Little Duckling - Chapter 5

Upon hearing the word “acquaintance,” Yao Wenqian let out a long, relieved sigh. Her heart, which had been pounding with anxiety for nearly two hours, finally settled.

“That’s wonderful! Since they’re acquaintances, things will be much easier to handle.”

“If they know her, they definitely won’t give us trouble!”

“Cousin, thank goodness you’re here! I wouldn’t have known what to do without you!”

Her cousin, overjoyed, kept muttering to herself.

Yan Lu’s fingers, poised to call Jian Xin’s family, froze above the cracked phone screen. After a long moment of contemplation, she turned off the phone.

“Cousin?” Yao Wenqian asked, puzzled.

“Her parents have heart problems. It’s almost five o’clock—we shouldn’t shock them. Since the doctor said she’s not in critical condition and we can afford to keep her hospitalized for now, let’s wait until she wakes up and tell them herself,” Yan Lu said, placing the phone back on the bedside table. She turned and patted Yao Wenqian’s shoulder. “Staying here won’t wake her up. Go home and rest. We can deal with everything else tomorrow.”

“Okay…” Yao Wenqian replied, letting Yan Lu coax and nudge her out of the hospital room.

In the elevator downstairs, Yao Wenqian couldn’t resist asking, “Cousin, you even know his phone’s lock screen password. You must be really close, right? What about the compensation negotiations later?”

Yan Lu: “We’re not close at all.”

Yao Wenqian: “Huh?”

Yan Lu: “Our last meeting ended in a fight.”

Yao Wenqian: “Huh?!”

Yan Lu: “A fight so bad we swore we’d never speak to each other again.”

Yao Wenqian: “Huh?!”

Confusion, shock, and worry flickered across the younger cousin’s face once more.

After that, Yan Lu left.

Before leaving, she simply said, “Call me if anything comes up.”

Yao Wenqian nodded, watching her cousin drive away.

She was still mulling over Yan Lu’s words:

We’re not close at all. Our last meeting ended in a fight. We swore we’d never speak to each other again.

Damn it. It looks like the compensation negotiations are going to be a nightmare…

Yan Lu’s drive home from the hospital took about forty minutes.

At 5:30 a.m., the pitch-black summer night gradually began to lighten, and soon the distant layered clouds were ablaze with orange-red hues.

Even Yan Lu, who regularly stayed up late writing and had a notoriously chaotic sleep schedule, found it difficult to resist the overwhelming drowsiness at this hour.

Today is truly not a good day, she thought.

Not only was she suffering from severe writer’s block, but the duck was still quacking incessantly in her apartment.

Her cousin had hit someone with her car, and to make matters worse, the victim turned out to be Yan Lu’s ex-boyfriend.

Nothing was going right, and no one was making things easy.

All Yan Lu wanted now was to get home, take a refreshing cold shower, bask in the air conditioning, snuggle under her blanket, and sleep until late afternoon.

But the moment she opened the door, her mind felt like it had exploded.

On the shoe cabinet to her right, Cauliflower stood with his wings puffed out, quacking frantically.

Beneath the cabinet, the energetic Xin Xin wagged her tail and leaped up and down, clearly desperate to catch the duck. But her short legs proved too much of a hindrance, leaving her frustrated and helpless, pacing anxiously below.

The various ornaments that had once adorned the shoe cabinet were now scattered haphazardly across the floor.

If it were just the entryway in disarray, that would have been manageable. But the entire living room was a chaotic mess!

Two small flowerpots lay overturned, their plants half-dead and half-alive, with damp soil scattered everywhere by the two little culprits.

And then there was the duck poop.

The sofa, coffee table, and TV cabinet had all suffered the same fate, creating a headache-inducing mess.

Heaven only knew what those two little terrors had been up to while she was out!

Yan Lu closed the door, took a deep breath, and tried to calm her nerves.

But her nerves refused to settle, and a throbbing pain began to pound at her temples.

Just as she was debating whether to lose her temper, the ruffled duck beside her suddenly quacked at her.

Perhaps it was her imagination, but the quack sounded weak, helpless, and utterly aggrieved.

The next moment, tears began streaming down the duck’s face.

Yan Lu rarely saw her duck cry, and her numb heart instantly softened.

“What’s wrong, Cauliflower?” she asked, scooping the duck into her arms. “Why did you fight with Xin Xin?”

If Yan Lu hadn’t asked, the little duck might have kept its grievances bottled up. But the question unleashed a torrent of pent-up frustration. Flapping its tiny wings, the duck glared at the dog on the floor and began to squawk and quack in protest.

To be fair, Jian Xin’s mind was completely blank.

Whether from exhaustion or terror, her brain simply couldn’t process things properly anymore.

Yan Lu’s question only deepened her confusion.

From her perspective, she had merely been trying to figure out how to escape this dream. She had no idea why she had suddenly clashed with “Xin Xin.”

All she knew was that this mad dog had been relentlessly chasing her!

The grandfather clock could testify: she had been playing a desperate game of “she runs, it chases, she can’t escape” with this lunatic canine for over half an hour!

By the time Yan Lu returned, Jian Xin was already on the verge of collapse from exhaustion!

Thankfully, even in her terror-induced stupor, she belatedly remembered that Corgis have short legs and can’t jump very high.

Otherwise, she would have died from being chased by a dog before she ever had the chance to die from overwork!

“Quack-ooh-quack-ah—”

You have no idea! It almost chased me to death!

“Gugga, gaa gaa gaa!”

Yan Lu, if you’re not going to take care of a dog, why even have one?

“Gaa—”

If you have a dog, why get a duck?!

The aggrieved duck continued to quack until it suddenly fell silent.

After two seconds of silence, Jian Xin shook her head, hunched her neck, and rested her head on her white chest.

I’m exhausted. I need to collapse for a bit. I’ll complain later. Anyway, Yan Lu wouldn’t understand a word I say.

Seeing the duck had stopped quacking, Yan Lu sighed in relief and looked down at the Corgi on the floor.

The little dog had flopped down at some point, its ears drooping, avoiding her gaze. It seemed to have finally realized the “good deed” it had done but was unwilling to face the consequences, attempting to evade punishment by playing pitiful.

“Xin Xin, look at the state of the house!”

“Woof~” Xin Xin stretched her front legs forward, rested her head on the ground, and pressed her ears flat against her skull.

“I was only gone for a short time. You’re such a handful.”

Xin Xin’s ears twitched. She suddenly stood up, walked over to a pile of duck droppings, and flopped down again.

It extended a small paw and gently nudged the pale yellow, dried-up duck droppings.

Its glossy black eyes were filled with grievance, and it didn’t even dare to look up at its owner. Yet its posture clearly conveyed: It wasn’t all this little dog’s fault!

Jian Xin watched this scene, feeling both amused and exasperated.

When its owner wasn’t around, this little dog dared to act like a tyrant in front of the ducks.

But the moment its owner returned, it instantly became meek and vulnerable.

Well, being a duck has certainly broadened my horizons, Jian Xin thought. Even dogs have two faces these days!

Yan Lu sighed. “Fine, today’s been a disaster. I don’t have the energy to punish you both—but this is the last time.”

Xin Xin: “Woof…”

The little dog tilted its head back and wagged its tail at its owner.

Jian Xin: “Quack!”

You bad dog, keep pretending!

After this exchange of “friendly” communication, the duck and dog finally stopped squabbling.

Yan Lu changed into her slippers and carried the duck around the house.

As she’d suspected, the disaster zone extended far beyond the living room. Cleaning everything up tonight was impossible.

After a long silence, Jian Xin saw Yan Lu sit on the bed and sigh. She lowered her head, opened her phone, and used an unfamiliar app to book a hourly worker for 2 PM the next day.

“Quack—”

I’m so sorry for making such a mess of your place.

Yan Lu didn’t understand the duck’s apology. She only noticed that after being quiet for a while, the duck suddenly quacked, as if trying to remind her of something.

After thinking it over, she opened her phone again and searched for Call Duck feed on Taobao.

“Which kind do you want?” She gently pinched the duck’s white belly and lowered the phone slightly, stopping it in front of the duck. “Why don’t you choose yourself? I don’t want to buy something new that you won’t like.”

How thoughtful of her to let me choose!

Then I’ll pick one without bugs.

Jian Xin stretched her neck, ready to carefully examine the options, but Yan Lu snatched the phone away.

“Never mind, why am I even asking you? You wouldn’t understand anyway,” Yan Lu muttered, selecting high-quality duck feed herself.

Jian Xin: “……”

Just saying, is there any chance I actually understand?

“Gah—gah gah gah—”

No bugs! No bugs! No bugs!

The little duck flapped its wings in a panic, stretching its neck to try and reach Yan Lu’s phone with its beak.

It missed the phone, but Yan Lu pressed down on its head. “Stop fussing. I’ll choose the right one for you.”

Oh well, a duck’s joys and sorrows are destined to remain a mystery to humans.

Jian Xin drooped her head against her chest again, her eyes glazed over as she drifted into a daze.

Soon, Yan Lu finished ordering the new duck feed, put down her phone, and prepared to shower.

To prevent another squabble between the duck and the dog, she carried Jian Xin into the study, opened a cage tucked in the corner, and stuffed her inside.

Jian Xin belatedly snapped out of her daze. As soon as she turned around, the cage door clanged shut and locked.

“Gah?!” Why am I locked up?

The little duck pecked at the cage lock, cocked her head, tilted her beak upward, and stared at Yan Lu with her beady eyes, a look of utter confusion.

Yan Lu didn’t respond to Xin Xin’s confusion. She simply turned and walked into the bedroom, returning moments later with a nightgown in hand before heading into the bathroom.

The sound of the shower trickled like rain outside.

Jian Xin huddled in her rectangular white cage, lost in deep thought.

The six o’clock chime rang, as if striking the crown of her head, but it failed to transport her back to her original world.

Soon after, the shower stopped, and Yan Lu emerged with her long hair still damp.

She turned off the living room lights, and the hum of a hairdryer drifted from the bedroom.

Xin Xin stuck out her tongue and waddled over to the duck cage, collapsing beside it. Perhaps she had exhausted her energy, for she soon drifted into a deep sleep.

When the hairdryer fell silent, the world grew utterly still.

Yet Jian Xin found herself wide awake.

Through the bars of her cage, she watched the sun rise outside the window, finally abandoning her attempts to deceive herself.

Perhaps it was time to admit defeat. This was likely no dream.

Though such a conclusion defied scientific explanation, the world was full of mysteries beyond the reach of science.

Whether she wanted to admit it or not, she had undeniably become a duck—a small, pitiful, and helpless duck being kept as a pet by her ex-boyfriend, along with his dog.

On the bright side, her own body wasn’t completely dead yet. If she were rushed to the hospital in time, her disembodied soul might still have a chance to wander back.

On the downside, if she had truly died in a car accident, she might never escape this place for the rest of her life.

Regardless of the specific circumstances, she needed to face the situation proactively first, then slowly devise a plan.

As for the Corgi lying outside the cage, from a certain perspective, it could be considered her temporary “family.”

Since she was here, she might as well make the best of it. An adult couldn’t possibly die of fright from a pet dog just because she’d turned into a duck. She felt it was necessary to use this sleepless night to seriously consider how to establish a good roommate relationship with this… dog named Xin Xin.

Jian Xin was lost in thought when the sun quietly began to stream through the window.

The air conditioning was cool, the sunlight warm, and she drifted off to sleep without realizing it.

Jian Xin’s sleep was far from restful.

Whether it was the Corgi’s fault or not, she felt pain everywhere, as if her body had been filled with lead, heavy and deeply uncomfortable.

In her hazy state, she thought she heard a familiar alarm.

The alarm grew clearer, its incessant ringing grating on her nerves.

Being a workhorse and having to wake up early is one thing, but why does being a Duck mean I have to wake up early too?!

Jian Xin frowned, instinctively reaching out to silence the alarm. But the moment she tried to move, she let out a sharp cry of pain.

Aaaaaah! It hurts so much!

Forcing her eyes open through the agony, Jian Xin froze in shock.

She was lying in a hospital bed, the air conditioning set to a comfortable temperature. Her hands and feet were wrapped in bandages like rice dumplings.

On the bedside table, her phone’s screen was cracked, yet the alarm continued to blare relentlessly.

She blinked dazedly at the pristine white ceiling, her mind growing more confused with each passing moment.

Was becoming a Duck all just a dream?