TLSMLMMM Chapter 32

“It’s getting a bit late.” Si Yunyi withdrew his hand and stood up. After exchanging good nights with Chu Junlie, he returned to his bedroom.

Chu Junlie stared straight at the figure walking away, the curve at the corner of his lips refusing to fade. Only when the door closed tightly, leaving behind a stretch of silence, did he finally move.

He lingered on the warmth still lingering on his head, savoring the gentle strength of Mr. Si’s touch. He stepped forward to turn off the living room lights, glanced at the double allowance on his phone, then went into his bedroom and looked at Liefeng, who was sleeping properly in his dog bed.

When Liefeng saw his owner return, he lifted his head slightly and greeted him with his eyes, then immediately closed them again and went back to sleep.

Chu Junlie crouched beside Liefeng and at once spotted, beneath the base of Liefeng’s tail, those two little bells.

Liefeng, eyes closed, vaguely sensed an unfriendly gaze. Turning his head to look, he saw his owner staring thoughtfully at the base of his tail.

Instinctively, Liefeng used his tail to cover the crucial area, tightening his two hind legs in silence.

“Don’t be nervous,” Chu Junlie said with a smile. “Don’t be afraid I won’t do anything to you.”

Early the next morning, Liefeng lay on a bed at the veterinary hospital, looking dazedly at the veterinarian examining him.

“You’re sure you want to have your dog neutered?” the vet asked, his brows tightly knit as he examined the wolf-like big dog once again, confirming that it wasn’t a wolf hybrid, let alone a wolf mix.

“I’m sure,” Chu Junlie nodded firmly.

The veterinarian frowned even deeper. He took out his phone and began searching for images, glancing at the pictures and then back at the dog in front of him, comparing the eyes, coat color, ears, and muzzle. He even tried getting Liefeng to bark a couple of times. The more he looked, the more it resembled a Blue Bay Shepherd, a breed with only a little over forty individuals worldwide.

“No way…” the vet couldn’t be certain. He took photos of the big dog and asked for advice from a senior colleague who had been in the field longer. After looking at them, the colleague replied with three exclamation marks.

Chu Junlie sat off to the side, watching as more and more people poured into the veterinary clinic. Everyone’s attention seemed to be focused on Liefeng lying on the bed. From time to time, they let out exclamations of amazement; from time to time, they stroked Liefeng’s fur. Some even came over to ask Chu Junlie how he had managed to buy the dog.

“I’m just here to get him neutered,” Chu Junlie said, growing a little confused by the wait. “I have something to do this afternoon. Can you make it quicker?”

The moment he said that, more than a dozen people gathered around Liefeng all turned their heads in unison, their eyes filled with disbelief.

A Blue Bay Shepherd—of which there were only a little over forty in the entire world was actually about to be snipped in this man’s hands?!

“May I ask, do you know what breed your pet is?” the veterinarian stepped forward, steadying his emotions.

Chu Junlie frowned slightly and stared silently at the vet in front of him.

The veterinarian swallowed unconsciously. The man before him had sharply defined features and deep-set eyes. His black gaze carried a hint of danger, his posture tall and imposing. When expressionless, he looked cold-blooded and dangerous; now, with a trace of impatience added, it made it even harder for people to speak in front of him.

“If our judgment is correct,” another veterinarian stepped forward, his expression solemn, “your pet may be an extremely rare Blue Bay Shepherd. There’s demand but no supply. Online rumors once claimed the price had been bid up to three hundred and sixty thousand U.S. dollars per dog. Are you certain you want to have him neutered?”

Chu Junlie fell silent for two seconds. Thirty-six hundred thousand U.S. dollars, if calculated at an exchange rate of six to one, was over two million.

One Liefeng, worth more than two million?

How was that possible?

His own monthly salary hadn’t even reached eight thousand. Even if he earned ninety-six thousand a year at most, it would take him twenty-three years to match the price of one Liefeng!

“Blue Bay Shepherds have very good temperaments. They’re affectionate, gentle, and the tall–rich–handsome types among dogs,” another veterinarian crowded over, eyes full of excitement. “If you’re willing to provide its registration number to prove its identity, we can arrange a matchmaking for your pet. There will definitely be many dog owners willing to pay a high price to breed a litter of puppies with your dog.”

“I don’t remember the registration number,” Chu Junlie shook his head.

“That can be checked! You can call the founder of the Blue Bay Shepherd breed in the U.S., they’ll tell you!” Several of the vets grew excited.

Chu Junlie looked at Liefeng, who lay on the bed wagging his tail leisurely, and recalled the fragments he had remembered when the back of his head was injured.

Before losing his memory, how could he possibly have had that much money to buy a dog? Combined with the flashes that had crossed his mind before, Chu Junlie could basically conclude that he had once worked overseas in some very dangerous but highly paid jobs.

He was most likely not, as the Yan couple had said, someone who had collapsed on the roadside because of an accident. It was far more possible that he had been retaliated against by enemies from abroad.

If Liefeng’s identity were exposed, he himself might be discovered by those enemies as well. If they came knocking, whether he lived or died would be a small matter but Mr. Si would very likely be implicated.

“Sir, would you like us to help you make the call?” someone asked cautiously.

“No need.” Chu Junlie shook his head quickly and beckoned to Liefeng. His current life was good; he didn’t want to lose any of it.

Seeing his owner call him, Liefeng jumped down from the bed. Chu Junlie put a leash on him, then, as if remembering something, looked at the people in front of him.

“I did not agree just now to you taking photos or videos of my pet. I hope you can delete all those images completely in front of me.”

At the pet owner’s request, several veterinarians began conscientiously deleting the photos from their phones. There were also a few who were reluctant. Chu Junlie led Liefeng over to them step by step, using his height advantage to loom over them, staring down expressionlessly.

The man radiated a powerful sense of threat. Someone who could obtain one of the world’s forty-odd Blue Bay Shepherds was clearly no simple figure, whether in terms of status or wealth.

Under Chu Junlie’s gaze, the few people painfully deleted the photos. This was the first Blue Bay Shepherd they had ever seen in Huaguo, and even their chance to brag about it was gone.

Just as the man was about to leave with the big dog, a veterinarian couldn’t help but speak up. “This kind of dog isn’t very suitable for neutering. Neutering could actually pose risks for it.”

“Understood. Thank you, doctor.” Hearing the doctor’s well-meant reminder, Chu Junlie’s tone softened a little.

“And one more thing your dog is excellent in every way, but it may not be very friendly toward other dogs. When you take it out for walks, you must be careful.”

Chu Junlie lowered his head to look at Liefeng. Liefeng silently lifted his head. Man and dog exchanged a glance, then both turned their heads away awkwardly, averting their eyes.

For some reason, seeing this scene, the veterinarian added one more sentence unconsciously.

“If they grow up together from a young age, the relationship might be better.”

Chu Junlie led Liefeng out of the veterinary clinic. Thinking of how Liefeng had repeatedly occupied the spot beside Mr. Si, of how Mr. Si gently stroked Liefeng, and then recalling the doctor’s warning, he couldn’t help lowering his head regretfully and letting out a sigh.

Hearing the sigh from above, Liefeng turned his head away from his owner and quietly let out a small sigh of relief.

For several days in a row, Si Yunyi worked from home. Since the studio had changed its operating model, and given its previous reputation, requests for assistance came in one after another. Assistant Xu had to review hundreds of projects a day, his eyes nearly going blind.

Assistant Xu handled the initial screening, carefully selecting a dozen or so projects from among hundreds, then sending those to the teacher, who would choose five or six.

The studio was short-staffed. Some employees also needed to follow up on previous public welfare projects, and the studio had a gentleman’s agreement with the Hong Kong police: if the police requested assistance, the studio would drop all ongoing projects and cooperate fully.

At present, each studio employee was basically responsible for two projects. Assistant Xu had wanted to recruit new staff for a long time, but unfortunately, none of the applicants were quite satisfactory. Finally, when he found one he liked, Si Yunyi spoke with him over video, only to discover that the candidate was excessively fixated on numbers that appeared casually in daily life, a lottery addict.

Casual gambling or buying tickets for fun was different from addiction. After analyzing the situation for him, Si Yunyi helped the man realize that he might lose control and needed psychological counseling.

After one round of recruitment, not only had they failed to hire anyone, they had ended up bringing the studio another case.

Meanwhile, Si Yunyi still had a constant stream of documents coming in from the Si Group. He could only hand the studio’s recruitment matters back to Assistant Xu once again.

During this period, Si Yunyi kept himself as busy as possible, so busy that he had no time to think about anything else.

Chu Junlie also noticed how hard Mr. Si had been working lately. He added goji berries to the soy milk at breakfast, and in the evening brought home half a duck, planning to clean it and make soup for Mr. Si.

Si Yunyi sat in the living room working. Liefeng glanced at the spot under Si Yunyi’s hand, then at his owner in the kitchen wearing an apron and simmering soup. After hesitating for a long time, he finally returned to the bedroom, lifted a hind leg to check that his “bells” were still intact, then picked up a dog toy and played by himself.

Following a tutorial on his phone, Chu Junlie used a spoon to crush the red dates in the soup so they would cook through more thoroughly. He sneaked a glance at Mr. Si in the living room, then turned back and tossed a big handful of goji berries into the pot.

The room filled with the aroma of soup. Si Yunyi signed the document in his hand regarding rectification of medical waste disposal at the Si family’s general hospital. As he turned the page, he heard his phone ring.

Si Yunyi glanced at the caller ID and answered the call.

“Y-Yunyi, little brother-in-law…” On the other end of the line, his sister-in-law’s voice was extremely tense, suppressing panic, stammering so much she almost didn’t know how to begin.

Si Yunyi’s hand holding the pen paused slightly. A vague guess rose in his heart, and he steadied his voice.

“What happened to Dad?”

“W..we really didn’t do it on purpose…” His sister-in-law’s voice trembled, tears breaking through.

“Today it wasn’t my turn to look after Dad. But your second brother’s friend called him out, and your second sister-in-law couldn’t come back for the moment. Your eldest brother ran into Dad yesterday when he was emotionally unstable and got scolded harshly, so today he refused to come no matter what. In the end, it was just me…”

“Get to the point.” Si Yunyi tightened his grip on the pen, cutting her off for the first time.

“Dad—Dad is missing!” His sister-in-law broke down, crying uncontrollably.

Si Yunyi released the fountain pen in his hand, listening to the background noise behind the sobbing on the other end, adjusting his breathing.

“When did it happen? Have you called the police?”

“We discovered the old master was gone three hours ago. I really was watching him the whole time, just for that one moment, I made a video call with a friend…” His sister-in-law’s voice was filled with grievance.

“I’m asking you, have you called the police!” Si Yunyi raised his voice.

There was a brief silence on the other end, as if his sister-in-law had forcibly handed the phone to someone else.

“Yunyi, you know Dad’s situation can’t be made public,” his eldest brother’s guilty voice came through the phone. “We’re already doing our best to search…”

Before the other side could finish speaking, Si Yunyi hung up. He found Officer Wu in his contacts, someone who had previously worked with the studio. After briefly informing him of the situation, Si Yunyi stood up quickly, preparing to head to the place where the old master had last been seen.

“Mr. Si, I’ll go with you!” Chu Junlie quickly turned off the stove, hurriedly put on his coat, and grabbed Liefeng’s leash.

Si Yunyi stood by the door, waited a few seconds for Chu Junlie, and then left together with him.