Her gaze swept over the palace maids, a flash of cold light in her eyes.
The maids trembled inwardly, hastily lowering their heads to avoid her scrutiny.
The crested myna hung in the adjoining patio; even when Little Yanyan ca to see her or to play, she wouldn’t pass by there, let alone see the bird.
Yet from Little Yanyan’s attitude, it seed she was determined to have the myna. Su Pan’er knew her daughter well—if these servants hadn’t been whispering in her ear, she wouldn’t be so insistent.
In front of Little Yanyan, however, Su Pan’er didn’t say much, instead patting her daughter’s little head.
"Alright! The Empress Mother will have soone fetch it for you," she said casually.
She ordered Qingwen to fetch the birdcage, then buried her gaze in Little Yanyan, "Well? Have you eaten? The Empress Mother hasn’t yet. How about you join for a little sothing?"
"Yanyan has already eaten! But I’ll still join the Empress Mother for a bit, just a tiny bit..."
Little Yanyan initially denied, but seeing the situation, her eyes rolled, and she agreed.
"Empress Mother, Yanyan hasn’t visited Little Sugar Bean today. After they bring the birdcage later, can I take Luo luo to show Little Sugar Bean?"
"Yes, show it to your sister and play with her together."
Su Pan’er was happy to encourage the closeness between the two children.
When Qingwen returned with the birdcage, Little Yanyan cried out in delight and flung herself toward it.
"Luo luo, quick, sing a song for Yanyan, sing!"
The crested myna, Luo luo, jumped joyfully in the cage. Seeing Little Yanyan pounce, it cocked its little head, and the words that ca out of its beak were about eighty percent similar to Little Yanyan’s.
"Luo luo, quick, sing a song for Yanyan! Luo luo, quick, sing a song for Yanyan, Luo luo, quick, sing a song for Yanyan!"
Luo luo chirped rrily, occasionally pecking at a grain of millet.
Seeing that Luo luo wasn’t obeying her, Little Yanyan’s eyes rounded in frustration as she patted the birdcage with her little hands, "Stupid Luo luo, quickly sing for the Empress Mother to hear, the song that you sang before, sing it now! Quickly, sing."
Trapped in the cage, Luo luo seed not at all startled but rather tilted its head to look at Yanyan, showing no sign of fear.
"Luo luo is the smartest, Luo luo is the smartest, Luo luo is the smartest!"
This feathered beast!
Little Yanyan, hands on hips in frustration, muttered to herself, "What’s the matter, Luo luo is so stupid, it can’t even sing a song!"
"Yanyan, you should talk nicely to it. After all, it’s just a feathered beast; it can’t et your demands every ti. You can’t get angry just because it doesn’t do what you want," Su Pan’er quickly counseled.
"Then how should I talk to it?"
Little Yanyan clearly hadn’t given up.
"Why not greet it first?" suggested Su Pan’er.
This crested myna can sing? I didn’t hear it singing yesterday.
"Okay!"
Little Yanyan nodded like a pecking chicken, then lifted the birdcage onto the small table, and sprawled out on her stomach in front of it, looking into the cage at the myna.
"Hello, crested myna."
Luo luo cocked its head, eyeing Little Yanyan. After a mont, it also said, "Hello."
"Have you eaten?"
Little Yanyan pointed toward the food container inside the cage.
"Have you eaten?"
The myna fluttered its wings in the cage, mirroring her words. It took the opportunity to stretch its wings and preen its feathers.
"Can you sing?"
"Can you sing?" the crested myna asked while preening its feathers.
How silly, thought Su Pan’er, almost rolling her eyes! It was nothing but a plain crested myna, not a parrot, and yet it fancied mimicking speech!
"What’s your na?" Su Pan’er casually asked.
Actually, Su Pan’er just asked out of curiosity, not really expecting the crested myna to understand or answer her. Surely, a silly bird was just that—a silly bird. How could she expect it to have human-like intelligence?
Unfortunately, or rather unexpectedly, the silly bird inside the cage actually responded.
"I’m Luo Luo, I’m Luo Luo, I’m Luo Luo!" Luo Luo cheerfully replied, seeming very excited and familiar.
Su Pan’er blinked in surprise, then glanced down, eting the eyes of Little Yanyan who looked back in astonishnt. She smiled knowingly; this crested myna was indeed a rarity.
"You silly bird, if you don’t sing, I’ll pluck all your feathers and roast you over a fire!"
Su Pan’er threatened playfully, pretending to reach out to it, then watched with amusent as the crested myna hopped and skipped around inside the birdcage.
Now it knew who was boss, didn’t it?
But before Su Pan’er could revel in her success, the crested myna confined in the birdcage finally ca to a halt. It tilted its head to scrutinize the onlookers, and then with a flutter of wings, it opened its beak to sing.
"Lotus blossoms wilt in the autumn jade mat spread beneath, lightening silk garnts, alone I board the orchid boat. Who sends a letter through the clouds? When the geese return, the moon fills the western tower..."
It was actually singing!
But that lody...
Su Pan’er’s mouth twitched involuntarily, stunned by the song coming from the myna’s beak!
This crested myna must have learned the tune from soone, and although it seed unremarkable at first, just an ordinary dark bird, once it started singing, it spread its wings and moved about so dramatically, the strange sounds coming from its mouth were simply eye-watering! It was so awkward that one couldn’t bear to look directly at it!
This was not singing; it was more like an assault on the senses!
"The flowers drift apart, the water flows on its own, one kind of yearning, two places of idle sorrow. This emotion cannot be dispelled; it leaves the brow only to rest upon the heart..."
The crowd was petrified!
This was not singing; it was an assault on their ears!
Su Pan’er’s mouth twitched again; what was this silly bird trying to do?
At first, Little Yanyan found Luo Luo’s singing odd but captivating; she had never seen a singing bird before and clapped her hands in appreciation. This prompted the servants behind her to bow their heads, barely bringing themselves to keep watching.
As it sang on, even Little Yanyan began to feel sothing was off!
Once Luo Luo started singing, it seemingly couldn’t stop, like a broken record player repeating over and over. The odd intonation carried long from the bird’s mouth.
After the first ti, everyone found it novel. By the second, they just smiled awkwardly. By the third, they could only hear the noisy bird screeching, falling from the perch to the bottom of the cage, sprawled out on its back, yet its beak continued its song.
"Stop singing, please stop, it’s so unpleasant!"
Little Yanyan pleaded urgently.
But this crested myna was anything but predictable; after pausing for a mont, it resud its song. It righted itself, wobbling to its feet, never halting its tune.
"No, this bird sings terribly."
Seeing that her attempts to stop it were futile, Little Yanyan retreated to Su Pan’er’s side and said in a soft voice.
"Sothing’s definitely wrong here!"
Su Pan’er agreed wholeheartedly, but the next mont she realized the silly bird had stopped singing. She quickly looked up, about to say sothing, when she noticed the crested myna Luo Luo tilting its head again, eyeing them intently.
Su Pan’er suddenly had a bad feeling about this!
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