Pats Little Shrike's Tail - Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Shen Qingyi finally managed to soothe the little chubby bird’s sulking. She fed it, massaged it, and even prepared a basin of hot water for it to bathe in.

Shan Ling had actually already bathed during the day. She was normally very clean and had washed herself after returning from the supermarket. But seeing Shen Qingyi’s ‘enthusiasm,’ she took a second bath.

After all that, Shan Ling was no longer angry. What was a bird going to hold a grudge against a human for?

So what if my bird butt was looked at? I’ll just pretend I don’t know.

After coming to terms with it, Shan Ling wasn’t so bothered anymore. She ate and drank as usual and still slept with Shen Qingyi every night. During the day, while Shen Qingyi was at work, she would clean the house.

However, Shen Qingyi coming home early last time had scared Shan Ling. For the next few days, she only transformed into her human form to do chores. The rest of the time, she remained a bird, and nothing went wrong.

Their lives continued peacefully. This Friday, Shen Qingyi finished the restoration of Old Stories of Longcheng.

The client had said that as long as the work was completed on time, the quality didn’t have to be perfect. So, the latter half of the restoration wasn’t as meticulous. It was only guaranteed to not fall apart when being read, but it wasn’t as exquisite and tidy as the beginning.

Shan Ling was currently standing on the pen holder on the desk, tilting her head as she watched Shen Qingyi give the book a final cleaning and packaging, as if it were a precious treasure.

“Cheep cheep~”

Shan Ling looked at her in confusion: Didn’t you say it was a plagiarized novel? Why are you so attached to it?

Shen Qingyi used a feather duster to clean off the dried wood pulp powder. As if answering Shan Ling, she sighed softly, “Although the story content is not commendable, the book itself is a good thing. If I had more time, I would have restored it even better.”

Hearing this, Shan Ling hopped off the pen holder and landed in front of Old Stories of Longcheng. She looked down at the book again.

Shan Ling had been looking at this book with Shen Qingyi every day, and each time she read it, she felt a mixture of emotions. Today, looking at the ancient words, she had a feeling she couldn’t quite put into words.

The printing technology of that era was very simple, and it wasn’t very advanced in this niche novel, which only had a hundred copies printed.

So, Old Stories of Longcheng looked old and worn, as if it were the last remaining soul of a centenarian, just a flickering flame.

The restored parts hadn’t dried completely yet. The next two days would be used to let it dry slowly, and then it would be mailed out on Monday.

Just as Shen Qingyi took a photo of the completed restoration to send to her client, she saw her little chubby bird seem to have discovered something. It wiggled its little butt over to the book and kept pecking at a certain spot with its small beak.

“What’s wrong?”

Shen Qingyi thought Shan Ling was playing with the book. She was afraid it would peck a hole in it, forcing her to redo the work. So, she quickly grabbed the bird.

“Cheep cheep~”

That spot is a bit strange.

Shan Ling looked up at Shen Qingyi, rubbed against her cheek, and said to her: You should take a closer look. It looks like a number.

Shen Qingyi’s auditory hallucinations, which hadn’t appeared in a long time, returned. She felt as if a voice was telling her that something was strange on that page and that she should look at it again.

The voice was crisp and gentle, as if it were a sentence that popped directly into her mind, and yet it felt incredibly familiar to Shen Qingyi.

Why does it sound so familiar?

Shen Qingyi’s eyes narrowed. She looked at the little chubby bird “cheeping” in her hand and once again dismissed her absurd idea.

How could I think a bird could speak human language?

I must be getting sick again.

Shen Qingyi originally didn’t want to investigate, but she couldn’t help but look at the spot where Shan Ling had been pecking. It was a tiny number.

The number was hidden in the crease of the two pages. Shen Qingyi had noticed it before, and she had assumed it was a printing error because there were numbers in different places on every few pages. In that era, technology was not as advanced as it was now, and there were even many typos in the text, so this was understandable.

But after being reminded like this, Shen Qingyi became particularly interested in it.

“Do you also think this number is strange?” Shen Qingyi looked at the number on the yellowed page, and she couldn’t help but feel confused.

Starting from the 18th century, Chinese people became very interested in music. In 1907, music was officially included in the curriculum of girls’ schools, and numbered musical notation had already become popular. Not to mention that in the next one or two decades, the cultural level of the Chinese people had improved, and numbered musical notation had become commonplace.

Shen Qingyi had initially assumed that the random numbers in the creases were just printing errors. But now, she thought that these numbers might not be so simple.

The story’s Mr. Chen loved music and was even willing to abandon his wife and child to study abroad. At the end of the story, he died on a cruise ship for the sake of music, clutching the musical score he had written with his life’s work.

How could there be random numbers in a story like that?

Shen Qingyi felt as if she had discovered something incredible. She looked at the little finch in her hand, gently stroked its head, and said, her eyes darkening slightly, “You… have done something great.”

Shan Ling looked up at her, her small eyes black and bright.

That night, Shen Qingyi spent over an hour searching for the random numbers on each page and writing them down one by one.

Shen Qingyi had learned to play the piano and other instruments when she was in school. As she arranged the numbers, they looked like a proper musical score. When she used the automatic piano on her computer to play these numbers, Shen Qingyi heard a disjointed melody.

The song was awkward, and it seemed to be telling a story, but because there were only numbers and no proper musical notation, it sounded very strange.

The piano sound from the computer echoed in the study, a melody with some kind of order within the chaos. The emotions that had been on the verge of spilling out gradually became clear. Even though it wasn’t a complete song, one could still hear the gentle, lingering notes.

When Shen Qingyi sent the recorded video to her client, it was already eleven o’clock at night. She had thought Ms. Chen would be asleep, but to her surprise, she called her directly.

“Ms. Chen.” Shen Qingyi held the phone and gently stroked Shan Ling’s back as she spoke to the person on the phone. “I’m surprised you’re still awake.”

“I’m glad I’m still awake tonight.”

Ms. Chen’s voice on the phone sounded a little excited. She said to Shen Qingyi, “How did you get this song?”

Shen Qingyi told her what had happened. The other person was silent for a long time before saying, “I’m sorry for calling you so late. Your discovery is very important to me. Please send me your home address. I’d like to pick up this book tonight.”

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