What Are Your Tastes? chapter 19
Second Dad
Upon returning from the county, the first thing Lu Yunchu did was to update his previous Weibo post and forum thread seeking the dog’s owner. He stated that a suitable new owner had been found for the puppy. If no one claimed it within a month, he would formally hand over the puppy to the new owner and delete the original post and Weibo.
Although some netizens who initially hoped to adopt the puppy were disappointed, they were happy that the little one had found a home and sent their blessings.
Zhou Yanchuan wanted to see Sabrina as soon as possible, but when Lu Yunchu went to Ning Ruowei’s house to pick up the puppy, he “wisely” didn’t go along. In his mind, Ning Ruowei was Lu Yunchu’s “girlfriend,” and he would just be a third wheel.
Lu Yunchu returned shortly and brought Sabrina, along with the dog food left at his house and bathing supplies, to the apartment next door.
“So soon?” Zhou Yanchuan thought they would take longer.
Lu Yunchu was puzzled by his reaction: “Don’t you want to keep her?”
“Of course I do,” he replied without hesitation, opening the door wide with a big smile, “Come in, come in.”
Lu Yunchu untied the leash, and although Sabrina was initially a bit timid and lingered at the door, she quickly trotted over when Zhou Yanchuan squatted down and beckoned her, stopping at his feet to sniff the ground.
“Um… Lu Yunchu, why don’t you come in and take a look too?” Since calling him by his name in Wen County, Zhou Yanchuan was no longer used to calling him “Mr. Lu,” and they had tacitly agreed to call each other by their names.
Since Sabrina was brought back by Lu Yunchu, he wanted him to see the dog’s future living environment and feel at ease.
He didn’t originally plan to stay long, but seeing Sabrina look back at him reluctantly, he changed into slippers and followed them through the entryway.
The two-bedroom, one-living room apartment had a spacious living room and master bedroom. The furniture style was conventional and, to Lu Yunchu, seemed a bit old-fashioned, like something a middle-aged person would prefer.
Blue Bay also had larger three-bedroom and four-bedroom residences, but Zhou Yanchuan had considered that he didn’t like reading and didn’t need a study. His parents had passed away, and other acquaintances wouldn’t visit often. Besides his own bedroom, having a symbolic guest room was enough. Now, this small room was basically used for storing miscellaneous items.
The master bedroom included a walk-in closet and a bathroom. There was a large balcony by the window. He mentioned wanting to set up a small nook for Sabrina there and had already placed the order on his phone, which would arrive in a couple of days.
“It’s fine, come in,” Zhou Yanchuan said to Lu Yunchu, who was peeking at the master bedroom door. “Isn’t this balcony great? It’s facing south, so it gets plenty of light.”
Zhou Yanchuan’s home was clean and tidy, with the wooden floor in the bedroom polished to a reflective shine.
“Do you clean your room yourself?” Lu Yunchu asked.
“When I have time, I do it myself. If not, I call in a cleaner,” Zhou Yanchuan guessed what he was worried about. “Don’t worry, let it be messy. I’m the only one living here, so I don’t mind.”
As they wandered around the apartment, the dog followed them, sniffing here and there.
“And this is the bathroom,” Zhou Yanchuan said, pushing open the glass door of the master bathroom. “It’s big enough, right? No problem bathing her here—” Speaking of bathing, he glanced at the little dog not far away, noticing her fur looked a bit dull. “By the way, does she need a bath?”
Lu Yunchu did a quick calculation. It had been over a week since Sabrina’s last bath, and she had gotten noticeably dirty over the past couple of days at Ning Ruowei’s place.
“Yeah,” he said, “how about we bathe her together now? She gets restless during baths, and it’s hard to handle alone.”
Zhou Yanchuan agreed. Since there was no pet bathtub at home and his own bathtub was too high to operate easily, he picked a large plastic basin for Sabrina to stand in.
Zhou Yanchuan had no experience with dogs, let alone bathing one, and didn’t realize how much she could struggle.
At first, the little dog was cooperative when placed in the basin. But when he pulled down the showerhead from the wall, Sabrina leaped out, knocking over the basin.
They started chasing the dog around the house.
Holding the dog in the basin again, Lu Yunchu didn’t dare let go and told Zhou Yanchuan, “Adjust the water and rinse her.”
The water flow was gentle, and the temperature was just right, but Sabrina was still unhappy, clawing at Lu Yunchu’s arm and splashing water everywhere.
Once she was wet all over, they applied shampoo, and white foam kept bubbling out in the basin and on the dog.
Zhou Yanchuan bent down to scrub her belly, but Sabrina was still restless. She shook her head quickly, sending a large blob of foam flying toward her new owner’s face, landing on his nose.
Zhou Yanchuan only felt his nose itch. The mirror was too high for him to see his reflection, but Lu Yunchu saw it all. It looked like a clown’s makeup, making him laugh uncontrollably, his arms and shoulders shaking.
Unhappy, Zhou Yanchuan dipped his right index finger into the basin, scooped up some fresh foam, and quickly smeared it on Lu Yunchu’s nose.
Lu Yunchu noticed his hand coming but couldn’t dodge in time, ending up with the same decoration on his nose.
“Now you have one too!” Zhou Yanchuan laughed.
“How childish…” Lu Yunchu glared at him disdainfully. No wonder he used to hide cicadas in the chalk box when he was a kid, still playing pranks in his thirties.
However, with both their faces decorated, Sabrina suddenly got excited, barking continuously and shaking her head again, eager to splash more foam on them.
They didn’t give her another chance. Surprisingly united after the commotion, one held her tightly while the other washed her quickly, then rinsed off the foam with the showerhead.
“All done,” Zhou Yanchuan wrapped her in a towel and handed her to Lu Yunchu. “Let your second dad see if you’re clean.”
Second dad? Lu Yunchu wondered, referring to him?
“Who is the second dad?”
“You are!”
“Why?”
“I’m her dad from now on, and since you also took care of her and are younger than me, you’re her second dad,” Zhou Yanchuan said casually. “Unless you want to be her brother? I don’t mind…”
“Her brother?” Lu Yunchu was startled. Wouldn’t that make him Zhou Yanchuan’s son? “Zhou Yanchuan, you’re taking advantage of me!”
“Hahaha, that’s why I said second dad,” Zhou Yanchuan laughed, washing his face at the sink until the foam on his nose was gone. In the mirror, he saw Lu Yunchu behind him, looking annoyed with the foam on his nose making his expression even funnier.
“Still can’t bear to wash it off?” Zhou Yanchuan said, scraping the foam off Lu Yunchu’s nose with a clean finger.
Lu Yunchu jerked his neck as if electrocuted. “I’ll wash it right away!”