Husky’s Side Chapter 8

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Life-Saving Days by the Husky’s Side
A handsome fool

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Zhou Li stayed silent as he listened to the sounds of footsteps, hearing that the great master had turned three times around him, then reversed his path three times, before finally stopping in front of him. He couldn’t help holding his breath, wondering if sticking a talisman on his forehead would be the final step to finally making him disappear, but he only heard the great master say, “It’s done.”

He immediately prepared to ascend, regretfully thinking before leaving: What a pity that I will never finish《Princess Niu Hulu》.

Seeing that his eyes were still shut, Great Master Wan smiled and patted his head. “You can open your eyes now.”

Zhou Li paused and quickly opened his eyes.

Familiar living room, familiar people…and this familiar shell.

He asked, “It’s over just like this?”

Great Master Wan answered with a smile, “It’s over, it’s already dispersed.”

“……” Zhou Li said, “Is it okay if I ask something?”

Great Master Wan replied, “Yes?”

Zhou Li said, “How long had the evil spirit on my body been dead for?”

Great Master Wan responded, “It had been dead for more than a year ba.” 

Based on the symptoms of ‘not sleeping well recently’, he explained in a serious manner, “You’re a young man, full of yang energy*. A newly deceased ghost can’t get close to your body, so they needed to affect your body in this way. But, it can’t hurt you. If you were a girl, you would have come down with a sickness a long time ago”

[T/N: masculine energy]

Oh.

Young Master Zhou, who has only been dead for a few days, thought blankly: so it turned out to be a supernatural-dabbling con artist.

Although, he also blamed the moment where he lacked self-confidence and the ability to turn his mind to work. If this great master was really as capable as they said, he should’ve been able to recognise him as a dead soul at first sight, and there also should’ve been a very high chance of him being tackled over on the spot. If he were the real deal, how could this great master be so pleasant towards him?

Great Master Wan turned his words around. “But with the eight characters* in your horoscope, it was easier to provoke these things. For you, it is best to wear a protection amulet.”

[T/N: Four Pillars of Destiny/八字: year, month, day, time (etc.) of birth]

Zhou Li understood in seconds. This meant he had to pay for the amulet.

He didn’t want to pay a wave of IQ taxes* and said, “I don’t think that’ll be necessary.”

[T/N: lack of judgement when shopping, the performance of low IQ]

Great Master Wan was used to seeing these kinds of young men and shook his head, smiling. He looked at Qian Duoshu. Generally, parents were sensible and would persuade their children to wear them.

Qian Duoshu looked at his son. “How are you feeling?”

Zhou Li smiled. “See for yourself?”

Qian Duoshu knew at a glance that this expression meant the ritual was absolutely useless. He said, “En, then don’t wear it ba.”

Great Master Wan: “……”

Qian Duoshu only took out some incense money and politely sent the great master out the door.

Zhou Li walked into his bedroom and looked at the husky who had returned to his nest to lie down, squatting down in front of him and touching his head. There was a sudden melancholic feeling similar to the concept of “I have to pay this bill myself” and a strange sense of steadiness. He let out a faint sigh.

Ji Shaoyan ignored him as usual.

Zhou Li continued to stroke his head again and again, with an underlying “if you don’t look at me, I’ll keep touching you” in his petting.

Ji Shaoyan finally glanced at him with eyes that were somewhat disgusted, wondering which of the doors the guy opened in the Insanity Hallway.

Zhou Li said, “Eggy*, I think I was mentally disabled during those few minutes.”

[T/N: 蛋蛋/dan dan/egg egg]

Don’t belittle yourself, you weren’t only mentally disabled during those few minutes.

Ji Shaoyan retracted his gaze and stopped paying attention to him.

Young Master Zhou could pick up these non-verbal cues and once he finished complaining to Uncle Dog, he no longer had anything pent up in his mind. He picked up the puppy and returned to the living room, unable to hold back the excitement of turning on the TV that was switched off by Qian Duoshu earlier on to continue to watch 《Princess Niu Hulu》with relish. Very soon, under the eyes of Young Husky Master Ji, he was once again rocking back and forth with laughter.  

Qian Duoshu happened to come back into the room and was stumped into silence at this scene. He walked over and said, “Did you really feel nothing at all?”

Zhou Li said, “Nothing at all.”

Qian Duoshu nodded and checked the time. “Let’s cook ba, I’ll go back to work after eating.” 

With this comment, Zhou Li moved his eyes away from the TV and asked, “Do you know why I ordered takeaway two days ago and cooked instant noodles yesterday?”

Qian Duoshu said, “Why?”

Zhou Li smiled and exposed a row of little white teeth. “Because I am personality that can’t cook.”

Qian Duoshu: “……”

The two looked at each other silently for a few seconds before Qian Duoshu walked into the kitchen, leaving him behind.

After lunch, Qian Duoshu left for work while appearing to be engrossed in his thoughts.

Zhou Li took an afternoon nap and waited for his scrambled eggs and tomatoes.

The little brothers had already bought hair dyes, but only three boxes.

Because last time they had one box per person, the stingy-as-hell little brother analysed from the remaining hair dye left that time that there will still be some leftover if one box was shared between two people, so the eight of them could save a bit if they used several boxes together. After calculations, they are to the conclusion that three boxes should be enough. As of now, there were living through a critical period*, so what can be saved should be saved. The others felt that this was reasonable and happily agreed.

[T/N: 非常时期 /experiencing internal strife, external disasters, unstable social order, and in a very tense situation. The little brothers are most likely exaggerating here]

Eight boxes were reduced to three. Zhou Li was quite convinced and whole-heartedly believed that this kid with bright yellow hair had a future.

He pulled out an old lunch box, poured the hair dye into it, and gave the job to Xiao Huangmao. This brother was instantly possessed by the spirit of Teacher Tony* and put on plastic gloves to dye the heads of his brothers. After dyeing seven people, they found that there was still quite a lot of dye leftover.

[T/N: an internet slang for a barber]

Er-ge was also convinced. “Are you sure we’ll all be fully dyed black and there won’t be any patches of random colour?”

Xiao Huangmao said, “I’m sure ah.”

He thought about it a bit more. “Actually, it doesn’t matter if there are any. Having a few patches can be quite fashionable.”

Everyone didn’t dare to wipe the rest of the dye on their heads and instead purposefully left some patches.

After the waiting time was up, they all lined up to wash their heads. Zhou Li was the first to wash and seeing that there were not enough towels, he wiped his hair few times and went to get some more.

They dyed their heads in the living room. Zhou Li knew that Young Master Ji’s nose was very sensitive and closed the bedroom door to reduce the smell of ammonia. When he returned to the room to get something, he only opened a small slit and closed it immediately after entering.

After taking an afternoon nap, Ji Shaoyan didn’t feel much for another round of sleeping again.

He laid flat in his nest, bored out of his mind. Hearing these pathetic attempts at being sneaky, he condescendingly raised his head to meet Zhou Li’s eyes that were directed at his body. He couldn’t help but be surprised.

His red hair had turned black and his temperament settled instantly.

The combination of a vest and beach shorts that were soaked in instant noodle soup was replaced with a T-shirt and slim cropped pants. With his sparkling eyes and a slightly smiling mouth, he was as bright as the sun and spotlessly clean, the type of boy that would appeal to girls.

The same face, the same body, one gloomy and ruthless, one cheerful and gentle. They were completely different, and even Ji Shaoyan, who often disliked him, had to admit that this appearance of Silly Fool was much more pleasing to the eye than the red-haired version.

This was the first time Zhou Li came back into his room to see the puppy looking directly at him. He quickly threw away all thoughts about towels or whatnot and walked over to scoop him up into a hug. “What’s the matter, are you bored, or maybe it’s because you think I am suddenly a hundred times more handsome?”

Ji Shaoyan turned his head, eating back the words “pleasing to the eye”.

Zhou Li didn’t delay his reason for coming here for too long, cuddling and petting the husky for a while before putting him back into the nest. Seeing that the young master was no longer looking at himself, he guessed that everything should be fine. But just in case, he left a small gap in the door when he left, so that the young master could come out to play by himself if he grew too bored.

The little brothers finished washing their hair and bid farewell to the era of scrambled eggs and tomatoes.

Although some of them still had spots of their original colours, it wasn’t obvious. They were too lazy to dye it again and packed up their things, then held a meeting in the living room to discuss where they could find part-time work at.

Er-ge said, “I asked my mum at noon, she said that at most we can hand out flyers.”

“Who said that,” another one countered. “We can also just go to the Internet cafes to watch over the place!”

“Damn, watching over the place, I like this idea! Ai, then we didn’t actually need to dye our hair back ah!”

Zhou Li looked at them warmly. “Will the boss give you this job?”

The younger brother was sure. “Yes ba, after all, we’re that familiar with the boss.”

Zhou Li said with eyes filled with encouragement, “Sure, you guys go and try.” 

Er-ge said, “Ying-ge, do you have any ideas?”

Zhou Li said, “I think what your mother said was right.” 

The business district liked to host events on weekends. Right now, it was catching up with the summer holiday and there were various promotions and job opportunities posted in large quantities, as all the store owners were scared that their own deals will be covered by intervening businesses that will block their recruitment notices.

After listening to his opinion, the little brothers suddenly had another round of discussions. They also searched the Internet for the types of jobs high school students were capable of and were extremely enthusiastic, as if this were a game. Zhou Li was tolerant and mostly didn’t reject their actions, letting them try things out on their own.

The group of boys talked late into afternoon, not even stopping for a meal.

Because there were a few who planned to take advantage of this opportunity to have a “makeover”, they could discuss with their parents about part-time work at the dinner table to see what options they had.

Zhou Li went back to his room and picked up Uncle Dog, who was probably more than a little bored by now, and sent the group downstairs before going for a stroll around the neighbourhood and buying dinner for Uncle Dog. He saw that the bookstore was having a sale, so he went in and purchased two books to pass the time.

When Qian Duoshu returned home, he saw that his son had dyed his hair back and was currently sitting quietly at the desk reading a book. He was so frightened by the sight that he almost suffered a heart attack on the spot.

Seeing the man, Zhou Li raised his head and greeted, “You’re back?”

Qian Duoshu said, “Ah…yes.”

He didn’t dare to even breathe in air and clutched his chest before walking away. Only when they were sitting at the dinner table later in the night did he hesitantly ask, “Do you have any plans for when you start school?”

Zhou Li said, “Study hard every day, make progress every day.”

Qian Duoshu said, “Don’t joke around.” 

“I’m not joking around.” Zhou Li said, “At the very least, I need to take the university entrance exams.”

He paused for a moment. “Oh yeah, I’m going to find a job in a few days.”

Qian Duoshu said, “What job. If there’s not enough money, just tell me.”

Zhou Li said, “It’s mainly for life experience. I’m basically an adult, I can’t always depend on your money.” 

Qian Duoshu wore an odd expression that say clearly asking “how can this independent and self-improving person who wants to study for the university entrance examination be my child”. He finished a meal without tasting any hint of flavour and entered his bedroom, his movements very similar to a floating ghost.

He said no words that night.

After eating breakfast the next day, Zhou Li chatted with the younger brothers in the group chat. They had all gone home the previous day and discussed their matters with family members. Some families asked them to go wash cars with relatives, while some asked them to help farm the land. They refused without thinking, expressing their desire to make a lot of money in one go. All their fighting spirits had been lured out.

Zhou Li was worried that they were being deceived and planned to go over to see the situation.

This time, it was difficult to bring Uncle Dog with him, so he prepared lunch for the other in advance and filled up the cleaned bowl. “I’ll come back at noon, you can eat by yourself first.”

Ji Shaoyan twitched his ears slightly but didn’t look at him.

Zhou Li happened to see this little movement when he stood up. He blinked, wondering if it was an illusion.

He looked at the bedroom door and found that it had long been broken. He said, “I won’t close this door. Please be respectable, don’t demolish the house.”

Ji Shaoyan heard these words. He was in a splendid mood.

He was in a dog’s body, so some instinctive reactions were sometimes not noticed by his own self. Zhou Li carefully watched his tail wag lightly and knew what he saw just before was not a trick of the light.

Oh, this uncle might try to run.

He considered the options for a few seconds and suddenly remembered that his neighbour had raised pigeons before, though he didn’t know if the cage was thrown out or not.

He immediately went over.

Being neighbours who had known each other for more than ten years, the neighbour lent him the cage right after he made his intentions clear.

Zhou Li saw that it was nearly one meter long in width, height, and length, and there was enough space to not feel crowded, so he returned to his house satisfied and with the cage in tow. He piled his clothes in the cage and moved Uncle Dog, his food bowl, and his toilet inside, saying in a serious tone, “That old beast has a tendency towards violence. If I return too late, or if he can’t hold back, it’s likely he’ll hit you instead. You will have to make do with this for now.”

Ji Shaoyan was very calm. Anyway, this cage could be opened with a pull of the handle. It’ll be easy.

As soon this idea emerged, Zhou Li turned around and took out a small lock from the drawer. The cage door locked with a “click”.

Ji Shaoyan: “……”

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The author has something to say:

Ji Shaoyan:  I’ll make you a big cage in the future, just you wait.

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