IRDLZ Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The fourth-floor space was less a glass terrace than a semi-open courtyard. It had originally been covered by a roof, but the previous owner had transformed it into a bright, airy retreat. The floor was painted a muted sage green, while the walls—apart from the glass panels were coated in a soft egg-yolk yellow. From time to time, one could come up here to gaze out at the distant golf course and the lake nestled at the foot of the hills, enjoying a moment of peace and relaxation.

But after Ming Qingqing took over, during a typhoon one year, half of the glass roof had been torn off. She had been too lazy to repair it ever since. So now, in the depths of winter, snow drifted inside, and the place had become a completely abandoned rooftop terrace.

To the left of the terrace, there was a wooden ladder leading upward. Climbing it would take you to the villa’s roof. The roof was covered in red tiles, arranged with a top-tier waterproofing system, and atop it stood a large decorative windmill chimney.

The moment Ming Qingqing stepped onto the terrace, she heard a creak-creak-creak sound coming from the roof, further confirming that a small animal was up there.

It sounded like a cat, after all, dogs couldn’t climb trees.

But when she climbed up the wooden ladder, what she saw was a panicked, scrawny mutt, sprawled on the ridge of the roof, using all four paws to cling on as if terrified of falling, its face scrunched up in distress and an old blue jacket caught on the chimney.

The wind whipped the thin jacket, making it flutter loudly. The hood hung down, and the two empty sleeves billowed in the breeze.

Ming Qingqing: ???

The fearful mutt: ???

One person and one dog stared at each other, both equally dumbfounded.

…

“How… did you get up there?” Ming Qingqing found it utterly baffling.

But asking wouldn’t get her anywhere, she couldn’t exactly expect a dog to give her an answer.

Twenty minutes later, drenched in sweat, Ming Qingqing managed to get the trembling dog down. The animal was extremely wary and resistant to strangers. The moment it landed, it immediately backed into a corner and barked at her a few times.

Ming Qingqing wasn’t sure if this dog was a stray or someone’s pet.

Logically, if it had been wandering around out here, it should have been filthy. And with all the snow and rain over the past couple of days, its fur shouldn’t have been this clean. Even if the sun had dried it today, the fur should have been matted into clumps.

Could it be that the dog had gotten lost nearby, just a few days ago?

If it was a lost dog from the neighborhood, sending it to a rescue center as a stray would only make it harder for its owner to find it.

Ignoring the dog still growling in the corner, Ming Qingqing first took out her phone and snapped a picture. Then she went downstairs and called the security office, sending them the photo via WeChat. She asked them to go door-to-door and inquire if anyone had lost a dog.

The residents here were either wealthy or powerful, so the security team didn’t dare slack off. They made inquiries quickly.

The conclusion Ming Qingqing received was: It wasn’t a dog from this neighborhood.

Come to think of it, most of the dogs in this neighborhood were expensive, large breeds like Saint Bernards. Who would keep such a scrawny mutt?

Ming Qingqing had inexplicably picked up a dog and was feeling a bit troubled.

She preferred quiet and didn’t like the sound of barking. She had no intention of keeping the dog.

She sent a message to Xiao Zhou, asking him to contact an animal rescue center and to print out flyers for a “found dog” notice.

Xiao Zhou quickly replied: “It’s arranged. But it’s the end of the year now, and the local rescue center is already closed. They won’t be able to come pick up the dog for about three days.”

Knowing she disliked the smell of dogs, Xiao Zhou sent another message: “Should I come pick it up and take it to my place for now?”

It was New Year’s, and Xiao Zhou was spending time with his family. Asking him to make a trip over for something so trivial was a bit of an imposition.

She never celebrated New Year’s Eve herself, but she couldn’t very well interfere with someone else’s family reunion.

“Forget it,” Ming Qingqing replied. “Just three days.”

She would keep the dog for three days.

Clutching his spoon, Xiao Fu crouched on the roof of another villa, his face pale. The crisis had passed, and his racing heart finally began to settle.

He hadn’t had time to yank that jacket free. With no other choice, he had used the fastest speed he could muster since arriving on Earth—waving his stiff, uncoordinated arms to hurriedly strip off the jacket. Then, in an instant, he teleported into an apartment, grabbed the dog that had been left home alone, and carried it over, barely managing to escape disaster.

Cats and dogs were humans’ good friends. When humans saw them, not only would they not be afraid—they would even find them adorable.

Unlike him. If Ming Qingqing had seen him, she would have been terrified.

Right now, wearing only a thin T-shirt, he felt the cold wind rushing down his collar, making him even colder.

Nervously, he observed what was happening at Ming Qingqing’s place. He planned to wait until she wasn’t paying attention, return the dog to its family, and then, after nightfall, retrieve the two items he had left behind in the storage room on the fourth floor.

And then—say goodbye to Ming Qingqing.

The surroundings were very quiet. Xiao Fu sat down, his stiff knees finally relaxing, and swayed slightly.

The faint sunlight filtering through the clouds fell upon his skin, no longer hidden by his hoodie, making him look almost translucent.

A sense of reluctance welled up in his heart as he lowered his gaze, his eyes carrying a trace of loneliness.

He lifted his eyes again, unable to stop himself from gazing at the person in the distant villa for a moment longer.

From afar, Xiao Fu saw Ming Qingqing take out her phone and heard her say a few words in Earth’s language—”pet rescue center.” He realized she planned to send the dog to a shelter.

He had to return the dog to its home before she sent it away.

Xiao Fu slowly got up, intending to teleport over.

But then he saw Ming Qingqing go down to the first floor.

He watched her enter one of the rooms. After a moment, through the window, he saw her struggling to drag out an old sofa, moving it to the room at the end of the villa, right next to the glass conservatory.

Xiao Fu was a little puzzled, unsure of what Ming Qingqing was planning to do.

Then, he saw her go to the storage room and find a small off-white box. She carried the small off-white box, along with some other items—like a blanket and a black box—into the room at the end of the first floor.

The various boxes Xiao Fu took for ordinary containers were actually a Xiaomi automatic water dispenser and a safe, fireproof oil-filled radiator heater. These had originally been bought by Ming Qingqing for her cat, but Feifei had been raised to be quite pampered—she only drank hot water and turned her nose up at the water from the pet fountain. So, these things had been left unused in the storage room.

Feifei realized what she was doing and, displeased, tugged at her pants leg with her teeth, trying to reclaim her belongings.

Ming Qingqing bent down, rubbed the cat’s head, and continued setting up the room.

Soon, Xiao Fu saw Ming Qingqing use a meat bone taken from the fridge to lure the mutt down from the fourth floor. He finally understood what she was doing.

…She was making a nest for that dog.

Xiao Fu: “…”

An indescribable feeling of grievance and bitterness surged into Xiao Fu’s heart all at once.

That dog had a bad temperament, looked ugly, and was scrawny. Unlike himself—he didn’t need to be put on a leash to willingly follow her.

How did that dog get to be taken in by her?

And yet, the dog was still eyeing Ming Qingqing with extreme wariness, barking at her from time to time. It was only unable to resist the temptation of the meat bone that it followed her down the stairs at a cautious distance.

The mutt followed Ming Qingqing to the room at the end of the first floor. Ming Qingqing placed the meat bone on a plate next to the water dispenser. The mutt—who had probably never eaten such a large, intact pork rib in its previous home—immediately drooled and bounded over.

Ming Qingqing pointed to the adjacent glass conservatory and said to it, “There’s a small cat-and-dog door in that wall. You go outside to do your business. Don’t do it inside the house.”

She had no idea if the dog understood her. Scratching her head, she decided to just leave it at that.

The dog was staying on the first floor. She was on the third floor. No matter how much it barked, it wouldn’t disturb her.

As the dog ate contentedly, Ming Qingqing closed the outermost door of the suite of rooms to prevent Feifei from running into it and starting a fight.

From a distance, Xiao Fu sat down in utter dejection. He actually found himself envying that dog.

The sun set. The mutt had eaten and drunk its fill but remained wary, sniffing around the room Ming Qingqing had arranged for it.

A native dog raised like this from a young age was actually more loyal to its owner than any expensive breed. It knew very well that this was not its home.

It had to go back. Otherwise, its owner would be worried.

Just as it was nosing around against the wall, unable to find a way out, anxiously barking—

A young figure materialized out of thin air inside the room. After stumbling slightly, he steadied himself.

The mutt’s barking stopped instantly.

Fear appeared in its eyes.

Just like when it had been suddenly snatched from its own home, it sensed a kind of suppression from a higher being.

Even though the young man’s gray-blue eyes were clean and harmless, it was a natural instinct of the weak to fear the strong—just like how cats shed their fur.

The dog craned its head up, staring at Xiao Fu. Suddenly, it lost control of its bladder, and a puddle of yellow urine formed on the floor in its terror.

Xiao Fu: “…”

By nature, Xiao Fu would have normally crouched down clumsily and patted the dog’s head to signal that there was no need to be afraid.

But right now, the way he looked at this dog was a little complicated.

He glanced around the room—the soft, comfortable sofa, the pet water fountain, the radiating warmth of the oil heater and felt a deep sense of sorrow in his heart.

So, acting like a petty miser, he ignored the mutt’s fear and simply sent it back.

The dog’s owner was still at work and hadn’t returned yet. Sending the dog back took only two seconds, and Xiao Fu was back in no time. The rag he had brought came in handy. He still couldn’t walk very well, but fortunately, he could teleport—an innate ability that surpassed instinct.

And so, the young squatted on the floor, appearing out of thin air like a piece in a game of checkers beside the spots the mutt had soiled. He rotated his stiff wrists and carefully wiped the floor clean with the rag.

After finishing all that, Xiao Fu very un-environmentally tossed the rag into the back hills, then headed up to the rooftop and tugged with all his might to pull out his jacket.

With tremendous effort, he finally managed to put it back on.

He raised his stiff fingers, struggling to pull the hood over his head. The hood concealed his pale face.

Finally, he felt a tiny sliver of safety.

Meanwhile, Ming Qingqing had finished her dinner and opened her tablet to search for information on how to care for a dog. Even though she would only be keeping it for a few days, she was a meticulous person—whatever she did, she did it properly. She couldn’t let things get messy.

Dogs were carnivores, but they could also eat vegetables like broccoli, which provided some trace nutrients.

The image of the scrawny mutt’s thin frame surfaced in her mind. Ming Qingqing hesitated for a moment.

She felt that one pork rib might not be enough.

Ming Qingqing got up, went to the kitchen, boiled some broccoli and beef, put them in a fresh bowl, and headed to the first floor.

When she placed the new food in the first-floor room, the dog was nowhere to be seen.

There were many rooms here. Ming Qingqing wasn’t sure if the dog had slipped out through the small hole in the flower room or hidden itself in another room.

She didn’t think much of it. Dogs were smarter than cats—if it got hungry or cold, it would probably come out.

She set the food down and left.

But after she left, Xiao Fu, crouched on the roof, felt all his senses intensely assaulted by the food in that bowl. His Adam’s apple bobbed slowly as he swallowed. His gray-blue eyes, hollow with hunger, took on a dazed, standby shade of blue.

That smells so good.

Could he… eat it?

When Xiao Fu was starving to the extreme, he would chew on tree bark.

It had been a long time since he had eaten anything warm.

Unlike humans, going without food for a long time wouldn’t kill him. The people from his planet had very, very long lifespans.

But like humans, he still felt hunger.

Sometimes, when hunger struck, his stomach would growl, he would get dizzy, and he could collapse to the ground at any moment, leaving a six-foot-three human-shaped dent in the earth.

The young wrestled with himself for a long time. In the end, he abandoned his plan to leave and surrendered to his hunger.

…

He appeared in the room Ming Qingqing had prepared for the mutt. Carefully, moving with stiff, creaking motions, he picked up the boiled broccoli with his fingers and stuffed two florets into his mouth.

The food slid down his throat into his stomach. A feeling of fullness filled him, warming his entire body.

It was a happiness so profound it could bring tears to one’s eyes—though that was just a figure of speech. A real man, a grown adult like Xiao Fu, would not cry.

He crouched there like a lonely, dark shadow, silently devouring the food while feeling both grateful and anxious about this unexpected happiness.

He drank some water from the dispenser but didn’t dare climb onto the sofa.

Ming Qingqing had prepared it for the dog. If she found out he had secretly eaten it, what would she think of his thievery?

Xiao Fu was thin-skinned. Thinking about this made him uneasy, and his pale face turned even whiter.

Still, he squatted in front of the oil heater for a while, warming himself by the fire.

He reasoned that the heater would stay on regardless—it wouldn’t be “used up” by him.

It had been so long since he had felt warmth washing over him, driving away the stiffness and cold from his limbs.

Xiao Fu hadn’t been this warm or this happy in a long time. He stiffly rotated his body to let the fire warm his back, then warmed his feet as well.

After warming his feet, he clumsily pulled off his hoodie, leaned his head closer, and toasted his short hair and scalp.

…

Around eleven at night, after taking a bath, Ming Qingqing decided to go downstairs and retrieve the plates.

For some reason, Feifei had been quite unhappy. Ming Qingqing interpreted this as jealousy—her cat sensed a new animal in the house and feared losing her affection. So, she hugged and kissed Feifei, soothing her before heading downstairs.

She pushed open the door to the room at the end of the first floor.

She turned on the light.

The dog was nowhere to be seen again.

Ming Qingqing looked down at the two plates on the floor. Both had been completely cleaned—especially the second batch of broccoli and beef. The plate was practically gleaming. It seemed the dog had truly been starving.

Ming Qingqing found it a little amusing. She walked over to pick up the plates.

Then she froze.

She noticed a small ring box sitting beside the plates. It was a sea-like blue, wrapped with a small white ribbon. The box didn’t look new—rather, it had been carefully washed in a stream like a treasured possession, as the white ribbon had faded to an off-white.

Ming Qingqing: “…” ?

What did this mean?

She was certain it hadn’t been here when she came down in the afternoon. So this was… the dog showing gratitude?

Ming Qingqing was amazed.

No, not just amazed—it was almost miraculous.

That dog looked scruffy and fierce, but how could it be so clever? It secretly built a nest and brought things back in return.

Ming Qingqing half-expected the box to contain a ring.

But when she opened the box, she found a small kumquat resting inside, still with its leaves attached. Like the box, it had been thoroughly washed, almost gleaming.

—Edible, obviously.

Under the room’s light, the kumquat gave off a warm, citrusy fragrance.

Ming Qingqing felt an unexpected softness in her heart.

Creatures of nature seemed a hundred times dumber than humans, but each had its own personality. And unlike humans, animals had no ill intentions—they simply liked someone and would naively do nice things for them.

This dog had bared its teeth at her, scared and wary. But after eating her pork rib, it had quietly brought back a kumquat on a cold winter night.

Ming Qingqing, who had originally been resistant to keeping a dog and had planned to send this fierce, ugly one away in three days, suddenly felt reluctant to let it go.

“Dandan,” Ming Qingqing called out toward the corner. She decided to give the dog a name, even if just for the few days it would stay. “I’ll call you Dandan.”

By the chimney—carefully making sure his clothes wouldn’t get caught this time—Xiao Fu heard her. He was startled at first, then a hint of shyness appeared on his pale face.

Dandan.