Pats Little Shrike's Tail - Chapter 142

Chapter 142

Shen Hongjun wouldn’t be discharged anytime soon. Tao Wanyue took leave to care for him, and Aunt Jiang was running between home and the hospital every day, which meant Shen Jiaojiao had to temporarily stay with Shan Ling and Shen Qingyi.

Fortunately, Shen Jiaojiao’s mindset adjusted quickly. Aside from a few initial days of discomfort, she gradually became familiar with the three of them living together.

Today was Monday, and Shan Ling and Shen Jiaojiao were feeding the birds on the balcony.

“Sister Xiao Ling, look!”

Shan Ling turned around to see a magpie with beautiful feathers land on Shen Jiaojiao’s shoulder, tilting its head to look curiously at the little girl.

In the beginning, these birds were very afraid of her. After all, little children were not much different from cats in the eyes of these birds.

Shen Jiaojiao would initially try to catch a few to look at, but Shan Ling set rules for her. Shen Jiaojiao could only control her desire to grab the birds and watched with wide eyes as they ate, sang, and played on the balcony and the security screen.

Less than a week later, a brave little bird landed on Shen Jiaojiao’s shoulder, appearing completely unafraid.

Shan Ling smiled warmly and told her, “You can feed it some millet. It loves to eat it.”

Shen Jiaojiao innocently took a small handful of yellow millet from the small cabinet on the balcony. The magpie on her shoulder looked at the food, then at the little girl, chirped its thanks, landed on her hand, and began to eat.

“Sister Xiao Ling, it just chirped at me!” Shen Jiaojiao’s eyes widened in astonishment. “Was it talking to me?”

Shan Ling smiled, affirming: “Yes, it was saying thank you to you.”

Although Shan Ling was telling the truth, Shen Jiaojiao didn’t take it seriously, but simply widened her eyes, watching the little magpie eat the grain from her hand, laughing and calling out that it tickled as it pecked.

Shen Qingyi returned home after buying breakfast and saw this exact scene.

Hearing the sound of the door opening, Shen Jiaojiao quickly shouted to her sister, “Sister, Sister, look, this little bird is willing to be close to me!”

Shen Qingyi glanced at the magpie in her hand, then looked at Shan Ling, who was watering the plants on the balcony. She quietly sighed to herself, then said, “Go wash your hands. It’s time for breakfast.”

As Shen Jiaojiao obediently went to wash her hands, Shan Ling happily stuck close to Shen Qingyi, looking at the breakfast she bought, and reached out to grab a fried dumpling, but Shen Qingyi slapped her hand away.

“Go wash your hands,” Shen Qingyi said, syllable by syllable.

Shan Ling pouted aggrievedly, then called out Shen Jiaojiao’s name, asking to wash hands with her.

Just as she took out the warmed milk, the two, one large and one small, came out after washing their hands, and impatiently stuffed a steamed bun into their mouths, like two little hamsters stealing food.

“Sister,” Shen Jiaojiao sipped her milk slowly, and said to Shen Qingyi, “I want to go see Dad and Mom after school today. Can you pick me up and take me to the hospital?”

Shen Qingyi nodded, peeled a hard-boiled egg for her, and said, “Call your mom later. I’ll take you to the hospital tonight.”

Shen Jiaojiao looked at the egg in front of her, wrinkled her little nose, and said miserably, “Sister, can I not eat the egg?”

Shan Ling asked curiously, “Jiaojiao, are you a picky eater?”

“I’m not a picky eater,” Shen Jiaojiao’s eyes darted away as she tried to find an excuse: “I just don’t think it tastes good.”

“If you don’t think it tastes good, isn’t that being a picky eater?” Shen Qingyi glanced at her sideways, saying, “One egg and a cup of milk a day—that’s your mom’s rule. As long as you stay with me, you follow the rules.”

Shen Jiaojiao looked at the white, round egg in front of her and sank into despair.

Shan Ling watched her, amused, and advised, “Eat it. It only takes a few bites. You don’t want your parents to worry about you, right?”

Shen Jiaojiao resigned herself to her fate, picked up the egg, and ate it with a look of intense suffering.

After finally supervising the picky Shen Jiaojiao as she finished breakfast, Shen Qingyi took them downstairs.

She had to take the child to school first, then drop Shan Ling off at work. After these two things were done, Shen Qingyi would buy some groceries on the way home—that was her work for the day.

While driving, Shan Ling and Shen Jiaojiao sat in the back, chattering like little birds non-stop.

Shen Qingyi glanced at the rearview mirror and thought that Shan Ling chattering was fine since she was, after all, a bird. But why had Shen Jiaojiao also become so talkative?

Was this child always this chatty before?

She didn’t dare join the conversation between the two in the back. Shen Qingyi focused on driving. She had gotten up after 6 AM today; if Shan Ling hadn’t called her, she might have overslept.

There were hardly any people on the road so early in the morning. The few people she saw were also dropping their children off at school.

After finally dropping Shen Jiaojiao off at the school gate and watching her enter, she took Shan Ling to the shop.

It was mid-March, and the coffee shop renovation was in its final stage.

The first floor painting was complete. The second floor should be finished this week. After that came the furniture and equipment. The coffee machines for the back kitchen were already in place. Once the latex paint had dried several times, they could prepare to open.

When Shan Ling and Shen Qingyi arrived, Nuo Nuo hadn’t shown up yet. Only the renovation workers were preparing the materials they needed for the day. They glanced at the two who walked in but didn’t actively greet them.

Shen Qingyi inspected the progress, which was almost complete. She believed opening before April would not be a problem.

“I’ll head back now,” Shen Qingyi turned to Shan Ling, leaned in, and held her hand, chuckling, “I’ll stop by the supermarket on the way home to buy some groceries. How about we pick up Jiaojiao tonight and eat out?”

Shan Ling thought for a moment, then nodded with a smile: “Sounds good. Then don’t buy too many groceries today. What I sent you will be enough. We can buy more when we finish that.”

“Okay,” Shen Qingyi touched Shan Ling’s head, saying, “I’m leaving now. I’ll come back to pick you up this afternoon.”

As Shen Qingyi walked out the door, she ran right into Nuo Nuo, who was yawning and wearing headphones, which startled Nuo Nuo.

“Manager?” Nuo Nuo felt like she hadn’t seen her for ages and remarked, “Why are you here? Dropping Xiao Ling off for work?”

“Mhm,” Shen Qingyi also looked Nuo Nuo up and down, saying, “You seem to have gained weight?”

Nuo Nuo: “…Sitting on a chair doing nothing every day, of course I’d gain weight. And it’s not just me; Shan Ling has too. Haven’t you noticed?”

Shen Qingyi thought for a moment: “I see her every day; I haven’t noticed her gaining weight.”

“Truly, love is blind,” Nuo Nuo sighed helplessly, took off her headphones, and asked, “Manager, did you go inside to look? Our shop is almost finished. The renovation worker told me it will be done this week. Should we start promoting it?”

“We can,” Shen Qingyi felt that appropriate promotion was necessary. After all, it had been nearly three months since the shop fire and subsequent renovation. The old customers had probably disappeared, so they really needed to put in the effort.

Nuo Nuo smiled happily, her eyes curving: “Great! Then I’ll find a printing shop later to make a banner and some small flyers and do more promotion.”

Shen Qingyi looked at Nuo Nuo and suddenly felt that she, as the boss, cared less about the shop’s business than her employee.

She recalled that normally, late arrivals and early departures were common for Nuo Nuo. When the shop business was slow, she often wouldn’t show up at all; coming in once a week was a luxury.

Later, when business picked up, Shen Qingyi wasn’t happy either, feeling it interfered with her rest. If she hadn’t hired Shan Ling, Shen Qingyi would probably be considering closing or transferring the shop by now.

Thinking carefully, Nuo Nuo was truly her ‘great contributor.’

Shen Qingyi stared at Nuo Nuo without a word, making her feel strange. She looked at her curiously and said, “Manager, why are you staring at me like that?”

“Nothing,” Shen Qingyi paused, then told Nuo Nuo, “I’m thinking about how much to raise your salary.”

Nuo Nuo: “???”

What’s going on?

Just like that… a raise in salary???

Around 3 PM, Shen Qingyi finished her work, put on her coat, and headed out.

Elementary school students finished classes relatively early. They only finished at five or six in the evening in the higher grades. Shen Jiaojiao only had one or two classes in the afternoon, so Shen Qingyi had to go pick up the child from school early every day.

The large age gap between the two sisters was inconvenient in this way—taking care of her sister was like taking care of her daughter. Shen Qingyi had been asked several times when picking up the child, ‘what grade is your child in’ or ‘what training classes did you enroll your child in.’

This made Shen Qingyi embarrassed on several occasions.

Today, Shen Qingyi arrived early. Seeing a vendor selling sugar-roasted chestnuts by the roadside, she bought a bag. This was something that children loved, and Shan Ling loved it too.

In addition to the chestnuts, Shen Qingyi also bought two skewers of tanghulu (sugar-coated hawthorns), intending to let Shan Ling try one when she picked her up.

After 3 PM, the school gradually began to dismiss students. Many elementary students in identical uniforms walked out of the school. When Shen Qingyi first started picking up the child, she would try hard to spot Shen Jiaojiao in the sea of almost identical little people. After picking her up a few times, she realized she couldn’t pick up the child that way.

Even with keen eyesight, Shen Qingyi couldn’t single out her child among thousands of students. The only way was to find a fixed spot, do her own thing, and wait for the child to find her.

Soon, Shen Jiaojiao ran over quickly with her small backpack, then jumped in front of Shen Qingyi, pretending she had suddenly popped up from the ground.

Shen Qingyi glanced at her sideways, handed her the bag of sugar-roasted chestnuts, and told the child, “Try some.”

Shen Jiaojiao opened the paper bag, took out a chestnut, and started laboriously peeling it. After finally peeling half of it, she stuffed it into her mouth, her eyes shining with happiness as she told Shen Qingyi, “It’s so sweet, Sister!”

“If it’s sweet, eat more,” Shen Qingyi walked towards the parking spot with her sister, telling her, “Eat sparingly. We still have to pick up your Sister Xiao Ling soon.”

“Okay,” Shen Jiaojiao obediently agreed, then her small hand quickly peeled a whole chestnut and contentedly put it in her mouth.

Chewing on the chestnut, Shen Jiaojiao looked up at Shen Qingyi as she walked by her side and said, “Sister, our teacher said the money from last week’s Open Day has been donated to the children in the mountainous regions. She said they bought many books and textbooks.”

Shen Qingyi nodded upon hearing this: “That’s a good thing.”

Shen Jiaojiao also nodded, then peeled a large, perfect chestnut, looked up, and offered it to Shen Qingyi, her eyes curved in a smile: “Sister, this is for you!”

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