IBFAIBPMSH Chapter 7

Whether it counts or not, Bai Gaoxing still achieves his goal that night and happily watches TV for two hours. Even when he keeps shouting, "Change the channel, change the channel," Li Pu presses the button for him, which is a pleasant surprise. 

He originally thinks that Li Pu, being depressed, might get bored and leave him alone in the living room, allowing him to control the remote by himself. 

He doesn't expect the other party to be quite patient with pets.

…

This is the third day Bai Gaoxing has been a parrot. 

As a large parrot, he has no special skills except for talking, eating melon seeds, and flying. 

After the adaptation period of the first two days, Bai Gaoxing feels he has gradually adjusted to this body and begins to enjoy being a bird.

It's nice not to be human. The only regret is that he arrives here before he can properly experience college life...

Early in the morning, Bai Gaoxing squats in the cage and looks at the food box, but there is no food.

Looking at Li Pu again, he sees him sitting on the sofa in a daze after returning from his morning run. Bai Gaoxing has no idea what he is thinking.

He feels a mix of emotions. No matter how depressed Li Pu is, he has to feed his pet, right? Besides, a large parrot’s meal is equivalent to three meals for a small parrot. Can’t he get a bigger box? 

Bai Gaoxing grabs the empty food bowl and starts shaking it, making a popping and clicking sound.

With such noise at home, a normal person would rush over to check, but Li Pu seems not to hear it and continues sitting there in thought in a daze.

Seeing the man sitting on the sofa like a statue, Bai Gaoxing knows he won’t get any food without trying harder. So, he clears his throat and says, "Ahem, hello? Good morning! Come here, come here, look here."

His call works, and Li Pu looks at him. 

Bai Gaoxing quickly grabs the lunch box with his claws and shakes it vigorously. "I'm hungry, hungry! Give me more food!"

The noise is loud enough to be heard. Li Pu is startled by the penetrating sound and walks over with the bag of food, saying, "Dabai, be quiet.""

What a rude person. Bai Gaoxing shuts his mouth and watches as the man takes out the food box, fills it with food, and puts it back. 

He buries his head and takes a few bites, then looks up and adds, "Change the box for me to a bigger one." He speaks casually, so his tone is closer to a conversation between people.

Li Pu pauses and returns to the cage. "What did you say?" 

Bai Gaoxing is momentarily stunned and begins to play dumb under the man’s gaze. "Big! Big! Melon seeds, peanuts, big!" 

After he repeats it more than ten times, Li Pu says "Be quiet" again and walks away. When he returns, he holds melon seed snacks and even walnuts.

Bai Gaoxing grabs one and brings it to his mouth. He bites open the shell in no time; peeling the walnut is as easy as peeling grapes.

Li Pu stands in front of the cage, watching his new parrot for a long time, reflecting on what his assistant said yesterday. He must be confused, thinking that Dabai can always understand him. It is likely that Dabai has just learned those words from its original owner or from TV—after all, Dabai is quite smart.

Bai Gaoxing finishes half a box of feed in one go, and when he looks up, he finds that Li Pu has returned to his old spot.

… He’s hopeless.

Bai Gaoxing entertains himself for a while when suddenly he hears the door click shut. He turns around and sees that Li Pu has disappeared from the room.

He actually goes out again?! 

Bai Gaoxing stares at the door deeply, and there seems to be a light flashing in his round black eyes. 

 A second later, he jumps out of the cage with a "whoosh," first spreading his large wings to flutter to the sofa, then to the dining table. He looks around but sees no food, so he grabs a few napkins in a show of joy.

This territory is his now.

Bai Gaoxing thinks that even if he is a pet, he is still part of the family, right? He categorizes himself as such.

Then, Bai Gaoxing walks around the house without stopping and discovers something new—the kitchen, which has been closed before, is accidentally left ajar, just enough for him to squeeze through.

Bai Gaoxing squeezes through the gap, and when he looks up, he sees a clean kitchen, but there are no leftovers for him, and the sink is to his right. 

He feels thirsty.

Bai Gaoxing flies up to the table with great energy, climbs onto the water pipe, and stretches out a claw to grip the faucet tightly. He pushes hard—no, only fools drink raw water. 

Bai Gaoxing's energy comes to an abrupt end as he scans the surroundings. He remembers that Li Pu brings a cup from the kitchen when he drinks water, so there has to be drinking water available.

His eyes sweep through every corner of the kitchen until they land on a strange machine. 

There is nothing else, just a cup underneath the machine. 

Two numbers are displayed on it, one for temperature and the other for the remaining water. 

Bai Gaoxing leans closer to check, confirming the temperature is fine, then he pecks the button labeled “room temperature.”

He waits a long time, but no water comes out.

What kind of high-tech is this?! 

Bai Gaoxing stares at it for a while before finally noticing a knob in the middle of the machine. He wonders if he needs to turn it to get water.

He tries to pry it open with his claws but can’t manage it. As a result, he accidentally slips and steps on it, causing water to gush out.

"...Fuck."

He presses the switch hard again, drinks the water from the cup with satisfaction, and then slips out through the crack in the door. 

From this angle, he spots the sweeping robot hidden in the corner of the dining room. If Bai Gaoxing could make an expression, his face would definitely show a playful smile.

"Little Whale?" In front of the black round sweeping robot, Bai Gaoxing reads the words printed on it. 

As soon as he finishes speaking, the LCD screen lights up, displaying a "^_^" expression along with various function icons and a timer.

"Hello, master! I am Little Whale. The battery is full~ Please start using me!" the sweeping robot says in a cute voice.

"..."

Three minutes later, Bai Gaoxing stands on top of Little Whale, galloping around the living room. Wherever he goes, the wind whistles and fur scatters across the floor.

He rides it through the living room, dining room, and corridor, finally charging toward the living room balcony. However, when he looks down through the French window, he hears a hoarse, resentful voice:

"You are really sick!"

"I will tear you dogs apart sooner or later!"

"Get out of here, you idiots!!!"

The voice sounds familiar. 

Bai Gaoxing is surprised to find such colorful characters in this community. Suddenly, he realizes that the noise might not be from a person, but from birds.

He can understand bird language now. 

As soon as this thought crosses his mind, he hears the flapping of wings and sees another group of magpies flying away.

"Quack, quack! Quack, quack!"

Sure enough, the scolding below is actually the chirping of birds, one after another, with no intention of stopping at all. 

Bai Gaoxing finds it amusing but is also annoyed by the noise, so he shouts back, "It's so noisy! Stop it!" 

After saying that, he senses something is off and shouts again in bird language.

Things spiral out of control, turning the peaceful morning into a shouting match.

"Quack! Quack!"

"Quack! Quack! Stop making noise so early in the morning!"

When Li Pu returns home, what he hears is a noise that pierces the soul.

He pauses for a moment, then sets down what he is carrying and goes to investigate the source of the noise. Before going upstairs, he hears birds chirping downstairs. Though the sound is somewhat muffled due to the wall's sound insulation, he suspects it is coming from Dabai.

Of course, it is just a suspicion—someone downstairs also has a bird, a starling, and he occasionally hears its calls, but today’s sounds are different...

Li Pu makes his way to the balcony, and the cacophony grows clearer. He sees the large parrot that has just been home for three days, spreading its wings and puffing out its chest, squawking triumphantly, while in the gaps between its calls, it is evident that two birds are “talking.”

But the thing under its feet…

“Dabai.” As soon as he speaks, the big parrot trembles, folds its wings, and turns to look at him. For some reason, Li Pu feels he sees a hint of guilt in its eyes.

Bai Gaoxing feels very guilty. During the earlier shouting match, he not only squawked but also added some human words for good measure. He doesn’t know how much of it this person has heard…

Bai Gaoxing quickly lowers his head, pretending to groom his feathers; as long as he acts busy enough, maybe the problem will just go away.

Li Pu, unaware of his pet's inner turmoil, finds it amusing that it has turned on the sweeping robot. He presses the power-off button. “Do you think the house is too dirty?”

Of course, there is no response—he isn’t expecting one; after all, Dabai is just a parrot. 

The robot vacuum retraces its path, and Bai Gaoxing follows it until it gets stuck back on the charging station.

Li Pu also gets up and returns to the doorway, carrying a bag into the kitchen. 

Bai Gaoxing shakes his head and flutters back to the cage for a bite to eat.

In the kitchen, Li Pu pauses while washing vegetables. He recalls the voices he heard when he entered. After hesitating for a moment, he calls his childhood friend.

“I was just about to call you when you called me. What a coincidence!” His friend teases. “How’s Dabai? Is he still alive?”

“He’s alive and well.”

“That’s good. I was worried you might neglect him. Looks like you have some sense of responsibility after all.”

Li Pu sighs. “If you were really worried, you shouldn’t have sent him here.”

“Isn’t it working out well?” his friend laughs. “Anyway, what do you want from me?”

“I remember you said Dabai is good at talking?” 

Before getting Dabai, Peter Wang praised the parrot’s language skills.

“Yes, this species of parrot is known for its language ability and can even hold a few conversations. If you don’t believe me, check it out.”

“Have you ever heard it speak?”

“Well…” The person on the other end pauses. “I haven’t heard it speak in the two days I have had it. It’s a bit shy. But I heard from the shelter staff that they occasionally heard it say a few words.”

“...” Li Pu frowns, considering this.

“Why? Did it talk to you?” Peter Wang asks.

Li Pu replies, “Yeah.”

Peter Wang is curious. “What did it say?”

Li Pu hesitates. “... a lot.” Most of it is difficult to say directly. It seems Dabai’s previous owner had a rather irritable personality.

Peter Wang says, “That’s a good sign! It means Dabai is getting close to you. Play with him more when you have time—Okay, I’ve got to get back to work. I’ll talk to you later, bye!”

Listening to the busy tone after the call ends, Li Pu stares blankly for a moment before slowly putting down his phone. The sound of flapping wings comes from behind him. He turns and sees the big white parrot sneaking toward him, looking like a fluffy ball.

The parrot seems excited to see him, and a surprising word pops out naturally.

“Master. Time to eat?”

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