GWID Chapter 46

Little Phoenix carried a small bundle on his back, stuffed full of things he intended to give Coal Ball as an apology gift. He wandered around in circles for a long time, passing the spot where they had originally woken up the Emperor’s Forest Brigade to assemble, passing the little snowy slope where he and Little Coal Ball had eaten persimmons together. Snow was falling heavily, and Little Phoenix stumbled and hopped through the snow, going around in circles, gazing left and right with eager eyes, yet he couldn’t find his Little Coal Ball anywhere.

Little Phoenix was a little dejected. He consulted the old persimmon tree spirit. “Grandpa Persimmon, have you seen a little black phoenix lately — black all over, looks exactly like me? The one who ate persimmons here with me last time. I can’t find him now.”

The old persimmon tree spirit was evasive. “Hmm, can’t say I have. I’m old and my memory is poor, I can’t quite remember.”

Little Phoenix let out a dull “oh.” It was especially cold today. The little animals that usually wandered about were all huddled in their dens and refused to come out. On the snowy ground, there was nothing at all except for the smooth trail left by a single bird passing through. Little Phoenix crouched in the snow waiting and waiting, and felt that he probably wasn’t going to find his Little Coal Ball today.

He raised his nearly-frozen little claws, stumbled forward a few steps, pressed his belly against the trunk of the old persimmon tree spirit, and curled himself tightly against it. “Grandpa Persimmon, may I shelter from the wind here for a bit?”

He plucked a tail feather, then picked it up in his beak and placed it at the base of the tree, saying quietly, “I’ll give you a feather as payment. How does that sound?”

The old persimmon tree spirit was a little disdainful. “Away with you, away! Who wants your feathers? You birds poop and shed feathers on my head all day long — I couldn’t care less about them.”

Little Phoenix crouched in a round little ball and shuddered a few times as a sudden gust of cold wind swept past. He could tell that the old persimmon tree spirit’s tone had softened somewhat, so he happily spread out his little wings and pressed his whole body against the persimmon tree spirit’s bark — effectively latching on and refusing to budge.

The persimmon tree spirit was, after all, a tree. With a round little bird pressed against him, he had no way of throwing the bird off, and so could only continue disdainfully shaking his trunk, sending a clatter of dry withered branches and leaves raining down on Little Phoenix. “All right, little one, start a fire yourself — just mind you don’t burn me.”

Little Phoenix’s eyes lit up. He scurried over in a few hops, nudging the dry twigs and dead leaves this way and that with his claws, gathering them into a pile. Then he swept the nearby snow aside with his little wings. As he swept and swept, Little Phoenix suddenly caught a glimpse of a black shadow darting through the undergrowth nearby.

Little Phoenix froze for a moment — then broke into overwhelming joy. “Coal Ball!”

He flapped his wings and was about to fly over, forgetting all about starting the fire. But the black shadow in the undergrowth showed no sign of stopping to wait for him. Little Phoenix called out joyfully several more times. “Coal Ball! Little Coal Ball! Wait for me — hey!”

His claws were frozen stiff, his little wings were frozen stiff, he could barely fly at all, and when he landed he lost his footing entirely — smack — he fell down, and then rolled down the little snowy slope.

Little Phoenix flailed about desperately trying to control himself, but to no avail. He rolled faster and faster, struggling to spread his wings yet unable to manage it, and could only resign himself to tumbling along, hoping he wouldn’t slam into some jutting rock or sharp corner on the way down — otherwise, after he perished, the next day the entire immortal realm would be buzzing with gossip like “Shocking! A Mahayana Phoenix’s Accidental Nirvana Was Caused by This One Trivial Thing!” or “A Cursed Place! What Secret Lies in the Snowy Slope Behind Fuli Palace?”

Little Phoenix thought dejectedly — there would definitely be such talk. Yue Lao and Phoenix Ming Zun had recently co-launched a publication together, in which they printed erotic illustrations and serialized all manner of lowbrow literature. Among the works, quite a few featured him and Xingyi as the main characters — most notably the novel Sexy Snow Ball: The Eternal Love Between a Beautiful Darling and a Cold Emperor and the picture book Yuan Yuan’s Secret as a Pampered Pet, both of which were enormously popular in the Heavenly Court. Yue Lao and Phoenix Ming Zun had made a tidy fortune from it — Yue Lao had started saving up money for a trip to the mortal world, while Phoenix Ming Zun had purchased a great many outrageously expensive health tonics.

Of course, what Little Phoenix didn’t know was that Xingyi was always the first to receive advance copies of these books. Yue Lao and the others didn’t particularly care whether he read them or not — whenever a new issue was printed, they made sure to send one to Fuli Palace first. Some were used by Xingyi to prop up table legs; others were used as scratch paper for drafts. In short, they all got put to use. When the head fairy maiden said she wanted to use them for kindling, Xingyi wouldn’t allow it. “Keep them. Once they go out of print, Fuli Palace will reprint them — the binding, print run, and illustrations will all be handled by me and Yuan Yuan. They’re selling for forty spirit stones a copy now; in the future, we’ll sell them for a thousand spirit stones a copy.”

The head fairy maiden said, “You have a better head for business than Yuan Yuan. But there’s one problem — those are written by Yue Lao and the Ming Zun. If we just reprint them directly based on the originals in the future, won’t that be a bit improper?”

Xingyi said, “I haven’t even settled the score with them yet for ruining my image and Yuan Yuan’s image in those books. When the time comes, I’ll pay five nine-colored deer to buy out the copyright outright, then take it to the Jade Emperor and the Queen Mother and sue them for everything they’ve got. Guaranteed that afterward, Yue Lao won’t even have a belt left, and that big phoenix won’t have a single wolfberry to steep. There’s no need to let Yuan Yuan know about any of this.”

In the blink of an eye, Little Phoenix tumbled on and on — just barely managing to mourn in advance his reputation as a genuine phoenix — when he saw that he was about to go splat on the sharp, gnarled stone spire jutting up ahead of him, like a grilled fish ball skewered on a stick. But then a claw reached out from the side and pressed him firmly still.

Xingyi nudged him with his claw, then withdrew it and looked at him in silence.

Little Phoenix opened his eyes, searched across the pitch-black little Coal Ball before him, and finally located those two tiny black-bean eyes. Their gazes met, recognition was made — Little Phoenix immediately bounced up. “Little Coal Ball!”

But his Little Coal Ball gave him no response at all. Those two little black bean eyes merely glanced at him briefly, then looked away again. The whole black little ball turned around and slowly went toddling off to the side.

Little Phoenix felt sad all at once. He followed behind Little Coal Ball. “Little Coal Ball, are you ignoring me now?”

He hadn’t even had the chance to warm himself by the fire yet — his claws were still stiff — and he stumbled after Xingyi, apologizing with all his might. “I’m sorry, Little Coal Ball. I’ve been so busy these past few days, I never had a chance to come find you to play. Did you wait for me for a very long time?”

Little Coal Ball stopped and looked at him, but still said nothing.

Little Phoenix smacked himself on the head as if suddenly remembering something, picked up in his beak the little bundle he had left at the base of the old loquat tree, and then dropped it with a thud in front of Little Coal Ball. He said, a little nervously, “I’m sorry, Little Coal Ball. These are my apology gifts for you. I had originally meant to bring you back some dried spider lilies from the Wangchuan, but something unexpected happened and I couldn’t bring them. So I took some things from my husband’s gifts to give to you instead.”

Little Coal Ball looked down, then nudged the bundle aside with his little wing. “I don’t want them.”

Little Phoenix looked at the pile of gifts with a pang in his heart and felt even more miserable. He could see that Little Coal Ball seemed to have grown noticeably thinner these past few days, his feathers had become disheveled, and even the look in his little bean eyes carried a trace of loneliness and desolation. Little Phoenix felt even more guilty.

Little Phoenix walked over and nuzzled Coal Ball’s belly with his own. “Little Coal Ball, please forgive me — it’s all my fault. You don’t have to accept my gifts, but you have to tell me: what can I do to make you stop being angry?”

Xingyi watched him for a moment, then spoke, “If you don’t want me anymore, why did you come looking for me?”

Little Phoenix was very upset. “I never stopped wanting you. You’re the only phoenix I’ve ever met who looks so much like me, and you’re still so small — I’ve been worried about you. Look — you have no home. I want to at least be able to keep you company until you grow up, so you don’t go and learn bad habits. And in the future, don’t be as hopeless as me, all right? I’m a poor phoenix who still has to rely on my husband for everything right now — don’t follow my example. Once I can earn my own living, if you’re willing to come be with me, we can start a venture together. What do you say?”

Xingyi: “……”

Little Phoenix hopped over and earnestly, sadly began preening his feathers with his beak. As he preened, he said, “Look at you — without me here, you won’t even bathe. We phoenixes are creatures who love to be clean and beautiful. This simply won’t do.” Once he was done, he asked Little Coal Ball, “What have you been eating these past few days?”

Xingyi thought for a moment, then ruffled his feathers and shook loose a few grass seeds that had gotten stuck to him on the way over, presenting them to Little Phoenix. Little Phoenix picked one up and tasted it, his beak twisting at the bitterness, and he winced with concern. “No wonder you’ve gotten thinner. Little Coal Ball, you haven’t eaten anything today yet either, have you? Let me warm you up by the fire first, then we’ll get something to eat.”

Seeing that Xingyi still hadn’t moved, Little Phoenix shamelessly put on the air of an elder, and pressed his round little belly against him again. “Stop being upset. Come along with big brother — be good now.”

Half pushing, half nudging, he prodded Xingyi back to the spot where he had originally been preparing to start a fire. The old persimmon tree spirit had heard their entire conversation from a distance. Without even waiting for Little Phoenix to offer a feather in exchange for persimmons, he dropped several large, sweet, crisp persimmons of his own accord, his feelings complicated. “Here, eat these. A gift today — no charge.”

“Really?” Little Phoenix hurried over and gathered up the persimmons. Shortly after, the old persimmon tree thudded and dropped a few sweet potatoes. “These were given to me by my old friend the sweet potato vine. Take them too.”

So Little Phoenix started a fire, then pushed the sweet potatoes into the burning branches. He blew out a mouthful of flames, igniting the dry twigs and dead leaves. Then he patiently told Coal Ball beside him. “We can eat in a little while.”

Xingyi watched him, dazzled for a moment by those clear, bright eyes of his. He had intended to keep up the pretense a bit longer, to stay sulking and ignoring him for another few hours — yet now he couldn’t quite say what he felt. His voice softened, and he said, “Mm.”

Little Phoenix, seeing that Coal Ball was willing to talk to him properly again, cheered up. He stoked the fire, but the branches had been touched by the frost of the Northern Heaven — as the fire warmed them, they released moisture, sending up thick green smoke that was terribly choking. Little Phoenix frantically fanned with his tiny wings, trying to drive the smoke in another direction, but his wings were simply too small and too soft. The smoke continued to drift in all directions and straight into his face.

Xingyi was choked by it too. He instinctively stepped back, wanting to pull Little Phoenix away — but before he could step forward, he saw Little Phoenix spread his wings and come flapping over, pressing down on him solidly from above. Xingyi’s face was pushed into the snow by one of Little Phoenix’s claws. Then he felt Little Phoenix plant both claws on top of him, spread his wings wide, and tuck him entirely underneath.

Little Phoenix’s eyes were watering from the smoke, but he still remembered to warn his Little Coal Ball. “Don’t get up — don’t let it get to you! It’ll stop being so choking once it burns a little longer.”

Xingyi was bossily pinned down, unable to move left or right, and could only resign himself to lying flat in the snow. Only after the smoke had cleared did Little Phoenix hop aside and let him go.

This snow-white little chubby bird had been smoked to a slightly grayish tinge, but his little bean eyes were still clear and bright. “All done now, Little Coal Ball. Let me go check if the sweet potatoes are cooked.”

Xingyi tilted his head and watched him, silent for a moment. Then he asked, “Are you this good to everyone?”

Little Phoenix paused. The claw he had stretched out toward the sweet potatoes stopped in midair. He hesitated a little. “What counts as being good? Little Coal Ball, you’re my little brother — I’ll definitely look out for you. Everyone treats me well, so I treat everyone well in return.” He thought for a moment, then added with a touch of shyness. “Though — my husband is the one I treat the best. Don’t be upset, Little Coal Ball. A husband and friends are different things — you can’t compare them to each other. But to all of you, I’m giving my very best.”

Xingyi kept watching him. “Your husband — is he really good to you? He doesn’t seem like a good person to me.”

Little Phoenix answered cheerfully. “You’ve misunderstood him. He is the finest deity in all of heaven and earth. Even though managing everyone’s fates means he often ends up offending many people, my husband is very gentle — he was willing to help the Jade Rabbit find her memories, willing to take in a little bird, and he often gives everyone time off. I’m his little bird, so of course I should be as kind to everyone as he is. Besides, he has always been very gentle.”

Xingyi had never imagined that word would ever be applied to himself. He moved his beak, and lowering his voice, said, “Perhaps he is not as good as you think.”

After a brief pause, he added, “Perhaps he’s actually quite bad — outwardly open and generous, but inwardly unwilling to let you be kind to anyone else, unwilling to let you be good to any other little bird.”

Little Phoenix was a little upset. He planted his wings on his hips and told him earnestly, “He is very good, Little Coal Ball. You’d know if you met him. All right — let’s drop this topic. Look — our sweet potatoes are done.”

Little Phoenix went to check, burning himself and hopping about, but at last managed with some difficulty to scrape the roasted sweet potatoes out with his claws. He pecked at them a few times and spat the pieces out onto the snow to cool. Once the temperature was about right, he picked up a bit of sweet potato pulp in his beak and brought it over to Xingyi. “Little Coal Ball, come eat.”

Even though this was Xingyi’s first time being a bird, he knew that birds have a natural instinct to feed beak-to-beak, and that they only do so with those closest to them, as an expression of affection. He opened his beak and crouched in place, and Little Phoenix patiently fed him bite by bite. Only after that did he start eating the remaining half of the sweet potato himself.

Xingyi said, “Why are you feeding me?”

Little Phoenix looked at him. “Because you’ve only just hatched. I’m Little Phoenix, and you’re Little Little Phoenix — you’re my junior.”

Xingyi said, “Then from now on, don’t feed any other Little Little Phoenixes this way, all right?”

Little Phoenix was momentarily stunned. Before he had even registered what was happening, the little Coal Ball beside him had already sprung into action — he bolted to his side, pressed his belly against him and pushed him against the tree, squeezing his waist and shoving his bird-neck against him insistently. Little Coal Ball let out a few chirping calls, radiating an unreasonable, bossy air. “You promised.”