Chapter 37: Deeply Satisfying

“Cute Pet Home… this should be the place, right?”

Song Changfeng led Aofeng down the street. After walking for about ten minutes, they finally reached the end of the road. There stood a pet store, slightly larger than the one they had visited earlier, with noticeably more staff inside.

“Woof!” Aofeng barked, agreeing that this must be the place the girl had mentioned.

As they pushed the door open but before even stepping inside, their ears were greeted by a chorus of meows and barks. The soft, high-pitched sounds were adorably sweet, making anyone want to scoop up a pet and take it home.

Among the noise, the meows clearly outnumbered the barks. As the two dominant forces in the pet world, the devoted followers of the Howling Moon Dog Sect¹ and the Sacred Flame Cat Cult² were constantly vying for supremacy. But according to statistics, cat owners still outnumbered dog owners in the country. After all, when it came to upkeep, dogs were undeniably more demanding. It wasn’t about wealth, but other factors.

Take exercise needs, for example. Many young people today simply couldn’t keep up. They preferred staying in with their cats, enjoying solitude without feeling alone. That’s why most pet stores had more cats than dogs.

Man and dog walked into the store under the curious eyes of others. But once the pets inside caught sight of Aofeng’s size, all the barking and meowing came to an abrupt halt, only to resume moments later with even more intensity. Most of the animals here were small breeds. Take that British Shorthair³, for instance – Aofeng figured he could fit two of its heads in his mouth if he opened wide enough. Compared to these tiny creatures, Aofeng looked like a giant, his strong build and serious expression exuding an intimidating presence that made the little ones visibly anxious.

In the previous pet store, Aofeng hadn’t encountered this kind of reaction. So when he heard the panicked cries of the young animals now, he was momentarily at a loss. One paw hovered mid-air, unsure whether to step forward or retreat.

“Hey, hey, hey! Didn’t we say no large dogs allowed inside? What if you scare our pets? Are you going to pay for that?” A store employee came over with an annoyed look, immediately trying to shoo them away. He had already noticed the large bag in Song Changfeng’s hand, its logo revealing it was from the rival store, Pet Lovers’ Tribe. The bag was bulging, clearly filled with purchases.

What Song Changfeng didn’t realize was that they were being judged as low-value customers by this employee, who assumed they had no intention of buying anything here. So when they were met with hostility, he thought it was because he’d missed a sign about large dogs not being allowed.

But after stepping back outside and looking around, he couldn’t find any such notice, which made him increasingly irritated.

“Excuse me, where exactly does it say large dogs aren’t allowed?” Song Changfeng asked, holding back his anger.

“Didn’t I just say so?” the employee snapped back without a care. There were no other customers in the store at the moment, so he didn’t bother hiding his attitude. He even rolled his eyes, showing zero concern about losing a potential sale.

The rudeness was downright disgusting. Aofeng’s teeth itched with frustration. If only he were a stray, he’d happily give this guy a few free rabies shots. But he was a police dog in training. If he bit someone and broke protocol, he’d lose his iron rice bowl⁴ for sure.

It was the same for Song Changfeng. Sometimes, a job that seemed honorable came with countless restrictions. Do something that rubbed the wrong person the wrong way, and they’d weaponize your profession against you. If they won the argument, you were in the wrong. If they lost, they’d accuse you of lacking professional ethics. Either way, you were to blame.

Song Changfeng shot the employee a cold glare, then turned and walked out with Aofeng. With staff like that, it was no wonder the store was doomed to fail.

They took a detour down another street and found a different pet store, where they finally got their hands on some Hao Hao Chi Brand Dog Food. Though, technically, they didn’t buy it. When they arrived, the shop owner was in the middle of angrily tossing several bags of dog food out the door.

After asking around, Song Changfeng learned that the dog food had been pitched to the owner by a door-to-door salesman. The guy had hyped it up to the heavens, practically claiming it was the best dog food in existence. The store owner was new to the business and got a little tempted, especially since the product was cheap and came in bulk. Figuring there was no harm in trying, he bought a whole box.

But just a few days ago, he sold one bag, and by this morning, the customer had come storming back. Ever since switching to that dog food, their little corgi had been having diarrhea. Sure, corgis were known for sensitive stomachs and occasional digestive issues, but this time it was constant – every meal led to a mess.

After a full day of this, the customer panicked and rushed the dog to the vet. The diagnosis? Poor-quality dog food. For dogs with strong stomachs, it might just mean poor nutrition, but for breeds like corgis, huskies, and Samoyeds – all infamous for their fragile guts – the effects were immediate and severe.

Once the corgi recovered, the customer came straight to the store demanding a refund and compensation for the vet bills. If the store dared to sell such subpar dog food, who knew what other problems it might have?

The owner felt guilty and didn’t want to risk ruining his reputation, so he reluctantly paid a few hundred in medical costs.

After that, the more he thought about it, the angrier he got. He glared at the remaining bags of dog food in the corner, his teeth grinding in frustration. In a fit of rage, he grabbed them and headed out to throw them away. That’s when Song Changfeng showed up, looking to buy that very brand.

To avoid another lawsuit, the owner refused to sell and told Song Changfeng the whole story, muttering, “If that fat bastard of a salesman ever shows his face here again, I swear I’ll teach him a lesson!”

Something clicked in Song Changfeng’s mind. He pulled out a printed image from his pocket and asked, “Was it this guy?”

The shop owner studied it for a moment, then nodded firmly. “That’s him! He even said the dog food was made right here in Anyang, and if I didn’t support it, I wasn’t a true local. Pfft, moral blackmail my ass! Oh, and he left a business card too. If I hadn’t been stuck at the store, I’d have gone looking for him myself!”

Song Changfeng took the business card and silently compared it. The identity matched the private message account that had previously asked him to promote the product. Now they just had to wait for Sun Xiaobin to receive the dog food and verify it. If it really was him, then Song Changfeng had already pieced together the likely cause and effect behind the whole incident.

Aofeng had come to the same conclusion. He figured that the person who asked him to promote the product had turned to underhanded tactics after being rejected. They probably wanted to get him hooked on the dog food and secretly delivered it to the Traffic Police Squad. Who would’ve thought Da Huang would eat it first?

Since Da Huang was a stray dog, he had no resistance to appetite stimulants. And the dosage in that dog food was way beyond normal levels, which explained his strange behavior and why it raised their suspicions.

Once he understood, Aofeng couldn’t help but sigh. Fame really does bring trouble! He was just a streamer with a little over two hundred thousand followers, and already someone was scheming against him. Looks like from now on, he’d have to act boldly but stay low-key as a dog!

When Song Changfeng and the others returned to the Traffic Police Squad, the rest of the team had come back too. They had visited several residential areas near Lijing Garden and gathered some leads after talking to residents. Putting all the clues together, they were able to roughly identify the person behind it.

His name was Luo Zikun, the owner of a dog food processing factory in Anyang City. He used to run an online store, but when business declined, he tried switching to a physical shop. However, his dog food brand had no recognition, so he privately messaged the account of Anyang’s rising canine influencer, hoping Aofeng would promote his product and help him break into the local market. After being rejected, he resorted to dirty tricks.

“Let’s go find him!” Zhou Zihang said excitedly. With the mood like this, not going to confront the guy would be letting down poor innocent Da Huang.

“Hold on,” Song Changfeng said. “The report from the veterinary feed inspection station should be ready soon. Once we have that, he won’t be able to talk his way out of it.”

Director Li nodded. “Changfeng’s right. Let’s wait a bit. We’ll go after lunch, once the report is in.”

The deputy captain of the Traffic Police Squad was an old classmate of Director Li, so they treated them to lunch in the cafeteria. It had to be said, the squad’s meals were definitely better than theirs, with more variety too. Then again, most of their meal subsidies went to the police dogs.

While they ate, Aofeng was eating too. Naturally, the Traffic Police Squad didn’t stock any special dog food, so for the past few days, Aofeng had been eating canned food and biscuits that Song Changfeng brought from the Training Base for lunch. At night, back at the Shen Family’s house, he ate homemade dog meals prepared by Wang Xiuyun.

Today, Song Changfeng had bought a bunch of things, and although he claimed it was for Da Huang, he couldn’t ignore Aofeng’s occasional glances toward that bag of treats. Even Director Li said, “Let him have some. It’s fine to eat outside food once in a while. Once they’re on duty and out on long missions, they’ll have to eat whatever’s available anyway.”

With that said, Song Changfeng couldn’t insist anymore. He carefully picked out the two smallest sausages, peeled them, broke them in half, and added them to Aofeng’s food bowl.

After one bite, Aofeng realized the sausages tasted just as good as the ones he used to eat as a human. He happily dug in, his tail wagging uncontrollably.

…

About an hour after lunch, two vehicles arrived outside the Traffic Police Squad. One carried the director and technician from the veterinary feed inspection station, and the other was from the Consumer Association.

They had come for the dog food that Song Changfeng had submitted for testing.

At first, they thought it was just a case of excessive appetite stimulants. But as the testing progressed, a series of shocking results began to appear on the report.

The report showed that most of the ingredients were low-quality, moldy grains, and even husks. The meat components were mostly lymphatic cysts and scraps from animal carcasses. Not only did these offer zero nutritional value, but consuming too much could seriously endanger a pet’s health. Normally, dog food like this wouldn’t attract animals at all, but the heavy dose of appetite stimulants created a false sense of appeal, increasing the desire to eat.

The technician compared the ingredient list on the packaging with the actual contents and found no match whatsoever. Aside from the low-grade ingredients, there were also plenty of shady additives. Even the printed address was a fake foreign city, and the production license was forged. This was clearly an illegal, unregulated product.

Such blatant exploitation of legal loopholes, deception of consumers, and disregard for life was no longer something the Training Base could handle alone. Who knew what Luo Zikun was thinking, trying to get a trainee police dog to promote his product? Either he was money-hungry to the point of madness, or this was some bizarre new form of turning himself in.

When the various departments followed the address on the business card to the dog food factory, Luo Zikun was lounging in his boss chair with his legs crossed, looking quite pleased with himself.

He was all smiles, thinking that the plan his friend suggested was working perfectly. As soon as the dog food was delivered, the police dog influencer had caved. He had sent out a few bags that morning using a local courier, and by now, they should have arrived.

Imagining the wealth that would come once the dog started promoting his brand, Luo Zikun couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

Just then, an employee burst into the office. “Boss, there are a lot of people outside asking for you. They want you to come out!”

“For me?” Luo Zikun was puzzled. But when he stepped outside, he was stunned. Why were all these uniformed people here? To buy dog food?

Before he could ask, they began listing his crimes. The police moved quickly, even pulling up past complaints from his online store.

One charge after another piled up like a mountain, crushing Luo Zikun until he couldn’t even stand. His legs gave out, and he collapsed to the ground with a thud.

It was over. Completely over!

Translator’s Notes