Chapter 52: Unruly and Untamed

At today’s award ceremony, the unusual behavior of the police dog named Aofeng caught Sheng Changlin’s attention. Even after returning home that evening, he couldn’t stop thinking about it. What was it about him that had triggered such a reaction?

He had already changed out of his clothes from earlier and inspected them carefully. There was nothing unusual on them. Besides the Police Dog Training Base, he hadn’t gone anywhere else that day. If someone had approached him, the bodyguards hidden in the crowd would have raised an alert. When Aofeng barked at him earlier, if he hadn’t signaled them to stay calm, they probably would’ve rushed in immediately.

If none of that was the cause, then what was?

Sheng Changlin recalled how Aofeng had barked at a specific part of his body. Without realizing it, he placed his hand over the spot. That was… his liver? He froze for a moment and looked down. Aofeng had been barking at his liver?

Was there something wrong with his liver?

Maybe he was overthinking it. Sheng Changlin shook his head. Perhaps Aofeng was just holding a grudge from being teased in the cafeteria last time and was acting out. But based on what he’d read about the dog, that didn’t seem likely. The information online said Aofeng was highly intelligent and had strong professional capabilities. Although he hadn’t officially graduated from the training base, he had already participated in several real cases and made significant contributions in each one.

Would a dog like that really lose control at a formal event just because of a prank in the cafeteria?

With that thought, Sheng Changlin pulled out his phone and made a call. Less than half an hour later, a group of people arrived at his door. They were his private medical team, hired specifically to monitor his health. In the villa next door, Sheng Changlin had installed a full set of medical equipment, all prepared for the Sheng family’s use.

“Mr. Sheng, are you feeling unwell?” the lead doctor asked with concern.

“Run a full check-up for me, and focus especially on my liver,” Sheng Changlin replied. As a businessman, he had a strong belief in intuition. Since today’s incident had unsettled him, why not get to the bottom of it? Besides, it had been two or three months since his last full-body exam.

“Understood!”

The group escorted Sheng Changlin to the medical room. They ran every test that didn’t require fasting. For the liver, both blood tests and an ultrasound were necessary, and those required an empty stomach, so they were postponed until the next morning.

The results for the other areas came in one by one. The doctors took turns explaining the data to Sheng Changlin. Overall, his health was fairly good, with no major issues. There were only minor concerns that could be improved with some care and adjustment.

Upon hearing this, Sheng Changlin let out a barely noticeable sigh of relief. But the other half of that sigh would have to wait until the liver test results came in the next morning. At this point in his life, fame and fortune were nothing but fleeting clouds. Health was what truly mattered.

He spent the night in a half-dreamlike state, waking up the next morning feeling more sluggish than usual. After washing up, he went downstairs for breakfast as usual, but the moment he picked up his bowl, he remembered the liver tests scheduled for today.

The doctors had stayed overnight in the villa next door. They were already waiting outside and quickly led him over for the tests as soon as he came out.

Since Sheng Changlin had specifically mentioned his liver, the doctors conducted both a blood test and a liver ultrasound for a more thorough examination.

The ultrasound report came out quickly, but the blood test results would take about three hours.

The moment the doctor glanced at the ultrasound report, his expression turned serious. The scan showed a shadow on the liver.

Seeing this, Sheng Changlin’s heart skipped a beat. A sense of dread crept in. He quickly asked, “Is there something wrong with my report?”

Sweat beaded on the doctor’s forehead. “Mr. Sheng, please don’t worry. Let us take another look.”

How could Sheng Changlin not worry? He strode over, snatched the report from the doctor’s hands, but he wasn’t a medical professional. No matter how he looked at it, he couldn’t make sense of the data.

“Just tell me already! What does this report say?” His tone turned sharp.

The doctor hesitated, then decided to be honest. “Mr. Sheng, the ultrasound shows a shadow on your liver. The area is small, but we can’t determine the cause yet. We’ll need to wait for the blood test results to get a clearer picture.”

Sheng Changlin’s heart sank. In that moment, he seemed to age several years.

Three hours later, the blood test results came in. The data confirmed that there had indeed been changes in his liver. After a discussion with the doctors, they decided to perform a liver biopsy for a more accurate diagnosis.

Sheng Changlin agreed. The procedure was uncomfortable, but it was necessary to understand what was going on inside his body.

Soon, the results came back. The bad news: there was a tumor in his liver. The good news: it had been caught early, it was benign, and it was very small. With targeted medication, there was an eighty percent chance of a full recovery.

Sheng Changlin let out a bitter laugh. It seemed his time wasn’t up just yet. In fact, he owed it all to that little guy. He really did have a special connection with police dogs. One had saved his life in his youth, and now, another had saved him in his old age.

…

“Hello, Shengda Shipping? Yes, this is Li Xiangyang, Director of the Anyang Police Dog Training Base. Yes, Aofeng is indeed one of our police dogs…”

That evening, Director Li received a phone call. The caller claimed to be the Chief Financial Officer of Shengda Shipping and said there was a sponsorship fund that needed to be transferred to him.

At first, Director Li didn’t believe it. But his anti-fraud app¹ didn’t flag the number, which meant it wasn’t one of those scam calls. Still skeptical, he looked up the number and found that it really did belong to Shengda Shipping’s official line. So the sponsorship was real after all?

Although Anyang was some distance from Yicheng City, Director Li was still somewhat familiar with Shengda Shipping, the leading company there. The shipping company had gone public a few years ago and was flush with cash. Rumor had it that over half of the funding for the Yicheng Training Base came from Shengda Shipping. Who would’ve thought that one day, this stroke of luck would fall into his lap?

With that thought, Director Li quickly dialed Shen Yuanhui’s number to share the news. Shen Yuanhui was pleased and asked him what had happened.

Director Li was momentarily stumped, since the other party hadn’t provided a reason. But they had mentioned Aofeng… Could it be that they liked Aofeng? Or maybe that child whom Changfeng and Aofeng had rescued from being kidnapped on the street was actually a relative or friend of Shengda Shipping’s boss?

A flood of possibilities flashed through Director Li’s mind, but he kept his response simple. “Bureau Chief Shen, they haven’t told me the reason yet, but it might have something to do with Aofeng.”

“Aofeng?” Shen Yuanhui was puzzled. What did the sponsorship have to do with Aofeng? Did Aofeng somehow secure the funding?

“Yes, because they only asked about Aofeng,” Director Li replied.

Shen Yuanhui paused for a moment, then said, “Whatever their reason, this is a good thing. Just make sure that the use of this funding is clearly accounted for. Have someone create a separate ledger, and make sure every expense is traceable. We don’t want to raise any suspicions.”

Director Li understood that Shen Yuanhui was giving him a heads-up and quickly said, “Don’t worry, Bureau Chief Shen. I’ll have the accountant make a separate report.”

After hanging up, Director Li followed the instructions in the email from Shengda Shipping, filling out the required information step by step. Just before sending it off, he hesitated. To be safe, he opened Shengda Shipping’s official website and carefully compared the details. Only after confirming everything was legitimate did he send it.

The funding arrived quickly. By a little after nine the next morning, the money had already been deposited into the Training Base’s account.

Director Li stared at his phone for a long time, a satisfied grin spreading across his face like a fox that had just stolen a chicken². With this money, everything would be much easier.

“Changfeng, come by when you have a moment. I’ve got something I want to discuss with you.” Director Li sent a voice message to Song Changfeng.

At the time, Song Changfeng was training Aofeng. In just a few days, they would be heading off to another competition. After reviewing their performance in the last event, the team had identified areas for improvement and ramped up their training in hopes of achieving better results at the national level. Among them, Aofeng had performed the best, but Song Changfeng had always believed in pushing for excellence. During training, he was just as dedicated as ever.

After finishing the session, he finally checked his phone and saw Director Li’s message. He brought Aofeng back to the kennel, then headed to Director Li’s office. As soon as he walked in, he saw Director Li beaming from behind his desk, greeting him warmly.

“Director Li, what did you need to see me about?” Song Changfeng greeted him politely, his tone steady and formal.

“Have a seat. It’s like this – didn’t you say that the equipment we use to train the Criminal Investigation Dogs is really outdated? Here’s what I want you to do: make a list of the gear that’s still usable, and we’ll take care of replacing the rest.”

Hearing this, Song Changfeng had just sat down but immediately sprang to his feet. “Director Li, we can actually buy new equipment now?”

“The funding issue has been resolved, so of course we can. In fact, it’s all thanks to you and Aofeng,” Director Li said.

Song Changfeng was completely baffled. Him and Aofeng? How could the two of them possibly be responsible for securing such a large sum? If they had that kind of pull, their training field would’ve been fully equipped long ago.

“You know Shengda Shipping, right? The money came from them. They even specifically confirmed that Aofeng was from our base before releasing the funds. How do you know anyone from Shengda Shipping?”

Song Changfeng frowned and replied, “President Sheng from Shengda Shipping did attend the regional Police Dog Competition, but I didn’t have any interaction with him. The most that happened was he presented Aofeng with an award. Afterward, Aofeng barked at him for quite a while.”

Uh… Director Li felt a little awkward. So what was really going on here? There had to be more to the story. Surely the president of Shengda Shipping wasn’t the type to enjoy being barked at by a defiant dog… right?

Translator’s Notes