Chapter 23

Chapter 23

After running for a while, they were both tired, like a person and their dog looking for their owner, they leisurely strolled back. This time, Jiang Chen occupied the spot next to Ling Sheng, while “Little Sister” could only lie down by their feet.

Ling Sheng saw a thin layer of sweat on Jiang Chen’s forehead. He reached out and wiped it away. Jiang Chen was still hot from running, so Ling Sheng’s fingers felt cool against his skin. He reached out and grabbed Ling Sheng’s fingers in his hand. His palm was also warm, and it felt really comfortable to hold Ling Sheng’s cool fingers. So he brought them to his lips and kissed them.

“You like dogs so much, why don’t you get one? Are you afraid you won’t have time to take care of it?” Jiang Chen asked.

Ling Sheng nodded, “Before, I was always renting apartments in Jing City and had to travel frequently for work. I couldn’t even take care of myself when I was busy, so I didn’t want to make it feel neglected.”

Jiang Chen immediately replied, “Then let’s get a dog together in the future. If you don’t have time, I’ll take care of it.”

But as soon as he said that, he seemed to realize something and lowered his eyes with a bit of disappointment to look at “Little Sister” resting by his feet.

He really enjoyed being with Ling Sheng, so he would imagine their life together in the future. But Ling Sheng wasn’t even willing to make their relationship public yet. Did he even think about their future?

Logically speaking, they had only been together for a little over a month, so it was normal for Ling Sheng to have concerns. But emotionally, it was impossible for him not to feel upset.

Ling Sheng sensed that his mood had dropped a little and quickly realized the reason. He was used to thinking ahead and leaving a way out for the other person, just like how he handled Wang Mingan’s matter. It was best not to pursue a desperate foe. But he also understood Jiang Chen’s feelings. Everyone wanted to receive one hundred percent love and trust from their partner.

“What kind of dog do you want to get?” Ling Sheng asked.

Jiang Chen turned to look at him, surprised that he hadn’t refuted him. Ling Sheng reached out and touched his hair, “A Golden Retriever?”

Like Jiang Chen, handsome and reliable.

Jiang Chen shook his head, “Golden Retrievers are good, but I want to adopt a mixed-breed like “Little Sister”.”

It sounded better to say “mixed-breed”, but Jiang Chen didn’t really care. Actually, many mixed-breeds were either the result of stray dogs randomly mating or artificial breeding, like opening a blind box, hoping to produce a rare breed. But many mixed-breed dogs weren’t that pretty. Xie Kun had picked up “Little Sister”. At that time, she must have been recently born, and was abandoned in a cardboard box, and not much fur had grown. Moreover, her coat was mottled and her head shape wasn’t that pretty. She wasn’t very good-looking at that time. But he didn’t expect her to become more and more beautiful as she grew up.

Many not-so-pretty puppies would be like “Little Sister”, abandoned and forced to become stray dogs, or even sold to dog meat restaurants.

But this wasn’t the wilderness, it was a city. Stray dogs in the city usually didn’t have a good life. Jiang City had loving shelters, but they were difficult to maintain. So if he were to get a dog, he wanted to adopt one. The breed didn’t matter.

Ling Sheng looked at him lowering his eyes to look at “Little Sister”. Under his long eyelashes were dark eyes, with an unexpectedly gentle expression.

He suddenly had an impulse to kiss him.

Jiang Chen was good, he knew it from the start. He had a clean and sincere aura, and you would definitely be moved by him as you interacted with him.

Ling Sheng shifted his gaze, swallowed, suppressed the surge of heat in his chest, and smiled, “If you really become a lawyer in the future, you probably won’t have time to raise a dog.”

Jiang Chen thought about it seriously, “Then I’ll work hard to earn money in the future, and we’ll buy a villa. It doesn’t matter if the house is big, the main thing is that it has a yard, so it can run around in the yard. I’ll walk it when I go for a morning run or evening run. If you’re not working overtime on weekends, you can also take it out to play.”

“You can have a villa now.”

“No, that’s my parents’. I want to earn money to buy it myself.”

He was seriously thinking about it. Ling Sheng looked at his longing expression and couldn’t bear to interrupt him, so he asked, “Why do you like dogs?”

Jiang Chen paused, seemed to be thinking about something, and after a while, turned to look at Ling Sheng seriously, “I was saved by a dog.”

This made Ling Sheng curious.

“When I was six years old, I went to my great-aunt’s house to play. She lived in Xian City, in the countryside. I was naughty when I was little, and I ran wild when I got there. As a result, I got lost and accidentally fell into a ditch. I hit my head on a rock and fainted. When I woke up, it was already dark. There was a small mixed-breed dog next to me, only three months old. It seemed to be waiting for me. When it saw me wake up, it barked at me a few times and started walking forward.”

His head was still bleeding, and he followed the little dog. The little dog would take a few steps and then look back at him, and when it saw that he was following, it would continue walking forward, leading him all the way to the entrance of the village.

But before they could enter the village, a big black dog suddenly jumped out from the side and barked loudly at him. His head was already hurting badly, and he was so scared that he fell to the ground. The little dog was also startled at first, but when it saw what happened, it barked at the big black dog a few times. The big black dog suddenly jumped over and bit at the little dog. The little dog dodged, but it was scared and retreated to his side. The black dog must have been provoked, and it kept barking wildly at them.

The black dog was several times the size of the little dog. The little dog was trembling with fear, but it still stood in front of him to protect him. He found a stick next to him to defend himself. The barking of the two dogs quickly attracted three or four people, but they were the owners of the black dog. They laughed arrogantly on the side, shouting at the black dog, “Da Hei, you can’t even beat this little dog. You don’t get to eat tonight either. Go, go!”

“Little Hua, run!” He was also anxious, and didn’t know the little dog’s name, so he just called it randomly.

The little dog didn’t run, it just kept blocking in front of him.

Jiang Chen was also anxious, and shouted at those people, “It’s against the law to let your dog hurt people! I’m going to call the police!”

“Oh, you even know how to call the police? Don’t worry, Da Hei won’t bite you. We don’t hurt people, we only hurt dogs.” Those people were laughing there, still telling the black dog to attack.

A two- or three-month-old puppy was no match for that big black dog. He was dragged aside by those people, and in the end, he watched helplessly as the little dog was bitten to death by that big black dog.

Ling Sheng was also silent after listening. As long as no one was hurt, and it happened in the countryside, it was just two local dogs fighting. It wasn’t a big deal at all, and no one would care.

“Little Sister” was sticking her tongue out looking at them. Jiang Chen took out her water bowl from the small pink bag and poured some water into the bowl and placed it on the ground. “Little Sister” drank the water there.

Jiang Chen breathed out a sigh, and said with a bit of sarcasm, “Later, they found out that I was the youngest son of the Jiang family, and they killed that black dog, and sent it to my great-aunt’s house, saying that it scared me, and they were apologizing to me, and wanted me to eat it to vent my anger.”

Ling Sheng touched his face, and Jiang Chen slowly rubbed his head over and leaned on Ling Sheng’s shoulder.

There weren’t many people where they were sitting now. The street behind them was far away, and pedestrians couldn’t see them very clearly. Ten minutes ago, Ling Sheng would have definitely pushed him away, but not now.

Jiang Chen looked at Ling Sheng’s sympathetic gaze and suddenly realized something.

He lowered his eyes and slowly said, “I buried Little Hua in the vegetable garden in my great-aunt’s backyard. Every time I go back, I go to see it.”

At this time, Ling Sheng asked him again, “What about Little Hua’s owner? Did they go looking for the dog?”

“Yes, but the black dog’s owner must have given him money, and he didn’t say anything else. There were three other puppies in Little Hua’s litter, he didn’t care.”

Jiang Chen turned his face, his dark eyes looking straight at him, even more pitiful than when “Little Sister” looked at him.

Ling Sheng sighed, picked up his small pink bag that was placed on the side, blocked his face, and leaned over to quickly kiss him.

The kiss he hadn’t gotten all afternoon was finally given.

Jiang Chen understood.

After Ling Sheng finished kissing, he was silent for a while, touched his face, and said, “If we have a chance to get a dog in the future, let’s call it Little Hua.”

Jiang Chen originally wanted to gain some sympathy, because he found that Ling Sheng was soft-hearted, but seeing that Ling Sheng’s tone had also lowered, he quickly said, “I’ve already avenged Little Hua.”

“Avenged?”

“The owner of that black dog runs a dog meat restaurant. That day, we saw them unloading goods from the truck. The cages were full of dogs. Although those dogs were dirty, I still recognized that several of them weren’t ordinary dogs. It was a loss for them to buy such dogs. So I suspected that these dogs didn’t come through normal channels. I hid outside their warehouse and watched until I saw someone taking off the dog tags from the dogs’ necks and throwing them in the trash. After they left, I went to pick up the dog tags. There were the owners’ phone numbers and the dogs’ names on them. So I called the owners, and they were indeed stealing dogs.”

Then the owners reported them. In the end, it was found that the total value of the dogs in the warehouse reached more than 60,000 yuan. They were all stolen dogs, and many of them were transported from Jiang City and other neighboring cities. They were not only supplying their own restaurant, but also several other places. Several dogs were even pregnant, ready to be sold after they were born.

Later, he watched the police take them away with his own eyes, and went back to burn incense for Little Hua.

After speaking, Jiang Chen sat there waiting for praise, but Ling Sheng suddenly pushed his head up.

“What’s wrong?” Jiang Chen asked, puzzled.

Ling Sheng’s eyes were scrutinizing, “You even know how to act pitiful? Did you learn it from Little Sister?”

Jiang Chen didn’t know how he was exposed.

Ling Sheng smiled noncommittally, “At six years old, you were able to take down a den of dog thieves all by yourself. It’s really a waste of your intelligence to use it to get a kiss from me.”

“How could that be? I was really sad just now. I sweep Little Hua’s grave every time I go back to my great-aunt’s house.” Jiang Chen was held back by the finger pressing on his forehead, preventing him from getting closer. He was a little anxious, “You kissed Little Sister so many times, but you only kissed me once. I didn’t say anything.”

Ling Sheng found it funny, but the strength in his hand didn’t let up, “It’s no use saying anything.”

Giving him an inch, he dares to deceive him.

Jiang Chen went to grab his hand, but Ling Sheng pulled his hand back, stood up, and left.

“Hey!” Jiang Chen hastily folded the bowl “Little Sister” had drunk water from on the ground and put it in his bag, then grabbed the small pink bag and slung it over his shoulder. Ling Sheng was walking fast and was already a little distance away, so he quickly led “Little Sister” and chased after him, “Wait for me, even if you don’t wait for me, wait for “Little Sister”!”