Lu Shiyin did not know much about birds, so he could only take out his phone to look up some information.
“The English name for the monk parakeet is Quaker, which means believer. Furthermore, it has a nodding motion that makes it look like a believer at worship, and it also taps on wooden blocks just like a monk, which is why it is called the monk parakeet.”
Lu Shiyin also casually checked the prices. The most common color variants cost a few thousand, while the two types Big Brother bought seemed to be even rarer in coloration, which meant the price would be pushed up even higher on top of that base.
He fell silent. Well, he could have earned enough from working a part-time job for a month in his past life to buy them.
Lu Shijian was brimming with enthusiasm on the side, opening the birdcage to try and get a closer look. “They can talk, right? Come on, little monk, call me older brother. Brother… What the heck, it bites!”
Lu Shiyin let out a soft chuckle. “With a face like a bad guy, who would not be scared?”
“That is just because they do not know me yet. Once we get familiar with each other, they will definitely stick to me every day and refuse to be separated.”
“I gave those to Xiaoyin. Why would they stick to you?”
Hearing this, Lu Shijian shook his head and said in a reproving tone, “Look at you being all distant. What is yours and what is mine between biological brothers?”
Lu Shiyin was amused by them and turned his gaze toward the two parrots.
Perhaps realizing that the behemoths in front of them would not bully them, the two little birds gradually grew bolder, frolicking with each other and no longer fearing Lu Shiyin’s hand as they began curiously pecking at his fingers.
“Give them names, Xiaoyin. You are going to be their father from now on,” Lu Shijian said to Lu Shiyin while teasing the little birds.
“You just told them to call you older brother a moment ago. If they call me father, wouldn’t that completely mess up the family tree?”
“That is true. Then should they call you older brother and call me father? No, that is not right either.”
Lu Shiyin did not dwell on these forms of address. He leaned closer to the birdcage and gently stroked the head of the little blue bird through the bars.
The little blue bird closed its eyes, tilted its head, and nuzzled against his hand, looking as though it felt very comfortable.
Lu Shiyin smiled, and a rough idea formed in his mind.
“Should we name the blue one Guoguo and the white-and-blue one Jiujiu?”
“Xiaoyin, you are being way too perfunctory.” Lu Shiyin shook his head.
Lu Shiyin felt helpless. He was terrible at naming things and honestly had no idea how he was supposed to come up with them.
He opened his phone, intending to look up how people online named their pets.
“Naming them after food, naming them after rural things, naming them after colors.”
After looking for a long time, Lu Shiyin finally found names he was reasonably satisfied with.
“Let us just call them Guoguo and Jiujiu. The white-and-blue one will be Jiujiu, and the blue one will be Guoguo. It sounds so cute.”
“Jiujiu as in chirping? Alright, I suppose it is somewhat related.”
“Actually, Guoguo is also somewhat related. There is an app called something something Guoguo, and the blue mascot happens to be a bird.”
After playing with the birds enough, Lu Shiyin finally remembered that he had a pile of unread packages waiting for him, while Assistant Mo was still silently helping him unpack boxes all by himself.
He felt a pang of guilt. Assistant Mo not only had to handle his eldest brother’s affairs but also had to worry about him. Viewed from the perspective of an everyday worker, he was truly committing a heinous crime.
“Assistant Mo, you should go take a break. I will unpack the rest.”
Assistant Mo looked up, adjusted his glasses, and smiled. “It is fine, Young Master. This is what I am supposed to do.”
“Go sit down. Besides, I want to experience the fun of opening them myself, so I will take care of the rest.”
“Alright then, Young Master.”
Lu Shiyin unpacked the remaining parcels. When he reached the very last one, he noticed a smaller box hidden among a stack of large boxes.
He unwrapped that particular package. It was heavily wrapped in layers of protection, making it a bit troublesome to open, but he finally revealed its true appearance.
It was a small black-and-white gift box that looked very exquisite.
He remembered picking out a pair of ear studs for his second brother, and now they would be just right to give to him.
Just as he got up and prepared to walk over, Lu Shiyin suddenly remembered that his eldest brother was here too, and he seemed to have forgotten to pick out a gift for him.
He suddenly felt a bit awkward. After all, his eldest brother had brought a gift back for him, yet he had only bought something for his second brother. That really did seem a bit disheartening.
After turning it over in his mind, Lu Shiyin decided to pick out the best item from the haul and began rummaging through the items until he found a wristwatch.
He remembered that it cost around three hundred thousand when he bought it, making it likely the most expensive item he had. Although it did not quite match up with an eldest brother possessing a net worth in the hundreds of billions, it was the only presentable thing he had on hand right now.
Lu Shiyin picked up the watch gift box, tidied himself up, and took both the watch and the ear studs to present to his two older brothers.
“Big Brother, Second Brother, I bought gifts for you two as well. Even though I used your money, once I start earning my own, I will buy things for you using my own money.”
Lu Shiyin and Lu Shijian stared in stunned silence at the gifts handed to them. Their heartbeats seemed to skip a beat, as they could hardly believe that their younger brother, who was still suffering from amnesia, would actually think of buying them gifts.
Lu Shiyin was the first to snap out of his daze. Emotion welled up in his eyes as he took the gift box extended by Lu Shiyin with both hands, eagerly opening it right after to find a wristwatch inside.
He revealed a long-lost smile. Even though he owned many watches and every single one of them was far more expensive than this one, at this moment, he felt that the watch before him was the most precious one he possessed, truly one of a kind.
Lu Shiyin ruffled Lu Shiyin’s hair. “Thank you, Xiaoyin. I really like it.”
“I am glad.” Lu Shiyin breathed a sigh of relief. He had been worried that his eldest brother might look down on his watch.
As for the second brother on the other side, needless to say, he was grinning from ear to ear like a blooming flower.
“Thank you, Xiaoyin! I can tell at a glance that you picked this out for me with great care. Look at this color and this sparkle. It matches my hair perfectly, and I am going to wear it all the time.”
“I am glad you like it, Second Brother. It looks like my gift was not bought in vain.”
[Xiaoyin! Those people apologized! Such a huge spectacle; anyone who did not know better would think they were running for an election, what with PowerPoints, speeches, and even English. Impressive.]
The next evening, Lu Shiyin received a message from Lin Fu. He raised an eyebrow, genuinely unable to imagine how they would go about apologizing.
[Send me a copy of the apology video, please. Thank you.]
Before long, Lin Fu sent him several links.
Some were hosted on short video platforms, while others were on the school’s usual forum.
He tapped on them to open them.
The PowerPoint version looked just like a three-person group assignment, with one person finishing a topic, handing it off to the next, and another doing the summary.
The speech version was staged like the real deal, complete with suits, microphones, and a full script. It even looked like they had memorized their lines without reading off paper, coming across as completely polished, provided one ignored their dyed hair.
There was also a regular apology video that included English, delivered somewhat haltingly.
Finally came the bilingual Chinese-English written apology statement.
Sliding his finger down to the comment section, Lu Shiyin found that it had completely exploded.
“Oh my god! What is going on here?”
“There is a plot twist?”
“Did you guys think it was fun spreading rumors to get netizens and schoolmates to cyberbully someone else? Intentionally inciting public opinion to attack an innocent person when things blew up so big the other day, isn’t that a crime?”
“Holy cow, they were actually spreading rumors? What deep grudge was that? Doesn’t that mean I scolded the wrong person earlier?”
“Shouldn’t they be expelled? Seriously, they have completely disgraced S University.”
“Lu Shiyin is so damn unlucky to run into people like this.”
“Scumbags! Trashy scum! Expel them!”
The comment section was filled with righteous indignation, demanding that the school expel them, alongside a portion of commenters offering apologies for participating in the cyberbullying.
Lu Shiyin read through them one by one. His heart remained utterly undisturbed, devoid of any emotional fluctuation. He left no reply and simply sent a thank-you message back to Lin Fu.
Next up, he needed to properly recover from his injuries, get his body back in shape, and embark on his brand-new life.