The scene that suddenly unfolded on the street not only caught the attention of the passersby but also caught the eye of a traffic police officer not far away.
Song Sheng was on duty nearby. He crossed through the crowd and came over quickly, "What’s going on?"
Seeing the arrival of Song Sheng, the trio from the moving company, who had been in a panic not knowing what to do, immediately spoke up as if they had found a pillar of strength, "We came to help this young man move, but this pack of stray dogs came out of nowhere and they’re viciously scary, it’s terrifying!"
"Right! We were so scared we had to dodge to the side. How can there be so many vicious dogs in a big city! Officer, please help us, we can’t let them interfere with our work."
Strangely enough, after Song Sheng appeared, the dogs that had been barking non-stop suddenly fell silent, several little dogs wagging their tails and nuzzling against his legs, behaving very affectionately.
Song Sheng raised an eyebrow, "Vicious dogs?"
The moving company trio: "..."
The onlooking passersby: "..."
Crafty, schizoid dogs!
Just now you were nothing !
A few small dogs bit at Song Sheng’s trouser legs, leading him towards the freezer.
Song Sheng looked at the tightly wrapped freezer in front of him and asked, "Whose is this?"
"Mine," Zhong Yuanlong emerged from under the eaves in silence.
The tall and thin young man seemed not to have seen the sun for a long time, with a sickly pale complexion visible beneath the brim of his cap.
Zhong Yuanlong offered an explanation without waiting for Song Sheng to ask, "I’m moving, the freezer is full of meat."
According to Zhong Yuanlong, last month his mother came to visit him and brought a lot of poultry from the countryside, and even during her two-day stay, she went to the market every day to buy meat, fried a lot of braised pork and pig’s trotters, and prepared chickens and ducks to store in the freezer for him to eat slowly.
"You live alone? You need three freezers?" Song Sheng felt a hint of suspicion.
"I bought them from the second-hand market, they were very cheap," Zhong Yuanlong said, "The cost of all three freezers together is still cheaper than one refrigerator. Since I work here alone, my mom worries about me; she always makes a lot of food for me whenever she visits."
After the appearance of Song Sheng, the dogs stopped their chaotic barking, and the courage of the onlookers gradually grew.
Hearing the conversation between the two, people around began to discuss:
"Indeed, every time I visit my daughter, I also stuff her fridge full before leaving. These kids nowadays don’t like to cook, always preferring to order takeout..."
"Using a freezer to store food? That’s a good idea. My kid is working hard in Deep City, eats at irregular times. Next time I visit, I’ll cook more food, freeze it, and she can heat it whenever she wants to eat..."
"The freezer is full of meat, huh? Are these stray dogs not leaving because they smelled the scent of the meat?"
"How delicious must that meat be?"
"You can’t keep vicious dogs! Today they want to steal food, tomorrow they’ll dare to bite people!"
Everyone suggested that Song Sheng contact the relevant department to deal with the stray dogs, while some residents nearby recognized that not all were strays; two belonged to the owner of a local breakfast spot and were usually very friendly and not food aggressive.
Looking at the group of dogs that wagged their tails at Song Sheng’s feet, Zhong Yuanlong felt a flicker of disgust crossing his eyes. Suppressing his inner frustration, he said, "It’s so hot, if we keep delaying, the dishes in my freezer are going to melt... I’ve wrapped them with so many layers just so they don’t defrost too quickly."
Song Sheng, who initially had some doubts about the contents of the freezer, was brought back to his senses by Zhong Yuanlong’s words.
He cursed himself internally.
It’s just professional paranoia creeping in, seeing problems where there are none.
Song Sheng patted the fluffy dog heads by his feet, telling them to go play elsewhere.
Dozens of dogs milled around Song Sheng and the freezer, completely ignoring his instructions to go play elsewhere.
Seeing that Song Sheng approached the freezer without any issues, the three movers immediately stepped forward intending to load the freezer onto the truck. Yet, as soon as they got close, the dogs lowered their tails, baring their teeth in warning, clearly not allowing them anywhere near the freezer, leaving even Song Sheng helpless.
"Damn it, what in the world is going on here?"
"Have these dogs gone clever or something? They know who they can mess with and who they can’t?"
"It truly is a dog-eat-dog world; wearing the same uniform yet treated so differently."
Jiang Ning, listening to the discussions around her, took out a pack of ham sausages she had just purchased from a nearby grocery store.