Pats Little Shrike's Tail - Chapter 20

Chapter 20

Because of what she had heard, Shan Ling felt a bit uneasy going out today.

Actually, after transforming into her human form, Shan Ling had no reason to be afraid of cats. But her bird instincts still made her knees weak whenever she saw a cat, and she wanted to turn into a bird and fly away. Every time this happened, her rational mind would tell her it was nothing, that a cat wouldn’t be able to tell that she was a bird.

When she came back with groceries, the community security guard, who was very familiar with the young girl, thought she was a new nanny for one of the families, since he always saw her either going to or coming back from grocery shopping. He greeted her warmly.

“Back from shopping?” The security guard, an uncle, sat in the guard booth, smiling as he watched Shan Ling swipe her card to enter. “What did you buy today?”

Shan Ling was also very polite. When someone spoke to her, she would stop and answer. She politely said to the security guard uncle, “I bought some celery. I’m thinking of making some pork and celery buns. The fruits have been in season recently. The apples and pears at the fresh food supermarket across the street are on sale. They’re buy-one-get-one-free.”

“Oh, really?” The uncle also liked Shan Ling, this polite little nanny, and smiled. “Autumn is the time for harvest. Fruits and grains are coming in.”

“Yeah, I also love autumn. I can eat a lot of delicious food,” Shan Ling happily chatted with the uncle.

As soon as Shan Ling finished speaking, there was a “swoosh” from a nearby tree, and a yellow figure fell. Shan Ling saw a yellow and white striped tabby cat land on the ground. It looked at Shan Ling and wagged its tail.

Instantly, Shan Ling felt her mind go “buzz,” and it went completely blank.

Cat, ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!

That tabby cat was probably the stray cat in the community. Shan Ling had just heard that it had eaten a bird today, and she didn’t expect to run into it right after grocery shopping.

The tabby cat’s eyes were a glowing green, just as the bird that flew away had said. It looked very big and strong, with yellow and white fur. When its eyes stared at Shan Ling, they almost scared her bird soul out of her body.

The security guard uncle saw the cat, kindly bent down, stroked its head, and smiled. “Little cat, you’re here. Where have you been? You didn’t eat the cat food I put out for you. Did you go out and eat some wild game?”

The cat looked at the security guard uncle, “meowed,” and wagged its tail.

So scary…

Shan Ling thought of how this cat’s “wild game” was a bird she had chatted with before, and she felt that it was more terrifying than any other creature.

She couldn’t stay here any longer. Shan Ling was afraid she would faint from a heart attack. She stuttered as she said to the security guard uncle, “I, I have something to do at home. I’m going now.”

“What’s the rush? You’re not off work yet. No need to rush to cook,” the uncle said good-naturedly. He picked up the cat, handed it to Shan Ling, and said, “Don’t young girls like cats? Do you want to pet it? This cat has a very good temper. Anyone can pet it.”

Shan Ling’s heart rate immediately shot up to 120 from fear. She quickly took two steps back, keeping her distance from the tabby cat.

The tabby cat saw that Shan Ling didn’t want to hold it. Its green eyes narrowed slightly, and it “meowed.”

The uncle didn’t understand, but Shan Ling did.

The cat was saying: [Come on, pet me, you idiot.]

Shan Ling didn’t dare!

She was just a bird. How could she be so brave as to pet a cat? Her face instantly turned pale, and she ran away in a flash. Her heart rate still hadn’t slowed down when she got home, and her mind was still buzzing.

Shan Ling felt her limbs go weak. Everyone thought that cats’ favorite food was mice, but this was a human prejudice, just like everyone thought rabbits’ favorite food was carrots. A cat’s favorite food was not mice, but birds.

Countless birds die in cats’ mouths every year. Cats are particularly interested in birds that can fly and jump. They have been natural enemies since ancient times.

When Shen Qingyi came home from work, the little chubby bird was not there to greet her, which was unusual.

Ever since Shen Qingyi took Shan Ling out last time and found that this cute little white chubby bird wouldn’t fly away, she had never put it in a cage again. So for the past few days, as soon as Shen Qingyi came home, the little white fluffball would fly out of the cage and stick to her, not wanting to leave her side for a moment.

What’s wrong today?

Shen Qingyi closed the door and called out, “Little Chubby?”

When Shan Ling heard Shen Qingyi calling her, she reluctantly poked her head out of her nest and flew over weakly, nuzzling against Shen Qingyi’s cheek.

Feeling Shen Qingyi’s warmth, Shan Ling felt a little better.

“Cheep cheep…”

Shen Qingyi felt the little chubby bird’s mood. She took it in her hand, stroked it, and asked, puzzled, “Do you want to go out?”

Shan Ling shrank her head back, hiding in Shen Qingyi’s palm.

There’s a cat outside. She doesn’t want to go out.

Shen Qingyi was a little worried, seeing her like this, and wondered if she was not feeling well. She walked to the cage and saw that she hadn’t eaten much of her bird food. She said with great concern, “Is it because it’s cold? Don’t come out to play today. Just rest.”

With that, she put Shan Ling back.

Shan Ling was indeed a bit down today and curled up into a fluffy little ball in her nest.

Shen Qingyi comforted her for a while before preparing to eat.

Today, “Jiang Yi” didn’t seem to have made many dishes. There was only a plate of stir-fried cauliflower in the fridge, and not even any rice had been cooked.

Shen Qingyi thought about it for a moment, didn’t fuss about it, ordered takeout, and ate the stir-fried cauliflower.

After finishing the business with Chen Shiling, Shen Qingyi didn’t have any extra work to do. She took out a book she hadn’t finished from the bookshelf and started reading it.

Although Shen Qingyi was young, she wasn’t very interested in online games or short videos. The computer at home was just for show and had no other use except for looking up information and uploading videos. Shen Qingyi rarely even watched TV shows.

She uploaded the edited video to the backend for review. She had recorded many videos while restoring Old Stories of Longcheng. While the video was uploading, Shen Qingyi began to look at her own collection of books.

As a qualified second-hand book merchant, Shen Qingyi didn’t have many books on her bookshelf, but they were all exquisite. Almost every one was a rare copy, the kind that might be the only one in the world.

Shen Qingyi was currently reading an original German novel. This novel was quite interesting. It was about some local folklore.

In the past, Shen Qingyi would have read it with great relish, but today, for some reason, she was constantly worried about Shan Ling’s state. She couldn’t read more than two pages.

When she thought about how the little chubby bird hadn’t eaten as much as usual and looked so listless, Shen Qingyi became extremely worried.

Is it sick?

Or… does it want to go out?

Shen Qingyi pondered for a moment. She opened her computer and did a search. Millions of results immediately popped up, and there were even many advertisements.

Among all the messy results, there were all kinds of answers.

Some said the little chubby bird was sick with a bird flu; others said the pet wasn’t getting enough attention and was depressed; and some even said it was depressed because of a failed courtship.

Shen Qingyi tilted her head and thought about it. It had been half a month since the little chubby bird had pulled out her feathers for her. Even if she was sad from a failed courtship, she wouldn’t react now, would she?

As for being sick, she didn’t see anything strange about her. She just looked a little listless.

Shen Qingyi couldn’t figure it out. She stared at one of the answers on the screen.

[Did you take the little bird out? Some birds that have never been out don’t think about leaving. But once they go out, they will want to fly away.]

Because it saw the sky outside, it wants to leave me even more?

Shen Qingyi lowered her eyes. She had this thought herself at the beginning. It was like a person who had been cooped up in the same room for a long time, thinking that the sky was only that small patch. But after going out, they would find that the world outside was vast and beautiful.

She wasn’t sure if the little chubby bird wanted to fly away. Shen Qingyi just didn’t want it to leave her.

After spending half a month together, Shen Qingyi had already come to see Shan Ling as her own. Since her mother’s death, no one had been willing to get close to her. Even her own father chose to stay away from her.

The only living being that didn’t dislike her and had inexplicably entered her life was Shan Ling.

Shen Qingyi’s black pupils slightly expanded and contracted. A bird that has gone out once will long for the sky. She, too, after experiencing warmth, was unwilling to let go.

Paranoia, malice.

Blood, and pain.

Shen Qingyi felt that her condition was a bit bad. She covered her head and sat on the chair for a while before she finally calmed down.

I’ll go check on the little chubby bird.

Shen Qingyi got up and went to the balcony. She saw Shan Ling sound asleep in her nest. She couldn’t help but stand in front of the cage, opening and closing her hands.

As soon as October arrived, there were hints of winter.

The temperature dropped quite a bit today. Nuonuo was making coffee in the back, and Shen Qingyi was taking orders at the counter.

Perhaps because the weather was getting colder, there were more people coming for coffee. A few days ago, there were less than ten customers a day, but now, it wasn’t even noon yet, and they had already received over thirty orders. There were even a few delivery orders on the takeout platform.

Business was rare and booming.

Shen Qingyi finished the last order, let the customers scan the QR code, and then told them to find a place to sit.

Nuonuo was busy, running around. After delivering the coffee to the second floor, she jogged back to the kitchen to continue making coffee.

“It’s so busy today,” Nuonuo said to Shen Qingyi, leaning against the counter after delivering the last cup of coffee. “Manager, we can finally make enough to pay the electricity bill today, can’t we?”

Shen Qingyi had no expression. She was still calm and said to her employee, “There’s an order on X-Tuan for two cocoa lattes. Go make them.”

Nuonuo cried out in agony and went back into the kitchen.

After all the orders were delivered, Shen Qingyi finally had time to clean up the tables left by the customers. It was almost noon, and there weren’t many customers left.

Ding—

When Shen Qingyi heard the doorbell ring, she turned around and greeted, “Welcome.”

When she saw the person standing at the door, she couldn’t help but freeze.

Shen Hongjun was wearing a black wool coat and had his hair neatly combed back. He was holding the hand of a seven- or eight-year-old girl. He looked at Shen Qingyi and smiled faintly. “Yiyi, your sister’s school activity was nearby, so I came to see you during lunchtime.”

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