Allergic To Furry Things But Can Pet Them Mentally – CH87

Chapter 87

Shen Muhan had suddenly made this video call because Tang Rong had sent him a photo of the bubble machine, and he wanted to watch him show it off on video. He had never expected to see such a heart-stopping scene instead.

If he had been in little snow leopard form right now, all the fur on his body definitely would have puffed right up.

“This is Xiao Xian-brother. He’s six this year and already in first grade,” Tang Rong introduced this new friend warmly to Xiao Han-brother. His attention had been completely diverted, and he had entirely forgotten the earlier question about arranging a child betrothal.

“And this is Xiao Han-brother, my best friend,” Tang Rong then explained to Lin Xian.

That phrase, “my best friend,” made Shen Muhan’s mood improve a little, but he still pressed his lips together and stared at his yarn ball in Lin Xian’s hand, his gaze seeming capable of setting the boy’s hand on fire.

Unfortunately, through a light-brain screen, the effect was much weakened.

Since Xiao Rong was there, he did not want to make things awkward for him, so although he was unhappy inside, he said nothing.

Compared to that yarn ball, Xiao Rong was still more important.

“Hi, hello.” Lin Xian fiddled with the yarn ball in his hand and still greeted Shen Muhan in his usual overly familiar way.

Feeling Tang Rong’s gaze from the other side of the screen, Shen Muhan replied with a sour-faced “Mm,” counting it as a response.

Lin Xian might be overly familiar, but he was not the sort who liked pressing his hot face against someone else’s cold shoulder. Besides, he was more interested in Tang Rong anyway. Remembering that Tang Rong still had not answered the question from earlier, he asked it again without the slightest sign of giving up:

“Xiao Rong, do you want to make a child betrothal with me?”

It would be perfect to have his friend act as the witness.

Shen Muhan: “?”

Shen Muhan almost could not believe his ears.

Of course he knew what a child betrothal was. Precisely because he knew, he could not accept the words he had just heard.

He had only been away for a few days, and already someone was trying to steal his wall corner.

What gave this brat, only a few years older than them, the confidence to ask Xiao Rong for a child betrothal? They had only just met—how could someone this rash possibly become Xiao Rong’s future marriage partner?

Shen Muhan wanted nothing more than to transform into a little snow leopard on the spot and bite the person on the other side of the screen.

Tang Rong paused for a moment, his brain spinning quickly as he thought through what Lin Xian meant.

Although same-sex lovers were legal and accepted in this era, Tang Rong was still very young, and the Garbage Planet he had once lived on was far too backward. Most people there pursued reproduction and survival rather than emotional fulfillment, so almost everyone he had encountered had been male-female pairs. Deep down, he had naturally assumed boys married girls.

“But… we’re both boys,” Tang Rong blinked and said.

“Boys and boys can get married too. As long as they like each other, gender isn’t a problem,” Lin Xian said.

The impact of this new way of thinking left Tang Rong unsure how to react for a moment.

Just then, there came a sudden knock on the bedroom door.

Knock knock.

Tang Rong came back to himself and quickly called out, “Please come in.”

It was Butler.

“What are you playing? Do you want to come downstairs and play with everyone?” Butler was smiling kindly, though the daggers in his eyes kept flying toward Lin Xian.

“Uncle,” Tang Rong looked at him and voiced the confusion in his heart directly, “can boys really marry boys?”

Butler’s death glare intensified, but he still answered Tang Rong with a warm smile. “Of course they can. Boy and girl, boy and boy, girl and girl—all can get married. But the premise is that they truly love each other.”

Tang Rong nodded thoughtfully.

“Why did this suddenly come up?” Butler asked, fully aware but pretending not to know.

Tang Rong looked toward Lin Xian, who was still holding the yarn ball. Lin Xian guiltily averted his gaze, his fingers twisting the yarn faster and faster.

On the other end of the video call, Shen Muhan quietly exited the chat window he had opened with Butler, looking completely innocent.

Inside that chat window was a message he had sent not long ago:

[Uncle, someone wants to make a child betrothal with Xiao Rong. Is Xiao Rong going to do it with him?]

Butler had replied:

[What’s going on? I’ll go ask.]

Shen Muhan had sent back:

[It’s someone called Xiao xian.]

Looking at the scene on the screen, Shen Muhan narrowed his eyes slightly.

This yarn ball was already dirty now.

Once he got back, he would throw it away directly and buy a new one.

…

In the end, after hearing about this, Lin Xian’s parents gave him a thorough scolding and made him stand in the corner as punishment.

There was no other reason—this was not Lin Xian’s first “child betrothal.”

At school, he already had several child-betrothed targets.

He had been a little flirt ever since he was small, truly impossible to make anyone feel at ease.

While watching Tang Rong demonstrate the bubble machine for him over the video call, Shen Muhan muttered quietly, “That person is obviously a fickle little turnip. Xiao Rong, stay away from him. Don’t let him trick you.”

Tang Rong nodded slowly and asked, “What is a fickle little turnip?”

“It means someone who isn’t faithful in love, someone who likes lots of people at the same time. Even if he marries his wife, he might easily start liking someone else and could even abandon his wife and divorce her,” Shen Muhan did everything he could to strangle that non-existent child betrothal dead in its cradle.

After hearing this, Tang Rong shook his head quickly. “I don’t like fickle little turnips.”

The system was extremely satisfied.

As expected, once Xiao Han-brother made a move, absolutely no one would be able to carry off its little cabbage host.

The sense of security was overflowing.

That afternoon, not long after finishing the reunion meal, the whole group went together to the Lin family home, where they had another reunion dinner in the evening. Grandpa Lin and Grandma Lin even gave Tang Rong another big red packet.

Playing host in his own home, Lin Xian brought out all of his toys to entertain Tang Rong.

Because of Lin Xian’s “fickle little turnip” persona, Tang Rong was not especially warm toward him, but he did not spoil the mood either. He still played with him for the entire evening.

The toys older children had were quite different from his own, and for him they still held a lot of appeal.

Meanwhile, Shen Muhan was practically dying of anxiety. He wished he could stay on a nonstop video call with Tang Rong, just to prevent that fickle little turnip from secretly stealing a corner of his wall. But because of the royal New Year banquet, he had no choice but to properly play the role of the little crown prince and could not afford to be distracted.

His first New Year away from Eden was terrible.

Completely the opposite of Shen Muhan’s bad mood was Shen Yuchun, who had only just received a handmade outfit from Xiao Qiu yesterday—one she had personally made for Benben.

This outfit was different from the cute styles she made for the little snow leopard. It leaned more cool, but not so cool that it clashed with a husky’s whole vibe.

If Benben and his own body size had not been so different, Shen Yuchun really would have wanted to “occupy the magpie’s nest” and secretly wear it himself.

After Benben put it on, the whole dog seemed reborn with fresh radiance, practically a different dog from before.

Shen Yuchun took an insane number of photos of him, then picked the best one and, taking advantage of New Year’s Day, finally posted a long-overdue update:

[New year, new atmosphere. Benben has also put on beautiful new clothes.]

He did not dare write anything too deliberate, afraid it would come off as overdoing it. This was just right.

Before dinner, he had discovered—Xiao Qiu had actually given his post a like!!!

Shen Yuchun got so excited that he ate an extra bowl of rice and hiccupped from being too full.

Shen Muhan had barely eaten anything at all. As soon as the family banquet ended, he immediately called Tang Rong on video.

…

It was already quite late at night. Under the Lin family’s enthusiastic insistence, the Tang family all decided to stay over.

Actually, right next door was another Tang family property. Before Yun Jian’s accidental death, they had always lived there, which was also why Lin Fei had grown up familiar with all the Tang children.

But that house had not been lived in for too long. Even though it had always been regularly cleaned and kept spotless, it held too many memories, so heavy they were almost unbearable.

Fortunately, the Lin family had plenty of guest rooms, more than enough for them all.

Lin Xian held tightly onto Tang Rong’s little hand, wanting to invite him to sleep in his children’s room that night. He still had many things he had not shown him yet.

Tang Zheng’en smiled without smiling and gently pried his fingers off one by one. Then he picked up his own little cub into his arms and, without the slightest change in expression, lied smoothly:

“Xiao Rong isn’t used to sleeping with other children.”

Tang Rong blinked but did not expose his father, because in truth he also did not want to sleep with a fickle little turnip.

It was only after they returned to the room that he said to his father, “I like sleeping with Xiao Han-brother.”

No sooner had the words left his mouth than Shen Muhan’s video call came through. Tang Rong happily accepted it and started chatting with him.

Tang Zheng’en, who had just rescued his own little cabbage: “…”

That night, Tang Rong fell asleep with the video call connected to Shen Muhan, while his father slept beside him.

Because Shen Muhan was not at ease with Tang Rong sleeping in that Lin Xian household, he deliberately used insomnia as an excuse to keep the call going—he was used to sleeping together with Tang Rong, so suddenly being apart and sleeping badly at night without him was perfectly normal.

Tang Rong did not suspect a thing.

The system, however, did pick up on something. But it could also clearly see Shen Muhan’s worry about Tang Rong staying in Lin Xian’s home, so it guessed that Shen Muhan was simply afraid Tang Rong might get tricked by Lin Xian again. Because he was worried, he wanted to keep the call connected.

Curled up in his father’s arms, Tang Rong fell asleep quickly.

The system also briefly went into dormancy for optimization and upgrades.

It was an intern system. Tang Rong was its very first host. There was still a great deal it needed to learn and improve.

It hoped that after completing this world’s performance targets, it would undergo a major transformation.

After a sleepless night, Tang Zheng’en woke up the next morning with dark circles under his eyes.

He had secretly monitored Tang Rong’s light-brain video feed the whole night, wanting to catch even the tiniest clue of the little crown prince turning back into a little snow leopard—but the results had been meager.

The little snow leopard and Xiao Rong had fallen asleep at almost the exact same time.

At 1:30 a.m., the little snow leopard rolled over and murmured something in its sleep, but because it was in snow leopard form, the sleep talk was only a simple, soft “meowu… mimi.”

At 2:40 a.m., the little snow leopard rolled over again, and its fur completely blocked the camera. The only thing visible on screen was its breathing making the fur puff up and sink down.

At exactly 4:00 a.m., the little snow leopard gave another sleepy “mi.”

…

The two little cubs woke up in the morning.

“Good morning.”

“Meowu.”

They hung up, changed clothes, and washed up.

It could only be described as—a total, absolute, complete waste of effort.

Tang Rong noticed the dark circles under his father’s eyes and asked worriedly, “Dad, didn’t you sleep well last night?”

Tang Zheng’en forced a smile. “Dad’s a little sensitive to sleeping in a different bed.”

Tang Rong said, “Let’s hurry home so you can catch up on sleep.”

Tang Zheng’en replied, “Okay.”

After breakfast, the Tang family got into the hovercar and headed back to Eden.

Before leaving, Lin Xian wanted to add Tang Rong as a light-brain friend, but Tang Rong refused.

He still remembered Xiao Han-brother’s words—he did not want to add a fickle little turnip.

Lin Xian’s heart shattered into pieces, impossible to put back together. He stood at a 45-degree angle, gazing gloomily in the direction Tang Rong had gone.

When his family asked what was wrong, he covered his chest and answered, “I now have a white moonlight I can never obtain.”

His family: “…”

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