Chapter 15: I Am Not a Stray Dog, I Have Someone Taking Me In
Guo Duoyu promised Shou Jiaxun he wouldn’t sleep at home on the weekend, but he didn’t say he wasn’t allowed to go home.
So early Saturday morning, Student Guo suddenly entered the house, scaring himself and the two inside into exclaiming “Ouch!”
Because the summer was hot and Uncle Guo’s house had no AC, Shou Jiaxun and his uncle, big and small male Omegas, had no taboos; both slept wearing only a pair of boxers.
And when Guo Duoyu pushed the door open, the two Omegas in the room hadn’t gotten up yet… and hadn’t covered themselves with blankets.
The result was Guo Duoyu hurriedly backing out, getting a good scolding from his dad through the door.
Only after Shou Jiaxun and Uncle Guo put on clothes did they let Guo Duoyu back in.
Guo Duoyu already had dark skin, but because of embarrassment, his face flushed red through the black.
Uncle Guo nagged incessantly, complaining, “Why didn’t you call before coming back? You knew there were two Omegas at home, yet you didn’t knock honestly!”
Guo Duoyu grimaced in embarrassment, not daring to look Shou Jiaxun in the eye, only following behind his dad’s butt and defending himself in a low voice: “You usually go to wholesale at four or five. How did I know you guys hadn’t gotten up at this hour today?”
Uncle Guo scolded, “Are you missing a screw? Didn’t I tell you we’ve been catching the night market recently? We only close up after twelve every day! Only sleep in the second half of the night. …Wholesale at four or five—do you want to watch your dad die from overwork? Just say, what did you come back for if nothing’s up?”
Guo Duoyu, a big tall guy, was scolded by his dad like a dog, mumbling pitifully, “Wanted to eat your cold-water noodles.”
Hearing this, Uncle Guo’s heart softened, but his mouth remained hard. “Truly a mountain boar unable to eat fine chaff! What’s so good about cold-water noodles?”
Shou Jiaxun hadn’t spoken the whole time. After putting on a T-shirt, he lay on the bed playing with his phone. Suddenly, he spoke up, not to the Guo father and son, but making a complaint call: “Hello, Jinfang Road Community? …I am the tenant at No. 7, 3rd Street, Jinfang Road. My neighbor at No. 8 was renovating or modifying the house yesterday, smashing walls, and vibrated the wall tiles of our No. 7 off. My landlord said to ask them to compensate. If they don’t compensate, I have to pay for repairs myself. The people at No. 8 are also tenants. They said it’s none of their business; the landlord called the workers, but they won’t give the landlord’s contact info. So I want to ask you for the phone number of the No. 7 landlord. …Or I can leave my number with you, and you have his landlord contact me.”
Guo Duoyu’s home was small; words spoken at the east end were heard clearly at the west end.
After Shou Jiaxun hung up, Uncle Guo returned to the bedside and asked, “Still worried?”
Shou Jiaxun frowned and clicked his tongue. “We’ve paid the deposit, and we’re about to take over the shop with full payment next week. But that dog seller has been dragging his feet and won’t let us meet the landlord. I’m uneasy.”
“Tsk, we paid the deposit too early.” Uncle Guo showed a regretful expression.
Shou Jiaxun pouted. “Can’t say that. A shop in that location is hard to come by. If we were a little slower, someone else would have snatched it.”
Guo Duoyu stood in the entryway boiling water to cook noodles, raising his voice to ask, “Shou Jiaxun, you eating?”
“Not eating…” Shou Jiaxun turned back expressionlessly to glare at the silly boy. “I’m cultivating immortality, drinking the northwest wind.”
Guo Duoyu chuckled sheepishly, smoothing things over for himself. “Southeast wind is blowing now; where would the northwest wind come from? I’ll make you a bite, don’t starve to death.”
Uncle Guo sat on the edge of the bed, arms crossed, worrying. “Little President Shou, say, if we can’t rent it, will the dog seller refund the deposit to us?”
Shou Jiaxun patted his uncle’s thigh to comfort him. “Not necessarily unable to rent. Meet the landlord first and see.”
Over there, Guo Duoyu cooked the noodles until just done, soaked them in cold water, and considerately fried a bowl of egg sauce on his own initiative.
Soon, he brought the pot and bowls to the bedside to serve the two Omegas.
While the three of them slurped noodles together, Guo Duoyu constantly had an expression of wanting to speak but stopping, seemingly having something to say.
But his dad and Shou Jiaxun talked about selling fruit with every breath; no one paid attention to him.
It wasn’t until the three were full and put down their bowls and chopsticks that Uncle Guo glanced at him indifferently. “Do you have something going on? …Got a boyfriend? Money not enough to spend?”
Guo Duoyu wiped his mouth casually with his palm and shrugged at Shou Jiaxun. “Xiao Yu said he didn’t report you guys that day.”
“I didn’t say it was him.” Shou Jiaxun looked disdainful.
“My dad said it.” Guo Duoyu smiled and explained, “Hearing that, I got angry! Definitely went to reason with him… Result was he said it wasn’t him, he knew nothing.”
“Oh.” Shou Jiaxun rubbed his belly and lay back on the bed, continuing to be lazy, as if saying one more word about Rich Young Master Xiao was tiring.
Guo Duoyu squatted by the bed and pursued, “Do you especially find Xiao Yu annoying?”
Shou Jiaxun asked back, “Is finding him annoying illegal?”
“No…” Guo Duoyu had a gossipy expression. “Didn’t you two have a pretty good relationship before? Why did it flip just like that?”
Shou Jiaxun denied flatly, “Just ordinary classmates. Didn’t flip, always been like this. What exactly do you want to say?”
Guo Duoyu covered his lips and coughed. “The matter is a bit complicated…”
Shou Jiaxun interrupted him immediately. “If it’s too complicated, don’t say it. My brain doesn’t work well.”
Mainly unwilling to use it in this direction.
Guo Duoyu persisted. “It’s fine, I’ll tell you at a toddler’s reading level.”
Then, without waiting for Shou Jiaxun’s agreement, he spilled the campus gossip like pouring beans from a bamboo tube.
“Bai Fan has a crush on Xiao Yu. Seeing graduation approaching, he wanted to hurry up and pursue him to try. Then a while ago, wasn’t Xiao Yu particularly attentive to you? Bai Fan thought he had no chance. As a result, hearing me say you dumped Xiao Yu these past few days, he rekindled his fighting spirit. But he can’t figure out why you dumped Xiao Yu. After all, our class monitor’s conditions in all aspects are very tough (excellent). So Bai Fan commissioned me to ask you, what is the specific reason for your breakup? Did he cheat and chase someone else? Or does he have some hidden illness you discovered? Like external conditions are hard, but internal can’t get hard.”
Shou Jiaxun wanted to laugh listening to this, but choked on his saliva while trying not to laugh, suddenly starting to cough.
He actually wanted to say: “Yes, that’s exactly it.”
But coughing and calming down, he felt slandering someone like that was very unethical.
So he spent two extra minutes making up an excuse: “Mainly, the place we came into contact was wrong.”
Guo Duoyu didn’t understand. “School? It’s okay, right? High school doesn’t count as early love anymore.”
Shou Jiaxun rolled over, facing Guo Duoyu directly, frowning to correct him: “I’m talking about the nightclub. Think about what kind of place a nightclub is?”
Guo Duoyu looked even more confused. “What kind of place? …What’s wrong with nightclubs? You, a worker there, disdaining the customers?”
“Eh? You actually got it right.” Shou Jiaxun got up indignantly, sat cross-legged, and raised a finger to lecture Guo Duoyu: “Let me tell you, there are only two kinds of people who spend money in nightclubs. One kind wants to spend a little money to whore.”
Saying this, he raised a middle finger as well: “The other kind relies on luck to pick up a romantic encounter, delusional about getting a one-night stand for free.”
President Shou’s worldly air from his past life revived, firmly hanging a “I see through it” expression on his face. “So a place like a nightclub, to put it bluntly, is an emotional dump, a disaster zone for scumbags. Dump, you understand? Only stray dogs eating trash go to that kind of place to dig for food. And I am not.”
Little Student Shou patted his chest with a proud expression, then suddenly hooked his arm around Uncle Guo’s neck and pulled him toward himself. “Because I have someone taking me in.”
—”Uncle, I’m not wrong, am I?”
Uncle Guo was staring blankly while listening to the gossip. Suddenly lassoed by Shou Jiaxun’s arm around his neck, he looked blank and nodded subconsciously in agreement. “Oh, right, right, whatever you say is right.”
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