Roses

The innocent face before her, with an expression like it was about to burst into tears, seemed completely unaware of what it had done wrong.

Parrots are highly intelligent creatures. They can surely sense when their owner is frustrated, when they're being scolded or shooed away impatiently.

Lou Yuzhu suddenly felt a pang of guilt. Tao Tao was only doing what she always did—wanting to play with her. Why had she been so harsh?

"Tao Tao?" Lou Yuzhu sat back down, her hand hovering in the air awkwardly for several seconds before it finally landed on the girl's shoulder. "Do you want to eat roses? I can go downstairs and buy you some fresh ones."

There was a flower shop just downstairs from her home. Roses were pretty expensive at the moment—twelve yuan per stem. Lou Yuzhu usually bought some every three days as a little treat for Tao Tao.

Right now, she felt like a cheating scumbag caught in the act, coming home to face her betrayed partner, guilt-ridden and desperate to make amends.

And so, something that usually happened every three days? Lou Yuzhu now wanted to sprint downstairs to make it happen right this second.

Like other small animals, parrots could be gluttonous, but their emotions often outweighed their love for food. When they felt lonely or sad, they could even start to self-harm.

Tao Tao crossed her arms, as if she wanted to preen her feathers, but her clothes got in the way, stopping her wings from spreading. This pose made her look as though she was hugging herself—small and pitiful.

"I… I can't eat," she replied, repeating an answer she had already given. Her eyes were red and watery, tears welling up and threatening to spill over. "I can't eat…"

Lou Yuzhu panicked, flailing her hands helplessly. "Don't do this, okay? I don't dislike you, really! Ugh, I—I'm just… I'm just bad at talking! Don't cry, please! I like you the most, more than anyone else, you know that, don't you?"

At least for now, that much was true.

When she was still in her parrot form, Tao Tao loved hearing her owner say these kinds of overly sweet, cloying words—especially when they were said in a soft, high-pitched voice. She absolutely basked in it.

Tao Tao lowered her head and used her mouth to pick up one of the bright red cherries in the bowl in front of her. She didn't bite or chew it, just held it in her lips, her tear-filled eyes gazing straight at her owner, as if waiting for something.

Lou Yuzhu instantly understood. Her entire body stiffened, and her face turned red enough to explode.

Among birds, feeding each other was an expression of affection. Tao Tao wanted her to feed her—with her mouth.

When she didn't receive the expected display of affection, the little parrot grew sad again. Her nose twitched, her throat making choked little sobs. Tears clung to her eyelashes, trembling and on the verge of falling.

Lou Yuzhu felt like her head was about to split in two. In a panic, she leaned forward, brushing her lips against the cherry and pushing it into the girl's mouth.

Though the action was quick and over in an instant, the lingering warmth and soft texture haunted her.

She covered her mouth with both hands, hunched over, her face burning as if set aflame. Ahhhh! She was supposed to be teaching Tao Tao how to use chopsticks! How did this turn into a kiss?!

But it didn't really count as a kiss, right? It was just a tiny touch—less than a second! Her tongue hadn't even been involved. Probably. Maybe. Well, okay, her lips did feel a little damp… but who knew where they'd touched exactly?

For someone with no experience, Lou Yuzhu couldn't even tell whether or not her tongue had brushed against the girl's.

She rubbed her lips with the back of her hand, trying to make herself act more normal. It was just two tiny touches! Lots of girls kiss their close friends on the cheek or something—this is basically the same thing, right?

Convincing herself as best she could, she took several deep breaths before finally calming down a little.

Meanwhile, Tao Tao seemed much calmer. The little display of feeding had apparently proven to her that her owner still liked her. She obediently returned to eating, holding a spoon clumsily in her hands. She scooped up some grains and, with an awkward, almost comical motion, brought them to her mouth.

Having observed how her owner ate, she could mimic the action, but her lack of experience using her hands and feet made her movements uncoordinated. The result was unexpectedly amusing to watch.

"Pfft…" Lou Yuzhu couldn't help but chuckle softly. She took Tao Tao's hand gently, pried her fingers open one by one, and positioned the spoon handle against the hollow of her palm. Then, she guided Tao Tao's thumb to press down on the handle.

"Hold it like this," her hand enveloping Tao Tao's soft, delicate fingers—so fair and tender they seemed even more fragile than her own. Lou Yuzhu scooped up some grains from the bowl and slowly lifted the spoon to Tao Tao's lips. "Ah—"

To guide Tao Tao's hand properly, Lou Yuzhu had to lean in so closely that her upper body was practically pressed against Tao Tao's back. Realizing the overly intimate position, she flinched and hurriedly adjusted herself, creating at least a tiny gap of two fingers' width between them.

With this hands-on teaching method, Tao Tao learned quickly. She soon figured out how to properly hold both a spoon and chopsticks, though her movements were still clumsy. It was clear she lacked practice, so eating with utensils significantly slowed her pace.

Lou Yuzhu patiently waited for Tao Tao to finish her meal. Once she had, Lou Yuzhu held her hand and led her to the bathroom, deciding to take the opportunity to teach her how to brush her teeth and wash her face as well.

The moment they entered the bathroom, Tao Tao grabbed the hem of her T-shirt with both hands and began pulling it up.

Lou Yuzhu shrieked, "Hey! What are you doing?!"

Startled, she quickly pulled the lifted shirt back down. "You can't just do that! Outside, you have to wear clothes! You can't go around like… like that…"

Her face flushed bright red as she awkwardly scolded Tao Tao. She averted her gaze from the ridiculously alluring figure of the silly bird-turned-girl, then turned toward the sink to squeeze toothpaste onto a toothbrush.

Tao Tao tilted her head, her expression identical to the one she'd had an hour earlier, when she had watched Lou Yuzhu bathe with wide-eyed curiosity. Her gaze was clear and innocent, her demeanor blank and dazed.

This dumb bird… Lou Yuzhu thought to herself, glancing at her reflection in the mirror and suppressing an exasperated sigh.

She handed the toothbrush to Tao Tao, and to her surprise, the girl started brushing on her own right away. Her movements were slow and stiff, a little mechanical, but she understood the concept. She didn't swallow the toothpaste foam, instead spitting it out properly. She even picked up a cup of water, swished it around in her mouth, and spat it out with a satisfied gurgle.

When she was done, she let out an impressed "Wow!" as if marveling at her own brilliance. She turned back to Lou Yuzhu, her bright eyes shining with excitement.

Lou Yuzhu didn't hold back her praise. "Tao Tao is amazing! So clever, so incredible! How are you this smart? You're the most talented, most brilliant little treasure in the whole world!"

Her exaggerated compliments, spoken in a voice so syrupy it could drip honey, left Tao Tao dizzy with delight. Her eyes grew misty with bashful joy, and she let out a shy series of cooing sounds, her voice soft and sweet.

The sight made Lou Yuzhu burst into laughter. After tidying up, she led Tao Tao to the bed and patted the side closer to the wall. "You sleep here first. I still have work to do. If you can't fall asleep, just play for a bit, okay?"

Knowing Tao Tao's habits, Lou Yuzhu suspected she might not sleep right away—or even at all.

She placed a palm-sized plush toy on the bed. Tao Tao had a habit of entertaining herself when she was in a good mood, lying on the blankets and playing quietly.

Lou Yuzhu returned to her workstation and picked up her phone, noticing several unread messages from Li Hongwen on WeChat.

[Xiao Yu, this girl seems to be the new hire they're trying to bring in. I just happened to see her coming out of HR when I was leaving work.]

[The boss will probably talk to you about it tomorrow. See if you can push it off. If not, maybe try transferring to the Marriage Cases department? You can't just quit your job… sigh.]

[What's her deal anyway? I heard she's an intern, and she's so young too. How did she get assigned to such a good position right off the bat? Back when we started, we didn't get anything close to that kind of treatment.]

The rest of the messages were a long, rambling rant, which only made Lou Yuzhu feel more irritated. She didn't want to chime in with Li Hongwen's gripes, nor did she feel like speculating about some random girl she didn't even know. Still, she couldn't help feeling a bit resentful toward the company's decision.

Li Hongwen had even attached a photo—of the new hire's back. Lou Yuzhu clicked on it, glancing at it briefly before she was about to close it. But then, something caught her eye.

Her gaze lingered on the woman's long, dark hair, which was streaked with faint traces of powdery blue. This kind of powder looked way too familiar. She couldn't resist zooming in on the photo to take a closer look. The texture of that powder… it was exactly like the feather dust that fell from parrots.

"Does this new hire have a pet parrot at home?" Lou Yuzhu muttered to herself. "Or… could she be a parrot person?"

She shook her head, dismissing the second thought as too far-fetched. The first explanation was far more plausible.

After sending a quick reply to her coworker, she opened her chat with Dr. Zhuo.

She hadn't checked her phone much all evening. Dr. Zhuo's messages were full of polite, caring questions:

[Have you gotten home yet?] 

[Did you eat dinner?]

The steady, gradual pace of their conversations was reassuring to Lou Yuzhu, and she chatted happily with Dr. Zhuo for a while. By the end of their conversation, they had made plans to visit an amusement park resort that weekend to see the light show and fireworks.

Once the chatting wound down, Lou Yuzhu said goodnight and closed WeChat. Without thinking, she immediately opened a popular app where netizens frequently shared posts and videos.

She had planned to look up some tips for visiting the amusement park, but the homepage had other ideas. One of the trending posts on her feed was a video about parrots in their mating season.

Curious, she tapped on it. The video showed a purple lovebird perched on a stuffed toy, rubbing against it enthusiastically, its wings spread wide like airplane flaps.

"…"

Her expression turned complicated. This video… Watching it made her mind wander to some rather inappropriate thoughts.

She scrolled down quickly, trying to distract herself with other posts, but the earlier scene stayed stuck in her head. Unable to resist, she snuck a glance behind her, wanting to check what Tao Tao was up to.

The girl was sprawled on the bed, tossing the stuffed toy into the air and catching it again, her expression bored. Every so often, she brought the plush to her mouth for a nibble, but she was careful not to bite too hard, as if she were afraid of damaging it.

Seeing Tao Tao treat the stuffed toy as just an ordinary plaything, Lou Yuzhu let out a sigh of relief.

It wasn't that she was being overly strict. If this kind of behavior was simply a natural parrot instinct, she wouldn't stop Tao Tao. But Tao Tao wasn't just a bird—she was also a person. Lou Yuzhu dreaded the potential awkwardness if she ever stumbled upon something… inappropriate.

Even imagining such a scenario made her face heat up. Her ears burned as she rubbed them nervously, completely forgetting her original goal of searching for date tips.

When it was time for bed, Lou Yuzhu closed the windows and doors, then walked back to the bed. "Tao Tao, it's bedtime now."

She picked up the stuffed toy and placed it back in the birdcage.

Tao Tao, sitting on the bed, was clearly not ready to sleep. She looked eager to keep playing and showed no signs of being tired.

Lou Yuzhu noticed her energy and grabbed a tissue. She crumpled it into a ball and tossed it in front of Tao Tao, hoping a quick game would wear her out and help her fall asleep.

Tao Tao lowered her head to look at the paper ball but didn't make a move to play with it. She seemed disinterested in this game and wanted to try something else instead.

Her porcelain-like toes gently tapped the bed sheet as she imitated Lou Yuzhu's speech, her voice soft and hesitant:

"Hold… hold taotao…"