All My Colleagues Are Animals 101p2

Epilogue 2: Nian Qiu’s Story – Caged Bird (3)

When Nian Qiu woke up, she saw that she was nestled by Qin Rulian’s pillow, her feathers messy.

She was a little dizzy and did not remember what had happened last night.

Vaguely, she had eaten some sweet fruits and had then stumbled into Qin Rulian’s window.

Nian Qiu had always been mindful of her appearance. If she couldn’t remember, then so be it. She began to earnestly preen her feathers.

After she had finished, she looked up and only then discovered that Qin Rulian had also woken up and had been watching her for who knows how long.

Nian Qiu felt that the woman’s gaze was clear and deep, with a deep meaning she could not read.

The little fluffy bird innocently “jiu-jiu-ed” twice and jumped to Qin Rulian’s cheek, and intimately and lightly bit her earlobe.

Qin Rulian’s breath hitched, and her lashes fluttered once.

She did not know if the world of spirits had some rules, such as not being able to let humans know their identities.

And so, she just kept what had happened last night in her heart and did not mention it to the little bird.

During the day, Nian Qiu still went out to forage, and Qin Rulian continued to do her handicrafts.

After several days, she had finally finished.

Qin Rulian held her finished handicraft, and a certain dazed look appeared in her usually bright eyes.

What is this thing?

When she had been doing her handicrafts, she had at first had no idea, and later she had decided to make a bouquet of blooming flowers.

Looking at it now, it didn’t really look like a flower.

The more she looked at it, the more it looked like… the chicken feather duster that the nanny at home had used to dust when she was little.

Young Miss Qin looked at her heartfelt handicraft and fell into a deep thought.

No, that’s not right.

This is clearly a bouquet of feather flowers.

“Jiu.”

A cute little bird, having finished foraging, flew onto a branch in front of the window.

Nian Qiu happily looked into the window and saw that the beautiful feathers she had given had all been tied into a ball and had been made into…

Uh, a bird feather duster.

“…”

Nian Qiu flapped her wings and almost fell from the branch.

“Jiu-jiu-jiu.”

Young Miss Qin suddenly came back to her senses.

She saw a fluffy little bird, who had come to her desk at some point, circling her handicraft, and chirping and grumbling.

Seeing her look over, the little fluffy bird let out another clear “jiu” and turned her back, and with her butt, she faced her, puffed up with anger.

Her feathers were fluffy, as if she were bristling.

Young Miss Qin blinked her eyes, for the first time feeling such a deep embarrassment.

Does the little bird think the feather flower is too poorly made?

She said with a certain apology, “I’m sorry. I will practice diligently and do better next time.”

“!”

Nian Qiu’s whole being was completely bristling.

Qin Rulian still wants to make a second bird feather duster?!

She won’t agree.

She will never, ever, give her feathers again!

Later, Qin Rulian had apologized for a long time and had also carefully smoothed down her bristling fur, and had finally made up with the little bird.

Nian Qiu saw that her attitude was good and reluctantly gave her a new, beautiful feather.

…

Warming each other in the cold and lonely human world, the human and the bird’s life was comfortable.

But Qin Rulian’s mood was growing more and more uneasy.

Perhaps because she had once suffered a tragic and drastic change, all peace and quiet would always bring Qin Rulian an ominous premonition, and all getting along would make her unable to help but think of parting.

But, life was indeed day after day, and the turning point was slow to come.

That day, Nian Qiu was foraging as usual.

She ate some wild fruits in the courtyard to fill her stomach and was preparing to fly back to Qin Rulian’s window.

Her wings paused slightly, and she suddenly hopped a few steps in a certain direction and saw a small, beautifully colored insect.

Although she had not eaten many insects, with a bird’s instinct, Nian Qiu was a little tempted to try it.

The next second, she remembered that she had once given a beautifully colored wild fruit to Qin Rulian, and the woman had liked it very much and had smiled at her with a gentle look in her eyes.

And so, Nian Qiu fought back her craving, grabbed the little insect with her claws, and flew into Qin Rulian’s window.

Qin Rulian looked up and saw the fluffy little bird fly in, and the corners of her lips unconsciously lifted into an arc—

That arc suddenly froze in the next second.

She saw a little insect curled up and falling onto her desk, and it was twisting haphazardly.

“Jiu.”

Nian Qiu lifted her head and proudly offered her treasure.

But she heard a hiss, and the chair leg was dragged across the ground with a grating sound.

The usually elegant and composed Qin Rulian suddenly shot up, and she stumbled back several steps, so scared that her eyes were red and filled with a misty, teary sheen.

She did not let out a cry of alarm, but just bit her lower lip tightly and panted rapidly.

So fragile and pitiful.

It was not just a simple fear of insects, but seemed to be a deep shadow related to it.

Nian Qiu’s heart was pricked, and a sharp pain arose, and she was filled with regret and heartache.

“I’m sorry!”

Before she could react, she had already taken a few steps forward and had held the trembling Qin Rulian in her arms.

“Don’t be afraid…” she said softly.

Qin Rulian stubbornly suppressed the sob in her throat, but she could not control the trembling of her body.

In the young woman’s warm embrace, she unconsciously raised a hand and held Nian Qiu’s collar tightly, trying to break free from the nightmare-like memory of being wantonly teased before.

Clear tears filled her cheeks, and she buried her head in Nian Qiu’s shoulder, feeling that she needed a tighter hug.

And in that moment of craving, the strength of the hug around her waist tightened as she had wished.

Her back was patted soothingly, and Qin Rulian gradually stopped crying.

She was suddenly reminded that the last time she had been hugged, it had been on her birthday two years ago.

At that time, she had still been a doted-on young miss, and her mother had gently held her.

At this moment, she suddenly realized how much she had craved a hug in these days and nights of struggling alone.

Just like now, pure, sincere, and full of affection.

Just as she was contentedly immersed in the hug, she felt the young woman suddenly spring away.

“Wait, I, I, I…”

Nian Qiu had only been focused on comforting Qin Rulian just now, and only now did she suddenly come to her senses—

She had actually transformed into her human form!

Before, she had heard Sister Rong talk about transforming into a human, and she hadn’t expected it to actually happen to her.

A thought stirred, and she transformed into a little bird.

A thought stirred again, and she transformed into her human form.

Qin Rulian, through her hazy, teary eyes, looked at Nian Qiu and easily saw the young woman’s flustered state.

She said in a hoarse voice, “So you didn’t know you could transform.”

Nian Qiu was now in her bird form.

Hearing this, she couldn’t help but lift her head. “You knew?!”

Qin Rulian had no time to answer this question for the time being.

She blinked her pair of pitiful, shimmering, teary eyes and, for once, showed a certain young miss’s petulance and willfulness.

“…Can you temporarily transform into your human form? I want you to hold me.”

…

For that day, Nian Qiu’s memory was particularly clear, yet also extremely blurry—

She remembered that she had held Qin Rulian for a long, long time, and she remembered that Qin Rulian’s tears had soaked her neck, and she remembered that the woman had repeatedly asked for the warmth of her embrace, like a helpless child, and also like a fragile flower.

She remembered that later, their noses had touched for a moment, and they had felt each other’s scorching breath.

But she did not remember whether she had slowly lowered her head and had lightly kissed the corner of Qin Rulian’s lips for a moment.

Perhaps she had, otherwise how could she have a hazy impression?

Perhaps not, because how could she be so bold? It was probably just that the line between dream and past had blurred.

In short, in the countless days and nights that followed, Nian Qiu would repeatedly recall that day.

And so, every minute and every second of that day had become profound in her heart, and had also become distorted.

She also remembered that all the warmth had been shattered the next day, without any warning—

The sky was just beginning to lighten when someone had come to the room and had taken Qin Rulian away.

They had coldly informed the new bride, “Today is your and the young miss’s wedding. Please come with us to get ready.”

They had said “please,” but in reality, they had dragged her from the room, giving her no time to react.

Nian Qiu had been so anxious that she had flapped her wings and had followed all the way, but had been driven away by brute force.

She had circled anxiously outside the Liang family’s main residence, and later, she had vaguely seen Qin Rulian, in a bright red wedding dress, being pushed into a luxurious sedan.

To parade through the streets, the wedding procession had not been fast.

That day, Nian Qiu had flapped her wings until her feathers were almost gone, and in her exhaustion, she had followed the wedding car to the wedding venue—

A vast lakeside villa, a property of the Liang family.

This wedding banquet was a traditional Chinese wedding, with a certain ancient charm.

A sunken wood pavilion, paper lanterns, redwood tables and chairs, and a large, festive curtain hanging on all four sides, and in the hall, a long row of incense candles were burning.

There was no need for so many incense candles.

It was Liang Zheng, wanting to pierce Qin Rulian’s heart, who had had a sudden idea in the morning and had said she wanted to light candles for her two deceased and unable-to-attend mothers-in-law, and so she had brazenly lit a whole row, wanting to burn Qin Rulian’s eyes.

But it had happened to lead to the accident that followed—

That day, Nian Qiu had flapped her wings and had slipped into the festive curtain and had burst into the wedding hall.

It had been so sudden that the guests inside had been caught off guard for a moment.

She had been anxious to find Qin Rulian, and the tip of her violently vibrating wings had unintentionally knocked over the outermost candle.

Clink, clank…

Many candles had instantly fallen like dominoes, one after another, and a flame had suddenly bloomed.

The hanging, festive curtain had quickly been lit, and then the redwood tables and chairs, and the wooden doorframes and pillars.

The weather was good, and the wind was just right, and the fire had burned quickly and fiercely.

The wedding hall had instantly been thrown into chaos.

Cries of alarm filled the sky, and thick smoke rolled, and the guests shrieked and fled outside.

But Nian Qiu, ignoring the thick smoke, had anxiously and recklessly rushed around the room, searching for Qin Rulian everywhere.

She had not seen the woman for a long time, but she had seen Liang Zheng, in a disheveled state, with half her body on fire, and her face was blackened, and she was screaming and fleeing outside.

The heat of the fire was really too high, and Nian Qiu had almost been roasted into a cooked bird inside.

It wasn’t until she had searched the last room and had still not found Qin Rulian that she had flown out, dizzy.

Half of her feathers were on fire, and Nian Qiu had hastily and in a hurry thrown herself into the lake and had gasped for breath.

…

Nian Qiu, with half of her feathers burned bald, had stayed at the villa, wanting to ask about Qin Rulian.

She had heard that besides Liang Zheng’s burns, there had been no casualties that day.

She had also heard that Liang Zheng had been furious and had called the police on the spot, but it had turned out that no one had deliberately set the fire, and that Liang Zheng’s reckless burning of a room full of candles without a good fire plan had been the main reason.

What was laughable was that during the police investigation, they had unintentionally discovered a huge amount of smuggled drugs hidden in the villa, and the Liang family had thus fallen into a deep crisis.

At night, Nian Qiu had finally heard Qin Rulian’s name.

“That Qin Rulian disappeared for no reason. It’s said that she jumped into the lake.”

“The lake is very deep. It’s probably hard to survive… It’s been so long without any news. I’m afraid they can only go downstream to fish for her body.”

Nian Qiu had trembled all over at the words.

She had hastily flapped her wings, and her half-bald wings had made her fly with great difficulty, and she had been swaying.

She had fought back her discomfort and had flown all the way along the lake, day and night, searching carefully.

She had spent who knows how many days, and had finally arrived at the so-called downstream, but she had still not seen a familiar figure.

Nian Qiu could no longer fly, and her whole body was so tired that she had collapsed on the shore, her gaze dazed.

She had realized that she might never see Qin Rulian again.

Just as she had been separated from Sister Rong before, and she had never seen that good friend again.

Nian Qiu had panted weakly and had felt a pain that life could not bear.

…

But perhaps life is always full of twists and turns.

That day, Nian Qiu, who had been wandering alone for a long time, was preening her feathers by the lake and then lazily basking in the sun and sleeping.

In a half-dreaming, half-waking state, she had seen a pelican suddenly fly over in a hurry, its large pink beak open.

Nian Qiu had been startled.

She had just managed to wake up and was about to dodge, when her vision had suddenly gone black—

She had been clamped.

It’s over…

This unlucky bird’s life was going to end in a pelican’s stomach.

But the pelican had not been in a hurry to swallow her.

She had just held her in her mouth and had kept on going, as if she were fleeing a pursuer.

Nian Qiu had been so swayed that she had been dizzy, and she had almost suffocated from lack of oxygen several times.

After who knows how long in a daze, the world had suddenly brightened.

Nian Qiu had groggily opened her eyes and had heard a familiar voice say with pleasant surprise:

“Nian Qiu?”

Nian Qiu had lifted her wet head and had seen a fluffy little red panda.

“…Sister Rong!” she had said, and her voice had been broken with emotion.

After being separated for many years, they had coincidentally met again.

Joining the warm and welcoming small animal family, Nian Qiu’s body had finally stopped wandering.

But her heart did not seem to have.

Occasionally, she would look at the red panda in a daze—

If, after being separated from Sister Rong for many years, she could meet her again; then she and Qin Rulian would surely be reunited.

Nian Qiu had held on to this expectation and had passed one spring and autumn after another.

She had watched the small animals around her find their lost joy one by one.

But Qin Rulian had never appeared, and she had become the last, unlucky bird in the studio.

…

Late at night, the moonlight was like silk.

Nian Qiu was sniffing the sweet, alcoholic scent of the fruits on the tree and was eating them one after another.

Nearly eight years had passed, and she knew that Qin Rulian was very unlikely to appear again.

The alcohol brought a dazzling intoxication, and it allowed her to vaguely see Young Miss Qin’s face.

Dignified and composed, with a faint smile, teary and misty, fragile and swaying…

As if within reach.

The more she ate, the clearer that face became.

And so, Nian Qiu could not stop.

In the end, she was dizzy and drunk.

She flapped her wings haphazardly and flew out of the Velvet Bamboo small building, and all the way, she was reckless.

First, she flew through a dense patch of leaves and was soaked with dew.

Then she unintentionally interrupted the intimacy of two strange birds and stirred up a chorus of curses.

In the end, she hit something and fell straight to the ground.

Smack—

She fell in front of a woman’s high heels into a drunken, fluffy little pancake.

The woman’s steps paused, and she was frozen for a moment.

Then she bent down and carefully picked up the little bird.

“That was my courtship feather. How could you make it into a feather duster…”

In her drunken dream, Nian Qiu muttered with a sense of grievance.

“…I’m sorry. I only found out later.”

The woman was silent for a moment and said softly.

Nian Qiu rolled over limply in the woman’s hand and, sniffing the familiar scent of books and ink, couldn’t help but nuzzle her head with affection.

“Then, does the courtship feather from before still count?” the woman asked.

Nian Qiu vaguely saw Qin Rulian’s face in her dream.

She was asking her if the courtship feather still counted.

And so, she shook her fluffy head. “It doesn’t count.”

Qin Rulian bit her lip, and her lashes drooped dejectedly.

“I see.”

But she saw Nian Qiu say the next second, “I’ll give you a new one.”

In a half-dreaming, half-waking state, she proudly flapped her wings. “My feathers are more beautiful now.”

Qin Rulian paused slightly, and then the corners of her lips slowly curled up.

She held the little bird in her arms and slowly walked in the night.

“The words you’ve said now, you have to remember when you wake up.”

…

This time, the two caged birds were finally and freely reunited.

(End of Nian Qiu’s Story)