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

  It was the next day. As usual, Zhang Zian woke up before the alarm went off. He turned off the alarm and saw that Fina and Snowy Lionet were still sleeping. Slowly and lightly, he got off the bed and walked towards the door. Fina’s eyelids moved as if it was having a dream or had heard Zhang Zian’s steps. Snowy Lionet was sleeping deeply. Most cats were more alert than that.

  “My Majesty, My Majesty… Your hair is so smooth and nice. I will lick your hair for the rest of my life… meow…” Snowy Lionet changed positions, tightly hugged the blanket and licked the blanket. It was drooling all over.

  Zhang Zian decided not to wake Snowy Lionet up. He would tell it the truth when it woke up.

  He washed off simply in the bathroom and quietly walked downstairs.

  Old Time Tea and Galaxy slept a lot in the game yesterday, so they woke up early as well. Old Time Tea kept the TV down and was watching the morning news. Galaxy was wandering around, bored. As soon as it heard Zhang Zian’s steps, it ran over and said happily, “Good morning, Zian! You are early today!”


  Zhang Zian stretched and said, “Since I learned martial arts from Grandpa Tea, I fall asleep easily every night and never wake up during the night. It is great! Now, I can get out of bed easily. If it was before, I would’ve stayed in bed and not want to get up.”


  “Meow… I don’t understand, but you are the best!” Galaxy said.

  If someone or another Elfin told him that, Zhang Zian would think that they were being sarcastic. However, when Galaxy said it, it had to be true. He was proud of himself.

  Zhang Zian remembered that when he worked in the office, getting up in the morning was the most difficult thing in the world. However, he never felt tired at night. Therefore, he never went to bed before midnight. Since he had taken over the pet shop, he had been getting up and going to bed at a set time. Since Galaxy’s arrival, he stopped going to bed late. Since Fina’s arrival, he stopped eating out a lot. Since Old Time Tea’s arrival, he started exercising and had been sleeping very well.

  And Richard…


  Talking about the devil…


  Flapping its wings, Richard landed on Zhang Zian’s shoulder and couldn’t stop moaning. Zhang Zian tied up its beak so it couldn’t bother other people and the cats in the morning.

  There was nothing but bitterness in Richard’s eyes as if it was saying, “Sh*t! Why did you tie up my beak?!”


  Zhang Zian raised three fingers and said, “I have three requirements. If you agree to them all, I won’t tie up your beak again.”


  Of course, Richard said yes because it wanted to be untied.

  “First, as long as someone is still sleeping in this house, you have to be quiet. You have to keep it low when you talk.”


  Richard nodded.

  “Second, when there are other people around, no swearing. You have seriously damaged my image.”


  Richard tilted its head meaning that it didn’t agree. However, it finally nodded.

  “Third,” Zhang Zian pointed at the cage in the display cabinet, “You promised to train those birds, so you have to take accountability. If you can’t finish, then I will call you lying bird instead of apprehensive bird.”


  He was not positive that he could train the birds. It was a mission to be completed in a short time frame. There was no way he could train the red-headed love birds. The only way he could get this done was to have Richard train them.

  Richard raised its head, looked at the cage with ease and patted its chest with one wing. It meant that it would be a piece of cake.

  Zhang Zian took the tie off Richard’s beak.

  Richard shook its head and moved its tongue around. It was about to start preaching. Zhang Zian raised three fingers in front of its face so it swallowed back some dirty words and lowered its voice.

  “Jeff, you are an idiot! I know much more than you could ever imagine!” Richard was even more arrogant than ever, “Do you really understand what my name – the apprehensive bird — means? Well, stupid as you are, I am not surprised if you don’t know.”


  “Wait!”


  Richard’s words were hurtful. Zhang Zian fought back, “At least I am smarter than you are. Your brain is only as big as a walnut. You can’t tell me I am stupid!”


  “Ha-ha! Look, if your theory is true, then elephants and whales should’ve ruled the world by now,” Richard said scornfully. “Never mind! I don’t think you know this, but wisdom is a complicated thing. I don’t think you’d be able to comprehend it even if I explained it. Let’s put it this way: ‘Apprehension’ is, in fact, a form of decoding. The antonym of decoding is encoding. Human language, bird’s language, cat’s language, dog’s language, even computer language are all just coding. Language is a tool for communication but it is also a process of encoding and decoding. My explanation is straightforward enough. Can you understand?”


  Quite frankly, Zhang Zian had been talking since he was little, but he had never thought about it deeper. At this time, he could not completely understand Richard’s words, but it sounded right.

  Language was a tool for communication in the human world. However, not many people dug deeper to find out what language really was. Everybody talked every day. From the first “Good morning” to everyday conversation throughout the day, language was something everybody used. Even the most introverted person had to speak to others at some point. Sometimes, some people would even continue to speak in their dreams.

  Language was everywhere. It could be used to express love or hatred, tell the truth to the world or record history… All was impossible without language. Civilization was based on the development of language, which was as important as air, food and water. However, not many people would even notice its importance.

  It was too common to use words to communicate, so people neglected its true meaning.

  Zhang Zian rethought Richard’s words and a question came up to his mind: “So you are saying that computer language is no different than other languages?”


  “Of course,” Richard replied without thinking. “Computer language is in fact simpler, more precise and more logical. The essence of computer language is no different than a normal language. The only difference is that the encoding and decoding for a computer language is completed in a computer; while for a normal language, the same process is finished in a human brain.”