Ma HuiYu and Zeng Lao Liu quarreled endlessly over the price of the truckload of dogs, while the rich woman was still throwing a tantrum on the ground. The situation caused a passing driver to slow down and take a look, which almost caused a chain-reaction car accident.
The two traffic police officers weren’t able to mediate the situation, especially when they realized the volunteers were too emotional. They were afraid that it will lead to a mass incident with a bad ending and they already asked their superiors for support.
“We can’t keep this up.” Shu Sha, who was silent for a long time, finally came up with an idea and said, “Let’s not stay on the road anymore…”
“What are you saying, how can we give up halfway?” A petite and frail male volunteer, who was too afraid to stand so close to Zeng Lao Da like Xiao Ding, still questioned Shu Sha on her stance.
“If we don’t block the truck, does that mean we’re just going to let them butcher all these dogs?” Another female volunteer joined in and now Shu Sha was faced against two people, “I heard that you’re a new volunteer. Do you only like pet dogs and not meat dogs, so your trying to back out now that you think the dogs in the truck are ugly?”
“No, no that’s not it. I like all dogs, I don’t care if it doesn’t look good…”
“Hmph, then why were you so far back when we went to inspect the back earlier? I bet you thought those dogs smelled really bad. If you don’t really like dogs, then you shouldn’t have come.”
“I, I had my own reasons for staying further…”
“What reasons?”
The class leader couldn’t say she was afraid to get close because her hunter aura would cause a riot among the dogs in the cages. If she told the volunteers about her “superpower”, they definitely wouldn’t believe her. If she personally shows it off, then the volunteers would be doubtful on whether or not she actually likes dogs. They would definitely say: “Dogs have good instincts, so if they are all afraid of you, does that mean you pretend to be a good person while you secretly abuse dogs?”
After another truck hurtled pass them, the class leader knew she couldn’t waste time. Even if she was only considered as a person who didn’t belong among the volunteers, she had to do her best to change this dangerous situation.
“I didn’t mean we should give up on the dogs when I suggested to stop blocking the road. I just thought it was too dangerous to get into an argument on the highway, so we should change to a different location.”
“That’s right, we should change a location.” The two traffic police officers agreed. It seems like the two of them were scolded by both their superiors and people online for not handling the last ‘stop the cars to save the dogs’ incident, so they were being especially cautious this time around.
“Stop giving dumb ideas.” Zeng Lao Liu glanced at Shu Sha with disdain, “There are cars all around us on the highway, so there are no safe places. If you want us to get off the highway, there’s no way we’re going to agree.”
“There is a safe place on the highway.” Shu Sha calmly held up her phone to let the others take a look at the map on the screen, “According to national regulations, there must be a service stop for every 100 kilometers or so on the highway. It’s used to provide accommodation, food, gas, car repair, and other functions. There’s a service stop 5 kilometers ahead, so we can move our negotiations there. It won’t cause any traffic congestion and we can also avoid the danger by not standing on the highway.”
“Hey, that’s a good idea.” One of the traffic police officers said, “How come we didn’t think of it.”
“It’s because that service stop wasn’t built yet at the last stop the cars to save the dogs incident, so we both forgot about it.” The other traffic police officer said in embarrassment to defend themselves.
“Sure.” Zeng Lao Liu agreed with a wicked smile, “We were just about to drive to that service stop to use the washroom. You guys can all follow behind us on foot, since 5km isn’t that far.”
The volunteers all looked at each other. Although they also drove over, but in order to intercept the dog truck in time, most of them took shortcuts and walked over a hill to get to the highway on foot. There were 16 volunteers, but there was only a convertible Jeep beside them. The back seat was also loaded with water, food, and medicine, so it could only carry two people including the driver.
The traffic police commanded: “Why don’t you send two representatives to go with the truck to the service stop to negotiate, the others can follow behind slowly. Just don’t stay on the highway, an accident wouldn’t be beneficial to any of us.”
“Hurry up.” Zeng Lao Liu looked at his wristwatch and urged, “You guys might have nothing better to do, but we still haven’t had breakfast yet, so don’t hold us up.”
“I’ll drive the jeep.” Ma HuiYu said after a second of thought, “Who wants to sit in the passenger seat and negotiate with me.”
A lot of volunteers laid their gaze on Xiao Ding. There were too few men, only Xiao Ding had a bit of muscle. The Zeng brothers were very uncivilized, so they needed a bodyguard during the negotiations.
“Tsk.” The black-faced Zeng Lao Da laughed when he saw the volunteers place their hopes on Xiao Ding. In his eyes, even two Xiao Dings were no match for him.
Xiao Ding was well aware of him own capabilities, but he couldn’t shirk away from his responsibilities, so he slapped his chest: “I’ll follow along. I won’t let them run away.”
Zeng Lao Dao couldn’t help but ridicule them: “I’m not even afraid of 16 of you. Do you think I’m going to be afraid of the two of you later? What a joke.”
“I think Heibai Wuchang is going to ditch miss Ma and Xiao Ding once they get to the service stop.”
The volunteers huddled into a circle and whispered among themselves.
“We don’t even know if they will stop at the service stop. We can’t let them leave, we have to get it done here.”
At this time, Shu Sha cleared her throat and spoke loud enough for both the traffic police and the Zeng brothers to hear.
“We can only fit two people on the jeep. Of the remaining 14 people, 4 drivers will have to go back down the hill and drive the four parked cars outside to the service stop. As for the other 10 people, hopefully we could squeeze in the back of the cargo truck. We can also use this opportunity to feed the caged dogs some water, what do you think about this arrangement?”
The Zeng brother’s complexions immediately changed. They knew Shu Sha wanted the 10 volunteers to stay on their own truck so they couldn’t leave if they couldn’t reach a satisfactory result. It’s not like they can take 10 people with them to sell the meat.
“It’s a pretty good idea…” Ma HuiYu was a little impressed with Shu Sha.
“Ridiculous.” Zeng Lao Liu immediately expressed opposition, “Can 10 people even squeeze into the carriage? Even if you’re not afraid of the stench, we’re afraid of overloading it. Officer, we should not overload a truck, right?”
“Of course you can’t overload it.” The traffic police nodded, but then saw the hostile gaze from the volunteers and quickly changed his tone: “Although it won’t fit 10 people, 6 people shouldn’t be a problem. The rest can take other cars and we can solve the rest of our conflicts at the service stop.”
Zeng Lao Liu frowned: “6 people can’t fit either.”
Ma HuiYu pointed to the big truck and questioned: “If you’re traveling a long distance, why didn’t you fill the back? Were you planning on putting something inside halfway? 10 people can clearly fit in the back, but if we put 6 people, 4 people can sit while 2 people can even walk around with no problem.”
The officers also found it suspicious they purposely left a lot of empty space.
“We were afraid the dogs would suffocate, so we purposely left a wide space.” Zeng Lao Liu said.
“Do you slaughterers even care if the dog lives or dies?” One of the female volunteers questioned in a high-pitched voice.
“Fuck.” Zeng Lao Da pointed at the female volunteer’s nose and threatened, “If the police didn’t come, I would have killed you.”
“Murder, they’re going to commit murder!” The rich woman was still lying on the ground and refused to get up, and everyone almost forgot about her if she didn’t make a sound.
Shu Sha took a step forward, walked beside Ma HuiYu, and said to the Zeng brothers, “If you were thinking about ventilation, why don’t you disperse the dog cages evenly instead of piling them on the sides of the carriage? It looks like you are obviously going to add other goods halfway through your trip.”
“It’s none of your business.” Zeng Lao Da looked at Shu Sha fiendishly and asked, “Which school do you attend? Are you not afraid of your identity being exposed and someone getting revenge on you?”
Shu Sha did not shrink back at all. Her two black pupils stared straight back at his menacing gaze and it made him have a bit of a guilty conscience.
Shu Sha whispered to Ma HuiYu, “I think they were already planning to rest at the service stop. There might be another car waiting there to sneak the stolen dogs onto their truck, then bring them all to Guangzhou.”
Ma HuiYu nodded, “After we get to the service stop, not only do we have to keep our guard up against Heibai Wuchang, but we also have to pay attention to the other people in the service stop. We have to find the other car with the dogs too.”
“It’s our car, so who says they can ride it.” Zeng Lao Liu objected again, “Is it any of their business if we go to the service stop or not? We also have to pay for the service stop…”
The officer interrupted him, “An official highway service stop has free parking…”
“Um… we still need to spend money to eat breakfast at the service stop!” Zeng Lao Liu was completely unreasonable, “They have to pay for our breakfast!”
“I’ll pay.” The rich woman got up from the ground with a face full of ruined makeup and said: “As long as you leave the dogs, I’ll pay for your meal in the service area. Hope you choke to death.”
The traffic police probably felt that if they made these two groups of people move to the service stop, they would be less responsible if they get into any arguments afterwards, so they desperately tried to make it happen.
“They want to buy your dogs, not forcibly snatch them from you, so you guys should let 6 volunteers ride in the back. Isn’t it good they are willing to help watch the dogs and help them cool off?”
“That’s right.” The other officer chimed in, “Even if the negotiation isn’t successful, if they take care of your dogs for you, maybe less would die on the way. Live dogs are more valuable than dead dogs, right?”
“But our time…”
“We know time is money.” The officer laughed, “But didn’t they say they will compensate you? Not only will they pay for your meal, they also said they will pay you the taxi fee to take 6 people 5km, so it’s not a loss for you guys.”
“That’s right, that’s right.” The other officer was anxious to solve the traffic issue, “What aren’t you satisfied with, you can chat more at the service stop. Right now, they’re willing to make some concessions, but you guys aren’t budging. If you don’t move, we will have to give you demerit points on your license.”
The Zeng brothers had no choice but to grit their teeth and agree to let the six volunteers ride in the back.