A leisurely life starting in a bar after being reborn

Cai Yunfei and Zhao Gang were about to leave, but Fu Yan kept them there to eat together. Sister Zhou was quick at cooking; adding two pairs of chopsticks was a piece of cake. Cai Yunfei went to the kitchen to help wash the vegetables, while Sister Zhou kicked Zhao Gang out—saying he washed vegetables like they were just rinsing them in water and that he should stay outside.

Fu Yan, Fu Xiao, Chen Shiwen, and Xu Wenshu sat on the veranda, surrounding two birds.

The monk parakeet perched quietly by the window, occasionally pecking at birdseed, like a little monk begging for alms. The myna was full of energy under the grape trellis, becoming excited at the slightest approach.

Fu Xiao squatted down in front of the myna bird, tilting her head to examine it.

"Hello!" the myna bird greeted first.

"Hello," Fu Xiao said, finding it quite interesting, "What will you say?"

"May you be happy and prosperous!"

"Hmm, this sounds nice."

"I'm your father!"

Fu Xiao's expression changed.

"What did you say?"

"I'm your father!"

Fu Xiao suddenly stood up and turned to look at Fu Yan: "Brother! This bird calls me... no, it calls both of us..."

"Yeah, it's just that annoying," Fu Yan said, shrugging. "I was originally going to roast it."

Fu Xiao immediately chimed in, "Yeah, let's grill it! It's so infuriating."

Chen Shiwen gently tugged at her sleeve, saying, "Don't get angry over a bird..."

"It calls me 'Dad'!" Fu Xiao protested, squatting down again to look the myna in the eye. "Say that again?"

"I'm your father!"

"I'm your father!"

The myna tilted its head, as if processing those words.

"I am your father!" it shouted again.

"I am your father!" Fu Xiao said, enunciating each word clearly.

"I'm your father!"

"you……"

Xu Wenshu leaned against the pillar, laughing so hard her shoulders shook.

Chen Shiwen couldn't hold back any longer, covering her mouth and her eyes curving into crescents.

Fu Yan sat in the rattan chair, watching his younger sister and a bird arguing fiercely, and suddenly felt that this scene was somewhat familiar. More than 20 years ago in his hometown of Anqiu, when he and his neighbor Erzhuzi were bickering, they were also exchanging barbs and neither would give in.

Fu Xiao got more and more excited as he argued, and the myna bird shouted more and more enthusiastically, evolving from "I am your father" to "I am your father, hello and wish you prosperity," unleashing its entire vocabulary in one breath, like a rap.

"You just wait!" Fu Xiao pointed angrily at the myna, "Tomorrow I'll go online and look up how to teach a bird to talk, and I'll make you call me 'Grandma'!"

"May you be happy and prosperous!"

"Who's wishing you good fortune?!"

"I'm your father!"

"Chen Shiwen, let go! I'm going to grill it!"

Chen Shiwen clung tightly to Fu Xiao's arm, laughing as she tried to persuade her, "It's just a bird... why are you arguing with a bird..."

Fu Yan finally couldn't help but laugh out loud.

Xu Wenshu walked over, bent down to look at the myna bird, and the myna bird immediately replied, "Hello!"

"You see," Xu Wenshu said, "it's very polite to me."

"It's afraid of you, isn't it?" Fu Xiao retorted. "Why isn't it afraid of me?"

"Maybe it's because you look more like its mother," Fu Yan said.

"elder brother!"

Zhou Jie's voice came from the kitchen: "Dinner's ready!"

Fu Xiao glared fiercely at the myna bird and pointed at it: "You wait, this isn't over."

The myna cleared its throat: "Hello!"

Fu Xiao took a deep breath, turned around and walked towards the main room, muttering to herself, "Sooner or later I'll make you call me 'Grandma'..."

Chen Shiwen followed behind, glanced back at the myna bird, and whispered, "You're amazing."

The myna bird didn't respond, probably because it didn't understand.

Fu Yan stood up, glanced at the black bird under the grape trellis, then at the quiet little monk by the window, and finally at Mo Dou curled up in the cat house. He shook his head.

This courtyard is becoming more and more lively.

……

Time flies by leisurely, and June is already here.

The temperature in Yanjing is rising day by day. There are more old men fanning themselves under the shade of trees on the street. The freezers in the convenience store are open from morning to night. Even Modou hardly runs around in the yard anymore. He spends all day lying in the cat house with his tongue hanging out, like a miniature dog.

Even hotter than the weather was the atmosphere of the Olympics.

The streets were plastered with slogans like "One World, One Dream," bus stops were adorned with Fuwa mascots, taxi roof lights had been replaced with Olympic logos, and even the streetlights along Houhai Lake were decorated with colorful flags. On the wall at the entrance of Yandai Xiejie, someone had painted a huge Fuwa graffiti, with five colors crammed together, looking like a large floral quilt cover from a distance.

Fu Yan's courtyard house belongs to Yindingqiao Community, where there is a neighborhood committee, located in a single-story house at the east end of Yandai Xiejie. Fu Yan has lived here for so long, and the only interaction he has with the neighborhood committee is when he passes by that single-story house every month to pay his electricity bill, and occasionally sees a few middle-aged women sitting at the door picking vegetables and chatting.

But starting from the end of May, those middle-aged women began to come to our door every few days, as if they had made a pact.

The first time was when they gave me a brochure titled "Welcoming the Olympics, Promoting Civility and Establishing New Customs." It was a thick stack of pictures and text. Fu Yan accepted it politely and casually put it on the coffee table. Later, Mo Dou used it as a scratching post, and the Fuwa mascots on the cover were scratched beyond recognition.

The second time was to promote garbage sorting. The leader, Aunt Wang, had a loud and clear voice. She stood in the yard and explained it again and again until Fu Yan bought all four garbage bins and set them up. Only then did she leave satisfied.

The third purpose was to survey the community's foreign language talent.

"Xiao Fu," Aunt Wang said, pushing open the door and entering, followed by two equally energetic women. "I heard you studied abroad?"

"Yes, I did."

"What country?"

"USA."

"Then your English must be perfect, right?" Aunt Wang's eyes lit up. She turned to exchange a glance with the aunt next to her, and the two of them simultaneously showed a "we've got you!" expression.

"It's alright..."

"That's great!" Aunt Wang slapped her thigh. "Our community is forming an Olympic volunteer service team, and we're in dire need of foreign language speakers! You should join!"

Fu Yan opened his mouth, but before he could speak, another auntie chimed in, "Little Fu, this is great news! It's bringing honor to the country! Our Yindingqiao community is right by Shichahai Lake. During the Olympics, there will definitely be a lot of foreign tourists visiting Houhai. We'll have to rely on our volunteers to help with directions and inquiries!"

"Yes, yes, yes," the third aunt chimed in, "Look at you, you've lived abroad, speak good English, and you're so energetic. Just standing there, you're the living advertisement for our community!"

Looking at the three women in front of him, whose average age was over sixty, Fu Yan felt an overwhelming enthusiasm. He had only seen this kind of enthusiasm on Wall Street in his life—except that there, people were after money, while here, they were after people.

"I...should I think about it?"

"What are you thinking about!" Aunt Wang waved her hand dismissively. "It's settled then! I'll have the director call you tomorrow!"

After saying that, the three women left in a hurry, leaving behind an "Olympic Volunteer Handbook" and a stack of promotional leaflets.

Fu Yan stood in the courtyard, looked down at the Fuwa mascot smiling at him on the cover of the manual, and suddenly felt as if he were trapped.