Zuo Ning turned his head, he didn't want to be disturbed. He wouldn't really bite people. As a dog, he had no way of saying that he wanted to be alone. Apart from being aggressive, what else could he do?
"Little Pudding, come. Let's have a good talk. At least let me know why you're angry."
Zuo Ning lowered his head and pulled at the carpet. Talk. He also wanted to talk. But their world's would never meet. It would always be you saying yours and me saying mine. Could speech compare to just making gestures? They were different species, how could they communicate?
Lu Chenghe watched as the little thing continued to sit there without moving as if he was saying "me ignoring you means that I will definitely ignore you". He felt a headache building like a parent who had raised a disobedient child.
"Little Pudding, I know you can understand me. Come, let's talk slowly. Come. Be obedient."
Zuo Ning gave him a glance and slowly shifted himself in front of Lu Chenghe.
Lu Chenghe rubbed Little Pudding's head, satisfied now that he was listening. "Are you upset that I left you alone here? If yes, bark once. If no, bark twice."
Zuo Ning thoughts tangled together. Now what should he do? Should he act out of the ordinary or continue to pretend to be stupid? Zuo Ning watched Lu Chenghe still patiently waiting for his answer and suddenly had an urge to expose himself a little and forget about smoothly becoming a human again. Making one bet was no big deal, and who knows, maybe he'll win it. Additionally, he wanted to believe in Lu Chenghe. If he couldn't even trust Lu Chenghe, then who else could he trust?
Zuo Ning glanced at Lu Chenghe and quietly responded. "Woof woof."
Lu Chenghe did not display any surprise. It was like he already knew long ago that Little Pudding could understand his words. Zuo Ning, whose heart was in his throat, finally released a sigh of relief.
To say that Lu Chenghe was not surprised at all was naturally impossible. He knew that Little Pudding was incredibly smart. Even when young, it had displayed a unique sensitivity to language. He only needed to say something a few times before Little Pudding was able to understand and smoothly complete it, even when it was very small. Although most of the time he only chose to listen to what he wanted to hear and pretended that he didn't understand the rest of it. But even so, this proved that he really could understand and distinguish between different meanings.
But this was probably the first time he had so precisely displayed his ability to understand, decipher the meaning behind his words, and respond according to Lu Chenghe's request.
Lu Chenghe knew that there were definitely incredibly smart pets in this world. Relying on the foundation of innate IQ, then after some training, they would be able to do something that exceeded human expectations. However, what surprised him was that his Little Pudding had been raised free-range. Because he did not expect him to be smart, he had never done any sort of training. Since he could so directly answer his question, it seemed like Little Pudding's talent for language was not small.
Although he was a little smarter than his expectations, it was still a furry child that Lu Chenghe had raised himself so his predominant feeling was still happiness. Perhaps he really did understand that drama series on TV and the effort wasn't in vain.
Knowing that the cause of Little Pudding's unhappiness wasn't what he thought, Lu Chenghe thought again before saying, "Then is it because you don't like it here and want to go home?"
Zuo Ning couldn't say that he was unhappy because he had thoroughly confirmed his own death so could only call out once and go along with Lu Chenghe's explanation.
How could Lu Chenghe read his dog's careful thoughts? Since Little Pudding had answered thusly, he naturally believed it. So he picked up the pitiful little rascal and walked to the window. "When the snow stops we can go home. Look at how heavy the snow is outside. There's no way we can go out. Be good and wait for two more days, alright?"
Zuo Ning lay on Lu Chenghe's shoulder and barked once.
Lu Chenghe smiled. "Then let's go down and eat."
Zuo Ning immediately barked twice. "Woof woof."
Lu Chenghe thought that after their talk then they could finally eat. So how come he still didn't want to eat? "Why won't you eat? Does it taste bad?"
"Woof." Super bad.
Lu Chenghe thought back to the time Lou Jiu had cooked noodles. The little pup had eaten it very happily at that time so he asked, "Then what about noodles?"
"Woof woof." Don't want it. It's flavourless so it'll be the same.
Lu Chenghe was at his wit's end and randomly said one line. "Then what do you want to eat? My food?"
When Zuo Ning heard it he immediately recovered his spirit. Turning from the soft white bun laying on Lu Chenghe's body into standing up as straight as a soldier in his arms. "Woof!" There was nothing that could not be solved by good food. If one meal wasn't enough then he could just have another!
Lu Chenghe laughed at his reaction and threw him onto the bed. "Since you don't want to eat then continue to sleep. I won't bother you."
Zuo Ning immediately charged down from the bed and hugged Lu Chenghe's legs. "Woof woof woof woof!" How can you go back on your word! Men have to mean what they say!
Lu Chenghe squeezed his ears. "I think you've been spoiled too much since you can torment me like this. If I continue to indulge you, you may as well ascend to the skies. Other people's dogs eat what they're given. You though, have to do it according to your wishes. You won't eat if you're not satisfied? Who else has so many problems?"
Although Lu Chenghe's said such words with disdain, he still let Little Pudding hug his legs and dragged it like that downstairs. He also told the kitchen to change the dinner to steak.
Zuo Ning was pleased with himself as he sat next to Lu Chenghe, waiting until two plates of fragrant steaks were placed in front of them. Zuo Ning's eyes instantly lit up. There was only a simple steak on the plate. And although it didn't have the black pepper sauce he had previously eaten in a western restaurant, Zuo Ning was very satisfied.
Lu Chenghe picked up a knife and fork to begin cutting his steak and Zuo Ning immediately went closer to his plate. He looked at his paws then looked back at the steak on the plate. The steak was big and quite thick. He definitely couldn't finish it in one bite but he didn't want to use his paws to press the steak down while he ate. Just when he was about to throw all caution to the wind and just try to take a bite, Lu Chenghe stopped him.
Zuo Ning immediately looked towards Lu Chenghe. "Awoo?" You're not planning on going back on your words and only display good food in front of me as a punishment, right?
Lu Chenghe knocked on his head. "Why so anxious, aren't I already cutting it for you?"
Oh oh oh, so it turned out that plate was his one. Zuo Ning quickly sat properly. Occasionally his tongue licked his mouth. He couldn't help it, the steak was too fragrant and salivating was a bodily instinct. He also didn't want to embarrass himself.
When he took the first bite of meat, maybe it was because it had been such a long long time since he'd eaten human food, but it tasted so delicious. Although there was no other sauce added on the steak, the flavour was even better than the one he had eaten before. The meat was so soft, and when he bit down the juices just gushed out. It was so yummy he was about to fly!
Zuo Ning had been rendered speechless. With one curl of his tongue, he ate a mouthful of perfectly cut meat. After eating, he licked his mouth and squinted happily at Lu Chenghe.
When Lu Chenghe looked at the happy little face, he helplessly shook his head. He suddenly felt that giving Little Pudding dog food before had really been a form of abuse.
If Zuo Ning was human, that piece of steak in addition to some other side dishes would be enough for a meal.
But that did not represent his appetite right now. Although his spirit was human, his body was not. That bit of meat was only enough to stuff between his teeth.
Zuo Ning patted the empty plate and looked at Lu Chenghe eagerly.
Lu Chenghe directly had the kitchen bring out a bowl of dog food. The moment Zuo Ning saw, he twisted his head and pushed the dog food away.
Although there were also sorts of diced meat, diced vegetables, and diced fruits in it, unpalatable things were still unpalatable no matter how good they looked! When he saw that Lu Chenghe didn't plan on feeding him anymore, he instantly began to howl.
"Awoo!" You said you would give me your dinner to eat, I'm not full yet!
Lu Chenghe continued to eat the food on his plate without moving.
"Ao awoo!" Your baby isn't full yet, are you planning on starving the baby?!
Lu Chenghe pretended that he didn't hear it and didn't even spare him a glance.
Since howling didn't work, Zuo Ning put his head next to Lu Chenghe's hands and began to sob.
Lu Chenghe looked at him in askance. "How much more do you plan to eat?"
Zuo Ning hurriedly sat up and stretched out his paws. He tried hard to open them and stretch out five of his claws. But no matter how hard he tries, he could only open them a bit. No matter how you looked at it, there was still only one furry paw.
Lu Chenghe replied. "So one, right? Then after you finish you can't make trouble."
Zuo Ning was agitated. Such a small amount, even if there was another plate it would still only fill his mouth. He quickly stretched out both paws and then lifted his feet, one of his hind legs stepped on Lu Chenghe's leg in his hurry. He felt that this should count as four. One less than five was still better than one.
Lu Chenghe understood his meaning. Since Little Pudding seemed to be able to do math now, then he really would do anything for food. He smiled and let the kitchen bring out two more pieces. "You can only have two pieces. If you continue to make a fuss, you won't even be able to eat these two pieces."
Although he couldn't eat until he was full, it had already soothed his cravings. He didn't continue to howl and obediently waited for the kitchen to make it for him.
Zuo Ning was very pleased with the dinner tonight, so much so that his hips jiggled a bit more as he walked. Although he had been depressed about the news he discovered today, his family's Lu Chenghe used food to cure him. No matter how sad the past was, he couldn't go back. It was better to live well in the present. What's more, he still had the chance to become a human again. He just didn't know when he would be able to change.
Lu Chenghe smiled helplessly when he watched the little thing walking and jumping around like a large ball of cotton candy. Previously, he had acted like he had been piteously abandoned by the whole world. But now that he had eaten something delicious, his mood had perked up. Sure enough, a dog's heart was like a needle on the seafloor, very hard to pin down.