Having slept for so long, Xu Qiaoqiao is no longer sleepy.

After stretching her muscles, she slipped over to Jun Qi's side, snuggled close to his head, and stayed quietly with him, doing nothing.

"Chirp chirp".

Xu Qiaoqiao lay down next to Jun Qi, gently stroking his beak with her paw. Sunlight streamed through the cave entrance, illuminating Jun Qi's expression and making him look particularly serene.

However, there is something I wonder if Jun Qi knows.

Junjun, actually I felt Niannian's presence last night. He came to see me and said a lot to me.

At that time, I wasn't fully awake yet. I was conscious, but you know how long it takes to wake up from hibernation? Nian Nian didn't know this, so he thought I hadn't woken up yet.

I don't know how long he's been back. He mumbled a lot of things last night, but he's still the same as before.

Xu Qiaoqiao looked at Jun Qi and raised her hand to touch the scar on his eye. Due to the passage of time, the scar had faded a lot, but it still looked very out of place on Jun Qi's face.

You know that, right? Because you came back very late last night, and you came back almost immediately after Nian Nian left. Sigh.

I feel a little unwell.

Xu Qiaoqiao didn't know what to say. She looked at Jun Qi. Having lived with this owl for several years, she knew that his condition was slowly declining.

The spring sunshine was warm and gentle, and even if you weren't sleepy, the comfort of the moment made you feel drowsy. Xu Qiaoqiao yawned and said something to Jun Qi before closing her eyes.

Junjun, if it really doesn't work out, after I die, you can live with Niannian again, so you'll have each other's company.

Jun Qi was destined never to know what Xu Qiaoqiao was saying.

But it's okay to know, after all, in a family, there always has to be one person who's hard-hearted.

However, this was the first time Jun Qi had ever faced such a clingy little guy. Back then, when he left his parents, he was decisive and efficient, unlike this little cub.

Tsk tsk, it seems that spending too much time with the little hedgehog has made me soft-hearted too.

In the following period, with Jun Qi and Xu Qiaoqiao's tacit acquiescence, Nian Nian's sneaky behavior became more and more audacious. If Xu Qiaoqiao hadn't woken up in the middle of the night, she really wouldn't have known that this guy was actually so audacious as to sleep right next to her and Jun Qi in broad daylight.

Looking at the owl sleeping sprawled out on its back, Xu Qiaoqiao smiled helplessly, not knowing what to say.

After a few seconds of stunned silence, Xu Qiaoqiao decisively lay back down. Forget it, she'd pretend she hadn't seen anything.

In the morning, I flew back despite feeling sleepy, then slept until the afternoon, before flying away before Jun Qi and Xu Qiaoqiao woke up. During that time, I slept very soundly.

Xu Qiaoqiao tried to wake them up, but she didn't know if it was a common problem among owls, but they all slept very soundly and she couldn't wake them up no matter what she did. She guessed that even an earthquake wouldn't wake them up, they were sleeping so deeply.

Therefore, she didn't need to worry at all about Jun Qi waking up.

That's probably why he dares to be so bold every year, and he's been doing it secretly for so long, probably several months.

Even without seeing a person, animals are very sensitive to each other's scents. If Jun Qi hadn't noticed after all this time, then he must be a fake owl.

Owls are quite intelligent, and after doing this for so long, Nian Nian must have figured it out by now.

Waaaaah, Mom and Dad didn't give up on me.

They were still willing to stay with him; the tree hollow was filled with the scent of Jun Qi and Xu Qiaoqiao, which made him feel at ease.

This condition continued until Xu Qiaoqiao could no longer move her legs and her mental state was particularly poor. Jun Qi took care of her for most of the night, and even when it was dawn, he unusually did not fall asleep.

"Gurgle?" You're really not going to eat anymore?

Jun Qi held an earthworm in his mouth and brought it to Xu Qiaoqiao's face. She hadn't eaten much last night. Waking up late was one thing, but more importantly, she had no appetite.

There was a lot of food next to Jun Qi, including dead rats, caterpillars, green grass, and fruit stolen from humans. Xu Qiaoqiao only ate some of the green grass and didn't touch the rest.

Xu Qiaoqiao nodded and chirped, "Hmm, no thanks."

Seeing this, Jun Qi didn't force her. After eating the earthworms and the food piled up beside him, Jun Qi touched Xu Qiaoqiao with his beak, gently nuzzled her a few times, his eyes were wet, and he looked very worried.

This is the time of year every year.

"Coo coo".

He called out softly, then flew to the cave entrance, where his eyes met Jun Qi's.

Well……

Year after year: ...

"Gurgle—"

Startled, Nian Nian screamed and lost his balance, falling to the ground with feathers flying everywhere. He could barely flap his wings.

Jun Qi's eyes revealed a clear look of disdain. Tsk tsk, so useless.

Then, without caring what the other person did, he held Xu Qiaoqiao and fell asleep. The sun was shining brightly outside, and it seemed that today would be another sunny day.

After Jun Qi fell asleep, a figure crept out of the cave entrance. The figure poked its head out, looked at Xu Qiaoqiao and Jun Qi inside, and blinked a few times.

Are they all asleep?

They're all asleep.

After watching for a long time, Nian Nian slowly flew in. He went over to check on Jun Qi first, and only after seeing that he had already fallen asleep did he feel at ease and lay down to sleep next to him.

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!