Shu Bai, with its paws tucked in, lazily lay on a thick ginkgo branch, half-closing its eyes, enjoying the rare warmth of the afternoon.

Its black and white fur stood out strikingly against the backdrop of golden leaves.

Li Yuheng found a comfortable spot under the tree and lay down, resting his chin on his front paws, idly observing the passersby.

A cool autumn breeze blew by, and the shadows of the trees swayed.

A golden ginkgo leaf with slightly curled edges broke free from the branch's grasp, twirling and slowly drifting down.

It landed squarely on Li Yuheng's wet, black nose.

A subtle sensation came through, and it felt a little itchy.

Li Yuheng wrinkled his nose but didn't move.

The leaf seemed to have taken a hold of him, stubbornly staying there.

He shook his head impatiently, and the leaf floated down, landing on the ground next to his front paws.

The world is peaceful now.

Li Yuheng lay down again.

The sparse white leaves on the tree lazily opened a slit, taking in the little episode below. The corner of its mouth twitched slightly, but quickly returned to normal.

After a while.

Another slightly stronger gust of wind swept through the treetops.

This time, an even larger, fan-shaped ginkgo leaf swayed and fell gently.

The objective was clear, and it covered one of Li Yuheng's eyes.

The light in front of me was blocked, and all that remained in my vision was a blurry golden yellow.

Li Yuheng: "..."

He was silent for two seconds.

Then, he raised one of his front paws and shoved it across his face in a somewhat agitated manner, brushing the annoying leaf away from his eye.

The leaves fell to the ground, and he snorted in disgust.

Shu Bai spoke coolly from the tree: "Stupid dog, can't you find another place to lie?"

Li Yuheng stretched lazily in the thick pile of fallen leaves. "No need to change. It's fine here, comfortable."

He rolled around on the ground covered with golden ginkgo leaves, making the leaves rustle and getting a lot of leaf bits on his fur.

Shu Bai looked down at him frolicking below, a wicked glint in his cat-like eyes.

He stretched out his claws, hooked them onto the branch in front of him, and began to shake them rhythmically.

Splash—

More ginkgo leaves, like golden raindrops, fell softly, drenching Li Yuheng from head to toe.

Li Yuheng was hit squarely by the sudden shower of leaves. He shook his head, brushed off the leaves, and looked up at the culprit in the tree.

Shu Bai stopped what she was doing, put her paws back, and looked back at him with an innocent expression, as if it was just the tree branch that had swayed on its own.

Li Yuheng shook off the fallen leaves, looked up, and gave the cat with its claws tucked into its paws on the tree branch an extremely irritating smile.

"Oh, you know it's cold, so you even gave me an extra blanket. How thoughtful of you, you stinky cat."

Upon hearing this, Shu Bai sneered: "A blanket? Fine, then I'll give you a thicker one."

Golden ginkgo leaves cascaded down like a waterfall, instantly burying half of Li Yuheng's body beneath the tree.

Leaves fluttered down, almost obscuring the view.

Li Yuheng was forced to take another half step back by Ye Lang's barrage of words.

He shook his head to brush the leaves off his face, and watched Shubai's desperate shaking, and laughed.

"Hey, take it easy. Don't shake yourself down like the last leaf."

"Let me make this clear first, I'm not picking you up. With your weight, if you fell on me, you'd crush my breakfast."

Shu Bai's movements suddenly stopped.

The cat's eyes narrowed dangerously, staring intently at the dog's mouth still chattering under the tree.

"What did you say?" he asked, emphasizing each word.

Li Yuheng showed no fear and deliberately repeated in a tone that could infuriate a cat: "I said—you're too heavy! Can't you hear me? You're not that old, but your ears are already hard?"

very good.

The sparse white branches no longer sway.

He pushed off the branch with his hind legs, and his black and white figure shot down like an arrow, carrying a resolute momentum, precisely heading towards Li Yuheng's location.

They went there specifically to smash the dogs.

Li Yuheng felt a sudden darkness before his eyes, as a considerable impact crashed into him.

He instinctively opened his front paws.

"Bang!"

A muffled thud.

Shu Bai landed squarely on Li Yuheng, and the two of them rolled together in the thick pile of ginkgo leaves, splashing up a golden wave of leaves.

Li Yuheng was hit so hard that he saw stars and felt a tightness in his chest.

He bared his teeth and gasped, "Holy crap...you're serious?!"

Shu Bai used all four paws to quickly stand firmly on him, looking down at him with a triumphant and cold expression: "What else? Did I joke with you?"

He even deliberately stomped on Li Yuheng's belly with his hind paws, pressing down hard.

"You stinky cat, get down here!"

"Beg me."

"I'm begging you, my foot!"

The two started wrestling in the pile of fallen leaves, and the barking of dogs and howling of cats rang out again, turning the golden ginkgo leaves upside down.

Passersby only saw a beagle and a black and white cat rolling around in the fallen leaves, fighting fiercely, and laughed as they walked around them, thinking it was just ordinary play between cats and dogs.

But this time, it's different.

Having accumulated a wealth of fighting experience, Li Yuheng is no longer the same Li Yuheng he used to be.

Now it is Niohuru Liyuheng.

Li Yuheng seized the opening revealed when Shu Bai retreated, and with a sudden burst of power from his hind leg, his entire body shot out like an arrow.

He precisely used his weight advantage to firmly press Shu Bai into the thick pile of fallen leaves, his front paws pressing down hard on the other's shoulder blade.

The little beagle snorted triumphantly, its tail wagging wildly uncontrollably, almost leaving a blur.

We won!

He opened his mouth, his throat brimming with a triumphant, exhilarating roar of victory.

But the sound got stuck before it could even leave his throat.

His gaze fell on the pale face beneath his claws.

Because of the fight and rolling around, Shu Bai's always meticulously groomed black and white fur was covered with grass clippings and dust, and the conspicuous white area on the tip of his nose was stained with a small patch of obvious gray-black.

He looks... a bit disheveled.

Li Yuheng lowered his head subconsciously.

He stuck out his tongue and gently licked the dusty white tip of his nose.

The speed of the movement was so fast it was almost an illusion.

The sensation on my tongue was slightly cool, with a hint of dust, but mostly it was the scent of the cat itself.

After making this move, Li Yuheng was stunned for a moment.

Immediately, as if he had been burned, he abruptly released his grip on Shu Bai's hand and quickly took half a step back.

He raised his head high, trying to adopt his usual arrogant attitude, as if his momentary loss of composure had never happened.

"You're convinced now?" He deliberately raised his voice high, with exaggerated pride. "From now on, I'll protect you in this area!"

Shu Bai froze the moment he lowered his head.

What is this stupid dog doing?!

He practically leaped to his feet from the pile of fallen leaves, quickly shaking off the bits of grass from his body, his movements so fast they were almost frantic.

He raised his head and glared fiercely at Li Yuheng.

The cat's eyes were churning with emotions: the anger of being defeated, the wariness of being suddenly approached, but more than anything, a subtle feeling that even he himself couldn't quite understand.

He wanted to swear.

I want to use the most vicious words to spit blood all over this stupid dog.

I wanted to pounce on him and fight again, to get my revenge.

But all the words stuck in his throat, and in the end, they only turned into an even fiercer glare.

He stared intently at Li Yuheng for a few seconds, then suddenly turned around and dashed out without a word or looking back.

With a few leaps and bounds, it disappeared behind the layers of autumn street scenes.

They ran incredibly fast, as if a ghost was chasing them.

Li Yuheng watched Shu Bai's fleeing figure, maintaining his upright posture until the black and white figure completely disappeared from sight.

The feigned arrogance and smugness on his face gradually faded away.

"Tsk."

He made a cryptic smacking sound and shook his head.

He lay back down in the pile of leaves and buried his chin in his front paws.

It was very quiet around, with only the rustling of leaves in the wind.

Li Yuheng stared at a golden leaf with clearly defined veins for a long time.

Why did he do that just now?

He himself couldn't explain it clearly.

It's as if the body is a step ahead of the brain.

He noticed that the guy's nose was dirty and found it an eyesore.

It's very offensive.

Isn't that guy the cleanest person, always licking his fur?

What do you look like with a nose covered in dust?

So he... licked it.

Yes, that's it.

Li Yuheng found a very reasonable explanation for himself.

Anyway, he won.

That's enough.

As for why that stinky cat is running away?

What's wrong with licking your lips after winning?

It's not like we're going to eat it.

Pretentious.

Li Yuheng snorted, shifted to a more comfortable position, closed his eyes, and prepared to enjoy the leisurely time after his victory.

However, the image of Shu Bai's cat-like eyes glaring at him at the last moment kept replaying in his mind.

"Troublemaker."

He muttered something under his breath and buried his head even deeper into his paws.