Chapter Ninety-One: A Single Full Meal, or Full Meals Forever? Can You Tell the Difference?

“All right! I’ll be right back.”

Song Jiawei knew Zhang Congwen well. Hearing him say that, he understood at once that Zhang already had a way to deal with it. After answering, he trotted off in a fluster to fetch the muzzle.

Once the Jindo was muzzled, Zhang Congwen led it back into the house.

Just as before, the moment it crossed the threshold, the dog seemed to become an entirely different creature, struggling violently at once.

Zhang Congwen dragged it forcibly to the center of the hall, then stopped moving altogether. Only after the dog had calmed did he begin the next step.

Holding the leash in one hand, he pressed down on the dog’s hindquarters with the other, trying to make it lie down by force.

For some reason, although the dog at first showed a clear reluctance, its body obediently and slowly touched the floor.

“How is that possible?” Yang Baoqian, standing nearby, looked rather dumbfounded.

Usually, when this dog was in the house, it would not let anyone touch it even a little. Yet Zhang Congwen had actually pressed it so easily to the ground.

The others watching breathed a quiet sigh of relief. It seemed the dog’s ferocity at the start might only have been fear; its true temperament perhaps was not so terrible after all.

But their relief came a little too soon.

The instant the dog’s belly touched the floor, the Jindo suddenly drove its back muscles with explosive force and sprang up in a single leap, aiming straight for Zhang Congwen’s right hand.

It was too fast. Even though Zhang Congwen had been prepared, the dog’s mouth still brushed his right hand. If it had not been muzzled in advance, his hand would almost certainly have drawn blood at once.

The crowd could not help but tense. The attack had come with no warning, and in that situation no one could have imagined the dog would suddenly lunge.

Though muzzled, everyone still felt a chill run through them.

As the onlookers paled, Yang Baoqian quietly let out a breath of relief. Such a fierce dog was precisely the “good dog” he had worked so hard to find.

Just when everyone thought that if the Jindo failed to get Zhang Congwen’s hand, it would at least settle down for the moment, the dog instead began shaking its head furiously, trying to wrench off the muzzle.

Zhang Congwen tried several times to stop it, but the dog’s ferocity made him back off. After dozens of violent, sweeping shakes, it actually succeeded.

The muzzle slapped hard to the floor.

The crowd’s nerves tightened another notch. While it had worn the muzzle, the Jindo had already nearly bitten Zhang Congwen’s right hand; now that it had broken free, he could easily be injured by the slightest misstep.

With the muzzle gone, the Jindo seemed to have broken free of a seal and became even more frenzied.

Low growls kept forcing themselves from its throat, warning everyone away.

The group standing nearest to the front was frightened by the dog’s presence and instinctively retreated two steps. Some were standing too close to the people behind them and accidentally stepped on the feet of those behind.

“Who stepped on me? Are you blind?”

In the crowd, Yang Baoqian shouted.

He had not been in the very front, nor even in the second row, but because of the pushing from those ahead, the person in front of him lost control of his body and stepped on him again and again.

“Ow... my shoes... my feet...” Yang Baoqian’s eyes almost filled with tears. Whether he was pained by the steps or heartbroken over the shoes he had just bought, no one could tell.

Seeing the spectators grow restless, Zhang Congwen immediately said, “Don’t be afraid. I can handle it.”

This was indeed not a suitable environment for dog training, especially when the scene was chaotic, which would interfere with training to a great extent.

Dogs can read human emotion, so once the atmosphere turns chaotic, they become even harder to manage.

The commotion from the crowd ultimately affected the Jindo as well. It began thrashing wildly again, and in the end even reared up on its hind legs, bracing itself on them while its forelegs clawed at the leash restraining it.

Zhang Congwen seized the moment, extended one foot, and hooked it sharply, wrestling-style, throwing the dog onto the floor.

At the sight of this, several in the crowd drew in sharp breaths, and one person could not suppress a brief cry.

That moment had been too dangerous. Though Zhang Congwen had tripped the Jindo with his leg, the dog, even as it fell, still snapped at his leg.

If Zhang Congwen’s leg had not been so quick and agile, that bite might truly have landed solidly.

“This dog is way too fierce,” someone in the crowd said.

“Too dangerous. That scared me to death just now. I nearly screamed,” said a young woman watching nearby.

“At this rate, won’t it bite someone? I’m getting a little afraid to watch,” said one of Xie Caizhe’s classmates.

“That poor dog,” said another, overflowing with sympathy.

Zhang Congwen frowned.

“This dog’s situation is complicated. I need to take it to a sealed space where no one can interrupt and train it there.”

He had originally intended to train it on the spot, but it was clear that would not work.

A training session should not be contaminated by negative emotions. The spectators ought to remain detached and merely watch. No one needed to worry on his behalf, and no one needed to pity the dog.

But with all kinds of negative emotion present now, Zhang Congwen could only choose another training ground, one where no one else was around.

However, the moment Zhang Congwen finished speaking, Yang Baoqian shouted, “I disagree! If you take my dog somewhere with no people around, how do I know you won’t beat it there? I think you just want to train it by hitting it. Otherwise, why not let us watch?”

Some of the people who did not understand Zhang Congwen’s method of training dogs also began to agree with him.

Especially the one who had just said the dog was pitiful, who joined in as well.

“You can’t hit the dog. This dog has already suffered enough.”

“Exactly. I brought my dog here to have you train it properly, not to pay you to beat it. If you dare hit my dog, I’ll call the police. Hitting a dog is abuse.”

Seeing someone backing him up, Yang Baoqian grew even more smug.

“That’s right! Hitting a dog is abuse. The dog is so pitiful; you can’t abuse it.”

The other person echoed him.

But as soon as that was said, someone else became dissatisfied.

“This dog pitiful? Didn’t you see how fierce it was just now? You think the dog is pitiful, but if it bites someone, then the person isn’t pitiful?”

Yang Baoqian was secretly delighted. He had not expected that a few words from him would stir up a dispute. Seeing signs of an argument breaking out, he immediately shut his mouth.

The person who thought the dog was pitiful, however, did not feel as though Yang Baoqian had used him as a shield. He still clung stubbornly to what he believed was righteous.

“If you don’t provoke it, will it bite you? Didn’t you see how docile it was outside?”

“How do you know it definitely won’t bite people outside?”

“How do you know it definitely will?”

“If you don’t let the dog into the house, how are you supposed to raise it? Easy for you to say. Why don’t you take it home and raise it yourself?” another voice joined the argument.

“Why should I raise it? It’s not my dog. If you can’t raise a dog properly, then set it free and return it to liberty.” The person who thought the dog pitiful had already completely forgotten that the dog belonged to Yang Baoqian.

“Ridiculous. Set this dog loose, and never mind whether it bites people, it is still a threat to the local ecosystem. Are the lives of the other little animals around here not lives? If you have no education, then read more. Stray animals are all invasive species.”

“Dogs have evolved alongside humans for so many years; they’re already adapted to human environments. And you still say I’m uneducated? I think you’re the one without education. Besides, survival of the fittest means the strong eat the weak. If it eats other animals, that’s only natural.”

“You’re the uneducated one, and you still want to argue with me. That’s called evolution, not advancement. And the relationship between dogs and humans isn’t evolution either; it’s domestication. Also, if you say survival of the fittest, then by your logic, if I’m stronger than it, can I just kill it however I want?”

“What kind of twisted mind do you have? Just because you’re human, you think you’re great and can decide the fate of other animals at will?”

Another person joined in: “Still better than it biting people.”

“It doesn’t bite people outside. What good would biting anyone do it? It still has to rely on people feeding it. It’s not stupid. It can tell the difference between a full belly once and a full belly every day.”

“You’re the stupid one! What gave you the courage to say something like that? Liang Jingru? If it can tell the difference between one full meal and being full every day, then it wouldn’t bite people in the house either. What could be better than having shelter from wind and rain and dog food to eat inside?”