Chapter 437: What Are You Doing?
"Get over here!" Seeing the wasted Monkey Wine on the tree trunk, Shen Yibin’s heart ached. ’Damn it! I’m usually reluctant to drink much at once, and you’ve wasted so much right after arriving. This is killing me!’ Moreover, the woodpecker seemed to want to keep pecking holes in the trunk. Who knew if it would pierce through another tree hollow storing wine? Shen Yibin quickly waved it over.
"KIK! KIK!" The woodpecker was exceptionally obedient after taking the medicine. Seeing Shen Yibin wave, it immediately flew over and landed on his shoulder. Xiaoliu also relaxed his guard, broke off a bamboo twig, and plugged the hole the bird had just pecked. Only then did the Monkey Wine stop flowing, and Shen Yibin’s mood improved a little.
"Hey, you can’t just peck randomly at the trees in the store if there are no bugs!" ’If you were catching bugs to eat, that would be one thing, but pecking holes everywhere is just destructive.’ Seeing the woodpecker seemed a little dissatisfied, Shen Yibin stroked its feathers and said, "Tomorrow. When you wake up tomorrow, I’ll take you to the forest on the outskirts of the city. There are plenty of trees there for you to peck to your heart’s content." Only then did the woodpecker nod its head, as if in agreement.
"Go on, go play!" Shen Yibin waved his hand, letting the woodpecker continue playing below. Seeing Xiaoliu squatting on a branch and staring at it warily, the woodpecker changed direction mid-air and landed in Maphario’s orchard.
"SQUEAK! SQUEAK!" When Maphario saw it land, he seemed exceptionally welcoming. He squeaked a few times, then pointed at the apple tree saplings. The woodpecker glanced over, then swooped down to land in front of a sapling. Its beak shot out like lightning, and it snatched a small beetle in its mouth.
Maphario had been out with Shen Yibin and the others for a while. Although Xia Shixuan and the others came to water, fertilize, and catch bugs on these saplings every day, they weren’t as meticulous as Maphario. In a moment of carelessness, many new bugs had appeared. The woodpecker’s arrival was just in time to help Maphario out. After all, who else is the natural enemy of these pests but a woodpecker?
And so, Maphario and the woodpecker began to coordinate, darting back and forth among the fruit saplings. Every now and then, you could see the woodpecker using its sharp beak to peck all sorts of pests off the leaves and trunks and swallow them. ’No wonder Maphario gets along so well with this guy. So this is the reason!’
’Alright, with Maphario watching, nothing bad should happen.’ Shen Yibin went back to the kitchen to get busy. By the time he came out with the food, the woodpecker had already eaten its fill and was resting comfortably on the back of the sofa. Hah’Er sat in a chair, hugging its food bowl and drooling at the sight of the long-missed dishes. Suddenly, it seemed to remember something and tugged violently at Xiaoliu’s arm. Xiaoliu scratched his head, hopped onto the railing, and with a great leap, landed on a tree branch. After a few bounds, he scurried to the tree hollow, filled the hanging flagon with Monkey Wine, and then returned to the dining table to fill Hah’Er’s wine bowl.
’This little guy’s appetite for wine seems to be getting worse. It can already drink three bowls of wine per meal now. If this keeps up, the Monkey Wine brewed in the store might not be enough! Looks like I need to get the manors built sooner so I can transplant more suitable large trees from Bai Jingxiang and have Xiaoliu brew more Monkey Wine.’
Thinking of this, Shen Yibin turned to Wen Yuan, who had just returned. "Mr. Wen, how’s the construction progress? Can it be completed on schedule?"
"No problem. They were a bit rusty at the beginning, but they’ve gradually gotten used to it now. The construction is progressing faster and faster. I estimate we might even finish ahead of schedule," Wen Yuan said with full confidence. He was at the construction site every day, communicating with the construction team. Any problems could be solved on the spot. A typical construction site wouldn’t have such conditions.
He could hardly wait to see what these three manors would look like when they were finished. He had already posted the design blueprints and renderings on a professional design website, receiving unanimous praise from others in the field. Many large developers had sent him design invitations, with offers more than double his previous rates. Because of this, Wen Yuan had already moved his studio to Yunzhong City, rented a proper office, and reopened for business. From now on, he wouldn’t have to worry at all about not being able to support Bald Qiang and the others.
"That’s great. Give me a call when you head over tomorrow morning. I’ll come take a look at the site too." ’Hmm, it’ll be a good chance to let the woodpecker go in the forest and get its fill of pecking holes.’
"No problem." Wen Yuan put a piece of stir-fried bamboo shoot into Bald Qiang’s food bowl with his chopsticks, then turned back and said, "Oh, right, send me those photos you took on your overland journey later. Some of the natural scenery is simply a masterpiece of nature. I feel like some of those elements could be used in our manors." ’This guy never stops thinking about his profession.’
After dinner, Shen Yibin sent all the photos he took along the way to Wen Yuan. He then watched as Wen Yuan carefully studied the photos on his tablet, occasionally telling Shen Yibin what was so good about the landscapes and where those elements could be used in the manors. He spoke so brilliantly that even a layman like Shen Yibin listened with great interest.
They talked like this for several hours, not stopping until Li Shiqing and the others had gone to their rooms to sleep. Shen Yibin went to find the bird’s nest that Cheeky used to sleep in, preparing it for the woodpecker. He had originally intended for the woodpecker to sleep in his bedroom, just like Cheeky used to, but it seemed to prefer sleeping in the tree. So, Shen Yibin had Xiaoliu hang the nest on a branch. The woodpecker flew into the nest and went to sleep comfortably. Xiaoliu, however, lay in his hammock staring at it, as if worried the new guy would peck through the tree hollows where he brewed his wine.
The next day, after waking up, eating breakfast, and going for a few laps around the park, Shen Yibin drove Wen Yuan, Hah’Er, and the others toward the construction site. When they arrived, Bald Qiang and Gao Lujie, the couple, immediately got out of the car, jumped into the creek, and got busy again. The woodpecker fluttered into the forest, and before long, the sound of TAP-TAP-TAP-TAP-TAP echoed through the mountains.
Hah’Er and Xiaoliu also went off to play. Wen Yuan, meanwhile, gave Shen Yibin a tour of the construction site. Some of the ingenious designs were already beginning to take shape, leaving Shen Yibin breathless with admiration. As a result, he and Wen Yuan spent the entire day at the site, even scrounging lunch there.
When it was time to go home in the evening, Shen Yibin started calling his pets back one by one. When he got to the creek to call for Bald Qiang and the others, Shen Yibin saw the woodpecker was there too. ’Huh? What are you doing here?’