Chapter 267: Crow Like a Cock and Snatch Like a Dog
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Zhang Zian got up so early that only a little bit of twilight could be seen on the eastern sky. Looking out from the window of the living room on the second floor, he saw that only a few families had gotten up. It was unclear whether they were going to work, just getting back home from their night shifts, or had been reading all night.
Galaxy was lying under the twilight coming in through the window. It put down its claws lightly, and its silver-grey eyes were just like the stars that remained in the sky.
"Meow, meow, Richard was not teaching them how to talk," it said.
"Not teaching them how to talk?" Zhang Zian didn't understand. Richard was an expert on languages. If Richard was not teaching them how to talk, what was it doing then?
Galaxy shook its head first and then nodded. "Richard was teaching and was not teaching… Meow, meow, I don’t understand and I don't know how to make it clear. But Richard needs your help, and the doctor’s help," it said awkwardly.
"Doctor?" Zhang Zian was dumb. Didn’t Galaxy only know one doctor?
"You mean Sun Xiaomeng, who often comes to our shop?" he confirmed with Galaxy.
Galaxy nodded heavily, "Meow, the white-gown doctor."
"I see." Zhang Zian didn't understand but he took note of it. He didn't inquire about the issue further, because if he knew too much, he would be afraid of the future. For example, if he knew in advance that he would use his left foot to cross the threshold today, then he would be calculating his steps when approaching the threshold so that everything happened as planned—and it was tiresome to live that way.
He knew that Richard was in need of help — not just his help, but assistance from Sun Xiaomeng, and that was enough information for now.
Plus, he also knew that Richard was not satisfied with only teaching the red-headed lovebirds to talk. It must also be preparing something big by itself, so it was better for him to pretend that he did not know anything about its plan.
As for Sun Xiaomeng... It seemed that ever since Guo Dongyue mentioned psittacosis and pigeon-breeder’s lung, she was somehow connected with them.
"Meow, meow, that’s all I want to say for now," said Galaxy.
"Okay, I got it. You can go and play now." Zhang Zian smiled wickedly, "You want me to tell you where that cat is hiding?"
"Meow, meow! Galaxy is not listening! Zhang Zian always cheats in games!" Galaxy lied with its stomach on the floor, closed its eyes, and used its claws to cover its ears.
"Okay, I won't tell you." Zhang Zian touched his nose and thought, since when did Galaxy have the impression that he always cheated in games? He didn't cheat that many times... He just peeked sometimes when playing hide-and-seek. Was that cheating? Of course not!
"Meow, meow!" Galaxy opened one eye, made sure that Zhang Zian was not talking, and ran away quickly from the living room.
Zhang Zian changed into sports clothes, practiced Kung Fu in the living room for a while, and didn't stop until he was drenched in sweat.
He took a quick shower, dried his hair, put yesterday’s clothes into the washing machine, and then went back downstairs.
Fina opened its eyes. Zhang Zian said before it opened its mouth, "Okay, I will go fetch your breakfast later."
Galaxy and the American Shorthair were chasing each other up and down. Snowy Lionet was lying on the lower rack of the cat tree and stared affectionately at Fina’s tail. The water in the pressing teapot had probably gone cold after an evening, and he would boil another bottle of water for Old Time Tea later.
"Zian." Old Time Tea waved its claws at him.
"Grandpa Tea, what's the matter?" he ran to Old Time Tea quickly.
Old Time Tea touched its whiskers, looked at Richard, and said, "Zian, have you heard of the story, ‘Crowing Like a Cock and Snatching Like a Dog’?"
Zhang Zian thought about it and said, "Was it the story that, in ancient times, one rich aristocrat supported many bottom-feeders, and one bottom-feeder could crow like a cock, and another one was adept at drilling holes and snatching like a dog?"
"Yes, exactly," Old Time Tea nodded happily. "But in this case, the latter phrase can be changed into ‘snatching like a cat’."
Zhang Zian was confused, "Grandpa Tea, I don't understand..."
Old Time Tea smiled, struck out its claw and pointed to Richard, who was in the birdcage: "Crowing like a cock." It moved its claw and pointed to Snowy Lionet, who was gazing affectionately at Fina’s tail: "Snatching like a cat."
Zhang Zian finally understood and pointed at his own nose, "I am the rich aristocrat?"
He should never have brought that up, there was no way could he be considered rich!
"Well..." Old Time Tea coughed a bit and then said seriously, "Well, the proverb means to derogate someone’s small tricks nowadays. But skills cannot be categorized as superior and inferior. If the bottom-feeders who could crow like a cock and snatch like a dog didn’t help Lord Mengchang when he was in danger, he would have died long time ago."
Zhang Zian understood that Old Time Tea was reminding him not to look down upon Richard and Snowy Lionet because he might need their skills someday.
"Understood, Grandpa Tea," he replied respectfully.
As the navigation elf had said before, the grading of an elf represented only the power of its belief. But just as everyone specialized in different areas, when it came to a specific area, an elf of a higher level was not necessarily stronger than the elf of a lower level. When the Apprehensive Bird appeared on the game radar, Zhang Zian indeed underestimated the bird, thinking that it was just an elf of the lowest level, and he didn’t care whether or not he caught it. But his experiences these days made him feel very lucky that he had captured the Apprehensive Bird — otherwise he couldn't do anything to help Guo Dongyue.
Old Time Tea was like a wise senior who would instruct him towards the appropriate timing.
Zhang Zian had learned that Richard was capable of languages, but what about Snowy Lionet…?
Fina was taking a nap on the highest rack of the cat tree, and its tail was swinging rhythmically with its breathing. Snowy Lionet was staring at Fina’s tail affectionately, and licked its lips from time to time, as if it was trying very hard to suppress its desire to cuddle and kiss Fina.
Zhang Zian thought that Snowy Lionet would probably be useless as long as it was with Fina. Snowy Lionet was good at stealing things, but he couldn't let it do something bad, right? Apart from snatching, what was Snowy Lionet also good at?
Forget it. He decided to not think about it, and would wait to see what would happen in the future.
If Lord Mengchang could afford to support a lot of bottom-feeders, then Zhang Zian could afford just a few pets. Even if Snowy Lionet could do nothing besides look cute and show its affection towards females, he would not treat it differently...The thing was, Snowy Lionet always treated him discriminately, calling him a jerk all day long...
"You jerk! What are you looking at? Stop looking at me, or I'll have you castrated." Snowy Lionet noticed that he was staring at it and turned around to glare at him, showing its claws to threaten him.
Zhang Zian said mystically, "Doesn't your mouth feel strange?"
"Feel strange?" Snowy Lionet pursed its lips to feel the taste on the tip of its tongue, and then the look on its face changed.
"Pfft! What is that?" Snowy Lionet felt so disgusted that its face wrinkled, "What did you do to me while I was sleep?"
"Nothing, I did nothing. Let me tell you the truth — you were licking the blanket when you were dreaming this morning."
"Bla…bla…blanket..." Snowy Lionet licked its lips, and some tiny furs were hanging on the barbs of its tongue. Judging from the smell, the furs were not those of a cat, but instead were full of the bitter taste of artificial fabric products.
"You jerk! You didn’t wake me up! I will punish you one day!" It quickly jumped down from the cat tree and buried its head into the water bowl to clean its mouth.
In the birdcage, Richard and the two red-headed lovebirds were silent.
Little Purple and Yellow Pea Cake stared at Richard alertly. They figured Richard was not intimidating them, and then they started to comb each other’s feathers with their beaks.
Richard suddenly opened up its wings and used its original voice to say, "Grey, I am Grey."
Little Purple and Yellow Pea Cake stared at Richard for a while. Then, they used the raucous voices that were difficult to distinguish from whom the voices belonged to and said, "Grey..."