The white parrot was terrified into silence, staring at Sang Wan with resentful eyes before drooping its head, daring not to make a move.
Under the watchful eyes of everyone, Sang Wan grabbed the white parrot with both hands and nonchalantly stuffed it into a maid’s hands, "Go back and report. Take it!"
The maids thanked her cheerfully and ran off. Everyone widened their eyes, looking at Sang Wan and her servant as if they were looking at a strange creature.
"Big sister, big sister! You’re amazing! How did you do it?" Shi Rui exclaimed in admiration, with a gleam in her eyes.
Sang Wan leaned down and gently pinched her rosy cheek, smiling, "Because, your sister-in-law also once had a white parrot!"
"Oh!" Shi Rui suddenly realized, then said, "No wonder Xiao Bai listened to you and Liu Ya!"
Sang Wan smiled silently and motioned with her lips, "Your big kite has fallen again!"
Shi Rui slapped her head and pouted, complaining that the maids weren’t watching it properly, and turned around to fly her kite again.
The maid responsible for pulling the kite reel hurriedly apologized with a smile, as she had been too busy watching the excitement to care about the kite.
Sang Wan seemed a bit restless, and she was occasionally distracted while talking with Second Grandma Shi. Second Grandma Shi assumed she was tired and after sitting for a little while longer, she smilingly took her leave. Seeing Second Grandma Shi leave, Shi Lian also excused herself. Thus, everyone else naturally dispersed.
Before leaving, Sang Wan did not notice that Gu Fangzi’s gaze flashed with profound meaning, and the corners of her mouth curved strangely.
In the evening, when Shi Fengju returned, he also jokingly asked Sang Wan, "Hey, how did you subdue that white parrot?"
Sang Wan knew she could fool the maids with her talk during the day, but it wouldn’t deceive Shi Fengju. Firstly, a white parrot was quite valuable and rare, and it was not something that could be bought even with money, and Sang Wan’s natal family’s financial situation would not allow her to keep one; secondly, with Sang Wan’s temperament, even reading and writing at her natal family she had to consider her sister-in-law’s feelings, let alone keeping such a precious and delicate white parrot.
Sang Wan was feeling uneasy about this, and hearing his question, she glared at Shi Fengju without good humor and said coldly, "How would I know? I just scared it is all!"
Shi Fengju became even more curious and leaned closer to her side, laughing, "How strange, how did you scare it?"
Sang Wan turned her head to glower at Shi Fengju and indifferently said, "I told it, if it doesn’t behave, I’ll pluck all its feathers!"
Shi Fengju was startled and then collapsed onto the couch in laughter. Xingzhi and the others were frightened and quickly came in behind the curtains, but Shi Fengju waved them away, and continued to laugh intermittently, "So that’s it! I say, you really have a way! No wonder my uncle couldn’t handle it! My uncle couldn’t bear to speak such words! Ha ha, hahaha!"
Glancing at Sang Wan’s calm and gentle face, imagining her gentle demeanor and the way she must have spoken those words, Shi Fengju laughed even harder, barely controlling himself. He sighed and shook his head, earnestly saying, "Strange! It actually understands! Hmm, no wonder they say it’s smarter than humans, it’s really true!"
Having said this, he continued laughing heartily.
Shi Fengju laughed until his stomach hurt and only when he lifted his gaze did he realize that Sang Wan’s expression was off, her brows slightly furrowed, her lips pursed lightly, and her eyes dim as if melancholic.
"What’s wrong?" Shi Fengju’s heart sank suddenly, and he quickly straightened up, asking with concern.
"It’s nothing!" Sang Wan turned her head away and swiftly dabbed her eyes with a handkerchief.
"Miss Wan, what happened?" Shi Fengju couldn’t help but grasp her arm, "Miss Wan?"
"Nothing happened!" Sang Wan managed a smile and looking up said, "Really, it’s nothing. I just suddenly thought of something else, useless to tell you! Forget it, it’s nothing, really nothing."
Seeing that she refused to elaborate, Shi Fengju let go of her and laughed, "It’s good if it’s nothing. If there’s anything, just tell me, and I’ll handle it."
Upon hearing him say "I’ll handle it" rather than "I’ll make decisions with you," Sang Wan subconsciously felt some disappointment but then thought, compared to her past life, him saying this was already an impossible feat! So she put away her disappointment and nodded with a smile, "Mhm."
After a moment of thought, Shi Fengju then smiled again and said, "Do you like white parrots? How about I buy one for you?"
Sang Wan was instantly exasperated and gave him a fierce glare, but both couldn’t help breaking into laughter.
A couple of days later, Second Grandma Shi suddenly sent someone to invite her to visit Xiu Garden. Sang Wan couldn’t decline, so she took Hong Ye with her.