Introduction to Police Dogs

“You help me. You took the hit, so you’re responsible,” Yu Sheng said matter-of-factly.

He lifted his injured little face and leaned closer.

The sudden closeness made Lu Chenyang tense up. He subconsciously gripped the armrest of the seat, and the other person's warm breath brushed against his Adam's apple. The faint scent of cologne filled his nostrils. It was too close...

A strange, uncomfortable feeling; a tightness in the throat; sweaty palms. A series of symptoms, like an allergic reaction, rushed in one after another.

Lu Chenyang knew it wasn't because of Yu Sheng; it was his instinct acting up. He didn't even know what the "allergen" was, but the simultaneous occurrence of 'men getting too close beyond social distance' and 'losing the initiative and being unable to retaliate' made his heart race.

"I... my hands weren't disinfected, you'll have to apply the medicine yourself." He made up an excuse, trying to make his voice sound as normal as possible.

“Sigh…” Yu Sheng sighed, rested her head on her knees and looked at him with her face turned to the side, looking pitiful as if she had been abandoned. “Officer Lu, if you don’t want to take responsibility for me, at least come up with a better reason.”

"Don't want to take responsibility?" The way he said it made it sound so different, as if he'd done something utterly despicable. "I'm not..."

"Oh well, never mind. Since Officer Lu doesn't want to take responsibility, I can't keep pestering him. How about this, let's exchange contact information. That way, if Officer Lu wants to take responsibility in the future, he won't be unable to find me, right?"

Lu Chenyang's brain was a little overwhelmed. This person's logic was peculiar and unconventional. By the time he realized what was happening, the other person had already finished the whole process of scanning and adding him on his phone.

The phone landed back in his hand, its heavy weight momentarily disorienting him. He was somewhat grateful for Yu Sheng's earlier antics; his initial apprehension had vanished without him noticing, like a fledgling bird rescued by a hunter after being choked, he could breathe freely again.

"Now that we're friends, we're friends." Yu Sheng shook the WeChat chat interface where they had successfully added each other, and said seriously, "Since we're friends, Officer Lu, please don't keep calling me 'Little President Yu,' it's too formal. You can call me by my name, or..."

Yu Sheng paused deliberately, and the distance between them suddenly shortened again. Her smiling lips were almost touching his ear, and he could feel the slight tremor caused by the movement of those two lips.

"You can also call me brother~" Knowing when to stop, Yu Sheng retreated to a safe distance after saying that.

"..."

He'd been tricked again! No matter how injured or pitiful he looked, it couldn't hide his true nature. Lu Chenyang took a deep breath, somewhat regretting coming in to comfort the child, but looking at the injuries on his face, he couldn't bring himself to say those warning words he'd spoken before.

He pinched the bridge of his nose with one hand, thinking about what to say, when there were two crisp knocks on the door, followed by the voice of his assistant, A Jiang.

"Teacher Lu, Director Wu wants you to prepare for the next take."

If there were heavenly music, Lu Chenyang felt that the words coming from outside the door at this moment would certainly be worthy of it. Without hesitation, he got up and replied as he walked towards the door, "Okay, coming right now."

He placed his hand on the doorknob, but hesitated to turn it. Finally, he turned back, but his eyes fell on the floor tiles in front of Yu Sheng. "Little... Yu Sheng, I'm leaving now. You can apply the medicine yourself."

Yu Sheng kept her head resting on her knees, looking at him sideways, her delicate brows furrowing slightly. "Officer Lu is so heartless~"

The mournful tone sent a chill down Lu Chenyang's spine. He didn't dare look into Yu Sheng's eyes, pretending not to hear, and practically fled from this place of trouble.

"Hahahaha—" With only Yu Sheng left in the lounge, he no longer needed to restrain himself. He leaned back in his chair and laughed out loud, unable to stop, until tears welled up in his eyes.

Teasing this guy is so much fun. Lu Chenyang is like a well-trained police dog. He can be fierce and bar his teeth, but when he's being obedient, he pretends to be dignified while actually being incredibly cute. If you scare him with a stick, he'll instantly bristle his fur, tense up, and be on high alert. But if you tease him with a bone, he'll unconsciously move closer, and even his usually droopy tail will curl up into a little corner.

I really want to put a collar on him and have my name engraved on it.

*

Yu Sheng's next scene wouldn't start until dark. The dressing room had a bed, but it was the kind of single cot with only a thin layer of foam. The picky Second Young Master Yu wouldn't settle for that, so he had his driver pick him up and take him back to his hotel to catch up on sleep in his king-size bed.

At night, the streetlights near the school are always the brightest. Under each incandescent bulb, moths and fireflies hover, tirelessly bumping into each other, as if knowing they can't break through this barrier to reach the center of the light, but still enjoying the process of conquering it.

Yu Sheng wore sunglasses that covered half her face, concealing the injury on her cheekbone. She wore a soft satin shirt with a matching ribbon at the collar, and clean, crisp dress pants and leather shoes. However, her hands were covered with more than a dozen bulging transparent plastic bags, and a driver followed behind her, also carrying plastic bags in his arms and hands. At first glance, the scene looked somewhat incongruous.

"Come on, everyone, come and have some popcorn." As soon as she entered the lounge, Yu Sheng threw a plastic bag onto the large table in the middle, beckoning everyone to come and eat. She also grabbed a bag, hung it on her finger, and stuffed a handful into her mouth.

"Why did Young Master Yu buy so much popcorn?" The first person to run over was A Jiang. He looked at the popcorn that took up most of the table and was a little puzzled as to what this young master was up to today.

"Eat up." Yu Sheng tossed a few more popcorn into her mouth and directed A Jiang, "Share it with everyone, don't waste it."

Lu Chenyang was leaning back on the sofa, engrossed in reading a script, when Yu Sheng suddenly shoved a large bag of popcorn into his arms. He was a little taken aback and asked, "For me?"

“Mm.” Yu Sheng nodded honestly, and then said, “Everyone has some, I bought a lot, so I’ll have it as a late-night snack.”

Which film crew serves popcorn for everyone's late-night snack?

Lu Chenyang couldn't quite understand this young master's thought process. He looked up and saw Wu Tong entering with a transparent umbrella, shaking off the water droplets at the doorway. He called out, "Tongtong, come and have some popcorn."

"Tongtong~" she thought to herself, rolling her eyes inwardly. She snatched the popcorn from Lu Chenyang's arms and shoved it into Wu Tong's arms, saying, "Tongtong, your brother Yu Sheng bought this. Let's eat together."

"Thank you, thank you... Brother Yu Sheng." The little girl was still a bit shy in front of Yu Sheng.

Lu Chenyang, whose popcorn had been stolen, pursed his lips. He no longer wanted to think about the meaning behind Yu Sheng's actions; this person was always so inexplicable.

However, Lu Chenyang's hands were empty for only a moment before Ajiang, who had distributed a round of popcorn, filled them again. He finally couldn't help but ask, "You like popcorn?"

Yu Sheng paused for two seconds, then said in a nonchalant tone, "I like it, so what?"

Unexpectedly, the first to raise a question was Wu Tong. This little girl, usually so quiet, suddenly exposed him at this crucial moment, "I heard... I heard President Lan say that Brother Yu Sheng eats very... exquisitely!"

She almost blurted out the word "picky," but she held it back. "I never eat from roadside stalls."

“President Lan? Lan Zhong, Lan Lao Er.” Yu Sheng snorted. “He’s such a big mouth, he’ll spill everything. But if it were him, he would definitely say, ‘That Yu Lao Er is too pretentious, so picky, he won’t eat this or that, let alone street food.’” Yu Sheng pursed her lips and used a high-pitched voice, imitating him perfectly.

Wu Tong lowered his head and stuffed a handful of popcorn into his mouth, remaining silent and not daring to laugh. Because Yu Sheng was absolutely right, even her imitation of Lan Zhong's tone of voice was ninety percent accurate. It seemed she had betrayed her boss…

"So, why did you buy so many?" Lu Chenyang asked, suspecting that his professional habit had kicked in again. He always wanted to get to the bottom of "cases" that were illogical and full of doubts.

"Tsk, are you interrogating a criminal? You've asked him so many times already." Yu Sheng plopped down next to Lu Chenyang, deliberately moving closer to him as she spoke.

"It's drizzling outside. When I came here, I saw an old man selling popcorn on the roadside in this weather... I just thought if I bought some, the old man could go home. Anyway, there are so many people in the crew, they can finish it and it won't go to waste."

"Alright, I'll confess and be treated leniently. Officer Lu, what do you plan to do with me?"

“You’re quite kind.” Lu Chenyang smiled, and he also picked up a piece of popcorn and threw it into his mouth. “But that old man wasn’t a popcorn vendor. He was a retired professor from this school, and many people in the crew knew him. When we were filming the teaching scenes, he passed by and pointed out many unreasonable things. He was a very kind old man.”

Lu Chenyang turned his head to look at Yu Sheng. A few popcorn crumbs were stuck near the wound on the corner of Yu Sheng's mouth. He simply pulled out a tissue from his pocket and threw it to him. Meeting the latter's surprised look, he continued, "Selling popcorn is a hobby he found for his retirement life. He told me it himself."

"Brother Chenyang, don't tell CEO Yu!" Ajiang interjected.

Today's interaction made him realize that Yu Sheng wasn't the kind of arrogant, condescending tycoon who looked down on people. He felt much less afraid and distant than before, and even dared to joke with Yu Sheng, "Little Yu, you finally think you've done a good deed and are feeling quite pleased with yourself. But now that you've said that, Little Yu has lost all sense of accomplishment. How disappointing!"

“Not disappointed.” Yu Sheng leaned back comfortably on the sofa, one elbow naturally resting on Lu Chenyang’s shoulder, and smiled sincerely and happily. “Not only am I not disappointed, but I’m even happier. Rather than feeling sorry for myself for helping a vendor braving the rain, I’m happier that the world has one less hardworking and pitiful old man.”

Lu Chenyang was incredulous for a moment. He and Ajiang had the same thought: they never expected this pampered and arrogant young master to give such an answer.

Looking back on the time he spent with Yu Sheng, he had only met him briefly on the day the lead actor for "Shattered Light" was confirmed. At the time, he thought Yu Sheng was just a rich second-generation who enjoyed the fruits of others' labor. Later, it was the drinking party organized by Director Wu that made him start to dislike this guy. Then, in the parking lot of CIR, he just wanted to keep his distance from this person.

He seemed to have always viewed Yu Sheng through tinted glasses, never letting go of his prejudices to consider her carefully. Now, with that fog cleared, he finally had a chance to glimpse the tip of the iceberg. Her focused and meticulous approach to acting, her effortless switching between smiling masks, and even her unbelievable statement, "I'm happier that the world has one less hardworking and pitiful old woman," were all striking.

Yu Sheng seemed like a multifaceted, irregularly shaped Rubik's Cube. No one knew how many faces it had, how many colors it possessed, or even its shape. Lu Chenyang had only pieced together a small corner when he discovered colors that astonished him. He didn't yet know what the complete cube looked like; it must be very interesting, Lu Chenyang began to wonder.

He smiled at Yu Sheng, then realized that he had somehow gotten his arm around her shoulder, and felt a moment of awkwardness. His body instincts screamed to drive the intruder away, but he chose to use the motion of picking up a water glass to shift his body and free his shoulder. Fortunately, the other person didn't notice his little movement.

“However…” Yu Sheng paused in her chewing, “This old man’s popcorn-making skills seem a bit off, no wonder nobody buys it, it sticks to my teeth.”

Yu Sheng struggled to lick his back teeth, which were covered in popcorn, with a comical yet adorable expression, like a pitiful little animal that couldn't scratch an itch because of its short legs.

“Pfft.” Lu Chenyang was amused by Yu Sheng’s appearance. “I always thought that a young master like you wouldn’t understand the hardships of ordinary people, but I didn’t expect you to… um…” He paused, as if he was choosing his words carefully.

"You're a really nice person!" Wu Tong replied, still a little shy but speaking with certainty, "Brother Yu Sheng, you're a really nice person, not pretentious, not scary, and very handsome."

Yu Sheng took off her sunglasses and tossed them aside. She leaned against Lu Chenyang, staring straight at him until their noses almost touched. "Is what Tongtong said the same thing you wanted to say?"