You Care More About That Dog Than You Do Your Own Marriage

A smile curved unconsciously on Elena Shen's lips.

"Alright, I want this chubby, white one," she said, pointing to the puppy by her leg.

Ethan Jiang responded simply, "Okay."

The moment his words fell, an elderly voice came from behind, tinged with mild disapproval.

"Why are you still picking a puppy? That one was brought back especially for Elena."

The old man walked over, striding against the sunlight. Elena turned to look at him and then down at the little fluff ball snuggling into her arms, acting as if it had known her forever. Her eyes lit up, and she shot to her feet.

"Really?"

She stood up too fast after squatting too long, and a wave of dizziness swept over her as her vision briefly blacked out.

Ethan quickly reached out to steady her by the waist, preventing her from falling.

The old man observed the interaction quietly, then nodded when Elena looked his way again.

"Of course it's true. At my age, do you think I could handle raising one myself?"

He chuckled. "This little one's for you. Once you and Ethan move back to your home, have him bring it along so you can raise it there."

Elena's eyes curved into a smile. Hugging the chubby pup close, she looked to the old man with gratitude.

"Thank you, Grandpa!"

Her joy brought a smile to the old man's face too. He gestured at the especially affectionate puppy and said:

"Since you like it so much, give it a name."

Elena lowered her head to look at the little one rubbing its head against her palm, trying to act cute. With a light smile, she answered quickly:

"Zai Zai."

Zai Zai?

The old man glanced between the puppy and his grandson and granddaughter-in-law. Then his gaze landed again on the newly named pup.

He asked sincerely, "So the dog's name is Zai Zai. What will you name your future child then?"

Elena: "…"

Ethan: "…"

An awkward silence fell.

Two seconds later, Ethan glanced at the round, doughy pup squirming in Elena's arms and said,

"Tuan Tuan."

The old man mulled it over and nodded. "That works."

Then his eyes drifted back to Elena.

Ethan's gaze was also fixed on the young woman before him.

She gave a polite cough and smiled agreeably. "Tuan Tuan is fine too."

As long as he was the one taking care of it, she didn't mind.

She just wanted to be in charge of petting it every day.

Seeing she had no objections, Ethan turned his head toward the grand hall, catching sight of Winston Gu still loitering around, watching the scene from afar.

Retracting his gaze, he said,

"I've got a contract to sign. I'll be busy for a bit. Elena, you stay home with Tuan Tuan. I'll take you to campus once I'm done."

Elena nodded. "Alright."

As Ethan walked off toward the hall, the old man beamed and beckoned Elena over as well.

"I had someone pick up a new batch of puppy food this morning. Just arrived. Elena, come take a look with me?"

"Sure," she said, following along with Tuan Tuan in her arms.

—

It was precisely nine o'clock when Ethan finalized the project details with Winston. Seeing his friend still reluctant to leave, he picked up his phone and messaged Elena.

[Still heading to campus at 9:30?]

Elena was feeding Tuan Tuan some dog food when the message came in. She tapped a reply one-handed:

[Morning classes got moved to next week. I'll go in the afternoon instead.]

Seeing her reply, Ethan asked:

[Playing with Tuan Tuan?]

Elena was chatting with the old man about raising dogs while watching Tuan Tuan wag his tail and sip warm goat milk. Without thinking, she snapped a quick photo and sent it over—just like she would in a casual chat with Annie.

But when the message was sent, and she glanced at the top of the screen showing the contact name "Ethan," a flicker of realization hit—this wasn't Annie she was texting.

Panicking slightly, she long-pressed the photo, intending to retract it. But just before her finger tapped "Recall," a new message popped up.

[Great. I'll take you out for lunch. Think about what you'd like to eat.]

The urge to retract the photo vanished.

Staring at the message, she thought for a moment and typed out a list of dishes she was craving.

With that done, she set the phone aside, resumed stroking the puppy, and continued chatting with the old man.

—

At 4 p.m., Annie Gu arrived at the library to help Elena with some research. Elena was forcing herself through a dense physics text, her brain screaming in protest at every page.

Meanwhile, Annie had pulled out a pet care book and was lazily flipping through it beside her.

When a photo of a Labrador running across a grass field caught her eye, Annie suddenly remembered the dog café that had recently opened near campus.

Knowing how much her best friend loved dogs, she turned and asked,

"There's a new dog café near the South Gate. I passed by the other day—tons of breeds, all super cute. Want to go play with some pups?"

Normally, Elena would've said yes without hesitation. But today, she shook her head almost immediately.

"No need. I have my own dog now. I'll just go home and pet him."

Annie blinked. "Wait—your own dog? You got one? Since when? And where would you even find time to take care of it?"

She knew Elena's schedule better than anyone. With her demanding lab work, even living at the lab wasn't unheard of. Things had only recently slowed down a bit.

And now she had time to raise a dog?

Elena closed the book and replied cheerily, "I don't have to. Ethan takes care of it. I just get to play with it when I want."

Annie: "…"

She had assumed a nanny or housekeeper took care of it—especially since Elena's small apartment had no staff. But in the Jiang estate? Plenty of employees to spare.

What she hadn't expected was Ethan Jiang himself to be the one looking after the pup.

Annie gave her a thumbs-up, face full of both admiration and disbelief.

"Girl, the way things are going between you two changes by the day."

Even the cold, untouchable Ethan Jiang was out here raising dogs just to make her happy.

Curious, she leaned closer. "Got pictures? I want to see your first ever dog."

Elena picked up her phone and opened her photo gallery. "Not just photos—I've got videos."

As Annie watched a chubby little pup rolling around on a vast lawn, her eyes glued to the screen, she suddenly thought of something and asked:

"Oh right—do you have a photo of your marriage certificate? I want to see it too!"

Back when Jasper Zhong stirred up a scandal online, Ethan's team had posted a photo of the certificates—but only the red covers, no photo of them together inside.

Flipping through the flood of puppy photos and videos, Elena casually replied,

"Nope, the certificate's not with me."

Annie looked up and gave a snort.

"Wow. You care more about your dog than your marriage."

Elena: "…"