Chapter 12
The moment Yan Yan opened his beak, the entire room of lovebirds erupted into squawks.
So loud and chaotic that even covering his ears couldn’t shield Si Jingce from the explosion of bird chatter that threatened to blow the shop apart.
The talking green peach-faced lovebird blinked slightly in a daze. It seemed it was so used to teasing other birds that now, being talked back to by a pearl bird for the first time, it hadn’t yet caught up mentally.
The unripe mango retaliated quickly: “You’re the land chicken! I can fly! I can fly!”
“Chirp chirp chirp!” Yan Yan snapped back, refusing to lose.
Pfft. You think you’re the only one who can fly?
Bird-to-bird conversation was naturally encrypted—Si Jingce could only guess bits and pieces from the lovebird’s side.
Before long, the green peach-faced lovebird got worked up too and started firing back in rapid birdspeak.
Tiny as he was, Yan Yan took on a room full of birds and didn’t fall behind in the slightest.
Worried it would break into a never-ending verbal war, Si Jingce quickly covered the bird backpack with his hand to block Yan Yan’s view.
The shopkeeper knocked on the lovebird’s perch. “Don’t scare off the customer!”
After calming all the birds down, the shopkeeper gave Si Jingce an apologetic smile. “Sorry about that, handsome. With so many people coming and going, they somehow picked up human speech… Thank goodness they haven’t learned any swear words yet, or I’d be out of business…”
Just then, the green peach-faced lovebird stared calmly at the shopkeeper and said, “F*ck.”
Shopkeeper: ?
Si Jingce: …
“Who taught you that!” The shopkeeper stood with arms akimbo, scolding the bird. “F*ck, huh? Wait till I find that little brat, I’ll teach him a lesson!”
The green peach-faced lovebird honestly replied, “You.”
Si Jingce: .
Yan Yan watched the human-bird exchange, his eyes practically overflowing with envy.
He wanted to talk to his human too!
The little pearl bird lowered his head and tried again to speak: “Chirp… chirp… chirpy!”
Still couldn’t do it. QAQ.
Si Jingce could guess what Yan Yan was thinking just from the tiny “chirpy” sounds and quickly comforted him with a warm voice. “It’s okay if you can’t talk. Our Yan Yan is smart—you know how to use the pet communicator.”
Yan Yan bit down on the acrylic of the bird backpack in frustration.
It’s not the same at all.
He wanted to talk to his human too!
If parrots could do it, then pearl birds definitely could too.
The little bird chirped nonstop and began trying to train his speaking ability.
Meanwhile, the shopkeeper finally finished scolding the parrot and got down to business, taking Si Jingce and Yan Yan to see the pearl birds.
This shop mainly had white and standard grey pearl birds. Tan penguin-colored pearl birds like Yan Yan were rare.
As soon as they walked into the back, Yan Yan, who had just been practicing talking, went stiff the moment he heard familiar chirps.
He looked up.
So many… so many of his kind.
He nervously and curiously moved closer. In sight were seven or eight unfamiliar pearl birds crowded into a single coconut shell.
Several chicks too, arranged by size, stood side by side on the same branch.
Yan Yan: “Chirp?”
He stared for several seconds before realization hit—
Wait, did his human want to raise new baby birds?
Yan Yan’s expression turned blank.
But Si Jingce clearly said that there would only be one little bird at home.
He’d said all kinds of sweet things to coax him back then, and now it hadn’t even been that long, and he was already going back on his word.
Yan Yan sniffled and retreated to a corner.
Men’s words—full of lies.
His emotions were visibly shifting. Just moments ago, he had been excited to see other pearl birds. Now, he was silent.
Si Jingce furrowed his brows slightly but was soon distracted by the shopkeeper.
“This penguin pearl bird of yours—was it hand-raised? Seems pretty tame. Great appearance too. I don’t have any penguin pearls here, but white pearls are also very pretty.”
Si Jingce looked at the birdcage.
So many… mochi balls.
Cute, sure, but the collective chirping of so many pearl birds in one place was giving him a mental breakdown.
He patiently replied, “He’s cage-raised. A friend gifted him to me.”
The shopkeeper didn’t fully believe that.
He followed up anyway, “That makes sense. Hand-raising is hard. It’s best to get a male and a female to breed the next generation.”
Yan Yan: ??
Babies?
Who’s having them? Me?
The chick glanced in horror at his own round belly.
Si Jingce shook his head. “Not planning to breed.”
But if Yan Yan wanted a relationship, he wouldn’t stop him either.
The shopkeeper’s eyes flicked between Si Jingce and Yan Yan. “So then you’re…”
Si Jingce pointed at Yan Yan. “Looking for a companion for him.”
Inside the backpack, the little bird anxiously paced back and forth, hating himself once again for not being able to talk.
He didn’t need—
He didn’t need another bird as a companion!
But all Si Jingce could hear was a flurry of urgent chirping.
As Yan Yan desperately tried to resist, the bird backpack was suddenly turned, and he found himself face-to-face with a cage full of white pearl birds.
White pearl birds: ?
Yan Yan: !!
A sneak attack blind date.
In the wild, male birds usually have more vibrant feathers, and the prettier they are, the more likely they’ll attract mates.
Most birds here were plain white, so Yan Yan, with his unique coloring, instantly caught the attention of all the female pearl birds.
“Hi there,” one female chirped, turning to him. “I’ve never seen you before. Are you new? What’s your name? We could be friends.”
“You’re really handsome.”
“Do you want to build a nest together?”
Yan Yan didn’t expect the birds here to be so friendly. He quietly copied Si Jingce’s usual aloof attitude and closed his beak.
“Why aren’t you talking?”
The female pearl birds began chattering among themselves about him.
“So cold… but I like it.”
“Are you really not going to build a nest with me?”
Finally, Yan Yan spoke his first line: “Not interested in dating. I’m an intellectual bird.”
Intellectual birds don’t fall in love.
Unfortunately, the birds here weren’t internet-savvy and just looked confused.
“What’s an intellectual bird?”
“No idea. Must be a species we’ve never seen.”
“Wow, he really is from outside. So knowledgeable.”
“I think I like him even more now.”
Yan Yan opened his beak… and gave up. Too much to explain.
“You don’t like female birds? Then do you like male ones?”
Another voice rang out. Yan Yan turned and saw it was a male white pearl.
The male swayed his tail feathers, his voice turning shrill from excitement. “How about me?”
Yan Yan: …
Human, there’s a creep over here.
The tan pearl bird frantically scratched at the bird backpack, trying to get Si Jingce’s attention.
“You don’t want female birds. You don’t want male birds. So you must like your owner, huh?”
A strange bird swaying its tail at him was basically the bird equivalent of a human dropping their pants in public.
Yan Yan was not impressed. He stopped scratching and snapped coldly, “So what if I do?”
It’s totally normal for a small animal to love its human, right?
The white pearl bird saw right through him: “But your love isn’t that kind of love.”
Yan Yan didn’t get it. “What kind?”
“Real love means you want to mate with him. Do you?”
Yan Yan: ?
M-mate with my human?
“You don’t, do you?” The white pearl, seeing he was speechless, glanced at Si Jingce and then back at Yan Yan. “Your human’s way too big. He’d hurt you.”
Yan Yan: .
Wh-what’s too big?!
The white pearl stepped closer again. “You’d be better off with me. I can satisfy you.”
“Being with a human never ends well. They live way longer than we birds. You might last ten years, but in that time you’ll watch him get married, mate with someone else. Won’t that break your heart?”
Pearl birds, with good care, can live up to ten years.
That’s already long for birds.
But if you really think about it…
Yan Yan didn’t want to be with Si Jingce for only ten years.
No, no, no!
He quickly caught himself.
This wasn’t the time to think about that.
Right now, he needed to escape this creepy bird!
A truly creepy, perverted bird obsessed with that kind of thing!
The little bird turned around and ignored the white pearl. His claws scratched at the bird backpack so fast they left afterimages.
Ahhh let me go home now!
Si Jingce finally noticed the commotion. He watched as the two birds chirped madly at each other… and understood none of it.
He silently guessed what Yan Yan might be thinking, then hesitated. “If you two are getting along, maybe I’ll bring him home to keep you company?”
Upon hearing that, Yan Yan forgot everything else.
The little bird gasped and froze in place.
Keep me company? How could you bring him home?!
He’d be driven mad by this pervert bird!
Yan Yan gave Si Jingce a look of speechless disbelief, once again feeling the pain of not being able to communicate.
There was no other way.
Yan Yan made up his mind.
Si Jingce was still waiting for a response when suddenly he saw the bird hurl himself at the backpack wall like a lunatic.
Hiss—his wing hurt a bit.
Still not enough? Gritting his beak, Yan Yan slammed into the wall again!
The white pearl bird flinched and backed off fast.
Si Jingce panicked and cupped the backpack. “Yan Yan, what are you doing?!”
The bird inside kept chirping and chirping, and Si Jingce couldn’t understand a word.
And he couldn’t open the bag outside either. He could only watch in anxious confusion.
“You… what are you trying to say?”
“Chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp!”
Si Jingce’s brows furrowed with urgency.
…He just couldn’t understand.
He reached his hand toward the vent hole and finally touched Yan Yan.
{I don’t want to be here. I want to go home!}
He chirped so hard it hurt.
Suddenly acting up to go home, Si Jingce was baffled, quickly said goodbye to the shopkeeper, and left.
All the way back, Yan Yan curled into a little ball in the corner of the backpack, trembling slightly. He barely touched his bird food.
Back home, Si Jingce immediately let him out.
The tiny fluffball hurled himself at Si Jingce’s face, wailing and tattling.
{Waaahhh there was a creep over there!!}
{I don’t want to fall in love with him!!}
Pearl bird: highly emotional.
His words came out all jumbled.
“It’s okay, calm down first.”
Si Jingce tried to soothe him, cupping him in his palms and rubbing his little head.
But Yan Yan had found his anchor now, and his wailing only got worse. He kept squirming in Si Jingce’s hands, glancing up at his face. In a moment of distraction, he almost fell.
Si Jingce caught him just in time.
{You can’t bring other birds home! You promised—only me in this house!}
He cried nonstop, thunder without rain, completely unable to calm down.
In a rush, the man lowered his head and gave the little bird a kiss to settle him.
Warm lips brushed his rosy cheek.
Kinda nice.
It worked—he stopped making noise. The little bird stared at him dumbfounded for a while.
But—
Why’s he not moving?
Even the crying stopped so suddenly. Si Jingce reached out and poked the little frozen bird.
“Chirp.” The bird wobbled sideways from the poke.
He looked pitifully up at Si Jingce.
{It’s just… my wing hurts a little from the crash, but that kiss made it feel much better.}
{If you kiss me again, it might stop hurting completely.}
