Chapter 21: Exposure
“Are you stupid?”
Lou Ting’s voice was low, but he didn’t expect He Yunzhou to have exceptional hearing. It was quite embarrassing to criticize someone in their presence and be caught doing so.
Lou Ting was about to explain himself, but then he heard He Yunzhou laugh and say, “Maybe it’s contagious.”
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“……?”
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“His little paws curl up, so adorable.”
Lou Ting smiled and lowered his head, wanting to change the topic.
“Although he’s cute, he always tries to run away. A wild fox like him is so precious, yet he’s not afraid of being captured and put on display in a zoo.”
As He Yunzhou continued talking without end, Lou Ting felt increasingly uncomfortable hearing his own beastly history being narrated like a story. After giving it some thought, he finally said, “Since it’s a wild fox, it must be accustomed to the outdoors. Mr. He, why not consider getting another pet to replace him?”
After speaking, Lou Ting suddenly froze.
Wild.
That was right, He Yunzhou had always believed that the fox was wild. He had even kept the existence of the fox a secret from only a few people when searching for its origins.
Then… why was He Yunzhou telling him all this now?
He slowly raised his gaze and coincidentally met He Yunzhou’s eyes, which were filled with a smiling expression. The deep eyes seemed to hold endless words, concealing their depths from view.
“It can’t be replaced.” He Yunzhou shook his head with a smile and then changed the subject, “However, the team that was searching for the little fox just informed me that they found a set of clothes in the location where the fox first appeared. Although the surveillance footage has been erased and it’s difficult to determine who the clothes belong to right away, the lounge room is rarely used. We will gradually investigate and compare the pheromones on the clothes with our database, so we should be able to quickly find out who brought the little fox to the company.”
Clothes?!
He Yunzhou didn’t mention it, and Lou Ting had almost forgotten that when he hastily transformed in the lounge room, he had hidden the clothes under the sofa.
Thinking that the surveillance footage would be automatically deleted, Lou Ting believed that no one would know he was the one wearing the clothes at that time. However, he didn’t expect that even though the surveillance was erased, there was still a method to trace people through pheromones.
It seemed that his forced transformation was influenced by pheromones. After such a long time, the pheromones on the clothes should have faded, but with the help of sophisticated instruments, they should still be distinguishable.
At that time…
Lou Ting had a headache.
After pondering for a moment, he asked, “To analyze the pheromones conclusively, do you need to seek assistance from a professional organization?”
If that was the case, he would have enough time to retrieve the clothes.
He Yunzhou replied, “No need. I’ve arranged for the equipment to be delivered to my house. It should arrive the day after tomorrow. For something this important, I want to handle it personally.”
Lou Ting said, “…”
There was no need to be so concerned about such a small matter.
Noticing his unusual expression, He Yunzhou asked, “What’s wrong with you?”
Lou Ting pressed his lips slightly and shook his head, saying, “It’s nothing, just tired after training all day.”
He Yunzhou nodded and said, “Then I’ll take my leave.”
“Take care.”
However, just as He Yunzhou was about to get up, the dormitory door suddenly opened, and Yu Yiming stood at the doorway, teary-eyed. “Mr. He… why didn’t you even look at me just now?”
Yu Yiming pouted, accusing He Yunzhou with great grievance, and stating, “You don’t want others to know that I know you, right? That must be it. Otherwise, you wouldn’t pretend not to recognize me. You know, you even remember the drink of flavor I like.”
He Yunzhou remained silent, while Yu Yiming stood at the door, trying to justify himself, his face flushed and tears no longer flowing.
Lou Ting watched the whole scene unfold like a bystander. Honestly, if Yu Yiming wasn’t targeting him, he would actually appreciate his shameless “green tea spirit.”
It clearly demonstrated what it meant to say, “I’m not embarrassed, you’re the one who’s embarrassed.”
He Yunzhou glanced at Lou Ting, as if asking, “What drink flavor?”
Lou Ting shrugged his shoulders. “The milk tea you sent, Yu Yiming chose a cup with his preferred flavor.”
Even without Lou Ting explicitly stating it, He Yunzhou understood. “My assistant bought it, no need to thank me.”
Pausing for a moment, He Yunzhou added, “I can give you my assistant’s contact information.”
Lou Ting remained silent, realizing that he had unwittingly gotten involved in the situation.
Yu Yiming also didn’t expect things to develop this way. If He Yunzhou didn’t accept him, that would be one thing, but why was he pushing him away like this?
The corners of Yu Yiming’s mouth twitched, looking quite pitiful. “My heart only has Mr. He.”
“Mr. He, please don’t push me towards someone else, okay?” With that, Yu Yiming raised his head, tears silently streaming down his cheeks, portraying himself as a fragile beauty.
He Yunzhou furrowed his brows upon hearing his words. “I haven’t added you as a friend.”
Implicitly, he meant that if he hadn’t even added her as a friend, how could he possibly push her towards someone else?
Yu Yiming was taken aback. “But…”
Lou Ting curved his fingertips and pressed his lips, looking to the side, and coughed a couple of times to hide his laughter, disguising it as coughing.
Yu Yiming hardly spoke a few sentences from start to finish, and He Yunzhou mercilessly retorted each one of them without any reservations.
Moreover, He Yunzhou hadn’t even realized that he was mocking him. In this light, Yu Yiming was quite pitiful.
Upon hearing Lou Ting’s cough, He Yunzhou asked, “Did you catch a cold?”
“I have cold medicine here, keep it for yourself.” With that, he directly took out the cold medicine and handed it to Lou Ting. Pausing for a moment, he added, “They’re all sweet, with fruit flavors.”
He Yunzhou had gone to such lengths, and Lou Ting couldn’t refuse or say that he wasn’t actually sick. He had to endure the difficulty of holding back his laughter and accepted the cold medicine. “Thank you.”
Seeing Lou Ting accept the medicine, He Yunzhou said, “You can take this medicine directly with water, or chew it like a lozenge to exercise your teeth. Alternatively, you can dissolve it in hot water to make a lightly flavored fruit juice.”
Lou Ting nodded and said, “Okay, I’ll remember.”
With just a light cough from Lou Ting, He Yunzhou was already concerned and gave him medicine, explaining how to use it in such a caring manner.
In contrast, Yu Yiming had been standing at the doorway in thin clothes for quite a while, but he hadn’t received a single word of comfort. Instead, he was retorted with each sentence he spoke.
Yu Yiming gritted his teeth and glared at Lou Ting.
Lou Ting, holding the cold medicine, felt quite baffled. How could he hold a grudge against me for this?
Perhaps it wasn’t just him. Yu Yiming had grievances towards him even before He Yunzhou appeared. If they had to pinpoint a reason, it was probably He Yunzhou’s blatant differential treatment that made Yu Yiming angrier.
But… Lou Ting didn’t care.
He never cared about the thoughts of ants like Yu Yiming. He only knew how to play the victim and scheme in despicable ways. Such a person was not worthy of his attention.
Perhaps Lou Ting’s contempt in his eyes stung Yu Yiming’s heart.
Ever since his sister became the manager of a popular actor, his status in the entertainment industry had soared. Even before that, he had never experienced such a great grievance!
As Yu Yiming grew angrier the more he thought about it, he didn’t dare argue with Lou Ting in front of He Yunzhou. He didn’t want to ruin the image he had in He Yunzhou’s eyes.
Observing the two standing there, Yu Yiming lowered his eyelids and let his eyes wander for a moment. JH came up with an idea.
“Achoo!” Yu Yiming pretended to sneeze and said, “Mr. He, it seems like I’ve caught a cold too. Could you ask Brother Lou Ting to give me a few pills of the medicine? I only need a few, I don’t want too much.”
“Is that alright, Mr. He? I’m not a greedy person. I just want one pill of medicine. Brother Lou Ting wouldn’t mind, right?” As he spoke, he approached Lou Ting weakly, his body frail and unsteady.
The medicine was in Lou Ting’s hands, but every question Yu Yiming asked was directed at He Yunzhou, revealing his true intentions.
Lou Ting couldn’t be bothered to deal with him. Suddenly, Yu Yiming’s figure swayed, and he directly lunged towards He Yunzhou!
Seeing the weak and pitiful Omega pouncing towards him, Lou Ting thought that even someone as unyielding as He Yunzhou couldn’t help but reach out and help him.
But when he looked up, He Yunzhou, who had been standing to his right a moment ago, was nowhere to be seen.
Lou Ting: “?”
Yu Yiming was only pretending and didn’t actually fall. When he saw He Yunzhou run away, he took a few wrong steps and fell towards Lou Ting.
Just as Lou Ting was about to kick him, He Yunzhou, who had appeared on his left side without him noticing, pulled him away.
Yu Yiming fell to the ground with a thud. “Ouch!” Holding his forehead, he immediately burst into tears. “Mr. He, it hurts so much.”
He Yunzhou couldn’t be bothered with someone like him and coldly said to Lou Ting, “Don’t get too close to him.”
Lou Ting’s pupils trembled slightly. Did He Yunzhou also notice that there was something wrong with Yu Yiming? He thought Yu Yiming was only targeting him, but if He Yunzhou felt something was off, then… Yu Yiming’s issues were probably even more significant.
Considering this, Lou Ting nodded cautiously. “Okay.”
He Yunzhou patted his shoulder and added, “He’s sniffling.”
“Hmm… Huh?”
He Yunzhou frowned in disgust. “Too dirty.”
Lou Ting: “…”
That thing under his nose should be a highlight.
Yu Yiming still had makeup on his face, and he looked quite pitiful with tears streaming down, resembling a delicate pear blossom in the rain.
But not only did He Yunzhou show no reaction, he also found this person filthy.
He Yunzhou still remembered that Lou Ting had said he was tired earlier and didn’t want to waste any more time. He directly said, “I’m leaving.”
Yu Yiming watched as He Yunzhou walked towards him. His crying voice became softer, he blinked his eyes, and tears happened to cling to his eyelashes. The damp innocence was displayed vividly on his face. He slowly raised his hand, waiting for He Yunzhou to help him up. “Thank you, He…”
Then, He Yunzhou walked past him expressionlessly.
Walked past him.
Walked past him.
Past…
When He Yunzhou closed the door, Lou Ting couldn’t hold it in any longer.
“Pfft… Hahaha.” But Yu Yiming was still lying on the ground, and Lou Ting’s laughter was a bit excessive, but… he couldn’t help it.
Green tea against a straight guy, there was only the option of being slapped in the face.
Yu Yiming’s tears continued to fall, and he slowly sat up, hugging his knees. He asked with a hint of grievance, “Brother Lou, are you making fun of me?”
“Yes.”
“…”
Are you both insane?!
Yu Yiming was almost choked to death. He wanted to say something more, but he saw Lou Ting had already entered the bathroom.
Frustrated and with no outlet for his anger, Yu Yiming stomped to the bed and buried his head, sulking.
—
The next day.
When Lou Ting woke up, Yu Yiming was already gone.
Lou Ting also received the news of Yu Yiming’s disappearance, and the notification came down that today’s filming would be completely stopped until they found him.
Initially, Lou Ting found it strange. Yu Yiming didn’t have many scenes and had a low presence, so it didn’t really matter if he was there or not.
Why would the entire filming be halted because of his disappearance?
Later, when he checked the hot topics on Weibo, he found out that Yu Yiming had posted a long, particularly depressive post expressing a lack of hope in life. Many people were leaving comments to console him.
If the director continued filming at this time, the entire production team would be labeled as disrespectful toward life. The director made a wise move to avoid any potential backlash, which was understandable.
Lou Ting was already awake, so he decided not to go back to sleep and got up to freshen up instead. Since he had nothing to do today, he thought it would be a good opportunity to retrieve his clothes.
If he waited until tomorrow when He Yunzhou’s inspection equipment arrived, it would be too late.
Deciding to take action, Lou Ting dressed up, grabbed his phone, and left the room.
However, when he reached the main gate, he realized that all the trainees had moved into the dormitory, and as a result, the director had announced a series of previously non-existent rules, one of which was that trainees were not allowed to leave the training site at will.
His current range of movement was limited to the dormitory and the classrooms only.
At the entrance, the security guard was inside the guardhouse enjoying some fried chicken. He noticed Lou Ting approaching from a distance and quickly waved his hand, shouting, “You can’t go out, you can’t go out, go back!”
Lou Ting wanted to ask if he could go out, but before he could utter a word, the security guard motioned for him to go back.
Helpless, he had to find another exit.
On his way back, he happened to run into Yu Senze.
Yu Senze was eating an ice cream in the middle of winter and greeted Lou Ting, “Morning.”
Lou Ting asked, “Why are you up so early? We don’t have training today.” When he came out, there were still few people around. Most likely, everyone wanted to sleep since there was a chance to get paid for it. People in the entertainment industry didn’t have a stable biological clock. Even when the weather turned cold, there were still many who hadn’t gone to bed yet.
Yu Senze waved his hand and said, “Don’t mention it. I set the alarm clock wrong and it woke me up. How about you?”
Lou Ting replied, “I want to go out… to buy something.”
Clearly, Yu Senze had noticed that Lou Ting had tried to leave through the main gate and got rejected. He said, “You can’t go out through the main gate, but you’re lucky to run into me. I know a place where you can leave!”
Yu Senze flicked his ice cream and motioned for Lou Ting to follow him.
Lou Ting followed Yu Senze all the way to the back of the building. This area was like a fenced-off area that separated the inside from the outside.
Walking in the opposite direction of the main gate, they reached a high wall.
Yu Senze said, “Look! You can also leave from here!”
Lou Ting looked up at the tall wall, took two steps back, then accelerated and jumped up, lightly stepping on the center of the wall. He reached out and grabbed the edge of the wall, exerted a little force, and jumped over.
Indeed.
He could go out.
Lou Ting looked down and said, “Thanks.”
Yu Senze pointed to the small dog hole on the ground, bewildered. “Huh?”
However, before he could say anything, Lou Ting had already jumped down and disappeared.
Lou Ting’s voice came from the other side, growing fainter and fainter, “I’ll treat you to ice cream when I come back.”
“I want vanilla and matcha flavors!”
“Alright!”
—
Lou Ting had visited He Yunzhou’s house several times.
Although most of the time he was in beast form, it didn’t hinder him from remembering the route and the surveillance in the vicinity.
He Yunzhou had added the information of the little fox in the homeowner’s database, and the system automatically distinguished between him and the little fox based on their similar information. So, Lou Ting could enter openly through the front gate.
There was no surveillance installed in this area until he reached the inner road, where Lou Ting began to walk close to the wall.
Due to the need to avoid surveillance, he arrived at He Yunzhou’s house much later than expected.
Fortunately, at this time, He Yunzhou should be at the company.
Lou Ting found it convenient to do what he came for. However, when he entered the house, he heard the sound of the surveillance system operating.
Lou Ting: “…”
Are they crazy? Why would they have surveillance operating at home?!
This way, whether he was in beast form or human form, taking or not taking the clothes would expose him. He Yunzhou had just talked to him about the clothes yesterday, and today the little fox came to get them. If he hadn’t been caught, this behavior would still be incredibly foolish!
But since he was already here…
Lou Ting thought for a moment and decided to transform into his beast form before entering.
Instead of immediately searching for the clothes, he went through each room to see where the main switch for the surveillance was hidden.
It was quite well hidden, and after searching for a while, he finally found it in a secret compartment behind He Yunzhou’s bedroom curtains.
The moment he pressed the main switch, the entire house’s alarm was triggered! The piercing alarm sound accompanied by blinding lights instantly exposed the little fox’s position.
Without hesitation, Lou Ting quickly pulled the plug for the entire room, transforming back into his human form in an instant. He grabbed the clothes on the bed and ran out.
It was evident that He Yunzhou had prepared well to catch him. As Lou Ting ran out, he discovered robots blocking the doorway, with red lights flashing on their indicators.
After a moment of silence, Lou Ting rushed forward without hesitation, engaging in a fight with the robots. While fighting and moving forward, he also didn’t forget to extract their chips. He had previous experience, and now it was even more effortless for him.
Meanwhile, footsteps could be heard from below, and there was some movement near the stairs.
Without further delay, Lou Ting kicked away the last robot, casually pocketed the chips, and turned to run upstairs! They might have thought that Lou Ting had nowhere to run, as there were no guards set upstairs.
Or perhaps, even if Lou Ting ran upstairs, they believed that by trapping him on the upper floor, he would still have no way to escape.
Behind him, there was a dense chorus of footsteps. Lou Ting ran all the way upstairs, dealing with several blocking robots along the way.
However, in the end, the bare rooftop lay before him, with no hiding places whatsoever.
Lou Ting stood in place, briefly contemplating before actually returning down. Taking advantage of the corners within the hallway to conceal his figure, he quietly sneaked into the charging room before they could catch up.
This was a place dedicated to robot charging, and all the robots inside had been deployed to catch him. Finally, Lou Ting had a place where he could hide for a while.
However, before Lou Ting could even breathe a sigh of relief, footsteps could be heard from outside.
Lou Ting immediately held his breath, trying to minimize any noise.
The footsteps gradually approached.
‘Dat’
‘Dat’
‘Dat’
…
Lou Ting calculated the number of steps, his gaze fixed on the door of the charging room.
Suddenly, the footsteps stopped. Voices could be heard from outside.
“I thought I saw someone here just now. Where did it go?”
“Your eyes must have played tricks on you. They probably ran upstairs. I suspect they have someone helping them. With such a big commotion, we’ll catch them later. Mr. He will definitely hold someone accountable. Let’s go over there quickly.”
“Alright, coming.”
With their departure, the room fell silent once again.
Lou Ting relaxed his tense breath slightly. But the next moment, someone knocked on the door of the charging room!
‘Knock, knock, knock’
“Little fox, stop playing and come out.”
“…”
“I won’t blame you for breaking the door, tearing the clothes, or biting the wires. I won’t hit you either. Be a good fox, listen to me, and come out.”
“…”
He Yunzhou didn’t seem to suspect him?
Lou Ting settled his mind and thought carefully. Yes, when the little fox entered just now, it “accidentally” broke the surveillance, bit the power system, and “carelessly” tore the clothes. These were all behaviors typical of a fox. What did it have to do with him, Lou Ting?
As long as he left now in his beast form, He Yunzhou would only think that he went out to play and had just come back. It wouldn’t be linked to Lou Ting.
Realizing this, Lou Ting breathed a sigh of relief.
The handle of the charging room was high and could not be opened in beast form. So, Lou Ting decided to unlock the door first, planning to transform into a beast the moment He Yunzhou pushed the door open.
However…
As the gap in the door gradually widened, Lou Ting was astonished to find that he couldn’t transform into a beast!
What was more, his beast form’s tail didn’t retract! The fluffy tail protruded from his waist, and Lou Ting used his arm to clamp it, intending to close the door with his other hand.
But He Yunzhou was faster than him and directly pulled the door open!
Lou Ting’s movements instantly froze in place. Inside the narrow charging room, he awkwardly met He Yunzhou’s gaze.
He Yunzhou slowly raised an eyebrow and looked at the tail in Lou Ting’s arm, lost in thought.
*********
Translator’s note: I have a terrible headache, so this will be my last update today. I have finished translating the scheduled novels and chapters today, but will post them tomorrow instead. I’m just not feeling well. Have a great day! Goodnight.
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