CH 80

And you… and you…

These last two words echoed in Chen Ziqi’s mind as he stared at Dan Yi in surprise. Dan Yi’s ears were bright red now. This fellow was now flirting outrageously with him! Chen Ziqi found this quite exciting, and he sidled over to the red-eared fellow. “How are you planning to eat me?” he whispered. 

Dan Yi pressed his lips together. “As for this, we’ll have to ask Elder Mu,” he said in all seriousness.

“Huh?” Chen Ziqi asked in confusion. Why did they have to ask Elder Mu about this sort of thing? Chen Ziqi thought he’d heard wrongly. “Why do you need to ask Elder Mu about this?” After the words left his mouth, he felt a little foolish. Perhaps Dan Yi wasn’t talking about those activities that were done on the bed?

Dan Yi reached out and stroked Chen Ziqi’s slightly parted lips, inched closer, then bit his ear gently. “I’m afraid you’ll get hurt,” he said softly. Now that the two of them had laid their hearts bare before each other, they could do all sorts of things now, but Chen Ziqi was still very young, and he felt it better to consult Elder Mu before proceeding further.

This horny little bird had actually put so much thought into this? His warm breath curled into Chen Ziqi’s ear canals, bringing with it a tingly feeling that was difficult to describe, and his ears couldn’t help reddening as well. He pushed Dan Yi away a little, then stood up straight. “Why do I feel like you’re really different from the Dan Yi I knew before?” he muttered. 

Dan Yi just smiled, then tugged Chen Ziqi’s hand and walked toward the bamboo forest, skirting the planted fields.

The things he knew when he was hatched far outstripped Chen Ziqi’s human knowledge. He’d hidden it well in the past because he was afraid he’d scare him off.

The Jade Bamboo Peak was divided into a few districts. Some districts specialised in planting bamboo rice. In those districts, the crop they planted was a thin, slender type of bamboo that grew very quickly. Other districts planted only bamboo shoots, and the people in charge of those districts had to dig for bamboo shoots every day. Yet other districts planted a particularly thick and coarse looking type of bamboo. Chen Ziqi didn’t know what that type of bamboo was for.

“Are these thick bamboo stems used for making tools or something?” Chen Ziqi asked curiously, running a hand over the bamboo trunk. Its girth was so large that it would take two people hugging it to fully encircle it.

Before Dan Yi could reply, a shrill cry of terror came from one side. “No! I don’t want to do this!” the voice screamed.

About five steps away, a few people were chopping down a thick bamboo stem. With them was a girl who was very obviously new to the work. She tossed aside the gloves that she had just been given and backed away quickly, as if she’d seen something horrifying.

Chen Ziqi walked over to have a look. He considered himself to be quite a daring person, but even he got a shock when he peered into the cut bamboo stem. A fat, snow-white worm about the size of a child’s arm squirmed slightly in the empty space between the bamboo walls.

Other than the girl who’d screamed, the other people didn’t seem perturbed by the creature at all. One person pulled on a pair of gloves in a practiced manner, then used both hands to pick up the fat white worm and put it into a bamboo basket next to them. Two more worms that looked exactly like this one could be seen inside it. Those worms were very docile, and they didn’t try to escape at all. They just lay quietly in the bamboo basket. 

“What is this?” Chen Ziqi asked, swallowing hard.

“Jade bamboo worms,” Dan Yi said, waving a hand to indicate that the workers didn’t need to greet him and could continue harvesting worms.

A certain type of bamboo produced bamboo worms, which were the cleanest type of worms in the world. They only ate bamboo and drank condensed dew. These jade bamboo worms that the Cloud Palace farmed were an even higher grade of bamboo worm, and they were even pickier than the regular bamboo worm. They only ate this particular bamboo – the Sapphire Moso Bamboo.

Sapphire Moso Bamboo was not an easy plant to cultivate. It only grew in places where phoenixes appeared regularly, and as such, Dan Yi had to come here fairly often. 

“This bamboo only grows in places where the phoenix appears? What a snobby bamboo,” Chen Ziqi said, not really believing this. Plants weren’t sentient after all, so how would they know whether or not there was a phoenix around or not? Did the phoenix really have some auspicious aura that the plants could feel?

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Pipes made of bamboo that had been hollowed out carried spring water from somewhere further off here. There were two lines of bamboo pipes, one leading into this hut, and the other circling around the outside of the hut. The steady stream of spring water made a pleasant gurgling sound as it flowed into a bluestone trough, juxtaposing beautifully with the peaceful, quiet forest. This was a good place to cultivate one’s martial arts.

“Come in,” Dan Yi said, opening the hut’s bamboo door and inviting Chen Ziqi in for a look. 

The interior of the hut was spick and span. It was completely empty save for a Sapphire Moso Bamboo that was about five feet long. This bamboo had been cleaved into two, and the two halves were embedded in the ground. The fresh spring water brought in by the bamboo pipes splashed noisily onto the large, broad Sapphire Moso Bamboo troughs on the ground.

Dan Yi opened his robes and started taking his pants off.

Chen Ziqi got a shock. “What on earth are you doing?” he exclaimed. He looked around quickly and noticed that this little hut didn’t have any windows, so he shut the door as fast as lightning.

It was rather embarrassing to do that sort of thing whilst the sun was high in the sky, and also… Chen Ziqi looked mournfully at his two splinted and bandaged fingers. 

“Peeing,” Dan Yi replied innocently. He aimed at the elegant-looking bamboo troughs and emptied his bladder quickly.

“… …” So this exquisitely made little hut was a toilet?! Chen Ziqi didn’t know what to say.

“I have to come here often so the bamboo grows well,” Dan Yi said, amusement playing about his eyes. “What were you thinking about earlier?”

“I want to pee too,” Chen Ziqi harrumphed irritably. He moved closer to Dan Yi and stood next to him. 

“Wait,” Dan Yi said. He finished doing what he was doing, washed his hands in the clean flowing water, then came over to help Chen Ziqi take his pants off.

Dan Yi tried to help Chen Ziqi hold his lower bird, and the latter smacked his hand away. He used his own uninjured hand to do the deed and continued chatting with Dan Yi as he relieved himself. “What are you farming these worms for?” he asked.

“Jade bamboo worms are an unparalleled delicacy,” Dan Yi said honestly.

The Phoenix’s staple food was bamboo rice, and the other dishes that it ate also had to be made of bamboo or closely associated with bamboo. Before the advent of blackworms, the jade bamboo worm was the only worm that the Phoenix was able to eat. 

“This is for eating?!” Chen Ziqi asked in surprise. The dots suddenly connected in his head – this fellow was a bird, and birds liked to eat worms!

“Nn,” Dan Yi confirmed, nodding. He hesitated for a moment, then continued speaking. “You’ve eaten it before, too.”

Bam! These last few words hit Chen Ziqi like a ton of bricks. Him? Eat a worm? No wait, had eaten a worm?! He quickly scanned his memory for the things that he’d eaten in the Cloud Palace. Stir-fried bamboo shoots, mixed green bamboo shoots, chicken drumsticks, chicken wings, vegetable buns… all of these couldn’t be it. The only thing that was suspect was that plate of tender, delicate white “fish slices” that often appeared on Dan Yi’s table.

It tasted very much like boiled fish slices, and had a particular ability to absorb the taste of whatever it was cooked in. Chen Ziqi remembered it to be incredibly delicious. However, no matter how good it was to eat, it was, at the end of the day – a WORM! 

Chen Ziqi’s breath caught in his throat. He felt like he couldn’t even continue peeing any more.

On the way back from the Jade Bamboo Peak, Chen Ziqi refused to allow Dan Yi to kiss him. “Tell me the truth. That day, when you sucked out the blackworm from my body, where did it go?” he asked.

“… I ate it,” Dan Yi replied honestly.

What? That disgusting thing could be eaten? Chen Ziqi thought about that fierce, disgusting little creature trapped inside the bamboo container in a bath of strong liquor, and his stomach turned. 

“It’s great when it’s deep fried,” Dan Yi said, exhaling audibly. He thought that Chen Ziqi wouldn’t have any issues with him eating worms now that he knew that he was a bird. Chen Ziqi’s shocked reaction today had really surprised him. “I only eat these two types of worms, and they’re all cooked worms. Don’t you like to eat insect pupae as well?”

Pupae… that’s right.

In his impecunious childhood, he’d often caught crickets and grasshoppers to grill and eat. If he thought of the blackworms as these insects, and the jade bamboo worms as pupae… actually, there wasn’t much of a difference.

Chen Ziqi felt rather apologetic toward Dan Yi, who looked like he’d been done a great injustice. He knew full well that the person he liked was actually a bird, and as his lover, he should respect his habits. He scooted over and planted a kiss on Dan Yi’s lips. “You’re right. If you want to eat worms, then eat them. You don’t begrudge me for eating chicken wings, so we’re even,” he said. 

Dan Yi was appeased, but he still gave a huffy little sigh. Chen Ziqi gave him another placatory kiss, and this time, Dan Yi turned the tables and took control of this kiss.

The issue of the worms was thus resolved. Chen Ziqi quickly cast this to the back of his mind, and what took its place was going to the Lushan Sect to pick Chang Er up. He had delayed doing so because his internal injuries weren’t properly healed yet, and he was afraid that Chang Er would worry unduly about him if he showed up before he was fully healed. His condition had improved greatly in the last two days, and he wanted to bring his mother home quickly. It certainly wasn’t a good thing to leave his mother in the Lushan Sect for too long.

Also, the King Jian residence was still in chaos because of the chicken farm massacre, and he had to go back and deal with matters there.

The thick, gamey smell of blood filled their nostrils the moment they stepped into the chicken pens, which were covered in loose chicken feathers. The bloody scene in the chicken farm had been very terrifying, and King Jian himself had disappeared during this time. The workers had been so frightened that they all ran off, leaving the chicken farm untended to. The dead chickens had all been sold off by the farm manager, and all that remained were a bunch of chicken feathers and dried chicken blood. 

The weather was hot now, and countless houseflies were attracted to the chicken blood. Maggots were also festering inside the decapitated chicken heads. It was a very disgusting sight.

Dan Yi had started frowning even before they got close, and he held Chen Ziqi back, refusing to let him go forward to see this scene. He signalled to his subordinates to clean the mess up. Because he had lost the bet with Chen Ziqi earlier, he agreed to set up a Wind Wing in Jianyang City. The ones who came with Dan Yi this round were the Wind Wing members who were going to stay in Jianyang long-term.

The members of the Wind Wing were all small-sized birds, and the chicken pens littered with severed chicken heads looked like hell on earth to them.

“Palace Master, we should just burn the place,” the head of the Jianyang chapter of the Wind Wingpractically pleaded. Even though all that was left of the chickens was their severed heads, it was best to return them peacefully to the earth. 

“Burn it, then,” Chen Ziqi said, waving a hand. There was nothing of value in the pens, just some wooden fencing and straw nests that the chickens roosted in. He could just replace these after the place was burned.

The great fire burned everything into ashes, glowing orange against the dark night sky. Chen Ziqi’s eyes were dark as he watched the flames consume the chicken pens. This hard world was one in which he couldn’t even protect three hundred chickens unless he was able to amass great power.

The Cloud Palace people did their work very efficiently, and the chicken farm was cleared up in less than a day. They even found the time to rent a suitable building in Jianyang City to use as the Wind Wing chapterhouse.

Now that Jianyang City had its own chapter of the Wind Wing, it wouldn’t be as desolate and shut off as before. Chen Ziqi went to the Wind Wing chapterhouse on the first day it opened for business and became its first customer. 

“Send a letter to the Bloodblade Tower for me. I have something I want to hire them for,” Chen Ziqi said imperiously.

At the Yangchun Banquet, Chen Ziqi had met the Bloodblade Tower Leader, and he was a surprisingly easygoing person. He didn’t seem anything like an assassin. “Assassinations, theft, massacres of whole families – we do them all. The only jobs we don’t take are the ones involving the Imperial family and the large martial arts sects,” he said.

Chen Ziqi put down a silver note as payment, then turned to leave. He pulled Dan Yi off with him to the Lushan Sect to pick up his little fairy, leaving behind a group of curious onlookers who were standing at the door of the Wind Wing to be part of the excitement.

“Wang ye, what are you hiring the Bloodblade Tower for?” Wu Bujian asked quizzically. 

“Revenge,” Chen Ziqi said. His face was hard as he leapt onto his horse. He was going to teach every last person who dared to bully him a lesson they wouldn’t forget!

—

The author has something to say: Mini-theatre

Tower Leader: We’ve got a job, who’s up for it 

Assassin A: Me. I’m the Bloodblade Tower’s Golden-class assassin. I have a 100% hit rate

Assassin B: Me. I’m the Bloodblade Tower’s King-class assassin. My stats for group attack are maxed out

Tower Leader: Alright, alright, let’s go with the group attack fellow. The job is to kill three hundred chickens

Assassin B: This subordinate will not disappoint you 

Chickens: Cluck?

Assassin B: I am but a mercenary who gets paid to extinguish other people’s problems. Ladies and gentlemen, don’t blame me for this violent death that is about to befall you

Chickens: This fellow doesn’t seem quite right in the head