Chapter 34 part 3

People who truly love owls prefer to visit forest parks, reservoirs, and similar places at night with their equipment to observe them, rather than going to zoos. People who love birds mostly prefer to see them in their natural habitat. Owl cafes like those in Japan are on their blacklist. Forcing owls to reverse their day-night cycle and exposing them to strangers every day is torture for them. Anyone with a little knowledge about owls would find it hard to like such places.

However, Bai Wei had no knowledge of owls. Although she had participated in a few animal rescues with her parents, they were mostly common cats and dogs, and at most, foxes, minks, and squirrels. She had never encountered birds before. Seeing Wang Tianba in the nest, she was startled:

“Director, what’s wrong with it? Is it having a heatstroke?”

It’s no wonder Bai Wei thought that way. Wang Tianba’s posture at that moment was indeed quite alarming. Its two large, feathered legs, hidden within its plumage, were stretched straight back, and it lay on the ground with its eyes tightly shut. Its stiff posture made it look as if it had been dead for a long time.

In fact, Bai Wei really wanted to ask if it was dead, but she felt that such a question would be impolite. Besides, she thought that with so many people around, if Wang Tianba had really encountered a problem, they wouldn’t be so calm.

Of course, it was also possible that they were simply careless and hadn’t noticed.

“Tianba is sleeping,” Kong Bi said, smiling at the mention of heatstroke. “Tianba is a Spot-Bellied eagle-owl. These owls sleep during the day and are active at night.”

Bai Wei looked closely and noticed a detail: its eyes were actually smiling. The combination of its eyes and yellow beak looked like a vivid ‘^v^’ expression. Such an expression certainly didn’t seem like it was unwell. She asked curiously, “Why does it sleep like that? And why does it ‘smile’ when it sleeps?”

“That’s not a smile,” Kong Bi first explained the simpler part of Bai Wei’s question. “Owls have three eyelids. The ‘smiling eyes’ you see are the result of the owl’s lower eyelid. When its lower eyelid closes, it looks like it’s smiling. Its upper eyelid, when closed, is for blinking. However, if you see that, you’d think it’s sleeping because its upper eyelid, when closed, looks exactly like the closed eyes of cats and dogs when they sleep.”

“As for why it sleeps like this…” Kong Bi blinked. “As you can see, it’s quite plump, so its head is relatively heavy. Sleeping like this puts less strain on its body, making it more comfortable.”

“However, this scene is generally only seen in chicks and sub-adult owls. It’s actually quite rare to see in adult birds because this posture is too relaxed. If they encounter danger, they can’t react in time. So, it’s generally difficult to see this in adult owls^[1]Fun fact about an owl: Because an owlet (baby owl) can’t support the weight of their enormous head, they need to sleep flat on their stomachs with their head off to the side so they can breathe. … Continue reading.”

In fact, when Wang Tianba revealed this sleeping posture, it sparked a heated debate among everyone. Some people thought it was because Wang Tianba trusted Kong Bi so much that it slept like that. Others thought it was because its body was overweight, and this sleeping position put less strain on its bones. Until now, neither side had been able to convince the other.

In addition to these two explanations, there was a less popular one. Someone boldly speculated that perhaps Wang Tianba was still a sub-adult individual. Although it looked like it had matured, maybe it was still a juvenile, which was why it slept like that.

However, this explanation wasn’t accepted, but it did coincidentally hit upon part of the truth.

Young owls sleep like this to reduce the burden and allow their bones to develop better. Wang Tianba also chose to revert to its juvenile sleeping posture to prevent additional burden on her body when she had a breakthrough, just like cats kneading. This posture allows them to relax more.

Bai Wei suddenly felt her knowledge had greatly expanded.

“But I remember reading in textbooks that owls sleep with one eye open and one eye closed. Is that not true?” Bai Wei’s father couldn’t help but ask.

“That’s true,” Kong Bi said. “Most adult owls choose to sleep that way. Their left and right brains can operate independently. The left eye is connected to the right brain, and the right eye is connected to the left brain. Because the wild environment is full of uncertainties, and although they have excellent night vision, they become nearsighted during the day. This difference makes them uneasy during the day. So, when they rest during the day, they choose to have their left and right brains take turns resting. This allows them to both guard against enemies and get good sleep.”

“Can they really rest well like that?” Humans, who can only have their brains work and rest simultaneously, can hardly imagine the pleasure of being able to control their left and right brains freely.

Bai Wei said, “I’m so envious…”

If she had this ability, she could just sleep when she was sleepy in class, anyway, one eye would be open.

Kong Bi smiled and was about to speak when her eyebrows moved suddenly. She looked around and waved to a corner, saying, “Chu Chu, this way.”

Chu Chu likes to stick to people for food, but she won’t follow them everywhere. When she’s not eating, she’ll still follow the coal boss around to patrol the territory or exercise to digest food. So if you want to see Chu Chu, you don’t need to rely on luck. Just go to the cafeteria during meal time. She will definitely come earlier than the employees who go to the cafeteria to eat…

“Woof meow~!”

Chu Chu immediately ran over and lay down at Kong Bi’s feet.

“Woof~”

Chu Chu knew very well who was the owner of the zoo, so even though Kong Bi fed her much less than others, Chu Chu didn’t ignore her. After all, although Kong Bi didn’t feed her, she could influence others to feed her or not!

The Bai family carefully observed Chuchu. The “you’ve lost weight” that they were about to say was swallowed back when Chuchu appeared, and they looked at her with astonishment and doubt.

That belly, that face, that pouch, those big paws…

“Zhuzhu, how did you really become a pig?!” Bai Wei exclaimed in shock.

“Woof meow?” Hearing a somewhat familiar voice, Chuchu immediately twitched her ears and looked up.

It’s the backup feeder!

“Woof woof!”

Chuchu happily pounced forward!

Bai Wei’s mother, standing to the side, couldn’t help but laugh and cry. “It seems it really is the one we lost before.” After a pause, Bai Wei’s mother added, “It seems she’s been living quite comfortably since she ran away from home.”

Kong Bi was curious: “Don’t you need to test it again? For example, take the toys it used before?”

“No need,” Bai Wei’s mother shook her head. “It was picked up by our Zhuangzhuang from the roadside less than a month after it was born. It learned to bark like a dog from Zhuangzhuang since it was little. Later, we showed it a lot of cat meowing videos, and it reluctantly added a ‘meow’ after its ‘woof.’ It probably still thinks it’s a dog. Other cats definitely don’t make this kind of sound.”

Bai Wei nodded vigorously, adding, “And other cats’ voices aren’t this squeaky. It’s imitating how I ask my mom for allowance. When it’s angry, its meow is very loud and not squeaky at all!”

“Woof meow?!”

Chuchu, immediately displeased, returned to Kong Bi’s feet. That backup feeder must be scolding her!

Kong Bi was a bit surprised, not expecting Chuchu to be so clever. After all, judging from its usual behavior, saying it was simple-minded wouldn’t be an exaggeration. It would completely disregard everything for food, throwing everything else out of its mind.

Bai Wei’s mother squatted down, picked up Chuchu, and stroked it. “Seeing you so fat makes me feel relieved.”

If it wasn’t living well, it wouldn’t have this kind of build. After all, there’s no need to store fat in the summer, and its shiny, glossy fur doesn’t look like it’s lacking nutrition.

“Meow meow!”

As soon as Coal Boss saw Bai Wei’s mother pick up Chuchu, it immediately darted out of the grass.

Don’t kill the cat! ^[2]“放猫不杀!” (fàng māo bù shā!) is a humorous Chinese phrase that’s tricky to translate directly into English while keeping its playful tone. the literal translation would be … Continue reading

“This is the boyfriend Chuchu found for herself,” Kong Bi introduced. “They are inseparable all day long. Before Chuchu came to the zoo, it should have been the coal boss who was responsible for raising Chuchu.”

Bai Wei’s mother thought hard: “This black cat looks familiar.”

“Isn’t it familiar?” Bai Wei’s father gritted his teeth, “I remember, is it the one you said that followed you home that night?”

“It seems that it came here in advance!”

At this moment, Bai Wei’s father suddenly understood. The questions that had puzzled him before became as clear as untangled threads. Chuchu, having received socialization training since childhood, was accustomed to being walked on a leash with the family dog and enjoyed playing with other dogs outside alongside the Golden Retriever.

This situation continued until this spring.

As everyone knows, when spring arrives, cats go into heat. Even though the enthusiastic residents of the neighborhood often organize with the property management to neuter the stray cats in the area, cats come and go, and there are always a few that slip through the net. And Chuchu was particularly attractive to single male cats.

Even though she frequently mingled with dogs, there were still some who dared to approach her.

Coal Boss was one of those inconspicuous ones.

It was considered inconspicuous because the light was dim at night, and Coal Boss didn’t make any overt moves, only squatting by the bushes. Perhaps it had been observing Chuchu for a long time, but the Bai family had never noticed it.

It wasn’t until one day, when they were recording videos of their small pets, that they accidentally captured Coal Boss in the bushes.

At the time, the Bai family naturally paid no attention to it. Bai Wei’s mother even sent the video to the family group, saying that this cat was timid. While all the other male cats were crowding around, it was the only one that dared to just sit on the side and watch.

They forgot about the teasing words after they said them, and after that, they simply stopped taking Chuchu outside. They planned to take her to the vet for neutering when they had time, fearing that their innocent and beautiful little daughter would be “kidnapped” by the stray cats outside.

However, before they could take Chuchu for neutering, another incident occurred.