Su Huilan agreed to bring Hanran along. She disagreed with the Boss Coal; she thought the chubby orange cat was adorable, so she said to Qingmu, "You have a talking bird for company, so let this cat keep me company. Sometimes it can be lonely at sea."
According to the itinerary, the Boss Coal and Hanran will first be sent to Shenzhou and handed over to the professionals at Shenfu University for care, and then board a plane from Shenzhou International Airport to Auckland. They will arrive two days earlier than Qingmu and Professor Su, so they will have to stay at Auckland University of Technology for two more days.
Hanran didn't seem to care. She either followed the Crow around or lay in the corner of his sofa with a bunch of snacks in her arms.
The Boss Coal seemed worried. He paced back and forth in the room, muttering something to himself. Qingmu got annoyed and said, "Why don't you just not go?"
The Crow jumped up and cawed, "That won't do! I'm just worried about the food and weather in Auckland." He glanced at Hanran, "I'm not like that silly cat who eats everything. I can't stomach escargot and live oysters."
Qingmu said, " New Zealand don't eat snails."
The Crow said, "But they eat raw oysters, alive! That's more disgusting than snails!"
Qingmu laughed, "Don't all your brothers and sisters eat insects? Just how different are you that you find oysters disgusting? Humans can eat them, but you, a bird, despise them because they're alive!"
"Don't talk about humans! Humans are truly insatiable; they'll eat anything! Compared to humans, all the animal gluttons are pathetic!" the Crow cried out, indignant on behalf of its kind. "The human diet always has things you can't even imagine. I'm a gourmet, but not a glutton!"
"Okay, okay," Qingmu said, " New Zealand don't just eat raw oysters; they also eat cooked food. Besides oysters, they have lobster, anchovies, mussels, abalone... all sorts of seafood!"
"Oh—" the Crow cried impatiently, tilting its head back, and pointed with its wing at Hanran, saying, "These are all his favorite foods!"
She jumped next to the orange cat, swatting the snack out of her paw with her wing. "Hey, stop eating! Save some for New Zealand, you hear me? There's everything you love to eat there, you greedy cat! You glutton! You fatso!"
He lowered his head, his wings drooping limply at his sides, and said with exasperation, "Oh, my Ruxue! How did you become like this, influenced by this lazy cat! Sigh, never mind, I'll just have to meet you in my dreams from now on."
Bi Shenghua brought in a large bowl of food, and the delicious aroma quickly filled the room.
The Crow immediately perked up, swooping over and saying with relish, staring at his favorite braised pork knuckle, "The landlady is the best. Hey, you blockhead, couldn't you have brought her with you? That... Professor Su... can she cook? Can she make braised pork knuckle?"
Qingmu laughed and scolded, "He's a professor, a great scholar. Even if he knew how to do it, he wouldn't do it for you."
"Oh!" Crow stared at Qingmu and said, "Don't try to evade the main point. The key question I asked was—could you bring the landlady along? Hehe, don't think I don't know, I've met Professor Su. What a load of rubbish, what a professor, she's clearly a great Beauty. Ruhua— "
The Crow tilted its head, "Be careful!"
Bi Shenghua used a knife to cut the braised pork knuckle into small pieces, dividing it into two portions. Then she put the bowl on the ground and said, "You two each get half. What's yours is yours, and the Tushu are yours too. No one needs to fight over them."
With Hanran meow, it jumped to the ground, brought its face close to the bowl, sniffed it, and then buried its head in the food.
After listening to Bi Shenghua's words, the Crow looked at Qingmu, then at Bi Shenghua again, and said, "What a big heart!" Then it clucked and went over to eat the braised pork knuckle.
"Hey, we agreed on half for each of us! How am I supposed to eat with your fat head sticking all over the bowl?" The Crow tried to probe its sharp beak between the cat's head and the edge of the bowl, only to get poked in the face by the cat's whiskers. It cawed angrily, " Ruhua! Can you use two bowls next time?... Why won't this guy eat cat food? Why is he eating my braised pork knuckle?"
Bi Shenghua said, "We're all family, so she'll eat whatever you eat."
But he never lets me eat any dried fish when he eats it.
That's because you don't want to eat.
"Um... okay, okay, I know women can't resist cats." The Crow grabbed the bowl with its claws, pecked out a piece of meat, and seeing the cat's head sticking in again, it helplessly advised, "Hey, hey, hey, can't we each take a bite? Don't eat so messily, okay?"
The cat raised its head and meowed, then circled halfway around the basin, came to the Crow, and stood side by side. It waited for the Crow to stretch its neck and snatch a bite of meat before it stretched its head to take a bite, then waited for the Crow to take its next bite. And so the cat and the bird ate, taking turns eating.
Bi Shenghua stared blankly for a long time before going downstairs.
The Crow suddenly raised its head and said to Qingmu, "Don't you think the landlady has changed a bit lately?"
"What's changed?" Qingmu asked.
The Crow said, "She hasn't been swearing lately, and her temper isn't as bad as it used to be. She used to be a tomboy, but now she's become more feminine."
Qingmu said, "You've observed quite carefully."
The Crow said, "Only wood can't be seen."
Qingmu wanted to say something, but in the end he didn't say it and turned to go downstairs.
The bar hadn't opened yet, and the staff hadn't arrived, but Xiao Qi and Mo Yu were already there, cleaning up. They saw Qingmu and greeted him with a smile from afar, "Hello, boss!"
Qingmu smiled and replied with an "okay." He had told Xiao Qi more than once not to call him "boss," but Xiao Qi refused to change, saying that a boss is a boss. Qingmu was too lazy to say anything more and let him call him that, but he still felt a lot more distant, and there was always something between them when they talked, unlike before when they were more comfortable with each other.
"Have you seen the proprietress?" he asked.
At first, both Qingmu and Bi Shenghua felt awkward that the shop's employees, led by Xiao Qi, called them "boss" and "boss's wife." But as time went on, they got used to it. So much so that now, Qingmu naturally asked about "boss's wife" after Xiao Qi called him "boss."
"They just went out; they shouldn't have gone far," Xiao Qi said.
Qingmu gave an "oh" and left the bar. Xiao Qi and Mo Yu exchanged a smile, shook their heads, and secretly chuckled as they continued working. In their eyes, the boss and his wife were certainly impressive in many ways, especially the boss, who had many mysterious aspects. However, when it came to matters of the heart, the two were completely clueless—one was a blockhead, and the other was a fool.