Li Yuheng turned his head to the side, and his dog ears twitched slightly in the autumn wind.
"And you, has your heart grown up?"
Shu Bai continued to watch the children chasing the ball in the distance, its black and white tail swaying slowly behind it.
"No," he answered decisively, "and I don't want it to grow."
Li Yuheng chuckled: "No wonder you're so childish."
"It's still better than some dogs." Shu Bai finally turned his gaze away from the children and onto Li Yuheng's face.
Li Yuheng chuckled: "...Who's like you? You're so young, yet you insist on acting all mature."
"Who's pretending? I'm just too lazy to deal with idiots."
"Oh, so you're paying attention to me?" Li Yuheng leaned forward happily. "Looks like I'm pretty special in your eyes."
Shu Bai slapped the dog's face as it leaned in with its paw: "Just really stupid."
Li Yuheng rolled over on the wall, belly up and paws in the air.
The autumn wind brushed against his soft belly, carrying the scent of fallen leaves and dust.
"Honestly," he looked up at the vast, clear blue sky, "what are you planning to do in the future? Just keep going like this?"
Shu Bai stared at his exposed belly for a few seconds before looking away.
"Otherwise what? Like you, find a master and fawn over him?"
"Bullshit." Li Yuheng immediately sat up. "I'd rather starve to death than become a pet dog."
"Then what do you want?"
"Me?" Li Yuheng grinned. "Once I've had my fill of playing around, I'll go back to being my prince."
There's no escaping responsibility.
He can choose not to go back now, but he can't choose not to go back forever.
What needs to be learned must be learned, and what needs to be shouldered must be shouldered.
Shu Bai remained silent for a moment.
“It’s fine,” he said.
Li Yuheng stared at Shu Bai's profile for a few seconds, the question about the seal on demonic power swirling on his tongue before he swallowed it back down.
He scratched at the dust on the ground with his paw in frustration.
Why ask?
It's none of his business if that stinky cat demon's power is sealed.
What's their relationship? They're just sworn enemies who fight every time they meet.
They're not even friends.
Although the cat had awkwardly extended its paw earlier, he personally pulled it back.
Asking about this would make him seem like a busybody.
Crossing the boundary.
Li Yuheng hates overstepping boundaries.
He himself has an extremely strong sense of territory, so he naturally knows how big the territory marked out by Shu Bai's hard thorns is.
Some lines you can't step on.
He ground his back teeth, and that inexplicable unease welled up inside him again.
This feels even worse than fighting with Shu Bai.
At least a fight has its back and forth, and it's exhilarating.
What's going on here?
Having a blatant question in mind, you still have to pretend nothing's wrong.
"Tsk." He made an impatient sound.
Shu Bai immediately glanced over: "What are you tsk about? Did you get a hair stuck in your throat?"
Hmph, this cat is always so impulsive.
Li Yuheng found an outlet for his pent-up anger and immediately retorted, "Tsk, you're in my way, is that a problem?"
"No way. If you're in the way, get out. Nobody's asking you to look."
"...I can lie down wherever I want."
"Then you can stay lying there and get in the way." Shu Bai stood up, making a move to leave. "I'll find a quieter place."
"Hurry up and leave." Li Yuheng said, urging people to leave, but his eyes were still fixed on Shu Bai.
Shu Bai stopped in her tracks and turned to look at him: "Did you take the wrong medicine today?"
"You're the one who took the wrong medicine. I get annoyed just looking at your face."
"Likewise. I've had enough of your face too."
If you don't see eye to eye, even half a sentence is too much.
Both turned their heads at the same time, one looking at the fallen leaves on the left, and the other looking at the sparrows on the right.
Only the sound of the autumn wind remained in the air.
Li Yuheng's displeasure didn't subside; instead, it snowballed and grew bigger.
He knew where the problem lay.
It's not that he can't ask, it's that his father doesn't know what position he should use to ask.
Friends? Not really.
Enemies? Not entirely.
This ambiguous relationship left him feeling frustrated.
When has Li Yuheng ever felt so frustrated?
In the underworld, he is the crown prince, able to say whatever he wants and criticize whomever he pleases.
Even as a dog, he could defeat any dog in the neighborhood with just his mouth.
It was only with this cat that he truly experienced the meaning of moderation for the first time.
This is fucking awful.
He suddenly stood up.
Startled by his sudden movement, Shu Bai hunched over warily: "Trying to fight again?"
Li Yuheng stared at him, his dog-like eyes swirling with emotion, before finally uttering a curt sentence:
"What are you fighting for? If you're hungry, go find something to eat."
After saying that, he turned around, jumped off the wall, and left without looking back.
Shu Bai watched his obviously angry back and slowly relaxed.
He lay back down, resting his chin on his crossed front paws.
This dog... is definitely acting strange today.
They might bicker occasionally, but their spirit is alive, brimming with a defiant eagerness.
Today, however, it felt like something was blocking my way; beneath the irritability lay something else.
The sparse white space is not imperceptible.
But he also had no right to ask.
The unspoken understanding between them wasn't enough to lead them to dig deeper into each other's secrets.
He flicked his tail, shaking off this inexplicable irritation.
Do whatever you want.
It's none of his business.
…
Li Yuheng wandered aimlessly in the park, his agitation not yet completely gone.
He kicked aside a small pebble blocking his way, and when he looked up, he saw the old golden retriever.
The old golden retriever lay on the edge of the flower bed, wagging its tail happily at the several brightly blooming cockscomb flowers inside.
The cockscomb flowers were a deep, almost purplish-red, and stood out strikingly in the autumn sunlight.
"The Third Prince has grown taller again! That's wonderful, wonderful..."
The old golden retriever murmured to himself as he looked at the cockscomb flower, his cloudy eyes filled with a mixture of kindness and melancholy.
Li Yuheng stopped in his tracks.
He recognized the old golden retriever.
It's the one that stole his and Shubai's grilled sausage last time.
Old Golden Retriever seemed to sense his gaze, turned his head, saw Li Yuheng, and his eyes shrank back slightly.
He instinctively tried to back away, but perhaps due to his age, his movements were slow, and he only moved his paws uneasily.
Li Yuheng narrowed his eyes, not immediately launching into his usual sarcastic mode.
He slowly walked over and sat down in front of the old golden retriever.
"What do you call it?" Li Yuheng asked, his tone unexpectedly calm.
Old Golden Retriever was stunned for a moment, seemingly not expecting Li Yuheng to speak to him so calmly this time.
He glanced at the cockscomb flower, then at Li Yuheng, hesitated for a moment, and then answered softly, "Third Prince."
"Why is it called that?" Li Yuheng pressed.
He remembered that the last time this old guy snatched a sausage, he wasn't this timid and hesitant.
The old golden retriever unconsciously swept its tail on the ground, its gaze drifting into the distance, as if it were recalling something.
“My owner really likes watching a TV series. In it, they always say, ‘The Third Prince has grown taller.’ Every time she hears this, she laughs very happily.”
He paused, then his gaze returned to the cockscomb flower.
“This flower blooms every autumn. I watched it grow from such a tiny thing,” he gestured with his paw, “to this height now. So I… called it Third Prince.”
Li Yuheng didn't speak, but listened quietly.
He noticed that although the old golden retriever's fur was still relatively clean, it was dull and had lost its healthy luster, and its breathing was accompanied by a kind of uneven noise.
Moreover, he was too thin; his ribs were faintly visible.
"And what about your master?" Li Yuheng asked.
He already had a guess in his heart.
When a purebred dog of this age and clearly in poor health appears alone in a park, there is usually only one possible outcome.
The old golden retriever's eyes dimmed, and its ears drooped.
“She…she went to college.” Old Golden Retriever’s voice was even lower. “Her parents said I was old and sick, and too much trouble to take care of…so they left me in this park, and then…they moved away.”
"I don't dare go far. I'm afraid that if I leave, what if she comes back looking for me and can't find me?"
He paused, as if trying to convince himself, or perhaps explaining to Li Yuheng:
“She likes me so much… she’ll definitely come back to see me. If she comes and I’m not there, she’ll be so worried.”
"You've been waiting around here the whole time?" Li Yuheng asked this last question.
"Hmm." Old Golden Hair nodded, then turned his gaze to the clump of cockscomb flowers. "Looking at the Third Prince will make the days pass faster."
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