The Husky and His White Cat Shizun: Erha He Ta De Bai Mao Shizun (Novel) Vol. 8

The Husky and His White Cat Shizun: Erha He Ta De Bai Mao Shizun (Novel) #8

by Rou Bao Bu Chi Rou, st (illustrator)

CAUGHT IN THE SPIDER'S WEBIn the aftermath of the censer's spell, Mo Ran awakens on Dragonblood Mountain beside a slumbering Chu Wanning, everything between them forever changed. Yet before he can explain himself, Hua Binan--the mastermind behind their plight--arrives on the scene and kidnaps Chu Wanning, leaving Mo Ran utterly alone.
Down the mountain, a man with Mo Ran's face has been committing heinous crimes, and the cultivation world clamors for blood. Helpless to rescue Chu Wanning and fearful of the consequences for Sisheng Peak, Mo Ran returns to face the justice of Tianyin Pavilion and the darkness of his buried past.
Meanwhile, trapped in Hua Binan's grasp, Chu Wanning is haunted by dreams of his past life--the life he shared with Taxian-jun. What he discovers in them stands to change everything he thought he knew about Mo Ran's bloody path to becoming the cruel tyrant he once was.

Genres: Fantasy, Romance, LGBT, Queer, Historical Fiction, China, Adult

364 pages, Paperback

Published March 18, 2025

About the author

Associated Names:
* Rou Bao Bu Chi Rou
* 肉包不吃肉 (Chinese Profile)
* โร่วเปาปู้ชือโร่ว (Thai Profile)
* Meatbun Doesn't Eat Meat (English Profile)

Reviews

[Alexia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an incredibly difficult volume to get through, not only because of the overwhelming angst but also due to the slow pacing that tested my patience. The pacing in this volume was barely tolerable; it dragged on so slowly that it felt as though nothing significant was happening, even when a lot was actually occurring within the story. It genuinely pushed my limits, and I found myself questioning whether I still enjoyed reading it. The answer is yes, I did still enjoy it, but I also experienced more annoyance with this volume than with any of the previous ones.

The plot revolves heavily around angst and more angst, often veering into melodrama. Some moments did bring tears to my eyes, yet the sluggish pacing and repetitive narrative ultimately diminished the overall emotional impact.

However, the most compelling part of this volume was Chu Wanning's character arc. I greatly enjoyed seeing him interact with Mo Ran from the 0.5 timeline. Every scene featuring both of them was incredibly powerful—their dialogues and interactions were so well-crafted. The feelings of hurt, betrayal, longing, even more hurt, love, hate—all the complex emotions intertwined between them created a deeply engaging and emotionally rich experience.

Mo Ran, on the other hand, made me realize just how reckless and foolish he can be in this volume. Without Chu Wanning by his side, he tends to make some of the dumbest decisions, which often frustrates me. I personally dislike characters who sacrifice themself for others, and Mo Ran's actions in this volume fit that pattern perfectly. While his behavior annoyed me a lot, I also felt immense sorrow for him—life continues to be unfair to him, and I couldn't help but feel sympathetic towards his suffering.

Xue Meng remained my source of comfort once again. I'm not entirely sure why, but there's something about narcissistic characters with a soft, caring heart inside that makes me feel so attached to them. I love him dearly and find his personality incredibly captivating.

In conclusion, the pacing issues in this volume significantly diminished my overall enjoyment. Similarly, some characters' actions made me feel frustrated and disappointed. Despite these drawbacks, I still love this danmei series and am eagerly looking forward to starting volume 9.

[ana ♡ · Rating 5 out of 5]

"I'm the one who didn’t protect you properly. I let you become someone else’s pawn. I let you become a monstrous tyrant.

No one knows who you really are. No one knows you were once kind and innocent. No one knows how you once fretted over the earthworms you couldn’t save on a rainy day, how you once smiled brilliantly before a pond of lotuses in full bloom.

Everyone thinks you’re cold-blooded and heartless. They don’t know you once scratched your head and said bashfully, “It—it’s not like I can do anything special. But when I was little, I didn’t have a place to stay. When I have money to spare in the future, I’ll build lots of houses so people like me have somewhere to live. Wouldn’t that be nice?”

Everyone hates you for being a ruthless butcher, but they don’t know you once told me, “Shizun, I want a holy weapon like Tianwen. It can tell lies from truth, and it can save lives.”

Everyone curses your existence, wishes you’d meet a terrible end. And even though I know the truth now, I still can’t give your dignity back to you."

[Stacie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was both amazing and not fun at all. It reminds me of vol 3 of BAB- emotionally brutal from beginning to end without relief. Short book but loaded with reveals. I am so jealous of people who have finished this entire story because the wait is excruciating.

I don’t think these are spoilers but just in case beware:
🥟How does such a perfect man still think so lowly of himself, blame himself, have body dysmorphia, etc. Chu Wanning is absolute perfection and I won’t listen to any CW slander EVER.
🥟Dying at the golden dragon on someone’s 🍆 I cannot with Meatbun right now.
🥟Xue Meng💔. Please PLEASE give him a HE.
🥟I think I still might be a little confused about chap 252

[Izabella 🪐]

Erha covers try not to blow my mind challenge!
Level: Absolutely impossible 🔥🔥🔥🔥

[mery☆ · Rating 5 out of 5]

fucking fuck of a stupid fuckass flower

[Camillee · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Everyone curses your existence. wishes you'd meet a terrible end. And even though I know the truth now I still can't give your dignity back to you"

Somehow I feel even more miserable while re reading it.

I love Mo Ran, Im sorry for hating you at first I wasnt familiar with your game 😭

[maggie]

the most realistic part of 2ha is how everyone wants chu wanning

[Rose ✧⁎⁺ · Rating 5 out of 5]

5/5☆

head in hands.. what the fuck. why is this volume so short😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 i cannot do this anymore please

[Alexandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Meatbun, I offer you a respectful fuck you. I don’t know how many more tears and throwing-book-across-the-rooms I have left in me. I need you to give Mo Ran a happy ending or I will literally unalive myself.

[ada ✮]

ah yes! a nice little book to cheer me up after yuwu vol 4!! can't wait!!!!

[Austin (Weird) · Rating 5 out of 5]

-⭐ 5














_________________________________________________________


Update(4):SOMEONE FUCKING DID IT LETSSS GOOOOOOOO I CAN"T WAIT TO READ THISS


Update(3): chat I need someone to put this book on oceanofpdf 😭 plzzz


Update(2): IT"S FINALLY OUT!!!!!!

UPDATE(1): 3 MORE DAYSSSS UNTILL THIS IS RELEASED!!!!!
😭

me when I saw when this book was going to be published:




anyways, the amount of detail in these covers are insane
I wish that these covers were made into posters 😭

[Andrea · Rating 5 out of 5]

This left me in anguish and shambles. No other book has made me cry this much.

5 STARS⭐️ 🤌🏻

[Sebby · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really had to go and kiss the brick before throwing it right at my head didn’t you ☠️

[Sara XuHerondale · Rating 5 out of 5]

Despair, anguish, madness, insanity. Oh, and I'm also officially out of the official translation.

[Ky ! · Rating 5 out of 5]

Meatbun is such a genius. Volume 8 was fucking insane holy shit. The way everything is starting to connect??? Can’t believe i’m gonna have to wait another 4 months for volume 9 😭

[maría · Rating 5 out of 5]

farm arc where are you when we need you the most

"i'm so dumb. i don't know how i ended up in this hopeless darkness. i don't know how it came to this. when i think back on it, everything was a mistake. i can no longer find mom. or shizun. please. hell is too cold. let me go back, won't you..? i want to go home."

[ir]

edit (04/19/25): finally got my copy of this and amendment! it doesn’t contain the SADDEST stuff in the entire novel but some very sad stuff nonetheless. two of the illustrations in this are so 🥰🥰 when (not if. when) i reread this, ill be able to give my thoughts on the actual volume.

original (12/24/24): my predictions about the chapters in this novel are correct, this contains the saddest stuff ever 🥲🥲 read at ur own risk... actually heartbreaking stuff

(will read the actual official translation when it publishes and make sure but this is HORRIFYINGLY SAD. i love this book already and need it in my hands right now).

[Delaney · Rating 5 out of 5]

Maybe if Shizun was a little less breedable we wouldn't be in this mess.

[Brigi · Rating 5 out of 5]

So many twists!!! :O

[naya · Rating 5 out of 5]

“i can no longer find mom. or shizun.
please. hell is too cold. let me go back, won’t you…?
i want to go home.”


“it’s cold as ice. if i could, i’d be the candle waiting at the fork in your winter road. i’d burn my entire life up to light your way home. why are you so cold…?
i don’t know how long i can burn for you. what if my life is exhausted, what if i burn out? what if my flame is extinguished, but you’re still walking into the darkness, refusing to turn back? what would i do then?”


how can someone write something so devastatingly beautiful?? atp i don't know what to say, just kill me it's going to hurt less.

[Katie❄️ · Rating 5 out of 5]

The beginning is like a punch to the solar plexus.

The middle was the current Mo Ran’s childhood history.

The ending was a dash of madness.

The back and forth timeline, since everyone’s now in the current world, was a bit dizzying.

I have a feeling my heart and guts are gonna be ripped out in the last 3 volumes…..

[V~ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Spoiler ⚠️ :

🔹 In both of his lives, he'd wanted to be good. He'd failed to do so his past life, and in this one... How could he make up for it?
If he were to say he'd once
dreamed of saving the common people, who would believe him?

He'd be mocked, berated, and derided.

He was Mo Weiyu, he was Emperor Taxian-jun. No one would forgive him... Only then might he have the right to cautiously say: I too would want to be Chu Wanning.
Please, don't laugh at this wish of mine. Don't make fun of me.
I know I'm dumb. For a long time. I had no one by my side. That's how I lived for two lifetimes, walking the wrong path for twenty years. I'm so dumb. I don't know how I ended up in this hopeless darkness. I don't know how was a mistake. it came to this. When I think back on it, everything, I can no longer find Mom. Or Shizun.

Please. Hell is too cold. Let me go back, won't you...!

I want to go home.

🔹 It's cold as ice. If I could, I'd be the candle waiting at the fork in your winter road. I'd burn my entire life up to light your way home. Why are you so cold...?
I don't know how long I can burn for you. What if my life is ex- hausted, what if I burn out? What if my flame is extinguished, but you're still walking into the darkness, refusing to turn back? What would I do then?

Reading this volume filled me with anguish. I've been grappling with the overwhelming emotions it left me with—completely shattered by Moran's past and his relentless suffering, watching his very tender soul be torn figuratively to pieces again and again. At the same time, I felt a mix of sadness, frustration, and even fleeting happiness during the tender moments CWN and TXJ share in the cave, blissfully content while Moran is tied up, starving, and suffering yet again, likely awaiting a death sentence.

I understand that TXJ still has goodness in him—he loves CWN and wants him all to himself. It makes me happy to see these kind sides of him and how different he is too, all while he fights against the flower's power and savagely speaks to Hua Binan, putting him in his place. But as a reader who has grown attached to Moran 2.0, witnessing all of this unfold simultaneously is heartbreaking.

Not to mention the frustrating moments of Hua Binan and my wanting to hop in the book and strangle him to pieces.

4.4/5 because of the amount of overwhelming mix of feelings.

[Kim . ' ❦ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pain

[Natasha · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 ⭐️ This was a great volume, painful as hell, but absolutely incredible in all its revelations and twists.

[Beth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every time I tell myself to savor the words slowly, and every time I speed read in a daze. Back to waiting....

[mara - hyrulevalkyrie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Never in my life have I felt such misery THE ENTIRE BOOK THRU. Like meatbun, bestie, I love you. But WHO HURT YOU 😭

[c1nnaden ♡ · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Do you love me?" Receiving no reply, he tried again. "Chu Wanning, do you love me?"

datemene altri 10. è illegale finire un volume in questo modo e credo che meatbun abbia messo la droga dentro perché I NEED MORE. 😭

non so bene cosa dire, i miei pensieri sono veramente confusi nonostante ci abbia - forzatamente - messo due giorni per finirlo solo perché non volevo finirlo nella manciata di qualche ora e quindi abbia avuto il tempo di assimilare un po' il tutto.

btw. ho odiato (e anche amato, sì) il personaggio di Hua Binan/Shi Mei. nonostante non sia stata una totale sorpresa, credo che come colpo di scena valga 100 punti. soprattutto il fatto che abbia combinato tutto questo enorme e gigante casino solo per l'amore (malato?) che prova nei confronti di Chu Wanning. (sarebbe da studiare come 2 studenti su 3 siano innamorati in modo "romanico" del proprio maestro..); non ho per niente apprezzato la scena di tentata violenza nei confronti di Wanning but ehi, siamo in erha! però ho AMATO tutto il capitolo dove si confronta con lo Shi Mei della linea temporale corrente. guerra tra cold beauties ig..

passando al pg di Mo Ran, ah, che dolore. la sua backstory è stata come ricevere mille schiaffi in contemporanea, anche se avevo sospettato che avesse qualche connessione con la famiglia Nangong già dal volume scorso but.. vedere scritto come sia lui che la sua mamma siano stati abusati, dimenticati, completamente portati alla rovina e oltre ha fatto davvero male 😭 ed è anche comprensibile come sia "nato" Taxian-Jun e tutto ciò che poi si è portato dietro.
QUANDO HA SACRIFICATO IL CORE SPIRITUALE PER SALVARE TUTTI HO SOFFERTO COME NON MAI NON VE LO MERITATE MO RAN 😭 + LA STORIA DEL FIORE. FUCK SHI MEI. FUCK HIM DAVVERO.

per quanto riguarda TXJ.. beh, ammetto che inizialmente non amavo troppo questa "parte" di Mo Ran, ma dopo aver conosciuto la backstory + come si è comportato con CW in questi ultimi capitoli, credo che sia cresciuto in me una specie di soft-spot per lui 😭 è palese che ci sia un cambio di cuore e che l'amore che prova per Wanning stia venendo fuori, nella scena dove vuole diventare "umano" per poter mangiare i (pessimi) pasti del suo shizun.. 🥺🥺 il mio cuore ha fatto crack. fuck. FUUUUCK davvero.

non so bene come resisterò fino all'uscita del prossimo volume, ma here we are. durano sempre troppo poco 💔💔 siamo a -3 volumi e non so cosa aspettarmi.

5 ⭐️ solo perché ahimè non posso darne di più, ma meatbun si supera ogni volume che passa. what a queen! (and a talent!!)

[Caro · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm gonna need therapy after this series

[Jenna · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Right and wrong, good and evil — none of it was clearly divided; none so easy to discern.”

off the bat i have to make it clear that i can’t really recommend this series. it’s written “for mature readers” and you shouldn’t take that lightly. this is a series that revolves heavily around sexual abuse (mostly in a past life but there are maaaany flashbacks) and it’s filled with a lot of gray area and moral ambiguity that will make people uncomfortable. it’s arguably kinda disturbing at times. i’d argue this series is even more unsettling than captive prince and possibly even a little life, and if you’ve read those, you’ll know what i’m talking about. it makes it a complicated series to talk about, to enjoy, to recommend, because there are some parts of it that are really dark and really hard to stomach, but the heart of this series is love and second chances and choosing to change yourself and be better for the people you love. it’s about forgiveness and understanding. it’s about making sacrifices for the greater good, for the people you care about, for a better world. IT’S ABOUT LOVE GODDAMMIT!!!!

but we’re not here to recommend things, we’re here to extrapolate how i feel about these books! goodreads is my personal diary so get used to it!

so, i picked this series up because i’d seen it floating around on goodreads and i was fresh off of finishing tgcf and i just really wanted (needed) another danmei series to escape into. i feel like i’m still very new to this genre, so i don’t know which authors or series are big and which ones i really need to check out…but that means there’s no harm in going in blind on something new. i just didn’t expect to get…this.

erha is dramatically different than tgcf in many ways. while i adore tgcf for what it is, a lot of the things i didn’t love about that series are why i’m OBSESSED this series. tgcf doesn’t have a strong translation, but the english prose in erha is just exquisite - it’s flowery and philosophical and it does take itself seriously (even when it’s joking), which tgcf really doesn’t do. tgcf has some cool plot points, but overall i think that series depends on its characters to carry it through eight volumes. and sure, these two series are very different so they shouldn’t really be compared, but objectively…i just think erha is better crafted, better written (translated?), and better plotted. it’s BETTER. i am a meatbun truther!!!!!

part of the original draw of this series is the “enemies to lovers” trope that so many of us crave - that wonderful dynamic of a grumpy person and their sunshine counterpart, as the two of them antagonize each other only to realize that the other person is the only person in the world who sees them just as they are and doesn’t shy away from them - and this series has a really intense setup right from the get-go. “i hated you so much that i tortured you and killed you and then i was so distraught at being left without you that i killed myself and was reborn as my younger self and so i was able to relive my life with my past life’s adult consciousness and as it turns out maybe i didn’t hate you after all and maybe i just didn’t understand you and maybe i’m actually deeply in love with you and also you’re my teacher who’s like ten years older than me oops.” and that’s not even the whole story!!!!!

the deeper we dive into this series - both the present day timeline and the unfolding events of the past - the more unsettling things become. the gray area gets grayer and murkier and it gets harder and harder to tell what’s right and what’s wrong and who is truly at fault for the violence that plays out. but it’s clear that this is a story about someone who desperately longs to atone for their sins. it’s a story about shame. it’s a story about passion. it’s a story about…the multiverse?

i was already deeply invested in this story at the beginning, when all we knew was that our main character was reborn from a past life, but then as we get to the end of this series (soon…), it’s apparent that the story is not at all what i expected and it’s actually so much bigger than just “rebirth.” so often i read romantasy series (or just fantasy in general) that skimps on plot, that skimps on magic, that really doesn’t do anything innovative because it relies on romance or a cool magical world to carry the story. but this series has EVERYTHING i could want. characters, romance, magic, world-building, and an intricate plot that TRULY COULD NOT BE PREDICTED. like, jaw on the floor i did not see that shit coming!! it’s actually so ridiculous, so laughable as a plot progression that it circles back around to genius.

honestly the more chinese danmei i read, the more amazed i become. there’s definitely some internalized racism and homophobia that i’m coming to terms with, and i know that’s part of why i never picked these books up in the past (boo), but i still know a lot of people who stick their noses up at this genre and it’s actually a little absurd seeing as romantasy as a genre is really popular right now. i think some of these series have started circulating on tiktok (blah) but i guess i just think back to the early days of booktube and hardly anybody was talking about danmei. but like!!!! these books are SO ADDICTING!!! they have so much heart!!! and they are such a wonderful exploration of chinese culture and language. i’ve spent a lot of time reading up on pronunciation, on all the different terms of endearment and monikers and how to address specific types of people and relationships, and it’s kind of wild to me just how much we can learn about other cultures and peoples just by reading fantasy books. and it sucks that it took me this long to dip my toes into this genre, but babes we are ALL IN and i will not feel any shame!

move over sarah j maas, meatbun is talking!!!!

side bar: if i’m being honest, the real reason i cannot get this story out of my head is chu wanning. stick a character with a cold-exterior and a soft-hearted interior (A HEDGEHOG,,, help me) into a situation and i’m a goner. wanning is so special to me because of how much of myself i see in his character. to me, he reads like a neurodivergent-coded guy with sex-repulsion who’s probably demisexual, and that alone would be enough to make me feel seen but on TOP OF THAT, he also is working through a lot of shame and a lot of fear and a lot of feelings of self-loathing. (wow, not to like, put my heart into a goodreads review again, but ouch.) it’s hard to read about characters like this because i spend the entire time going “STOP BEING SO STUPID JUST DO _____!!!” and then i sit back and have to look into a mirror with my clown make-up on because girl. that’s you. why don’t YOU stop being so stupid!!!!! so many scenes made me feel seen - whether it was the end of volume 3 in the underworld or the beginning of volume 4 when the boys kept giving him gifts upon his return or THE END OF VOLUME 5 WHEN MO RAN FINALLY MADE IT CLEAR THAT HE WAS IN LOVE WITH HIM (that one…..woof) - and more and more as the story continued, i just felt like someone had uncovered a missing piece of my soul. especially when you think about all the implications of him being who he is and his maker questioning WHETHER OR NOT HE HAS A SOUL……anyway. i could write essays about chu wanning. he is beloved. he is my blorbo. he is a cinnamon roll who deserves the world. he did not deserve all the torture he was dealt!!!!!!

in conclusion, this is an all-timer and i cannot wait to get the conclusion to this story and one day when i reread the whole thing i will finally be at peace because i just want to see how meatbun brought all these crazy plot details together.

but like also, i think we should be allowed to hunt her for sport because what the actual fuck. volumes 7 & 8 WRECKED ME. how dARE YOU!!!!!

and for the record, i did in fact text my friend michelle that i hated shi mei before we even kNEW what a piece of shit he was so like PROPS TO ME AND MY GUT INSTINCTS I GUESS fuck that guy fr

[lex ❄ · Rating 5 out of 5]

The only bad thing about this volume is that it's too short and it sort of ends a bit too openly. However, this one had a lot of important things happening, most of them being reveals and explanations, full of angst and tragedy.

The story in this volume continues after the event that occurs with CWN and MR in the cave. They aren't alone though. After one shocking reveal takes place, CWN is taken away by this person and MR is forced to go back to the sect. What he finds is chaos. In the meantime, we are able to see the work of the mastermind who's been behind everything.

One of the reasons I love this novel is that most of the foreshadowing is really well crafted. What is revealed in this volume is painful, but very well constructed along the way with pieces of information scattered through the story so far.

There was a lot of angst here, and it's another thing that I really enjoyed, I'm a sucker for tragedy after all. First, we are told how Chu Fei finds out about what's truly happening in his first life, and later the tragedy comes back with the story of MR's mom. Not only that, but Xue Meng's reactions are very sad and later the last pages of this volume are devastating in the sense that we see clarity coming from a character and never thought it'd be possible, but the thought of what's at stake hurts a lot. No one wins.

To lighter this review a bit, I wanted to mention that the scene about CWN in bed and those two other people in the room was hillarious to me, kind of a dark comedy moment, and I live for those. I like how Meatbun sometimes introduces humour at tense moments to relieve some stress. It was needed, not only because the interaction gives a glimpse about how certain dynamics are changing, but also because it gives space for the next key moment between CWN and this other person.

Ultimately, I think this is one of my most liked volumes so far. I wish it wasn't cut off at that moment though, because even if it isn't a cliffhanger, it'd feel better rounded if this had more chapters. Other than that, I wanted to mention that I never hated the mastermind (censoring it like this to avoid spoilers) in my first reading and I still don't. I found them very interesting and well constructed considering their backstory, they became very compelling in later volumes.

I'm looking forward to the next volume as usual, can't wait to read that one scene. Non MTL readers aren't ready for that and maybe I'm not either lol.

Tags for this volume: (might miss some of them)
-POV: third person
-Content warnings: dubcon/noncon between MCs (in flashback, on page), kidnapping, attempted sexual assault, sexual harassment
-Elements: age gap, size difference, angst, whump, hurt/no comfort
-Kinks: breeding, dirty talk, possessiveness, exhibitionism
-Sexual act(s): barebacking, creampie, marathon sex, cockwarming
-Dynamic: MM, strict younger top and older bottom, master/disciple, established relationship