Chapter 52 Hatching! (Bonus chapter for 5500 nutrient solutions!) Thanks to...

On stage, as the speech drew to a close, the old professor's voice, passionate and stirring, echoed throughout the vast auditorium: "Your dreams will set sail from here!"

Below the podium, a boy with black hair and dark eyes suddenly stood up from his seat.

Excuse me.

Excuse me...

Ignoring the surprised looks from those around him, he hurriedly squeezed sideways into the narrow gap between the seats.

A slight commotion arose in the crowd, and everyone looked at him: "What's wrong with him?"

The boy ran against the flow of people out of the Great Hall of the People.

"...Have you found your direction in life and set sail?"

After running out of the school, Xie Shijin hailed a taxi and ran all the way back to his rented apartment.

Rushing downstairs, the boy leaned against the wall, panting, and pressed the elevator button twice. The elevator continued to descend.

Twenty-eighth floor.

Twenty-seventh floor.

The 23rd floor.

...

With each step down a floor, Xie Shijin's heart skipped a beat.

Too slow.

Why is it so slow?

Xie Shijin opened the emergency exit door, turned around, and without thinking, ran up to the twenty-fourth floor.

The intense running made him almost forget to breathe; he held his breath, and his temples throbbed with pain.

"Cheng Shiyun!"

Xie Shijin pushed open the door.

His Adam's apple bobbed, and a sharp, metallic taste of blood welled up in his throat.

No, I wasn't seeing things. The egg really did roll out.

He walked quickly over to the breeding box, opened it, and carefully picked up the snow-white egg. The eggshell was perfectly intact, without a single crack.

How could that be?

A small, grayish-brown creature, its fur not yet fully grown, suddenly poked its head out from behind the cardboard box.

It escaped from prison.

Xie Shijin raised his hand and pressed his throbbing temples: "...You pushed her out?"

"Chirp chirp chirp!"

The fledgling tilted its head and chirped twice, as if it were trying to explain itself or to ask for credit.

Xie Shijin's tense back slumped, and the excitement and restlessness flowing in his veins suddenly dimmed. He was disappointed and angry, but he couldn't take it out on a bird.

"Chirp chirp chirp!"

Xie Shijin glared at it: "Don't you dare bully your sister."

With a cold expression, he grabbed the bird and put it back in the cardboard box, then contacted the conservation station: "[Please do this as soon as possible—]"

delete.

[Come and pick it up immediately.]

In the afternoon, the people from the conservation station still hadn't arrived. The staff called Xie Shijin and said that a golden hamster at the station was having a difficult birth, and asked him to take care of it for another night, promising to come the next morning.

The next morning, Xie Shijin prepared to go to school, prepared milk powder in a small porcelain bowl, and put it into the breeding box: "Eat it yourself. This is the last meal."

He glanced at the time; the people from the protection station hadn't arrived yet. The instructor was in the dormitory announcing the pick-up location for the military training uniforms, and Xie Shijin began to bring his personal belongings to the dormitory one by one.

He'll come back for his egg at the end.

The combination lock closed with a "beep".

"Knock knock knock—"

"Knock knock knock—"

Who is pecking her head?

Who is it?!

I'm going to get a concussion!

Cheng Shiyun felt vaguely like a tightly wrapped rice dumpling, or like a premature baby curled up.

The baby was curled up in the amniotic fluid, inside an eggshell.

A thin ray of light pierced through the eggshell, turning the field of vision into a white blur.

"Knock knock knock—"

Did the woodpecker mistake her egg for a worm and peck at it?

With a "crack", the eggshell split open.

The crack then spread to the egg, and finally it shattered in two with a "crack".

She hatched!

The woodpecker was still pecking, using its sharp, tender, and still-weak beak to help its younger sister hatch. With each peck, it would push the pupa forward.

Smack—

Cheng Shiyun was pushed out, but fortunately the nest lined with eggshells was very soft, so she didn't get hurt even when she hit her head on the ground.

A huge bird face suddenly appeared in my line of sight, with eyes as big as half a head, ugly-cute in a way.

My older sister was born!

The baby red crossbills chirped happily twice, then dutifully groomed her feathers to clean off the vernix caseosa.

After being pecked several times, Cheng Shiyun was still dazed and confused for a while before she realized that she was actually a little bird!

Oh my god! She can't be this ugly, can she?!

Cheng Shiyun struggled for a while before finally managing to get up, but her hand slipped and she ended up doing a perfect split. She stared blankly down at her stomach.

Very well, she is an albino sparrow.

Her feathers were pure white, but because she was just born, they were all stuck together in small clumps, and her wings were wet. She couldn't fly even after flapping her wings for a long time.

The breeding box has a heat lamp on, and the temperature and humidity are just right. There is also milk in the small porcelain bowl.

Raising birds is like feeding dogs.

Cheng Shiyun fluttered her little wings and wobbled over to the edge of the bowl.

Your milk looks delicious, I'll have some first.

I took a couple of bites, and it was sweet and milky; surprisingly, it tasted pretty good.

The little sparrow, its belly round and full from eating and drinking, began to look around curiously.

The unfamiliar furnishings, the unfamiliar environment, everything unfamiliar rushed towards her, and she shook her wet head in a panic.

Where is this?

Where is Xie Shijin?

Xie Shijin doesn't want her anymore?

Suddenly, the little red sparrow next to her came over, nudged her to the side with its head, and started eating by itself.

Cheng Shiyun tumbled back into her nest again, nest...

What was placed under her buttocks was not cotton and hay, but Xie Shijin's clothes.

Then Cheng Shiyun saw the cat's bed on the living room floor, and her cat tree, which she loved to hang on to sunbathe when she made her little snake.

This is Xie Shijin's home, his new home.

He brought her to university.

Cheng Shiyun excitedly crawled out of the small hole in the breeding box, only to find that the breeding box was actually placed on the high living room table!

Her claws weren't strong enough to grip properly, and she slipped as soon as she got a firm footing, causing her body to fall uncontrollably downwards.

Oh no, oh no, if I fall again I'll have to start all over again! Cheng Shiyun frantically flapped her wings.

Huh?

She actually floated up and flew up!

Her feathers had been dried by the heat lamp and had become fluffy and soft.

The little sparrow flew around the house but couldn't find its owner.

"Chirp chirp chirp! Chirp chirp chirp!"

Sister, sister! You've grown up!

The little red sparrow stretched its neck and cried out anxiously, trying to get closer to the cave entrance, wanting to come out and play with her too.

It's not that I don't want to help you, but you don't even have any feathers to fly.

She flapped her wings at the little red sparrow.

Goodbye, little brother, your sister is going on a long voyage.

The little sparrow flew out of the window.

Flying all the way, the little sparrow asked questions along the way.

Where is Tsinghua University?

Where is Tsinghua University headed?

"Is Tsinghua University still far away?"

—What is Tsinghua University?

"Do you want to eat insects?"

"Come and lay eggs with me."

So tired.

Flying is so tiring.

Communicating with the birds is exhausting.

Cheng Shiyun couldn't fly anymore, so she stopped on a sycamore tree and rested under the broad leaves.

Cheng Shiyun regretted it. Perhaps she should have stayed in the breeding box; maybe Xie Shijin would be back soon.

When will you be back?

She felt like she had lived inside the shell for a very, very long time. After finally being born, the first person she met was not Xie Shijin.

Under the scorching sun, passengers swipe their cards to exit the subway station after it arrives.

Amid the surging crowd, several young faces carried large and small bags.

Cheng Shiyun looked in the direction the crowd was moving; Tsinghua University was right next to her!

She flapped her wings again and flew into the sky.

She followed the crowd, following the boys carrying luggage, not daring to stop even when she was tired or hungry.

She was afraid that if she stopped, she wouldn't be able to find him anymore.

Flying and asking questions along the way, Cheng Shiyun arrived at... the boys' dormitory.

She thought they were there to register for the start of school, that's why she came along!

The electronic banner at the dormitory entrance shows that today is August 31st, and Xie Shijin has been in school for several days.

She can't keep up with anything.

If she had run a little faster that day, she wouldn't have died.

If she had found Xie Shijin sooner, Xie Shijin wouldn't have been injured.

If she had hatched a little earlier, she would have been able to see him.

Why do I always seem to miss out?

Go home.

Go home and wait for him.

Xie Shijin will be worried if he can't find her when he gets home.

Inside the glass doors, a long queue stretched out at the registration desk in the dormitory lobby on the first floor, moving slowly forward.

After the previous student finished signing and turned to leave, the boy wearing a black baseball cap walked to the table, bent down, and picked up a pen.

He was carrying a cat carrier.

The bag was bulging with plush toys, a mini ceramic food bowl, and a slightly deformed little bed, as if the owner was moving a pet.

Perhaps because he didn't know what she would become, Xie Shijin brought along everything he could.

He was wearing a simple white T-shirt and light gray sweatpants. He had delicate features, a straight nose, and cool-toned fair skin on his profile and neck.

Cheng Shiyun tried to fly in to find him, but ended up bumping her head into the glass door.

With a thud—

"Look how stupid that bird is," someone mocked from behind.

Where?

"How stupid! Didn't it see the glass door?"

Before going upstairs, Xie Shijin turned her head with the key given to her by the dormitory manager and saw a round, white little shadow "whoosh" past the glass door, so fast that only a blur remained.

Cheng Shiyun went around to the side of the dormitory building and started looking for Xie Shijin's dormitory.

She didn't know which dormitory Xie Shijin was in, but she stubbornly flew upwards.

First floor.

Second floor.

Third floor.

She flew past window after window.

The figures inside flew by at high speed.

Xie Shijin.

Xie Shijin.

Xie Shijin.

Xie Shijin, where are you?

Room 309 is a temporary dormitory for day students from different majors.

When Xie Shijin arrived, there were already two boys in the dormitory. The dormitory conditions were better than he had imagined. It was a four-person dormitory with bunk beds and desks, a private bathroom, and the room was very spacious.

"Hello." A boy wearing glasses looked at the boy who had just entered the room and introduced himself, "I'm from Nan Province."

Xie Shijin reached out and shook hands with him: "Xie Shijin, from Yichuan."

His roommate noticed he was carrying a suitcase and a cat carrier on his back and asked, "Are you going to get a cat?"

Thinking of the notice board at the bottom of the dormitory building, his roommate kindly reminded him, "Cats are not allowed in the dormitory."

"Chirp chirp chirp!"

"Chirp chirp chirp!"

A small white sparrow appeared outside the window at some point, hovering in mid-air, fluttering its little wings, its round black eyes staring intently into the room, as if calling out to someone.

The roommate looked out the window, then turned back and noticed that the boy's expression was a little unnatural.

Xie Shijin looked at the little sparrow perched by the window with mixed feelings, and asked with pursed lips, "...Can I keep a bird?"

His egg... seems to have hatched.

roommate:"?"

Cheng Shiyun transformed into a little sparrow and came to find him again.

Unable to fly into the dormitory, she paced anxiously outside the window, pleading, "Xie Shijin, Xie Shijin, please let me in..."

The little bird urged on with its sweet, soft voice.

Xie Shijin strode over, opened the window, and reached out to catch her.

The little sparrow was exhausted and collapsed into his palm, tilting its head and blinking its eyes, looking utterly aggrieved.

My roommate rubbed his ears and exchanged a glance with the person next to him: "Did you guys hear that just now?"

"I heard you."

“I know parrots can talk.”

"...Sparrows can do that too?"

-----------------------

Author's Note: The [glasses] that will turn into a person