Life-Saving Days by the Husky’s Side

“Was it because my other personality hurt you that caused you to close off your heart and develop aphasia or something? Is that why you’ve never called out before?”

Zhou Li sat cross-legged on his bed, hugging the husky and running his fingers through his fur, feeling very distressed all the while.

Ji Shaoyan lied on his lap and pretended to be a doll, unable to wrap his mind around how things got to this point.

He had thought that once Silly Fool looked down and found him sneaking onto the bed, the boy would’ve shooed him back into his nest. Who could’ve expected that the other’s focus would completely turn away from this.

With a ‘little pitiful puppy, let me warm you up’ tone, Zhou Li reassured the other, “It’s all right, I will wait for you to slowly open your heart up. There’s no need for us to rush ah.”

Young Master Ji’s face was apathetic.

Zhou Li said, “I’m different from that personality. As long as I’m still here for another day, I won’t hit you, so don’t worry ba, Eggy.”

He comforted the other while stroking his fur, thinking that his kick just then was probably fully wiped from Uncle Dog’s mind by now, then placed the dog next to his pillow again before he turned over himself and laid down neatly, reaching out to switch off the light.

Ji Shaoyan “……”

He was interrupted by this little procedure and had forgotten about how he wanted to evaluate the other before. After a few seconds of silence, he could only replace the evaluation with a new one——not only were there many pits in this brat’s brain, all of them were not shallow.

This was the first time he has been rendered speechless several times over by another person. This silly fool was very capable.

He found himself a comfortable position and closed his eyes.

The next day, Zhou Li stood in front of the cardboard box and briefly scanned the living situation, immediately realising why Young Master Ji had climbed onto his bed. After taking a shower, his bed sheets were not changed, so he didn’t want to sleep.

He kindly plucked out the clothes from the box and threw them away, then randomly took two clean shirts from his closet and laid them out for the young master.

In the end, at night, Young Master Ji climbed onto his bed once again.

His reasons were too justifiable. One, there were occasional bugs on the ground; two, his box was too hard; and three, his most important excuse, was that a certain Silly Fool didn’t oppose his presence on the bed. Since there was a bed to sleep on, he obviously won’t choose to wrong himself by sleeping on the floor.

So Young Master Ji not only climbed, but also climbed brazenly.

After Silly Fool cleaned his paws, he expressed his intention to be placed on the bed in front of the boy.

Zhou Li surrendered*.

[T/N: like a resigned ‘I give up’]

But he was the only who chose to raise this husky, so he can only get used to this. He bent down to pick up the dog and resignedly placed him by the pillow-side before laying down and watching the dog, holding his little paws as he sang tonight’s lullaby. “*How can I bear to blame you for a fault, I’m the one who set you free…”

[T/N: 过火/Overfire by Zhang Xinzhe]

Ji Shaoyan: “……”

He felt that this song had some hidden meanings, and he had no idea where Silly Fool learned so many messy things.

However, after singing his heart out, Young Master Ji was able to completely settle in bed.

Zhou Li had an extra husky loitering beside his pillow, but he didn’t feel uncomfortable at all. Instead, every time he opened his eyes he was able to see a husky ball, and reaching out to knead a ball of fur made him feel like the following day will be a good one. 

So in order to make it easier for his family’s husky to get in and out of bed, he even built a simple step out of a shoe box, an addition to the room that made Young Master Ji very satisfied.

In a bilnk of an eye, Friday arrived, and Zhou Li was to go to work the next day.

Ji Shaoyan keenly sensed that he was a little absent-minded and glanced at the boy.

Zhou Li watched the TV, paying absolutely no attention to whatever was happening on screen.

He sat on the sofa, half of his mind occupied with playing with the dog while the other half wondered who was trustworthy enough to take care of Uncle Dog. Because Qian Duoshu was getting more and more irritable these days to the point that he had kicked the coffee table over last night, if he really left the husky at home, then in the case where Qian Duoshu goes too far, things will get too out of hand.

Those little brothers of his did not seem very reliable at first, and when Zhou Li went through the character profile of each one carefully, he found that there really was no one else he could trust. He couldn’t help sighing in his heart and, with no choice but to choose a general from among the pile of dwarfs*, picked one or two that seemed to be slightly more reliable.

[T/N: choose the best person out of a mediocre group]

At this time he suddenly remembered that the others were going to lurk in the part-timer group chat this week in anticipation of the snatching-fest, so he turned on his phone to ask if anyone had managed to grab one. If his planned dog sitter happened to have snatched up a job, he would have to reconsider his options again.

But before a single word could be sent out, a message flashed in the group. Er-ge sent: Damn it, Xiao Wu provoked Master Lin, what do we do!

The group chat was instantly dropped in a pot of oil*.

[T/N: sudden quarrel]

Lao San: Damn, how could he have messed with Master Lin, where are you guys now?

Fa Cai: Are you with him right now, how do you know this?

Er-ge: Not with him, my mum told me to go downstairs to buy stuff and I saw them.

Xiao Liu: Where?

Er-ge: Next to the small supermarket.

Lao San: How many people?

Er-ge: There’s two of the others and Xiao Wu is by himself. They didn’t start anything and appear to be talking about something. I think, Xiao Wu’s expression is a little off.

Lao-Ying: Wait.

Zhou Li sent out the two words and stood up, walking directly towards the door.

Ji Shaoyan saw that his expression was wrong and also got up from the sofa, looking at him inquisitively. When Zhou Li was pulling on his shoes he saw Uncle Dog and turned to glanced at the clock on the wall. Seeing that it was almost noon, he decided to take the dog with him downstairs. Besides, there were only two people in the other party, so there was no chance for a fight to break out

He flipped through his plot information silently, feeling that things have gotten a little tricky.

Compared to their group of little brats whose hairs have not had the chance to fully grow out yet*, Master Lin was a proper member of the criminal underworld. This especially applied to the second master behind him.

[T/N: matured fully/grown up]

The second master was someone from Xiangman Town, but his reach was big enough to envelop half of the Liuxi District and the Hengping District, which was close to their Liuxi District.

The Hengping District was several times more prosperous than theirs, and it took up a large area.

In the era when gangsters were not considered a serious infestation, the second master ruthlessly seized a large area for himself. Nowadays, the country had strict control, and the second master also whitened* himself to get along with the times. It was said that he had a very wide reach when it came to connections and often took over projects. Those high-end clubs and nightclubs in Hengping District were all his properties.

[T/N: made himself look harmless]

And Master Lin was the second master’s right hand man. They were fortunate enough to see each other from a distance and was able to recognise the other with just one look. 

To the original owner, these big brothers were something that was in sight but ultimately unattainable, but unexpectedly, he suddenly crossed paths with them. Although they were working on the legal side now, you don’t have to be a genius to know what they were up to behind everyone’s backs. If whatever Xiao Wu had gotten himself into can be settled then everything will be fine, but if he can’t…then it’ll be troublesome.

Zhou Li frowned at the thought of this.

As the saying goes, children of the poor take charge early. Xiao Wu’s family conditions were not ideal, so he was the most stable out of all the boys in this group. Moreover, Xiao Wu usually talked less than the others, but once he speaks, he will have the final word. The one who decided to get a job with him before was Xiao Wu.

How did such a child manage to provoke Master Lin?

Zhou Li couldn’t wrap his mind around such a possibility, so he sped up his pace to reach his destination. Seeing that Er-ge and Lao San who lived nearby had also rushed over, everyone’s expression was very heavy.

Although Lin Ye had a title of “Master*”, he was in fact only in his thirties.

[T/N: Lin Ye = Master Lin]

He is wore a simple T-shirt with pants, hair colour being the regulated black. Ignoring the tattoos on his arms, he didn’t at all appear to be part of the underworld.

At this moment, he was dangling cigarette between his fingers, observing the cubs in front of him as if he were looking at a meal. He noticed that another person was heading over and looked up, sweeping his eyes over the newcomer. He was taken aback.

He narrowed his eyes, smiling while he said, “Is this one also your brother?”

Er-ge and the others turned around in tandem, immediately shouting, “Ying-ge.”

“Oh, Ying-ge,” Lin Ye peered at Zhou Li with interest, “Going by these guys, it sounds like you are their boss?”

Zhou Li’s eyes met his and his eyelids immediately twitched.

As a young master who has danced in clubs and was chased by both men and women, he knew exactly what this look meant.

When he finished asking the other what happened, all that was left in him was the urge to pull at the corners of his mouth. 

The matter is very simple. Xiao Wu was smoking a cigarette while walking on the road when someone suddenly bumped into him, causing him to run into Lin Ye who next to him, and subsequently burnt a hole into the other’s shirt. That shirt was something newly bought by Lin Ye, valued at 12,000. Lin Ye had took out a great fraction of the debt, telling the other that he only had to pay 10,000.

To put it bluntly, Master Lin had a special little hobby. He fancied Xiao Wu, so he wanted to lay down a trap to play with this boy.

Fortunately, anything that can be settled with money is considered nothing.

Zhou Li saw that the gaze Lin Ye was using to stare him down was becoming more and more frank, and pretending as if he didn’t understand anything, began to lay a trap for the man in return. He embarrassedly said, “This…10,000 yuan is not a small sum, and with his family’s state ba…it won’t be easy to tell his parents. We can only figure out a solution by ourselves, but we’re all students and there’s no way we can take out that much money on such short notice. Is it possible for Master Lin to allow us a few days of deferral?”

“Oh, a few days of deferral…” Lin Ye stomped out his cigarette and pull out a new one. 

Zhou Li had a moment of enlightenment and handed the husky to a little brother, asking the others for a lighter before walking over to the man to light his cigarette.

Lin Ye observed the boy’s face now that it was close, smiling and spit out a mouthful of white clouds. “How many days of deferral do you want?”

Zhou Li said: “Three months?”

Lin Ye barked out a “ha”.

Zhou Li said, “Then…then how about a month?”

He begged, “Master Lin, you* are a charitable person, is one month okay?”

[T/N: ZL uses honourable form of you for entire conversation, LY doesn’t. Same goes for future interactions]

Lin Ye said, “What if you can’t collect it all?”

Zhou Li said, “Then, if that time comes, I will do whatever you say. If Master Lin believes I am worthy to being accepted as your little brother, I will work like an ox and horse for you*. I promise to double back the debt”!

[T/N: work extremely hard]

Ji Shaoyan: “……”

Are you acting stupid or are you actually a dumbass? Can you really not see what he meant?

Xiao Wu was also anxiously hovering at the side, almost about to burst into tears. “No!”

Lin Ye turned a deaf ear and laughed loudly and cheerfully. “Then there’s no need to wait, just become my little brother now.”

Zhou Li said, “That won’t do. Right now I owe 10,000, but I’ll need to pay 20,000 as your little brother. I just got a job not that long ago, and it pays 150 a day and there’s a commission if I manage to sell stuff. If I’m lucky and get more from commissions, wouldn’t I be able to pay off the debt?”

Lin Ye was amused all over again. He felt that this kid was so silly it was cute. This boy was too interesting. Delighted, he said, “Fine, I’ll give you one month. To tell you the truth, I already know what state his family is in. If you dare go back on your promise, I’ll just drop the knife on your little brother.”

Young Master Zhou, who will regain his status as a wealthy man in one month’s time, wore a solemn expression and swore to the other, “You can rest assured ba, Master Lin, I am someone who honours his words!”

Lin Ye smiled and pinched his face, then left with his companion after they got into a car.

The companion knew all about Lin Ye’s hobbies and also thought that the kid was quite interesting. He smiled and congratulated Lin Ye.

Lin Ye smiled and said, “First, investigate him.” 

His partner nodded in response.

They always have to be cautious. Playing around was fine, but they have to find out the other party’s details so as not to offend people who should not be offended.

Lin Ye said, “Oh right, that ‘distinguished guest’ Er Ye* mentioned, when will he be coming? I have some other things to do at night.” 

[T/N: second master]

The partner replied, “I think he said seven.”

Lin Ye: “So early?” 

His partner answered, “He said the other has to go back on the same day so he’ll have to come early. Does Master Lin know what he came her for?”

Lin Ye said, “An expensive young master from the city, with a terrifying background.” 

The partner was curious. “Then what did he come find second master for? “

Lin Ye informed, “He said the person wanted Er Ye to use his contacts to help find something. What that something is, I don’t exactly know, but we’ll just find out tonight anyway.” 

The car turned a corner and drove away.

Zhou Li watched the vehicle disappear around the bend before turning around to take Uncle Dog back into his arms. He saw that the other was staring at him, the pair of dog eyes looking particularly disgusted.

He blinked twice then quickly cuddled the other tightly, ruffling the soft fur. “Are you hungry? I’ll go buy you dinner.”

You’re still in the mood to care whether I’m hungry or not?

In the end, Ji Shaoyan stared at him for only a few seconds before turning his head, not wanting to pay attention to him for a second more.

The author has something to say:

Zhou Li: This uncle is getting harder and harder to serve. Was the love I gave too overwhelming*?

[T/N: reference to the song ‘Overfire’ earlier on in the chapter. Along the lines of ‘Was the love I gave too fiery?’]