Husky’s Side Chapter 22

---

Life-Saving Days by the Husky’s Side
Putting together a theory

---

Zhou Li went around in both the old and new complexes and found more than a dozen missing-dog posters.

He only tore off the first one they found and didn’t bother with the others.

Er-ge followed him as they walked back and asked, “Aren’t you going to rip the other ones up? What if they’re seen by saozi*?”

[T/N: sister-in-law]

Zhou Li’s mouth twitched slightly. “…Don’t call her saozi.” 

A “hi” escaped from Er-ge’s mouth. “Isn’t it just a matter of time before you two…?”

“If I say don’t call her that, don’t call her that. Tell Xiao Wu and the others to not call her that either,” Zhou Li emphasised, “especially not in front of her.”

Er-ge reasoned to himself that it was because he hasn’t yet caught her, so he promised, “Don’t worry ba, Ying-ge. With this sort of thing, of course we understand.”

He asked again, “You really aren’t going to bother with those ah?”

Zhou Li said, “Let them stay up for now, don’t move them.”

What type of background did the Ji family have? He somewhat knew, just a little.

If these were stuck up by people hired by Second Young Master Ji, then it may be more than just sticking few flyers in various places. If someone was watching your back and noticed that all of the flyers were torn down on the very first day they were hung up, he was afraid they’ll start to investigate, and when they find out that they were all torn down in this area they’ll definitely hunt down their heads. Once they discover that he had raised a husky, then that will be the worst possible outcome.

He said goodbye to Er-ge and went home, laying on his bed to ponder for a while, finally deciding to tell Song Yingshi about the situation, otherwise he won’t be able to stop Song Yingshi from walking the dog no matter what other excuse he gives. The most important thing was that the missing-dog poster also wrote that any hints would lead to a reward of 5,000, so as long as Song Yingshi took the husky out for a simple loop, they will most likely be targeted.

He sorted out his thoughts and chatted with the little brothers in the chat to finalise his follow-up plan, then allowed himself to rest.

When the next day arrived, the first thing he did after waking up was contact Song Yingshi to ask her what she was doing.

Song Yingshi had breakfast with her grandma every day so she woke up very early and was able to quickly reply: Finished feeding Happy and I’m just about to eat, you?

Zhou Li: Me too. Have you walked the dog today?

Song Yingshi: No, we’ll get ready when I finish breakfast.

Zhou Li: Don’t leave yet. I need to tell you something. Is it convenient to meet up with you today?

Song Yingshi: It’s fine, where do you want to meet?

Zhou Li: My house ba.

His hands were one step ahead than his mind, so he only felt that this phrase was bit misleading after sending it out. After all, she believed that there was still another personality in his body, so he quickly added a voice message. “It’s important, I don’t want anyone to overhear. If you don’t feel at ease about coming over to my place, we can go to a restaurant or KTV, somewhere with private rooms. You can choose wherever.” 

Ji Shaoyan was given bowl of dog food that Song Yingshi poured for him, and he had absolutely no interest in touching it. When he was picked up and dropped in front of the bowl, he turned his body to return to the sofa. But as he was in the middle of his walk, he heard a familiar voice and couldn’t help but look at Song Yingshi. If he remembered correctly, this was the first time he has heard Silly Fool speak in such a solemn tone.

Song Yingshi thought about it for a while then typed: Then, why don’t you come to my house ba.

On the other end, Zhou Li was taken aback and carefully replied: Won’t I disturb your grandma?

Song Yingshi: No, she goes to chat with Granny Cai every morning and the nurse follows wherever she goes. No one’s going to be at home.

Zhou Li relaxed. He quickly shovelled his breakfast in his mouth and followed the route Song Yingshi sent to reach her house. Knocking on the door and entering the house, the first thing he was met with was the sight of Uncle Dog lying on the sofa. There was a bowl full of dog food placed the ground in front of him but he just laid there, unmoving. On top of that, there was also small bell hanging around his neck.

Zhou Li: “……”

So…so meng.

When Ji Shaoyan heard the sounds of his arrival, he raised his head to look directly at him. The pair of dog eyes were chilling.

Zhou Li: “……”

Cough, I wasn’t the one who put this on you. Don’t look at me like that.

The first few days of trying to get along with each other were a bit unpleasant, but you’ll be fine in a few more. I swear.

He looked at this husky ball, couldn’t hold back the urge to pick it up and give a round of kneading. After restraining himself and returning the ball to his original position, he sat on the small single-person sofa beside him.

Song Yingshi poured him a glass juice while saying, “It didn’t eat breakfast.”

Zhou Li said, “Maybe because he doesn’t like dog food. Do you have any leftovers from breakfast? Feed him a little bit of that.”

Song Yingshi said, “I think we still have three small baozi*.”

[T/N: steamed buns with filling]

Zhou Li said, “You can give him that.”

His nanny* characteristics of taking care of the dog suddenly broke out and he took the initiative to pour the dog food back into the main packaging. After getting Song Yingshi’s approval, he went to the kitchen to wash the bowls and ripped up the baozi to fill up the bowl, then placed the food in front of Uncle Dog. 

[T/N: an older female maid, not grandmother]

Ji Shaoyan glanced at him, then lowered his head to eat.

Song Yingshi was in disbelief. “How can a dog dislike dog food? Is it that, it’ll only eat if you feed it?”

“No, Xiao Wu fed him during those two days when we were working but he was able to eat ah.” Zhou Li said, “He already had injuries even before my other personality started to abuse him. I’m guessing that it was either because I’ve never fed him dog food before, or because the abuse he suffered before meeting was related to dog food, which created a psychological shadow on him.”

He contemplated this excuse for two seconds, then pulled some nonsense out of his ass. “For example, maybe someone once fed him dog food mixed with broken glass or something or other. My poor Egg… Happy ah!”

Ji Shaoyan didn’t bother lifting his head. It was no surprise to see the pits in Silly Fool’s mind working hard to create these sentences.

Song Yingshi felt that what he said made sense and touched the husky with distress filling up her heart, then she turned her attention to Zhou Li to ask what his reasons were for coming over. 

Zhou Li took his eyes off Uncle Dog and pulled out two flyers, handing them over.

Song Yingshi had a look and let out a “yi”, then picked up the husky to inspect its paws. Seeing that one of them indeed was dotted with small black spots, she exclaimed, “This really is Happy ah!”

Ji Shaoyan was slightly startled by her shouting and looked down at the missing-dog poster she discarded beside her. His heart jumped.

His stepmother and his family have always circled him and his grandfather like wolves. His little brother had used the technology that was under confidential research and development on their side, something that he had never heard a word of before this accident, and the probability of his grandfather knowing about it was extremely low. Besides, this scheme wasn’t something his grandfather would have a hand in, so it was highly likely that his stupid little brother was the mastermind.

Zhou Li said, “Look at the other one. I got it in the market yesterday.”

Song Yingshi put the husky back down to let him eat his food. Seeing how the other flyer was advertising a pet competition, she was a little uncertain. “What’s wrong with this?”

Zhou Li said, “Look at the venue and think carefully about it.”

Song Yingshi was not an idiot and realised what he meant the moment he pointed it out. “Why would they come to our markets to distribute flyers?”

“I also thought it was weird, and then I saw this missing poster last night.” Zhou Li said, “I have a bold idea, which is that these flyers are also for the husky.”

Song Yingshi was slightly affected by his words. “Do you mean that in order to find Happy, its owners not only handed out missing-dog posters, but also contacted the event organiser to expand the scope of advertisement?” She glanced at the eating husky. “Then Happy must be very important to them. We should return it to them as soon as possible ah.”

Ji Shaoyan’s heart sank and just he was about to plan his route of escape, he heard someone say, “That’s why I came to speak with you. I hope you don’t contact them for the time being.”

He suddenly looked at Silly Fool.

Song Yingshi was equally as surprised. “Why?”

“There’s something that feels off about this entire set-up.” Zhou Li analysed, “I have never seen a dog smarter than him. He doesn’t make trouble or try to demolish the house, except for being a little bit introverted, everything else about him is impeccable. Let’s look at these handouts under the assumption that his owner is looking for him. One is a missing-dog poster, and the other is to expand the publicity of the competition. This shows that they know this dog is intelligent, so even if it the person who picks him up doesn’t see the missing poster, there’s a high probability they would take him to compete at the event when they see that someone is hosting it, right ba?”

Song Yingshi nodded.

“Generally, with a more formal competition like this, the pets participating it will have to register before it kicks off and attend a special training, otherwise the whole place will be taken over by a group of boneheaded pets. It won’t be a contest, but a joke.” Zhou Li continued, “The event will have stands for various things, from pet food, beauty products, adoption, basically everything pet-related will be present. So, what the organiser actually wants is an audience and consumers.”

Song Yingshi looked at the contents listed on the paper and nodded again.

“However, the venue has limited space. Even if there are a few activities left for ordinary pets to compete, there shouldn’t be too many. If an unexpected number of pets run in and start fighting, you can image how it ends.” Zhou Li said, “Publicity is a science, too little and you’ll end up with an empty venue, too much and you’ll burst open. But Happy’s owner can let them stay relaxed, because they are not ordinary people.”

He gestured at the missing poster. “Look at the photo again. Can ordinary people afford those kinds of cars?”

Young Master Ji was involved in a car accident and was inevitably sent to a high-ranking private hospital. Those who were able to enter such a place will have to be wealthy and respectable people, so most of the parking lots were taken up by luxury cars. Song Yingshi naturally could tell the difference between cars and with just one glance, she could see severa that even her family can’t afford. 

“He can somehow go missing around that hospital, so it means his owner is very rich.” Zhou Li looked at her. “A rich person with many connections, who wants to find a single dog. What is the fastest way?”

Song Yingshi didn’t have to think about it. “With the help of the media, have the entire city look for the dog.”

Zhou Li snapped his fingers. “Correct. But they didn’t. Isn’t that weird?”

He answered before Song Yingshi could, saying with a strong tone, “I’m guessing it’s because they don’t want too many people to pay attention to this dog, so they can only use the missing posters to sneakily look for clues. They even took a detour and managed to get the pet competition involved.”

Song Yingshi was so confused by his guesses that her mind turned into a pile of mush. “Why?”

Zhou Li said, “I said this before, because Happy is intelligent. Because he is not an ordinary dog.”

He put on a grave expression and pulled even more words out of his ass. “Our district is too poor, so wherever this photo was taken must be in another place. Happy isn’t someone who can run wild so if he can run so far and all the way to here, it may be that he was unwilling to stay. I’ve heard that some scientific projects require animals to experiment on for their research, and they wouldn’t dare to disclose of their doings to the public.”

He looked at Uncle Dog and arrived at the final conclusion. “So, maybe his IQ exploded from all the experimentation. He is a mutated husky!” 

Ji Shaoyan: “……”

Song Yingshi: “……”

Ji Shaoyan had long lost his appetite and was just pretending.

After listening to the increasingly tall pile of nonsense that had been thrown out in such a short amount of time, he couldn’t help but look at Silly Fool. For the first time ever, he felt that this guy having a hole in his brain was actually beneficial.

Song Yingshi could only stare at him in the face of all this garbage. “——Ah?“

Zhou Li said, “I’m just guessing.”

Song Yingshi looked at his modest expression and the corners of her mouth twitched. Weirdly enough, she arrived at the same point as the husky living underneath her roof: this little gangster’s second personality, although he shone as bright as the sun and was filled to the brim with youthful energy, there was unfortunately a gaping hole in his brain.

She was speechless for a few seconds, and when she saw him pick up the cup to drink some juice, she decided to let him go at his own pace for now.

Waiting until he raised his eyes to look at her after recovering from this lapse into a truly baffling hypothesis, she finally said, “I think…we shouldn’t dabble too much in conspiracy theories ba.”

---

The author has something to say:

Zhou Li: What’s wrong with pits la? A pit can save my family’s Eggy ah!

Ji Shaoyan: En, there are pits. Very good.

---

<< Previous Chapter     TOC     Next Chapter >>

Next chapter is the first VIP one, so it’ll be very, very long.