"I can't touch your butt?"
Chang Yu sat with his legs crossed, radiating an imposing air as he studied the dog in the corner.
Yan Junye knew that as a dog, he had no dog rights. His owner could pet him whenever he wanted.
Thinking about it that way, Chang Yu seemed to have been very merciful to him already.
The car's roof was too low for him to stand up straight. He lowered his head and wagged his tail as he rubbed against Chang Yu's trouser leg.
He even considerately turned around, presenting the butt he had hidden earlier to Chang Yu.
But his tail still hung down rather than lifting, covering the parts that ought to stay covered.
Chang Yu thought Xiaotu had resigned himself to offering up his butt. Before he could respond, he heard an inner voice completely at odds with that obedient appearance.
It even carried a hint of gloating.
-I'll let one rip for you.
Chang Yu: "..." He immediately got out of the car and opened the door to air it out.
Sure enough, this ill-intentioned dog had been holding in something foul.
Chang Yu was so angry now that he wanted to smack the dog.
Yan Junye simply assumed that Chang Yu, a gay man like him, couldn't stand the sight of a dog's butt either. He sat down, tilted his head obediently, and smiled at Chang Yu.
For some reason, Chang Yu saw a gloating smile much like his own in Xiaotu's expression.
Sure enough, spending enough time together always made them particularly alike in certain ways.
Only when the smell had mostly dispersed did Chang Yu sigh and get back into the car.
He had just arrived at the company when Chang Liao called, saying he had suddenly felt unwell and would leave the company in his care for a few days.
Chang Yu changed his plans immediately and headed home to check on his father. At his age, health was a serious matter.
But when he got home, Chang Liao was nowhere to be seen.
He called Chang Liao. "Did you go to the hospital?"
Looking at the blue sea before him, Chang Liao narrowed his eyes in satisfaction as the pleasant sea breeze blew over him. "I'm in a city down south."
"The spring chill up north these past few days made my knees ache and left me feeling awful all over. I came south to warm up."
"Remember to take good care of my company, or you'll lose your strongest source of support."
Before Chang Yu could ask how his health actually was, the call ended.
He kept getting the feeling that Chang Liao had gone on vacation.
There were also other business partners at the house who had come to see Chang Liao, only to find him absent.
Having failed to catch Chang Liao, they all approached Chang Yu and asked curiously, "How did you know so much?"
Everyone was very curious about how Chang Yu knew all those things.
Chang Yu had never gone out with them to bars, clubs, or places like that.
From what they had observed, none of them had ever spotted Chang Yu at any entertainment venue in the city, except for that one time at Ke Yichun's bar.
Not only that, but Chang Yu had never given any of them, a bunch of "good-for-nothings," a second glance, so the chances of him knowing Gan Junda's friends were very slim.
Yet Chang Yu actually knew about Ke Yichun's extremely private interest, as well as Gan Junda's affair with the older housekeeper at home and even his visits to prostitutes.
So how exactly had Chang Yu found out?
Faced with their knowledge-hungry gazes, Chang Yu took a small step back and offered two words of wisdom. "Walls have ears."
"If you don't want people to know, don't do it."
That made sense, but why weren't they the ones who knew?
Not a whisper had reached them. Chang Yu alone had enjoyed exclusive access to those secrets.
If they knew those secrets too, wouldn't they be like fish in water in the business world?
If anyone dared oppose them, they could just expose their scandals. The very thought felt wonderful.
That was why none of them dared provoke the Chang Family now, afraid the family would turn its sights on them.
And sure enough, seeing how well-behaved they were, Chang Liao had smugly dropped everything and gone traveling, retiring ten years early.
Before they could press him further, Chang Yu hurried away from the house with the dog in his arms.
Chang Yu could hardly tell them he had heard it all from a pack of dogs.
Besides, these people clearly all had secrets. Their gazes held both delighted surprise and fear as they looked at him.
Yan Junye knew he had been the one to tell Chang Yu about Gan Junda, but he knew nothing about the incident with Ke Yichun.
But weren't the domineering CEOs in novels able to uncover anything they investigated?
An ordinary citizen like him wouldn't know, but Chang Yu might have his own methods.
On the way, he noticed that their destination was no longer Chang Yu's company.
Chang Yu drove to Chang Liao's company.
There was no helping it. Chang Liao's operation was bigger, so he had no choice but to move his workplace to its headquarters.
The headquarters primarily handled the entertainment business, and the company had quite a few artists under contract.
The artist Xiaotu had admired just last night was still signed with the company. His contract had yet to expire.
It was Yan Junye's first time in a place like this, and he wished he had eight pairs of eyes. There were countless handsome guys!
His eyes could barely keep up.
Not watching where he was going, he walked straight into Chang Yu's legs.
The lovestruck dog bumped into Chang Yu from behind and nearly knocked him over.
There was no helping it. Dogs simply grew fast. The dog that had only reached the backs of his knees before was already up to his thighs.
Xiaotu could reach his back if he stood up and jumped at him.
If Xiaotu deliberately tried to knock him over, this big dog could now send him sprawling quite easily.
His words might carry less and less weight from now on.
"You can wander around the company. If you need the bathroom, come knock on this office door. Watch out for yourself."
Chang Yu wasn't very familiar with Chang Liao's employees yet, and the entertainment industry was full of trouble. Since he had never worked with them, he couldn't fully trust the people in the company.
He entered the office and watched Xiaotu trot off with light steps, heading straight for the series of posters hanging on the wall.
Yan Junye hadn't expected Chang Liao's company to have so many artists.
If Chang Yu wanted to find a boyfriend, wouldn't this be the perfect place to look?
He shook his canine head sadly.
-What a shame. Chang Yu is still pining for the dead me. There's no room in his heart for anyone else.
Sure enough, the dead could never be surpassed.
If he hadn't died and had even spent some time with Chang Yu, Chang Yu definitely wouldn't be missing him the way he did now.
While he was still admiring the view, he saw someone enter Chang Yu's office.
He pricked up his ears and heard the person inside say, "Mr. Chang, there's been an unexpected situation on the set of a production we invested in. The set needs an intelligent dog right now."
Chang Yu knew this person had come to him because he had seen his dog, Xiaotu.