Cheng Yi’er was only brought back to the main family when he was fourteen. Within two years, his older brother—the heir—died in an accident.”

“But he was only fourteen… how could…” Bai Xun sighed as the massage felt wonderful. He did the math—fourteen was at most an eighth-grade student. Even if he was acting like a lunatic now, it seemed impossible to link a middle-schooler to a loss of life.

“His older brother, Cheng Yixu, had been doing steel business in the north and was very stable. For some reason, he suddenly suffered from acute thallium poisoning. The investigation concluded it was due to long-term exposure to inferior materials—toxic substances accumulating in his body over the years. The police quickly traced it back to a branch of the family who had used low-grade anti-rust oil to embezzle money.”

“Doesn’t that make the evidence chain quite complete?” Bai Xun followed the logic; the motive seemed sound.

“To the outside world, it certainly seemed logical. Getting rid of the heir to seize the assets, then dealing with the other one to take over.” Yu Congyue picked up the glass on the nightstand and took a sip of water. “But Xiao Bai, think about it. If a branch family wanted to seize power and money and decided to eliminate the heir, why would they choose such a slow, inefficient, and easily discoverable method?”

Bai Xun pursed his lips, the realization hitting him. “You’re right. Since it was bound to be exposed anyway, it would be faster to just arrange a car accident or something more convenient.”

Yu Congyue nodded. “Just when his brother had worked a week straight and his body was at its limit, he suddenly had thallium poisoning. Then, the car taking him to the hospital just happened to break down, and the ambulance couldn’t arrive in time because the port was closed. Afterward, all the meddling branch members were cleared out in one fell swoop, and he became the sole, rightful heir. Xiao Bai, tell me… are there really that many coincidences in this world?”