5: Walking the dog and feeding the cat

Chen Xiangbei quickly washed up and put on a set of sportswear. Today, his task was to go door-to-door to feed cats and dogs.

In Linhai, there are many blue-collar and white-collar workers who are busy with work every day and enjoy playing with cats and walking dogs in their free time.

However, when they occasionally need to travel for business, their pets are left unattended, so they often entrust pet shops to provide home feeding services.

If pet shops receive too many orders, they can't handle them all, so they distribute some of the excess orders.

Chen Xiangbei planned to take on this kind of work today because he had experience doing similar part-time jobs on weekends or holidays during college.

Moreover, it was relatively easy, just that the locations he needed to visit were quite spread out.

He arrived at a roadside stall selling wontons, ordered a large portion of fresh meat wontons with extra ingredients, a braised duck leg, a braised sausage, and a cup of freshly ground iced soy milk.

The wontons were cooked quickly, and he ate while checking the orders in the part-time job group.

During college, Chen Xiangbei knew his family's financial situation wasn't good and didn't want to ask his parents for money.

So he often went out to work part-time in his spare time to earn money, which led him to join many such part-time job groups.

He scrolled through the information in several pet part-time job groups and saw that many orders for home visits today had not yet been taken.

"Garden Community, Block A, Building 3, Sixth Floor, three dogs, requires home feeding + 1 hour walk, remuneration 35 yuan."

"Jincheng Community, Block B, one cat house with 7 adult cats needing food, 6 kittens needing cleaning, remuneration 30 yuan."

"Jingshang Garden Community, dog walking and cat feeding, remuneration 43 yuan."

...

Chen Xiangbei quickly accepted a few higher-priced orders that were relatively close.

After finishing his breakfast unhurriedly, he took the subway to the pet shop to pick up the keys left by the clients.

Then he took the subway to the nearest community, arriving at his destination in less than ten minutes.

This was an old community, once the central area of Linhai City, which had gradually been swallowed by modern high-rises over time.

However, a sense of old-fashioned beauty still remained in this community, allowing people to feel the passage of time.

The community was shaded by green trees and lush with flowers and plants; walking through it, one could feel the fresh air, which was refreshing.

Although the houses in this community were old, they were meticulously maintained, and the flowers and plants in front of the doors were neatly trimmed, making people instinctively fond of them.

Here, people could experience a peaceful living atmosphere, free from the noise and pressure of the city, only tranquility and leisure.

Chen Xiangbei arrived at the client's door, inserted the key, and as he opened the door, a dog barking suddenly erupted from the other side of the door, startling him.

Pushing the door open, two seemingly adult Samoyeds were confined in a large cage, barking incessantly at Chen Xiangbei.

Chen Xiangbei ignored them, found where the dog food was stored, picked up the dog food bag, filled the bowl, and then carried the bowl directly to the two Samoyeds.

Perhaps seeing the dog food in Chen Xiangbei's hand, they knew it was time to eat, so they stopped barking at him, their eyes fixed on the food in Chen Xiangbei's hand, their tails wagging like electric fans.

He came to the dogs, opened the dog cage door, and the two Samoyeds scrambled out, like beasts unleashed from a cage.

Chen Xiangbei raised the hand holding the dog food, and with his other hand, he stopped the dogs from snatching the food.

"Don't rush, there's plenty for everyone."

After saying that, he gently stroked both dogs' heads one by one, establishing a bond.

Then he poured the dog food into two bowls, one bowl per dog, and the dogs began to eat with relish.

Then Chen Xiangbei went to the sink, filled two bowls with water, also one bowl per dog.

After the dogs had eaten and drunk their fill, he took the two leashes hanging on the wall and put them on the two dogs.

The two dogs knew they were going out to play; they didn't resist but instead cooperated with Chen Xiangbei's actions.

Chen Xiangbei took them to a nearby small park and started walking them.

The dogs began to run wildly; the two dogs were full of energy and quite strong, and Chen Xiangbei helplessly jogged along behind them.

Then an interesting scene occurred: two large white dogs ran freely in front, with the leash-bound 'poop-scooper' calling out, "Slower, slower!" from behind, drawing the attention of passersby.

During the dog walk, Chen Xiangbei did not forget to take photos of the two dogs as a way to check off the completed task.

About 40 minutes later, he returned home with the two dogs, coaxed and tricked them back into their dog cages, and then turned to leave.

Chen Xiangbei then headed to his next task location.

This was a task to bathe a cat; the owner had prepared an automated feeder for a cute blue cat, so there was no fear of the cat going hungry.

The only concern was the cat's hygiene, as the cat's owner was a bit of a clean freak, so the cat needed regular baths.

Chen Xiangbei found a large basin specifically for bathing cats, filled it with water, and then carried the cat into the water.

He was surprised to find that this cat didn't struggle at all; usually, cats are quite resistant to bathing.

He pondered, perhaps the cat's owner bathed it frequently, so it had become immune to bathing.

Chen Xiangbei began to bathe the cat: wetting it, applying shampoo, gently stroking it, and humming a little tune.

"Wash, wash, wash the kitty, baby's essence can't be missed..."

The singing was a bit harsh; if the cat could speak, I think it would definitely say, "Shut up."

Soon, the cat was sparkling clean. Chen Xiangbei photographed the bathing process, as this was a task requirement; the owner wanted to see the cat's bathing process.

After completing this order, he continued to the next destination. He had many orders today, so they were tightly scheduled.

Soon it was lunchtime, and Chen Xiangbei went to KFC. He had a burger, a Mexican chicken wrap, two egg tarts, and a bottle of iced happy water.

Because there were many orders, eating this saved time and allowed him to quickly regain energy, as he still had dog-walking orders to complete in the afternoon, and dog walking, especially with large dogs, was quite physically demanding.

At 1 PM, Chen Xiangbei finished eating, rested for a bit, and then continued working.

...

By 4:30 PM, Chen Xiangbei had already completed several orders.

The last order was to pick up three recently born puppies and take them home.

After Chen Xiangbei picked up the puppies at the pet shop, he followed the address to the ground floor of Jindi Garden Community. Just as he was about to close the elevator door, a scream came from the hallway.

"Please wait!"

Just as the elevator doors were about to close, Chen Xiangbei reacted and immediately pressed the button, and the doors opened again.

He saw a girl with a cross-body bag running over in high heels.

Chen Xiangbei looked closely and realized she was a very cute girl.

Her face was round and fair, her eyes bright and sparkling, and her long eyelashes were like tiny fans, making one want to look at her a few more times.

"I'm so sorry, I have something urgent to go home for. Thank you for waiting for me."

Seemingly sensing Chen Xiangbei's gaze, the girl said apologetically.

"No problem, it was just a convenience, no need to be polite," Chen Xiangbei replied with a smile.