The master was coming, so Chen Ling and others arrived early. No one ordered any food, but just drank tea and chatted.
Tang Siping originally planned to organize the planting area of Sifang Mountain and sell it together with the business. But now that there was that bougainvillea, he refused to sell it no matter what.
He also made a touching request: "Master Chen, if the bougainvillea is still there after I die, can it be transplanted to the cemetery? I can spend an extra dollar to buy a cemetery plot."
Chen Ling felt that this man was going insane. "We'll talk about it in detail later."
Tang Siping nodded repeatedly while holding the cup, "Yes, yes, yes, let the children take care of the things after my death. I am indeed thinking too far ahead now."
"Is Tongtong okay now?" After hearing that Tang Siping didn't want to leave Sifang Mountain, Chen Ling was a little worried. "If you don't want to leave Sifang Mountain, what about Tongtong? Will he be scared?"
After all, he saw his mother being killed with his own eyes in the cabinet of that villa. He was so scared that he refused to speak and hid everywhere at night. It can be seen how great the psychological trauma was.
Tang Siping was stunned, and finally a smile appeared on his dejected face: "Master Chen, you don't know, after you left that day, he spoke and called me dad!"
Whenever I think of this, I am moved to tears.
"I originally planned to leave here because of the child, but in the past few days, he seemed to have forgotten what happened in the past and kept asking me to find my mother." Tang Siping lowered his eyebrows and rubbed the rim of the cup with his fingers. "I asked him if he wanted to live in a different place, and he shook his head and said no, saying that if we left, my mother wouldn't be able to find us when she came back..."
Children's words are always the most direct and cruel.
Whenever Tang Siping heard this, he felt as if his heart was being torn apart. He wanted to cry out in pain, but he did not dare to show any intense emotions in front of the children.
He has many friends, from all over the world, including drinking buddies and life-long friends.
But the only person who could allow him to speak out the things that were suppressed in his heart was Chen Ling.
"Forgetting is a good thing." Chen Ling said, "The feng shui of Sifang Mountain is actually very good. In addition, after Xiaoyang died and disappeared, the spiritual energy returned to the soil of the mountain forest. The plants in the planting area will grow well and have stronger vitality than ordinary plants."
Tang Siping agrees with this. "The growth rate of vegetation is a little faster than before, but it is also within the normal range."
"What about your previous employees?" Chen Ling remembered that when the haunted incident spread, many people didn't want to work there anymore.
Tang Siping said: "Some people left, some stayed with high salaries, and I will go to other places to recruit more people."
It was at this time that Zhao Xunchang came in.
He was led by the waiter to knock on the door, and the moment he saw his little apprentice through the crack in the door, he smiled.
Chen Ling called out "Master" and stood up to pull out the stool for the old man.
Tang Siping quickly stood up, holding his shirt on his stomach with one hand, and stretched out his other hand, "Mr. Zhao, I'm Tang Siping, I'm in the landscaping business, nice to meet you."
As soon as Zhao Xunchang's butt touched the seat, he stood up after hearing the words, and shook the other person's hand up and down like a kindly old man.
"No, no, thank you so much for taking care of my apprentice's business."
"You are too polite. It's Chen..." Master's master is here, so he can't call him Master. Tang Siping changed his words, "I should thank Mr. Chen. Without him, I wouldn't be able to sit here safely."
Hearing the other party praising his young apprentice, Zhao Xunchang immediately stopped being modest, let go of his hand, sat down, nodded and said, "This is what he should do."
Chen Ling thought that it was what he should do and he took the money. He left in a hurry that day and both parties were busy afterwards and there was no contact.
Tang Siping didn't know how he found out his account number, but he directly transferred a large sum of money to him.
Without this money, he really wouldn't be willing to pay for Wu Weiwei to buy a bus.
When middle-aged people meet old people, it seems like they have endless things to talk about. At the dinner table, Zhao Xunchang and Tang Siping talked about social phenomena, national economy, and international development. The other two people, one was eating hard, while the other was trying hard to pick up dishes.
Chen Ling looked at his small bowls piled up like a mountain and sighed in distress. Did this person think he was a pig that was never full
He raised his hand to hold down the chopsticks that Jiang Yu was about to pick up again, and said sadly, "That's enough."
Jiang Yu felt that it was not enough, "You only ate this little."
Chen Ling was choked by this and was speechless. He put his hands under the table and gestured a number: "You peeled eight crabs for me alone."
Jiang Yu is an expert at peeling crabs. He first removes the eight legs, then pinches them with his fingers again and again, and the crab leg meat comes out intact from the broken head.
Then there are the crab claws.
This is even more exaggerated. Such a hard shell became a small toy in the hands of our ancestors, breaking it into pieces with a single bend. Then they opened the crab shell, removed the whiskers, and split the crab body in half.
All done.
The whole process does not require any tools, it all relies on a pair of long, slender hands with distinct joints.
Chen Ling enjoyed the food at first, but after being stuffed with too much, he lost interest in it and felt like vomiting because of the disgusting food.
Jiang Yu carefully observed the young man's face and saw that it was indeed full of rejection, and he felt a little bit of pity in his heart.
He picked up the hot towel at hand and wiped his hands, then stopped, saying with a hint of regret: "You are too thin, you should eat more."
Chen Ling nodded perfunctorily, thinking to himself, I don’t want to be fat, it won’t look good if I’m fat!
Zhao Xunchang listened to Tang Siping's words with one ear, and paid close attention to the communication between the young apprentice and the old man with the other ear, and his nose was almost crooked from listening.
How dare you tease me so blatantly in front of adults? It's outrageous and shameless.
As I thought about it, I couldn't help but sigh.
Tang Siping stopped talking: "Mr. Zhao, what's going on?"
Zhao Xunchang responded to the situation and said, "Nothing, it's just what you just said that touched me."
"Yeah, me too..." Tang Siping didn't doubt the old man's words at all and continued to talk about this and that.
When the meal was almost over, the cell phone in Zhao Xunchang's silk jacket suddenly rang.
The caller is Qian Qing.
Qian Qing's words were filled with excitement, "Mr. Zhao, the chick is about to hatch!!!"
Zhao Xunchang was so surprised that his hand loosened and the phone fell into the soup bowl.
Chen Ling: “…”
Chen Ling hurriedly took out the phone for him. Fortunately, he was quick enough and no oil or water got into it, only a little soup got on it.
I wiped the phone for my master. The person on the other end of the phone didn't hear any response and kept saying "hello, hello, hello" into the phone.
Seeing the words Qian Qing on the screen, he was startled and put it to his ear, "Sister Qian?"
Qian Qing recognized that it was Chen Ling and spoke even louder, "You are here too. It's just right. Come with your master to watch the chicks hatch!"
Chen Ling was also shocked.
If macaws lay two eggs one after another, they will only choose to incubate one themselves. Fortunately, in the dangerous natural world, this ensures that at least one chick can survive.
It's cruel, but also helpless. This is the best choice they can make.
But when they arrived at the breeding base, the parrot eggs that were supposed to be abandoned were placed in artificial incubators and watched over by researchers 24 hours a day.
Qian Qing should be talking about the parrot egg that was being monitored at all times, not the one that was pressed tightly under the female parrot's butt.
"Sister Qian, what about the other one?" Chen Ling was also very excited. The parrot egg had been incubating for so long and it was finally about to hatch.
"The situation of the other one is not very clear yet. The female and male parrots are all crowded in the bird's nest, blocking the camera." Qian Qing was speechless. Under normal circumstances, after the two parrots meet and cuddle for a while, the male will fly out and bring food to the female from the feeding trough at the door.
Not today, I am just doing my duty like a brave little guard.
Chen Ling said: "Master and I will be here soon!"
After the young apprentice hung up the phone, Boss Zhao Xunchang unhappily snatched the phone away and put it in his pocket, "I wanted to give you a surprise, but Qian Qing ruined my plans!"
"It's surprising enough that I know it now." Chen Ling picked up his clothes, pulled Zhao Xunchang with him, and walked out impatiently.
Jiang Yu had long legs and walked at a leisurely pace, and actually did not fall behind.
By the time Tang Siping caught up with him, carrying his suit jacket, Jiang Yu had already paid the bill.
He was quite embarrassed: "How can I let you treat me?"
"It's all the same." Jiang Yu motioned for Tang Siping to follow, "We have to go to the breeding base first."
What breeding base
Tang Siping was full of doubts, but when he arrived he found out that it was a bird breeding base next to the wildlife park.
He parked the car and followed, and saw that Master Chen and his master were walking along the route with great ease. He didn't need to guess to know that these two must be regulars here.
After Qian Qing received the news that the two had arrived, he waited at the door of his office. When he saw them, he immediately waved his hand vigorously: "This way, we are going to the incubation room."
The hatchery and breeding room are not in the same place. You have to walk through a long corridor and turn two corners to get there.
The base in Beicheng has never successfully hatched a macaw, let alone bred one. After the news came out today, everyone in the institute came to watch.
But when Zhao Xunchang and others arrived, everyone made way for the crowded entrance to allow more people to pass through.
Being stared at by so many pairs of eyes, Chen Ling felt quite embarrassed and had a feeling of privilege.
Zhao Xunchang was impressed and even taught him a lesson, "Don't be so shameless. You're going to see your nephew, so they should give way!"
When Chen Ling heard this, he was like, Oh my God, my elders actually divided it!
I was in a good mood and walked faster.
Jiang Yu and Tang Siping completely benefited from the two people in front of them and followed behind unimpeded and entered the incubation room.
There was a warm yellow light in the incubator, and in the middle was a small artificial bird's nest.
In the center of the bird's nest, there is a white egg lying crookedly.
The egg was larger than a chicken egg, and there was a crack in the shell, so it could break at any time.
Qian Qing was holding the camera in the institute's hand. While filming, he also had time to talk: "The laying and hatching time of our parrot eggs this time are longer than normal. But according to the monitoring map, the size of the little parrots inside is also larger than those hatched in normal time. At present, I can't say whether this is good or bad. I have to wait until the little guys come out to know."
Click. A very subtle sound came from the small speaker connected to the incubator.
Another crack appeared on the round and plump eggshell.
There is a tenacious little creature that is trying hard to use its body and head to push against the hard barrier, eager to come out and see this new world.
Someone behind him stood on tiptoe and saw this scene, and shouted excitedly: "It's broken, it's broken, it's broken!"
The people around were also very excited. "This is the first one in the base. I don't know how the other female is doing. If they can hatch today, our base can brag about this for a year!"
"That's right. Usually when there's a seminar or something, those bases are arrogant and proud, with their noses pointed to the sky, not afraid of spraining their necks. Now, they can hold their heads high."
Amid the chirping sounds, the little thing inside the eggshell stretched out a foot.
Suddenly, the whole place was silent.
The paw was so small, but so powerful, and after the toe came a tiny leg, and then another one.
After the eggshell has a large breakthrough, it becomes much easier for the chick to break out of the shell.
The soft, flesh-colored little thing in between tried its best to free its butt from the eggshell, followed by its short and weak wings, and finally its head.
Perhaps it had exerted too much strength, for it sat down on the bird's nest, its head hanging down, its legs and wings flapping, but it couldn't stand up.
Chen Ling watched intently, and in excitement, he grabbed Jiang Yu's hand behind him and said, "Look, there's hair!"
There are hairs, but very few. The scattered milky white hairs are stuck to the skin, making it look disheveled and pitiful.
Jiang Yu was not interested in the bird, but only in the hand that was tightly holding his. He said "hmm" perfunctorily.
In comparison, Zhao Xunchang appeared much calmer on the surface, but he was no less ecstatic than Chen Ling inside. When he raised Xiao Lan, Xiao Lan was almost five years old, and was almost at the age of maturity.
He had never seen the naivety and cuteness of childhood.
Now, he seemed to be able to see through the incubator and see the baby bird's father just breaking out of the shell, and he almost burst into tears.
"I can't believe that Xiaolan has gotten married and become a father. Time flies so fast." Zhao Xunchang was relieved but also sad.
The growth, maturity, and failure of any life are all linked to time. This reminded him of himself and the apprentice who had accompanied him. He was already old, and Chen Ling's life had just begun. He didn't know how long he could accompany him.
Chen Ling saw the water stains at the corners of his master's eyes and was stunned.
He put his arm around Master's shoulders in amusement and handed him a tissue, "Master, there are so many people here."
"I didn't!" Zhao Xunchang roared, the water in the corners of his eyes evaporated instantly, leaving no evidence.
Chen Ling asked back: "You didn't say anything? I didn't say anything."
Zhao Xunchang blew his beard and glared, feeling guilty. He pretended not to hear and turned his head to continue looking at the incubator.
The baby bird tried hard to stand up. It was tenacious and resilient, like a sapling that wanted to stand upright even after being blown down by the wind, and was not afraid of any difficulties.
However, it overestimated itself. After several unsuccessful attempts, it was tired, but it did not forget its instinct. It opened its cute small beak and made a very weak cry.
The next second, the staff member who was standing at the door of the breeding room and watching the surveillance screen shouted, "It's broken!"
In the breeding room, the two parent birds huddled in the nest, calling out at the top of their lungs.
From the surveillance video outside, we can see that the chick inside is much happier than the one in the incubator. It has parents who love it, and it can feel the warmth of its mother before it even opens its eyes when it wakes up.
The broken eggshells were scattered around the nest, and Nestling No. 2 was lifted up by Little Red's beak.
The other male parrot has already stuck its head out, ready to look for food.
When chicks are just born, their intestines and stomachs are not fully developed and they cannot digest food properly, so they can only eat liquid food. Therefore, the female must go out to forage for food soon after it is born, wait for the food to be digested into a paste in the stomach, and then through the contraction of the stomach, the food is turned out and fed to the chicks with her mouth open.
Now, for some reason, such an important matter fell on Xiaolan, who was supposed to be included in the feeding a week later.
But when it saw Chen Ling and Zhao Xunchang outside the glass, this difficult task was relegated to second place.
It was so happy that it flapped its wings and rubbed its head against the glass wall, wishing it could take turns frolicking in the arms of its two keepers.
Qian Qing thought about it, opened the door with the key, and let Chen Ling and Zhao Xunchang in.
The next second, Xiao Lan rushed into the old man's arms and shouted, "I got it, I got it!"
When there are outsiders around, its behavior is always reserved, and its usually loud voice is hidden, so weak that only Chen Ling and Zhao Xunchang can hear it.
After clinging to each other for a while, Xiao Lan threw herself into Chen Ling's arms again.
The little head leaned against the young man's neck, left and right, but it could never get close enough.
A bird's cry was heard from a tall tree in the distance.
Xiao Lan finally felt willing to come out, and when she looked up, she saw Jiang Yu standing outside the glass wall.
The man and the bird looked at each other for a few seconds, and as if provoking, Xiao Lan deliberately leaned its head back on the young man's neck. It was so happy today because it had a son, and it was not afraid of anyone!
It still remembered to get food for its child. It only leaned for a moment before leaving the young man's arms and flying to the trough, where it pecked at the food desperately.
Zhao Xunchang patted his apprentice on the shoulder and said, "Let's go. It probably won't go back with us tonight."
As soon as he finished speaking, the purple-blue parrot that was pecking at food suddenly turned its head and looked over.
Zhao Xunchang suddenly felt guilty for talking bad about others behind their backs.
Chen Ling whispered, "That's really clever. It seems like he can really understand."
Before Zhao Xunchang could say anything, Xiao Lan suddenly straightened her body from sideways to the two of them, staring at them with her small eyes.
Chen Ling and Zhao Xunchang tacitly agreed not to move or speak until the parrot flew away, then they both breathed a sigh of relief.
In order to hide the cold sweat caused by being scared by a little parrot, Zhao Xunchang turned around first and said as he walked, "Let's go."
Chen Ling followed closely behind, and when he was about to go out, he looked back and found Xiao Lan was looking at them.
After exiting, he stood in front of the surveillance screen.
Little Blue had already retracted his head, and put it next to the female's head, making tiny noises that sounded like he was negotiating.
Chen Ling rubbed his brows, thinking that he was overthinking. Just as he was about to leave, he suddenly noticed that Xiao Lan on the surveillance camera opened his mouth and began to regurgitate food into the baby bird's mouth.
The young bird was hungry and stretched its neck desperately for more.
Qian Qing suddenly said, "These two parrots are very healthy, big and strong. To be honest, I really find it incredible. I thought that the chicks that were hatched so long ago would be unhealthy."
Chen Li asked: "Then do you know why this happened?"
Qian Qing shook her head: "I don't know. Both the male and female are purebred hyacinth macaws. Logically speaking, there shouldn't be such an abnormality."
"Let's go." Zhao Xunchang interrupted the conversation that the two were about to continue and said casually, "As long as the chicks are healthy and have no diseases, it's fine. There is no difference between species in nature and humans. Humans have premature births, so can't parrots have late births?"
The old man's words made so much sense that Qian Qing couldn't refute them. "Mr. Zhao is right."
Zhao Xunchang nodded, and squeezed out of the crowd with his apprentice. Suddenly, he heard a bang behind him.
The male parrot suddenly pounced in front of the glass wall and started pecking at it with its beak.
Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, stubborn and anxious, afraid that Zhao Xunchang would drop it.
Qian Qing opened the door, and it flew out immediately. It glanced at the bird's nest on a tall tree in the breeding room reluctantly and commanded, "Go back, go back, go back."
Afraid that people will leave without it.
Tang Siping was greatly enlightened today. Not only did he see rare birds hatching, he also saw a talking hyacinth macaw.
Thinking that his kids at home would like it, he asked Chen Ling: "How did you buy this? Can you tell me about it?"
Chen Ling glanced at him and said, "It's from the country. My master is just raising it for me."
Tang Siping: "Look at my brain, how can I raise this kind of bird privately." But in the future I can bring Tongtong to watch it from time to time.
When they arrived at the parking lot, Zhao Xunchang got into Tang Siping's car due to the other party's enthusiastic invitation.
Chen Ling sat in the passenger seat of Jiang Yu's car just as he had done when he came here, holding a slightly heavy parrot in his arms.
Soon after the car started, he noticed that Xiao Lan was in a bad mood. He touched the bird's head and said, "Master doesn't want to hold you, it's just that you are too heavy recently, and he can't hold you anymore."
Xiaolan has become stronger and gained a lot of weight recently. He is now over the normal weight and weighs 2 kilograms.
It weighs four pounds, so it's okay to hug it occasionally. But if he holds it for half an hour continuously, Zhao Xunchang feels that his old arms will be tired. He doesn't want to indulge the bad habit of hugging it, and directly gives it to his little apprentice.
Unexpectedly, Chen Ling accidentally revealed the cruel truth.
Xiao Lan was so angry that he struggled desperately. His big wings spread out to a length of 1.5 meters, and the tips of his wings hit Jiang Yu's face directly.
Jiang Yu's nose was hit by the tip of the feather and he sneezed on the spot.
In an instant, the young man in the passenger seat and the parrot in his arms all stopped moving.
Chen Ling pretended that he didn't exist, and the parrot pretended that it was dead. The one flapping its wings just now was definitely not it!
Jiang Yu stepped on the brakes, picked up the parrot and threw it to the back seat, warning in a cold voice: "Hold still, don't move."
Little Blue tucked in his wings obediently, his little heart beating fast.
It always feels that if it makes any more noise, it will end up with bird feathers all over the ground.
It's so scary.
Chen Ling pretended to look at the scenery outside the window, hoping that the aftermath would not hit him.
Fortunately, that sharp gaze was retracted after scanning his face. The old ancestor was finally softer towards him.
The sense of privilege he had at the breeding base was an illusion created by the environment, but now, Chen Ling felt that he was truly privileged here in Jiangyu.
Jiang Yu’s indulgence made him feel pampered.
This is completely different from what parents give.
The love of his parents makes him feel warm and cozy.
Jiang Yu's favor made him want to smile foolishly. It was as if there was a handful of hot spring water in his heart, and the overflowing heat could easily stimulate his blood and make him restless.
Jiang Yu suddenly curled his lips and looked at the young man sideways, "Looks good?"
Chen Ling suddenly came back to his senses and found that he had turned his head unconsciously and was staring at the old ancestor's face infatuatedly.
He cleared his throat, not wanting to let the other party gain the upper hand, and nodded honestly, saying, "You look good. I've never seen anyone as good-looking as you."
The smile on Jiang Yu's lips deepened, "Don't worry, just wait and see, it will all be yours in the future anyway."
Chen Ling found that he could never win the argument with this guy, and he felt so upset that he wanted to pounce on him and bite him a few times!
At this moment, the parrot, who had been as quiet as a chicken, suddenly shouted, "Master, Master!"
Chen Ling sat up straight immediately.
Under the command of Zhao Xunchang, Tang Siping's car easily overtook the car in front.
Zhao Xunchang rolled down the window with a gloomy face and shouted, "What are you doing up there? The car is moving as slow as a snail. Hurry up, hurry up!"
Chen Ling then looked at the speedometer, thinking that his ancestor's driving skills were amazing, he could drive the luxury car at a speed of 30 miles per hour!
Jiang Yu said frankly: "I want to be alone with you for a while."
The macaw in the back row suddenly straightened up because of Zhao Xunchang's appearance. He was not afraid of anything anymore and shouted, "Shame on you, shame on you, you old thing!"
Jiang Yu: “…”
Chen Ling looked at Xiao Lan in astonishment. He was so bold!
Zhao Xunchang didn't expect that his previous mutterings would be learned by the parrot. He shuddered, quickly closed the car window, and directed Tang Siping to overtake quickly.
If you don’t surpass your life, you will die!