Chapter 45
Tang Qiu naturally recognized that the person currently on video call with her little brother was the same one she and Tang Hu had run into at the mall—the one who had tried to strike up a conversation with her.
She truly hadn’t expected this person to be so “impossible to shake off,” showing up in her line of sight yet again.
Fortunately, she was currently in spirit form, so he wouldn’t recognize her. Otherwise, it would have been unbearably awkward.
…In the future, she definitely had to subtly encourage Xiao Rong to have less contact with him.
After scrambling to his feet, calling for the little robot to clean the floor, and sending the howling dog off to the pet hospital, Shen Yuchun finally got a chance to breathe and take a look at the video call that still hadn’t been hung up.
Who would have thought that the moment he lifted his eyes, he would meet six pairs of eyes looking straight at him—the butler had also turned to look over after hearing the commotion.
“Are you okay, Big Brother Xiao Chun?” Tang Rong asked cautiously.
He had seen that the dog’s paw was bleeding a little, and Big Brother Xiao Chun was limping slightly from the fall as well.
“I’m f-fine, totally fine, nothing’s wrong. This dog is always overflowing with energy, I’m used to it… haha.” Shen Yuchun awkwardly raised a hand and scratched his head again, trying to save face.
As he spoke, he nervously stared at the little white bird perched on Tang Rong’s head, trying to read some kind of emotion from its face.
Unfortunately, a bird’s face was covered in feathers. It simply couldn’t produce the rich expressions humans could, so nothing could be read at all.
He’d embarrassed himself again in front of Xiao Qiu.
The little person in Shen Yuchun’s heart silently began to cry.
“Big Brother Xiao Chun, hurry and go take care of the doggy. My allergy isn’t much of a problem anymore,” Tang Rong said.
Although he hated to hang up, Shen Yuchun really couldn’t find any excuse to keep the call going. On top of that, he’d already embarrassed himself more than enough, so he could only obediently nod.
Once the call ended, Shen Yuchun stared at the screenshot he had secretly grabbed just now from the photo album and admired it over and over again.
Xiao Qiu’s spirit form was way too cute!
“Is Benben’s owner here? Benben’s owner…” the pet doctor’s voice suddenly rang out.
Shen Yuchun quickly shut off the optical brain and stood up, smiling like an idiot.
“I’m here, I’m here.”
…
At lunch today, several fluffy creatures had all stayed over at Tang Rong’s place and enjoyed lunch together with him.
Before eating, Tang Rong took all the little accessories off the little snow leopard one by one and put them back into the bag.
The little snow leopard immediately gave itself a vigorous shake, feeling a kind of lightness it had never experienced before. It ran a few laps around the house and felt so light on its feet it almost seemed as if it might fly.
At lunch, several extra bowls had appeared beside the leopard bowl—one shaped like a fox, one like a little bird, and one like an orange cat.
After eating, Tang Rong and the fluffy creatures watched an episode of a cartoon together to help digest before going upstairs for a nap.
When they saw him heading off for his midday rest, the little lion, little fox, and little bird also said their goodbyes.
This time, the little bird didn’t perch on the little fox’s head. Instead, it nestled into the soft, fluffy mane scarf around the little lion’s neck.
After nesting in fox fluff for so long, it was time for a change of lion fluff.
On the way back, as they walked along the little path, a virtual screen suddenly popped up above the little fox’s head with a line of text on it.
It read: “The one who was video calling Xiao Rong just now was the same person who tried to hit on Second Sister that day at the mall, right?”
Clearly, Tang Hu had also recognized Shen Yuchun.
The little lion immediately stopped walking and carefully read the line from beginning to end. Then a screen popped up above its head as well: “What’s the situation?”
When Tang Hu and Tang Qiu came back that day, Tang Hu had already mentioned over the phone that someone had tried to chat up Xiao Qiu, though Xiao Qiu had ignored him, so they hadn’t asked much more.
But they hadn’t expected… that person to actually be Shen Yuchun??
The little bird very much wanted to flap its wings and fly away right on the spot, but it was afraid the two of them might say things behind its back that it wouldn’t know about, so it tucked its head into the fluffy mane and briefly played dead.
The little fox: “It wasn’t anything much. I already told you back then. That person tried to flirt with Second Sister and wanted to add her on his optical brain, but she shook her head and refused. After refusing, she pulled me away right away, so there was no follow-up.”
The little fox: “I just thought he was some random passerby and that there wouldn’t be any further intersection. I didn’t expect to see him again in Xiao Rong’s video call, so I was a little surprised.”
The little fox: “Pretty fated, actually.”
The little lion: “Oh, yeah, that is pretty fated.”
The little fox: “Too bad Second Sister didn’t take a liking to him.”
The little lion: “It’s fine. If she didn’t like this one, there’ll be another.”
Truth be told, Shen Yuchun’s outward conditions really weren’t bad. He was quite tall, at least 185 cm, handsome enough, from a good background, and capable too.
It was just that the silly streak in him had marinated too deeply. He always carried a smile on his face, the sort of smile that made other people want to laugh too.
For people who liked that type, he would seem cute and fun. For those who didn’t, though, the first impression wouldn’t be very good.
Xiao Qiu clearly hadn’t taken a liking to him.
The little lion wasn’t in any rush over his children’s romantic affairs. If they never met the right person and stayed single forever, that was fine. If they met the right person and wanted to date or get married, that was fine too. No matter what they chose, the family would always be there to support them.
The little fox: “By the way, what kind of type does Second Sister like?”
The little bird continued playing dead.
The little lion: “Or maybe tell us what kind of type you don’t like?”
The little bird still kept playing dead.
The little fox: “She definitely doesn’t like the straight-man type like Eldest Brother.”
The little lion: “Actually, straight men have their own good points too. Your future sister-in-law happens to like your eldest brother’s type very much.”
Watching the speech bubbles keep popping up over the heads of her father and younger brother, the little bird was unbearably annoyed. Finally, it flapped its little wings and flew away.
That same day, Tang Qiu posted a new update on her optical brain feed: “Hate canines.”
…
Elsewhere, receiving the special notification, Shen Yuchun opened his optical brain and saw Tang Qiu’s new update.
“Hate canines.”
Shen Yuchun’s heart gave a violent thump.
The husky, because of its injured paw and inability to run around wildly, was currently lying on his lap while he stroked its fur. Shen Yuchun looked at the husky on his lap, then at the optical brain screen, wearing a face full of disbelief.
He clearly remembered that a few years ago, Tang Qiu had once posted an update saying she liked puppies.
Later, one time when he happened to pass by a pet store, the husky had been lying against the clear display window, wagging its tail and staring right at him, and that was when he brought it home.
…So how had she suddenly started hating canines?
Could it be because of him and Benben?
A wave of unease rose inside Shen Yuchun.
Right—he did have Tang Qiu added on his optical brain. They had added each other back in kindergarten.
It was just that when he was younger, he had been too insecure and timid, and had never dared reach out to her. Over time, the two of them had simply remained as silent contacts lying in each other’s lists until now.
In middle school, he felt that puppy love was too risky, and Xiao Qiu was the kind of well-behaved girl who definitely wouldn’t have agreed to anything, so he had just continued liking her in secret while working hard in school, trying to become a better person.
In university, he had run into her being confessed to several times. Every time, she had coldly rejected them all with a few simple words: “I don’t want to date for now.” So he chickened out again. On top of that, he had started working out and losing weight in college, and his body still hadn’t reached the shape he wanted, so he kept on pining secretly.
Later, near graduation, something happened to Xiao Qiu’s mother. Xiao Qiu never came back to school again, and in fact never even came out of Eden again. At that point, he had even less idea how he was supposed to pursue her.
After dragging things out for so many years, Shen Yuchun had learned one truth—
Hesitation leads to defeat.
He had already hesitated too many times for too many reasons. Over these past four years, he had grown a lot, and he wouldn’t keep hesitating and shrinking back the way he used to.
Not long ago, when he tried talking to Tang Qiu at the mall, his original plan had been that if Tang Qiu agreed to add him, then they would naturally discover they were already contacts, and from there they could smoothly continue chatting. He had even already thought up a lot of kindergarten-era topics, enough to guarantee the conversation wouldn’t go dead.
Who would have expected Tang Qiu to reject him directly? The whole plan died at step one.
And now, staring at this update that read “Hate canines,” Shen Yuchun felt both uneasy and guilty.
He hadn’t even successfully started a conversation with Xiao Qiu yet. He really didn’t want her to dislike him…
After thinking it over, Shen Yuchun silently changed the husky profile picture on his optical brain account, afraid that one day Xiao Qiu might glance at her contact list, see him with a dog profile picture, and casually delete him as some random stranger.
The new profile picture was a chibi little green caterpillar, which had also been the profile picture he used long before getting the dog.
Summoning his courage, Shen Yuchun liked Tang Qiu’s new update.
He had to take at least one step forward.
…
When she received the notification that someone had liked her update, Tang Qiu casually tapped it open and took a glance.
It was a friend with a chibi little worm avatar, and the nickname “Spring Wormie.”
Kind of cute.
Because her spirit form was a little bird, Tang Qiu had always liked insects quite a lot.
She didn’t recognize who the other person was. She assumed it was probably some schoolmate from her student days or perhaps someone from the doll-making community who shared the same interests.
…
After resting for another day and obediently applying medicine and taking pills, by Monday the red spots on Tang Rong’s body had already improved quite a bit.
An allergy at this level didn’t affect attending school, so first thing Monday morning, Tang Rong obediently sat down in the learning pod and entered class.
The moment he saw the other children, he eagerly began sharing photos of the little snow leopard dressed up by him.
In the pictures, the little snow leopard was covered all over in various little accessories he had put on it. Even the fluffy long tail had not escaped.
Luo Yue and Luo Xing also dug up some old pictures from deep inside their albums—photos where they had once plastered their own little cat all over with stickers.
A little child’s sense of beauty at this age was basically this—
If I like it, pile it all on together without thinking.
Seeing his own gaudy self from this angle, Shen Muhan felt his heart choke up.
With all those things looped around his neck, Xiao Rong could have taken him straight to the mall and put him up as a stall display.
Clearly Xiao Rong looked very good wearing all that stuff. He, on the other hand, looked far too strange wearing it—especially in snow leopard form, with the tail weighted down so badly it couldn’t even curl properly anymore.
Afraid Tang Rong would keep putting those kinds of things on him in the future, Shen Muhan pressed his lips together, took Tang Rong’s little hand, and deliberately made his voice sound a bit more aggrieved as he said, “Those were all things I gave you to wear. Why did you put them on the little snow leopard…”
Tang Rong blinked, then belatedly realized that what he had done really wasn’t very nice and might hurt Big Brother Xiao Han’s feelings.
“Sorry, Big Brother Xiao Han. I won’t put them on Baby anymore in the future. I’ll wear them myself.”
Only then did Shen Muhan finally let out the breath he’d been holding.
But immediately after that, Tang Rong patted the twin sisters on the shoulders and asked, “Big Sister Xiao Yue, Big Sister Xiao Xing, where did you buy your little cat’s clothes? It’s getting cold, and I also want to buy Baby some clothes.”
He was a child with money now! He wanted to buy gifts for all his family members, including the little snow leopard.
The little snow leopard already had many nests and toys and lacked for nothing—except that it didn’t have any pretty little outfits like the little cat did.
The breath Shen Muhan had just released got stuck again immediately.
…Under no circumstances could Xiao Rong be allowed to buy some weird, ridiculous clothes for the little snow leopard to wear!
“On Xingtao! I’ll share the little dresses and bows with you,” the twins immediately said enthusiastically, starting to share links with him.
“Okay.” Tang Rong nodded in a vague, half-understanding way.
Shen Muhan: “…”
Shen Muhan felt he could still struggle one more time. “Actually, snow leopards aren’t afraid of the cold. Their fur is very thick, so they don’t need clothes. And dresses like those aren’t even warm. A practical little blanket would be better.”
Luo Yue shot him a side-eye, feeling her head hurt just listening to all that, and applied a term she had recently seen online. “You’re such a straight guy. Clothes are for looking pretty, get it?”
Luo Xing also took Tang Rong’s little hand. “He doesn’t get it. Xiao Rong, let’s not talk to him.”
Shen Muhan: “…”
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