Chapter 33: Stealing Feed

"Zhang Yuan, I suspect the Beijing Zoo is abusing its animals!"

Why would Liu Qianqian say that?

Following the direction of her finger, Zhang Yuan was instantly stunned.

Inside the elephant enclosure, several massive Asian elephants were strolling by the river, but strangely, all of them looked emaciated and weak on their feet.

On two of the elephants, their ribs were clearly visible through their sides; they were incredibly thin.

"This..."

Zhang Yuan thought to himself that as the capital city, with abundant funds and numerous tourists, they shouldn't be letting the animals starve.

Moreover, although he hadn't looked closely while walking here, the other animals hadn't shown this "low body fat" state; on the contrary, they all looked plump and were lazily basking in the sun.

However, the appearance of a person soon answered all their questions.

A zookeeper was walking out from the elephant's evening dormitory, carrying half a bucket of sugarcane in one hand and a half-piece of sugarcane in the other, munching as he went.

The zookeeper walked with a heavy, staggering gait, his bloated body swaying with every step. His belly was so large it seemed to hang down toward his feet!

Zhang Yuan froze. As soon as this man, who looked to weigh at least 300 pounds, appeared, Zhang Yuan recognized him.

"Isn't that Sun Yue!"

He remembered meeting "Xiao Yueyue" in a restaurant a while ago. In the future, this big man would be Xiao Yue's golden partner.

Oh, right, at this time, he indeed should be at the Beijing Zoo. It made sense!

Jiang Kun had a partner named Li Wenhua, and Li Wenhua was actually the biological maternal uncle of Sun Yue's mother.

Teacher Guo always said Sun Yue was Li Wenhua's grandson, but that wasn't quite accurate.

The job of feeding the elephants at the Beijing Zoo was something the old man had asked Jiang Kun to help introduce. To be honest, the job Teacher Jiang introduced was quite mediocre—it could only be considered a "not-so-tasty" iron rice bowl.

They say crosstalk is scripted, but looking at the half-eaten piece of sugarcane in Sun Yue's hand, Zhang Yuan felt that "stealing feed" might actually be true!

"Look at that fat guy!" Liu Qianqian also spotted Sun Yue, covering her mouth and laughing uncontrollably.

Zhang Yuan didn't have time to mind her; he stepped forward a few paces to greet Sun Yue.

As a zookeeper, the animals were what he knew best. Using the elephants as an entry point, Zhang Yuan gradually became acquainted with this "stranger."

"Don't let their animal status fool you; elephants are very smart, equivalent to the intelligence of a 10-year-old child," Sun Yue said. Since his daily work involved only colleagues, he was happy to share when an occasional talkative young man was willing to chat.

"A few nights ago, this elephant even used its trunk to unlock the barn door and snuck in to eat several bags of feed," Sun Yue said, pointing to one of the elephants.

The elephant with visible ribs gave him a wronged look, its eyes seemingly saying...

"Don't you have any clue why I'd steal feed in the middle of the night?"

The two chatted for over half an hour. Seeing that Zhang Yuan and the zookeeper had become well-acquainted, Liu Qianqian approached them with her hands behind her back, swaying slightly.

"Hey, big fat brother."

Sun Yue turned around indignantly; he couldn't stand the word "fat."

But the moment he saw that the speaker was a beautiful girl who looked like a celestial fairy, his expression changed instantly, and his eyes crinkled into slits with joy.

"Hello, hello! What can I do for you?"

"Can I..."

Sun Yue thought to himself, *This little girl doesn't want to ride an elephant, does she?* Well, it wasn't impossible, since she was getting along so well with his companion.

But Qianqian pointed at his feed bucket: "Can I eat a piece of sugarcane?"

Zhang Yuan: "..."

Beside them, the elephant cast a resentful look. Here comes another one to steal its food!

Before long, Zhang Yuan's group left the elephant enclosure, each person holding a piece of sugarcane.

Before leaving, Zhang Yuan took Sun Yue's phone number under the pretext of liking animals and wanting to ask for advice.

It served as a backup plan; he could contact him if needed.

Passing through the Lion and Tiger Mountain, the Deer Park, the Hippo Pavilion, and the Monkey Mountain, Liu Qianqian's mood grew increasingly high, clearly having cast most of her recent unhappiness behind her.

Upon reaching the Bird Aviary, Liu Qianqian wandered around the various exotic birds, and Shu Chang could barely keep up with her pace.

Tired from walking, the group sat on a bench by the river to rest.

From time to time, people approached Chen Kun and Dong Jie to take photos.

"Wow, it's Chen Kun!"

"Dong Jie, I've read your *White Collar Diary*!"

Zhang Yuan, meanwhile, could only serve as a background character or the guy helping to take photos.

"Brother Yuan, it won't be long before you'll have many fans too," Shu Chang said, handing him a bottle of water.

Shu Chang was so sweet, knowing how to comfort people... However, Zhang Yuan didn't mind, because he knew the timing just wasn't right yet.

"Qianqian, you should drink some water too... You were so happy just now, why are you unhappy again?" Shu Chang also handed a bottle to Liu Qianqian, only to find her expression had dimmed significantly.

"Ugh, it's so annoying. My mom has been controlling me more and more lately. I'm under so much pressure. I want to stay here and play forever; I don't want to go back to the film crew," Qianqian said, resting her chin on her hand, looking utterly helpless.

Then, she went on a long rant about school, acting, and dancing—every single aspect of her life was meticulously arranged by her mother, leaving her no room to breathe or rest.

After a long while, once she had finished, Zhang Yuan spoke very calmly.

"Qianqian, have you seen *The Legend of the Condor Heroes* and *The Return of the Condor Heroes*?"

Liu Qianqian didn't understand why he was bringing up these two stories, but she nodded. "I've seen the Hong Kong versions. They're pretty good."

*You haven't just seen them; you'll be starring in them in the future...* Zhang Yuan suppressed the words in his heart.

"Do you remember Huang Rong from the films?"

"Of course I do."

"Then do you think the Huang Rong in *Condor Heroes* is better, or the one in *Return of the Condor Heroes*?"

"The one in *Condor Heroes*, of course! She's so clever and cute. The Huang Rong in *Return of the Condor Heroes* is so mean, she's so annoying!" Liu Qianqian's judgment was highly subjective, but it was the same as most people's.

"But why do I feel that the Huang Rong in *Return of the Condor Heroes* is actually better?"

"Ah!" Both Qianqian and Shu Chang looked at him in surprise.

"Actually, in these two stories, Huang Rong has always been Huang Rong. You think she has changed, but it's not her who changed—it's the world."

"In *Condor Heroes*, she is a daughter, a disciple, and Jing-ge's Rong'er. She only thinks about wandering the world and spending the rest of her life together."

"But by the time of *Return of the Condor Heroes*, she is a mother, a master, and the wife of Great Hero Guo. She has elders to care for, children to raise, and she is even pregnant."

"At this stage, just looking after her daughter, her husband, and the citizens of Xiangyang City is enough to exhaust her. How could she still have the youthful spirit of her younger days? It's a miracle she doesn't have constant resentment."

"If you say the Huang Rong in *Return of the Condor Heroes* is unlikable, it's because you are looking at her from Yang Guo's perspective, thinking she is narrow-minded, calculating, and constantly on guard."

"But if you look at it from her perspective, having the son of an enemy by your side—if she were a bit more ruthless, she might have already found a way to make Yang Guo die in an 'accident' to eliminate the future threat!"

"Ultimately, everything she does is simply to maintain family harmony, her children's future, and her husband's dignity."

Liu Qianqian and Shu Chang nodded slightly. Through Zhang Yuan's explanation, they indeed discovered the difference in this character.

The adult world is not that easy; even a female hero faces the same struggles.

"Qianqian, actually, your mother is just like Huang Rong."

Hearing Zhang Yuan's words, Liu Qianqian slowly lifted her head.

"She was once just like you—full of life, youthful, and able to forget her troubles in an instant."

"But she is different now, because you exist. It's like Huang Rong having Guo Fu."

"She has to consider your future, push you forward, and shield you from the malice of society."

"To outsiders, she might seem overbearing at times, but a mother's strength comes from her love. You have to understand her."

Although Zhang Yuan and Liu Xiaoli didn't get along, one had to separate the two. From the perspective of being a parent, Liu Xiaoli's efforts in educating and planning the life of Liu Qianqian far exceeded 99.99% of Chinese parents.

Qianqian rested her chin on her hands and looked at Zhang Yuan. After a few seconds, she flashed a big smile and softly replied, "Mm."

Shu Chang also hadn't expected Zhang Yuan to say this.

She had always believed that Liu Xiaoli held a prejudice against Zhang Yuan and that her attitude toward him was quite mediocre; she thought Zhang Yuan should resent her.

Yet, he was actually able to consider things from the other person's perspective!

"Brother Yuan is so amazing," Shu Chang whispered to herself.

Liu Qianqian's thoughts were the same as Shu Chang's. She had thought Zhang Yuan would join in on badmouthing her mother.

Since she was a child, countless boys had surrounded her; in kindergarten, several children had even fought over the nap spot next to her.

Her mother would often block these boys, much like how she guarded against Zhang Yuan.

Some "clever" boys would say bad things about her mother and try to instill ideas of "freedom," "independence," and "rebellion" in her, attempting to drive a wedge between mother and daughter to "steal" Qianqian away.

But Liu Qianqian was not one of those foolish girls; such tactics only made her dislike them.

However, in all these years, Zhang Yuan was the only peer who had praised her mother—he was the complete opposite of those boys!

【Received thanks from Liu Qianqian: Appearance +8, Mental State +2!】

In truth, her recent bad mood was due to more than just the death of the parrot and the pressure from her mother; there was another reason she hadn't told anyone.

That was that after that night, Liu Xiaoli frequently criticized Zhang Yuan in private, showing extreme dislike for him.

Every time her mother made a negative comment about Zhang Yuan, she felt deeply conflicted, wanting to defend him but not daring to talk back to her mother.

But now she understood.

*Mom isn't wrong; she just wants to protect me.*

Liu Qianqian's face was full of smiles, and she looked at Zhang Yuan with soft eyes. Her toes curled slightly in her sandals as she swayed, feeling more relaxed than ever before.

She felt very relaxed, but Shu Chang did not.

Seeing the way Qianqian looked at Zhang Yuan at that moment, Shu Chang's heart sank inexplicably.

A few days later...

(End of Chapter)