Chapter 19 Lucky Bird "I'm just a stranger."...
After finding the magpie, their plans changed. They completely abandoned their original intention to go to karaoke and clubbing, and instead headed straight for the Supernatural Biology Administration Bureau after leaving the pet hospital.
Shu Qing keeps a very special little monster as a pet. She can't avoid contacting the Supernatural Management Bureau frequently, and now the benefits are showing. She called the pet hospital, and the receptionist put her on a waiting list, saving them from having to wait in a long line when they arrived.
Sure enough, this time I only waited half an hour before getting the test results—it really was a little monster, energy level 1.7.
"The lucky bird has become one of the most common pet monsters in the past two years." The receptionist was no longer the same staff member who had served Shu Qing last time. Shu Qing had never met this person before, but they had contacted each other by phone several times and were considered acquaintances. "It can bring good luck and turn bad luck into good. Some wealthy people or business people love to keep this kind of bird."
Qi Yun asked incredulously, "Does the auspicious bird look like this?"
Her family runs a business, and the company keeps a mascot bird as decoration. It has snow-white feathers with colorful tips, resembling a cascading rainbow of five colors—it's incredibly beautiful. Unfortunately, it's company property and can't be given to her, which is why she's plunged headfirst into the deep pit of keeping monsters.
This pitch-black thing in front of me... it's way too different, isn't it?
After all, these are the most common monsters in recent years. There's no need for a professional like Jiu Su to explain them; the front desk staff can tell them: "You can't judge a monster by its appearance. Some auspicious birds look like magpies, while others look like parrots. They're quite different, but the key feature is their multicolored feathers."
She pointed to the little auspicious bird's wings and said, "Although it's not obvious, it also has multicolored feathers, completely different from the bluish sheen of ordinary magpies. Look, there's a ring of dark red feathers on its wings, and dark gold on its tail feathers..."
The three people carefully examined it following the staff's instructions, and sure enough, they were amazed and became even more fond of it.
The staff member said at the right time, "According to regulations, this kind of low-level monster can be kept as a pet after registration. If you don't want to keep it, you can leave it with the Supermarket Management Bureau, and we will release it back into the wild after it recovers from its injuries."
"Let's raise it, let's raise it! This is definitely a blessing from heaven, can we still release it?" Shu Qing said with a smile, exchanged a glance with Qi Yun, and asked Tu Nan, "Nan Nan, should we raise it? We both have our own little monsters now."
Tu Nan was extremely tempted, but also hesitant: "The three of us will rescue them together. Besides, Ashu, you know how much work I have..."
Shu Qing knew all along that yesterday, Saturday, Tu Nan got off work at 11:49 PM.
Having once been a fellow overworked office worker, she sighed wistfully—back when her workload was this heavy, she wouldn't even dare keep a pet snake. Just taking care of herself was a struggle; where would she find the time to care for a little monster?
Shu Qing thought for a moment and suggested, "Let's put it under Nan Nan's name and then raise it together at the photo studio? No matter what happens at the studio, most of our future videos will definitely be filmed at the photo studio, so Nan Nan can come and see it whenever she has time."
The photo studio wasn't too far from Tu Nan's home, and the suggestion was unanimously approved. The staff then pulled up a form and registered Tu Nan.
The official name of the little auspicious bird is registered as "Fa Cai" (meaning "get rich"), which embodies the beautiful and simple wishes of young girls.
Even Qi Yun, a wealthy second-generation heiress, couldn't resist the temptation. She clasped her hands together and made a wish to the little auspicious bird: "This faithful woman is willing to sacrifice ten pounds of excess fat to exchange for a studio and make a fortune!"
Shu Qing quickly followed up: "This devout woman wishes to have a balanced diet of meat and vegetables throughout her life, and prays that we may all become wealthy together!"
"That's so insincere," Qi Yun said to her. "Even if you don't sacrifice any extra fat... damn it, you don't have any extra fat. You should at least sacrifice something like your ex-boss or future boyfriend, right?"
Shu Qing then sacrificed her former boss's noble character. Tu Nan, while filling out the form, said quietly, "Don't sacrifice something that doesn't exist, okay?"
Even the staff of the Supermarket Management Bureau showed expressions of sympathy, which shows that this is the common sentiment of all working-class people.
Shu Qing smiled and didn't change her tune, but Qi Yun suddenly sensed something and asked gossipily, "You already have a future boyfriend?"
Tu Nan was registering, and unlike Qi Yun, she couldn't stare at Shu Qing and ask questions, but her ears were already perked up.
Shu Qing: "That's not true."
Qi Yun: "Your face is all red!"
Tu Nan filled out the registration form with lightning speed. Taking advantage of the moment when the staff was not working, she turned around and was stared at by four eyes as if they were thieves.
“…It was Jiu Su,” Shu Qing had no choice but to confess. “Last time I was sick, he came to take care of me. I thought he had some feelings for me, so… well, I did have a little bit of a thought.”
Seeing the two pairs of eyes staring at her like bright incandescent bulbs, she quickly clarified, "But later I asked, and he said no, it was purely 'friendship,' so it really wasn't true, and I'm still perfectly fine being single."
This time, Qi Yun's expression turned strange, and she let out a complicated "Ah".
Shu Qing: "?"
Even the staff from the Supermarket Management Bureau who were handling the registration process at the front desk paused subtly.
Qi Yun said with a complicated expression, "If what he calls 'friendship,' then what do we three call ourselves?"
Shu Qing stared at Qi Yun, realizing that Qi Yun knew something that she didn't.
“He’s a friend my foot!” Qi Yun told her, “I was terrified when you suddenly fainted at the Japanese restaurant that day. I didn’t react for a moment, and he appeared out of nowhere and caught you. At that time, I thought you two had only known each other for a short time, so I said, ‘Let me take you to the hospital. We’re both girls, so it’s convenient for us.’”
"Then he glanced at me... Oh my god, at that moment I completely understood how Niannian felt when she saw Xiaohong."
“Miss Qi, please deal with those ill-intentioned people first.” Jiu Su said to her then. He quickly lowered his eyelashes to hide his cold and fierce eyes. His tone was distant and polite, but Qi Yun still felt a chill run down her spine. “Leave Ashu to me first—but be quick, no more than three days.”
Qi Yun nodded blankly.
Jiu Su picked Shu Qing up in his arms. He looked very thin and pale, but he was very steady when he held her. Somehow, he had a kind of persuasive power that made Qi Yun feel that he didn't need to worry about entrusting Shu Qing to him.
“I don’t understand those things about ‘public opinion’ and ‘rhythm’ very well. It’s too late to learn them now, so I can only ask Miss Qi for help.” He explained calmly, “But if you really need some special methods, Miss Qi can come to me.”
He pulled a small, irregularly shaped piece of jade from somewhere, placed it face down on the table, and told Qi Yun, "Speak to it, and I can hear you."
Qi Yun considered herself to be quite oblivious to things other than gossip, but in that instant, she understood Jiu Su's meaning almost without difficulty—if she couldn't resolve Jin Yaoyao's matter, Jiu Su planned to use some supernatural methods to solve the problem physically.
She dared not think too deeply about what the consequences of this "physical solution" would be. Jiu Su said this very calmly, but she could faintly smell blood in her breath.
As a second-generation rich kid, Qi Yun actually understands certain darker things better than ordinary people like Shu Qing and Tu Nan.
However, she didn't find Jiu Su scary, because the way Jiu Su looked at Shu Qing was... remarkably gentle, and since she considered Shu Qing a friend, Jiu Su was one of her own. Even if someone on her own was a bit scary or ruthless, it was still an internal conflict.
This relationship left her feeling a little confused, so she caught up with Jiu Su and asked, "Are you Ashu's boyfriend?"
Jiu Su paused almost imperceptibly, then firmly denied it: "No."
He seemed to hold the whole world in his arms, yet what he uttered were, "I am just a stranger."
“…I thought he had a crush on you,” Qi Yun said. “I saw that he was quite direct with you, but as for you, well, at least I didn’t see anything beyond ‘admiration’ in your feelings for him.”
"But you said you have that intention... then I don't understand. If you're interested in both sides, why not just be together?"
Shu Qing couldn't understand the man's convoluted and labyrinthine thought process at all. After listening, she stared blankly for a while and asked, "Where is that piece of jade?"
"Oh, here it is. I didn't use it." Qi Yun handed it to her without saying a word. "I felt at the time that this was not an ordinary way to contact people, so I didn't dare to use it carelessly. I'll give it to you. It's better than keeping it with me."
Shu Qing didn't refuse, thanked her, and took it. Holding it in her hand, she found it cool and smooth. Apart from being a little small, it was a fine piece of jade.
What exactly did he mean?
What was his motivation?
"Ms. Tu!" A staff member handed over an ordinary domestication permit, waking Tu Nan from her reverie of her best friend's romantic gossip. "It's done, that's all."
The three thanked them together and chatted gossiping as they walked away. The staff member watched their retreating figures with mixed feelings, especially after looking at the little white snake coiled around Shu Qing's body. Unable to bear the sight, he covered his head.
At this moment, she recalled the top-secret file that Xie Heng had shown her when she was transferred from the Capital Super Management Bureau headquarters to H City.
"Energy level cannot be determined," "The largest known disaster in history in terms of casualties"...
“Ignorance is bliss,” she shook her head and sighed, “The little girl is really lucky to be alive.”
"She's really lucky," a middle-aged man wearing sunglasses sighed as he looked at the incident report document in City S, more than 100 kilometers away. "Indeed, the young girl is blessed... She's a kind-hearted girl. Tell me, are kind-hearted children more likely to have good luck, or are lucky children the ones who have the opportunity to be kind-hearted?"
The assistant stood to the side, head down, holding his breath and not daring to say a word.
The man in sunglasses tapped on Shu Qing's one-inch photo on the touchscreen and said with a smile, "What a pretty young girl."
The assistant lowered his head even further.
"Let's do it that way. S-073 has grown up too, hasn't she?" the man in sunglasses ordered. "Let's teach her a lesson."
“Cutting off someone’s money is like killing their parents. The young girl is too young to understand this principle.” He said with a smile, “Shouldn’t we, the seniors in this world, find a way to teach her?”
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