“Alright, I’m coming.” Zi Yu said, surprised by the sharp cold edge and detachment in his voice. No wonder people found him heartless; he sounded like he’d rather be anywhere else when talking!

The girl flinched and, while Zi Yu felt bad, his feet moved before he could apologize and he found himself rushing to the front without even giving her a side glance. He lit a candle for her in his heart but he knew that, with Lai Ning’s personality, he’d hurriedly check on the pet rather than placate the person he’d basically ignored, regardless of circumstances. So, Zi Yu quickened his steps and pushed open the door separating the backroom with the front of the clinic, dual-colored eyes landing on a handsome man arguing with the receptionist.

When the door opened, the handsome man looked towards the sound, and two pairs of eyes met. Zi Yu could tell from a glance that this man was Liang Fang, because even though Lai Ning was basically illiterate with anything other than animals, even he has seen billboards with this man’s face and heard his name from his employees’ mouth as well as hearing his songs on the radio. Zi Yu took a moment to assess him, taking in the perfectly chiseled face, shiny black hair and sharp, yet gentle, blue eyes. However, those deep eyes were filled with panic and worry, but upon seeing Zi Yu, they widened in shock.

Zi Yu ignored his surprise and hurried over to him, sharply asking, “Are you Liang Fang?” When the other showed no signs of answering anytime soon, he felt annoyance bubble in his stomach as he asked again, patience wearing thin. “Are. You. Liang. Fang?”

Hearing the words once more, Liang Fang seemed to snap out of his trance and wordlessly nodded. Zi Yu nodded and glanced at the puppy in his arms. Beautiful caramel fur fluffed out from the tiny body, and tired black eyes with a glossed-over look stared listlessly in front of it, looking at Zi Yu but not seeing. Zi Yu felt his heart twist in worry and hurriedly brought Liang Fang into a waiting room, telling him to put the dog on the table. Zi Yu looked BaoBao over and deduced that he was only suffering from a common cold, causing Liang Fang to basically melt in relief.

“I’ll look for the medicine,” Zi Yu said and immediately began looking for it.

While he was looking, an assistant made their way over to him, speaking kindly as they suggested, “Mr. Lai? Why don’t you go check the other patients while I prepare the medicine?”

Zi Yu glanced at who talked to him and found that the person who suggested it was none other than the person who would ultimately ruin him, Lin Zhi. He had to comb through the original’s memories for the name, seeing how his name was never mentioned in the actual novel. Lin Zhi was an easily envious person, though he was fairly proficient at his job and was faintly trusted by Lai Ning on at least a business standpoint, thus trusted him with some help around the clinic and patients. At first, while Lin Zhi was jealous of Lai Ning’s talents, he never acted against him, only talking foul about Lai Ning behind his back.

However, his patience finally snapped upon seeing Liang Fang and seeing how this basically a meat pie that fell from the heavens. If word got out how Lai Ning successfully treated a celebrity’s pet, especially someone as famous as Liang Fang, then his fortune would only grow from there. So, Lin Zhi managed to convince Lai Ning to check on the other pets with worse conditions; after all, little BaoBao was only suffering from a minor cold and such a thing could be cleared in a day or two with the right medication.

The original Lai Ning didn’t want to at first, being the extreme animal-lover he was and wanting the poor puppy to be cured as quickly as possible, but after a lot of coaxing from Lin Zhi finally relented and left him to it, resulting in his ultimate downfall. The story description had oh-so conveniently glossed over such an important character fact and instead focusing on Cao Xinyi and Sun Zhihao’s sickeningly sweet love story. Zi Yu frowned, was this world even a world from a book or the like?

[Ding. Host is correct. Each world Host visits is a ‘story’ of a book.]

Ah, is that so? Zi Yu put the whole thing in the back of his mind, deciding to focus on more pressing matters, though he didn’t forget to curse the system for ignoring him before and randomly popping up once more. “It’s fine; simple things like this can be looked at first. After all, something like this can be taken care of right here and now, why hold it off?”

Zi Yu’s cold tone caused Lin Zhi to flinch and internally curse at the cold man in front of him. Take care of it first your sister! If you did that, you’d gain fame in the blink of an eye, and the rest of us would be forced to worship the dirt on your shoes! However, Lin Zhi didn’t say that, and instead tried to coax Lai Ning, “Mr. Lai, while what you said is true, the other patients can’t possibly afford to wait for so long…”

“Exactly,” Zi Yu cut him off, grabbing the correct bottle and a syringe. “Which is why you talking to me is wasting valuable time which could be used to help Mr. Liang’s dog. So, stop with your useless blabbering and get to work.”

“You, you, you-!” Lin Zhi felt his cheeks heat up as if he’d been slapped multiple times over! He’d never felt so humiliated in his life!

“Why are you still here? Get to work!” Zi Yu snapped and turned back to BaoBao, quickly filling the syringe and then carefully injecting the Pomeranian, coaxing the pup as if he were talking to a young child.

Liang Fang had been silent the entire time, carefully watching the man in front of him with a calculating gaze. He had been initially surprised at the male’s clear disregard of his assistant then doing a complete 180 and babied the puppy as if it were his own child. Liang Fang raised an eyebrow, slightly amused by the person in front of him. Never before had he met such an interesting person before. Everyone he’s met, due in part to him being in the entertainment business, either hid their desires behind a fake smile or intentionally tried buttering up to him for reasons as clear as knowing that the sky above was blue.

However, not only did this man not even seem surprised at his appearance, but he even treated Liang Fang as air as he worried over the dog. On one hand, he was happy that BaoBao was being treated so preciously, and on the other he was slightly offended that he didn’t even get an eyebrow raise. The two emotions clashed and Liang Fang didn’t know whether he wanted to laugh or cry. It was almost refreshing to feel such things for the first time in a long time.

“Alright,” Zi Yu said, his clear voice breaking Liang Fang out of his thoughts. “I’ve given him some medicine and he should be better in a few days, but I want you to bring him back for a checkup just in case.”

Liang Fang looked at the blonde-haired man, who of which still had his heterochromatic eyes trained on the sick pup, and felt the corner of his lips twitch upwards. “Alright. Thank you, Mr. Lai.”

Zi Yu nodded and finally raised his gaze up to the other man. “Of course.”

With that, Zi Yu went to turn around but was stopped by a hand grabbing his wrist. He frowned and forcefully pulled his hand away, glaring at Liang Fang. “Can I help you?”

“Might I get my baby’s saviour’s name?” He asked, his tone amused.

Zi Yu glared at him. “There’s no need. In case you’ve misunderstood, I’m not here to make friends nor am I here for the people. All I care about are the animals. Nothing more, nothing less.” With that, he sharply turned around, ignoring Liang Fang’s surprised, yet amused, expression and Lin Zhi’s dropped jaw, annoyance at being stopped still bubbling under his skin.

Liang Fang watched him go, the door slamming closed before gathering his wits. He grinned at where the other person stood before and let out a light chuckle, bowing goodbye to the assistant and gathering BaoBao in his arms before leaving, his mood greatly improved for another reason. He pulled out his phone and dialed a familiar number, waiting for the opposite party to pick up before speaking, “Hey, JinJin? I found something interesting today…”

* * * * *

Zi Yu had no idea that he was currently being talked about behind his back, instead spending the rest of the day caring for and treating the pets under his care. Thanks to the system, he was even more proficient and steady in his work, much to the displeasure of Lin Zhi. After the last person of the day left, and Zi Yu had sent everyone home, Lin Zhi stayed behind, watching as Zi Yu tidied up, black eyes scrutinizing every move the blonde made.

He stayed silent for a few minutes before opening his mouth, “Mr. Lai, are you aware of how you acted today?”

Zi Yu, who was currently in the middle of cursing the system out in a vain attempt to get it to answer him, momentarily paused, letting the other’s words properly catch up. He frowned, giving the other a questioning glance.

Lin Zhi took that as a sign to continue, and heavily pressed forward, “Not only did you act rude towards a celebrity, but you even rudely put down his attempts at being friendly. Do you understand what kind of consequences your actions might have had?”

Zi Yu paused once more, thinking over what the other said. “What Mr. Lin has said is true, but what I said wasn’t false. I honestly don’t care about the people that walk in the door. As soon as they arrive, who my patients are aren’t them, but the animals they bring along. Why should I care about what they think?”

Lin Zhi could feel a vein bulging on his forehead and he forcefully calmed the raging anger threatening to seep out. “What happened here today was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to become famous, and you could have thrown away such a golden goose with your careless words!”

“Famous?” Zi Yu sneered. “I don’t do this job to become famous; I do it because I genuinely care about my work. Besides, animals don’t care about fame or wealth; if I had a million dollars, would that buy me more hands? Can I cure an animal’s illness by throwing money on them?” Lin Zhi looked like he was about to have a stroke, so Zi Yu decided to go for broke. “While having money is nice, and could afford me better equipment, it’s ultimately up to my skill whether or not they’ll be cured. You can’t buy a person the most expensive paint set and expect them to paint a masterpiece if they’ve never painted before. My skills are through my hard work and my hard work alone, and I work not because I want to be a cash cow, but because I genuinely care about the animals I care for. Tell me, Lin Zhi, why do you work here? Is it because you care about your job, or because you want to ride on the waves of profit?”

With that, Zi Yu finished cleaning up, kicked Lin Zhi out, and went back to his own personal break room, as Lai Ning basically lived at the clinic, and decided to do his own research on veterinarians and animal care as because, even though he had the original soul’s memories and the system’s help, it wouldn’t do him any good to be doing the job completely ignorant. While he worked, he completely forgot the fact he hadn’t eaten that day and even researched throughout the night, forgoing sleep altogether.