Chapter 217 “The One to Help Get Even is Here”
Despite the abnormal movement in the outer courtyard, Little Squeak remains oblivious to the commotion and kept to his napping because his dream was simply too divine. How can he not when a wonderful roast chicken leg was in his possession and ready for devouring?
But all things come to an end when he became disturbed by the strange noise drifting into his ears. Perking his hazy head up, he squints his murky eyes slightly open to find the sky totally dark.
In Little Squeak’s dictionary, a dark sky means it’s time for dinner!
Gently rubbing himself awake, Little Squeak suddenly popped his eyes wide in astonishment.
“SQUEAK~!!!”
What did he just see? There’s over a dozen fierce looking eagles rushing over to his location. But the shock only lasted for a moment until he realized it wasn’t only the eagles, there were many more birds flying over.
Without mistake, the culprit of the whole situation lies with Little Crow who’s currently perched atop of the tree branch nearby.
By this time there’s already a large number of birds standing in wait under the tree, enough to let Little Squeak understand what’s going on and whose to blame for the big commotion.
Envious of Little Crow’s condescending attitude towards the flock, an idea suddenly hit him. Dashing over to the tree trunk, Little Squeak helps himself and climbed up to the branch where Little Crow stood. Though pointless in the act, the maneuver did give himself a big boost in the ego.
If this act was replaced by any other animal, Little Crow would’ve slapped the creature away in one flap of her wing. However, the one in question was baby Little Squeak. Not only did she not get angry, the bird made a joyful chirp and intimately pecked at the white fur.
Flattered by the treatment, the little glutton appears to be very receptive of the act and started to gloat with his head high.
Towards the pair’s silly act, Ling Yue only had this to say: “What are those two doing?”
As for those still on the ground, the birds only found it very strange as to why Little Crow would be so kind to a white fur ball. But since their own ruler didn’t say anything, they, as the followers, are in no position to speak out.
Figuring it’s about time to start now that a flock has gathered, Little Crow started to chirp in short bursts like she’s giving out a series of commands.
Large seeds will go to the large birds like the eagles, while the smaller seeds – sesame size – will go to the smaller birds like the hummingbirds or sparrows.
Towards the sentence, Ling Yue may not be able to fully understand it all, but she does have a rough idea. All she can say was this: “What a good plan!”
Birds as a race, had the tendency to incorporate seeds into their diet, thus the act of sifting through some pile would be easy. Besides, there’s over a thousand birds here. Easy pecking!
Now that there’s a clear division of labor with a single goal in mind, forget about a hundred sacks, even if there were a thousand here today, it will be swiftly dealt with.
Towards Little Squeak and Little Crow, Ling Yue’s mentality for the two wasn’t simply that of pet and master. She truly cares for them and looks to them as her own child.
Now it appears her feelings was being rewarded in this fashion.
“CheChe!” Getting the signal from Little Crow, the birds flocked to the sacks in unison.
Fifty birds per group against a single sack, all of a sudden business was in full swing here.
Originally Ling Yue only managed to sort through one bag in an hour, but with the help of all these birds, it only took two this time around to accurately sort them all into their respective piles that looked no different from mounds from afar.
“I’ve bothered everyone today.” Seeing the work done so soon, Ling Yue didn’t forget to pick some fresh fruits from her pocket dimension to reward the helpers.
Just as she’s busy feeding the birds, the sound of subtle footsteps caught her attention from behind.
Someone’s here?
Startled by the fact, Ling Yue realizes she’s been too careless. If someone from the Royal Hospital came around now and discovered the giant gathering, there’s a fine possibility of Little Crow’s lineage being discovered. Who knows what the consequences would be if that occurred.
“Season?” Standing only a short distance away was Xia Hou Qi, the sixth prince of the kingdom. He’s currently in pursuit of his pet parrot Season.
Earlier when the summoning occurred, the palace maids were the middle feeding the Blood Eagle Parrot owned by Hou Qi, as such, news quickly reached the prince’s ear after the bird escaped.
Worried for his pet Season, Hou Qi quickly dashed over to the Royal Hospital because that’s the last known location the parrot was seen. Then that’s when he saw it, the magical scene of Ling Yue feeding all these birds under that glistening autumn light. In his eyes, to call this scene the descent of a celestial maiden was no understatement because that’s what he truly thought: beautiful and enchanting.
“Hou Qi, how come you are here?” Calmed by the sight of Hou Qi, only then does Ling Yue exhale a breath of relief.
According to what Ling Yue knew, the boy has been away from the palace for half a month at Longyu’s place for training so it’s actually a little surprising for her to find the boy here today. The first assumption that came to her mind was that the prince had returned to visit the queen.
Ling Yue’s speculation was very good and logical, however that’s not the only reasoning for Hou Qi’s appearance.
A few days ago through the old dwarf’s mouth, Hou Qi had learned of Ling Yue’s new post as a court alchemist and wanted to take this chance to see if he can bump into her. The prince’s plan was simple: pay his greeting to his family and then sneakily make his way over to the Royal Hospital to peak at Ling Yue. The only deviation from the original plan was that it was moved forward by the missing parrot.
“Ling Yue, these birds… What’s the deal with these seeds?” Just as he’s about to ask about the birds, Hou Qi noticed the vast amounts of seed piled on the ground.
“They left you to sift through these?” His expression turned grim after seeing the large number of empty sacks lying on the side.
“They say it’s the first task for a newcomer. It’s Manager Meng who had me do this.” Ling Yue’s no saint flower with a kindred heart. If Manager Meng’s going to make things difficult for her then she’s going to turn it back at the old prune using the sixth prince’s hand.
As someone who grew up in the palace, Hou Qi knows very well that conflicts didn’t just apply to the court officials, its also common among the concubines and servants. But what he didn’t expect was the maltreatment on Ling Yue because the girl obviously showed great talent and skill in alchemy
“Someone come!” He thunders, causing General Chiyan to rush inside with the sword drawn.
“Your highness, is something the matter?” As soon as he entered the yard, Chiyan immediately took notice to his lord’s furious face.
“Go get me Manager Meng this instant.”