In the novel "Joy of Life," the protagonist wakes up at Li Chengze's residence.

Fan Wujiu pondered for a moment and said, "Zhaozhou... has indeed sent one, and it's currently in the backyard."

Li Chengze frowned and asked, "When was this bird delivered?"

Fan Wujiu carefully replied, "Your Highness, they arrived yesterday." After saying that, he secretly glanced at Li Chengze's expression.

Seeing Fan Wujiu's cautious demeanor, Li Chengze said:

"...Fan Wujiu, why are you so nervous? I was just asking casually. Go and bring that parrot over, I want to take a closer look."

"Yes."

As soon as Fan Wujiu left, Li Chengze smiled to himself.

He touched the lamp on the table, which was decorated with a lotus flower on a crescent moon, and thought to himself:

"Excellent, excellent, this parrot arrived at just the right time."

Fan Wujiu brought the birdcage and handed it to Li Chengze.

"Wujiu, come and take a look. This parrot really is all gray."

Fan Wujiu went up to take a look and said to Li Chengze, "It really is, Your Highness. Such a parrot is quite rare."

Li Chengze held a carved copper rod, about thirty centimeters long and as thick as a chopstick, through the cage.

I wanted to stick my finger into the cage and poke the parrot.

Interestingly, this gray parrot is actually quite "human-like".

Just as Li Chengze took out the bronze staff used to tease the bird, it began to closely observe the actions of the "human" in front of it.

Whichever way Li Chengze's bronze staff veered, the bird would dodge in the other direction.

He poked it several times, but couldn't even touch a single "bird feather".

It's really interesting.

Li Chengze also found it very interesting and leaned closer to take a look.

He tilted his head slightly, and the bird copied him, tilting its head in the same direction.

Seeing this, Li Chengze tentatively changed direction again, and the parrot followed suit.

"Oh." Li Chengze stood up and walked around the cage, only to find that the bird was following him around inside the cage.

Good heavens, after several laps, Li Chengze still couldn't see what the back of the parrot's head looked like.

"Interesting, much more interesting than ordinary parrots."

After saying this, Li Chengze picked up the birdcage and headed straight for Tao Jingyang's room.

Tao Jingyang had only been sitting in his room cultivating for a short time when he heard Li Chengze's footsteps again.

He knocked on the door: "Jingyang, I brought a gift. Would you like to come out and see it?"

With a creak, the person inside opened the door and asked, "Oh? What do you want to give me?"

Li Chengze placed the birdcage behind him in front of him: "Here, as I told you before, I'm giving you a little bird to play with."

The grey-feathered little parrot was perched on its perch in the cage, staring at Tao Jingyang with its black eyes, tilting its head to look at him, and then it squawked once.

"quack".

Anyone who sees it will have to say: It's incredibly cute.

This time it was Tao Jingyang's turn to be surprised; her voice was filled with disbelief.

"Isn't that an African grey parrot? We have this kind of bird around here?"

“Africa? I don’t know where this is, but these birds were sent from Zhaozhou.” Li Chengze handed the cage to the other person.

Tao Jingyang brought the birdcage into the house and placed it on the tatami table by the window.

Li Chengze and Tao Jingyang sat opposite each other at the table, each taking some food, and began to tease the birds.

"Hey, can it talk now?" Tao Jingyang took a melon seed, pinched it between two fingers, and put it into the cage.

"Probably not, it was just delivered yesterday, I haven't had a chance to teach it yet." Li Chengze passively "observed" the parrot's back (buttocks).

......

"It can speak." Suddenly, a voice rang out between the two.

Tao Jingyang: ?

[Li Chengze]: ? ?

"Li Chengze, was that you speaking just now?" Tao Jingyang asked, somewhat uncertainly.

"...Does my voice sound like a eunuch?" Li Chengze was speechless and spoke in a flat tone.

......

"Very similar."

[Tao Jingyang]: Wow!! This parrot can talk.

[Li Chengze]: ...Didn't it just sound like that? I should have just plucked the feathers, roasted it, and eaten it.

"Chengze, Chengze, it's the parrot talking!!!" Tao Jingyang got excited instantly and stood up, circling the table twice.

He continued, "Hahahaha, it just said 'very similar'~ This bird is so interesting."

Listening to Tao Jingyang speak, it mimicked two words: "Haha."

The grey parrot then uttered two more words, and it even picked up the tone of laughter when it said those words.

"Hey, do you think that little bird was laughing just now?"

Tao Jingyang's eyes shone brightly; he had already built his happiness on the "pain" of Li Chengze.

At this moment, Li Chengze's face was devoid of any smile. He turned the birdcage around so it was facing him and said fiercely to it:

"You silly bird!"

Then, after a moment of reaction, the parrot tilted its head and mimicked, "Stupid."

This made Li Chengze look at Tao Jingyang with a puzzled expression.

Neither of them could figure out why the bird only uttered one word this time.

Tao Jingyang thought to himself: [Could it be that this bird doesn't know how to pronounce the "er" sound?]

So she lightly tapped Li Chengze's shoulder, pretending to be angry as she "criticized" him:

"Li Chengze, Li Chengze, how could you even get angry with a bird?"

Then he cracked open another walnut, handed it into the cage, and said, "My sweet baby."

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From the moment it started, the parrot kept tilting its head back and forth, its eyes never leaving the two people in front of it.

It picked up the walnut with its mouth, ate it, and then mimicked saying, "Good boy/girl."

The two were truly shocked; this bird was incredibly intelligent.

Is this nuclear radiation stimulating premature development of the biological brain?

"Oh my god, Chengze is so smart!"

With the parrot, Tao Jingyang's eyes even turned into stars when he looked at Li Chengze.

[Jing Yang, I rarely feel this happy...]

As Li Chengze was thinking this, he glanced at the parrot sideways.

Let's forgive it, considering it can make Tao Jingyang happy.