“Because I’m chasing him—got a problem with that?!”
“I’ve got face, I’ve got money, I’m healthy with a fortune to my name. If even he doesn’t want me, who the hell are those guys you mentioned to make him suck up to them?”
In the video, the young man’s confession rang out loud and clear.
A doctor passed by and chuckled. “Kids these days are something else. Confessions like they’re shooting an idol drama.”
Shen Leyuan: …
His vision went black. He couldn’t laugh.
He quickly asked Glasses Guy what was going on. Soon, the group chat flooded with over a dozen screenshots—all of Lin Yao’s abusive retorts in the comments. Some of the later ones toned down the profanity, but there were also the deleted ones.
They were all really nasty. Really over the top.
He’s standing up for me. He’s afraid I’ll get hurt. He’s protecting me.
Shen Leyuan knew all that.
But…
He let out a heavy breath, selected those screenshots full of crude language, and forwarded them to a WeChat account with a fried egg profile picture.
[These from you?] he asked.
After sending, before Lin Yao could reply, Shen Leyuan whispered softly, “Mr. Chu, can you get back to school quick?”
Soon, words appeared on his phone: [I can’t leave you.]
Fine.
He scooped up Little Dog and decided to head back to school.
But as he turned, he met the pet doctor’s concerned gaze—and a business card being handed over. “Um, you’re a Zhen Shui University student, right? There’s a good psychologist there. Why don’t you… make some time to see them?”
“…”
He must’ve noticed me talking to Mr. Ghost!
Shen Leyuan took the card awkwardly, not daring to explain he was chatting with a ghost.
Meanwhile, Lin Yao lounged in his dorm, video on as he smugly live-streamed to Little Deer.
“Teacher’s desk, teacher’s chair, teacher’s water mug, teacher’s bed…”
He pointed them out one by one, then aimed the camera at the bunk right next to it.
“My bed~”
Not yet, but Fatty was definitely getting expelled. He’d claim this bed.
He was reveling in the brag when some idiot suddenly sent him screenshots of his rants, asking if it was him.
Puzzled, he scrolled up. No chat history—this was some stranger.
[You got a problem? Dare to screenshot my jokes?]
Irritated, he fired back and deleted the guy from his friends list.
Ignoring Little Deer’s murderous glare, he climbed onto the bed and snapped a photo of the rumpled sheets—Shen Leyuan had left in a rush without making them. At first glance, it looked like he’d just gotten up, the warmth of his body still lingering.
Lin Yao asked on purpose, “Think teacher would let me into his bed?”
Teacher definitely wouldn’t.
But just sharing a room had Little Deer green with envy.
His eyes rimmed red, he cursed his brother for being too much—yet he couldn’t bear to end the video. Greedily, longingly, he stared at those things while pulling his dad out of the blacklist and bombarding him.
Deer: [Screenshot.a/vi Daddy look at him!!!]
Deer: [[fuming.jpg][fuming.jpg][fuming.jpg]]
Deer: [He’s being bad! Disturbing teacher! Why does he get to go to school with teacher?!]
Deer: [Daddy hurry grab him and bring him back! Send him away!]
Deer: [Daddy! Daddy why ignore me?!]
Deer: [Daddy?]
Lin Yuan: [He has the right to go to school.]
Deer: [Don’t I? Why? Just ’cause Little Deer’s not normal?]
Deer: [You used to say brother wasn’t normal either. Why can he go now but not me?]
Deer: [He’s not even that good. Not as obedient as Little Deer!]
Deer: [Daddy daddy daddy daddy daddy please daddy I wanna go to school with teacher QAQ]
Deer: [Daddy!!!!]
Lin Yuan didn’t reply.
His head throbbed with pain and exhaustion, even hesitation and confusion.
Had he been right to let Lin Yao come back? Wrong to let the young man leave?
He didn’t know. Wasn’t sure. It hurt.
After excising that bizarre temptation, his disgust toward Little Deer grew day by day—now impossible to ignore or endure.
Why did Shen Leyuan have to show up?
Why appear briefly, then suddenly leave him?
He wanted him back.
But was this desire his own, or spawned from a new temptation?
Was he already under that person’s control?
At some point, the door opened silently. The boy tiptoed in carefully and called softly, “Daddy?”
Lin Yuan didn’t open his eyes.
This had happened before—and worse. Back then, Little Deer would snuggle close, hugging his arm and coquettishly clinging, that sticky touch still making him nauseous.
Time passed. Now, Little Deer seemed to have finally learned to keep his distance from his father.
Standing by the bed—not too close, not too far—his voice pitiful: “Daddy, pleeease~ Let Little Deer go to school? I’ll be super good, super super good, no bad stuff at all!”
“Teacher likes Little Deer more than brother. Daddy grab brother back and swap him for Little Deer, okay?”
“Little Deer’s been seriously learning to be normal. Won’t steal teacher’s stuff, won’t sneak kisses, won’t crawl into teacher’s bed, won’t drug him, won’t force teacher to like Little Deer.”
“See? Little Deer really knows right from wrong!”
“Daddy? Daddy…” Seeing no reaction, Little Deer’s voice sharpened: “I’ll be more normal than brother! Why won’t you let me out?! Why!!! ”
The man on the bed finally spoke, his voice faint.
Just one sentence turned Little Deer’s face pale.
Lin Yuan said, “You know exactly where you’re not normal, don’t you.”
…
Shen Leyuan ultimately didn’t return to school.
Before he could, Glasses Guy messaged: pure gossip-fueled excitement between the lines. [Your suitor’s here!!!]
Shen Leyuan replied weakly: [He’s not.]
Nanny Love Me Again: [He cleared out Fatty’s stuff, swapped in a new bed, now making it… tsk tsk, total young master vibes.]
Lin Yao really sucked at this stuff. Shen Leyuan recalled their first meeting.
But his lips just twitched faintly before flattening again. Coldly, he said: [Tell Lin Yao I don’t plan to live in the dorm.]
Nanny Love Me Again: [?????]
Nanny Love Me Again: [Don’t! I really don’t mind you keeping the dog!]
Glasses Guy thought he was hung up on the last incident.
Shen: [Unrelated. Some personal issues to handle—not convenient for dorm life.]
—About Little Deer, he had a bold idea.
But that’d wait till he started the job. For now, deal with Lin Yao first.
The group went dead silent after that.
Puzzled, Shen Leyuan messaged: [@Nanny Love Me Again Did you tell him?]
Shen: [Or start a video, I’ll talk to him?]
Shen: [@Nanny what’s up? Everyone quiet?]
After three or five minutes, Glasses Guy still hadn’t replied, but Cold Boy sullenly started a video. The screen clearly showed the great young master Lin.
Off-screen, Glasses Guy fumed: “Think a bit of cash makes you hot shit? I tell you, even if it’s the end of the world, I ain’t moving. You and your money get out!”
Lin Yao drawled lazily: “Means my money’s not enough, huh? Name your price.”
Glasses Guy: “You—shameless! You think you can chase Shen Leyuan? Forget it next life too!”
Lin Yao’s face changed instantly. He jumped up: “Who said I’m chasing hi—”
Oh right. I am chasing him.
Forcing calm, he said, “How do you know I can’t? Maybe we’re mutual…”
“Lin Yao!”
A familiar roar came from behind, faint like an illusion.
Lin Yao froze, terrified of how much teacher had heard.
Seeing someone refuse to turn like an ostrich with its head in the sand, Shen Leyuan nearly laughed in anger: “You just have to spread rumors, can’t kick the habit, huh?”
Lin Yao whipped around, approaching at a loss: “Teacher…”
“I’m not your teacher!”
He closed his eyes, then opened them—gaze and voice barely calm, but tone stiffer than usual: “Sorry, I really can’t handle this job. I’ve quit. Can you please stay out of my life?”
Lin Yao: “I—I didn’t wanna stay home, so…”
“I didn’t wanna stay there either, so I quit.” Suppressing fury, Shen Leyuan said evenly: “If your behavior now is about escaping your family, I get it. Hope that’s really why you’re at this school.”
He added: “I’m not dorming. Stay or go, your call.”
Lin Yao stood there dazed, like a rain-soaked pup waiting forever for its owner—only to get kicked by a passerby.
He gazed longingly at the figure on video: “I won’t bother you…”
Shen Leyuan: “First, you’re bothering others. Second, finding my dorm and demanding they move out—that’s not ‘not bothering.’”
Lin Yao: “I’ll pay!”
Shen Leyuan: “Fine. How much to buy you out of my life?”
Stumped and red-faced, shame, grievance, anger, sadness churned in Lin Yao’s chest. He wanted to speak but couldn’t—just stared pitifully at his teacher.
I’m no good—so teach me…
You used to teach me. Used to coax me.
Seeing him silent, Shen Leyuan sighed softly: “Anything else you wanna say?”
Like that so-called confession. Or that comment war.
Lin Yao’s eyes flickered, but he stubbornly hid it: “N…no.”
Shen Leyuan: “Then I’m off to handle my stuff. Hope you stay calm, don’t hassle my roommate.”
“Goodbye.”
The video ended. The dark screen reflected Shen Leyuan and his pup.
Someone’s face was too ugly. Little Dog shamefully licked his arm, trying to cheer him up—but it did nothing. Shen Leyuan still stared blankly into space, exhausted.
After a while, he murmured low: “I don’t get it. Why am I the one going through all this.”
A second life was great, but sometimes he was just so tired.
Huo Tingfeng felt that deeply—he wanted to ask heaven why he had to endure this!
But no pills nearby, so Mr. Ghost couldn’t manifest.
Little Dog woofed anxiously several times, from the lift to Little Lunatic, recalling every misfortune this life to faint from rage.
No dice.
“Woof!” It barked again, bumping its wound against Shen Leyuan’s arm.
It hurt a bit, but no dizziness.
Suddenly, hands scooped it up, forehead to forehead: “Okay okay, Daddy’s not moping. Let’s go pick a new home together, yeah?”
From this angle, the young man looked odd, even weird.
But Little Dog only saw those eyes brimming with smiles, stars swirling around…
A perked-up dog ear.
Huo Tingfeng snapped from blushing heartbeat to startled chill.
Does it look… a bit off?
He had no special fondness for dogs—especially small ones. Rack his brains, he couldn’t place that eerie déjà vu.
The next day after settling the house, Shen Leyuan took Little Deer to the hospital.
Busy with the criminal case these past days, he’d delayed visiting Huo Tingfeng. They’d gotten annoyed at first, then oddly told him not to rush, take it slow.
Something was off. He needed to check.
Today, escorting Little Deer weren’t A Si, but four new bodyguards—fully armed, like airing out a prisoner.
Once Shen Leyuan reached the hospital, even weirder: Huo Xiaoqi flat-out refused Little Deer entry. Only Shen Leyuan allowed, and Little Deer needn’t come again—second bro didn’t need his visits.
Shen Leyuan: “Your second bro’s awake?”
Huo Xiaoqi said gravely: “My second bro came in a dream.”
Huh?
Shen Leyuan eyed the body on the bed, then Huo Xiaoqi, probing: “What breed was he in the dream?”
Huo Xiaoqi: ?
Shen Leyuan: “Normal human shape?”
How the hell should I know!
Huo Xiaoqi thought exasperatedly: He messaged me from your phone. I’m the one wondering how you two are getting along—harmonious or not!
He hadn’t understood what I meant by “breed.”
So Huo Tingfeng probably hadn’t turned into a dog yet—or at least, hadn’t appeared in the dream as one. Shen Leyuan guessed it was the former: Huo Tingfeng might have been trapped near his body all along, waiting for that key moment in the original story to transform.
Hiss… It suddenly felt a bit cold.
He opened his mouth. “If there’s nothing else, I—”
“Get along well with my brother!” Huo Xiaoqi slammed the door shut at top speed and shouted, “You two chat! Take as long as you want!”
Wait… what was there to chat about with a vegetable?
Shen Leyuan tugged at the door, but it wouldn’t budge. He called out a few times with no response, so he decided to stick around for a bit. He sat back down by the bed and observed the man lying there in a coma.
Compared to their first meeting, Huo Tingfeng had lost a lot of weight. His handsome face had grown even sharper.
He’d been covered by a thin blanket those previous times, but not this time. The ill-fitting hospital gown stretched taut over the contours of his pecs. Looking lower, his waist wasn’t slim but wasn’t bulky either—no beer gut or broad back to ruin it. It only made people envy his killer physique.
As his gaze slowly roamed, Little Dog watched in terror right alongside.
Don’t get hard, don’t get hard, please don’t!
Good. No reaction.
Huo Tingfeng breathed a sigh of relief inside Little Dog, but at the same time, it left a sour taste. He hoped his “nerve disorder” would clear up soon, so in the future he’d only get hard for the right person… Nah, forget it. Staying limp might be better.
Impotence brings peace of mind. He could do platonic love.
If his future wife didn’t want platonic, he could always use toys.
Wait, what the hell am I thinking in front of my own vegetative body?
Little Dog slapped itself—not too hard, not too light—and kept observing. Then, out of nowhere from above came three puzzled words: “Mr. Chu…”
Mindful of the surveillance cameras in the room, Shen Leyuan clammed up and half-hid his phone to type.
【His height seems about the same as yours?】
![Reborn as a Ragdoll Cat [Interstellar]](https://i2.wp.com/dobynovels.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/f.jpg?resize=151,215 "Reborn as a Ragdoll Cat [Interstellar]")
