“Phoenix Master, you must have accidentally picked this up, right?” The eagle landed from the tree, carefully approached He Fangchuan, and slammed the door shut with a claw. Fortunately, although the house He Fangchuan chose was close to the street, it was the most secluded place in the area, and no one usually passed by.
He Fangchuan transformed back into human form, squatted down beside Yu Shishu, and checked him over. He was relieved to find that only his forehead was red from the impact, and there were no other new injuries. Hearing the eagle’s words, He Fangchuan touched his nose: “I aimed and crashed into him.”
“I did it on purpose.” He Fangchuan put one hand under Yu Shishu’s shoulder, helped him up, and once again helped Yu Shishu into the house under the watchful eyes of the birds. However, since the guest room was a bit far, he was too lazy to walk the extra few steps and directly helped Yu Shishu into his own room.
The eagle followed closely in, its wings slamming against the door with a loud bang. Startled from his drowsy state, Yu Shishu sat bolt upright. He Fangchuan, never expecting him to wake up so suddenly, found their heads bumping together.
“Ouch!” Yu Shishu clutched his forehead and crouched down, looking up to see his benefactor from a few days ago also sitting on the floor, hissing in pain.
He was about to help him up when the eagle suddenly approached, startling him so much he froze.
Up close, it looked even bigger!
The eagle was also startled, instinctively moving closer before He Fangchuan grabbed its claws, giving it a look—don’t reveal your identity.
The eagle had no choice but to pretend to be passing by, circling the house before slowly making its way back to the yard. Yu Shishu finally breathed a sigh of relief, scrambling to his feet and helping He Fangchuan to his feet. “My benefactor, are you alright? I… how did I get here?”
“I…”
Yu Shishu exclaimed, then suddenly realized, “I was hit by a bird! It definitely did it on purpose!”
He Fangchuan, the chubby little bird who deliberately bumped into people to save them.
“You saved me again, my benefactor?” Yu Shishu said excitedly, holding He Fangchuan’s hand. “Thank you so much! Oh, right, I made some money. Here, take it. Wait for me to find it…” He
Fangchuan watched as Yu Shishu rummaged through his clothes, finally pulling out two or three copper coins from his tattered pocket. He carefully placed them in He Fangchuan’s palm and said apologetically, “I’m sorry, I don’t know if this will be enough to pay for what happened that night… I could have made some small things to sell, but after that incident, nobody wants to buy my things anymore. Just tell me how much you need. It might be a little slow, but I’ll definitely get it as soon as possible.”
“I didn’t mean to ask you for money.” He Fangchuan frowned, and Yu Shishu felt a little apprehensive: “You don’t want money? Then why did you save me in the first place? I have no other way to repay your kindness.”
“Does saving someone need a reason?” He Fangchuan asked, puzzled. Seeing Yu Shishu about to explain, he interrupted him directly, “I don’t need a reason to save someone, nor do I want anything in return… Do you have a place to stay?”
Yu Shishu was confused by his words, not quite understanding what reason or reward meant. Hearing his last sentence, he involuntarily replied, “No… uh, yes, I live in that dilapidated temple past Dongyang Street.”
His voice grew softer and softer, partly because he felt that just last month he was sleeping soundly at the Yu family home, and now he was homeless, even having to share a dilapidated temple with several other vagrants. It was hard to say this. Partly, he felt that this beautiful man—although a man—seemed to come from a relatively well-off family. Although he was afraid of birds, the thought that He Fangchuan kept so many birds suggested that his family was quite wealthy, and he felt he couldn’t compare to him, much less trouble him.
So when Yu Shishu sensed that He Fangchuan meant to help him, he quickly refused, “I have a place to stay, really.”
He Fangchuan hesitated for a moment, and just as Yu Shishu was about to find an excuse to run away, he suddenly snapped his fingers. Two small, plump birds with red heads flew in from outside the door, landing on either side of his shoulder.
“Go and get that little money pouch,” He Fangchuan said to the red-crowned sparrows. The little birds immediately flapped their short wings and flew away again.
Yu Shishu was surprised and curious: “They can understand you? Wait, a money pouch? I… I can’t take your money!”
“It’s not my money.” As soon as He Fangchuan finished speaking, one of the red-crowned sparrows flew back with a small purple money pouch in its claws. It stopped in mid-air, released its claws, dropped the money pouch into He Fangchuan’s palm, and curiously flew to Yu Shishu’s shoulder, where it remained motionless.
Yu Shishu was stiff all over—he had been chased and bitten by crows and roosters when he was a child, and since then he had a psychological trauma about all kinds of birds. Even such a small bird could make him very nervous.
“This is what you brought over a few days ago. Including today’s, it’s a total of… twenty-three copper coins.” He Fangchuan emptied the copper coins from his purse, counted them carefully, and gestured for Yu Shishu to look over. He said, word by word, “I won’t return this money to you.”
Yu Shishu: “…Huh?”
“Consider this your rent for staying here,” He Fangchuan said. “The room you used to live in. What do you think?”
Yu Shishu swallowed hard, took several deep breaths, and then said with difficulty, “Twenty-three copper coins, as rent?”
He looked up and glanced around at the house. Although it wasn’t as luxurious as the Yu family’s, it was, for him recently, a paradise on earth. He still couldn’t believe it. “Really?”
“Of course it’s true.” He Fangchuan put the twenty-three copper coins into his small purse in front of him. “I’ll take this money. You’ll live here from now on, and this is the same amount every month. How about it?”
Yu Shishu opened his mouth, not knowing what to say. He Fangchuan added, “I don’t have much patience.”
“Okay!” Yu Shishu shouted, almost hoarse. “Thank you… thank you for taking me in.”
His voice even had a slight nasal tone at the end. He Fangchuan thought he was crying, but he found that he was so frightened by the red-crowned sparrow that he was about to cry.
He Fangchuan beckoned Zhu Dingque away, and Yu Shishu breathed a sigh of relief. Overwhelmed with emotion, he rushed forward and hugged He Fangchuan tightly, saying, “My benefactor, you are my second parents!”
“I’m not that old yet.”
“Then we’re brothers! We don’t ask to be born on the same day, month, and year, but we ask to die on the same day, month, and year!” Yu Shishu realized his words were unlucky after saying them, and quickly let go of He Fangchuan, slapping himself twice in the face. He changed his words, saying, “But we ask… but we ask…”
“Make a fortune.”
Yu Shishu was stunned, not expecting such worldly words to come out of his mouth, but he quickly realized, “Yes, let’s make a fortune together!”
Yu Shishu had nothing on him except two tattered clothes. According to him, he had thought about going back to the Yu family to get some luggage, but even the gatekeeper of the Yu family wouldn’t let him in, as if the Yu family had never had a second young master like him.
“My father is very proud, maybe I really embarrassed him.” Yu Shishu squatted in the woodshed, watching the sparks jumping around him—He Fangchuan had said he wanted him to take a bath, but he was too embarrassed to let his benefactor boil water for him, so he took the task himself.
He Fangchuan leaned against the woodshed door, listening to him ramble on about the Yu family, occasionally asking a question or two: “You said your grandfather loved you very much, so why did he let them kick you out?”
“Grandfather fell seriously ill and went back to his hometown to recuperate. Of course, my father is in charge of the Yu family now.” Yu Shishu poked at the burning firewood with a stick and said in a low voice, “My father has long felt that Grandfather won’t live much longer, and he might even have his funeral this year. Even if Grandfather loves me dearly, he can’t help me now… The hot water is ready.”
“You can take a bath; the tub is next door.” He Fangchuan was about to offer him his place, but Yu Shishu said generously, “We’re all men, why don’t we bathe together? I just boiled too much water.”
Before He Fangchuan could speak, Yu Shishu scratched his face and whispered, “Actually, your clothes and bedding are dirty. Take them off and I’ll wash them for you.”
“A bath is fine, but washing clothes is out of the question.” He Fangchuan poured the bathwater into the tub with him, testing the water with his hand. “You go ahead and wash, I’ll just dry you off. It’s just that the clothes are dirty.”
Yu Shishu couldn’t refuse any longer, so he took off his clothes and threw them out, intending to put them back on after washing them. When he turned around, he saw that He Fangchuan had already taken off his outer and inner garments, revealing his bare upper body.
Looking at the beautiful man’s handsome face and the supple muscles hidden beneath, Yu Shishu was stunned. He looked down at his flat stomach, then at the faintly visible firm muscles on He Fangchuan’s abdomen, and when he came to his senses, he had already reached out and touched it.
“…My benefactor, your physique is truly enviable, hahaha!” Yu Shishu quickly recovered and tried to make amends, withdrawing his hand and pretending nothing had happened, before tumbling into the tub.
Even underwater, the sensation from the previous touch lingered on his hands. Yu Shishu dared not look at He Fangchuan again. Even though he knew there was nothing shameful about two grown men, the awkwardness was too much for him to bear.
Outside the window, the red-crowned sparrow and the eagle, who insisted on squeezing in, huddled together, craning their necks to peer inside.
“That brat actually touched the Phoenix Queen! So audacious!” The eagle rubbed its beak, making a clicking sound. The red-crowned sparrow, afraid of being caught in the crossfire, quickly pulled its head back, chirping, “Chirp chirp!”
The Phoenix Queen hadn’t said anything; don’t let good intentions backfire!
The eagle had no choice but to retract its outstretched claws. Suddenly, it heard a whoosh behind it, followed by a familiar bird call. Both the eagle and the red-crowned sparrow jumped, and the wolf pounced, pinning the bird that had come to play with its close friend to the ground.
There was a human inside! They couldn’t reveal their identity!
“Come here, let me scrub your back.” Inside, He Fangchuan grabbed a towel, completely unaware that three birds and a birdman were peeking outside the window, and began scrubbing his back very naturally.
The birdman, with a reddish tinge at the corner of his eye, was surprised to notice his best friend’s odd behavior: “His ears are red, is he shy?”
The eagle slapped him with its uninjured wing, lowering its voice: “Bullshit! The Phoenix Queen would never blush! It’s from the hot water!”
The birdman: “…I think you’re just being stubborn!”
The eagle: “I am stubborn! Believe me or not, I’ll peck you!”