Chapter 4: He Doesn’t Like Me

Chapter 4: He Doesn’t Like Me

Translator: Mukyuu
Editor: Mikyuu

Ning Yan was actually worried that Lin Rong wouldn’t get what he was trying to say, so he barked a couple more times, just to be sure. 

Lin Rong realized Ning Yan wasn’t doing anything, but it still took him several moments to realize why. He turned around reluctantly and backed out of the bathroom. 

Ning Yan focused his attention on his feet. Balancing on the toilet seat has about the same difficulty level as performing an acrobatic trick. 

Lin Rong walked back to the living room and stroked his cheek. His brow furrowed as he paced back and forth. 

He thought about calling his friend, but after mulling it over, he cautiously decided to open up the search engine and typed in “can dogs pee on the toilet by themselves?” 

The page loaded and several links popped up on the screen. Among them were even several videos of cats jumping on the toilet and peeing by themselves. 

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At first glance, you’d think he was an obedient and well-behaved puppy. 

… Only at first glance though. 

At this exact moment, the obedient and well behaved puppy had his butt in the air, and those two round buttcheeks took away all of Lin Rong’s attention. 

Lin Rong squinted. 

Ning Yan, having finally solved his issue, shook out his fur in satisfaction. He yelped lightly to indicate to the pervert that he could come back.

He hadn’t counted on turning around afterwards and seeing the man’s head poking out from just around the hallway. 

The man stroked his chin and stared at him thoughtfully. Ning Yan had no idea how long the man had been staring at him. 

Ning Yan sweatdropped. 

And then his fur puffed up. 

Shameless! He had told Lin Rong to go away and the guy had instead come back to sneakily stare at him going to the bathroom!

Lin Rong noticed the puppy’s face twisting in anger and coughed lightly. He walked over with a serious expression, picked up the puppy and put him back on the ground. He grabbed toilet paper and wiped the puppy’s butt, and then he flushed the toilet. 

Ning Yan howled in anger. 

A big hand reached over and ruffled his fur so that it became messy. 

Ning Yan continued to grumble in anger. 

Surprisingly, Lin Rong didn’t put Ning Yan down. He thought about it but decided to carry the puppy all the way to the living room. As he sat down on the sofa, he placed Ning Yan on his lap and stroked the puppy’s head gently. 

The man’s wide palm swept across his fur with just the right amount of force to be comfortable. 

Ning Yan squinted his eyes and laid down, snorting a little and glancing sideways at the man. 

Lin Rong glanced down at the puppy and couldn’t resist letting out a small laugh. 

It was actually a bit awkward for Ning Yan. 

The dude can actually smile in private, but he is so cold and distant in public. 

And he clearly has a crush on him, so why does he have to put on that holier-than-thou act whenever they meet!

Of course, Lin Rong had no way of knowing what was running across Ning Yan’s mind. 

As the laughter subsided, Lin Rong continued to stroke the puppy’s head and asked the question that he had been thinking before, “Sese, did you have an owner before?” 

Ning Yan paused, suspicious of why Lin Rong was asking about it now. 

Lin Rong hadn’t really wanted an answer. He simply kept stroking and speaking, “You know how to use the toilet… someone must have trained you, right?” 

Ning Yan stayed quiet. 

Lin Rong tickled the puppy’s chin with his slightly chilly fingers and continued asking, “Did you get lost or did someone abandon you?” 

Ning Yan tucked in his face out of guilt.

Though Lin Rong kept staring at him with an unfathomable gaze, his strokes remained gentle. 

As for Ning Yan, he could only pretend to be mysterious about this whole affair. 

As long as the pervert can make up a logical story for himself, they won’t sweat the details. 

Lin Rong stopped murmuring to the puppy about the “previous owner” and quickly retreated into his own thoughts. As he kept stroking, the atmosphere around the man and the dog somehow became cozy. 

It was so comfortable that Ning Yan closed his eyes. He didn’t notice the man staring off into the distance for a while and then glancing occasionally at his butt after the man came back to himself. 

Lin Rong squeezed his fingers a couple of times but in the end he couldn’t resist the temptation and he lifted his hand. 

Ning Yan’s ears had been lying flat on his head out of contentment when he felt his butt being squeezed. 

His eyes flew open and he turned around to glare sharply at the man. 

The man met his gaze… and then pinched his butt again. 

Ning Yan almost jumped into the air. 

He stood up and stared at the man in disbelief. 

Lin Rong coughed quietly once and asked with a low voice, “One of your parents is a corgi, right?”

Ning Yan glared at him in silence. 

You’re a corgi!

He sat back down and made sure to hide his butt. Then he lifted his head and panted in challenge. 

The man stared at him for three seconds… and then lifted him into the air and pinched his butt with a look of quiet satisfaction. 

Ning Yan howled in response. 

Big pervert, go die you pervert! Let go of my butt!

====

A few pinches later, Lin Rong let out a satisfied sigh and Ning Yan wanted to hide himself from the world. 

He has finally realized that the man had lifted him onto the couch with such gentleness because he had been planning to squeeze his butt this entire time. Bastard!

As soon as his paws touched the ground, he scuttled off into the dark corner and stared at the man in a guarded fashion, just like he had done last night. 

Upon seeing this, Lin Rong finally realized what he had done. He apologized sincerely, “Sorry, I just couldn’t resist.” 

Ning Yan snarled in response. 

It’s too late for an apology, you pervert of perverts!

Lin Rong made to say something but just then his friend’s call came through. He could only send Ning Yan a look of appeasement before walking into the kitchen and chatting with his friend. 

Ning Yan’s ears perked up. 

Someone’s coming over for dinner? 

He listened with half an ear and didn’t hear much. When he saw Lin Rong move away, he turned around in an offended fashion and licked at his butt. 

It’s not his fault his butt is cute enough to pinch!

No matter how much Lin Rong tried to entice the puppy, Ning Yan kept his distance from Lin Rong until the evening. The jerk finally understood the importance of what had happened and promised soberly, “I swear I’ll never pinch your butt again.” 

Ning Yan snorted heavily to indicate how much he did not care for the promise. 

He thought there was no way the pervert could resist the temptation his butt offered. 

Around 6pm, the doorbell rang and the door opened to reveal two guests. 

Ning Yan did recognize both people. One of them was the latest headline celebrity Jiang Mo and the other was Jiang Xiaoning, who came from a wealthy family¹Jiang Mo and Jiang Xiaoning are not related; their last names are different characters with the same pinyin.. Both were Lin Rong’s best buds. 

It was only now that Ning Yan thought of something. He glanced awkwardly at the walls… Come to think of it, doesn’t Lin Rong feel any shame in letting people visit him when his walls are covered in posters like this? 

Apparently Jiang Mo and Jiang Xiaoning knew exactly what was going on and had been here several times. They showed no surprise at the walls and instead shouted the moment they walked in, “Dog! Where’s the puppy? Where is it?”

Lin Rong took out slippers and gestured at them to change shoes. He heard their question and turned around to look at the white puppy hidden behind the sofa all the way across the living room, staring at them vigilantly. 

“…” Lin Rong called out warmly and wistfully, “Sese.” 

“Sese?” Jiang Xiaoning finished changing into the slippers and asked with laughter in his voice, “That’s its name? Which ‘se’ is it?”

Lin Rong was about to answer when he glanced cautiously at the puppy, coughed once, and shifted his gaze away before responding quietly, “… Whichever ‘se’ you like.” 

Ning Yan sat in silence. 

Now the guy knows to consider his feelings? Why not before when he kept calling him “lech”?

The moment Jiang Xiaoning walked into the living room, he spotted the little dog quietly observing them from the corner. He was instantly amused. 

That look of caution was so expressive that you could immediately tell that the puppy was yelling at them in his mind. Such a clever dog!

“And he’s a male puppy too!” Jiang Xiaoning strode forward and started ruffling the puppy’s fur without any sense of fear. It didn’t take him long to put Ning Yan into a state of dazed confusion so that he didn’t even have time to yell, “Male puppy you jerk!”

Jiang Mo followed and peeked at the puppy in wonder as he asked, “How’d you come by him?” 

Again the man looked at the puppy. 

Ning Yan stared at him. 

Lin Rong lowered his gaze and answered, ”He was cute, so I picked him up.” 

Ning Yan grunted and whipped his tail once. 

Look at the guy. 

Jiang Xiaoning thought the way his buddy interacted with the puppy was interesting, but he couldn’t exactly put his fingers on why. When he had his fill of petting the puppy, he stood up and glanced around the kitchen before teasing, “More posters, eh?” 

Upon hearing this, Ning Yan pawed at the ground and a sense of shyness swelled up in his heart. 

As for Lin Rong, his lips twitched upwards and every muscle on his face, even his eyebrows, formed into a look of utter gentle happiness. 

Ning Yan stopped what he was doing and stared at the man for a long while before coming back to himself. 

Hmph, stalker. 

The three humans sat around eating hot pot with the AC turned on at full blast. Jiang Xiaoning and Jiang Mo weren’t here for any specific reason, just to casually hang around and grab a meal. 

Ning Yan felt his tummy rumble at the scent of the hot pot. He lay down on the floor in dissatisfaction and let his mind drift to random topics as he listened to them talk. 

Come to think of it, he’s always wondered about this before. 

He and Lin Rong had been nothing more than acquaintances, and privately he had considered Lin Rong as his main rival. They also had that mishap on Weibo where he almost revealed just how pissed off he had been at Lin Rong. 

He had wondered back then why, no matter how polite he appeared in public, Jiang Mo and Jiang Xiaoning, as Lin Rong’s best friends, had appeared to not only sense his rivalry with Lin Rong but also smiled every time they saw him. 

… It didn’t look like just politeness or a trap. So why did they smile at him like that everytime? Back then, Ning Yan’s instinct had told him there was something weird going on, but he couldn’t figure it out. Now he understood. 

Because they know their best friend has a crush on him!

He thought about this and that until he suddenly caught his name being mentioned. He immediately stopped wool-gathering, perked up his ears, and listened intently. 

Jiang Xiaoning said, “He Congsheng is going to throw a birthday bash in two weeks. Do you still remember this, Lin?” 

Lin Rong paused and then nodded. 

Ning Yan was familiar with He Congsheng. While they weren’t exactly best buds, they did often hang out together since He Congsheng’s father was an upper executive at one of the satellite channels. 

Ning Yan wondered why they were talking about He Congsheng at the same time they were talking about him when Jiang Mo picked up the conversation and whispered, “I heard he’s planning on confessing to Ning Yan that day.” 

Ning Yan’s only response was shocked silence. 

What the heck?

He jerked upright in shock and stared at the three men gathered around the table. 

Clearly nobody was paying attention to him as they continued chatting. 

After they said this, both Jiang Mo and Jiang Xiaoning looked carefully at Lin Rong’s expression. 

“I think it’s true. Looks like He Congsheng’s two buddies are helping him. It sounds like they’re planning a huge event, something like a public confession.” Jiang Xiaoning said conflictedly. 

Ning Yan continued being shocked. 

What is going on? 

He Congsheng is going to confess? To him? 

Sure they don’t have the wrong guy? 

He and He Congsheng have known each other for two years and he had no clue the guy likes him! 

How come in the two days he’s been a dog, not only is Lin Rong in love with him, but now He Congsheng also has a crush on him? Did he suddenly become some kind of heartthrob, specifically with men? 

Ning Yan didn’t know what to do, but he subconsciously wanted to see how Lin Rong would react. 

The man kept his gaze lowered and the expression on his face revealed nothing. 

Jiang Mao and Jiang Xiaoning glanced at each other before Jiang Xiaoning said hesitantly, “I don’t think he’ll succeed though. I may be biased, but I don’t think Ning Yan is the type to like someone like He Congsheng.” 

Ning Yan quickly nodded at this. 

He has none of those feelings towards He Congsheng, they are just regular friends!

Jiang Xiaoning continued, “But look at you. Even He Congsheng is going to try, why don’t you? How can you be satisfied keeping everything hidden in your heart?” 

Again, Ning Yan looked at the silent man and felt his heart thundering away. He gulped. 

And Lin Rong opened his mouth. 

He said, “Yanyan doesn’t like me.” 

Jiang Mo frowned and asked, “You’ve said this before. But if you don’t try how do you –” 

Lin Rong lifted his eyes, looked at his two friends, and said slowly, “Yanyan said it himself; he doesn’t like me.” 

Jiang Xiaoning and Jiang Mo were stunned. 

So was Ning Yan. 

That was all Lin Rong would say on this topic. He lowered his eyes and continued eating. 

There was a brief tense moment in the room. It looked like this was the first time Jiang Mo and Jiang Xiaoning had heard of that. It took them several moments to process,but they decided there was nothing to be gained by asking more questions. Instead, they looked like they didn’t know how to react. 

After a while they both sighed and continued eating. 

In the silence, nobody noticed the little puppy on the side, whose face was vacillating between uncertainty and guilt. 

He… when did he say this to Lin Rong? 

He… doesn’t remember this at all?