zero o'clock

【Special episode · It's another winter ①】

At the end of January [-], Shichahai, Beijing.

At 05:30 in the morning, the outdoor sky was still as dark as ink, and the bar street around the lake was quiet, with iron chains and locks on the door, and a Spring Festival holiday notice was posted on the wall beside it.Due to the heavy humidity in the past few days, the corners of the notice paper are curled up, and it makes a whirring sound when the cold wind blows.

The weather forecast said that it would snow during the Spring Festival, so this cloudy and cold weather has been going on for a long time.

The street lights at the entrance of the alley are dim, and can only illuminate a small area around. Under the radiant orange light, you can vaguely see the water vapor floating slowly.

Suddenly, in the depths of the alley where the light cannot reach, there was a soft squeak without warning, which startled a feigned cat hiding on the wheel to open its eyes wide, stuck out its dirty head, and looked vigilantly. He looked curiously at the source of the sound.

——The door of the tea house on the other side opened.

At the same time, another head poked out, and the eyes of the two beasts met instantly, and the fox dog bared its teeth maliciously.

The wild cat, which had been chased countless times, was so frightened that its hair exploded. It kicked out of the tire, screamed and ran up the eaves and ran away without a trace.

After bullying the cat, Ari held his head high, stepped on the catwalk, twisted his rounded buttocks and jumped out of the courtyard threshold, and while looking for the cat's shadow, he tentatively asked nervously: "That...young master? "

Behind it, the door closed tightly again.

Li Huan tightened his scarf, turned around with a gloomy feeling of waking up, took a hard look at a certain fox spirit, and said, "What are you doing?"

Hearing this, Ari came over wagging his tail, circling his young master flatteringly: "How do I look?"

It can be said that the body of the nine-tailed demon fox is definitely above the aesthetic standards of normal creatures, but it is a fox dog... Shocked by the cold air, Li Huan felt a lot more awake, and stared down at a certain pointy With a dog face, he said earnestly: "It's still very distinctive..."

"Of course~" Ahri shook his ears, "Yesterday, Lager took me to the best pet hospital in Dongcheng for a beauty treatment. The styling alone cost seven thousand dollars, and the ears, teeth and teeth were also cleaned. Anal glands, cut the nails well and rounded, I originally wanted to dye it rose brown, but then I thought that dogs are black and white blind, so I saved the money~”

Li Huan: "..."

Li Huan was speechless, and silently bent down to pick up the dog leash, thinking what the hell was going on?If the teacher finds out that his fox spirit is taken to a pet hospital to squeeze chrysanthemums, the mouse spirit will be beaten until its cultivation is completely lost, okay? !

Really die...

Over there, Ari didn't notice the turbulent os of his young master at all. He took out a piece of chewing gum from his fur and threw it into his mouth. While chewing, he said, "I'll see Niuniu later, can you help me distract his master for a while?"

What the hell is Niuniu? !Li Huan frowned, "Isn't its owner called Ma Jianguo?"

"Stop checking Weibo, so meow?!" Ari snorted unhappily, feeling that the white moonlight in his heart was tarnished.

Li Huan led it out, pretending that he was a dog slave who got up early to walk the dog, checked Weibo to find the homepage of the little vest, and clicked on the photo of the Internet celebrity dog ​​to show Ari.

"Does it look like this one?"

"Well——" Samoyeds are all similar in the world. Ari almost licked the screen when he saw it, and stuck out his tongue and said, "My girl's nose is not so small, nor is she so fat, but this one's double eyelids are pretty. If I like it, I can also take it to cut one~ Anyway, I swipe Lager's secondary card."

Li Huan looked at it with raised eyebrows: "The mouse even gave you the secondary card?"

"Meow~" Ahri shook his tail.

"Isn't he interested in you?" Li Huan said, "I remember asking if the teacher is single."

Ari quickly ran two steps and picked up the trash can to spit out the chewing gum. He took a breath and sniffed it. After feeling satisfied with the smell, he said in a tone of "it's none of my business": "Don't worry, I don't know how to read it. I'm a lowly demon, and I don't like those with overdeveloped muscles, so it's uncomfortable to hold."

Li Huan: "..."

I didn't expect you to be such a scheming monster!

"To be reasonable, the Samoyed you're looking at hasn't cultivated into a demon yet." Li Huan reminded, "It's not as good as Lagrange in theory."

"True love is true love!" Ari retorted angrily, "How can you discriminate against an ordinary and motivated dog?!"

These days, a dog who only sleeps, gnaws bones and chases balls can be called progressive?The corners of Li Huan's mouth twitched, he didn't have the nerve to continue hitting, mainly because he was afraid that the fox would jump up and beat people, and if other grandparents who got up early to walk their dogs saw it, they would be scared to death.

It was still early at the moment, one person and one dog walked out of the alley, strolling along the lake towards Houhai.

At the end of the year, the work of hunters in various places began to finish. Except for the senior brother who was stationed in Beijing, the senior sister and Xing Yi were arranged by the teacher to perform tasks.Li Huan was absent-mindedly dragged away by Ari on a dog leash, and he just lowered his hair and asked Xing Yi when he would be back today, and whether he needed to pick him up at the station.

There has been no response from there, and I don't know if it's a bad signal or I haven't gotten up.

At this moment, there was hardly a single person on the shore of the huge Shichahai Lake. The sky was still dark, and there was only the dim light from the street lamps, which made the deep winter scenery in Beijing particularly bleak.

I don't know how long it took, but fine snowflakes began to float in the cold and damp mist. Ari stopped and licked the tip of his nose, and said, "It's snowing, Niuniu's master will not be walking the dog today, right?"

Li Huan didn't expect this guy to stop suddenly, and stepped on the dog's tail unexpectedly.

Ari twitched in pain, but forcibly stabilized her elegant squatting posture, and looked back at him resentfully: "If Niuniu sees me screaming, wouldn't it mean that I have lost my love before falling in love?"

Li Huan was still thinking about why Xing Yi didn't reply to WeChat. He nodded subconsciously when he heard the words, and said, "It's okay to lose love. It's troublesome if its owner finds out that you will be called. I have to erase the memory of this period of time."

Ari was in so much pain that she was about to burst into tears, and said tremblingly, "Why don't you let your feet go when you talk so much nonsense? Stop chatting, good young master?!"

As soon as these words came out, Li Huan realized that a certain tail was still being propelled by the soles of his shoes, and hurriedly took a step back.

Ari hugged the tail with two front paws heartbrokenly, and combed the trampled hairs one by one: "It's 7000 yuan for the shape! I was trampled dirty by you, how can I see Niu in a while?"

"You're a fool, who's looking at your tail." Li Huan put away his phone, "By the way, why don't you usually hook up, and why don't you choose the day of the [-]th?"

Ari wanted to blow his hair when he heard the previous sentence, but after hearing it, his hair fell down again. He smiled very cunningly with a dog face. He took out his mobile phone from his tail, clicked on the memo with his meat pad, and said mysteriously: "I will investigate. After that, its owner lives alone and is usually busy. Niuniu is often sent to the pet hospital for foster care, and the time is not fixed. Only during the Spring Festival will she walk the dog at home steadily."

Li Huan looked at it with a perverted look: "How long have you been following him?"

"Two years." Ari recalled.

"That Samoyed wasn't full moon two years ago, right?" Li Huan said, "You missed him when he was a child?"

"Now the age gap is bigger when it's popular~"

"Oh, you seem to be thousands of years behind..."

"That's why I said you shouldn't settle down so early, who knows what beautiful fairies you'll meet in the future?"

"Are you really not afraid of being beaten to death by Brother Yi when you say this?"

"Uh..." Ahri rolled his eyes, and instinctively felt that the Demon Subduing Master was still very annoying, so he changed his words, "Then don't tell him~"

Li Huan thought about it for a moment, and said, "It feels like... I'm closer to him."

Ali: "..."

Hu Ling's fragile and sensitive glass heart was instantly shattered into pieces.

Ari sniffed aggrievedly, turned her head and muttered: "I have been with you for nearly 20 years, and because of a demon subduing master, the boat of friendship capsized."

Li Huan bent down and patted its head, and said with a smile: "I can't help it, who made me and Brother Yi have already slept in the little bed of love."

Ali: "..."

God!Was their young master so wretched before?Is it something he would say about going to bed?The point is to abuse the dog, okay? !Is it worth emphasizing that you have never slept in the cot of love?Can labor and management hear it every night?

Nima egg!

"Stinky rascal!" Ari gave him a contemptuous look.

Li Huan readily accepted the malice from his teammates, and before he could speak, he heard the sound of a lock cylinder turning "click" in the darkness.For a moment, the two non-human beings with keen hearing were silent at the same time, and then one calmly pretended to be a dog, and the other took out his mobile phone to check Weibo, pretending to be passing by by chance.

The place where the door opened was a courtyard house deep in Shichahai Hutong.

Different from the old houses in this area, this courtyard has obviously undergone perfect modern repairs, equipped with garages and security systems, and is a characteristic residence in Beijing with very high commercial value.

Those who can afford this kind of house are either rich or expensive, and they have to be the kind of people who have too much money to burn.

Thinking of Li Huan in this way makes me feel a little bit pained. At the beginning, I said that after July, I would move out like my brothers and sisters. However, the house prices in Beijing have been soaring in the past two years. The slightly larger second-hand houses within the Fourth Ring Road cost 1000 million. At first, he and Xing Yi got a lot of money for doing things for Qi Jingyu, but they had to wait for a few years to make up the down payment.

Fortunately, it was a monster. Li Huan sighed inexplicably, otherwise he would not be able to pay off the mortgage in his whole life.

During the few seconds when he was distracted, perhaps because he sensed that there was someone of the same kind outside, the Samoyed in the courtyard couldn't help barking wildly, and when the door just opened a crack, he couldn't wait to break free from his master and run out.

"Hey! Don't run!" a man yelled.

Samoyed ran all the way to the two of them, wagging his tail excitedly at Ari: "Wow!"

Ah Li raised her paws and rushed over: "My girl!"

Samoyed: "???"

Li Huan kicked its ass: "You are a dog!"

"That's right—" Ahri said, "Wow, woof!"

Li Huan: "..."

Li Huan's head was full of black lines, and he watched the two dogs sniffing around in a circle in a very speechless manner.

That Samoyed looks good, with fluffy and white fur, and it can be seen that it usually eats well.Then, like all canines showing friendship to their kind, the Samoyed sniffed Ahri for a while, tilted its body, revealing its belly every inch, and lay sprawled on the ground.

Meaning, please lick.

Ari stared straight at the sight, and hurried over wagging his tail.

Li Huan said, "You dare."

Ari's body froze, and the head that was already heading towards a certain part stopped, and then turned around and rubbed Samoyed's ear with his nose.

Li Huan heaved a sigh of relief, thinking that this bastard was too courageous, and he really treated himself like a dog. If he really licked him, maybe the teacher would destroy himself in a fit of anger.

After a while, footsteps came from far to near.

Li Huan threw away the dog leash, brewed his emotions for a while, then raised his head with a surprised look on his face, and said to the visitor: "This is... your dog?"

The owner of the Samoyed was a young man, wearing a trendy short down jacket, jeans, snow boots, and a mask on his face. Seeing Li Huan, he took off his sunglasses and apologized: "I'm sorry, Niuniu used to Very obedient, I don’t know what happened this time, are you not hurt?”

Li Huan shook his head and said he was fine, but he felt that the guy wearing sunglasses in Daheitian was a little crazy, but after thinking about it, there are indeed very few ordinary people who can buy a whole courtyard house in this place, maybe he is a celebrity who is afraid of being recognized or something.

It's a pity that he is almost isolated from the human circle, even if he meets him, he won't recognize him.

The man bent down to pick up the two dog leashes, handed the Ari one to Li Huan, and was very speechless to the two who seemed to be in a good relationship.

"Strange," said the man, "Niu Niu rarely comes out."

"Yes, it's the first time I've seen you." Li Huan said, "Do you live in this alley?"

The man said "hmm", "You live nearby too?"

"Over the Yinding Bridge, there is a tea house in the alley, which is opened by my family." Li Huan said.

The man obviously didn't know, but nodded out of politeness.

"Hey~~~~~" Ari arched the Samoyed and moved closer to Li Huan's legs, and said in a low voice, "Push~~~ let's go~~~"

The man frowned, as if he heard something vaguely, and said to Li Huan: "Your dog..."

"Sir," Li Huan interrupted him, "do you still remember what you said just now?"

The man was stunned, hesitated for a few seconds by the question, and was about to speak, only to see the beautiful black eyes of the young man in front of him curled up with a smile, and a swirling dark red slowly seeped out.

At that moment, the sound of the wind and water in Shichahai seemed to be absorbed by the dense darkness around him, everything was silent, the world was at stillness, he stared into those bloody eyes, and then heard a voice resounding deep in his consciousness.

"You said that you plan to foster Niuniu in the Bi'an Tea House in the future, from now on."

The man frowned, and nodded obediently after a few seconds of silence.

"Now you have given the dog to me. When you go back to your girlfriend's house for the Spring Festival holiday, I will personally send Niuniu back."

"Then trouble you." The man said.

"You're welcome." Li Huan took the dog leash in his hand, "See you on the eighth day of the lunar new year."

The man nodded: "Goodbye."

Ari dissatisfied: "The eighth day is too short!"

Li Huan glared at it: "Isn't it immoral to take someone's dog away? You can play for a few days, why are there so many things?!"

"Dog kidnapping?" The man repeated inexplicably.

Li Huan rubbed his forehead and said with a headache: "You heard it wrong, forget this part."

The man was taken aback again, and after a while, he said: "Then I will trouble you, see you on the eighth day."

Li Huan didn't speak, he waved his hand to signal that he could go, then he led the cheerful Samoyed and the unhappy fox dog, turned around and walked in the opposite direction.

It was past seven o'clock, the sky was a deep gray, and dense snowflakes fell from the sky, covering the wooden tables and chairs piled up outside the bar bit by bit.

Li Huan felt a little cold, so he used one hand to hold the dog leash, and put the other in his jacket pocket to keep warm. The moment his fingers touched the phone, a "buzz" vibrated.

He took out his phone and saw a WeChat message pushed on the screen.

It says--

Xing Yi: [Actually, I have been following you. 】

A breath appeared from behind as if out of thin air, Li Huan suddenly opened his eyes wide, and before he could turn around, he was directly embraced by the other party.

"Your reaction has become slow." Xing Yi lowered his head and kissed someone's frozen red earlobe, and hugged his arms tighter, "Could it be... thinking about that person just now?"

"You're so boring." Li Huan said so, but there was a smile in his eyes, "Why did this mission take so long? According to the plan, you should have returned a week ago."

"Other things arranged by Nine Tails temporarily." Xing Yi said, "When did you return to Beijing?"

"At the beginning of the month." Li Huan sighed, "Every time the teacher assigns me tasks are too simple."

Xing Yi smiled and said, "Although I don't like that fox, I agree with this approach."

Li Huan turned to look at him with contempt on his face: "You two can probably raise me into the most useless Qingluan in history."

Xing Yi smiled without saying a word, and took advantage of the opportunity to kiss him on the cheek.

Li Huan was taken aback, lost his temper in an instant, but felt that it would be embarrassing to be too coaxing, so he put on a straight face and said coldly: "Hello!"

Mr. Demon Subduing Master simply felt that Xiaobie's one mouthful for a few months was not enough, so he stretched out his hand to pick up someone's chin, lowered his head and kissed him directly.

Li Huan: "!!!"

This mother hugs, hugs, and kisses when she disagrees with each other, why is there a cold war? !