Chapter 35: The Dog is Found

Lin Hexi first asked the group of middle school students, but everyone had been focused on the shuttlecock stuck in the branches, so none of them had noticed anything unusual. He then approached the elderly men playing chess and the parents with their children, but none of them had noticed anything either.

He carefully recalled the moment he tied the leash, ensuring that he had indeed tied a tight knot, which led him to suspect that someone might have stealthily taken the dog. However, throughout the entire process, he hadn’t heard the dog bark, which suggested that the person who took the dog might have been a familiar face or someone well-prepared.

It seemed unlikely that someone familiar with You Chong would do such a thing, making the latter possibility more probable. Of course, there was also the chance that the Alaskan Malamute had somehow managed to chew through the leash on its own.

Lin Hexi looked around, but there were no surveillance cameras in the vicinity, and the concern in his eyes deepened.

The middle school students volunteered to help him search for the dog, with the students heading toward the school, while Lin Hexi retraced his steps back toward the Chengnan Community. The group split up at Lovers’ Slope to cover more ground.

Walking quickly under the scorching sun, Lin Hexi instinctively slowed down whenever he saw a large dog of the same breed and similar size, giving it a closer look.

But none of them were the dog he was searching for.

Sweat quickly soaked his back, and his forehead became slightly damp. The anxiety in his heart only intensified.

Clinging to the slim hope that the dog might have returned home, Lin Hexi first thoroughly searched around the community grounds, then took the elevator up to the 18th floor where You Chong lived.

When the elevator doors opened, the sight he hoped for—the Alaskan Malamute sitting obediently outside You Chong’s door—did not appear. Lin Hexi was disappointed, turned around and headed down to his own apartment on the 17th floor.

The dog wasn’t outside his door either.

Worried that the Alaskan Malamute might try to return on its own but wouldn’t be able to use the elevator, Lin Hexi took the stairs from the 17th floor down to the ground level, but his search remained fruitless.

The intense heat combined with the physical exertion quickly drained his energy. He emerged from the cool stairwell, and paused to catch his breath, which had become heavy and labored.

Realizing that he couldn’t resolve the situation on his own, Lin Hexi took out his phone and called You Chong.

The few seconds it took for the call to connect felt like an eternity to Lin Hexi.

He braced himself for the possibility of being scolded by You Chong, but the reality turned out to be even worse than he anticipated.

You Chong didn’t answer the phone.

After the call was eventually cut off following a long series of rings, Lin Hexi tried calling two more times, but still, there was no response.

Not wasting any more time, Lin Hexi put away his phone, and he headed out of the community with a heavy expression.

On the way back to Lovers’ Slope, he searched the surrounding alleys and streets thoroughly, inside and out. When he finally returned to Lovers’ Slope to meet up with the others, the students had also come up empty-handed.

Though they offered to continue helping, Lin Hexi glanced at the time on his phone and politely declined their offer.

After the students left, Lin Hexi retraced the path they had searched, continuing to look around the school area for a long time. During this time, he tried calling You Chong several more times, but each call went unanswered.

Exhausted and feeling a deep sense of anxiety and guilt, Lin Hexi looked up wearily. Despite knowing that he was conducting a desperate, aimless search, he couldn’t bring himself to stop or rest. The fear of having lost the dog weighed heavily on him, compelling him to keep moving.

The dog was taken by people sent by Ning Nan. When Lin Hexi was retrieving the shuttlecock from the tree, Ning Nan was also nearby at Lovers’ Slope.

Due to Lin Hexi’s interference, Ning Nan had recently broken up with his new girlfriend. The memory of what he overheard outside the restaurant bathroom that day continued to fill him with a simmering resentment.

He had initially planned to invite Lin Hexi out under someone else’s name to give him a hard time, but when his message went unanswered, Ning Nan became furious. The next day, he intended to confront Lin Hexi directly, but instead, he happened to spot him walking the dog near the community.

Ning Nan left quietly, and decided instead to target the dog.

The Alaskan Malamute was fitted with a muzzle to prevent it from barking or biting. The two people who had taken the dog returned to Ning Nan and handed him the leash.

As Ning Nan took the leash, he imagined Lin Hexi’s anxious face and smirked coldly. With a firm grip on the leash, he forcibly dragged the dog along as he turned and headed toward the school.

They deliberately chose winding paths with plenty of trees and buildings for cover, quickly disappearing behind Lovers’ Slope.

However, what they didn’t anticipate was running into Zhou Xuan and Yang Juan at the school after taking the dog.

The three of them had been returning to the dorm from outside the school, but Zhao Du had left midway for some business, leaving just Zhou Xuan and Yang Juan together.

As they walked, Yang Juan turned his head and brought up the matter of returning the clothes to You Chong. Before he could finish speaking, he noticed Ning Nan and his group walking across the opposite sidewalk, leading a dog.

The person holding the leash was trying to walk forward, but the dog wasn’t cooperating.

Yang Juan took a closer look, and his expression showed slight confusion. “Isn’t You Chong’s dog an Alaskan Malamute?” he asked, his voice tinged with uncertainty.

Not understanding how the conversation shifted from clothes to dogs, Zhou Xuan absentmindedly responded, “Yeah, so what?”

But Yang Juan had already stopped in his tracks, his gaze fixed on the dog across the street, and the confusion on his face deepening. “Why do I feel like that dog looks a lot like You Chong’s Alaskan Malamute?”

Zhou Xuan chuckled, then turned his head to follow Yang Juan’s line of sight. “How could that be? You Chong isn’t coming back to school until tomorrow, and that dog should have already been taken home by now—”

He abruptly cut off his sentence, his voice trailing off as his eyes narrowed while focusing on the dog across the street.

“It really does look a lot like You Chong’s dog,” Zhou Xuan admitted, and his eyes shifted upward to see that the person holding the leash was Ning Nan. A hint of suspicion crept into his mind.

His skepticism wasn’t unfounded. Setting aside Ning Nan’s unpleasant status as an illegitimate child, Zhou Xuan knew that Ning Nan wasn’t someone to be taken lightly or trusted.

The two immediately crossed the street, heading straight for Ning Nan and the dog he was holding.

Noticing the familiar dog tag that Lin Hexi had put on the Alaskan Malamute before leaving, Zhou Xuan and Yang Juan blocked Ning Nan’s path, preventing him from leaving.

Ning Nan hadn’t expected the dog to belong to You Chong. Without Lin Hexi as a scapegoat, he didn’t dare openly provoke Zhou Xuan. He swallowed his pride reluctantly and grudgingly handed the dog over to them.

The Alaskan Malamute recognized Zhou Xuan and Yang Juan and obediently followed them.

Zhou Xuan pulled out his phone and tried calling You Chong, but there was no answer. He decided to let Yang Juan take the dog back to the dorm for the time being.

It wasn’t until the evening, when the sky had begun to darken, that You Chong noticed the missed calls on his phone. And he had just come out of the swimming pool.

Before going for a swim, You Chong had casually tossed his phone onto a lounge chair by the pool. He had forgotten to turn off the silent mode he had activated earlier that morning, which caused him to miss both Lin Hexi’s and Zhou Xuan’s calls.

As he walked past the lounge chair, he noticed the phone’s notification light blinking continuously out of the corner of his eye. He bent down, picked up the phone, and unlocked it.

There was only one missed call from Zhou Xuan, but nearly ten missed calls from Lin Hexi.

Skipping over Zhou Xuan’s name, You Chong guessed that Lin Hexi’s calls were probably related to the dog, so he decided to call Lin Hexi back first.

However, the only response he received was a notification that Lin Hexi’s phone was now turned off, which made You Chong frown slightly.

He ended the call and then dialed Zhou Xuan instead.

Zhou Xuan’s phone was still on, and when the call connected, his words were somewhat cryptic: “What’s the deal with Ning Nan?”

You Chong responded with a question of his own, “What do you mean?”

Zhou Xuan clicked his tongue in mild irritation. “Ning Nan took your dog. You didn’t know?”

Confused, You Chong frowned. “Are you sure it was my dog?”

“Whose else would it be?” Zhou Xuan replied, sounding amused. “The dog tag on its collar is the one you bought last year.”

Hearing this, and recalling the numerous missed calls from Lin Hexi, the scattered details began to come together in You Chong’s mind, and the situation gradually became clear to him.

You Chong asked, “Who has the dog now?”

Zhou Xuan replied, “Yang Juan took it back to the dorm.”

You Chong paused, as if he was about to say something else. The words were on the tip of his tongue, but then he suddenly seemed to remember something, and with a lowered voice, he asked, “What about Lin Hexi?”

“Lin Hexi?” Zhou Xuan sounded puzzled. “What about Lin Hexi? I was talking about Ning Nan.”

You Chong’s frown deepened. “You didn’t contact him?”

Zhou Xuan found this amusing and laughed out loud, “Why would I contact him? And besides, I don’t even have his contact information.”

The only response Zhou Xuan received was the sound of You Chong hanging up the phone.

Zhou Xuan stared at his phone screen, full of confusion at the abrupt end of the call.

Meanwhile, You Chong called Yang Juan, who was in the dorm with Zhao Du, discussing what food would be best for the Alaskan Malamute.

When Yang Juan saw You Chong’s call coming in, he answered with a sense of relief. Before he could say anything, he heard You Chong’s question on the other end: “Have you contacted Lin Hexi?”

Yang Juan was equally puzzled. “No, I haven’t.”

You Chong then asked for confirmation, “After finding the dog, you didn’t contact Lin Hexi at all?”

Yang Juan responded earnestly, “No, we didn’t.”

There was a brief pause on You Chong’s end before he asked, “Where exactly did you see Ning Nan and Fantuan?”

As Yang Juan heard the sound of hurried footsteps and the jingle of keys on the other end, he was momentarily stunned but promptly reported the exact location where they had seen Ning Nan and the dog.

Then came the loud sound of a door opening and closing, and just before the call ended, You Chong gave a final instruction: “Keep an eye on the dog; I’ll come to the dorm later to pick it up.”

Yang Juan instinctively nodded, even though You Chong couldn’t see him.

A moment later, Yang Juan looked up from his phone screen, confused, and turned to Zhao Du, “Wait, didn’t Zhou Xuan say he wasn’t coming back to school until tomorrow?”

Meanwhile, You Chong drove back to the school from his place, trying to call Lin Hexi again during the drive, but Lin Hexi’s phone was still turned off.

The fact that Lin Hexi’s phone was still off suggested that he hadn’t gone home yet. However, hoping that Lin Hexi might have returned home after failing to find the dog, You Chong decided to stop by Chengnan Community first.

By now, the sky had fully darkened, and You Chong found himself hoping that Lin Hexi hadn’t been foolish enough to continue searching at the school.

After all, in front of him, Lin Hexi had always been the type who wouldn’t let himself suffer even a little and was constantly trying to gain the upper hand in their verbal exchanges.

But things didn’t go as he hoped. From outside the building, there were no lights on in Lin Hexi’s apartment, and knocking on the door brought no response.

It was clear that Lin Hexi hadn’t returned home yet.

A complex mix of emotions swirled in You Chong’s heart as he turned back downstairs. He got into his car, and headed back to the school, driving along the route that Yang Juan had mentioned as he continued his search.

In the end, he found Lin Hexi walking along the side of the road.

Lin Hexi appeared utterly exhausted, his head bowed as he slowly walked along the roadside. The dim, thin streetlight cast a quiet glow over him, but it wasn’t enough to clearly reveal the expression on his face.

From the car parked on the opposite side of the road, You Chong felt an inexplicable tightness in his chest.

The feeling was both clear and unfamiliar, but it passed quickly. Not dwelling on it, You Chong opened the car door and crossed the empty, silent road, quietly reaching out to grab Lin Hexi’s wrist from behind.

Lin Hexi instinctively tried to pull away but couldn’t break free.

It was as if he suddenly became aware of something, and he slowly turned around, lifting his head.

Under the streetlight above, You Chong finally saw his face clearly.

Lin Hexi’s delicate features were drooping with exhaustion, his once bright and round eyes now clouded with fatigue. His lips were dry and chapped, almost to the point of cracking, from prolonged dehydration. The hair at his forehead was damp with sweat, sticking limply to his skin, with beads of perspiration still trailing down his temples. There was a smudge of dirt on his cheek, likely picked up from who knows where.

He looked utterly disheveled and pitiful.

The moment his gaze met You Chong’s, Lin Hexi visibly paused, then instinctively spoke, “The dog—”

Something soft within You Chong seemed to buckle under an unbearable weight.

“The dog’s fine.” You Chong abruptly interrupted him, his warm, dry fingers brushing against Lin Hexi’s face, wiping away the dirt on his cheek. His voice, low and steady, carried a subtle note of reassurance.

“Don’t worry, the dog has been found.”