“The ocean’s vastness knows no bounds, yet the mulberry woods hold their branches true.”
“My scales span less than an inch, my feathers no more than a foot…”
The sounds of early morning recitation buzzed like a swarm of mosquitoes.
“I shall leave the ocean’s depths, to cleanse my scales in the cool, clear pool. I shall forsake the mulberry woods, to preen my feathers amid the misty boughs…”
Qiu Lu read on steadily when someone poked him in the back.
A friend tossed a small note his way.
“Heading out at noon to pick up some things for the teacher. —Ji Yuxiao”
Qiu Lu’s left hand still steadied his book as he instinctively glanced sideways.
Ji Yuxiao watched him from afar, and Qiu Lu gave a nod.
During lunch break, Ji Yuxiao grabbed the note and headed out with Qiu Lu first to the stationery shop, where they bought a batch of prizes for the class meeting—rewards for the monthly exam.
Once they’d finished shopping, though, he led them southwest.
“Rain’s coming soon,” Qiu Lu said. “Is it far?”
Ji Yuxiao glanced at the gray-blue sky.
“Not till tonight at the earliest, or maybe tomorrow,” he replied. “Come on, it’s just a few hundred meters.”
From school to the Staff Residential Complex where they lived, it was about two streets away.
But if they took just one street and veered south, they’d soon reach an unassuming little park.
“White Water Marsh Park…” Trailing behind Ji Yuxiao, Qiu Lu hadn’t even spotted the marsh yet when the damp scent hit him.
“Perfect spot for a stroll, but hardly anyone comes here.”
The entrance was lined with pomegranate and osmanthus trees, though the season had passed, leaving only scattered, withered branches.
Deeper in, clusters of camellias blazed like bonfires amid the deep green expanse of the marsh, which stretched endlessly. Fishing rods occasionally dotted the surface like sparrows pecking at water, sending ripples outward. Little fish, dozing among the weeds, would dart away in an instant when startled.
Qiu Lu took in the surroundings and could guess why the park looked so rundown and neglected.
The whole marsh was a natural wetland, with government signs along the shore declaring the fishing ban and strict prohibitions against water pollution.
Commercial development was minimal; the vast park had just one small shop, its shelves stocked but long since shuttered, everything coated in dust.
Deep into autumn now, the reeds and cattails along the water’s edge lay half-broken, half-bowed, faded to dull yellowish patches.
Maples rose from the flat ground, weaving a loose green wall some twenty meters high.
Ji Yuxiao said casually, “I come here alone sometimes, just to hang out for a bit.”
Qiu Lu sat with him on a low wall, the damp, chilly long wind blowing as he asked, “What do you come here for?”
Ji Yuxiao was already tilting his head back to gaze at the towering canopy overhead.
“Watching birds, napping—whatever. No one bothers you.”
The boy tilted his head back too, and for a moment, it felt like seeing through a bird’s eyes.
“Wonder if anything could fly up that high. The view from up there must be amazing.”
Ji Yuxiao pointed it out to him.
“Huh?” Qiu Lu finally noticed the nests high in the forks of the branches. “Birds actually build homes way up there?”
They lingered a while before heading back to school.
Qiu Lu didn’t think much of it. That afternoon in class, he occasionally glanced at the overcast sky.
Maybe because he was still recovering from that illness, he’d been so sleepy lately.
Even studying at home, his parents would pop in every half hour or so. Even if he couldn’t focus, he had to tough it out.
The less sleep he got, the more his bones and joints ached with a fine, nagging pain. Those weird pricks, though, had suddenly vanished.
On the walk home from school, he remembered that birthday gift and half-jokingly told Ji Yuxiao, “Man, I really want some little fish right now.”
“The kind fried golden and crispy—even the bones would crunch nicely.”
Halfway through, Qiu Lu stifled a yawn with his hand. “Can’t stay up anymore. Soon as I get home, I’m crashing for a bit. Any worksheets can wait till tomorrow.”
Ji Yuxiao’s expression grew complicated.
He seemed to think it over for a long time, stopping at a distance, unwilling to go farther.
“Qiu Lu,” Ji Yuxiao said, using his full name for once, “come sleep at my place. Then head home after.”
“I’ll call and explain—say I’m tutoring you, and I’ll grab some old notes to send back with you.”
Qiu Lu laughed. “It’s just a nap. They won’t beat me for it. Don’t worry, bro.”
He started to leave, but Ji Yuxiao grabbed his wrist. The other boy took a deep breath, unable to explain further.
“I’m not reassured.”
They were just about to talk when a door opened upstairs.
Qiu Junwei called out from behind the screen door, “Little Lu, I saw you come into the building earlier. What’re you waiting for?”
“Oh—had a homework question I wasn’t sure about. Sorted it now!”
Qiu Lu gave Ji Yuxiao’s shoulder a light pat. “See you tomorrow!”
Ji Yuxiao watched him go, holding his breath as he thought, Please not today.
Outside the residential building, muffled thunder already rumbled.
When Qiu Lu got home, he barely said a word. He gave a brief explanation that he wasn’t feeling well and needed to sleep, then rolled himself up in the blanket and drifted off.
A downpour was brewing. The air hung heavy with an uneven, clammy heat.
In his fading awareness, he felt the sticky discomfort and kept trying to rouse himself for a shower, but he always sank back into the bedding, his consciousness deepening into sleep.
Cui Mengmei was away on a business trip, leaving only Qiu Junwei at home.
Worried that his son had a fever again, he pushed open the bedroom door. The windows were tightly shut, and Qiu Lu was sleeping soundly—no response even when he called his name.
Qiu Junwei immediately touched his forehead with the back of his hand. Afraid it wasn’t accurate enough, he hurried to the next room to rummage for the medical kit.
“Lulu, is something hurting? If it’s bad, Dad will borrow Uncle Qiu’s car, and we’ll head to the hospital.”
Qiu Junwei hurried back into his son’s room with the thermometer, only to see that the blanket, which had been mounded up moments before, had collapsed flat. His son was nowhere in sight.
He froze in place. Suddenly, lightning cracked across the sky, turning the world outside the window as bright as day.
Rumbling thunder exploded in rapid succession, nearly drowning out the faint, erratic chirps coming from beneath the covers.
Qiu Junwei was shaking all over, but he still shuffled forward, his left hand clenched around the thermometer.
“Qiu Lu? Lulu?”
“You’re scaring Dad—where are you?”
He yanked back the blanket. A Little Egret with disheveled back feathers let out a shrill cry and flailed in panic, trying to take flight.
The mercury thermometer slipped from his grasp and shattered on the floor.
Qiu Junwei pressed his back flat against the side of the wardrobe, straining to raise his voice.
“Lulu, where did you hide this bird?”
“Are you in the bathroom? Come out—Dad’s not mad at you.”
The egret could barely use its wings yet and had no control over its overly long legs. It thrashed desperately across the bedsheet.
Qiu Junwei glanced once more at the tightly closed window. As if jolted awake from a nightmare, he bolted into the living room.
“Qiu Lu! Qiu Lu! Son, where are you!”
He flung open his own bedroom door, checked the bathroom, rifled through every cabinet in the house, and even inspected the entryway to see if any keys were missing.
In his utter panic, a knock sounded at the door.
“Uncle, it’s me,” Ji Yuxiao called. “I mixed up Little Lu’s homework and came to swap it with him.”
Qiu Junwei felt like he was trapped in some nameless horror flick. He jerked backward at first, then rushed forward to wrench the door open for Ji Yuxiao.
“Qiu Lu’s gone missing,” he said, his voice cracking with desperation. “Did he go looking for you to play? It’s pouring outside—where could he even go?”
Ji Yuxiao had already suspected as much, but he kept his expression neutral. “Uncle, I haven’t seen him. Didn’t he say he was tired and rushed home to sleep?”
“Right, he was sleeping. He was right there sleeping.” Qiu Junwei floundered, at a loss for words. He desperately hoped it was all a fatigue-induced hallucination—that if his son’s classmate just took a quick look and saw nothing amiss, he could laugh it off with an apology. “Maybe he’s still in the bedroom. Maybe I didn’t check properly?”
Ji Yuxiao said nothing more and strode quickly toward the bedroom.
He spotted it immediately: the scrawny egret, its feathers so sparse they barely covered its body.
Qiu Junwei caught Ji Yuxiao’s reaction, then looked back at the bird. He erupted in a hysterical roar.
“Don’t talk nonsense!!”
“Don’t you dare say a word of nonsense!!”
“I don’t know where this bird came from! It’s so late, raining cats and dogs outside—Qiu Lu’s old enough to know better. What the hell has he been up to all day!”
Ji Yuxiao took a deep breath, forcing himself to stay calm.
“You’re saying Lulu was just here, sleeping?”
Qiu Junwei could no longer hold it together.
Just seconds ago, he’d felt his son’s feverish forehead while he lay in a stupor. In the mere moment it took to fetch a thermometer, his son had vanished—and now there was this freakish bird in the house. A bird? With so few feathers, what made it any different from a monster?!
“What if he transmigrated or something,” Qiu Junwei said suddenly, his voice eerily calm. “Right when I came in to check on him, the thunder struck.”
Ji Yuxiao’s gut twisted with dread. The next instant, he saw Qiu Junwei snatch an empty hanger from the wardrobe and swing it viciously at the bird.
“You damn monster, I, your fa—”
Ji Yuxiao lunged forward on pure instinct. The thin fabric of his shirt tore open, blood welling along the welts.
Ignoring the searing pain, he bellowed, “What the hell are you doing?!”
“None of your damn business!!” Qiu Junwei snarled. “I’m killing a bird, and you wanna interfere? This is my house!!”
With that, he lunged wildly to continue the assault. Ji Yuxiao scooped up the frail bird and tried to retreat, but Qiu Junwei seized him and yanked him back—as if bent on destroying the very evidence of his failure to protect his son.
“You know this bird?! Did you and Qiu Lu secretly raise it?”
“Where’s Qiu Lu? Tell me, where is Qiu Lu?!”
Ji Yuxiao snapped, “Open your eyes and look clearly—this is Qiu Lu!”
Qiu Junwei had half-expected those words, but he didn’t believe a single one of them. He was dead set on teaching his too-playful son a harsh lesson.
It was his senior year of high school, and here he was still keeping birds, hiding wild creatures in the house. And on a day like this, with rain pouring down, who knew where the boy had run off to go wild!
Damn it all—they were all sick of living. Not one of them gave him a moment’s peace!
Ji Yuxiao tried to take the bird home, but Qiu Junwei simply raised his arm high once more, determined to beat the wild thing to death right in front of him.
The wounds on the young man’s back were still oozing blood. Thunder rumbled outside as he frantically shoved the window open.
It was too late. He couldn’t get it out in time—Qiu Junwei would kill the fledgling in just a couple of blows.
His right arm was gripped tight in Qiu Junwei’s fist. With his left hand, he forced the window wider and lifted the tiny egret to his lips.
“Go to my house, you understand?” Ji Yuxiao pleaded desperately, trying to save him. “Qiu Lu, wake up! Go to my house—it’s right downstairs!”
Thunder crashed again. Qiu Junwei couldn’t make out Ji Yuxiao’s words, only saw his lips moving.
The egret in his grasp seemed to jolt awake from the brink of death. It flung its wings open with every ounce of strength, soaring off like a kite released into the wind, defying the raging storm.
Ji Yuxiao’s eyes flew wide. He shoved Qiu Junwei aside and bolted back to his own home as fast as he could.
Ji Jun was waiting at the door. When he saw Ji Yuxiao sprint straight to his room, worry creased his face. “How’d it go? Is Little Lu okay?”
There was no time to explain.
He had to save him.
Seconds later, an egret with blood staining its back let out a piercing cry and hurled itself into the furious rainy night.
