Panda
“Hurry up, or we’ll be squeezed to the back and won’t be able to see Dodo!” A girl with red hair urged as she tugged at her boyfriend’s sleeve in the crowd.
“It’s still early, maybe the pandas are still sleeping, or maybe they’re like me, didn’t sleep well and watch to catch up on sleep.” The boy, who had come to the zoo early in the morning because his girlfriend loved pandas, yawned and spoke lazily.
The red-haired girl kicked her boyfriend on the buttock and said, “You lazy bum! If you delay me from seeing Dodo, I’ll make sure to deal with you when we get back!”
The two of them squeezed through the crowd and finally came to the railing, where they could see the scenery outside the enclosure. Not far away was a dense bamboo forest, a shallow pond, and several large wooden climbing structures.
“Why isn’t Dodo out yet?” The red-haired girl anxiously waited, her camera ready to capture every moment.
“Here they come! The caretaker is coming out to feed the pandas with apples, Dodo and Pipi will be here soon!” Someone nearby quickly spotted the new development and exclaimed with joy.
The red-haired girl’s eyes lit up. As a panda enthusiast, she knew that pandas did not always appear in front of the visitors, but whenever the caretaker came out to feed them, they would definitely come.
“Wow, is this keeper new? She seems like a young lady!”
As the pandas had not appeared yet, the visitors directed their attention toward the caretaker.
“Really. I think this young lady is beautiful. A beautiful caretaker with adorable pandas, that’s a great combination. I’m sure many people would love to watch videos of this!” The person speaking took out his phone and started filming the new caretaker in the enclosure.
At that moment, on the pathway below the fence, Xia Xin held a bamboo pole in her left hand and a basin in her right hand, filled with cut apples.
Xia Xin looked up and could see the dense crowd behind the railing. She thought, ‘It seemed that the zoo’s popularity was increasing. When I came here two years ago, there weren’t as many people.’
But what puzzled Xia Xin was why the visitors were pointing their cameras and phone cameras at her instead of the pandas. Then she only realized that the pandas had not come out yet. She thought the visitors must be waiting to capture the moment when the pandas come to her to eat the apples.
Xia Xin realized that she should not keep the enthusiastic visitors waiting for long. Following Li Li’s instructions, Xia Xin shouted in a slightly local accent, “Dodo, Pipi! It’s time to eat apples! Come here quickly!”
Xia Xin repeated her call several times until she finally saw two pandas walking towards her from the depths of the bamboo forest.
One of them was tall and robust, walking swiftly, while the other was short and plump, with a slow and adorable gait. Its four short legs moved slowly, melting everyone’s hearts.
The taller panda was Pipi, the “Little Tyrant” of the panda exhibit, while Dodo, the most popular panda in the past two years.
Xia Xin felt her excitement rise as she saw the furry pandas. Before, when she visited the zoo, she could only watch the pandas from behind the fence like the other visitors, but now she had become their caretaker.
As the netizen would say, she had become the “Mommy” of Pipi, Dodo, and Bao, the three pandas.
Xia Xin, who had not had children of her own, was overflowing with motherly love. At the same time, her unique Beast Language System activated its passive function, automatically translating the conversations between the two pandas as they approached Xia Xin.
“Who is that? Shorty, do you know her?” Pipi asked.
“You big dummy, speak more politely to me. I’m your older sister!” said Dodo.
Xia Xin could not help but smile. She had heard that Pipi and Dodo were a pair of pandas with noticeable size differences, but she did not expect Pipi to be so rude to its older sister.
When Pipi and Dodo reached her, Xia Xin picked up a small apple from the basin and fixed it on the top of the bamboo pole. Then she raised the bamboo pole and let the apple sway on the heads of Pipi and Dodo.
Pipi and Dodo both stood on their tiptoes to bite the apple. Dodo’s two short hind legs could barely stand properly. He swayed and looked extremely cute, causing the surrounding audience to let out excited cries.
A child held by an adult on the railing shouted excitedly, “Panda fishing, hahaha!”