Chapter 127 – Shi Yuan’s Pets
In the Wild Rose Theater, there was a parrot named “Dashuai.”
Dashuai’s family history was long. It was said that its great-great-great-great-grandparents were from Gleaning City, and then they went to the main city with their owner. Afterwards, they followed the young master to Elton.
Whether this family history was illustrious or not, Dashuai always had a proud demeanor. It raised its chin, fluttered its vibrant feathers, and glanced at others with its pitch-black eyes, truly living up to its name.
Shi Yuan saw it for the first time in Cheng Yi’s office.
“Gong Xi Fa Cai!” Dashuai said, raising its chin in the cage.
Shi Yuan: “Wow!”
He approached to take a look, and Dashuai looked at him with a sidelong glance, saying, “Gong—Xi—Fa—Cai!” with perfect enunciation.
Shi Yuan said, “You too, Gong Xi Fa Cai!”
Dashuai said, “You little shit!”
Shi Yuan: ?
He was inexplicably scolded by a bird.
“Oh, that’s just how it is,” Cheng Yi said, one hand holding a pen while the other scratching his head. “It has a bad temper and curses like a sailor. I don’t know where it learned that.”
Dashuai: “Damn you! Son of a b!tch!”
Shi Yuan: “…”
Didn’t it learn those from its owner?
Shi Yuan came to the office to read the script. While he was reading, he listened to Dashuai energetically cursing someone’s ancestors, occasionally interjecting with “Gong Xi Fa Cai!”
“It’s quite beautiful, isn’t it?” Cheng Yi said. “By the way, it has a few offspring being raised at my cousin’s house, just born. If you’re interested, I can give you one?”
Shi Yuan: “Really?!”
“Of course,” Cheng Yi scratched his head again. “Tomorrow, come with me to her house and pick one you like.”
The next day, Shi Yuan followed Cheng Yi to his cousin’s house.
Dashuai’s wife was also a beautiful parrot. She didn’t curse and could sing beautiful songs.
A bunch of parrot chicks swarmed in the nest, a bit bald. Shi Yuan took his time and finally chose the weakest one.
Cheng Yi hesitated, saying, “Do you really want it? I don’t think it will live long. It’s smaller than its siblings, always bullied by them. Even its mother ignores it.”
“But it’s cute,” Shi Yuan said, looking at it. “I’ll take good care of it.”
Seeing him speak like this, Cheng Yi no longer insisted and gave him a lecture on how to take care of birds. Shi Yuan had previously raised a bird, so he wasn’t entirely inexperienced. He listened attentively, holding a notebook, and finally carried the young bird back home, cradling it carefully.
When Lu Tinghan returned home, he saw Shi Yuan crouched in front of the birdcage.
“Look!” Shi Yuan said. “It’s eating corn!”
Lu Tinghan approached and saw a fluffy ball pecking at corn. After listening to Shi Yuan’s explanation of the whole story, he asked, “What are you going to name it?”
Shi Yuan replied, “It’s called Xiaoshuai.”
Lu Tinghan: “…”
He should have known that Shi Yuan’s naming skills were not great.
Lu Tinghan glanced at Xiaoshuai again. It was really thin and weak. It would take a rest after eating two corn kernels. It didn’t seem like it would live long. Although he thought so, Lu Tinghan still helped set up the birdcage and lined it with soft grass for insulation.
To the surprise of Lu Tinghan and Cheng Yi, Xiaoshuai survived.
And it was doing very well.
Its feathers gradually became full and radiant, and its beak was a healthy golden color. Every day when Lu Tinghan came home, he would see Xiaoshuai jumping around in the cage, looking at people sideways, strutting with pride—just like its father.
But Xiaoshuai liked Shi Yuan a lot.
Every time Shi Yuan reached out his hand, Xiaoshuai would affectionately rub against his fingertips, and every feather was smooth and sleek.
Shi Yuan: “Hello!”
Xiaoshuai: “Hello!”
Shi Yuan: “Goodbye!”
Xiaoshuai: “Goodbye!”
They could play together for a long time.
Unlike Shi Yuan, Lu Tinghan never talked to animals or monsters. But every time he came home and saw this scene, Lu Tinghan would unintentionally relax his expression.
Until one day, when he came home and heard a clear and loud “you little shit!”
Lu Tinghan was puzzled for a moment.
That voice rang out again, even louder: “You! Little! Shit!”
Taking a closer look, Xiaoshuai was happily hopping and jumping in the cage. Shi Yuan told it, “That’s a dirty word, you can’t say it.”
Xiaoshuai: “Damn you, son of a b!tch! Son of a b!tch!”
Lu Tinghan: “…”
Lu Tinghan: “Shi Yuan, what happened?”
Shi Yuan said, “The theater troupe wanted to meet Xiaoshuai, so I brought it over. And then it saw Dashuai.”
Lu Tinghan knew that Dashuai was Xiaoshuai’s father, so he asked, “What happened to Dashuai?”
Xiaoshuai: “Gong Xi Fa Cai—damn you, son of a b!tch! Hehehe!”
“They stayed in an office all day, and then it became like this,” Shi Yuan explained.
Lu Tinghan: “…Okay, I understand.”
Xiaoshuai learned bad things rather than good things. It learned the phrase “hello” so well because Shi Yuan taught it repeatedly. But when it came to curse words, it only took a day to master them.
In the following days, Xiaoshuai sang and cursed, even managing to curse with a sense of melody.
Shi Yuan came to the conclusion, “It also has low quality!”
Lu Tinghan really wanted to ask what the meaning of the word “also” was.
But he couldn’t bring himself to ask.
Fortunately, overall, Xiaoshuai was much quieter than its father, occasionally singing a song, occasionally cursing a few words, creating an atmosphere in the living room.
Shi Yuan’s pet adventure did not end there.
One day, he went out to play with Lu Tinghan and saw a shop selling ornamental fish. The small fish had beautiful colors and tails.
He stared at the fish tank without turning his gaze away, so Lu Tinghan asked him, “Do you want to buy them?”
“Hmm,” Shi Yuan replied, “I remember you used to keep fish when you were little.”
Lu Tinghan rubbed his head. “Then let’s pick a few more to bring home.”
There were a total of two fish shops, and Shi Yuan spent a long time choosing the fish he liked.
Lu Tinghan accompanied him and the more he looked, the more he felt something was off.
…It seemed like Shi Yuan was intentionally picking out the ugliest and most unsightly fish from both shops.
Generally speaking, these ornamental fish all looked similar, but with a larger quantity, there were bound to be a few misshapen ones: bulging eyes, dull expressions, ferocious appearances, protruding teeth, and those that seemed to do nothing but blow bubbles…
Shi Yuan accurately picked them all out.
When Shi Yuan put the tenth unsightly fish into the fish tank, Lu Tinghan couldn’t help it and tactfully said, “Shi Yuan, do you really like these fish?”
“Huh?” Shi Yuan, fully focused on the fish, answered a beat late, “Yeah, I think they’re all so cute.”
Lu Tinghan fell into contemplation.
In the end, Shi Yuan picked out more than ten unsightly fish and a rectangular fish tank to bring home.
They both cleaned the fish tank, laid down pebbles and artificial grass, and placed it under the living room lights.
Shi Yuan poured all the little fish into it, and they weren’t shy at all. One by one, they happily swam around their new home with their dead-fish eyes wide open.
Shi Yuan: “Wow!”
The tip of his tail wagged cheerfully.
Lu Tinghan couldn’t really say “wow!” Every time he looked at the fish tank, he felt like all the fish were glaring at him. With their sharp mouths, wide-eyes, and monkey cheeks, accompanied by Xiaoshuai’s cursing, it had a unique style.
One treasures what one likes. Once chosen, it’s chosen, just like when Lu Tinghan first saw Shi Yuan transform into a human form, there was a sense of destiny.
It’s just that Shi Yuan gained ugly fish, while Lu Tinghan gained a little devil. It was clear who had the upper hand. Lu Tinghan helped feed the fish while Shi Yuan leaned next to the fish tank, and the two of them chatted casually, enjoying a peaceful and warm day.
But with Xiaoshuai and the unsightly fish as the “pearl jade on the side”…
When Shi Yuan mentioned wanting to keep cats and dogs, Lu Tinghan was skeptical.
“I rarely see these two kinds of animals,” Shi Yuan said while hugging his tail, “I’ve seen many people keeping them in documentaries before. Can I give it a try too?”
Now that their lives were stable, cats and dogs were still something only wealthy families could afford. They were scarce and the cost of living was high.
But for Lu Tinghan, that was not a problem.
After more than half a month, when Shi Yuan came home, he was pleasantly surprised to see an open cardboard box on the table, and the sound of scratching paws came from inside.
Coming closer to look, a fluffy blue and white kitten looked up at him. “Meow—”
Its eyes were pitch black and moist.
That evening, Shi Yuan held the kitten and watched a movie with Lu Tinghan.
The movie was about how people used to train dogs to pull sleds, and cats were also involved. Cats always appeared quiet and proud, not getting along well with dogs.
Shi Yuan and the kitten watched the movie attentively.
Lu Tinghan asked, “What name are you going to give it?”
“I haven’t decided yet,” Shi Yuan replied, “I’ll think of one later.”
And so, he pondered for several days.
The kitten remained aloof and indifferent towards Lu Tinghan, always circling around Shi Yuan.
However, raising a dog didn’t go as smoothly.
This year, there seemed to be a shortage of puppies. Some had become reserve military dogs, and the rest had already been reserved by other families. Lu Tinghan couldn’t find a suitable one right away.
He told Shi Yuan about it.
Shi Yuan, who was dozing off in his arms, lifted his head and said, “It doesn’t have to be a puppy, big dogs are cute too, purr purr.”
But where could they find a big dog?
As luck would have it, a few days later, Lu Tinghan heard a friend mention that there was a retired military dog without an owner, staying lonely in the military kennel.
In the afternoon, Lu Tinghan went to the kennel.
The black dog was quite old, with a large and powerful frame. It was lazy and lying in the kennel. When it saw Lu Tinghan, it clumsily wagged its tail.
Lu Tinghan observed it for a few seconds and decided to take it home.
He believed that Shi Yuan would like it.
Indeed, Shi Yuan got along well with the dog.
The black dog would sleep in the corner every day, while the playful kitten would jump and play around it. The dog never got angry and patiently licked the kitten, leaving its fur soaked in saliva. When Lu Tinghan went to the theater to pick up Shi Yuan, and they returned home together, the kitten would come to rub against Shi Yuan, and the black dog would slowly approach with its tongue out to show friendliness.
–If only the black dog’s name weren’t “Miaomiao,” it would be perfect.
It seemed that its previous owner and Shi Yuan shared a similar naming style.
“Since it’s already called Miaomiao,” Shi Yuan said, “let’s name our cat Wangcai!”
Lu Tinghan: “…”
He should have anticipated this day.
Shi Yuan always seemed to encounter strange things and strange people, even the animals they encountered were peculiar.
And so, they had an old dog named Miaomiao and a kitten named Wangcai.
Occasionally, the old dog also needed to go for a walk.
After dinner, Lu Tinghan would walk the black dog while the kitten either nestled in Shi Yuan’s hood or stood on his shoulder. It was obedient and brave, clinging to Shi Yuan and observing this world that was too big for it.
Hand in hand, they strolled leisurely.
Lu Tinghan asked, “Shi Yuan, do you still want to have other pets?”
“Not for now,” Shi Yuan said, “I really like them!”
Shi Yuan had both a cat and a dog. Meanwhile, the ugly fish at home happily blew bubbles, and the little demon, Xiaoshuai, sang loudly, imitating other people’s curse words from time to time. Lu Tinghan wasn’t interested in animals, but since he had a long-tailed purring monster at home, he had no complaints. Both of them were content.
Lu Tinghan said, “Shi Yuan.”
“Yes?”
Lu Tinghan hesitated to speak but finally said, “Next time we get a pet, let me name it.”
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**TN
Gong Xi Fa Cai – the loose translation in Mandarin is “wishing you prosperity in the coming year,” while the Cantonese translation is “wishing you happiness and prosperity”, a common greeting that is often used by people while wishing a happy New Year.
Dashuai and Xiaoshuai – Commander and Young Commander / can also mean handsome
Pearl jade (or gems) on the side – next to good-looking people
Wangcai – Wealthy, a popular name for dogs in China
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