"They're fighting! They're fighting!"
Lin Youyu returned home with a lock he had just bought from the hardware store. The moment he pushed the door open, he was greeted by the uniquely coarse, squawking cry of the parrot.
Along with it came the chaotic sounds of a scuffle from the usually well-behaved cats in the living room.
On the heated pad in the living room, two cats were locked together, rolling and tussling, startling the other cats into scattering. They either jumped onto the sofa or hid in corners, sharp meows and hisses filling the air, unsettling the whole feline crew.
The bird making all the noise, however, was perched at a safe distance in the dining area, standing on the back of a chair and watching the drama unfold from across the room.
"They're fighting! They're fighting!" The white parrot flapped its wings and shrieked, thoroughly enjoying the spectacle.
If Lin Lan, who was helping serve dishes in the kitchen, hadn't witnessed the whole incident from her vantage point facing the door, the two suddenly fighting cats might have been wrongly blamed for starting the trouble.
So, Lin Youyu, still confused at the doorway, saw his daughter stride out of the kitchen with a dark expression. She placed the two bowls of rice she was carrying on the table, then immediately reached out and grabbed the large parrot squawking nonstop on the nearby chair back.
"Fighting... Squawk!"
Lin Lan's technique for restraining Little Kui was practiced and efficient, much like how one catches a chicken in the countryside. She pinned the parrot's wings together with one hand while using the other to grasp its beak, giving the bird's neck a firm pull and twist. In no time, the dangerously powerful bird's head was tucked under its own pinned wings. At a glance, it looked ready to be plucked and have its neck wrung.
"Everyone, quiet! No more fighting!" After dealing with the instigator, Lin Lan turned her glare towards the two cats still tangled up. "Milk Candy, Charcoal, if you two don't separate right now, no dinner for you tonight!"
That threat worked better than anything else. The silver shaded British shorthair and the Siamese cat, who had been fiercely battling moments before, instantly broke apart. Both looked disheveled but thankfully hadn't actually injured each other, which made Lin Lan breathe a sigh of relief.
But now, both cats meowed at her plaintively, as if filing complaints, each insisting the other had attacked first.
"It wasn't you biting each other's tails; it was this troublemaker." She lifted the now "land chicken" — only its two claws flailing uselessly — and shook it a couple of times, clearing up the kittens' misunderstanding. She told them to stay put on the floor mat, then announced she was going to discipline the rotten bird. "Dad, you're back? Wait a moment, I'll join you for dinner in a bit."
With that, she carried the utterly subdued large parrot into her room.
As the door closed with a firm but not loud thud, Lin Youyu and the cats all turned their heads to stare in the direction of the room.
Really asking for it.
Father Lin shook his head with a sigh. Apart from the first couple of years when the bird was sent for fostering, Lanlan hadn't disciplined Little Kui this roughly in a long time. It was probably because these past few years, the Yu family's eldest sister had spoiled it rotten, letting it get cocky again.
The Yu family used to wonder why Little Kui was so obsequious towards their Lanlan. Well, this was the answer.
With that chicken-catching, slaughter-ready stance, how could the Lin family ever tell the Yus that their daughter disciplined their unruly bird like this?
A few minutes later, the bedroom door opened. The cockatoo stood dejectedly on Lin Lan's shoulder, wings folded and head tucked in, the very picture of obedient docility.
Father Lin hurried over for a closer inspection. Hmm, not a single feather out of place. Externally, it showed no signs of having been beaten, but it seemed to have suffered quite a blow to its spirit.
"What happened to Little Kui?" Wang Xiuzhi, who had also heard the commotion but had been busy in the kitchen and only just come out, couldn't help asking.
Grandma Lin, who had been sitting in the dining room all along, covered her mouth and chuckled before finally speaking up. "Look at what Lanlan is holding in her hand."
Father Lin and Mother Lin followed her gaze to their daughter's hand and immediately started laughing too.
It was a bag of sugar-roasted chestnuts.
Lin Lan walked with the bird to the living room coffee table. She cleared a small plate that had held fruit, poured all the chestnuts onto it, and then placed the parrot on the table.
She pushed the plate of chestnuts right in front of the parrot. "Little Kui, you know what to do, right?"
The cockatoo's crest shot up, and it cried out directly: "Cruel! Cruel!" Despite the coarse bird-voice, a note of indignation was detectable.
"Less chatter. If you do something wrong, you get punished!" Lin Lan wasn't about to indulge it, her expression cold and merciless. "Old rules. Peel this whole plate of chestnuts for me. If I catch you sneaking a bite in the middle, believe me, I'll get your mom a prettier bird son tomorrow!"
As she spoke, she rapped her knuckles on the coffee table. The nearby cats, as if on cue, all moved a bit closer to the table. Pairs of feline eyes fixed unblinkingly on the parrot. Stripped of human protection, the previously brazen and cheeky bird finally understood fear.
Lanlan had just said this bird caused the trouble, and these little kittens remembered.
"Pretty lady! Pretty lady!" Realizing its peril, Little Kui began to appease, desperately trying to curry favor with Lin Lan.
Unfortunately, all it got was a cold, heartless response: "Peel!"
Most parrots feed on nuts and fruits, and cockatoos are no exception. They are not only masters at cracking sunflower seeds, but their strong, sturdy beaks are also perfect tools for opening nut shells. Under the dual threat from human and cats, Little Kui set to work with a grievance.
It stretched out a claw, nimbly plucked a chestnut from the plate, opened its beak, and with two crisp cracks, the sugar-roasted chestnut, which already had a split in its shell, instantly lost most of its casing, revealing the tender yellow flesh inside. Another peck, and the remaining small piece of shell clinging to it fell off.
"Put the peeled ones here." Lin Lan pushed the now-empty chestnut bag in front of it, tapping the bag to indicate where to place them.
Holding the sweet, fragrant, delicious nutmeat in its claw yet forbidden from taking a single bite, Little Kui was utterly miserable. Yet, under the tyranny of human and cats, it could only comply obediently.
Over in the dining area, watching the once-arrogant parrot now surrounded by their daughter and the cats in such a pitiful state, the elders of the Lin family nearly doubled over with laughter.
Serves you right! After you had the nerve to flip open your cage and escape right in front of us several times before, and secretly stirred up trouble for the cats just to watch the fun, now you've managed to offend both humans and cats. If you don't eat this bitter pill, who will?
Making Little Kui shell nuts wasn't a first-time punishment. Whenever this rotten bird started acting up and did something over the line, Lin Lan would force it to do this. After enough repetitions, and once it understood no one in the Lin family would spoil it, this tyrant of the Yu household naturally became more restrained and even taught itself how to be obsequious.
Perhaps because it had been well-behaved these past few years, Lin Lan hadn't bothered it, and they had coexisted peacefully. But this year, arriving at the Lin house and suddenly seeing so many cats, the bird reverted to its old ways, thinking it could be as reckless and indulged as it was at the Yu's.
Although it was a punishment for Little Kui, with so many cats present this year, Lin Lan certainly couldn't leave the bird alone with them. She supervised until it had finished shelling the small plate of chestnuts, then placed the bird back on her shoulder. She herself carried the bag of shelled chestnuts back to the dining area.
"Into the cage you go." With a shove, the bird was stuffed into its cage. Lin Lan closed the cage door and secured it with the lock her dad had just bought. Little Kui was behaving now, looking thoroughly dejected as it clung to the perch inside without a peep.
But once Lin Lan walked away, it shuffled its little claws to the side of the cage nearest the dining room, craning its neck through the bars to stare at the human dinner table. Upon seeing someone actually reach into a bag to grab sunflower seeds to eat, the parrot let out a mournful squawk, then shuffled its claws to the farthest end on the other side of the perch, turning its head away as if it couldn't bear to watch any longer.
This dramatic performance made the Lin family, who had been deliberately teasing it, burst into laughter again.
"Will you be naughty next time? If you are, we'll do this again." Old Lin took out another sunflower seed kernel to tease the bird, looking smug on the surface but inwardly thinking his daughter's trick was absolutely brilliant. Little Kui had learned its lesson again, ensuring peace and quiet for a good while this year.
After finishing dinner without further incident, while Lin Lan went to feed the cats their special meal, her father found an unused dark bedsheet and draped it over the birdcage.
The Silver Shaded and Siamese cats, who had been bullied by Little Kui earlier, were quickly soothed by the dual comforts of delicious cat food and dried fish treats, soon forgetting their earlier upset. Especially once the bedsheet covered the cage, hiding the bird from view, the two cats put it completely out of their minds and began playing again, carefree as ever.
Was this the benefit of having the intelligence of a two or three-year-old? Easy to appease and quick to forget?
Lin Lan, who had been worried the kittens might hold a grudge, couldn't help but chuckle.
Father Lin, however, was still somewhat concerned.
In the past, they only had Snowflake at home, a gentle, well-behaved house cat who showed no interest in Little Kui, so keeping a parrot hadn't been too difficult for the Lin family. But now, facing a whole group of cats with street experience who might have even hunted birds before, he genuinely felt uneasy.
"Lan Lan's mom, how about we move the cage to our room? I'm really not comfortable leaving Little Kui with so many cats," he suggested. After all, he'd just confidently promised to take good care of the parrot during the day, and by evening the troublesome bird had already stirred up trouble. To avoid any further mishaps, it was safer to separate them into different rooms.
"As long as it doesn't make noise, I don't mind," Wang Xiuzhi understood her husband's worry and replied directly.
"That won't be a problem. I've covered the cage with the bedsheet; it won't make a peep."
And so, the couple settled on Little Kui's new arrangements. Lin Lan had no objections; separation was probably for the best. Even though the parrot had likely learned its lesson and wouldn't cause trouble again, she didn't dare gamble on the small chance of an accident.
She could communicate with the cats, but she couldn't completely control their actions. If any cat succumbed to its instincts and made a move, Little Kui might truly meet its end at the ripe old age of seven—and that was only if it made it through the New Year.
Listening to their conversation, Grandma Lin, holding her teacup, looked towards the balcony and remarked, "The Yu family went back to their hometown today. Soon, most of the others in the building will be leaving too."
Reminded by Grandma, the rest of the family remembered this fact.
It was a matter of experience. The Yu family's departure marked the beginning, signaling the start of the tenants packing up one after another for the Spring Festival travel rush. Every day, people in the small apartment building would set off for the train station.
Qian Xuan was among the first to leave after the Yu family. As soon as her three-day business trip ended, she hurried to the teahouse to pick up her beloved pet.
"Niu Niu!" She personally lifted the cat from its carrier in the small room, secretly weighing it in her arms. Good, it hadn't lost any weight.
She stole a glance at the contents of the carrier out of the corner of her eye—the food was the cat food she had provided, the water was warm in a constant-temperature bowl, and the bedding was Niu Niu's special cat mat she had sent over. Qian Xuan's face immediately lit up with a bright smile.
"Thank you, Lin Lan, for taking care of Niu Niu." She was genuinely pleased with the three days of boarding. As for whether the cat was in good spirits, it was perfectly clear from the moment she arrived—Niu Niu clung tightly to her while scolding her with a stream of incessant meows.
"You're welcome. I was just doing a paid job," Lin Lan replied, stroking the British Shorthair's fur. "This little one was quite sulky seeing you didn't come for three days; it couldn't even be bothered to come out and play. You'll have to make it up to her when you get back."
Hearing this, Qian Xuan's smile grew even wider. "She's such a spoiled, clingy thing." Giving her pet a gentle pat, she also said goodbye to Lin Lan. "But my company starts its official holiday tomorrow. I'll have plenty of time to spoil her once we're back in my hometown."
"Really? That's quite an early holiday this year. Well, I wish you and Niu Niu a smooth journey."
"Thank you for your kind words! I'll bring you some local specialties when we return after the New Year!"
Qian Xuan left happily with her cat, but her words reminded Lin Lan of something else.
She turned to look at Song Xinmin and Miss Wang in the shop. Both were tenants who had moved in just before the New Year. "You two... really aren't going back for the New Year?"
Even Tang Xiaoya said she'd be heading home by this weekend at the latest, but these two teahouse regulars were harder to predict.
"I'm not going back!" Miss Wang replied stiffly, her face puffing up with apparent anger as if remembering something. Since they all looked down on her for lacking independence, she'd show them by spending the New Year on her own this year. Hmph!
Alright, one look at Miss Wang's expression told Lin Lan she didn't need to ask any further.
Song Xinmin, however, was much more composed. "I'm definitely not going back. I made that clear to my family a long time ago, and they support me. Every Spring Festival I spend away from home, I video chat with my family. Even if I'm not physically there, they can see how I'm doing." He smiled by the end of his sentence. Having an open-minded family that supported his dreams made him happier than many of his peers.
For some, going home for the New Year is a joy; for others, it's not.
The day after Qian Xuan left, Xu Xiangfei, who also lived on the fourth floor, was preparing to head home with his dog. But unlike others who were happy about it, he seemed reluctant.
"You haven't seen your parents all year. Shouldn't you be happy to finally go back?" Lin Lan asked curiously when she ran into him.
The usually lively and funny young man gave her a strained smile this time. "Heh, facing the relentless barrage of questions about marriage from them and all the relatives, do you still think going home for the New Year is something to be happy about?"
