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

  Richard stared at her arm for a while before jumping up on it. Because of the weakness in its claws, it staggered a bit, and Sun Xiaomeng quickly stretched out her other arm to stabilize it.

  “Well, let’s go,” she said, raising her right arm so that Richard was on the same level as her own eyes.

  She took small steps forward, and opened the living room door with her left hand.

  “Shhh!” She put her index finger up in front of her mouth, signaling Richard not to speak loudly.

  She pushed open the kitchen door and took it into the kitchen.

  Since the deaths of his parents, Zhang Zian scarcely used the gas stove, but right now, it had been turned on with light blue flames swaying upon it. A rugged earthenware pot was placed on the stove, gurgling with steams. Something unknown to Richard was boiling in the earthenware pot, exuding an extremely bitter smell that made Richard immediately turn away its head.

  The steel folding chair of the cashier downstairs had been moved here, Zhang Zian was sitting in the chair, with an arm leaning on the edge of the sink. He was taking a nap with his chin rested on his hand, drooling, and didn’t notice that Sun Xiaomeng and Richard had appeared behind him. There was an alarm clock beside his hand, which was running with tick-tock sounds incessantly.

  “Do you know what’s inside?” she pointed to the earthenware pot and whispered.

  Richard shook its head. No matter what was inside, it must be unsavory.

  “There are Chinese herbal medicines inside,” she said, looking straight into its eyes. “Western medicine alone cannot save you. But many unique things have been passed down by our ancestors, and Traditional Chinese Medicine is one of them.”


  “They smell bitter,” said Richard hesitantly.

  “Bitter medicine cures sickness.” Sun Xiaomeng smiled, “This sentence is also passed down from our ancestors.”


  She glanced over at the alarm and whispered “Shhh” towards Richard.

  Ding…ding…ding…


  The alarm rang, and Zhang Zian almost fell from the chair. He wiped his saliva near his mouth and looked at the time, muttering, “It’s time to add water.”


  He used his right hand to pick up the kettle on the sink, padded his left palm with a cloth for insulating from the heat, and opened the lid with his left hand.

  The steam erupted all at once, and Zhang Zian turned his head to avoid the blast of the high-heated steam.

  Two or three seconds later, the steam had cleared away. The water in the earthenware pot had been boiled for such a long time that it had almost gone, with only a lump of dark things visible, which were quite disgusting. Zhang Zian poured the water of the kettle into the earthenware pot, covered the lid, sit back in the chair, set another alarm, and continued his nap by leaning on his arm.

  “Decocting medicines is a meticulous job, which requires to be simmered slowly. When the next alarm rings, you’ll need to drink those medicines. Just imagine that you are eating some unpalatable wild fruits,” she whispered.

  “Doctor, can these bitter things really cure the disease?” Richard remained skeptical, it had never tried such things in the West.

  She said solemnly, “I promise.”


  Richard gazed at her eyes. It could tell that she was not joking or comforting it. She had never hidden anything from it; she had even informed it in advance that copper sulfate solution was toxic.

  Just when Sun Xiaomeng opened the kitchen door again to take Richard away from there, she and Richard heard Zhang Zian talking behind them.

  “Richard…”


  She turned around with Richard.

  Zhang Zian was still napping with his chin rested on his arm, with saliva drooling in the shape of thin and long threads coming from his mouth.

  “Richard, come on, let’s tell dirty jokes together…”


  Sun Xiaomeng couldn’t help but laugh, “Look at this guy, even remembering to tell dirty jokes in his dreams!”


  She and Richard left the kitchen and entered Zhang Zian’s bedroom.

  Wang Qian and Li Kun were playing poker in chairs, and seeing that Sun Xiaomeng had come in the bedroom, they stood up straight quickly.

  “Sister Xiaomeng, do you need us to help with anything?” they asked.

  Sun Xiaomeng shook her head, “Nothing, I am taking Richard to walk around casually. You’ve been running errands for the whole afternoon and the night, so you must be exhausted. Why not lie down and rest for a while?”


  Wang Qian and Li Kun looked at each other and answered in an awkward manner, “Sister Xiaomeng, to be honest, we will fall asleep soundly the moment our heads hit the pillows, and nothing will wake us unless we’ve slept for enough hours. We thought that you might need us to run errands, so we decided to keep watch overnight. We are incapable to share our Master’s worries, the only thing we can do is to run some errands…”


  Sun Xiaomeng showed a thankful smile, “Don’t worry, there are no errands for you to run, take some rest for a while.”


  They nodded, however, from their expressions, they did not change their minds.

  “How is Richard? Is it getting better? If anything happens to it, Master will be very upset.” They looked at the weary grey parrot and asked with concern.

  “Don’t worry, it’ll be all right,” she said. “Go take some rest, don’t get sick.”


  Richard remained silent.

  Sun Xiaomeng took Richard away from Zhang Zian’s bedroom, and entered the bedroom of Zhang Zian’s parents.

  The electric heater was placed near the bedside, and Fina was lying in the blanket nearby when a drowsy feeling crept over it. Snowy Lionet was lying next to Fina, and it was carefully moving closer to Fina. For fear that Fina might find out its tricks, every time, Snowy Lionet just moved less than a centimeter.

  Startled by the door opening by Sun Xiaomeng, Fina opened its eyes and pushed away Snowy Lionet, who was pushed to roll away like a hairball on the ground. Too bad its cuteness didn’t work at all on Fina.

  Snowy Lionet didn’t stop rolling until it was at the feet of Sun Xiaomeng. It stood up, raised its face and stared at Richard with its watery blue eyes.

  Sun Xiaomeng worried that Snowy Lionet was going to hurt Richard, so she quickly put her left hand in front of Richard to block them.

  “Meow! Real love only exists among the same sexes. Different sexes only produce offspring!” Snowy Lionet said to Richard, “Buddy. Don’t let me fight this war alone.”


  After saying this, Snowy Lionet ran back to Fina with its short legs.

  Of course, Sun Xiaomeng didn’t understand what it said, she just heard a series of soft and gentle meowing sounds.

  Fina suddenly stood up, with icy-cold rays like swords shooting from its aquamarine eyes. It gazed at Richard, “I remember you said that your loyalty to me is so true that even Heaven can verify for you. If you were not lying, I command you to fight for me till the end like a real warrior.”


  When it finished speaking, Fina laid down, closed its eyes and continued its nap.

  Sun Xiaomeng was a little frightened. She had always kept her distance from Fina because of Fina’s fierce looks. She even thought that Fina would jump over to her, but fortunately it was a false alarm.

  Old Time Tea was not with Fina and Snowy Lionet. It plugged in the electric blanket in the corner, put its forepaws into its jacket sleeves, and sat in repose with its eyes closed.

  In front of Old Time Tea was a thermos bottle with a press button and two teacups. One cup was empty, of which at the bottom were a few tea leaves.

  With its eyes half-opened, Old Time Tea glanced at Richard, put out one of its paws and pushed the empty teacup under the thermos bottle, pressed the button, and the hot water was flowing into the empty teacup.

  Green tea leaves were churning in the hot water, and the fragrance was dispersing.

  Old Time Tea pushed the cup of tea towards Richard.

  This time, Sun Xiaomeng understood that Old Time Tea was inviting Richard to drink tea. She always thought that the way that Old Time Tea dressed was very amusing and that maybe it was Zhang Zian’s poor taste. Maybe Old Time Tea couldn’t understand her words, but she still politely turned down the offer on behalf of Richard, “It just drank medicine, and tea will reduce the effects of the medicine. It can’t drink tea for the time being.”


  Old Time Tea narrowed its eyes as if it was smiling, and it lowered its head and drank its own cup of tea.

  Sun Xiaomeng left the bedroom with Richard, and whispered to it, “Everyone seems to be looking forward to you getting better as soon as possible. Although I don’t often come to the pet shop often, I can feel it is cold and cheerless without you. ”


  Of course, for what Richard usually said a day was more than the words from all the other Elves put together in the pet shop.

  Sun Xiaomeng opened the door to the storage room, which was piled up with all kinds of things that didn’t get used frequently and pet supplies for sale in the pet shop, and usually nobody came in the storage room. The lights were off in the storage room, with only light from the stars and street lamps came in through the windows.

  Richard stared in confusion at the interior, wondering why she had brought them here.

  She came to a small window in the corner, pointing afar through the glass and said, “Look, that place with the lights still on is my clinic. My newly hired nurse worries that I might need other medicines and has not slept yet.”


  Richard struggled with its heavy eyelids, trying to widen its eyes, looking at the vague light in that direction.

  A moment later, Sun Xiaomeng drew her arm inward, turning the bird to look at Richard in its eyes.

  “Richard, many people are busy running for you, and everyone is very concerned about you, so please stay strong as response to everyone, okay?”


  Richard opened its beak but couldn’t mutter a word. It was the first time in Richard’s life that it felt its vocabulary was poor, and it didn’t know how to answer.

  There were no electric heaters in the storage room, so the temperature was relatively low. Sun Xiaomeng was afraid that it would catch a cold again, so she was intended to send it back to the warm living room. She estimated that it was about time that the medicines had been fully and properly decocted, so Richard could drink them after returning to the living room.

  As soon as she turned around, she saw that in the dimly lit room, there were a pair of silver-grey eyes.

  Sun Xiaomeng was surprised at first, but immediately she identified it was Galaxy.

  Galaxy somehow had quietly arrived behind them, squatting on the floor, raising its small peach face, and looking at them.

  “Hi, Galaxy, you are here! I couldn’t find you before… Galaxy, are you also worried about Richard?” Since Richard was on her right arm, Sun Xiaomeng could only smile and wave her left hand.

  Only Galaxy knew why Richard was hesitant. Richard didn’t appear to have the courage to fight the disease because it didn’t know where it should go, and whether it should return to its original owner. Richard’s original owner was a rigorous and realistic scientist who would surely have doubts when seeing Richard resurrect from the dead. If its owner kept tracing down where it had been during these days, Richard worried that it might get Zhang Zian and others in troubles.

  Galaxy blinked its silver-grey eyes, stared at Richard, and opened its mouth to say something, which to Sun Xiaomeng was just some meowing sounds.

  “Richard, your future, is here!”