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

  Zhang Zian thought that the birds’ house was truly an open space when he looked at it from the outside. Now that he had followed Professor Wei Kang on a tour, he knew that it was in fact separated into various parts. Different birds resided in various parts. Currently, they were not in the parrot zone.

  “Professor Wei, please turn off the lights.”


  A boring yet deep voice was heard. The group looked around and found an African grey parrot, which looked a lot like Richard, standing on a dead branch. The bird was looking at them. Although alike, Richard looked way smarter than this bird. The voice was probably from this bird.

  Wei Kang laughed and pointed at it, “This is the naughtiest grey parrot here. It is very smart, so the staff named it ‘Smartie’. It learned to say ‘turn off the lights’ from the staff because they always say that.”


  “Hello! Don’t forget the face scan at work!” it then said again. Obviously, this was another sentence it learned from the staff.

  If Zhang Zian had never met Richard, he might be surprised to hear these words. Now that he knew there was better, he smiled politely and went with the crowd. The voice of this parrot was very different from a human’s voice. Its voice was rough. People could only guess what it was talking about.

  “His store has a much smarter parrot,” Guo Dongyue said suddenly.

  “Oh?” Wei Kang was surprised.

  “That parrot talks like a person,” Guo Dongyue continued.

  Wei Kang looked extremely interested. Zhang Zian was upset that Guo Dongyue told someone about Richard so he explained, “No, no. My parrot is only a normal bird. He isn’t that good.”


  Guo Dongyue didn’t understand why Zhang Zian was being humble all of a sudden. This didn’t sound like him at all.

  Zhang Zian knew that as soon as Wei Kang met Richard, he would definitely go nuts. How obsessed he was with Fina was the best example.

  Thinking about Fina. He turned around and found that Fina was walking elegantly right behind him. Fina was glancing around all the birds with pride as if touring its own territory.

  Snowy Lionet was walking right next to Fina. If a bird got close, Snowy Lionet would kick it quickly. It was great for the group because no bird could bother them as they walked around, unlike the story told by Jamie, the female driver.

  Guo Dongyue paid close attention to Wei Kang’s narrations. He looked as Wei Kang pointed out different things and tried to search for the love birds that his mom used to have. The layout of the birds’ house was far more interesting to Zhang Zian. There was a bald tree every a few steps away. The glass ceiling was decorated with fake ivy so the whole birds’ house looked like an outdoor space. Resting bars and boards for the birds were everywhere.

  “Professor Wei, why are there so many bird cages here? Aren’t the birds raised free-range?” Zhang Zian asked, pointing at the cages.

  Wei Kang said without thinking, “The cages are a place for them to sleep and breed so they can have some privacy.”


  Zhang Zian was about to put down his hand when a green parrot landed on his arm. Apparently, the parrot thought that his arm was a resting bar. Zhang Zian froze and didn’t know what to do. Should he drive it away in case it pooped on him? He was wearing a nice new shirt that he didn’t want to get ruined.

  “Professor Wei…” he stopped and got Wei’s attention.

  Looking back, Wei Kang was excited when he saw the bird, “You are a lucky man! No wonder you can get an Ancient Egyptian cat from the street… That is a rare black-collared love bird. This breed primarily resides in southern Africa. This is the only one on record in the whole country. Director L? found it through his overseas connections. Also, this breed is very timid so they don’t usually approach a stranger.”


  Zhang Zian realized this was a rare parrot, so he was interested in knowing more about it.

  The black collared love bird was not good looking. It was a bit larger than a normal love bird. Most of its fur was bright green. Its mouth was dark gray and there was a black line on the back of its neck. That was probably how it got its name.

  The black collared love bird also looked at Zhang Zian curiously, jumping lightly on his arm and searching.

  Wei Kang said, “It is looking for food.”


  Zhang Zian saw that the staff was feeding the birds and throwing grains on the ground. Many parrots had already eaten. Why didn’t this one go?

  Wei Kang read his mind, so he explained, “Black-collared love birds mostly eat figs and they only eat certain things, just like a panda only eats bamboo. If it ran out of fig, it could die in a few days.”


  Oh no! That was crazy! It was a good thing that it was a smaller bird. If it was as big as a panda and only ate fig, it could die out in no time.

  Zhang Zian said to it, “Didn’t your parents tell you not to be picky towards your food?”


  The black-collared love bird didn’t understand him the way Richard did. It lost interest in Zhang Zian. Instead, it started staring at the staff members who were feeding the birds.

  Wei Kang sighed, “I am a consultant here. Director L? works with our college and provides funding for our research. In exchange, he brings in some rare breeds from overseas in the name of our college so that customs will not give him a hard time.”


  Zhang Zian didn’t say much but carefully looked at the black-collared love bird on his arm. Honestly, he was curious why Wei Kang would come here. He didn’t look like he would work with businesses. Now that he explained it, Zhang Zian felt that everything started to make sense to him.

  The staff member grabbed three bottles of water and was carrying a small bamboo basket. “Professor Wei, here you go. Have some water, please.”


  The black-collared love bird yelled. It was a weird loud noise. It flew away from Zhang Zian’s arm, landed on the edge of the bamboo basket and started eating from there.

  The noise was so scary that Zhang Zian almost wet his pants.

  “Ha-ha. It makes annoying noises, not cute ones.” Wei Kang was used to the black collared love bird’s sound, so he was calm.

  Zhang Zian patted his ear and forced a smile, “It was a hard hit to my eardrum.”


  There were fresh figs in the bamboo basket. The black-collared love bird kept eating it. Yummy!

  While Zhang Zian and Wei Kang were talking about the black-collared love bird, Guo Dongyue was not interested at all. Instead, he was looking hard for the love birds in his memory. However, it was a more difficult task than he expected because there were too many parrots in the birds’ house.

  Suddenly, two parrots with green fur and red faces standing on a tall branch drew his attention.

  “That’s it! Look!” he yelled excitedly while pointing at them.