Chapter 1922: Hatching Chicks

Xia Qing responded while peeling shrimp, "I know. One is because I didn't verify the feasibility before feeding grass to Flat-Head, which conflicted with the content of the paper, so Third Brother punished me. The second is to let me learn more knowledge and produce more results, to solidify my identity as a graduate student personally mentored by Third Brother."

Xin Yu picked up a piece of vegetable stir-fried by the chef of the 7th Territory, "Actually, there is a deeper reason. At the end of last year, I attended an internal seminar of the 7th Territory hosted by Third Brother..."

Xia Qing reminded, "Internal seminars have confidentiality agreements."

Xin Yu smiled while biting the snow-white ceramic chopsticks she had given to Xia Qing, "I am Xin Yu, an intern at the 7th Territory Research Institute, and you are Zhang Xia, a graduate student personally mentored by the director of the institute. The content of the seminar I was qualified to attend doesn't need to be kept confidential from you at all."

Xia Qing...

Not only did it not need to be kept confidential, but Xin Yu now felt that Zhang San letting her attend that seminar was just to let her tell Xia Qing the content of the seminar.

And Xin Yu suspected that it was because she failed to grasp the big brother's intention and forgot to tell Xia Qing the content of the meeting that the big brother assigned Xia Qing a 3,000-word paper comparison analysis report today to remind her.

However, there was no need for Xin Yu to tell Xia Qing about this speculation. Because after Xia Qing knew, she would definitely pin her on the sofa and tickle her. Xin Yu, who was ticklish, was too weak to escape Xia Qing's magic claws.

Why didn't the big brother tell Xia Qing himself? Because doing so didn't fit the big brother's style...

After Xin Yu finished complaining silently, she began to introduce the information the big brother wanted Xia Qing to know, "At the seminar, Zhang Tang reported on a research progress, the theme of which was why power evolvers don't like to use their brains."

Xia Qing...

Seeing Xia Qing show the classic expression of Dai Gua, Xin Yu smiled with dimples and continued to introduce, "Zhang Tang gave preliminary research conclusions from two aspects. One is the social and cultural level: the vast majority of power evolvers are at the execution level, undertaking the most basic heavy-lifting tasks, and can complete their work without deep thinking; the second is the physiological level: power evolution is accompanied by changes in hormone levels in the body, making power evolvers more inclined to solve problems through direct physical confrontation rather than roundabout thinking."

Xia Qing responded, "Part of Zhang Tang's research data was contributed by me. He once asked me for an in-depth interview and also asked me to fill out a questionnaire with dozens of questions."

Xin Yu smiled with dimples again, "Zhang Tang mentioned that he used a total of four research methods, and the survey method was one of them. The sample size he surveyed was 132 people, of which the in-depth interview sample size was 33 people. All power evolvers in the territory of the Northern 1st District, including you, were samples for Zhang Tang's offline in-depth interviews. Third Brother letting you write papers is hoping you will use your brain more."

Writing papers, whether it's organizing information, analyzing problems, or constructing arguments, requires deep thinking. Zhang San letting Xia Qing write papers is definitely the right medicine for the illness.

Xia Qing understood her idol's "painstaking" intentions, so she did all the research tasks assigned by her idol. However, she truly felt that she quite liked using her brain, and didn't need to write papers to exercise this ability, nor did she need to learn some useless, messy knowledge.

But her idol didn't think so...

What to do?

What else can she do? The idol was chosen by herself, so she just has to endure it!

Xia Qing handed her good friend a bowl of snake soup and asked, "Have the chicks hatched yet?"

Xin Yu looking for her was to watch the chicks hatch together. But after Xia Qing came back for such a long time, Xin Yu hadn't mentioned this, which meant the chicks had already hatched.

Xin Yu responded, opened the laptop she brought, and showed Xia Qing the real-time monitoring, "The first chick hatched an hour and a half ago, look."

In the monitoring screen, the inside of the tree house on the big pine tree in the 5th Zone of the 49th Mountain was illuminated very brightly by an infrared fill light. In the nest sparkling with pearls and jade, the pitch-black raven Gua Gua slightly opened its wings, blocking the newly hatched chick.

When the White-Eye raven standing by the nest stretched its head over, Gua Gua slightly raised its wings.

Because of the camera angle, Xia Qing still couldn't see the chick, only the White-Eye raven lowering its head gently and picking up something from under the wings. When it turned its head and jumped away, Xia Qing saw it holding a piece of broken eggshell with its beak covered in scars.

Xia Qing, who was gnawing on a steamed bun, asked, "Raven chicks don't eat eggshells?"

Xin Yu responded, also staring lovingly at the screen while eating. She had raised birds since she was a child and had seen countless scenes of little birds hatching. But this time was different, because the chick that hatched this time was the child of her companion Gua Gua.

After about half a minute, extremely small and thin chirping sounds of a raven chick came from the screen. This sound was similar to the chirping of a newly born chick.

Xin Yu explained, "The baby is begging for food."

Survival is the instinct of animals. Newly hatched chicks don't have the ability to find food and can only beg for food from their parent birds, trying hard to survive.

After the little fellow chirped twice, Gua Gua retracted its left wing, and Xia Qing and Xin Yu saw the little fellow hidden under the wing.

This chick was only the size of a human thumb, and a few sparse gray-black downy feathers were stuck to its skin. When the little fellow breathed, Xia Qing could vaguely see the outline of its organs rising and falling with its breath through its thin, transparent skin.

Xia Qing evaluated, "Little ravens are much more fragile than newly hatched chicks."

Xin Yu explained, "Chicks belong to precocial birds, which are fluffy when they hatch and can run and forage; raven chicks belong to altricial birds, which are bald when they hatch, have no foraging or warmth-keeping ability, and need to rely on parent birds to keep them warm and feed them."

Xia Qing responded, "Swallows are also altricial birds."

"Yes, the swallows in your territory will be back soon. Will you help them take back their nest?"

Xia Qing shook her head, "No, if they can't take it back, they'll change places to build a nest."

The two chatted while eating. The White-Eye raven in the tree house blocked the camera again, lowering its head to touch the chick's beak gently with its beak.

After the chick opened its mouth, the White-Eye raven fed a small ball of semi-digested paste-like food regurgitated from its throat accurately into the chick's mouth.

Xia Qing and Xin Yu couldn't see this scene, but the chick stopped chirping, which meant it had eaten, so the two continued to eat.

Dai Gua, squatting in the tree nest, had a dull big face, staring at the bird in the screen. Er Gua, who had finished eating, continued to play with Dai Gua's mobile phone, pointing its little claws on the screen.

Not long after, the White-Eye raven fed its chick, jumped in front of its partner, and touched its beak.

Gua Gua raised its head and opened its mouth, eating the food fed by the White-Eye raven.

After feeding its partner, the two birds were intimate for a while, and the White-Eye raven jumped to the door of the tree house, pushed the door open with its beak, and flew out to continue foraging.

Xin Yu evaluated with satisfaction, "During the breeding season, the female bird stays in the nest to incubate eggs, and the male bird goes out to forage, then brings food back to feed the female bird. After the chicks are born, the male bird can feed the food to the female bird protecting the chicks, and then the female bird feeds the chicks, or it can directly feed the female bird and the chicks. The White-Eye raven feeds directly, which shows it is very diligent..."

While the two were chatting, Gua Gua, lying in the bird's nest, lowered its head and picked out a piece of eggshell larger than a human fingernail from under its body with its pitch-black beak.

Xia Qing was pleasantly surprised, "Another little bird hatched?" ===== CHAPTER 1923 =====