Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

  Hearing Sun Xiaomeng’s explanations, Zhang Zian now remembered that his parents never let him touch the parrots in the store. So, they had already known about PBL and psittacosis? It was too bad that he had no way to prove it.

  Sun Xiaomeng said, “Well, you are a pet shop owner. I recommend you study more in your spare time. Things like that are common sense in the industry.”


  What the heck? This was way more in-depth than common sense. Zhang Zian was unhappy.

  She looked at Richard, “Where did you get this parrot? Are you selling parrots now in addition to cats and dogs? If a parent brought a parrot home and you didn’t tell them the potential of getting PBL and psittacosis, they might sue you afterwards.”


  Zhang Zian had never thought about that. He said, “I am not planning to sell parrots, at least for now. This parrot… I got it for company.”


  She was right though. Zhang Zian had just learned about PBL and psittacosis until today. He could bet that not many pet store owners knew about it. Honestly, some people wouldn’t tell the customers even if they knew about the potential cause of disease. Who didn’t want more business?!

  Compared to other pets, dogs and cats were a lot safer to humans. These days, the vaccination and deworming methods were all well-developed, so the diseases on cats and dogs weren’t contagious to humans.

  Birds were far more dangerous. Many contagious bird diseases were also harmful to humans. Bird flus were the scariest ones that might cost people their lives. For example, psittacosis was sneaky, but also fatal.

  Looking at him, Sun Xiaomeng tried to figure out whether he was being serious. He was seamless when it came to pretending, which made it really hard for people to spot a lie.

  “Never mind. I am trying to help here. Your store is smaller. I would say it can probably hold about ten medium-sized parrots or pigeons. When you close all the windows and doors, the PM 2.5 level is going to explode overnight. You will have an extremely polluted store.”


  “Really?” Zhang Zian was shocked.

  “What do you think?” She replied, “Don’t you see the breeders usually raise their birds on the porch or on top of the roof? Pigeons and parrots lose a lot of small feathers all day. If you inhale such particles all day, it could be really harmful to your lungs. Raising one or two parrots, is fine but keeping a bunch of pigeons could become a potential headache.”


  Guo Dongyue signed, “It was too bad that neither I nor my mom knew about it. It was winter and all the doors and windows were shut. No wonder I got psittacosis.”


  “No big words please!” Zhang Zian reminded again.

  “When I got psittacosis, my mom gave away the two love birds,” Guo Dongyue said briefly. “However, a few days ago, she asked me where Little Purple and Yellow Pea were. Those were the names of the two love birds, which I had already forgotten, yet she still remembered.”


  “Why don’t you buy her two that look the same?” Zhang Zian had a simple solution.

  Guo Dongyue sighed again, heavily, “It is not as simple as it seems. In fact, before she gave them away, she had already trained them to speak.”


  Zhang Zian understood immediately. Love birds were best known for their beautiful appearance and cuddly demeanor with people, not their speaking. If someone was to train a lovebird to speak, he had to be really patient and persistent. Normally, no one would even bother doing so.

  “So, you want me to help you find two love birds and teach them to talk?” Zhang Zian understood finally.

  “Yes. Isn’t this silly?” Guo Dongyue started laughing at himself.

  Sun Xiaomeng answered before Zhang Zian, “No, it’s not silly at all.”


  She was touched by Guo Dongyue’s story, so she said to Zhang Zian, “You should help him. You have nothing but time.”


  Zhang Zian was, in fact, thinking about how feasible it was to train two love birds. However, he was unpleased when Sun Xiaomeng said it before he could: “It is easier said than done. Why don’t you try it? It is not easy to teach a parrot to talk and it usually takes a long time…” He didn’t bother to continue his words.

  Apparently, Guo Dongyue’s mom couldn’t wait that long. She might forget about them before they were trained.

  Zhang Zian was touched by Guo Dongyue’s story as well. However, he knew that he was not an expert in this field and he didn’t want to waste Guo’s time if the result turned out badly.

  He didn’t know how to train parrots and there was no time to learn. The only hope was on the apprehensive bird Richard. He wondered if Richard could apprehend other birds?

  Sun Xiaomeng really wanted to help Guo Dongyue, so she continue to try to persuade Zhang Zian, “Don’t you always brag that you are the best in the industry? Now is your time to shine!”


  Seeing that Zhang Zian was in an awkward spot, Guo Dongyue sighed, “That’s fine. I know I was asking for too much. Well, forget about it.”


  In fact, he thought Zhang Zian would laugh at him once he told the story – he would’ve laughed at the person who tried to do the same thing as he did. No one knew how long his mom would remember the two love birds. She might forget about them the next day. Is it really worth it to try so hard on something like this?

  He had no choice. His mom could not remember him. She was sitting at home everyday and waiting for her never-returning young son.

  She always talked to herself, saying, “How come Dongyue is not home? Did he go to his friend’s house?”


  Other than that, she often said, “How come Little Purple and Yellow Pea are so quiet? I tried so hard to train them…”


  Sometimes, she would remember that Dongyue’s psittacosis disease and bowed her head down with tears, “I am so sorry, son. I should not have kept the parrots.”


  His mom’s words reminded him of the time when he was in the hospital and his mom kept murmuring this sentence. He had a high fever and was halfway to a coma, but he could felt that his hand was tightly held by another hand. Sometimes, he could feel as if his mom’s tears dropped on his hand.

  He knew his mom shouldn’t have blamed herself. Not many people knew about psittacosis at all. She had the birds because of loneliness and her affection to them. She gave up that one and only hobby for her son. Yet her son left her behind for years to pursue his dreams.