Just as Shen Jiajia was preparing to make lunch, a messenger arrived from her great-uncle’s family bringing funeral tidings. They said her great-uncle—her father’s uncle—had choked on a date pit while eating jujube sticky rice cakes that morning, and just like that, he was gone.
Jiajia no longer had the mind to cook. After seeing the messenger off, she left a note for her father, locked the door, and set out to find her mother.
Her father was a constable at the local yamen. Unless there were special circumstances, he ate all three meals at home. Her mother, on the other hand, was a cook at the estate of Vice Minister Zhou; her excellent culinary skills were highly appreciated by the masters. She would leave for the Zhou estate in the morning and wouldn’t return until after dinner.
The Shen household was merely a hundred paces from the back door of the Zhou estate, just a brief walk away. The weather today was lovely, the sky a brilliant, crystal-clear blue without a single wisp of cloud. On the road, two or three little children were flying kites. Seeing Shen Jiajia, they grinned playfully, “Third Sister, do you want to play?” Jiajia was the third eldest child in her clan.
Shen Jiajia waved her hand with a smile. “I have matters to attend to today. We’ll play another time.”
The little servant guarding the Zhou estate’s gate recognized Shen Jiajia. After asking the reason for her visit, he let her pass, and someone led her to the kitchen. Inside, four cooks were bustling about. White steam billowed through the air, making it seem as though people were weaving through fog, while two young maidservants tended the fires. Shen Jiajia’s mother was currently making steamed cakes. Seeing Jiajia, her hands didn’t stop their work as she asked, “Why are you here? Is something the matter at home?”
Seeing the sweat beading on her mother’s forehead, Shen Jiajia took out her handkerchief and gently dabbed it away. Just as she was about to speak, someone suddenly shouted from outside: “Is anyone there? Quick, take this wretched nuisance!”
As soon as the words fell, a figure barged in. Shen Jiajia took one look and saw a young servant boy of sixteen or seventeen. His clothes were brand new and neat, and in his hand, he was dangling a bird upside down by its legs.
One of the cooks laughed, “How does your esteemed self have the time to visit us down here? I heard yesterday that our Young Master was going out to play polo today. Why aren’t you by his side serving him?”
“Ugh, don’t even mention it. He was playing polo, but Young Master Xie accidentally fell from his horse! His life is currently hanging by a thread, and who knows how many people will be implicated in this mess—”
“Which Young Master Xie?”
“Who else could it be? The biological son of Her Highness the Grand Princess Xinyang, the Emperor’s own nephew, Young Master Xie Chengfeng!” Seeing that everyone present, including the fire-stoking maids, had pricked up their ears for the gossip, the servant boy shook his head. “I don’t have time to chat with you all right now. Hurry up and stew this bird! Alright, I need to go deliver the medicine! The Young Master had us pick out a massive ginseng root, said to be several hundred years old…” As he spoke, he looked at the wide-mouthed, utterly unworldly expressions of the crowd and felt quite satisfied. Chuckling, he added, “Naturally, the Grand Princess’s estate doesn’t lack these sorts of things. It’s just a token of our Young Master’s sincerity.”
The servant tossed the bird in his hand onto the chopping block. “Once it’s stewed, send it straight to the Young Master. He ordered it personally, so don’t you forget.” With that, he turned and marched off.
A cook called out to his retreating back, “What kind of bird is this?”
“Bought it from a foreign merchant. They claimed it could speak human words, but after three months of teaching, it hasn’t uttered a peep. The Young Master came back in a foul mood today as it was, and this thing went and pooped right on his hand. Talk about asking for bad luck.”
After the servant left, the cooks gathered around to inspect the bird. Shen Jiajia, terribly curious, squeezed in for a look as well.
She saw that the bird was completely snow-white, save for two bright red spots on its cheeks. Paired with its chubby little bird face, it looked rather adorable. Its beak was short and thick, hooking sharply downwards, and a tuft of feathers on top of its head curved backward and pointed straight up.
The cooks muttered amongst themselves, debating what kind of bird this was. It looked like a parrot, yet not quite like one.
Shen Jiajia figured it was indeed a parrot, just an exotic breed no one had seen before. She gently nudged the bird’s wing. It was warm to the touch—it was probably still alive.
Stroking her chin, she murmured, “This bird…”
“Third Sister, do you have some brilliant insight?”
“This bird… I think I’ve seen it illustrated in a Buddhist sutra.”
“Ah?!”
“Mhm. Touch it and see, it’s still alive… Who’s going to kill it?”
The cooks scrambled backward in unison, and the fire-stoking maids shrank far, far away.
As the old saying goes: Better to believe it exists than to blindly dismiss it. If it was from a Buddhist text, it must have a formidable background. Even if everyday folk didn’t practice Buddhism, they knew better than to mess with the divine; they would keep a respectful distance.
“I’ll speak bluntly,” one cook said. “Second Sister Zhu, you usually get the most reward money. This task should fall to you.” This sentiment immediately won the nods of the other two.
Second Sister Zhu was none other than Shen Jiajia’s mother.
Second Sister Zhu had an honest and mild temperament, and she was never one for clever words. At this moment, she too felt they had a point, so she bit the bullet and nodded her head.
Shen Jiajia bravely stepped forward. “Forget it, I’ll do it. Mother, I know what you’re going to say. Killing it is a sin, but to stand by and watch my own mother bear such a sin without doing anything—that is the great sin of unfilial piety!”
These righteous words instantly moved everyone in the room.
“Perhaps… we could beg the Young Master for mercy…”
“No need! Just give me a kettle of boiling water. I’ll take it to the river to kill it, so none of you have to see.”
Shen Jiajia’s utmost consideration moved the crowd yet again.
After she left, carrying the bird in her left hand and the kettle in her right, the cooks swarmed around Second Sister Zhu, showering Shen Jiajia with praise.
One sighed, “Third Sister is blooming into a real beauty, and with such a decisive and crisp temperament! Who knows which lucky lad will be worthy of her in the future?”
Another chimed in, “With a daughter as filial as Third Sister, you truly are blessed as a mother. Unlike that wretched girl of mine, who gives me grief every other day.”
Yet another added, “Third Sister is so capable! She will certainly inherit your culinary mantle in the future.”
Hearing this, Second Sister Zhu smiled outwardly, but inwardly, she couldn’t disagree more. They only had this one child, raised in the palm of their hands since birth. She couldn’t bear to let her precious Third Sister suffer the smoky, greasy toil of a kitchen! Besides, they had spent good money to send her to school for several years. Every single teacher who taught her—bar none—praised her fierce intelligence. With such a brilliant and quick-witted daughter, who could say what great fortunes lay ahead of her?
Meanwhile, on the other end, Shen Jiajia had left the Zhou estate and headed straight home. She set the bird down and went into the courtyard to catch a pigeon—her father kept five pigeons, and because they were so accustomed to being fed, one toss of a handful of rice meant catching one was a surefire bet.
Shen Jiajia slaughtered the pigeon, plucked its feathers, chopped off its head and claws, and once it was cleaned and prepped, returned it to the Zhou estate kitchen. Only then did she finally inform her mother about her great-uncle’s passing.
The other kitchen staff were incredibly accommodating. “Since that’s the case, Second Sister Zhu, you can go pay your respects this afternoon with peace of mind. We’ll keep an eye on things here.”
Second Sister Zhu still needed to finish cooking lunch first, so Shen Jiajia headed home alone.
Her father, Constable Shen, had already returned. After reading his daughter’s note, he had gone to Mute Wang’s stall at the intersection to pick up a few steamed buns. He had just returned and brewed a pot of tea when Shen Jiajia pushed the door open and walked in.
“Third Sister, you’re back?” Constable Shen said. “I know everything that happened, let’s eat first… Oh, right, where did you pick up this bird? Looks half-dead to me.”
Shen Jiajia wasn’t in a hurry to eat. Instead, she went to the kitchen and fetched a handful of millet and a small bowl of fresh water. She placed the little white bird on the table, dipped her chopsticks into the water, and gently tapped drops under its beak, unsure if any of it was actually going in.
Constable Shen watched curiously from the side while munching on a mutton bun. The rich, savory aroma of the mutton slowly drifted across the dining table.
“This bird looks awfully strange,” Constable Shen noted, staring at the round red spots on the bird’s cheeks. He clicked his tongue. “Where did this sour-faced bird come from!”
“It should be a parrot.”
“Oh?”
“But it’s too stupid. It never learned how to talk.”
Constable Shen polished off a bun in two or three bites and reached for a second one. “I reckon it’s not going to make it. Doesn’t look like there’s much meat on those bones either; I wonder if it’s edible.”
As if expressly to slap him in the face, right at that moment, the bird slowly opened its eyes. It had actually woken up.
It possessed a pair of large, black eyes—round, bright, and utterly overflowing with spirit.
Shen Jiajia hadn’t harbored much hope to begin with, so she was overjoyed to see it awaken just like that. “You’re awake!”
“Who are you?” it spoke. Its voice actually sounded remarkably like a normal human’s, just a pitch finer.
Constable Shen marveled, “Eh? Doesn’t it know how to talk?”
“Where is this? How did I end up here? This isn’t my estate.” It looked somewhat dazed as it fluttered its wings to stand up. It wobbled a couple of steps, swaying like a fledgling just learning to walk, before accidentally tumbling over again. This time, a sharp tint of panic colored its tone: “What in the world is going on?!”
Shen Jiajia couldn’t resist reaching out to pet its head. “Oh, how cute!”
The parrot grew angry and snapped its head away. “Don’t touch me.”
Shen Jiajia couldn’t help but stifle a laugh. “Quite the temper on you.”
The parrot resiliently stood back up and spread its wings for a flap. Its feathers were lush and its form elegant; it appeared to be quite a handsome parrot after all. It lowered its head to look at its claws, then twisted its birdy neck to inspect its wings. “How could this… I must be dreaming.” The tone was dripping with absolute existential crisis.
While it was staring sorrowfully at its wings, it suddenly felt its body go light as its claws left the tabletop. It immediately squawked in terror: “What are you doing?! Audacious! Insolent! Put me down…”
Shen Jiajia gathered it into her arms and stroked it gently. “Don’t be afraid, I won’t hurt you.”
The parrot struggled with all its might, utterly exasperated yet somewhat awkward: “You are an unmarried maiden! Can you not conduct yourself with a shred of propriety?!”
Off to the side, still holding half a steamed bun in the air, Constable Shen watched, entirely dumbfounded.
This parrot didn’t just know how to talk… it had surely cultivated into a demon spirit by now, hadn’t it?!
Translator’s Anecdote:
Our male lead really went from ‘Emperor’s esteemed nephew’ to ‘fluffy poultry aggressively defending his chastity from a girl who just committed premeditated pigeon homicide.’ 🦜🔪💅✨