Chapter 281: Poor Little Thing
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
"Galax..."
Sun Xiaomeng stretched out her hands towards Galaxy, trying to stop it.
Galaxy smiled at her naughtily and ran away jauntily. Though Galaxy was not walking very fast and she could see every step it took, Galaxy was as elusive as a thin wisp of smoke.
Sun Xiaomeng swore that Galaxy was indeed smiling at her.
Before she could stop Galaxy, it had disappeared into a bedroom on the second floor.
For some unknown reason, Sun Xiaomeng had a strange feeling —perhaps it was the intuition of a woman—that even if she went to chase after Galaxy, she probably would not find it.
Why would Galaxy show up suddenly, and why would it help her push open the kitchen door, then leave? She had not figured it out, but she knew there must be some reason behind its behavior, because Galaxy had never been so close to her.
The moment the kitchen door was pushed open, the talking sound stopped.
She didn’t see Zhang Zian’s relatives, nor did she find the thieves as she worried about in the kitchen, only three parrots were staring at her. She had met Richard once before, but at that time she only paid much attention to Galaxy. As for the two red-headed lovebirds, they probably were the two birds that Zhang Zian and Guo Dongyue brought back from the Phoenix House. She heard Zhang Zian talk about them, but it was the first time she saw them.
She scanned her eyes and confirmed that there were no other people in the small kitchen, so it was Richard and the two red-headed lovebirds that were talking a moment ago. She knew that Richard could speak, but as for the red-headed lovebirds...she didn’t remember Zhang Zian telling her that the red-headed lovebirds could speak when he bought them from the Phoenix House, which meant... Sun Xiaomeng’s eyes met Richard’s eyes.
The last time she saw this African grey parrot, her impression was that it was a bird that spoke flirty and disgusting things. Right now, Richard seemed like a completely different person...more accurately, a completely different bird, that was staring at her with an affectionate and perplexed look.
But within an instant, Richard turned back into that flirty bird, its transition so fast that Sun Xiaomeng doubted whether she had seen an illusion. Richard opened its wings and quacked, "Hello there, beauty!"
Sun Xiaomeng ignored that flirting tone, which was just like the last time she saw it. Instead, she noticed its open wings, and shouted before Richard closed them towards its body, "Wait a second!"
She took one step forward and Richard yelled, "Cat! Cat!"
Sun Xiaomeng was numb and realized that she was still holding up the American Shorthair which, was like a hand warmer and so comfortable that she couldn't let it go. She understood the cat was a major threat to the three parrots, and if they were left in the same space, a tragedy would probably occur. But Richard seemed to be getting along with Galaxy?
Sun Xiaomeng lowered her head and looked at the ordinary American Shorthair in her arms. It looked no different than Galaxy and other cats in the shop, but it didn't have that inexplicable intelligence of Galaxy and other cats. She turned around and put the American Shorthair on the ground of the corridor, touched at its neck and said, "Go and play with Galaxy." and then she walked back to the kitchen and left the door half-closed.
The American Shorthair meowed confusingly, and didn't know what it should do.
Galaxy struck out its head from Zhang Zian's bedroom and waved its claw at the American Shorthair, "Come, come play hide-and-seek."
Seeing its playmate, the American Shorthair followed Galaxy and disappeared behind the bedroom door.
Richard obeyed Sun Xiaomeng’s order, which was unusual, and waited there with its wings open, a difficult and awkward position for a bird.
She walked over to Richard and said softly, "Stay still." As a doctor, she gently and carefully used her hands to pinch at its left wing.
She poked Richard’s feathers open on its left wing, and as she expected, there was an old scar there. If she was not an experienced veterinarian, she would never have noticed that its right and left wings were asymmetrical the moment Richard opened them—there was only one reason for that scar: Richard had been injured before, or it was suffering with an injury right now.
"Poor little thing." Sun Xiaomeng used one finger to touch along the scar, "It must feel very painful."
She could see that from the length and position of this scar, it was caused by the snapping, damage and falling of the blood-feathers, and Richard must have been bleeding a lot, for it was such a severe injury that a bird could have died instantly. Richard was lucky to survive and recover from the injury. It probably had received treatment in time and was taken care of meticulously.
Being touched by her fingertips, Richard trembled like it was being shocked by electricity.
"Is it still hurting?"
If pets seemed in pain, ordinary people would have withdrawn their hands, but as a professional veterinarian, Sun Xiaomeng pressed harder to check on the bone status on the wing. As it turned out, the injury had fully recovered. Then why would Richard shudder? Was the trauma in its heart had not been recovered yet?
Richard didn’t close its wings. It hid its head under the wing on the other side, not wanting anyone to see its look right now.
"Poor little thing."
Though the phrase had been spoken in different languages by different people, and the phonemes and hyper-phonemes were completely different, Richard felt the phrase sounded the same to it, for the feelings contained within were equally sincere.
Richard tried to pull back its wings from her hands, but its body had lost strength, as if her finger had a magic that made Richard want to rely on it.
"Pot…bowl…"
The two red-headed lovebirds spoke up again, and Sun Xiaomeng’s attention was diverted to them.
She now understood that the conversation was from Richard and the red-headed lovebirds and Richard was teaching them to speak. It was not uncommon that when one parrot had learnt some words, it would teach the other parrots that lived with it. But it was rare that one parrot would intentionally teach others how to speak.
She had some theory of suspicion and said to Richard, "Richard, can you understand what I say?"
Richard rolled its eyes, looked at her and nodded.
Sun Xiaomeng was so surprised. Last time she saw it, she had suspected Richard might understand the human language. Right now, she could confirm that Richard indeed could understand the human languages and come up with the correct reactions, which could only be achieved by very few parrots and primates, the chance of which was like one Einstein among all the human beings.
As a professional veterinarian, Sun Xiaomeng didn’t have much of a social life or any real hobbies. She liked reading extensively about professional academic reports and essays in her free time, which was the reason why Zhang Zian always teased her and called her a super scholar. She quickly recollected what she had read before, thinking about how to test its intelligence level.