Chapter 5: The Great Peng Spreads Its Wings

“Repaying a favor—?”

Sui Ziming pointed at the long-tailed tit on the table, which was crunching away at sunflower seeds, and shot an incredulous look at his calm and unflappable cousin.

“This is straight-up scamming!”

What did he mean, scamming? The little bird took offense to that!

Shen Jiujiu shoved the half-cracked seed aside with one wing and hopped onto the pixiu figurine at the edge of the table. Planting his tiny claws akimbo atop the pixiu’s head, he unleashed a torrent of chirps at the young man—cheep-cheep-cheep-cheep-cheep-cheep, his tones rising and falling like a tirade.

“Hey, if this isn’t scamming, then what is it?”

Sui Ziming had no idea how, but he inexplicably understood the little bird dumpling’s indignation. Crossing his arms over his chest, he stood before the desk and began bickering with the bird.

A black inkstone chess piece rested between Pei Du’s fingers as he pondered for a moment before placing it on the board. He then picked up a white jade piece and fell into thought once more, completely tuning out the human-bird quarrel happening right under his nose.

“In those storybooks, the foxes and serpents who come to repay favors are all stunning beauties, clever as can be. Even the more ordinary ones have some superhuman strength that humans can’t match.”

“And what about you, little bird dumpling?”

Sui Ziming leaned in slightly, prodding Shen Jiujiu’s fluffy little chest with a fingertip.

The touch was light, almost gentle.

“You can’t talk, your writing’s all crooked, and you can’t even turn into a human—tch! You’re nothing but a freeloading scam of a bird!”

Sui Ziming huffed, though a glint of amusement lurked deep in his eyes as he gazed at the little bird dumpling.

“Oh, and you can’t even fly! You’re just a tiny little ground-waddler~”

“Tweet-tweet-tweet-tweet-tweet-tweet-tweet!”

Shen Jiujiu: “…?”

Was that a taunt?

A straight-up provocation?

Shen Jiujiu opened his beak and let loose a furious barrage of cheep-cheep-cheep-cheep, utterly incensed. But Sui Ziming just dug a finger in his ear, feigning total ignorance of the bird’s insults with that punchable look on his face.

Shen Jiujiu was so mad that the little tuft of feathers on his forehead stood straight up.

He chased his own tail feathers in spiraling laps across the desk for five or six rounds, then built up speed for a running dive—straight off the table.

Sui Ziming jumped in alarm and lunged to catch him, only to notice a stack of soft cushions that had appeared at the desk’s edge at some point. The little bird dumpling plunged right into them unharmed, bounced back up, twisted midair, and landed gracefully.

Then, with murderous intent, he charged to Pei Du’s side. Familiar as ever, he latched onto Pei Du’s robe sleeve and bird-rock-climbed his way up Pei Du’s arm. He hopped back and forth on the back of the hand holding the chess piece.

Seeing Pei Du pause and glance down at him, Shen Jiujiu flopped dramatically onto his side, pressing his entire fuzzy ball of a body against Pei Du’s hand. He folded his wings around Pei Du’s fingers and nuzzled his head against the knuckles over and over. The cheeps spilling from his beak were the picture of pitiful grievance.

Look at him~

He called your little bird a ground-waddler!

He’s insulting your bird!

Pei Du suppressed the upward twitch of his lips and gently stroked the little bird’s back with his other hand. “Look at you. Why get worked up over a mere bird?”

Sui Ziming gaped, his pointing finger trembling slightly as he jabbed it at Shen Jiujiu. “Cousin, this bird’s got that foxy, birdy seductress vibe! We can’t keep him!!”

Shen Jiujiu whipped his head around and shot Sui Ziming a smug glance, chirping triumphantly: “Cheep!”

Ah, the battle for affection—par for the course~

Sui Ziming tsked loudly on purpose, raising his voice. “Cousin, when it comes to keeping birds, you’ve gotta go for the majestic, badass ones! I brought my haidongqing, A Sa, this time. If you like her, I’ll leave A Sa here!”

A haidongqing?

Shen Jiujiu’s little head perked up, curiosity flickering in his bird eyes.

He hadn’t met any other birds since reincarnating into one.

Wonder if he could understand bird language now?

If so, maybe he could help Pei Du build a little bird army?

The image flashed in his mind: him issuing a command, and a flock of raptors soaring into the sky in a glorious display. Shen Jiujiu sprang up from Pei Du’s hand, rubbing his wingtips together in front of his chest like eager hands, then lightly butted his head against Pei Du’s chess-holding fingers.

“Cheep!”

The chess piece in Pei Du’s hand dropped onto the board. In a warm voice, he said, “Mm. Go on, then.”

Shen Jiujiu thus slid back down Pei Du’s sleeve the way he’d come, hit the floor with bouncy steps, and hopped out of the study.

Sui Ziming watched the little bird dumpling bounce away without a word.

Only after the little bird dumpling’s movements faded beyond even Sui Ziming’s sharp ears did he step over to the opposite side of the board and sit down. “Interesting. Very interesting.”

A military man through and through, Sui Ziming knew he wasn’t Pei Du’s match at go. So he stretched out his legs, crossing them over the edge of the arhat couch and leaning sideways toward the board.

“Cousin, you’re really keeping this… pfft, ‘repayment’ bird?”

“This is an imperial tribute bird, you know—literate, clever. What if it’s a spy?”

Sui Ziming said this, but he couldn’t keep the grin off his face.

Compared to other birds, this little tit was indeed smart. Sometimes his actions seemed more human than bird.

But true or false, man or demon in his past life, he was the last sort of creature suited to be a spy.

What was a spy? Something utterly unremarkable, able to steal secrets without a whisper. Not like this little tit, who strained every feather to flaunt his oddity and shove himself right under Pei Du’s nose.

“His identity still needs verifying.” Pei Du’s lashes lowered, though the corner of his mouth curved faintly. “Check toward the Zhenguo Marquis Mansion. If his words hold true, he shouldn’t have been very old back when he was human.”

“The Zhenguo Marquis Mansion? The Shen Family? Got it, I’ll look into it.” Sui Ziming snatched up a few chess pieces and tossed them idly in his hand. “The last batch of embezzled silver went that way too, right? Perfect timing—I haven’t gotten around to clawing it all back with interest yet.”

Pei Du funded the Canlang Army from behind the scenes, a massive annual expense that couldn’t be traced back to him by prying eyes. So they’d been pulling schemes like this for years now.

First, they’d fatten up some corrupt official to siphon out the silver. Then guide rival factions to apply pressure, forcing the silver’s transport. Finally, Sui Ziming’s men—disguised as bandits—would intercept and make off with it all. A flawless annual handoff from left pocket to right.

Eyes gleaming with excitement at the thought of the incoming windfall, Sui Ziming declared, “Leave this to me—I’ll handle it clean!”

“Someone has already started to suspect.”

The chess game was only halfway finished, but the white pieces were already showing faint signs of encirclement. Pei Du flicked his sleeve across the board, scattering the pieces, then crooked a finger to scoop them into his palm.

“Though the Zhenguo Marquis Mansion has fallen into decline, it still enjoys ancestral shade, and it shares marriage ties with a branch of Prince Wu’s family. There’s no guarantee this involvement in the plan wasn’t at someone’s instigation.”

“We can’t use this method again next year.”

Sui Ziming frowned.

In truth, Pei Du had mentioned before that this method of transporting silver could be used at most three times—and it might even invite danger—but it was still better than nothing if it could help the Canlang Army safely weather three harsh winters.

On the surface, the court intrigue appeared to be a power struggle between the Emperor and his royal uncle, Prince Wu. Yet Pei Du, the Prime Minister who ought to be one of the Emperor’s closest ministers, walked a delicate line between both sides. He was clearly one of those stubborn clear-stream officials, untainted by the scramble for power and dedicated solely to doing real good for the common people.

It was precisely because of this that a number of clear-stream faction officials stood firmly behind Pei Du.

“Forget it. We haven’t even secured this year’s funds yet—next year’s problems can wait until next year.” Sui Ziming waved a hand dismissively. As he helped Pei Du straighten out the board, he leaned in with a gossipy grin. “Let’s talk about the little bird instead.”

“Cousin, you’re not the type to melt under coquettish wiles or finger-soft blandishments. What kind of bewitching potion did that little bird slip you to get you to let him stay by your side?”

If Pei Du had been the sort of man who was easy to approach, his inner residence wouldn’t still stand empty despite all the people scheming to thrust candidates upon him.

Pei Du’s eyelid twitched. Recalling the events of the previous night, a rare look of headache crossed his face.

This only fueled Sui Ziming’s curiosity.

“He made a mess of the study yesterday, so I returned to the inner courtyard early.”

Sui Ziming perked up at that, suddenly feeling a surge of gratitude toward the little bird dumpling.

Getting Pei Du to head back to the inner courtyard early for some rest was no small feat.

He pressed eagerly: “And then?”

“Then…”

Pei Du lifted a hand to gently massage his forehead. The image came back to him unbidden: the long-tailed tit from last night, wings splayed out as it nestled under his arm, whimpering and chirping in that pitiful way. He felt utterly at a loss for words.

“He snuck in through the window to my bedroom in the dead of night, insisting that I’d crushed his wing and that he could never fly again.”

Sui Ziming: “?”

Sui Ziming: “Hahahahahaha— I can’t—hahaha, oh my god, what a treasure of a bird!”

This was the little bird straight-up throwing himself at Pei Du for a scam!

No, wait a minute.

Sui Ziming’s laughter cut off abruptly. He jerked his gaze up to Pei Du, eyes blazing.

“That little bird got right up to your bed, and you didn’t wake? You actually crushed him?!”

Pei Du lifted his teacup and took a measured sip. “Mm.”

“Then…” Sui Ziming seized Pei Du’s wrist, his expression a mix of urgency and delight as he stared at him.

“Last night, I rested very well.” Pei Du patted the back of Sui Ziming’s hand in reassurance, signaling him to relax, and replied with a faint smile. “Slept through the night, dreamless.”

No wonder.

No wonder he’d thought today that his cousin seemed somehow different—refreshed and clear-eyed, the tension eased from his frame.

Sui Ziming had figured it was the little bird’s lively antics that had amused his cousin into a better mood, so he’d deliberately poked fun at the little bird to draw out more of that clownish behavior. But no—it turned out his cousin had simply been free of nightmares for once, shaking off his usual gloom!

Sui Ziming released his cousin’s wrist, but his excitement refused to settle.

He hopped down from the arhat couch and paced rapidly back and forth across the study, fists clenched tight.

Who would have thought that little bird was truly a bird of gratitude!

Whether he could fly or not hardly mattered.

He could just be a lucky bedside mascot!

Nothing could be more important than that!

Lost in these thoughts, Sui Ziming took a long while to calm himself. He retrieved his teacup from the other desk and had just taken a sip when the sound of flapping wings drifted in from the window beside the arhat couch.

Pei Du heard it too, of course.

Their gazes both landed on the windowsill.

A grayish-white long-tailed tit poked its head out from the ledge, little by little. The two faint red blushes on its cheeks were irresistibly cute and endearing.

Clutched beneath its slender little claws was a haidongqing, its bluish-black feathers radiating majestic ferocity.

“Chirp chirp!”

Shen Jiujiu trilled toward Pei Du, proudly showing off as if to say, look at this bird!

Once Pei Du’s eyes were on him, he promptly patted the haidongqing beneath him with his tail feathers and let out a long, drawn-out chirp.

The haidongqing parted its razor-sharp beak and issued a low, rumbling cry. Then it lifted the roots of its wings, spreading them just a touch in a classic raptor’s show of dominance.

Shen Jiujiu, perched atop the haidongqing’s head, narrowed his eyes fiercely. He raised his own tiny wings, cocked his tail feathers, and unleashed a deep, throaty “chirp.”

Chirp!

The roc spreads its wings!

Sui Ziming’s mouthful of tea sprayed out in a “pfft.”