This response left Lou Yuzhu utterly stunned. She really had thought about it all night yesterday.
She reached out and stroked Tao Tao's braid, admiring the masterpiece she had carefully dressed up.
"If you say it out loud, I'll also think about you for a whole day," Lou Yuzhu said directly. "I'll wonder if Tao Tao is happy at school, if you had a proper lunch, if you're paying attention in class—I'll think about Tao Tao all day long."
Even if Tao Tao was just a little parrot that couldn't go to school, whenever Lou Yuzhu slacked off at work, she would often check on Tao Tao through the surveillance cameras.
Sometimes, Tao Tao would eat her seed mix, and in the middle of eating, she would suddenly fall face-first into the food bowl and doze off, making Lou Yuzhu melt from the cuteness, soothing the exhaustion from her work.
Could Tao Tao feel her love?
Lou Yuzhu was certain—absolutely certain—that she couldn't accept Tao Tao caring about someone else more than her. If this was the result of her enduring the burden of a mortgage and car loan, spending 30,000 a year to send Tao Tao to school for training, then she might as well just get another bird.
She only needed a little pet that would love her wholeheartedly and provide her with emotional comfort—she had no interest in raising a child.
Tao Tao had no idea what was going on in her owner's mind. Hearing that her owner thought about her all day, she couldn't hide her smile, her face turning a soft pink: "I, I also..."
She also thought about Lou Yuzhu—she thought about her all day long.
Watching until Tao Tao entered the school gates, Lou Yuzhu finally drove away.
For the past couple of days, her work mainly consisted of handing tasks over to the newcomer—nothing particularly urgent.
Perhaps it was because she had just found out that her boss was Fu Ye's ex-girlfriend—Lou Yuzhu had been preoccupied. Her boss had assigned her to an unpopular program, one that aired in the late-night slot. Could her job really sink any lower?
Lying on her desk in boredom, Lou Yuzhu sent a message to Fu Ye:
[Do you think Boss Lu will get more and more annoyed with me one day and just fire me? If she fires me, at least I can get some severance and find another job.]
If she didn't fire her, Lou Yuzhu was stuck—she was under contract and couldn't leave.
Fu Ye: [Want me to ask her to try?]
[No way, I was just saying that. If I really lost my job, I'd be anxious. Why would you ask her that? We're not putting up with this crap!]Lou Yuzhu sent a few rage-filled memes of overworked employees and then changed the subject to Fu Ye:
[Since when were you into girls? You even hid it from me? I'm heartbroken. (Gasps for air. jpg)]
Fu Ye: [That's what you're curious about? I thought you'd ask something else.]
Lou Yuzhu: [What kind of question?]
Fu Ye: [Every straight woman I know, as soon as they find out I'm into girls, eight out of ten ask how two women sleep together. It's hilarious.]
That question had never even crossed Lou Yuzhu's mind. She had never encountered it before. Her first real exposure to same-sex relationships was through Tao Tao, this little female bird.
Was there even anything to be curious about? Wasn't it just something natural? Besides, she could never bend that way—she wasn't interested.
That was what she thought, but somehow, her fingers moved on their own, sending an emoji—
[Perks up ears (.jpn)]
Fu Ye: [Let's talk in person. I'm afraid the internet police will detect explicit content and ban my account.]
Lou Yuzhu: [That serious? I don't believe it. Now I really want to hear it. You better make it detailed enough.]
She was chatting away with Fu Ye when suddenly, a shadow loomed over her.
She looked up. Lu Ling had appeared in the radio station at some point and was now standing at her desk, looking down at her.
Lou Yuzhu was startled. Her face tensed up as she instinctively turned off her phone screen. "Boss Lu."
Lu Ling rarely came to the radio station—she hardly even visited the company. People like her, with wealth and investments in multiple industries, only seemed to get richer.
Lu Ling glanced at Lou Yuzhu but didn't say a word. Right in front of all the staff, she took Zhen Zhou out for dinner.
Lou Yuzhu was speechless. She furiously typed out her complaints to Fu Ye:
[What kind of taste do you have? Lu Ling is so awful—how did you ever like her? Why is she openly flirting with Zhen Zhou in front of the entire company? Is she just flaunting their relationship? This is just setting Zhen Zhou up as a target. Even if you're playing around, you don't play like this.]
Usually, in workplace relationships, people tried their best to keep things under wraps.
Lu Ling doing this was completely sabotaging Zhen Zhou.
At first, Lou Yuzhu thought it had nothing to do with her, but then she reconsidered—could Lu Ling be doing this on purpose? Was it meant to be a message for her? A way to let Fu Ye know about all this disgusting drama through her?
Even more speechless. Zhen Zhou looked naive, completely dismissing Lou Yuzhu's warnings. Fine then, she'd just respect and 'congratulate' her.
This messy situation made Lou Yuzhu restless. She found an excuse, said goodbye to Li Hongwen, and decided she wouldn't come back to this station tomorrow. She would go straight to her new program team—better that than having Lu Ling come over and throw a tantrum again.
After work, Lou Yuzhu went to pick up Tao Tao and take her home. She didn't get the chance to hear any mature stories today—Fu Ye had to go on a business trip and wouldn't be back for half a month.
"What did you learn at school today?"
When it was time for homework, Lou Yuzhu began checking Tao Tao's learning progress.
The workbooks had already moved on to four-character idioms—she was learning incredibly fast.
Tao Tao tilted her head, recalling the classroom lesson:
"We learned about responsibility. The teacher said that once parents buy us, they must take responsibility. Raising us is something they should do. If we get sick, parents are obligated to take us to the doctor. The moment they buy us, a caregiving relationship is established. Abandoning us is irresponsible behavior. We have the right to receive food and love from our guardians. If they don't provide care and attention, we must severely criticize them—they are shameful."
Lou Yuzhu: "..."
Not bad, not bad—this school was really something.
They were already teaching about human nature? Looked like Tao Tao wouldn't be easy to fool in the future.
"What about your deskmate?" Lou Yuzhu suddenly remembered. "Did you secretly learn some bad things from her again?"
At the mention of Li Hua, Tao Tao seemed to remember something. Her face flushed, and even the way she looked at Lou Yuzhu became shy.
This reaction...
Lou Yuzhu's alarm bells went off. "What's going on? You can't say? What if I want to know? I want to know everything about Tao Tao."
It seemed like Li Hua wasn't an ordinary figure. Fu Ye had said that parrots were supposed to be simple and innocent—so why was this Li Hua so different?
Suddenly, Lou Yuzhu thought of Zhen Zhou acting all coy in the office and found herself at a loss for words.
Tao Tao spoke in a small voice: "Reading comics... Li Hua has a lot of comics. Two little birds stepping on each other's backs, two older sisters without clothes..."
Lou Yuzhu felt a little awkward, her expression turning subtle: "What kind of content? Based on age, you guys have only just become adults—aren't you maturing too fast?"
Should she even be asking about this? Thinking back to when she was eighteen, she had also secretly checked out some restricted content.
Tao Tao was in her mating season now—curious about sex. It seemed normal.
But two little female birds, huddled together reading that kind of comic? No matter how she thought about it, something felt off.
Tao Tao picked up a pen and started doodling in her notebook, covering something up. Suddenly, her shoulder blades twitched, and wings stretched out from both sides.
She lay on the desk with a soft whimper, tilting her head to look at her owner, her eyes full of helplessness.
Lou Yuzhu refused to let her off the hook: "What are you thinking about? Just talking about it makes you squirm, but you had no problem reading those comics with someone else? Why don't you go find Li Hua?"
She couldn't help but ask further: "When you were reading those comics with her, did she touch your wings too? How could you do that? If you're learning to be human, you should learn self-respect! Living as a human means controlling yourself—going into heat at random is just animal behavior!"
Tao Tao had only read some comics with her deskmate, yet Lou Yuzhu had blown it way out of proportion. Frustrated, Tao Tao threw down her pen, turned back into a parrot, and crawled into her coconut shell hideout.
Lou Yuzhu sucked in a sharp breath and followed her into the room: "Explain yourself! You have a mouth—why don't you explain? If nothing happened, just deny it! If you don't deny it, does that mean it really happened? Instead of studying properly at school, you're picking up all sorts of nonsense? And now you're throwing a tantrum at me? You're not the only one who gets mad, you know!"
She didn't even know why she was so angry all of a sudden. That fire inside her just wouldn't go out.
Seeing Tao Tao curled up in her cage, her back turned to her, feathers puffed up in frustration, Lou Yuzhu felt a tightness in her chest.
This was insane!
She wanted to cool down, so she went to the bathroom to take a bath. Holding her phone, she considered messaging Teacher Wang to see if she could get Tao Tao a new deskmate.
She had already typed out the message when it suddenly hit her—earlier in the day, hadn't she been talking to Fu Ye about the same thing?
She had been dying to hear Fu Ye describe an explicit scene in detail.
But now that it was Tao Tao reading similar things with her classmate, she couldn't accept it?
The double standard was terrifying.
She deleted the message, splashed water on her face, and tried to calm down.
She took a full thirty minutes to finish her bath. Trying to act nonchalant, she started blow-drying her hair, but her eyes kept drifting toward the birdcage—she never looked away.
After a while, Lou Yuzhu couldn't stand the silent standoff anymore. She reached in, grabbed the little bird out of the coconut shell, stroked her back, and rubbed the feathers at the base of her wings: "Is Tao Tao still mad at me? I've reflected on it. I haven't fully adjusted to your changes yet—I keep treating you as my little bird, so I act all strange. But Tao Tao is a person now. Making friends is a good thing—I should be happy for you."
Saying those words felt like swallowing a thorn—Lou Yuzhu almost choked.
She knew this was the right way to interact. But deep down, she couldn't suppress the desire for Tao Tao to be the only one who let her touch her wings.
The little parrot was still sulking, but some instincts couldn't be controlled. When her owner stroked her just right, she reflexively spread her wings, fully stretching them out. Even her tail feathers lifted slightly.
She let out soft, frustrated chirps, but still snuggled deeper into her owner's palm, enjoying the gentle touches.
"I shouldn't have said that to Tao Tao. Will you forgive me?" Lou Yuzhu cradled the little bird in her hands and gently rubbed her nose against her.
The little parrot suddenly leaped forward, landing on the ground.
In the blink of an eye, the girl had dressed herself and stood up, staring straight at her owner.
"I won't read comics with Li Hua anymore." She declared.
Lou Yuzhu suppressed the corners of her lips from lifting, keeping her tone serious: "That's probably for the best. Those comics aren't suitable for you—wait a couple of years before reading them."
Upon hearing that, the girl's expression changed instantly. Her small face turned resolute: "Your apology wasn't sincere! You don't actually like me making friends, and you don't like me reading comics with someone else!"
Lou Yuzhu argued: "I'm just worried you'll pick up bad habits. That's why I care so much."
The little bird-girl's intelligence had skyrocketed—she was even testing her now.
Ha! In an argument, the worst mistake was talking too much. The more you said, the more loopholes there were.
Lou Yuzhu firmly believed that if she kept things short and concise, Tao Tao wouldn't be able to win the argument.
That was how her mind worked—if she never opened the door, then even if someone guessed the truth, she wouldn't admit it.
Just as she was scheming in the shadows, plotting how to handle Tao Tao, the girl suddenly leaned in—
A soft, warm sensation pressed against her lips.
Lou Yuzhu froze.
Before she could react, something wet and hot slid forward—exploring, teasing, curling around her tongue.
This was Lou Yuzhu's first real French kiss.
She was completely stunned. A full minute passed before she shoved Tao Tao away: "What the hell are you doing?!"
She was furious, her face burning red as she wiped her lips with the back of her hand.
Tao Tao stared at her owner, tilting her head slightly: "This is what was in the comics. If Lou Yuzhu doesn't like it, then don't ask."
Lou Yuzhu flared up: "Why can't I ask? Even if I don't like it, I can still ask! I have to ask! You're my pet—I have the right to know what comics you're reading, who you're making friends with, and what you're learning!"
So what if she wanted to know? Did that mean she had to be Tao Tao's partner?
She was Tao Tao's owner—of course she had the right to know everything about her.
They had never fought this badly before. The girl lowered her head, silent.
She stayed silent for a long, long time.
So long that large, round tears started dripping onto the floor, splashing into tiny puddles.
"H-how much…" She choked on her words, gripping her clothes tightly. "How much did it cost to raise me? I'll write an IOU and pay you back."