Chapter 87 p2
The young little red panda took the initiative to do things, going to the forestry bureau’s cafeteria every day to get meals, helping to pour water and carry things, and taking care of them as much as she could.
That night, Meng Zhao opened a popular science book on animals.
Blinking her eyes, which had grown cloudy with age, and holding her reading glasses, she struggled to make out the words.
“So red pandas like to eat apples.”
She muttered.
And so, from then on, every day when the little red panda went to the cafeteria to get food, she would, for no reason, be given an apple by the cafeteria auntie.
She had not had an apple in a long time.
The little red panda was so hungry she drooled, but she still obediently handed over the apple when she got back, preparing to juice it for the old woman, who had bad teeth.
But Meng Zhao chuckled. “Oh? They actually gave you an apple.”
“The old cat and I don’t like to eat apples. Little red panda girl, don’t waste it. Just help us eat it.”
The little red panda demurely accepted it, and in secret, she gnawed on it until not even the core was left.
And so, the human, the cat, and the little red panda lived together warmly for a period of time.
Meng Zhao had been kind and charitable all her life, and had lived a frugal life herself, and had not saved much money.
But she had, after all, been the director of the forestry bureau, and she had used her connections to get the undocumented little red panda a household registration.
“Grandma’s memory is not good. I’ve always forgotten to ask. Little red panda girl, what’s your name?”
The little red panda’s peach blossom eyes fluttered lightly. “My name is Rong.” (Rong = Velvet)
It seemed a human had given it to her, but she couldn’t remember for the time being.
But she liked this character very much. Every time she said it, she had a feeling of being gently protected.
As if she, a little red panda, had a home.
Meng Zhao smiled, and the wrinkles on her face were very kind. “Little Rong, what a cute name. But to get a household registration, you also need a surname.”
The little red panda was a little self-conscious. “Can I think about it first?”
Meng Zhao gave her a Xinhua dictionary.
That night, the little red panda was reading by lamplight in Meng Zhao’s guest room.
She unintentionally flipped to the character “裴 (Péi – long and flowing),” and her peach blossom eyes suddenly lit up.
The character “裴” is a top-bottom structure.
The top part looks like a tree with long leaves, and it might bear sweet fruit in the future.
The bottom part is the roots of the tree, which are deeply rooted in the ground, which means the tree will bear fruit for many, many years.
The little red panda was getting hungrier and hungrier as she looked at it.
In the end, she contentedly gave herself the name “Pei Rong.”
And so, the little red panda became Pei the Red Panda, Pei Rong.
Later, Pei the Red Panda finally understood why Meng Zhao had been in such a hurry to get her a household registration—
A month later, the calico cat passed away.
Meng Zhao was also on her deathbed.
On her deathbed, Meng Zhao called Pei the Red Panda to get her property certificate and passbook.
The little red panda did as she was told and opened the property certificate, and saw that the name of the owner on the paper was clearly “Pei Rong.”
The little red panda, who was heartbroken by Meng Zhao’s impending death, was sobbing, her eyes misty with tears, and for a moment, she couldn’t react to what this meant.
Meng Zhao looked at her with a kind expression and, intermittently, said with difficulty:
“I have no descendants, only this old house and an old cat. Now that the cat is gone, I am also going.”
“Little Rong, if you don’t mind, please accept this old and broken house and a little bit of savings.”
She coughed lightly and looked at the teary-eyed little red panda and smiled.
“You poor, good child.”
“Good is rewarded with good, and evil is rewarded with evil. No matter how difficult it is, you must remember this.”
The human and the cat had both died of old age and had gone peacefully.
Meng Zhao had long since arranged her own funeral.
But Pei the Red Panda still ran around for a few days, and in the end, she watched Meng Zhao and the old calico cat be buried together in the flowers.
That day, she returned to the empty house.
She first hugged her large tail and cried in loneliness, and then she was in a daze for a long time.
At night, she came to the window and looked up at the starry sky.
The stars were bright, sometimes bright, sometimes dim.
She was reminded of the countless times she had been helped and taken in—
The veterinarian auntie, the big sister passerby who had held an umbrella for her on a rainy day, Red Sister, Grandma Meng…
Mmm, there seemed to be the most important existence.
But it was a pity that she couldn’t remember.
She already had a vague impression of what had happened before the zoo, and she couldn’t even remember the face of that big sister passerby.
But in short, if not for them, the little red panda would have died a pitiful death long ago.
Pei the Red Panda dried her tears and made a decision—
—to take in and help other females, just as the kind females had helped her, a little red panda.
She wanted to create a warm and big family.
No hunger and pain, no hardship and harm.
Everyone would play together, help and support each other, and live bravely and enthusiastically.
She closed her eyes and made a devout wish to a shooting star.
….
Pei the Red Panda did not want to waste Meng Zhao’s money, so she decided to find a job.
Coincidentally, the forestry bureau’s cafeteria was hiring an employee to be responsible for recording the purchase list and actual sales every day.
The job was not difficult.
Pei the Red Panda quickly and successfully got the job.
Meng Zhao had been kind and charitable all her life, and her prestige was extremely high.
Everyone at the forestry bureau knew Pei the Red Panda and knew that she was the child Meng Zhao had adopted.
They had also seen this girl diligently take care of Meng Zhao and knew that she was a kind-hearted person.
And so, they were all very kind to her.
And after working for a while, Pei the Red Panda belatedly realized—
“So the cafeteria doesn’t give out apples.”
Everyone said with a smile, “That was Director Meng who paid for it herself. She would buy a big apple every day and have us give it to you.”
Learning the truth, Pei the Red Panda’s peach blossom eyes were filled with tears, and she stood there in a daze for a long time.
The work at the cafeteria was simple, and the salary was not high.
And so, as a red panda who had been poor and hungry, although Pei Rong had a house and a job, her life was still quite meager.
More importantly, she was very lonely.
How many other small animals like her were there in this world?
She would sometimes think with a sense of melancholy.
That day, she passed by a newsstand and found a magazine called “Animal Handbook.”
Her heart was suddenly filled with joy.
Was she about to find a small animal organization?
She walked a few steps forward and carefully asked the owner how much that magazine cost.
The exorbitant price that the owner answered made the poor little red panda dizzy.
At that time, the newsstand did not allow you to read in the store, so she worked hard, saved up, and finally saved up enough money.
She impatiently and joyfully bought the magazine and took it home, only to find that the handbook was divided into two parts: hunting and cooking.
That day, Pei the Red Panda was curled up alone on a tree in the forestry bureau, hugging her large tail and crying for a long time, feeling that her little panda life had been dealt a huge blow.
Later, she dried her tears and returned home.
The little red panda made a new wish:
If she had money in the future, she would start a small animal magazine.
The price would be set very cheap, so that even the poorest small animal could afford it.
She gave it a name in advance—”Small Animal Survival Guide.”
***
“And then, everything got better. I am actually a particularly lucky red panda.”
Pei the Little Able Cat saw the three humans below her, all with teary eyes from her amazingness, and couldn’t help but proudly and demurely do a somersault, and generously exposed her fluffy belly.
Then she grabbed Ye Qingyu’s right hand and placed it on her own belly, signaling the young woman to rub and serve her.
“Later, my home gradually became filled with many good friends, and they are all still in my studio now.”
The little red panda raised her paws and, as if counting her treasures:
“Shrimp was bought by me from the next table when I was eating at a hot pot restaurant. A little later, and she would have been put in the hot pot.”
“Tun-Tun was in a private zoo before, and she was bald in patches, and her skin was cracked. The zoo was closing down, and Shrimp and I pooled our money to buy her.”
“And then later, we all accidentally rescued a stray Bai Shuang, a poisoned panther, a pelican who was being chased by bad people…”
“And then in the pelican’s large beak, we found a clamped Nian Qiu.”
“Everyone lived in a crowded house and went out to do all sorts of simple jobs. Although we weren’t rich, we were very happy every day.”
Pei the Little Able Cat’s tail lifted slightly. “Suddenly one day, our house was demolished.”
The capital, a detached house, in a prime location, and the old house brought Pei the Little Able Cat a huge demolition compensation.
Overnight, Pei Rong became Pei ‘Rich Woman’ Red Panda Rong.
She was so happy that the tips of her fur were all fluttering.
The little red panda was going to have an endless supply of apples!
But as a big sister beast, Pei the Red Panda did not rush to buy apples.
She had to first find a new home for everyone.
All the beasts took a tricycle and looked at houses everywhere, and diligently studied and compared the locations and prices.
In the end, Pei the Red Panda made the decision to buy a big house on Fluffy Road.
At that time, the subway had not yet been built there, and the roads were bumpy, so transportation was not very convenient.
And so, although Fluffy Road was not in a remote location, the house prices were not high.
There were so many small animals in her family, and they could no longer live in a cramped house like before.
Pei the Red Panda waved her hand with a grand air and bought the most spacious courtyard at No. 108.
Speaking of this, Pei the Little Able Cat was proud again.
“I have a very good eye for investment. That place later had its roads paved and was directly connected to the subway, and the house prices have multiplied many times.”
After buying the house, the red panda carefully saved the remaining money for emergencies.
The small animals had all suffered, and they did not become extravagant and wasteful after the demolition and windfall, and they still continued to work diligently.
Until that weekend.
Pei the Red Panda took the little beasts back to the long-lost Yuqi Lake area, and they contentedly played and rolled around, and explored everywhere.
Around the lake and to the other side, they found that it was a human’s private bamboo forest.
She didn’t know if it was the climate or the land, but this large bamboo forest had a poor harvest, and it was yellow and withered, and it was being sold at a low price.
Pei the Red Panda stared at it without a moment’s pause.
She remembered that she had lived in this bamboo forest for a while.
Those bamboo shoots and leaves were particularly delicious, clear and sweet and fresh, and they had nourished the thin little red panda, and had also given her a sense of stability from an unknown source.
After being separated for several years, this place was now so desolate. Her heart was inexplicably sour.
After a long moment of thought, she said, “I want to buy it.”
Everyone unconditionally supported her decision.
It was a case of burning her boats. Pei the Red Panda almost emptied her savings and bought this almost boundless bamboo forest.
The magical thing was that ever since that bamboo forest had come under the red panda’s name, the bamboo had grown more and more vigorously, and was lush and green, and was quite productive.
The high-quality bamboo shoots and leaves that had once captured the red panda’s heart were sold to high-end tea restaurants and were for a time in short supply.
Speaking of this, Pei the Little Able Cat happily flicked her tail. “It’s as if this bamboo forest had been waiting for me, a little panda, to claim it.”
And it was also because of this bamboo forest that Pei the Red Panda was reunited with Red Sister.
