Chapter 65: Extra — The Mochi Family (3)
Tangyuan felt like his dignity as a bird had been completely ruined and refused to face reality.
When pearl finches are still chicks, their sex characteristics aren’t obvious—at a glance, they’re just gray, fluffy little balls. Only after about six months can you tell them apart.
Once they grow up, females have lighter beak colors, usually a pale orange, and their feathers are softer in tone compared to the camel-colored males. The most obvious difference is the cheek blush—females don’t have those rosy patches.
“At the beginning they were all chicks, I couldn’t tell either,” Doctor Shi grumbled. “Later when they matured, I followed some online guides and realized something was off, so I went to question that bird seller.”
He gritted his teeth. “At first, Tangyuan only cost four hundred yuan. But when I asked about it later, the seller said it was a rare mutation, super valuable, claimed he sold it at a loss, and asked me to pay another twelve hundred…”
Doctor Shi had been fooled so badly he practically limped along believing he’d struck gold—and actually sent the money.
Everyone at the table fell silent.
Being scammed once was one thing—being scammed twice was another.
It wasn’t until he brought the bird home to his father that he realized something was wrong.
Old Master Shi was furious and smacked his head hard. “Are you stupid?! You can’t even tell male from female?!”
Only then did Doctor Shi realize he’d been cheated. When he tried to confront the seller, he’d already been blocked and deleted in one smooth move.
Later, when Si Jingce contacted him, he found out not only were they both male—they were also biological brothers from the same nest…
“Well, I’ve already raised them, I can’t just throw them away,” Doctor Shi said. “It’s just that when the two are together, they love to fight. Especially Tangyuan—always picking fights with Zhima, only to get pinned down and beaten. He almost got all his feathers plucked, nearly turned into a bald chicken.”
“So I separated their cages later,” he scratched his head. “After that, things got much better. Now they just ‘chat’ across the cages every day.”
Yanyan felt like that wasn’t chatting at all.
Doctor Shi turned curiously to Si Jingce. “By the way, your boyfriend can communicate with animals, right? After you take them home, can he help me find out what Zhima and Tangyuan are talking about every day?”
Yanyan let out a soft “chirp.” You’d better not find out.
“No need to go through so much trouble. Yuyu can communicate with animals too,” Shang Wanshuo said.
The suddenly-named Shi Yu looked confused. “Do I really have to say it?”
Doctor Shi nodded eagerly. “Say it, say it.”
“They…” Shi Yu hesitated, then blurted it out in one go, “Since they came in, they’ve been arguing about food, calling you an idiot, and fighting over who’s the older brother.”
Doctor Shi’s smile froze.
They were secretly calling him an idiot?!
Yanyan: “Chirp chirp…”
See? You just had to dig into it—now you’ve upset yourself.
“It’s fine,” Doctor Shi tried to console himself. “Yuyu’s not a professional, it must not be accurate.”
Si Jingce, holding Yanyan: “He’s actually right.”
Doctor Shi nearly shattered. “You can communicate with animals too? You must be trying to trick me as well…”
This little episode didn’t affect Doctor Shi’s feelings toward the birds. He handed Zhima and Tangyuan over to Si Jingce and carefully explained their routines, preferences, and favorite bird food in great detail.
“Remember,” Doctor Shi said, “bring them back in a week.”
Si Jingce and the pearl bird on his shoulder nodded at the same time.
Zhima and Tangyuan were still arguing when they were brought home.
Yanyan turned back into a human, squatted obediently in front of the cages, and added bird food for his brothers.
Zhima carefully examined this familiar yet unfamiliar person. Tangyuan, however, froze for a moment and said dumbly, “Fourth chick, how did you become human?”
“It’s a long story…” Seeing his second brother still recognized him, Yanyan pulled Si Jingce over and introduced him, “This is my boyfriend!”
The fourth chick had become human—and even found a human boyfriend.
Both birds were completely shocked.
“Brother,” Yanyan turned to introduce them, “these are my two older brothers—Tangyuan and Zhima.”
Back in the nest, they had been called “First chick, second chick, third chick, fourth chick.” Tangyuan and Zhima were names given by Doctor Shi.
Afraid they’d start fighting again over who deserved the title of “first,” Yanyan decided to stick with those names.
Looking at the nearly identical birds, Si Jingce felt, for the first time, like he had face blindness. “Which one is Tangyuan? Which one is Zhima?”
“Zhima has darker chest spots, Tangyuan’s are lighter,” Yanyan whispered. “Brother, you must remember—Zhima is the eldest, Tangyuan is the second.”
Si Jingce stared hard but couldn’t tell the difference at all.
They looked… exactly the same.
“Alright, I remember,” he said.
Tangyuan’s cage was on the left, Zhima’s on the right.
Barely memorizing their positions, Si Jingce went to the kitchen to make unsalted chips for Yanyan’s brothers.
Yanyan carried the cages to the balcony so they could bask in the sun.
Tangyuan still hadn’t recovered from the shock.
Fourth chick became human. Fourth chick is dating. And he’s dating a male human!
Can a male human and a male bird even be together? No—can birds and humans even be together?!
Tangyuan’s mind was in chaos.
When Si Jingce came out with the chips, he noticed the cages had been moved.
Si Jingce: …
He slowed his steps and walked over to Yanyan—but Yanyan gave him no hint at all.
Which one was Zhima again? Which one was Tangyuan?
Fatal.
Left is Tangyuan, right is Zhima.
He kept repeating it in his head, then took out a chip and handed it to the cage on the right.
“Big brother, have some chips.”
Tangyuan snapped back to attention at that “big brother,” his feathers puffing up proudly.
Not bad.
This brother-in-law is good! He approves this marriage on behalf of their parents!
Zhima, meanwhile, was furiously biting the bars of his cage.
The next second, the two birds started fighting again.
Yanyan hurriedly covered both cages with black cloth. Once they couldn’t see each other, they gradually quieted down.
Finally, peace returned.
He glanced at Si Jingce faintly. “Brother…”
Immediately, both cages erupted—
“Chirp-chirp!”
Who are you calling ‘brother’?!
Yanyan clapped a hand over his mouth, not daring to say another word.
To avoid further conflict, Si Jingce tried his best to recognize the birds at all times. Every time he saw one, he softly called “big brother,” maintaining a fragile harmony.
Next, they had to bring Yanyan’s parents home.
The person who had adopted his parents was a middle school girl. After setting a time, Si Jingce and Yanyan went over—but she hadn’t come home from school yet.
It was the girl’s mother who received them.
They lived in an old residential building. The hallway was dim, the walls plastered with lock-opening ads.
Si Jingce pressed the doorbell. A wooden door inside opened first. After the woman saw who it was, she opened the outer iron gate.
She wiped her hands nervously on her apron. “Please come in.”
Yanyan followed Si Jingce inside and looked around.
The space was small but very clean. Sunlight couldn’t reach inside during the day, and no lights were on, making it feel like nighttime.
Only a sliver of sunlight reached the balcony.
There, a birdcage sat quietly—occasionally accompanied by the crisp chirping of pearl finches.
That chirping…
One listen, and he knew—it was his parents!
Yanyan’s eyes lit up, and he almost rushed over, only to have his hand firmly held back by Si Jingce.
Si Jingce briefly introduced himself to the hostess. “I’m the one who contacted you by phone.”
“Oh, I know.” The woman nodded.
She remembered the call clearly—after all, it was rare for someone to go out of their way to find a pet bird’s family.
“Please sit first. My daughter hasn’t come back yet.” The hostess poured tea for both of them. “She treasures those birds a lot. You’ll need her permission before you can see them.”
Yanyan glanced at the time. “How long will that take?”
“About half an hour.”
That was still quite a wait.
Yanyan’s gaze kept drifting anxiously toward the birdcage on the balcony. Si Jingce pressed his hand gently and chatted with the hostess, “It seems your daughter really likes birds.”
“She does.” The woman smiled softly. “She remembers to feed them and give them water every day. Even eating and sleeping, she wants them by her side… Birds like these are quite expensive, but they’re worth it.”
Si Jingce paused slightly. “How much did you pay for them?”
“For the two… a little over a thousand yuan.” The hostess hesitated. “We don’t really understand these things—we had to ask around and pull some connections to get them.”
Yanyan turned to her. “The person who sold you those birds was really too much.”
As much as he didn’t want to admit it, pearl finches were actually very cheap.
Ordinary white pearl finches sold for just over twenty yuan each at bird markets.
Camel-colored penguin pearl finches were more popular, but even then, they rarely cost more than two hundred.
The more expensive ones were hand-raised birds that bonded with humans… and his family wasn’t even that kind.
That damned bird seller.
The hostess was taken aback. “We don’t know much. The child liked them, so we bought them.”
The whole bird family had been artificially inflated in price by that seller.
Yanyan fell silent.
He remembered that day very clearly—a man and a little girl had come to pick birds. The girl immediately fell in love with his parents.
When she heard the price, she instantly said she didn’t want them anymore. But her father still bargained a little, then paid and took the birds.
If the price hadn’t been so high, they had originally wanted to buy all four chicks together.
At that time, Yanyan had no concept of money. He had just been a clueless little bird, helplessly watching as his parents were taken away.
Perhaps after successfully scamming people two or three times, the previous owner tried to sell Yanyan at a high price as well—but this time, his luck ran out. Not many people were willing to pay so much for a pearl finch, and Yanyan ended up unsold.
Until, in the end, the previous owner grasped at straws and found Si Jingce—and Yanyan finally found stability.
It was okay now.
His parents, his brothers, his sister—they were all alive and well.
Yanyan’s eyes reddened slightly. He carefully took a sip of the bitter tea, forcing himself to stay composed and not lose control on the spot.
“By the way, what are the two birds called?” Yanyan asked the hostess.
Since the girl loved them so much, she must have given his parents very nice names.
Just like his own name—Yanyan—because he loved to chatter!
The hostess replied, “One is called Zhuangzhuang, and the other is Meili.”
Yanyan: ?
Si Jingce: …?
Yanyan thought he misheard and asked cautiously, “You mean the male bird is called Zhuangzhuang, and the female is called Meili?”
The hostess shook her head. “No—the female is Zhuangzhuang, and the male is Meili…”
