Although the little ones had seen Ruan Qiao using a phone before, they had never played with one.
Now, hearing her call, they all gathered around, stretching their heads to take a closer look.
The viewers in the live chat perked up the moment Ruan Qiao said the little ones were going to say hello.
They practically pressed their eyes to the screen, eager to get a close-up look at the little creatures they loved.
Then, completely unprepared, they were stunned by the huge, furry faces suddenly appearing right in front of them.
“Waaahhh, awsl!”
“Before watching this live, I imagined what it would be like to be up close with the little ones, but I didn’t expect it to be this close! My heart can barely handle it!”
“Oh my gosh, did you see those blue eyes? The night sky isn’t even that blue! My heart can’t take it, they’ve transformed!”
Ruan Qiao was staring at the screen, and all the praise in the chat for the little ones made her feel proud, as if they were complimenting her too.
She pointed the camera at Xiao Wang and introduced him: “This is Xiao Wang. Don’t be fooled by his height, he’s actually an exceptionally well-behaved, thoughtful little one.”
Then she poked her head out from behind the phone and called to Xiao Wang: “Come on, say hello to everyone.”
Xiao Wang tilted his head slightly at the fast-moving comments on the screen, confused, then let out a soft, sweet “meow,” as his reply.
“Is this the classic head-tilt charm?”
“What kind of divine creature is this?! Absolutely my dream cat! I can’t handle it, I’m completely smitten. Little one, mommy loves you!”
Ruan Qiao then introduced Lin Shan, Gungun, and Huihui to the viewers one by one, receiving a flood of praise for each.
Although the live stream was on, Ruan Qiao didn’t forget that for the little ones, the most important thing was still mealtime.
After the introductions, she fixed the phone on the stand, gathered the little ones together, and began the delicious lunch.
Ah Qi didn’t say much. He could tell Ruan Qiao didn’t intend for him to appear on camera, so he quietly sat out of view, waiting.
Ruan Qiao first served him a bowl of the rich, fragrant chicken soup, gesturing for him to start, and only then continued to distribute the food to the little ones.
They had caught plenty of fish today, so each one could have their own.
Ruan Qiao carefully placed the fish onto each of the little ones’ plates.
Then, while they were eating, she scooped all the chicken pieces out of the soup, placed them in a large bowl to cool, and divided them among the little ones.
She saved a small bowl for last and pushed it toward Ah Qi.
Ah Qi glanced at it, noticed there was none left for Ruan Qiao, frowned slightly, and silently pushed the chicken toward her.
Ruan Qiao picked up the chicken soup in her hand and explained, “I don’t really like to eat this. You take it, I’ll just drink the soup.”
Stubbornly, Ah Qi nudged it toward her again and insisted, “Eat together.”
Ruan Qiao had no choice but to take a piece of chicken for herself, put it in her bowl, and then pushed the small bowl back toward him.
Ah Qi looked at it but said nothing.
Picking up the unused spoon in front of him, he carefully moved several more pieces of chicken from the small bowl into Ruan Qiao’s bowl before finally taking the rest back to himself.
He then put his hand protectively over his bowl, as if resolutely refusing to let her take any more.
Seeing this, Ruan Qiao couldn’t help but laugh.
She knew Ah Qi had misunderstood.
She genuinely didn’t like eating chicken, not that she was being modest or yielding.
Ruan Qiao had always thought the meat in chicken soup wasn’t very tasty; all the essence was in the broth. She hadn’t cared much for it even at home.
Of course, explaining this now wouldn’t convince anyone, and honestly, being cared about like this felt kind of nice.
She stopped arguing, got up, and mixed a little fish sauce with some chicken broth to make a dipping sauce, placing it between them. She dipped her chicken in it and gestured for Ah Qi to do the same.
Only then did the chicken taste a little better.
The little ones weren’t nearly as picky as she was.
Even plain, unsalted chicken was a rare treat for them, and they ate without lifting their heads, letting out satisfied little “awoo” sounds.
Once most of the chicken was eaten, Ruan Qiao took out the roast meat that had been kept warm in the oven.
She, as before, served some to the little ones first.
Then she brought the remaining food over to the table for herself and Ah Qi.
On the table now, besides the roast meat, she had prepared special dipping plates, one dry, one saucy.
The dry plate was a mix of salt, toasted and ground Sichuan pepper, and chili powder; the sauce plate contained the barbecue sauce she had specifically ordered when buying the meat.
Ruan Qiao picked up a perilla leaf, spread it flat in her palm, and then took a piece of roast meat. She lightly dipped it in the sauce, then in the dry spice mix, and wrapped it in the perilla leaf.
Shoving the combination into her mouth, the leaf’s fresh fragrance blended perfectly with the smoky, roasted aroma of the meat. Delicious enough to make her eyes narrow in satisfaction.
Seeing her enjoy it, Ah Qi picked up a perilla leaf and imitated her method.
“Good, right?” she asked, showing off a little as she watched him.
“Mm,” Ah Qi nodded, grinning at her.
His clear, bright smile made Ruan Qiao momentarily lose her focus.
Mealtime demanded full attention.
The whole group ate with complete immersion.
So much so that they completely forgot the live stream was still on.
For the viewers, watching an eating stream wasn’t new, but seeing a host so completely absorbed in eating that they ignored the audience entirely was something none of them had ever experienced.
The chat scrolled endlessly, emojis of shock, laughing-crying, drooling flew by so fast no one could read all the messages.
But no matter what the viewers thought, Ruan Qiao and the others were genuinely absorbed in eating and didn’t notice at all.
It wasn’t until they finished the entire table of food and the little ones came around again, wanting hugs and kisses, that Ruan Qiao suddenly remembered her phone was still on.
She stared at the live stream in shock, speechless for a long moment.
Finally, she awkwardly scratched her head and apologized, “Sorry everyone, I completely forgot about the live stream. But you’ve seen how the kids ate, so you should be reassured, right? That’s it for today’s stream. We’ll see you next time! If there’s a chance, I’ll show you my vegetable garden!”
With that, she waved at the camera and ended the broadcast.
The viewers who had patiently waited in the live stream were completely stunned by Ruan Qiao’s rapid-fire actions.
Before anyone could even react, the live stream had already ended.
It was too late for anyone to stop it.
Fortunately, most of the people tuning in today were there for the little ones. Seeing them eat so well put everyone’s mind at ease, so there wasn’t much to complain about.
After a busy morning, not only were the kids tired, but Ruan Qiao herself was completely exhausted.
After saying goodbye to everyone, she went back to her room and took a proper afternoon nap.
By the time she woke up, it was almost three in the afternoon.
Stepping out of her room, she could already see Huihui and Xiao Wang busy in the newly opened vegetable patch from a distance.
Although Ruan Qiao had said there was no rush and they could wait until the weather cooled a bit, the others clearly had different ideas.
It seemed that Ah Qi had adjusted the training plan he had written earlier, incorporating the land-clearing work into the little ones’ daily exercise routine.
Just like now—
Huihui, in the front, was skillfully digging with both front paws, while Xiao Wang followed behind, leveling out the loosened soil.
Meanwhile, Lin Shan and Gungun stood on either side in an orderly manner, picking up any hard stones and dead roots they tossed out and placing them in bamboo baskets, waiting for 001 to come by later to carry them away.
At first, when Ah Qi suggested having them help with the clearing, Ruan Qiao was skeptical.
She couldn’t imagine what would come of assigning such a task to a few little animals.
But after a few days, not only had they become increasingly coordinated, the speed at which they cleared the land far exceeded Ruan Qiao’s expectations.
At their current pace, she felt she could start preparing the materials needed for building the greenhouse right away.
It would probably be just a few days before construction could begin.
Looking over the land that was nearly cleared, Ruan Qiao felt an indescribable sense of satisfaction, imagining a sprawling vegetable garden in its place.
After checking on a few of the little ones, she went back inside to grab two bottles of iced water and headed toward the back of the small building.
Sure enough, even before she got close, she heard the flutter of wings.
No need to ask, of course, Jin Ge was again getting fired up sparring with that wild chicken.
Today, she didn’t hear the little ones whining or crying at all, not even their calls.
All she could hear was the intense flapping of wings.
Ruan Qiao quickened her pace, ran up to the fence gate, pressed her face against the gap, and peered inside. She then saw Jin Ge tangled up with the wild chicken.
Although Jin Ge was still weak, he was, after all, a golden eagle, with wildness in his bones and blood.
There was no way he could be chased and pecked forever by a wild chicken.
He must have finally been provoked and was now launching a reckless counterattack.
The wild chicken was still strong, pecking at him repeatedly.
But Jin Ge no longer tried to dodge, he struck back boldly.
He flapped his wings to propel his body up repeatedly, then attempted to dive and grab the wild chicken with his claws.
His flight ability was still limited. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t get very high, and diving accurately was difficult.
The wild chicken could easily evade him with a simple sidestep.
But thanks to Jin Ge’s daily long runs and Ah Qi’s specialized training, the strength in his claws was not to be underestimated.
Not to mention the wild chicken, among raptors of similar size, very few now could match his strength.
So even though he was slightly disadvantaged in agility compared to the wild chicken, the situation was vastly different from yesterday.
Even a temperamental wild chicken, once caught by him, would not fare well. This was evident from the feathers scattered across the ground and the wild chicken’s clearly panicked movements.
Ruan Qiao was watching intently when someone patted her shoulder from behind.
She knew immediately who it was and, without turning, said, “Ah Qi, come look! Don’t you think Xiao Jin is getting stronger? His presence… it’s really coming through!”
Before her words had even fallen, a warm head leaned over beside her, carrying a faint scent of sweat.
Ruan Qiao turned in surprise and saw Ah Qi’s face, sunburned red and glistening with sweat.
She glanced up at the blazing sun, then back at him: “Where have you been? Look at all this sweat!”
Before she could finish speaking, she noticed the bamboo basket on Ah Qi’s back, filled to the brim with perilla leaves.
“You went up the mountain again?” Ruan Qiao pointed at the leaves, a mix of worry and anger in her voice. “Why are you running around in this blazing sun? It’s not that urgent, couldn’t you have gone tomorrow morning? Are you some kind of robot that doesn’t even know what tired means?!”
“I’m not tired,” Ah Qi said with a smile.
Seeing Ruan Qiao about to scold him further, he patted the bamboo basket and explained, “Around noon, I checked the messages on the backend. There are a lot of people asking for perilla leaves. If we pick them early and sell them early, tomorrow we’ll have time to take Huihui to see Doctor Aisen.”
“Is it urgent for Huihui? Is something wrong with his health?”
At this moment, nothing mattered more to Ruan Qiao than the little ones’ transformation.
Hearing Ah Qi’s explanation, she immediately stopped nagging.
“There’s nothing wrong with their health. I’m just worried that the three of them might transform at the same time. If that happens, we won’t be able to handle it all.”
Ah Qi’s brow furrowed slightly as he said this.
Even though his tone sounded casual, almost as if it were no different from usual, the words still conveyed a sense of gravity to Ruan Qiao.
Although she didn’t fully understand the process of the little ones’ transformation, everything she had learned so far told her it was an extremely dangerous procedure.
Whenever a child transforms, as their guardian she had to be fully alert and ready.
But three at the same time…
The thought made her head spin, and she didn’t dare think further.
“What exactly happens during the transformation? Do you remember?”
Ruan Qiao looked at Ah Qi. “What preparations do we need to make in advance? And is there any way to make sure the three of them don’t transform simultaneously?”
By this point, her face was creased in worry.
“There are only the two of us in the institute, what would we do if that actually happened?!”
Ah Qi still had memory gaps; he relied mostly on instinct, which meant some things could easily be overlooked.
Ruan Qiao, on the other hand, knew nothing and had no experience in this at all.
If all three little ones transformed together…
Just imagining that scenario made her feel suffocated.
Ah Qi clearly shared the same concern.
He thought for a moment before speaking slowly: “I don’t remember everything clearly, but I think they might get a fever. Each person reacts differently, depending on their constitution, the symptoms can vary.
Some might have convulsions from the high fever, others could experience skin cracking. If that happens, it can be dangerous. So besides needing someone to take care of them, we also have to prepare some supportive medications in advance.”
“I understand,” Ruan Qiao said.
She looked at Ah Qi. “Don’t worry yet. I’ll arrange a meeting with Doctor Aisen right away. Tomorrow, don’t just take Huihui, bring all of them. Let the doctor check them all, do a full examination, and after we get the results, we can plan the next steps.”
Then she glanced at the pen enclosure. “Should we let Jin Ge out?”
Ah Qi shook his head. “Not yet. When it’s time, Jin Ge will come out by himself.”
He lifted his chin, pointing at the gate with a faint pride in his tone, almost like a teacher talking about his accomplished student:
“He can already open the gate on his own. In a day or two, that wild chicken won’t stand a chance against him anymore.”
Ruan Qiao nodded with relief, then returned to the room with Ah Qi.
Since Ah Qi knew far more about transformations than she did, after connecting the call with Doctor Aisen, she handed the phone to him so they could discuss matters.
Meanwhile, she immediately opened the online store and bought boxes and other materials needed for packaging vegetables.
Earlier, Ah Qi had mentioned supportive medications.
Ruan Qiao didn’t know if they were expensive, but it couldn’t hurt to prepare extra money.
After placing the order, she opened the backend of her livestream account, and was shocked by the tips she had received!
She never expected that in just one afternoon, and in less than two hours of livestreaming, she would receive over a thousand Star Coins in tips!
And this was after the platform’s share, all of it completely hers!
That wasn’t all, there were also countless messages requesting to buy perilla leaves.
Just scrolling through them quickly, Ruan Qiao realized that the single bamboo basket she had picked would not be nearly enough.
And this would be a substantial income!
Seeing the purchase requests, Ruan Qiao no longer felt dizzy or anxious, she felt energized.
With enough money, she could stock ample medications; with enough money, she could hire the most professional doctors.
If all three little ones really transformed at the same time, she could even afford to have a doctor stay at the nursery full-time.
Thinking this, Ruan Qiao felt her confidence soar.