Chapter 645: Life Needs a Little Sense of Ritual

Subjective initiative — most of the time, it's something you grind out.

For example, Zhou Ye was a little desperate, otherwise she probably wouldn't have dared to get on that motorcycle led by Bruce; who in their right mind would think Bai Liang could just grab a golden retriever off the street and still ride a bike with a passenger — watching it on short videos, it looks like it was photoshopped in.

But in her rush to make a fool of herself, Zhou Ye completely ignored the risk — close her eyes and hop on.

Likewise, Dou Xiao Tian actually hadn't planned to stir up any trouble on this show either.

The dog biscuits were all eaten on the sly at first~ it was Zhou Ye, with nothing better to do, who insisted on digging them out.

Now look what happened — Dou Xiao Tian got riled up too, so let's grind!

It's just that Dou Xiao Tian is a martial actress, and lately she's probably been spending a bit too much time around Meng Jie. Her brain circuits are also slightly off.

So her setting her sights on Chocolate is a perfectly reasonable thing.

"Tsk tsk tsk~"

"Chocolate, come to big sis."

Crouching quietly around the corridor corner, Dou Xiao Tian waved the dog biscuit at Chocolate, luring her in.

Obviously, no dog can resist such a temptation — Chocolate trotted right over to her, tail wagging.

In the blink of an eye, Dou Xiao Tian scooped her up with one swift grab.

Hand it over!

Suddenly airborne, Chocolate panicked for a moment and tried to bark — but the next second, a dog biscuit was stuffed into her mouth.

Chocolate: never mind then~

Whoever's holding her is holding her, right?

Almost every guest on this show has hugged or petted her, and she's quite familiar with Dou Xiao Tian in particular — plus there are snacks, so naturally she's as well-behaved as can be.

Actually, up to this point, everything was still pretty normal.

Dou Xiao Tian had only used a dog biscuit to lure Chocolate into her arms, but the way she then peeked around, sneaking and skulking, was a bit of a "protesting too much" giveaway.

Bai Liang, who had originally been about to step out and say hello, immediately switched to covert observation — found it amusing and decided to keep playing hide-and-seek for a while.

Mainly because Dou Xiao Tian's behavior at this moment just screamed "stealth mode" way too loudly!

Anyone who didn't know better would think she was about to steal the dog and sell it~

Dou Xiao Tian stealing a dog?

Curious about what she was up to, Bai Liang tiptoed after her. Dou Xiao Tian was being cautious, sure, but she lacked experience.

Her head swiveled left and right, yet she somehow never glanced behind her.

Chocolate, cradled in her arms, had already spotted Bai Liang and was panting at him — and Dou Xiao Tian still hadn't noticed.

After "stealing" her, Dou Xiao Tian didn't actually go far. Right outside the house, sneaking and skulking, she made her way to the motorcycle Bai Liang had borrowed.

A dog, a motorcycle, and one unhinged person — quite the parallel to "Go Bruce!"

Bai Liang:???

Not sure — let's keep watching~

At this point Dou Xiao Tian solemnly locked eyes with Chocolate, nodding at her very seriously, as if about to bestow upon her some sacred mission.

The dog seemed to sense it too — she chomped through the dog biscuit even faster; gotta eat your fill before a job, after all!

"Chocolate, you're such a good girl. Tell big sis — can you ride a bike?"

"Let's give it a try! Once you've tried, you're not a puppy anymore!"

"Come on."

Chocolate:

How do you explain to this young lady that not all dogs are the same?

Luckily, Dou Xiao Tian figured it out herself, slapped her own forehead hard, and her face fell!

"Ah~ Chocolate, your legs are too short, you can't reach…"

"Pfft!"

Bai Liang really couldn't hold it in anymore — so all that sneaking and skulking was just for this?

His outburst startled Dou Xiao Tian into a violent shudder.

It's not like she was doing anything terribly bad, but Dou Xiao Tian, unlike Meng Jie, was well aware she was doing something stupid.

When you're doing something stupid, of course you can't let anyone catch you!

But she'd been caught red-handed, and the embarrassment was so intense her toes were curling up~

Luckily, Bai Liang was quick on the uptake and immediately smoothed things over for her.

"Little Watermelon~"

"Here!"

A crisp little salute — Dou Xiao Tian didn't need any graceful exit; she just leapt straight off the steps!

Misunderstanding cleared!

Seeing Dou Xiao Tian, who had been shrinking into herself, perk right back up, Bai Liang began serving as her canine strategist.

No matter what the young lady wants to do, His Excellency Bai Da vows to back her up.

"Chocolate riding a motorcycle really isn't very feasible."

"I see…" Dou Xiao Tian lowered her head, grinding her shoe hard against a little tuft of grass by the road.

"But she does have one really fun trick — even Meng Jie doesn't know about it."

"Huh?"

Dou Xiao Tian looked up in pleasant surprise, meeting Bai Liang's smiling eyes — a strange feeling of being completely seen through, yet indulged all the same.

Such a sense of security!

Way stronger than what Tongtong-jie gave her!

This was something Bai Liang had noticed quite early on—Dou Xiao Tian, who appeared tough and martial in style, was actually a bit like Reba, both belonging to that type of "tough on the outside, hollow on the inside."

Reba liked to spiral into self-consuming overthinking, while Dou Xiao Tian simply lacked a sense of security.

When Bai Liang first met her, it was only because Li Yitong had shown closeness toward Bai Liang, and Dou Xiao Tian at that time already displayed obvious emotions—because of this she even dared bare her teeth at him.

Now it was even more obvious. Whether it was Zhou Ye or Meng Jie, whenever they expressed closeness with Bai Liang on the show—some intentional, some not—Dou Xiao Tian often couldn't help it, her eyes revealing that quite obvious emotion.

Gotta say, big eyes have this drawback—there's just no hiding anything in them.

And what Dou Xiao Tian secretly showed the most was actually jealousy!

That kind of quite obvious jealousy sometimes even seemed a little frightening.

Sometimes the evil little kitty had to step in and remind her, otherwise more people would notice this.

A walking bundle of scorching emotional contradictions—that was Dou Xiao Tian.

However, when she was alone with Bai Liang, naturally it was a completely different look.

Bai Liang also "went with the flow," mimicking Dou Xiao Tian's earlier sneaky manner—glancing left, glancing right—then beckoned to her, "Keep your voice down, come with me!"

Dou Xiao Tian didn't respond, but she closely followed his pace, her face both nervous and a little joyful.

The slightly frizzled bun from that earlier foolish fussing now looked especially cute.

This rhythm was definitely her comfort zone!

Now there were two little thieves!

The result was that Bai Liang brought Dou Xiao Tian back to his room.

If the chocolate that had been swept along could talk, it would probably start complaining: Is this really necessary?

Bai Liang: Yes!

Because life needs a little sense of ceremony!

See, for Dou Xiao Tian at this moment, she'd already forgotten why she'd followed Bai Liang back.

She only knew that when he placed the dog treat in his palm, she leaned in to eat it, and it tasted wonderfully sweet~

Absolutely loved this feeling!

Of course, Bai Liang wasn't some weirdo uncle who lures a little girl back to his room to look at goldfish.

The dog treat was just a reward, not today's main course.