Chapter 77 It wants you to hug it.
"Baby, I have something to do today and can't pick you up. Should I have my assistant pick you up, or would it be more convenient for you to take a taxi back yourself?"
Mu Yan's phone vibrated twice. He picked it up and saw a message from Shang Qiyue, along with a transfer of 520 yuan.
He was somewhat dazed, as if, before things had escalated to this point, Shang Qiyue had used this kind of trick that young lovers would use to tease him.
Looking back now, it feels like a lifetime ago.
Shang Qiyue became as cautious as he used to be, taking a long time to consider every word he said and every action he took.
But Shang Qi was always happier when she used to coax him like that. Now that he's so humble, who would be happy about that?
"I'll come back myself," Mu Yan replied in a text message, looking down.
Shang Qiyue's screen showed "typing" for a while, but nothing was sent in the end.
Mu Yan felt a sense of irony. What was there to worry about? There was a tracking device on his phone, and he hadn't left a single penny of cash at home. Where could he possibly escape to?
As it was nearing the end of the workday, his colleagues had already started packing up. Since Shang Qiyue wasn't coming to pick him up, Mu Yan stayed in the office until he was the last to leave.
He ate dinner at the company, and after finishing overtime, he dawdled around at a convenience store and bought a serving of oden before taking a taxi to Shang Qiyue's villa.
When he saw drivers sighing and lamenting at red lights on the road, he even prayed that there would be more red lights and that they would last longer.
At nine o'clock in the evening, the city was bustling with traffic. Only at this time did Mu Yan feel free, just like everyone else in any other car.
But no matter how many red lights there are or how long they are, you will eventually get through this stretch of road.
The taxi stopped at the entrance of the residential area. Mu Yan lingered in the area for a while, watching the fountain's design change several times. Finally, unable to bear it any longer, he headed towards the familiar villa.
The moment Mu Yan pushed open the door, he was stunned.
Shang Qiyue had arrived home long ago and was now sitting on the sofa, holding a soft little thing in his arms.
It was a cream-colored Samoyed puppy.
Its ears were a pale pink, its nose was shiny black, and its eyes were watery. When it heard the door open, it looked up timidly at Mu Yan.
"It's a bit introverted, probably because it just got home and doesn't feel safe yet," Shang Qiyue said awkwardly. "The owner said it has the best personality. It might still be a little shy now, but it'll be fine once it gets used to people..."
Shang Qiyue had already set out the dog food, water bowl, and dog bed, which took up almost half of the living room and clashed with the Italian-style light luxury.
He put the puppy on the ground and whispered a reminder: "Didn't I teach you at the store what to do when you see another dad?"
Mu Yan stood still. The puppy hesitated for a moment, then wagged its tail and wobbled closer to him, sniffed his ankle, and then rubbed against his trouser leg several times.
Mu Yan's gaze fell on the sofa, where he saw the coat he had wanted to wear that morning but couldn't find.
The coat still smelled of him. The puppy had a very keen sense of smell. Shang Qiyue and the kennel staff probably took his coat and then taught the puppy how to please him so that he would keep it.
When the puppy saw that he didn't respond, it started to whine anxiously. It was probably not even a few months old, and its voice was high-pitched and thin.
Mu Yan suppressed the urge to pick him up and turned to ask Shang Qiyue what he meant.
Shang Qiyue naturally couldn't bring himself to say something as foolish as wanting to use the child to enhance their relationship but then getting jealous of the child. His lips moved, and after a long while, he answered softly.
"I see you're unhappy every day, and I want you to be happier... I searched online, and it says your zodiac sign is perfect for raising a Samoyed..."
Seeing Mu Yan frowning, he handed him his phone. Mu Yan glanced at the headline: Ten reasons why Cancerians are suited to owning Samoyeds.
What a load of nonsense.
“Shang Qiyue,” Mu Yan took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down, “This is a living being, not a toy you can use to appease someone when you want and then throw away when you’re tired of it. If you’ve taken it in, you have to be responsible for it until it dies of old age.”
Shang Qiyue remained silent.
He simply lowered his eyes and looked at the little dog circling around Mu Yan's feet.
The puppy couldn't understand the conflict between the two; it just anxiously circled around Mu Yan's legs, making whimpering noises.
"It wants you to hug it," Shang Qiyue whispered.
Mu Yan stood there, pretending to be unmoved, staring coldly at Shang Qiyue.
"If you hadn't brought it back, it could have found a loving owner who would hold it and never let go."
“I’m sorry,” Shang Qiyue finally walked over and picked up the puppy. “If you don’t like it, I’ll send it back tomorrow.”
Mu Yan did not answer and turned back to his room.
Shang Qiyue patted the puppy's head apologetically, and without caring whether it could understand or not, he began to defend Mu Yan: "He's not usually like this. He's usually very gentle... You don't know how good he was before. I did something wrong. He was so mean to you because he hates me. It's not that he doesn't like you."
The next morning, Mu Yan woke up as usual due to his biological clock, and as soon as he stepped out of his room, he heard the puppy whimpering.
“Auntie,” he asked, “has the dog not been fed yet?”
The housekeeper, who was tidying up the living room, shook her head upon hearing this: "My husband fed her this morning. She's probably just small and wants to be held, like a little child."
Mu Yan paused for a moment, then looked down. The fluffy white ball was looking up at him, its tail wagging in circles, and it cautiously moved closer to him.
Where is Shang Qiyue?
"He probably went to the gym and hasn't come back yet."
Mu Yan paused for a moment, then squatted down and picked up the Samoyed.
The puppy didn't hold grudges. It snuggled affectionately against him, making a comforting nasal sound, completely forgetting how coldly Mu Yan had treated him yesterday.
The aunt looked at him, seemingly wanting to say something but then stopping herself.
Mu Yan is truly a kind and good child; he can't even be indifferent to a puppy. Even after arguing with her husband like that, he was always kind and gentle to her. After he came to the villa, he had no appetite for food. Once, she asked him if it wasn't to his liking. Mu Yan smiled gently and put a piece of fish, which had already gone cold, into his bowl, saying, "No, Auntie cooked it very well."
But the husband isn't a bad person either. Why can't two good people live a good life together?
It's already 8:30.
Mu Yan frowned slightly. Shang Qiyue usually goes out to work out and should have been back by now. Even if he slept in late today because it's the weekend, he shouldn't have been gone for so long.
The other party was Shang Qiyue, and Mu Yan found it hard not to suspect that he was deliberately delaying to buy time. He would say he was busy today and that he had something to do tomorrow, and keep dragging it out until the kennel wouldn't let him return the dog or he couldn't bear to give the dog away.
He picked up his phone and dialed Shang Qiyue's number.
“Hey baby,” Shang Qiyue answered quickly, “I’m at the gym, do you want me to buy anything?”
Mu Yan stood up, holding the little Samoyed: "You don't need to come back. I came to find you, and I'll take the dog back with you."
When Mu Yan found him, Shang Qiyue had just taken a shower and was covered in a faint scent of either shower gel or shampoo. He carefully moved closer to Mu Yan and gave him a light hug: "You don't smell of smoke anymore."
Mu Yan didn't flinch, and the puppy in his arms let out an excited whimper.
The two got into the car, and Shang Qiyue, unusually, didn't say much.
Would you call this a date after such a long time?
He stole a few glances at Mu Yan, who was holding the puppy, looking down at it with her slender white fingers placed between the puppy's ears, gently rubbing its head.
"When we come back... do you want to go eat at that braised duck soup place on Minnan Road? I remember you mentioned it. We can go there after we drop off the dog so we can eat early and then pack a portion to take to Auntie."
Mu Yan didn't look at him, her hand still gently scratching the puppy's head, and casually replied that it was fine.
Shang Qiyue's mood instantly brightened, and he could almost be certain that this was a long-awaited date.
"How about we catch a movie on our way back from the hospital? I remember there's a pretty famous old movie being re-released recently..."
Mu Yan shook his head, reverting to his usual listless demeanor.
Shang Qiyue's eyes darkened. Then he comforted himself, thinking that going out for a meal together wouldn't be bad. This time it was just a meal, but maybe next time Yan Yan would agree to go to the movies or soak in a hot spring.
The air fell silent again. They were almost at the kennel. Shang Qiyue turned the car around, and the somewhat glaring sunlight shone on Mu Yan's side. He reached out to shield the puppy in his arms from the sun, and then pulled down the front panel of the car.
The puppy seemed to know that Mu Yan was doing it for his own good, or perhaps it was just naturally playful, as it tilted its head back and rubbed against Mu Yan's hand.
"Sir, I'm so sorry, show dogs are non-refundable and non-exchangeable once sold," the kennel clerk said, looking at the two with some difficulty. "Besides, it's not a problem with the dog itself; our procedures have always prohibited returns and exchanges."
Mu Yan stood to the side, holding the dog, without saying a word, only looking at Shang Qiyue with indifferent eyes.
Standing in front of the counter, Shang Qiyue realized that Mu Yan might have mistaken the shop assistant for one of his accomplices. He said anxiously, "I can ask for less money, or even more. The main thing is that we've found that we can't provide a suitable environment for it, so we want to find it a better owner."
"I'm sorry, sir, I really can't make that decision," the shop assistant said, looking a little embarrassed. "The boss has gone to the Sichuan-Tibet Highway and there's no signal, so we really can't contact him. We really can't make that decision, I'm so sorry... Why don't you just keep it for now, and I'll ask him as soon as he gets back."
The shop assistant wouldn't let him return the dog, so Mu Yan naturally couldn't force it back.
Moreover, the puppy in his arms was completely unaware that it had just faced the fate of being abandoned by its newly fallen owner, and was turning over in his arms, wanting to lie more comfortably.
It didn't do anything wrong.
He did nothing wrong.
The two walked out of the store in silence. It was already winter, and even though the sun was shining brightly, it wasn't very warm. The street was quiet, and Mu Yan's face looked somewhat pale in the sunlight.
“Yan Yan, I didn’t conspire with the kennel to lie to you… I’ll ask my friends if anyone wants to adopt a Samoyed. I don’t want to shirk my responsibility…”
Shang Qiyue looked nervous, afraid that the little trust he had left with Mu Yan would plummet to a new low.
This time he genuinely didn't use any tricks. He doesn't like people, and he has absolutely no interest in pets. He truly didn't know that show dogs can't be returned once they've been sold.
Mu Yan looked at him and suddenly felt a stab in her heart.
After all, he had just wronged Shang Qiyue, and he subconsciously felt a little guilty.
"I know... I'm sorry, I was a little too hasty. I've never had a pet before, so I think it might be difficult to return it."
"No need to contact him anymore, just keep him." Mu Yan stroked the puppy's nape. "He's so young and already being passed around like a football. He'll probably only just get used to our home before we have to move again..."
Shang Qiyue's eyes lit up the moment he heard the words "our family," but before he could even feel happy, he heard Mu Yan chuckle softly again.
“This is really not good,” Mu Yan said softly, stroking the puppy, “because of the adults’ grudges, it has been dragged into this.”
Shang Qiyue suddenly remembered that he had looked up Mu Yan's information before. His biological mother left silently less than a month after giving birth to him, and his biological father became depressed and started gambling. Before his stepmother came to this family, Mu Yan's childhood was spent in a state of hunger and hardship.
Did he ever resent that two people who clearly didn't love each other had given birth to him back then?
Shang Qiyue suddenly understood why Mu Yan had reacted so strongly to his bringing the dog back immediately. If Lin Guojun and Mu Yan's birth mother had thought things through rationally back then, Mu Yan probably wouldn't have had to come into this world to suffer.
“But no matter what,” Mu Yan smiled, “at least I’m not that short of money now. It’s just a puppy, I can still afford to raise it.”
He lowered his head and kissed the Samoyed's nose, his eyes as gentle as water in the sunlight: "Even if one day you don't want to take responsibility anymore, or you finally get tired of me, I'll just take it away. I'll take care of it."
"It's white and round, so how about you call it Tangyuan (glutinous rice ball)?"
[Author's Note]
Yan Yan: How can working out take this long? He must be plotting something.
Business Dog: The plan didn't work [crying emoji] I can't keep giving up. I'll work out a little more today and get my abs more defined, maybe then I can use my looks to my advantage.
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